Dancing with Matt?

At the beginning of the week, my hubby asked me where is Matt? I was pretty busy and kind of said, err who is Matt? and got on with what I was doing. Finally Steve sent me the link to the video and the question is actually, where the hell is Matt! Don't ask me why..Just enjoy because after a while, when you start watching the video, you just want to laugh! Hope it's not just me!

A bit of background found on the site:

Matt mostly just danced in front of iconic landmarks, but along the way he went to a country called Rwanda, and since there aren't any landmarks in Rwanda that you'd want to dance in front of, instead he just went to a small village and danced with a bunch of kids. The kids joined him immediately and without hesitation. That ended up being the best thing that happened to him on the trip. The kids taught him that people are a whole lot more interesting than old landmarks and monuments.

Matt went back to Stride and told them he did it all wrong and they needed to send him around the planet again. They said, "Okay," and in 2008 he put out another video that showed thousands of people laughing, smiling, and goofing around together. It took him five years and three tries, but he finally got it right that time.

The internet exploded. Matt briefly went from quasi-famous to not-entirely-un-famous. Visa hired him to do his dance in a series of TV ads that air across Asia and the Middle East, which introduced him to a thing called "Business Class," and meant he didn't have to worry so much about money anymore. He settled down with Melissa in Seattle, Washington and bought a house.

You are wonderful to me..

When I have to wait and/or when I feel like a lost sheep, I listen to this worship song, one of my favorite. Brothers and sisters, have a blessed mid-week. Yours in Christ. N.

Celestina Mba sues over Sunday shifts

In my inbox, I received a Prayer Alert: Sunday working case from Christian Concern. You may have heard of the case already. Here are the facts if you haven't. Christian children’s worker Celestina Mba is taking The Mayor and the London Borough of Merton to the Court of Appeal tomorrow (Wednesday 23 October) over their refusal to provide Reasonable Accommodation for her devoutly held Christian beliefs. Before Celestina began working for Brightwell Children’s Home in London, she agreed with her employers that she would not work on Sundays in accordance with her Christian beliefs. But the Council changed the arrangement soon after she started the job, saying that the arrangement was temporary, forcing her to choose between her job and her Christian observance. If successful, the case could be a benchmark for thousands of Christians in England now ‘forced’ to work on Sundays if they are to keep their jobs. Join Christian Concern team and us in ours prayers :
For a successful and just outcome
For wisdom for the judges
For barrister Paul Diamond who will be arguing in court on behalf of Celestina
That Celestina and her legal team would experience “the peace of God which transcends all understanding” during the proceedings
For fair and accurate news coverage

Practising generosity!

Steven and I had a fantastic time at our last synod and I would like to share what people -  in the vast diocese of Lichfield -  have been doing and are still doing in order to tackle poverty and practise generosity in their parishes. I have downloaded the video, you can watch it on the page called 'videos', scroll down in the right column. Any problem let me know. Have a blessed week. Nicky

Renewal conference October 2013

I am looking forward to tomorrow's conference. I have been fairly busy lately as my hubby was not home last week. So happy that he is back home now! :) Have a blessed week-end!

Goat for dinner

The young couple invited their aged pastor for Sunday dinner. 

While they were in the kitchen preparing the meal, the minister asked their son what they were having.

 "Goat," the little boy replied.     

 "Goat?" replied the startled man of the cloth, "Are you sure about that?"   

 "Yep," said the youngster.

 "I heard Pa say to Ma, 'Might as well have the old goat for dinner today as any other day.'"

Faithful with much

Faithful With Much

t a Wednesday evening church meeting a very wealthy man rose to give his testimony.
      
      "I'm a millionaire," he said, "and I attribute it all to the rich blessings of God in my life. I can still remember the turning point in my faith, like it was yesterday:
      
      I had just earned my first dollar and I went to a church meeting that night. The speaker was a missionary who told about his work. I knew that I only had a dollar bill and had to either give it all to God's work or nothing at all. So at that moment I decided to give my whole dollar to God. I believe that God blessed that decision, and that is why I am a rich man today."
      
