What are you doing for Christmas? Advent 4

This is the Fourth & last Sunday of Advent.

We are in the time of the year when 

is one of the things we talk about.  Today in church I spoke to the children about Peace because the story in Sunday School was about the Angel's Proclamation to the Shepherds.  

The other day there was a small explosion in the Cathedral Quarter of Belfast, Northern Ireland (my country of residence again now and my country of birth).  

A bomb had been left outside a restaurant very close to St. Anne's Cathedral and and warning phoned in to the police.  While the nearby residents and the diners in the restaurants were being evacuated part of the device blew up but not enough to do any real damage or injury.

The Cathedral and all the people nearby were safe and sound but many of the comments of people who were there at that time is now anger and unrest about whether we really do have peace in Northern Ireland.

As I said above we are in the time of the year when Peace is one of the things we talk about, Peace on Earth, wishing you Peace at Christmas, Have the Peace of God in your hearts.

But so many people are going around every day without this peace in their hearts.  

I believe this is simply because they can't believe that Peace is an easy thing to have. They think that it would be a complicated matter to make this type of change in their lives.  

Thankfully God has made it easy for us because He is the one who brings about this Peace through His Son Jesus.  

Our easy part is just to stop resisting and accept that God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to be our Peace.  Of course if we keep edging Jesus out of the picture at Christmas then it is harder to even draw our thoughts to Him let alone trust that He will be the way to Peace this Christmas. 

A couple of years ago I chose this Christmas card (below) that has the message I wanted to send, a message that I feel strongly about and also I loved the look of the card, simple but eye-catching at the same time.  I loved the card so much that I kept one so that each year I can display it.  I have even written on it from Fred & Sandra, because I want to continue to send this message to myself as well.

So this card is sitting at the front left hand side of the TV this year and will remind us of that special message.

   There is no Christmas without Jesus and there is no Peace without Him too.

Here is a very quick Advent video on Peace.






Do you keep Jesus at the heart of Christmas?

We have a true high Priest in Jesus

We have a Saviour who is at the right hand of God

We have a mediator in Jesus

We have life because Jesus came 

We know that Jesus Christ is Lord

We know that God gave Jesus to bring freedom and Joy 

We know that Jesus wants to send us to others 

We know that Jesus has the power over Satan so that we can be free

Are you still enjoying this time of preparation in the run up to Christmas?


Our oldest son Jonathan arrives from England very Soon!


So you can all guess some of the things I was up to this past week but some of the others might surprise you.

• A bedroom had to be dusted and hoovered.
• An ensuite had to be cleaned.
• A bed had to be made.
• A check of "plain biscuits" (this son nibbles on plain biscuits regularly throughout the day).
• A check of "Northern Ireland Tea" (this son always goes back home with a supply of Northern Ireland Punjana Tea which is hard to get in England).
• A certain Agatha Christie Poirot novel had to be started (the two of us are looking forward to sitting down one day to watch "Curtain" which I recorded when it was on ITV a few weeks ago and we had decided to reread the book first).

I bet you didn't guess the last 3 things!

It will feel even more like Christmas once Jonathan arrives as no doubt there will be renditions of

                                                                                      

which is His favourite Advent hymn.

I think there may also be

Lots of talk about 

blogs as he is also a blogger

church as he is a Pastor

books as he is an avid reader

food as he loves to eat.

Of course I can say all this because I know him so well.

Which makes me think about something Fred & I and a couple of friends were talking about last night. 

How can we express ourselves towards Jesus if 

we do not 

know Him well.  

Surely we will run out of words to describe Him, 

to praise Him 

and 

to worship Him.

Do you know Him well?

What are you doing for Christmas? Advent 3

This is the third Sunday of Advent

Today we are focusing on 

The children in Sunday School are into their stories leading up to Christmas.  They were looking at "Reassured by an Angel" telling the story of the angel message to Mary, then the angel message to Joseph and the birth of Jesus.
So when I was doing the children's slot at the start of our service this morning I talked about Joy because the messages by the angel to Mary and Joseph resulted in great joy for them.

We sang two choruses about Joy.
One is an old one but it doesn't matter about whether things are old or new but whether they help to teach our children about the truths in the Bible.

The other is a Christmas one about Joy which is sung to the tune of "Jesus loves me this I know" 

Through my Advent reading plan I am now reading how
We have joy because 

we worship Jesus the King

we know about Jesus

we are led to Jesus

Jesus has the victory over satan.

