Gallipoli

1st World War was really brutal, as are all wars,

Gallipoli - an utter devastation.

Like Sean, there with hundreds of others in the thick of the battle, he glanced around to see his mate Freddy following, running in a crouch, stumbling as bullets tore over his head, then scrambling back on his feet to continue running.

Machine guns opened up from their own lines in a futile attempt to provide cover fire, but the machine gun firing at them was too well entrenched. He saw Freddy just as a flare settled in the vast, horribly open space where they were. Freddy runs back to the enemy lines towards the machine gun, a grenade in each hand.

He threw a grenade - it exploded on target, and the gun fell silent. A shout went up - everyone impressed by the raw courage of young Freddy.

Sean turns to run when the world around him explodes. He is not even slightly aware that he has been blown off his feet by a trench mortar bomb, brought into action to counter the raid on their lines.

Lying in the parched and brutally barren space within a huge scorch mark on the ground where the mortar had exploded, he couldn't help but think as he lay on his back, staring up at the stars - the ground around him parched, dry, and red hot - where the heck am I?

All around him, bombs exploding. scattering red-hot shards everywhere. Suddenly, there was Freddy at his side, dragging and pulling him into a sort of safe place in the trench.

Sean almost died there, and if it wasn't for Freddy, he definitely would have. Sean lost both his legs and was eventually transported back to Australia.

War is a horrible and ghastly thing to be happening- nothing really has changed since the First World War, as mentioned above - it was just today that we once again heard of young families in the Ukraine being killed so horribly by mortar attacks by the Russian army - families killed, torn apart, and ruined.

Many, many people are left homeless and devastated by thoughtless and cruel people who only have one thing in mind, and that is power, no matter what it costs.

Back to World War 1 and the Australian Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, had called for Australian males to be forced into military service to help out England in her war against Germany and her allies.

It's tough when the Government of the day forces our young people into military service - I remember well back in the 60s when the Vietnam War was at its peak, so many of us were called to National Service for at least 2 years, all at the age of 20 years old. So many young men at the time were tragically killed. Girls weren't included back then in the call-up system - oh, so different in those bizarre days.

We look back and can often be horrified at what is happening. When I look at how the world is evolving now, I often feel staggered when I think of so many ways the whole thing has evolved,

As Christmas has just been, I can't help feeling how vastly different it is in so many ways than when Jesus was first born in the dirty old stable over 2000 years ago. Here was the very Son of God - actually God came to earth to save us all - He came knowing that He would give His life so that all we have to do is to accept Him as our Lord and saviour and ask Him to rule our lives.

How about you? Are you any wiser about who Jesus is and why He was born in that filthy stable all those years ago?

He was completely sinless, and because he actually was completely sinless, he took our sins upon Himself, and with our decision to accept His gift of eternal life, He killed our sins along with His own life upon that absurd and hideous cross.

So many people these days have really no idea who He was - nearly every single story on Television uses his name as a swear word over and over again. They have no real idea that they will be held accountable to God for using His name in vain - pretty disastrous for them.

I personally make so many mistakes nearly every single day. Does that make me 'not a Christian' - I know that is not right. When I came to God in the first place, he accepted me, and I felt Him leading me, and I put Him first. But often things of this world can upset and confuse us so many times, and we find ourselves frustrated and often abusive.

It happens to me quite a bit, but immediately I ask God's forgiveness, and He does forgive. I praise Him so much for forgiving my mistakes. 

Don't ever feel that you may be too bad to come to Christ - we are all sinners here on earth, and that is why Jesus came as a baby and grew up sinless and miraculous. He gave His life for us so that we can be with Him for eternity.

All you have to do is ask Him to lead your life, confessing your sins whatever they may be, and asking Him for forgiveness.

God bless you this week - Hope to see you next time.

You said you wanted to see me

"You said you wanted to see me".  Larry said to Carolyn, who then ushered Larry into the pew near the front of the church. 

There weren't that many pews, although the church is a vast, cavernous space. To Larry, it seems very bare after his mother's place of worship; no children's posters or colourful tapestries, just grey stone and a high altar that's almost invisible. 

