Armchair voyager .... Homefront warrior!

I have recently been able to indulge in a long time passion, photography, and have become very active on Instagram. Through this exciting medium I have been thrilled daily by fantastic photographs from all over the world and am following photographers from some places I had never heard of!  The main joy I have had is connecting with people with a shared passion for the beauty and wonder of God's creation. Many of these people are Christians, many are not yet there is always hope for a person who is awed by what the Creator has made.
The other thing that has happened is a desire to travel has been stirred up within me. I too want to record these beautiful places and share them with others. I have never before longed to roam around the world and, quite honestly, I am getting a tad too old and I am definitely  too broke to travel, so I have had to wonder what God is really stirring in me? Am I going to be sent in some new direction? Has God got some way in which He can use me or my passion for His glory and to advance His Kingdom? I don't know really. All I can do is trust and listen for His promptings. In the meantime it is important that, from where I am, I continue to do His works. That I continue to reach out to those who do not know Him and let them see Him in me and spread His message of love and redemption through Jesus Christ.
Perhaps I will travel one day, perhaps not. Either way my main thing is to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, to walk wherever He leads me and to do whatever tasks He gives me right here, in my own backyard!
God bless you all

WARNING! Not for Sissy's! - Follow Jesus

"Christianity is a crutch for the weak!" Have you heard that one? How about "Christians are shallow minded" and my personal favourite "Christians are judgemental" as they stand in judgement of us. What they don't understand is that it isn't easy being a Christian, especially if you are more than just a pew warmer! When we step out in faith to do God's will, Satan does not like it and so he comes against us. The weapons he uses most often are the things that are our weaknesses, which make the battle even harder. Society is against us. What is socially acceptable is so often contrary to God's desires for our lives that our life choices are frowned on or ridiculed - take the "no sex before marriage" example and you will understand what I mean. Let's face it, we are at war. However, what we need to remember is that the enemy has already been defeated. His battle is lost and all he is really doing is causing trouble as he heads towards his eternal fiery pit. His desire is to take as many souls with him on his way down as he possibly can. Which raises the question "so why are we at war?" If Satan has already been defeated and we are saved, Jesus has forgiven our sins and we are assured of a place in heaven, then why fight? Surely all we need to do is keep the ten commandments, go to church on Sundays and pay our tithes then we should be okay? We fight because God has commissioned us to do just that. We fight by showing God's almighty, unfailing love to those who don't know Him. We fight by awakening a hunger and thirst for Him in the hearts of those who are lost so that they too can be saved. We fight by living for others and not for ourselves, by standing up for the weak, the helpless and the oppressed. We fight by protecting this beautiful planet that God gave to us to care for and which is being systematically destroyed by man's greed and selfish stupidity. We stand firm. We do not allow ourselves to be shaken or to loosen our grip on God's hand as we walk through this life His way. We fight because God loves the lost so much that He died on the cross for us all. We fight because God has chosen us to be His children. We fight because somebody stood in the gap for us. Somebody prayed for us or stepped out in faith so that we could know Jesus and now it is our turn! Following Jesus is not easy. He never said it would be, but the rewards are greater than anything on earth!

Who Do You Trust?

I can’t believe we are almost through February 2013! The year that 'shouldn’t' have happened -according to many who believed that the world would end on 12 December 2012 (or something like that).  I can’t help but wonder about those people who put their trust in some ancient calendar and someone’s calculations…who are they trusting now? I couldn’t understand the logic behind the whole ‘pack up and run’ approach. Where were they running too? Was only a portion of the world going to end? Was it predominantly Americans who believed this? It certainly seemed that way, but that could just be because all of the television programmes were USA based. Was it perhaps just America that was going to end? Who really knew? It was all very confusing. 

Whilst I was last in hospital with a severe chest infection, I had the good fortune of meeting a very sweet, very young woman who was terribly confused about life. She had recently been declared dead for almost 15 minutes and yet had come back to life with no apparent brain damage or any other serious long-term side effects. She felt that because of her second chance, God (whom she previously had not really believed in) must have some purpose for her life. At the same time, she was convinced that all the stories about the Mayan calendar were true and that the end of the world was only a few short weeks away. She didn’t know where to turn and told me all of this between fear wrought sobs.

I was so glad to be able to introduce her to the One in whom I trust! Jesus Christ! In Matthew 24:36 Jesus tells the disciples that no man, not even the angels or even the Son (himself) will know the day or hour when He will return for Judgement day – only God. That was all I needed to explain. How can some ancient race, that have themselves been wiped out, predict what Jesus Himself does not know. 

I explained all this to her and was able to provide her with her very own Bible. I was also able to explain to her that our primary purpose in life is to bring glory to God. So we need to live our lives in such a manner that people see Jesus in all that we do. Our very lives need to reflect the goodness and love of Christ. This does not mean, I explained, that she has to become a missionary to North Korea or anything scary, but that God had given her skills and talents as well as put a desire in her heart for her career path and in that area, she could live out her purpose in life.

We had discussions late into the night, and as I was dropping off to sleep I realized why I had been hospitalized for a chest infection! I had felt that it was a bit of a dramatic decision, but if the doctor had not taken those steps and had sent me home, well then I could not have done what God needed me to do at that time.