       As he finished it was clear that everyone had been moved by this man's story. But, as he took his seat, a little old lady sitting in the same pew leaned over and said: "Wonderful story! I dare you to do it again!"

A B C D E F G

One day, a little girl got lost in the woods on a farm near where she lived.
The farmer who owned the land found the little girl and said to her, "Don't be afraid; I'll take you home."
The little child looked up at him, and with a smile, said, "I'm not afraid. I knew you would come; I was waiting for you."
"Waiting for me?" said the man. "What made you think I was coming?"
"I was praying that you would." she said.  "You were praying?" the farmer asked. "When I first heard you, you were just saying 'A B C D E F G.' What was that for?"
She looked up again and said, "I wasn't sure exactly what to say, so I was praying all the letters of the alphabet and letting God put them together the way He wanted them. He knew I was lost and he knew how to put the letters together better than I do."

I love this story so much. 'letting God put them together the way He wanted them' implies a complete trust in God. Are we ready to step out in faith or to ask in faith in our daily walk? Then we need to be patient and wait in faith for the Lord! 

The followers of Jesus said to him one day, "Give us more faith." Jesus answered them, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you." I find this passage of the bible very encouraging. Also the thought that not only our God loves us but he knows us and he is patient with us so even if we miss the mark and dare not step out in faith in one situation, we can have another try and this time go for it. Hence the importance of being surrounded by faithful brothers and sisters who truly love the Lord. 

May the Lord make his face shine on you.

Do miracles really happen?

Tonight I explored the REquest website that our friend Alex who works for Youth for Christ recommended to us after one of her lectures at Cliff Bible college.

On the main page, choose People and under the name of George Müller the sub-heading that caught my attention said :  do miracles really happen?

George Müller was popular with the children in his school in the Prussian town of Heimersleben, where his father was the tax collector. But his friends were not a good influence. Together they were often caught, lying, stealing, gambling, and frequently getting drunk. Eventually Müller, aged 16 years old, was caught by the police for stealing and spent nearly a month in prison. Nothing changed when he went to Halle University until, when he was 18, he had become sick and tired of the way he was living. He decided to become a Christian. The change was dramatic and he was so keen to tell others about this that very soon he decided to become a missionary.

In May 1829, he travelled to London for Bible training but after a few weeks became very ill. He was advised to move to the West Country to recover, and it was at Teignmouth that the plans for his life changed yet again. Here he married Mary Groves, and met Henry Craik, who was to become a life-long friend. In Devon, both George and Henry served as pastors of small chapels and, unlike most pastors, they decided not to accept any salary. Instead they asked God to supply their needs without telling anyone else about them. In 1832, Mary, George and Henry moved to Bristol to share in the care of two large chapels there, and they followed this same principle there, and did so for the rest of their lives. In 1834, Müller set up the Scriptural Knowledge Institution (S.K.I.) to provide practical support for missionaries.

Bristol had very poor sanitation. The water was dirty from terrible sewers. Soon after Müller arrived, the city was devastated by an epidemic of cholera, and many hundreds of people died. George and Henry visited the sick people, trusting God to keep them from catching the disease. So many people had died that there were hundreds of orphans with no-one to care for them. Many were reduced to begging in the streets. George Müller wanted to do something to help, and it was this that started his life’s work for God.

George and Mary prayed about this great need for some weeks. They shared their concern with other Christians. Müller saw this as an opportunity to prove to the people of Bristol the reality of faith in God, who answers the prayers of those who trust him. Day by day more gifts of money arrived, some just a few pence, others hundreds of pounds. But Müller was determined never to get into debt. He waited until £1000 had been given specifically for an Orphan Home before he rented No. 6 Wilson Street. This was a large terraced house in the centre of Bristol.

The first Orphan House was opened on April 11th, 1836 for orphan girls aged 7 and over. Within a few weeks, this was filled to capacity with 30 girls and two Christian ladies to care for them. Müller was saddened to have to turn away younger orphans and so, six months later, he rented another house (No 1) in the same street, together with a piece of land for a playground. Within a month this house was furnished and opened for infant girls and boys.

