Guidance.

 

My car is fitted with a modern Satellite Navigation device on the dashboard and it has my home address in its memory, so when I was leaving the Orana Mall recently, (just for fun), I decided to allow it to guide me home so I tapped my finger on “Home” (whilst I was still in the car park, facing North) and immediately the display showed me how far from home I was and what it estimated my time of arrival would be, whilst a friendly voice said “drive 20 metres and turn left and then turn left again down Wheeler’s lane.” As you can see it also gave me a map with an arrow showing the way: This meant that I would now be driving South when I actually live in a Westerly direction. Did the voice get it wrong then? No, it just knew that sometimes we have to detour around obstacles in order to arrive at our destination, so as soon as I had followed those instructions it then said “travel 300 Metres to the next roundabout and turn right, and leave the roundabout at the third exit onto the Mitchell Highway” (that meant that if I did as it instructed I would then be travelling West towards my home). So that was good guidance.

However, due to a number of circumstances, I failed to do as I was told and left the roundabout at the second exit, (instead of the third), which meant that I was still travelling in a Southerly direction, which was wrong. I am pleased to say though that the voice didn’t criticise me or call me a “Twit” or abandon me as hopeless. No, it just said “recalculating” and in a minute said “continue 300 metres and turn right at the next roundabout and take the fourth exit”. Which I did, and that took me right back to the place where I had made my “mistake” and I’m pleased to say it didn’t make any nasty comment there either but merely said “please turn left down the Mitchell Highway, which I did and then I was driving West in the direction of my home as it had originally told me to.

This whole exercise reminded me of our relationship with God, because just as the satellite knows exactly where we are at any given time and what is the best direction for us to travel (whilst not criticising us for our “mistakes”), so God knows exactly where we are as we travel the road through life towards our ultimate goal of a home in Heaven. He also has agreed to delete from his memory any sin we may have committed provided that we accept the forgiveness offered to us through Jesus sacrifice, and he has also given us a road map which He expects us to follow, showing the best way and how to avoid pitfalls. For example, Proverbs 3: 5 says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths”, (that is how we trust the satellite navigation system to guide us too). There is however, a very great difference and that is that God is our loving Father, whereas that satellite gadget is just a machine. Consequently, God sees the spiritual side of our lives, and cares about our feelings and our wellbeing. His main interest is to guide us as a “good shepherd” looks after his sheep, and as Jesus sheep we can also seek his protection, which we really need because Ephesians 6:12 tells us that “we don’t struggle against flesh and blood” (people) but against the unseen works of darkness. So as we walk with our complete faith in Him we find ourselves protected by Him like that sheep in this illustration. Consequently, we can have that “peace that passes

understanding” (Philippians 4:7), and sing or recite “In God’s green pastures feeding, by the still waters lie, soft in the evening walk my Lord and I. Oh the sheep of His pasture fare so wonderfully fine, His sheep am I, waters cool, in the valley, pastures green, on the mountain, step by step, step by step, my Lord and I”. Which is what the 23^rd Psalm implies. Romans Chapter 8 and verse 39 confirms this by saying that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.             Best wishes. Tom.

Scientific evidence

 

I met a man who said he wasn’t interested in religious things as he was more of a scientific mind.

Well I put it to you that God is the Supreme Scientific Mind in the Universe; For the purpose of discussion let us keep it simple and look at something as uncomplicated as this Nectarine flower which I photographed on a tree in my daughter’s back yard, and one of the Nectarine fruit. Simple it may be, (compared to things like the Human body), but for all that, there is not a Scientist in the entire world who can replicate any item illustrated here even with all the equipment in their laboratories.

