WAIT FOR ONE ANOTHER!

I LIKE THIS PHOTO; it says so much in a world that has so little time for the people living in it.     Just the caring aspect of the 'Father' toward his tiny son.    He has the longer legs, the stronger body providing, him with speed and endurance - things his son still has to grow into.      The son needs the exercise and the time to grow, but he also needs the patience and protection of others whilst he does so.    In the photo this little boy looks like he has a long way to go before he reaches his father's stature and strength - he also looks as if he has walked enough, BUT dad is waiting for him to catch up.    YES I like it.    We all need time to catch up with each other.

Most of us take our own time to get to where we need to be.   Some are more punctual than others which means, obviously, that some are slower whilst others more prompt and faster than others.     Prompt, time conscious people, can often be out of patience with those who take their time, and rather laid back in their attitude to life and living.     They are often unwilling to WAIT, and just run on ahead to do their thing, regardless of others, their happiness, well being, or peace of mind.
THIS IMPATIENCE is often the cause of a kind of selfishness that pushes others out of the way in order to make quicker progress and satisfaction for themselves...... I can't wait, I have not the time; I have other things to do, appointments to keep - excuse me (or more often we just push) and instead of WAITING in the queue we barge and shove our way to the front.     When I first arrived in Kenya in 1968 it was something I noticed first (with loathing) that when I joined a queue (say to buy stamps at the post office, or some other shop) I would actually be beckoned to the front in order not to wait - NOT because I was old ( I was then just 28) or crippled or ill, but because I was WHITE.   I was at times even 'manhandled' to that 'front' under protest.      I could not understand it, and could not approve of it.      I asked myself, HOW could a FREE Kenya still bow to colour?   How could she need to bow to anyone or anything over and above her own citizens.     Politeness is good, but it is NOT good when ONLY applied to a particular section of society, EXCLUSIVE  of all others; THEN it can become odious!      I felt offended on behalf of the REST of the people in the queue.        I would react in the same way wherever I am.    I was always taught to 'Wait your turn'  and to do so patiently and meekly.     It can be tiresome and even annoying BUT to show the proper care and protection of each others expectations it should be done.
I have seen people fight and even injure each other due to 'queue jumping' as it is called.

Regretfully quite a number of white people were the culprits, as well as the African citizen    They also found waiting to receive parcels and other goods through the usual channels time consuming, and would 'oil' the procedure with a few shillings (a bribe) to speed things up.     Bribery is another outworking of refusal to WAIT our turn.      I have heard people in these latter days more and more say that 'you get nowhere without a bribe."  That is SO sad.     Of course it is going two ways.     The one to impatiently do away with waiting for due process, and the other to make due process longer in order to be offered a 'bribe' to speed things up.       Evil upon evil encouraging more evil.       My own attitude to this is that I would rather do without the 'parcel' the 'favour' than pay out any INDUCEMENT other than the legal charge in order to receive.

But I am anxious not to stray to far from where I began.   In the New Testament of the Bible in the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians chapter 11 v21 Paul criticises the Church saying 'For as you eat, each of you goes ahead, without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk.'
Paul is specifically talking about how they celebrate the Lord's Supper.     It is difficult to say whether he sees people coming in late whilst others coming before are already eating and drinking - even to excess~ or whether they may have all sat down together, but not been served at the same time so that some have to WAIT whilst others are already eating.       Either way he finds it offensive and uncaring.     In the Amplified Bible v.21 says 'For in eating each one (hurries) to get his supper first..'
and then finally in v33 he says 'So my brethren, when you gather together to eat (the Lord's Supper) WAIT FOR ONE ANOTHER.'       So that, no doubt, they can be seen to act as one family, one body, one brotherhood together.        This was apparently far from the image created on such occasions when, instead, everyone seems to have struggled noisily for themselves, even greedily and without regard to others.      No sign of CARE, or consideration for another - just get, and swallow, as much and as fast as one could.    No matter if others remain hungry, and no matter if in the process you yourself disgrace yourself in eating and drinking too much - all in front of God.      Yet it was at a time when God was supposed to be uppermost in their minds.     So much for the Christian Church in Paul's day!   Is it any better two thousand years later - and not merely in the observation of Communion or Breaking of Bread, but in all the other facets of living in love of one another; in the care of each other?     Where is the 'watcfulness toward one another to note each others need?   Where, the patient attitude that will WAIT for one to 'catch up' to where you are.?     We all need to be loving, caring fathers and elder brothers and sisters toward those younger and growing up behind us.