There are some statues around the outside wall, but they are grey too and seem to blend into the stone. It's a cold place, and Larry started to shiver- he was physically cold, but also freezing inside. He and Carolyn kept their coats on,

Thank you for seeing me, Carolyn. Is there something I have said or done that has upset you?

"Yes, there is actually Larry. When we were together the other night, you were telling me how great a Christian you were and how you were always telling people how God always wanted to meet with us in a special place of worship - how warm and friendly the building was, and that was the only place God wanted to me with us.

Well, that put me in my place, didn't it! Here is my church, and there are lots of places where we worship God that aren't anything, like the place where you worship God, and yet what you are saying is that God will only meet with us due to the type of building?"

"Well, yes, I truly believe that", says Larry. "Isn't it God's way that He only wants to meet with us in special places and not just anywhere?"

"Sorry!!!" Said Carolyn, "What did you just say? And what do you truly believe?  That God only wants to meet with us in special places and only in 'HOLY' places?

"Well, yes, I truly believe that", says Larry. "Isn't God a holy God, and should we believe that he can't meet with us in any old place, especially in a cold and very old place like this - after all, who would want to come here at all?

You know - God meets us where we are - we don't really need to go to church - mind you church can be a most rewarding place to go and especially if you want to meet with God in a special place of your own liking - BUT God is so willing to meet with any of us anywhere at all even in the places of beautiful solitude.

I know of a weekend my wife SueAnn and I walk the beaches around where we live. We go so early in the morning, just as the sun is coming up. Seeing God's creation at that time is so beautiful - we can see Him in everything - the waves, the sand, the wind, the total creation is there before us.

We don't really have to go to any special place to meet with God. 

God meets us where we are, BUT only if we make the effort to meet Him. Because God is truly LOVE, and that with a capital L. He will not push Himself onto us or coerce us or force us to find Him or even to want Him.

He is always so willing to respond to us when we open the door to our lives and invite Him in, BUT we just need to be willing to open up to Him and invite Him into our lives.

Another thing we should think about is that we can't have God on our own terms - We can't expect God to do what we want when we want it or to meet with us in some sort of special place - God is NOT like that at all. We all have to realise that God knows us all better than any of us knows our own selves.

He created us all so unique - He breathed life into us - and He knows us all inside and out - who we really are, and he knows he has plans for all of us - He actually created us for a purpose

The other thing is that God knows where we will all end up; unfortunately, for so many of us, that place will be none of God's plan - the thing is, He has given us a mind of our own and a will to match. He has designed pretty much a paradise for us, BUT it is really up to us to accept or reject Him.

So many people reject God - you see it on television or at the movies - so many times they use the Lord's name in swearing and hostilities rather than what Jesus actually did on the cross to save all of us - so sad really. 
God will not hold us guiltless when we take His name in vain or reject Him entirely.

It's so encouraging when we listen to other people's encounters with God - it just comes bounding out to us that God will meet with us exactly where we are - it certainly doesn't have to be in a cathedral or some church - His great love for us transforms us, and also the lives of whoever responds to Him.

God's amazing love for you can transform you exactly where you are - be it at a beach, in a crowd, at work, or yes! even in a church. We certainly don't need to go anywhere special to 'find' God. He is so willing to find us if we are so willing to find Him.

How are you feeling about God - if you are at all?  I know from many years at work that so many people feel God is just some sort of mind spectre who appears in your mind and then disappears. I know for a fact that He is real and his love can transform you if you take the time to acknowledge His very presence and accept Him into your life.

He transformed me, and I know He can transform you - all you need to do is accept Him and ask Him into your life to lead you.

God bless you this week. Take care.

There's not a cloud in the sky

Life is just so beautiful - every day is just so wonderful - there is just nothing that can change the way we live and what we do - it just gets better and better as we go along.

Enjoying our life every single day with nothing to interrupt us - it is like living in fairyland every single day - laughing and joking - going out with friends and eating in restaurants, making new friends and being there, going overseas and giving lots of presents and getting presents from lots of people 

Yes! Life is perfect

Isn't it amazing when you hear others saying things like "isn't life great - everything is so wonderful"? Hmmm, makes me think - Yes, life can be great, but then on the other hand, life can be traumatic, and sometimes it can jump up and bite you unexpectedly.