For starters we have to have a Nectarine tree (and where it came from I would like to know, if it wasn’t created by God as Genesis 1 tells us it was). Now that tree only has a life span of a few years (say 20 years) so in that time the first Nectarine tree had to design and manufacture a seed like you see here so it could replace itself, and that is a neat trick for a brainless tree to perform if it wasn’t “programmed” by God to “Produce after its kind”.  Because if it didn’t come up with a perfect seed in that time that would have been the end of the species. Let us look at what really happens to produce a seed like that:  Firstly the tree has to suck out of the dirt the necessary ingredients to make the flower (and this can’t be “hit and miss” either) it must know exactly what it intends to produce, which is simple if God programmed it, but impossible if it isn’t programmed. It has then to form a tiny unfertilised seed, surround it with lovely petals, nectar, and pollen, to attract the bees. This of course begs the question how does a “brainless tree” know there are bees and that it needs to attract them to fertilise the flowers?” After that, when the fertilised seed is completely formed the tree encase that seed in a solid wooden container to protect it (as illustrated), and the “flesh” then sweetens as it ripens, with the skin of the fruit becoming very attractive to people, animals, and birds. Thus they eat the tasty flesh, and then drop the seed on the ground, as the tree “wants” them to do in order that another tree can grow when the conditions are right. So either the “brainless” tree is very clever (which it isn’t) or the designer certainly knew what He was doing! (which is obvious).  Furthermore, this Design Engineer, (who is our incredible God), also made the nectarine skin smooth so there would be no mix up with the hairy skinned peach which looks similar. He also

created thousands of other different lovely tasting fruits and vegetables for us to enjoy, with different shapes   for easy identification, and also “colour coded” them all to make it easy for the Grower, the Supermarket, and the Shopper to select what they want. Just imagine if they were all the same colour and size what a hopeless mess shopping would be! So now if you want a Nectarine you pick up a Nectarine not a Peach or a pear. Simple for us, but imagine the planning that was necessary to arrange for all that to happen. Whilst we are thinking about this incredible Design Engineer God of ours, spend some time, (I suggest the rest of your life) trying to understand how He designed a different finger print and “barcode”, which we call D.N.A, for each of the billions of people in the world and arranged for each one to look different and have a different voice for ease of recognition.  Can you imagine anything more Scientific than all that? And to complete the arrangement He has promised that if we repent and “Believe on Jesus” He will look after us now and in Heaven for eternity! (Psalm 91 and John 3 verse 16).  How good is that?     

Best wishes, Tom.

Training and Encouraging

 

In these two photos we have a climbing rose that has been encouraged to use the support of a man made Arched Trellis on a house in East Dubbo, and a Wisteria that has been encouraged to grow on a Paper Bark tree at a farm near Gilgandra. Both of these climbers could have existed without the support that they have, however although they may have made some sort of a display on the ground they would have also been a harbor for snakes mice, and weeds, and there is the ever present possibility that animals may have eaten them.

It is for sure that when we train up a young vine the way it was mean to grow, when it is old we will have a very beautiful display that will give us constant pleasure. The bible instructs us to do the same thing with our children; the actual words are: “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). If you have a tree in your garden and want it to look as beautiful as this one then you will have to plant the vine and nurture it and encourage its flexible limbs to twine around the tree and in a few years you will be delighted with the result. The tree and the vine become so much a part of each other that we see them as one unit. This is how God wants us and our children to relate to Him.  He wants to be so much a part of all our lives that we share everything with Him. God wants us to start training our little ones in His ways from the day they are born, (as the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy tells us to: in Chapter 6 Verse7) whilst their young minds are pliable and receptive, that way they grow up to depend on God as an integral part of their lives, like the vine in the tree. There will be exceptions to that rule of course, due to outside influences such as poor example at pre-school, the media, and possibly atheistic primary teachers. What they learn in those first 6 formative years though, will determine their basic attitudes for the rest of their lives. This is where Parents, Grandparents and Great Grandparents who love them and are loved by them, share a great responsibility to influence them by their Christian example in all that they say and do. Remember the poem: “I would rather see a sermon than hear one any day, I would rather one would walk with me, than merely show the way. The eye is a better pupil and more willing than the ear; fine council is confusing, but example is always clear. I soon can learn to do it if you will let me see it done, I can watch your hands in action but your tongue too fast may run”. Example is so very important!

In saying all this I am nevertheless aware that some people reading what I have written, may not have had that close relationship with God themselves, and that’s normal enough; but we are not dead yet either, and God is in the business of changing lives. Therefore if you are one of those people and want a closer relationship with him, he will help you achieve that because his Holy Spirit is just waiting for your permission to let him help you.