IN PAUL'S LETTER TO THE GALATIANS he opens his heart differently but in a similar frame of mind when he writes and says to the Christians there -

BRETHREN, if any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort,

you who are spiritual (who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit)

should set him right, and restore and reinstate him, without any sense of superiority

and with all gentleness, keeping an attentive eye on yourself, lest you should be tempted also.

BEAR, (endure, carry) one another's burdens and troublesome moral faults,

and in this way fulfill and observe perfectly the law of Christ (The Messiah)

and complete what is lacking (in your obedience to it)

FOR, if any person thinks himself to be somebody (too important to condescend

to shoulder another's load)

then he is nobody (of superiority except in his own estimation),

he deceives and deludes and cheats himself.

THE EVIL THAT MEN DO...!

ON PAGE 30 (Africa News) of December 8th Daily Nation a small article from Kampala was included in which a minor Presidential candidate for next years Election was reported as saying - I WILL RETURN AMIN'S REMAINS.

Well let me say right away ALL mankind are made in the likeness of their Creator, God.    This does not mean we LOOK like God or that we are like him in shape or texture. No but we are like (similar to) HIM spiritually, and in our ability to imagine in our mind, and then bring into existence what we have imagined.    We can create.    We can perceive what is godly, pure and holy - and we are able also to discern EVIL, understanding, that it is not like God, and not to be pursued.      But I can appreciate the worth of the sinner, the evil man or woman;   I can love him or her. as a person made to BE like God - but I do not have to agree with the EVIL that he or she might do.    I will not support that evil. It is against all that God IS, and to support it I must become the Enemy of God.      Well I think we should all, regardless of who we are, or where we originated,  think twice before making ourselves enemies of the God Who made us to be like HIM, loving, compassionate, merciful and just.  a Forgiving God.     This is my God.     There are other gods in our world who are NOT like this in practice, and we should remember that it matters that our words are fully backed up by our actions when talking about God, or OUR likeness to Him.

The man who made the promise to Return Idi Amin's remains to the land of his fathers suggests that this would please those people - maybe even MORE of the people than those of Amin's own clan or tribe. After all it often said of a man ' he is not all bad '.    TRUE, but it is only the evil that men do that lives after them -(THE GOOD is oft interred with their bones.    how much good can we remember of this monumental figure of a president? Is it MORE than the evil?    What will this man in Uganda, want to put in his Amin Museum?   And who will want to travel there to SEE what is there?     Shall we make yet another shrine to the errors of men and women.    A place to come without sorrow or regret?


One of the Anglican Bishops in Uganda during Amin's Presidency wrote a book entitled "I love Idi Amin".   His name was Festo Kivengere, and he wrote in order to declare to all the Love, Mercy, and Forgiveness of God Almighty.     He loves us all, the good AND the bad!     BUT he does not love the EVIL that we do - and we all commit evil to some extent.      God LOVES what He has made, but he cannot and will not CONDONE the evil that we do. Kivengere once told a story of a little girl who asked her mummy, saying "Mummy what does God do all day long?"   Her mother, a little surprised by the question, none the less immediately responded, and said "Darling, He spends His whole time mending broken things."    Yes he spends His whole compassionate time on ALL of us, both great and small, to see who will be mended.      BUT God will not leave us gummed up and dirtied by the grime of SIN in our lives - that must be removed and washed away before we can sit down with Him in Heaven.     God loves you, and longs to have you with Him where He is, but He will not welcome the EVIL that is with you in our life and living.    That must be left behind, and washed away in the atoning blood of Christ.

The people, if only some of them, might welcome the idea of their son coming home to be buried in his ancestral land - but will they also welcome the memory of the EVIL that he did as the Ugandan Butcher, the murderer of almost an entire Tribe, as well as many others come to roost there with them?      He made Uganda to be NOTORIOUS for its brutality.     He also made himself and his Country to be humiliated.    YET there were many that stood with him; he was even elected Chairman of the Organisation of African Unity in 1975 whilst at the height of his power in Uganda.   Yet all his power stood on an evil base and practice.     To REMEMBER such a life might surely relight a fire once more; and rather than any good he may have done, a revival of that EVIL instead flare up again.   The Nazi Party is now reviving in Europe as Hitler is being remembered and even re-instated as a 'good' Leader in certain areas!    Some people like to remember him, and even hang his picture in their home.   BUT it is hard to bring the man to mind without the EVIL that surrounded his life.      To put up portraits, and notable memorials of an EVIL person or celebrity might lead to idol worship of a most ungodly kind.    Worship that might turn us into a copy of the very evil we should avoid.