During Advent we think of various things about Jesus coming to earth as He did at His birth and as He will again in the future.

Are you full of Joy as you think of Christmas?

I've included a very short video about Joy at Advent time for you.

Are you still enjoying the joy of Advent or is it getting lost in the midst 

of all the practical things?

I am thankful for the Hope and Love and Joy that we are reminded of during this Advent time.

Are you making time to remember the Joy of this Christmas time in the midst

 of the busy days?

This past weeks I have been writing our Christmas cards for the UK and the rest of Europe.

This is not too big an amount of cards as a lot of our friends within Europe will be getting eCards from us.

Christmas Card 2013

Christmas Letter 2013

eCard 2013

I also wrote the cards for my little group of university mates because we were getting together this week for a meal and catch-up chat.  It's been a year since we met up like this but before that it was over 7 years since we all met together because Fred & I had been living in Belgium.

Isn't it lovely that we can have friends that even though we don't see them often we can still fall easily into conversation again.  

It was great to catch up last year and will be good this year again.

Thank you God. - Coffee & Conversation

The first thing I thought as I wrote the title for today's post was

           "okay that will probably put some people off reading this post"

But I really hope that it would do the opposite and entice people in because what is better to write about than something which makes you say

"Thank you God"

It all started with me wanting to do this online graphics course and with all that I had learned so far I decided it was time to create a unique picture for my Facebook Timeline.


     So that was my little project yesterday.


I had already found a nice picture free to use by anyone from a site called Pixabay a few days ago and had downloaded it to my computer knowing I would use it for something.  So today I thought of it and set to work to resize it to be the right size for a timeline pic and crop it to get rid of a piece I didn't want in it.

Then I had to think what I wanted to write on it and where to put this text etc.

Well looking at the picture just one thing came to mind and so I proceeded to finish my creation which you can see below.

To me it was obvious with the rainbow reminding me of the promises of God and His love, that the only thing I could write was 

"Thank you God"

What do you think of when you see a rainbow?

Maybe it's because I collect things to do with arks (if you don't believe me see I Love Arks).

Maybe it's because I have led children's meetings for many years and we would often sing the song "Mr Noah built an Ark" which has as the end of the chorus the words

"So whenever you see a rainbow, remember God is Love"

Or Maybe it's because I believe the Bible story of Noah and the Ark with the rainbow as a sign of God's promise to the world.

      But whenever I see a rainbow 

I see the beautiful creation of God and know that He loves me 

and I believe that He keeps His promises. 

And there in that alone I have 3 reasons why I say

 "Thank you God"

What are you doing for Christmas? Advent 2

This is the 2nd Sunday of Advent

The thing I have already thought about in the previous post is the Hope we have because of Jesus but today I want to consider the    

we have in Him.

So what could be more fitting than singing about Jesus as 

God's Love Gift to us because that is exactly what Jesus is.

The Saving Grace of Jesus.

Do you know this Saving Grace of Jesus?

Have you accepted this Gift of Love from God?


From the passages in my Advent reading plan 
I know that 

Jesus came to destroy the works of satan.
Jesus came to bear witness to the truth.
Jesus came so that we can believe in Him and have life in His name.
Jesus came to reconcile us to God.

Do you know why Jesus came to earth?

Are you glad that Jesus came?

Friday morning was  
"Shopping in our town with our grown up son" time.
Cold, windy & wet day but it's a small town so not that far to walk between car park and shops.
He kept comparing it to the large city he lives in, parking much cheaper here and streets less crowded.
We also got our turkey and ham for Christmas.

Friday afternoon was  
"Shopping in the Christian Bookshop with our grown up son" time.
One and a half hours can pass quickly when we are somewhere like this.
The ICM Bookshop outside Lurgan is enormous.
They also have a good website with great prices and lots of free shipping to anywhere in the UK, so have a look at their site  https://www.icmbooksdirect.co.uk/

Friday evening was  
"Shopping in the Sprucefield Shopping Centre with our grown up son" time.
A few last minute presents, and a nice wander around in the festive but not-too-busy shops.

These are some of the highlights of our Christmases now - having our family come from far as well as near.

The special times of love and togetherness that we miss.

Of course as usual I'm doing Christmas songs with the kids at church and we like to sing this simple one about God's Love

'Tis Christmas, 'Tis Christmas

The Christmas Bells ring

The Birthday of Jesus our Saviour and king

Tis Christmas, Tis Christmas

Our Bible recalls 

The Birthday of Jesus 

God's Love Gift to all. 