If you haven’t already done so, try and see yourself as a vine, and God as that tree that will support you; what a relationship! The way to get that support is to ask for it in prayer, read the New Testament and, if possible, fellowship with other Christians at church (Hebrews 10:25), the bible tells us to do that. In John chapter 15, Jesus says that he wants us to “Abide in him and his word to abide in us”. Therefore If we are going to comply with that, then we need to “down load” his word from the New Testament into our minds, and that is just commonsense because we do that in everything else: Nurses study books to know how to nurse, Mechanics study about engines, and Teachers study teaching. There is nothing strange or unreasonable about Jesus request! If we want to succeed in anything we need to understand the subject, and in this case discover the great unfailing love he has for us.            Best wishes, Tom.

Heaven or Hell

 

As I look at this beautiful, cool waterfall and the magnificent, peaceful landscape

surrounding it, I find it hard to believe that somewhere below the ground that we are standing on there is a boiling cauldron of lava as we see escaping from the volcano in the next photo. The contrast between these two photos is somewhat equivalent to the difference between Heaven and Hell as described in the Bible, and yet I met a man recently who very seriously voiced the opinion that he didn’t want to go to Heaven. He seemed to feel that he would be lonely there. Which is completely incorrect. However, he apparently does not understand that the only other alternative is for him to go to Hell as there is no third option available. So, just for the record, let us look at some of what the New Testament says about the two places.

Firstly, Heaven is the most remarkable place, to the extent that we cannot imagine how wonderful because there is nothing on earth that is adequate to compare it with. Those who have been privileged to catch a glimpse of it have been lost for words to describe it. For example, in Revelation, John talks of each gate being a pearl and “streets like transparent gold as it were”, and there being no sun or moon there because the Glory of the Lord is its light. Whilst Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, how he heard an abundance of revelations there that were unspeakable and not lawful for a man to utter. Whilst Jesus said that He was going to prepare a place for his followers, and there were many mansions there and every reference to heaven is to a place of complete joy and love and perfection.

Secondly, to assume that everyone will go there when they die is completely against what the New Testament says. Certainly everyone can go there, providing that they accept the forgiveness of their sins that Jesus paid for, on their behalf. But it is not automatic: we have to repent and accept that forgiveness because we have all sinned and cannot enter Heaven as we are. It was out of pure love for us that Jesus stood in for us, indeed “It was whilst we were yet sinners that Christ died for the ungodly”. That, of course is the main reason that we should love God and Jesus. You see, to die for everyone means that murderers and all classes of criminals can be forgiven by God because Jesus took on himself all the world’s disgusting sin and paid the penalty awaiting every person. Those who have committed “lesser sins” should be just as grateful because sin is sin and no one with unforgiven sin can enter Heaven.You know if I had never seen the heat inside the earth (displayed by volcanoes and hot springs), I would have been very sceptical of anyone saying it was there.

I don’t know where Hell is but it is vividly described as an awful place with lakes of fire. Jesus told a story about a man who went there and from where he was he could see a person he knew up in Heaven so he cried out asking if that man could bring him a drop of water to “cool his tongue for he was tormented in this flame” (Luke chapter16 verse 24). However, his request was denied because there is a great gap between the two places. It appears to me that Heaven and Hell are another dimension that we cannot see whilst we are in our human bodies. but are as real as the radio messages floating through your room and the lava underneath us. Invisible but there nevertheless.

The man who said that he didn’t want to go to Heaven apparently had no concept of its delights, or the horrors of Hell, because they are the only two alternatives for us when we leave these bodies, and which ever we choose will be our dwelling place for ever. Can you conceive how long “forever” in Hell would be?

The fact that Jesus left the wonders of Heaven and took on a human body so he could be cruelly crucified to pay the price of our sin, in order that you and I could avoid Hell, should give us a fair indication of how dreadful Jesus knew that place to be, and also how he must love us. If we refuse to accept the forgiveness he purchased for us in this way, we are not only condemning ourselves to eternal punishment, but doing so is also the equivalent of spitting in the eye of the one who loves us more than anyone in the world could love us, or ever will.

More “Gluten Free” food for thought, I’m not trying to fatten you with all this “food for thought”. I just want to be sure you join Audrey and me, when your time comes.    I know Audrey will have the equivalent of a lovely Morning or Afternoon tea for you when you arrive. She always made the most wonderful Scones and Slices.                     Best wishes, Tom.