To let Amin's body lay in the earth from which he was taken is one thing.     To make a mound over it, and draw undue attention to it may be more than unwise.     It is interesting to note that even when he was buried in Jeddah his family made no fanfare, nor built any ornate memorial.     There Idi lies almost forgotten, invisible and alone.     Yes, we might all do best, as Bishop Kivengere encourages us, to love the man without letting the evil he did cling to us or to our memory.         When the Day comes and all the DEAD arise, it matters little where we might have been buried, or how we was interred. This Earth is not my home or yours - we are just passing through - on the way to our true home or other designated end.    Nothing that I might have, clinging to me here, of earth or stone will accompany my spirit, or be allowed to be part of that NEW body we all hope for.     For me I would leave Idi Amin where he is in the hallowed ground of Ruwais Cemetary, in Jeddah.   Pray for his soul!  Ask the Living God to be merciful to him - and to you - when the Great Day Comes - as it will, and that very soon.

=========================    

MARRY IN GOD'S SIGHT, AND DO NOT DEVALUE IT IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS

MARRIAGE IS NOT FOR 

      EVERYONE, Thank you!!

I found this minor Article in the NATION of 30th November - the DN2 Relationships supplement.     No sign of who may have written it.

Whilst grudgingly admitting that Marriage may have recommendable qualities, the writer then says " I think human marriage (is there any other kind?) has been an ongoing symbol of oppression, and brought a lot of misery to a lot of women."

I cannot disagree with him entirely on that. But many cultures traditionally (without any help from the Christianised and other nations) have seemingly taken it for granted that the woman is there to be used as a servant, if not slave.     Perhaps because it is assumed that women are 'weaker' sex, emotionally and temperamentally, men have taken advantage of her.    The REAL oppression I feel has come from the chauvinistic spirit and the natural disposition in men to rule and take a superior position.     Certainly many women, even today, suffer a life of drudgery and tyranny. I don't think Religion (except when incorrectly and even ignorantly) interpreted, has had anything to do with it.      The Bible does not teach such a view of women that devalues or degrades them.   JESUS did not teach this.

The Writer continues to point out (again quite rightly) that 'close to 40 per cent of women are murdered by their partners, and close to a third of women report sexual violence from their partners.'     And he goes on to suggest that those married in Kenya ran the risk of contracting HIV from their spouses!      However to use these facts to suggest we should be wary of, and even to keep away from Marriage, is not a strong enough argument for us to do so.        After 44 years of marriage I feel I can say this for sure, and even to add that it has done us both good as husband and wife.     But no doubt part of this has been that I am not addicted to alcohol, nor spending my nights with other women! Faithfulness had to be in a Marriage; both sides learning to trust each other's faithfulness to each other.      Additionally Esther and I have been able to converse and share our life and thought together on an equal basis, honouring each others intellect and giving place to each others opinion and ideas.    The Writer of the Article rightly points out that this is not always the case.   WHY?
We have grown to value each other, and not to desire the other's hurt or injury in any way.    In the doing of all this we have generally accepted that Marriage has been good for us, and that we can strongly recommend it to everyone - provided they are willing to honour each other as equals.   We are not special people, as people go.  We have tried to be sensible, caring, understanding, and appreciable of each other's person, willing to suffer and forgive each other in love.