In October1837, Müller opened a third house (No 3 Wilson St.) for 40 orphan boys aged 7 or over. All Müller’s children were given good clothes to wear and enjoyed clean, warm homes. They were brought up to share in some of the household duties. They never went hungry although, unknown to them, the stocks of food frequently ran out. Day after day gifts were brought to the Homes, rarely more than enough for one or two days but never too little.

As they prayed and trusted God amazing things happened. For example, one morning with no bread or milk with which to prepare breakfast, ‘grace’ was said and God thanked for what He would provide. Just then, the doorbell rang and there was the baker who could not sleep during the night and had got up and baked a whole batch of bread for the orphans. The milkman, whose cart had broken down in the road outside and who needed to off-load the churns of milk to repair the wheel followed shortly after. Although resources were often stretched, Müller and all his staff continued to trust God, as this note from one of the Homes shows:

“With potatoes from the children’s garden and with apples from the tree in the playground (for apple dumplings) and 4s 6d the price of some articles given by one of the labourers, we have a dinner. There is much needed but the Lord will provide.”

With so many children in one city street, there were some problems. Neighbours complained about the noise at playtime and this lasted a long time since the one playground was only large enough to be used by the children from one home at a time. Occasionally the drains became overloaded, and the water supplies were inadequate. Müller also began to dream of open spaces with clean, fresh air and walks for the children, of gardens where the boys could grow crops and girls could hang out the mountains of laundry.

After praying about it for a long time, George Müller shared his ideas with other Christians, and a plan for the future began to unfold. Large gifts started to come in for the building of a new Orphan House. Müller was able to purchase 7 acres of open land at Ashley Down on the outskirts of Bristol.
After his death in 1898 many expected the work to run down but, under the leadership of Christians with the same trust in God, the homes on Ashley Down continued to care for orphans. When the orphan work ceased in 1986 – almost 100 years after Müller’s death - almost 18,000 orphans had been cared for. 

I also found an article George wrote about faith and here is the passage that struck me the most. 

When I first began to allow God to deal with me, relying on Him, taking Him at His Word, and set out fifty years ago simply relying on Him for myself, family, taxes, travelling expenses and every other need, I rested on the simple promises I found in the sixth chapter of Matthew. Read Matthew 6:25-34 carefully. I believed the Word, I rested on it and practiced it. I took God at His word. A stranger, a foreigner in England, I knew seven languages and might have used them perhaps as a means of remunerative employment but I had consecrated myself to labor for the Lord, I put my reliance in the God who has promised, and He has acted according to His Word. I've lacked nothing - nothing. I have had my trials, my difficulties, and my purse empty, but my receipts have aggregated thousands of dollars, while the work has gone on these 51 years. Then, with regard to my pastoral work; for the past 51 years I have had great difficulties, great trials and perplexities. There will always be difficulties, always trials. But God has sustained me under them and delivered now out of them, and the work has gone on. 

Now, this is not, as some have said, because I am a man of great mental power, or endowed with energy and perseverance - these are not the reasons. 

It is because I have confided in God; because I have sought God, and He has cared for the Institution, which, under His direction, has 100 schools, with masters and mistresses and other departments which I have told you before.

To read more, click here

Do miracles happen in our lives?  I believe that they do, you may not even know that they are. Still the Lord who loves us, looks after us well, his children.

Messy church rocks!

This afternoon, Steven and I went to messy church in Weston.We met up with Phil, the rector, Gill, the messy church team leader and the other members of the team.Once again, the village hall was full of children and parents. On the play list was my favourite song : Who is the king of me? J.E.S.U.S. The kids loved it!

We gave thanks to the Lord for all the good things that He provides us with. The most popular activity was the following, you had to design bracelets or necklaces with food bits, such as grapes, candy floss, sweets, cheerios and  strawberry strings. Have you done messy church before, it's a lot of organisation but good fun!

Why does God let bad things happen to good people?

Why does God let bad things happen to good people?