Butterflies, Ice Cream and Drought

 

Tommy wasn’t a bad boy by any means but like the rest of us wasn’t perfect either. He had one bad habit and that was to leave his room in an untidy mess. He was a thoughtful kid though, and had commenced a butterfly collection, but just could not understand how a butterfly like this “Ulysses” could possibly have designed its own

wings so beautifully, which was what he had been taught at school. Particularly, seeing he had also been taught in Sunday School and Scripture that the wonderful mind of God designed and created them all. Somehow that seemed to be the most logical thing to believe, because the more he looked at the photos of the many colours and designs and considered how tiny their brains must be, he felt that the Bible account just had to be the right one. Sounds logical, doesn’t it? However, it was a Saturday morning and all this thinking had made him feel like some Ice-cream, (not that we have to think a lot to want Ice Cream), and he knew his mother had a 4 litre pot of his favourite in the freezer so went to the kitchen where his mum was preparing a roast for lunch and said: “Mum, can I have a plate of Ice-cream?” “Certainly” his Mother replied, “that is why I bought it, but first I want you to tidy up your room and put your toys away.” So the lad went back to his room and came back 20 minutes later and asked again for the Ice-Cream. “OK” said his mum, “but I will just check your room first”. I am sorry to say though that she found his room still in a mess, and even a little worse, as he had been building a “Lego” castle all that time. Needless to say, Tommy didn’t get his Ice-Cream: there was nothing wrong with what he was doing, of course, but he had ignored the conditions that his mother had made.

Now, a question for you, dear reader: Did his Mother do the right thing? Frankly I think she was right. He did get Ice-cream for sweets at lunch time, just like the rest of the family, so he didn’t miss out completely, but he did miss out on getting it when he wanted it and at a time when he felt he needed it. His mother’s aim of course was not to save Ice-Cream, but to teach him obedience. I recently wrote that droughts are also the result of disobedience. This is a very “deep” Spiritual subject and I can’t do it justice in 2 pages so am apt to be misunderstood. Someone challenged me the other day, by saying that “England doesn’t have droughts, don’t those people sin?” I would like to point out that in Deuteronomy, God speaking through Moses, was addressing His comments to The Children of Israel. Their climate was different to that of England and He was just assuring them that if they obeyed His Commands He would see to it that they prospered in all sorts of ways including climate, so that they would also have good crops and good pasture. The New Testament shows us that “Gentiles” (non-Jews, like us) are eligible for the same benefits because Jesus died for the forgiveness of everyone who repents and believes in Him. By adoption then, we are included as part of God’s large family and if we comply with His directions, the promises in Deuteronomy will assure us that we will also be blessed in all sorts of ways including climate. However, as a Nation we have forfeited our rights by disregarding and disobeying just about everything He has told us to do, so He cannot possibly bless us as a Nation. Unfortunately, every person in our land is affected by the drought directly or indirectly as it costs billions of dollars.

Well then where does this place you, if you are a Christian endeavouring to do God’s will?  The answer is “Pray in faith, believing, nothing doubting”, and God “shall supply all your needs”. “Only my needs”? Yes, if He does more than that everyone will “jump on the band-wagon.” For example, I knew of a case in a very poor country where people lived in slums and the missionaries built comfortable little houses for a couple of families who had become Christians. When the others saw that, they all came to church, not wanting to hear the Gospel of course, but to get the material benefit of a house. Jesus found this too. After He fed the Five thousand people He said that the crowd was following Him then, not to hear the Gospel but for material benefits. Similarly, if God does more than supply your “need” everybody will be chasing Christianity, not because they recognise themselves as sinners needing a Saviour, but because of the material benefits you received. That’s human nature, and really, do you require more than having your “needs” supplied?  You might want more but is it necessary?

Remember that God loved us enough to have sent Jesus to die to “delete” our sins. So if we haven’t already done so we can repent and accept His forgiveness, it is absolutely free, and then we can request his special assistance, even in times like drought. Bible References: Deuteronomy Chapter 11 Verse 14. Philippians Chapter 4 Verse 19. Matthew 21:22. John Chapter 6 Verse 26. John Chapter 3 Verse 16.                                  Some (Gluten free) food for thought. Tom.