The other day, our amazing son-in-law was rushed off to the hospital, yet again, and not just to our local hospital, which in itself is pretty good, but two hours down the highway to a private hospital in Sydney. He is suffering from cancer and had to have major surgery yet again.

So it just goes to show that there are often "clouds in the sky," and life can be traumatic.

Then, looking at the news we hear every day of people being attacked in their homes - brutally assaulted or even murdered - How do families cope with things like this? It is truly life-changing, and I can imagine life taking a drastic turn. When I hear of so many people overseas and here at home who are struggling to cope with so many problems, it really blows my mind.

A person just enjoying the drive, going along, and suddenly another car racing alongside and a huge collision, then disturbed gravel, deep ruts, then skid narks gouged through long grass at the side of the road. The driver is attempting to brake and regain control after their vehicle, which has left the road, as it spears towards the guardrail. But it is too late. 

The sideways force of the collision and the momentum of the sweeping left-hand curve have caused the car to flip over and clip the top of the guard rail.

Hitting the guardrail has only added to the momentum of the flipping motion of the vehicle. The car then rebounds off a tree and ends up twenty metres further down the embankment.

WOW, suddenly these horrible things happen, and can happen to any of us when we least expect it, and so many of us are affected currently and unfortunately permanently when we lose someone whom we love and adore.

So many of us are affected by car accidents, leaving the family in deep mourning or constantly at the bedside of someone extremely injured in a horrible car accident.

Sometimes it is not car accidents but horrible illnesses that can affect even little ones in our family, and all these sorts of things can affect us our entire lives.

Mathew is a flight guy - loves flying, and off he goes flying low over his rugged landscape where he lives and works. Over seemingly endless craggy hillocks and jagged ravines. He loves it, and he is all alone.

Matthew was on a mission, actually, orders from his boss - his mission was to attempt and locate missing cattle, and he was to photograph and mark such positions as he found on the map squashed on his lap.

He passes over what appears to be nomadic camel trains, and they remind him of the people recorded in the Bible all those years ago who had lived their lives oblivious to any Western influence. Matthew muses and waves down to them. The camels look so slow and awkward as they are spurred on by their riders. Matthew loves his job and really enjoys it.

Suddenly, the engine falters - misses a beat but keeps on going. "Phew," thinks Matthew - "I must head back." he turns the plane around only to once again hear the engine give a jolt and falter. He keeps going, and then the engine seems ok.

Suddenly, it stops completely - nothing - he tries to restart - nothing - it nosedives so quickly - he tries the ejector - too late.

Matthew was a great guy - he loved his job.

How often are we affected in our families when something obscure like this can change our lives in a twinkling of a second? Losing our loved ones in disastrous accidents can have huge effects on us in so many ways.

I know I lost my little twin sister when she was just 12 months old. Did my family ever get over it and put it behind them? No! We did get on with life, and we did enjoy our family get-togethers, but in the background, the loss of a family member is always with you, no matter what.

You know, years ago, Jesus gave his life for you and me - the question that remains in so many people's lives is, why did he have to do that?

The Bible is pretty plain when it explains why Jesus had to die. Way back, sin entered the world through Satan, and all of humankind has been going downhill since then - we are all doomed to die at some point in our lives.

Jesus made it pretty plain that no matter how we live our lives, we all have to give an account to God the Father but Jesus died to take the punishment for our sins, and all we have to do is, accept by faith and believe in what Jesus did by dying on the cross to abolish our sins - which in itself is pretty amazing.

If you accept Jesus as Lord of your life and fully accept his death as the sacrifice for your sins, then this is the best part. Becoming a Christian is having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ - How do you do that? It is simply through faith - ask Him to come into your life and lead you. 

If you are ready to ask Jesus to save you, that is become your Saviour, all you have to do is to believe. You have to understand that like me and everyone else in the world, you have sinned, and that means a big judgment from God the Father. 

The thing is, Jesus took our punishment when he died on that horrible cross, and he died in our place. He paid for our sins that we have already committed.

All we have to do is simply put our trust in Jesus as our Lord and saviour and fully trust in Him alone all done by faith - that is all it takes.

God bless you this week.