Stop at 6 pm every Tuesday

and pray for your

Children

Schools &

Community

This idea was conceived and developed by my friend Jen whom I met at Cliff Bible College at the beginning of September. Join us then here or type https://twitter.com/Pray_at_6

Blessings. N.

The Degradation of Christian Women under Islam

The Degradation of Christian Women under Islam
Muslim Persecution of Christians: June, 2013

by Raymond Ibrahim at the Gatestone Institute

A church in the Syrian village of al-Duwayr, after an attack by Islamist militiamen. (Image credit: Syria Report)

Meanwhile, in Egypt, U.S. ambassador Anne Patterson was urging Christian Copts not to protest Muslim Brotherhood rule, even though they would suffer under it most. According to Al Azhar, the world's oldest Islamic university, Islam is a religion of peace.

The degradation of Christian women living in the Islamic world continued in the month of June. In Syria, after the al-Qaeda linked rebel group conquered Qusair, a city of the governate of Homs, 15-year-old Mariam was kidnapped, repeatedly gang raped according to a fatwa legitimizing the rape of non-Sunni women by any Muslim waging jihad against Syria's government, and then executed.

According to Agenzia Fides, "The commander of the battalion 'Jabhat al-Nusra' in Qusair took Mariam, married and raped her. Then he repudiated her. The next day the young woman was forced to marry another Islamic militant. He also raped her and then repudiated her. The same trend was repeated for 15 days, and Mariam was raped by 15 different men. This psychologically destabilized her and made her insane. Mariam became mentally unstable and was eventually killed."

In Pakistan, Muslim men stormed the home of three Christian women, beat them, stripped them naked and tortured them, and then paraded them in the nude in a village in the Kasur district. Days earlier, it seems the goats of the Christian family had accidentally trespassed onto Muslim land; Muslims sought to make an example of the Christian family, who, as third-class citizens, must know their place at all times.

Iraq: During the middle of the night, armed men attacked St. Mary's Assyrian Catholic Church in Baghdad; they wounded two Christian guards, one seriously. Later the same day, bombs were set off at two Christian-owned businesses, both near the church; they killed one Christian shop owner, a parishioner at St. Mary's. Since the U.S. "liberation" of Iraq in 2003, 73 churches have been attacked or bombed, and more than half of the country's Christian population has either fled or been killed.
Continue reading, click here
Father, we thank you that we have the freedom of faith and worship in our countries. We ask you in the name of Jesus-Christ our Saviour and King to stop those conflicts, to give wisdom to the leaders of those countries, to strengthen all our Christian brothers and sisters who live in such countries where those atrocities prevail, to help them rebuild their lives and guide us to do our utmost in our lives to spread your message of love, forgiveness and peace. May your will be done in Jesus'name. Amen

Special Harvest celebration!

Off to The Bank House Inn for a Harvest celebration that is a bit different, with some food and as always, music for all ages. Starts at 7 pm. Have a blessed evening!

Forgiveness

Forgiveness


(Toby Mac)


There is nothing sweeter than find forgiveness cos we all make mistakes sometimes.
No matter how lost you are, you are not too far from forgiveness.
Ask for forgiveness..


The following verse in Matthew (18:21-22)is one of my favorite!


21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, when someone won’t stop doing wrong to me, how many times must I forgive them? Seven times?”22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, you must forgive them more than seven times. You must continue to forgive them even if they do wrong to you seventy-seven times.