You can find the words & chords of this song 

also actions, sing-a-long video 

and free printables at

Tis Christmas, Tis Christmas

After a day like that we need to remember that shopping is not the main thing that's important at this time of the year

We need to make sure that Jesus Christ is still in our Christmas, just like the words of this song 

Unto you is born this day a Saviour

A baby boy was found there in a manger

The blessed truth of Christmas let us hear

Let's put Christ back into Christmas this year

Christmas is the birthday of our King

The greatest gift of all He came to bring

He's the Prince of Peace let's show Him that we care

Let's put Christ back into Christmas this year

On this day the wise men saw a star

They followed it with gifts and travelled far

And praised the baby Jesus lying there

Let's put Christ back into Christmas this year

Let within your heart His praises ring

And celebrate the day our Saviour came

May peace on earth at Christmas time appear

Let's put Christ back into Christmas this year

Let's put Christ back into Christmas this year

Are you making sure that Christ is still in your Christmas this year?

Walking along the promenade in Newcastle, Co. Down is not the thing I would normally plan to be doing just a few days before Christmas.


Two things happened within the last few days that meant us taking the half hour drive to Newcastle one day last week and I was looking forward to walking the promenade while there.  However it was just too cold and wet and blowy that we didn't have our walk.

Instead we just sat and admired the seaside view for a while and took a few pictures and short videos of the waves.

A great example of the nature that God has created.


One of the books I got in the ICM Bookshop yesterday was for the younger kids in our Sunday School.
It can be read to young children and then as they get a bit older they can read it for themselves.

This book has had great reviews by parents which is a very good recommendation for it and is unusually written by a Theologian, James Hamilton.  He wrote it primarily for his son but was then encouraged to get it published which he then did through Christian Focus.


On the journey back today we discussed the presents for Christmas.

It has been agreed that I have nearly everything sorted out fine now.
I just hope the recipients of these presents agree with us.


Were you able to take time today to appreciate God and His creation amid the hustle and bustle of Christmas presents?

What are you doing for Christmas? Advent 1

       
            

Today I am starting a short Series on 

     "What are you doing for Christmas?"

I love the way Advent starts on a Sunday but this year it is also the start of December and for anyone who knows me really well they will understand that I like things to start at proper sort of starting times, and the first of the month is definitely a proper sort of starting time.




Right now I find that I keep getting emails from different retailers telling me about the most important things about Christmas and what I really should be interested in buying.
           

Well they just don't tell me anything about the real event we are leading up to during Advent.

They might mention Santa but they hardly ever mention Jesus and when do, they never mention that Jesus is the real life and soul of Christmas.  

He's the Reason for Christmas.

I am also very hurt when I see Christmas cards which say "Season's Greetings" because they leave Christmas out so they are leaving Jesus out and anyway I could send a card saying that to someone at any time of the year because we are always in one of the four seasons of the year.
          
    It makes no sense to me at all.



So what am I doing for Christmas today?

I'm finishing off our Christmas Letter and writing Christmas cards for our friends who live all around the world, because I need to get them posted off tomorrow.
I'm also remembering that Advent is about preparing for the coming of Jesus as we celebrate on Christmas and that Advent is about preparing for the time when Jesus will return again.

How am I doing this?

I'm starting a new Bible Reading Plan with You Version called  

Good News of Great Joy 

And I'm focusing on Jesus who is my Saviour and the Saviour of the world and not focusing on the Season that the world focuses on because the world has 

no hope in that Season 

but I have Hope in Jesus who is the real

                                                      
Reason for the Season

In the first week of the reading plan I mentioned above I will be reading about how

• We need to be prepared by preparing our hearts for what God is going to do

• We have Hope because we are part of God's Plan

• We have Hope because God has provided our Salvation in Jesus

• We have Hope because God will provide for us to be in the right place with Him

• We have hope because Jesus came to earth as one of us

• We have hope because Jesus brings Peace

• We have hope because Jesus is The Messiah

I found this short video which also links in with the Hope I have been talking about

I am so thankful we can have this Hope are you?

During Advent I am going to write about what I am doing for Christmas. 

 "Big Christmas Event"  

or the  

"Festive treats in store"  

Not for me.

A Clown called Dario - Xtra Special Day

We have various friends throughout the world mostly because we have lived in America and Belgium as well as the UK but also because we have been involved in different Christian Outreach Programs where people from various countries have come to stay with us while they do evangelistic work in association with whichever church we have been attending.