Pick of the week: Woman wakes from coma, finds out she’s 12 weeks pregnant

Photo credit: Newsy/ITV

A woman awoke from a coma after a horrific crash to find that she was four months pregnant.
Last September, Gemma Holmes was on her moped in Hilperton, England when she crashed into a parked car. Holmes suffered severe head injuries and a broken back. When she arrived to the hospital doctors did not think the 26-year-old would make it.
About three months after the crash Holmes awoke from the coma and was told she was four months pregnant. Holmes suffered amnesia as a result of the accident and she could not remember what had happened going back several years including who the father might be. "I was just in shock," she said of hearing the surprising news.
Doctors advised her that keeping the baby could pose a risk to her health and that the surgery she required to fix her broken back could to be done while she was pregnant. Doctors apparently suggested terminating the pregnancy while Holmes was still unconscious, but her mother, Julie, wanted to wait for her daughter to wake up before making any decisions. Gemma decided that she would carry pregnancy to term, according to the Wiltshire Times "I just thought that if this little baby inside me had managed to survive the awful crash, then he was meant to be," she told ITV.
In May, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Rueben Miracle Holmes via cesarean section.
"I couldn't stop crying when they first showed him to me, because he is my little miracle baby. I was just so happy to see him after everything we've been through," she told SWNS.com.
Holmes is preparing for surgery that will correct her back and hopefully lean to walk again.
"Rueben is the best thing to ever happen to me. I may not remember how he came to me but I've got the rest of our lives to make up for that," Holmes told Reveal.co.uk in May.

I found this story wonderful, Gemma was so brave to take the decision to go ahead with the pregnancy, It is also said that she suffered excruciating pain, since she was unable to take the usual high doses of painkillers. as these might have harmed her baby.  Doctors told Gemma that she couldn’t have a natural birth because it would likely cause her death. Her broken back would not be able to cope with the contractions.
But Gemma’s pain and sacrifice paid off when in May she met Ruben Miracle Holmes for the first time, delivered by caesarian section.
To read more, click here!  

What is love?

 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror;then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

God's love letter

"The Bible is God's love letter to us, and it describes the Lord Jesus, who said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10."

“Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?”

“There is no panic in Heaven! God has no problems, only plans.”

“Trying to do the Lord's work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.”

“Do you know what hurts so very much? It's love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill that love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.”

― Corrie ten Boom

Friday: best read in my blogroll!

Many thanks to Warren Baldwin for the following post about children

Children at the Center #1
“My Children are my world. They are the center of my universe.”
But, I still cringe when I hear parents say, “My Children are my world. They are the center of my universe,” especially when the children have gotten older. Here’s why. Bonnie had her first child when she was an older teenager. She missed out on having a first year of college, dorm parties with classmates, and spending long weekends at the homes of her girlfriends. When her high school friends left for college, she stayed home to care for her daughter, and soon after other kids.
That is ok! Even most of her friends who went off for school eventually married and had children. They just waited a few more years to start. For Bonnie, though, the loss of missing out on those older teen experiences was hard to accept But, for awhile she could forget the pain because she had something new to celebrate: the center of her universe, her precious baby daughter.
Bonnie worked hard to be a good parent. She was, except that it was hard for her to allow her daughter to grow and transition from one stage to another. It became especially difficult when her daughter was in high school and had her friends over. When they stayed up to watch late movies, Bonnie joined in, trying to function more as a teen friend than as an adult parent. It was probably unconscious, but through her daughter Bonnie was actually trying to create some of the teenage experiences she had missed out on years before. Bonnie’s daughter was her best friend, her pal, her center.
Then the daughter graduated, went to college, and never returned home again...Read more, click here

And many thanks to the owner of Simply helping him for the following post about marriage

In my childhood dreams, I watched my marriage play out beautifully.
Laughter, devotions, alone time together, kisses and cuddles all abounded.
Conflict and differences were seen, but didn’t need to be addressed.
We were perfect together, our differences didn’t cause issues.
In my life…………..boy do I see things otherwise.
Opposite personalities, different upbringings, age differences, and conflict seem to abound at times. Throughout the last 9 years, we’ve learned to discuss things much better than in the past thankfully.
Yet our marriage is nothing like my childhood dreams.
He likes tennis, I prefer basketball.
He likes alone time, I want us time.
I like having friends over, he wants the couch and remote.
I love trying new recipes, he likes the same meals.
We are like night and day different.      Read more, click here

Fix your eyes upon Jesus

Hebrews 11:29-12:2

Introduction

The passage we are looking at today from Hebrews continues the theme of faith that the author takes into a new gear at the beginning of chapter 11 and his introduction to this is:

[2] This is what the ancients were commended for.

He then mentions a host of people as well as events through which greats acts of faith and hope are demonstrated from creation onto a host of important events in the first half of the Old Testament and then he glosses the rest and brings us to a time possible only years before the coming of Jesus. This is a catalogue of heroes of faith, people who had faith in a living God who acts, gives hope and who has more in store! In fact at the other end of chapter 11 he brings an interesting turning point which is pivotal to what follows:

[39] These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, [40] since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

In fact the whole chapter is like a marathon, hold that, which starts with a very steady and measured pace and then accelerates from where we cut into it today.

Another thought on 'faith' and for that, back to the first verse of chapter 11

 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

As part of the introduction to this passage one of my commentaries says this:

In a world where people dismiss faith as ‘wishful thinking’, or simply identify it with the beliefs and practices of a particular religion ( e.g. ‘the Muslim faith’), it is good to have a comprehensive picture of the faith that actually pleases God. Hebrews shows the link between faith, hope, obedience and endurance, illustrating that it is more than intellectual assent to certain beliefs. God-honouring faith takes God at his word and lives expectantly and obediently in the present, waiting for him to fulfill his promises. Such faith brings suffering and persecution in various forms.

Chapter 12 brings in his readers, and us, with complete prominence into the arena and also there is the ultimate hero of all who is also at the centre of the whole letter - Jesus. So, as I say,

Into the arena

Which is just the picture we have. Remember I said before that chapter 11 is like a marathon, well, most of a marathon is run outside the arena, certainly at the Olympics and probably in those days too, well, now we are there with Jesus in what is the final part of the event. And, this is what he writes:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

Can you see the masterful picture he is painting? All the people of chapter 11 have completed their leg of the marathon, which is also perhaps a relay where faith is the baton passed on, and by what we see in them  we are cheered on our way by the encouragement we see in the way they exercised faith.

In a slightly different way I saw this a few weeks ago at Hixon school sports day and it was a lovely sight. Each group had their great long race round the course, and the younger the group the more their little legs were whirling, but in each year there were always a few who struggled or who couldn't even really run. The truly lovely bit was that those who had finished were there at the finishing line cheering those who were struggling so they completed the race.

Our writer also brings in two other important elements as an illustration for the race of faith in this verse and another

 1.       Ridding ourselves of anything that would hinder - compare that to what Jesus says about the seeds sown in the thorny part of the field in the parable of the sower how they are choked by the cares of this life - consider: what chokes our faith

2.       Ridding ourselves of the sin that entangles - in other words all that dishonours Jesus or is not what he has for us or is against what he wants. The aim is to stay focussed on what we are through the victory of Jesus over sin and death.

All this then makes us lean, mean, running machines and as such there is

The focus of the race

Which is none other than Jesus who he is the starting line, the pace setter and the finishing post - v 2a

And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, [2] fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

He is the source of faith, the reason for faith and the goal of faith and this faith is lived out in the realities of life.

This was also true for all those who he mentions in chapter 11 but their faith was much more on that which is unseen than ours  because Jesus has now been revealed. Of course we still have that which is unseen but it is all there in Jesus in whom and through who we live the life of faith.

How He has become the focus of the race

Because as a participant with us this is what he did - v 2b

For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Joy was his focus as he, in faith, saw the outcome that is reality for him now which is to be seated at the right hand of the throne of God where he, seated there in victory, is the focus for our journey of faith. That has a conclusion in the next verse which wasn't in the reading - but we'll have it anyway and it will lead to our:

Conclusion

[3] Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Jesus is the ultimate encouragement for us to stay firm in faith. Not other Christians, the church or whatever but Jesus the victor who brings life and salvation - our hope where faith lies.

And finally an anomaly thought: I meet many people who say they are open minded about faith and God but I wonder if lots of those people actually have an extractor fan fitted to their open minds that takes away anything God sows there! You can compare that once more with the parable of the sower and the seed that falls by the path and which is eaten by the birds.

Fix your eyes upon Jesus!

Steven Abram.  Sunday 18th August 2013