This week there was a solitary visitor to our church all the way from Italy to help with our outreach work during this month.  

He is called Dario and he is a professional clown.

He came to NI to work with children in Lurgan for a week.



Saturday Night we met him as Dario and not "Dario the Clown" while he explained how he came to be a clown and how God was working in his life.

Sunday Morning he came to our morning service at church and centred his actions and words on how God loves us, using imaginary flowers, a multi coloured piece of material, balloons, a suitcase and a young 9 year old boy he picked out of the congregation.

At the end of the service he made balloon animals, swords and hats for the children and they all got their photograph taken with him.

He even made a hat for me especially to match my cardigan.

Then to finish off Fred and I had our photo taken with him too.

Sunday Evening he was with another church who had joined with us to bring Dario over from Italy while we had a special Gospel message more for adults.

Monday Morning & Afternoon he was doing an an assembly and workshops in one of the primary schools followed by our After School Kids Club in another Primary School. 

This time he had an object like a feather duster.

He taught us how to greet a clown sitting down (because it involved lifting your right leg and various other precarious movements and he didn't want anyone to fall over), juggled with 3 balls and then explained how we should pray to God when we cannot do something because God has promised to help us and God had helped him to learn how to juggle with juggling clubs when he had found this very difficult and of course he enlisted the help of several willing volunteers.


Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday were also spent in Schools doing assemblies and workshops with the children

Thursday Evening was a special show in the Town Hall open to any of the children in the town of Lurgan, the hall was full of kids and parents and we had a fun-filled hour together with Dario instructing the children in many things such as how to greet a clown, how to spin plates, walk a tightrope and to know that with Jesus we can do all things.

Of course the balloons made an appearance so that Dario could make hearts for the the leaders of the churches who had hosted him.

Sunday Morning saw Dario at the other church again.



Sunday Evening we were delighted to have Dario with us again where he reminded us all that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by God, using balloons, a wig, a tutu and mime.

Thank you Dario for joining with us and teaching the children more about God.


Thank you God for your love for us, for helping us in all things, for creating us so uniquely and for making Dario such a caring clown.

Have you ever had a clown at your church?

Have you ever met a Christian Clown?

Are you thankful for God's love and for different ways to tell others of His love?

The Waterwheel - A Dose of Encouragement

        Some years ago a friend of ours was going through a very hard time in her life.  

She came to stay with us for a couple of weeks and needed a lot of understanding, sympathy and encouragement to help her see that she was loved.

        
One Sunday morning when we took her to church with us there was a time of prayer and ministry for individuals and my husband Fred asked her to go forward for prayer for God to bless her.  

I stood beside her and prayed that God would use someone there to really pray into her specific situation and that did happen as the Holy Spirit revealed to the people there that she had a great hurt to deal with.  

Then God showed me a picture of a waterwheel turning slowly round 

on the side of an old mill. 

As the wheel turned the sections of the wheel were filled up with water and this turned the wheel round and round.

This waterwheel was moving very slowly and we could think that it was moving so slowly that it would not make any difference to anything.  But something happened as the water was continually flowing through that wheel and turning it - there was energy created.  Even though the water was not very forceful and moving slowly through the wheel, the mill was still receiving power. 

Of course we would think that the mill required either a swift flowing current or a good head of water and with all the sections of the wheel intact the water would then provide the power that was needed.  Also if there were sections of that wheel missing it would be noticeable in the working of the mill. 

However that wheel was gradually going round and round and increasing in speed as it was letting the water do the work it was meant to do.

Sometimes we need to remember the waterwheel

Our friend needed to allow God to keep her in the flow of His love and care and settle in the security of knowing that He has enough love to encourage and keep her going. 

She needed to remember what she had once known but was forgetting to hold on to. She needed to remember that God has promised His Holy Spirit to each of us who have trusted in His Son, who have truly believed that Jesus died in our place, taking our sins on Himself.

When we acknowledge the role The Holy Spirit wants to have in our lives then we will be like the waterwheel gaining strength and power and being used to help others as well as ourselves.

For our friend the hurts might have seemed like they were almost immobilising her and she might have thought she could not cope but with God she could count on the fact that all He did by the work of His Holy spirit would matter and He would help her cope with it all no matter how long it would take.

Sometimes I can feel the same way and need to remember that waterwheel myself.