Jesus said in the Gospel of Mathew, chapter 19 verse 12 - 'There are some eunuchs (men unable to perform sexual intercourse) which were so born from their mother's womb (born impotent or with some other physical complication); and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs by men; and there are eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake...'
SOME may not be able to take on Marriage, for the simple fact of physical deformity, physical injury or mutilation by others, and even because they have felt in their spirit that they need to give up the entire idea of sexual intercourse and matrimonial responsibility in order to devote all their time and energy to serving God.        From this aspect and point of view I have to be willing to see, with the writer of the Nation article, that Marriage may NOT be for everyone.   But I cannot but think that the first two reasons given for being a eunuch generally result in a deep sense of sadness that marriage is out of the question for them sexually.        I think many others in the third category, who have decided to remain unmarried as part of their entire dedication and giving of themselves to God, may also end up regretting that decision, leading them into temptations some cannot resist.     They are to be pitied.     But they also tend to make me feel that even they, many of them if they were permitted, would Marry rather burn in their hidden lusts.      They made their choice, no doubt sincerely and purely - but not always because GOD wanted them to do so...........HE does not need  that everyone who wants to serve and please Him should be alone.     It has never been GOOD for a man to be alone, and it was for THIS reason that God performed the miracle of giving Man a 'purpose made companion' to fulfil his every need physically and spiritually as his equal.      Marriage IS GOOD for all, but it must be one man + one woman only.      There is NO scriptural or any other evidence that there is any other kind of marriage that can work as intended by the Inventor and Creator.       Do not be tempted  to use the words of Jesus against Him / or me;     Gay men and women are NOT born gay!     This is a misnomer repudiated by the best and most accepted of this world's Geneticists.     Jesus was talking, in Matthew 19, of Marriage, relative to the matter of physical intercourse within that marriage.       He was not referring to those who can only be comfortable with the same sex.     He NEVER did reverse any statement or previous Biblical commentary relative to being homosexual or to the homosexual persuasion.

Of course I am not referring to loose connections or relationships of the old 'Come we Stay' category; such do not constitute a true 'marriage' done in the sight of, and with the Blessing of God.  Take care that you understand what you do, and what you approve of.       But it is written in the Book of Hebrews chapter 13 verse 4 - 'Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled....'    The Amplified Translation of this verse puts it plainer and in full -

Let MARRIAGE be held in honour

(esteemed worthy, precious, of great price, and especially dear) in all things.

And so let the marriage bed be undefiled

(kept undishonoured)

For God will judge and punish the unchaste

(all guilty of sexual vice) and adulterous'

     

HOME SWEET HOME OR SOCIAL SCIENCE

THIS WAS THE SITTING ROOM OF OUR FAMILY HOME for 28 years.   Yes we were a Family - my wife and me, our three kids, and an average of about 35 others.   It was truly our own home, but it WAS indeed HOME to all who lived in it. It was, and still is, a Registered Children's Home.   More than 170 came and went over those twenty eight years, to that house - coming in sometimes as babes, and sometimes older, and then continuing until they could stand on their own feet as far as life and earning their own living was concerned
We did all we could to make this huge sitting room in what was an old Boer homestead, as homely, and as the centre of 'family' as we could.   We wanted to be able to open the front door, and welcome children and young people in so that they could feel 'at home' right away; children who had either lost or never had a home of their own.    They needed support, and they needed fellowship and to find a sense of 'belonging'.      At least that is what we thought then - and we still think so today.

We do believe that every boy and girl needs a loving home to grow up in.   A warm group of few or many siblings, with a caring Mum and Dad.   An affectionate, secure, and attractive refuge from the world outside.     Of course we understand there are homes and families, of a very different character and quality.    We know that family is often at odds with each other;  parents split up, the home is broken up, and everything seems anything but secure.     My wife and I both are products of such catastrophe, and perhaps that is why we have felt such a desire to help those who have also found themselves alone and even unwanted - homeless.

Children have been part of our family for sometimes only a few years, whilst others stayed more than twenty.   Those that have gone from us still keep in touch and visit us.    Some involve us in finding their life partner, and get married from that same house they grew up in.    We are introduced to our grandchildren - .   It has become an ongoing community - a place to run to, and remember with gladness.     We are glad we decided to expose ourselves to the risks and involvement of family life.
We are glad to see so many of our children building their own homes and families to a similar pattern.      Happy and enduring families are the building blocks of civilisation and nationhood.

RECENTLY, once again, we are hearing that Children's Homes like ours will soon be done away with.    Instead 'Holding Centres' will be initiated to hold children found on the street or elsewhere so that they can be ' sorted, categorised, and passed on to the Foster Home, Adopter, or other 'institution'.    This wisdom has been practiced in my own Country of the United Kingdom for decades without solving the REAL need - which is to provide a sound and SAFE foundation for children to grow up in.    It is not all the governments fault of course.    Family life is seriously challenged today, and the whole 'idea' of  a lasting marriage and family home is losing ground.
What will become of society?   What will become of our world.       Children fostered here in Kenya have a mixed predictable future.   Even with Government incentive Foster Parents are still seen to be more interested in the 'incentive' than in the child they are given to foster - many of these children leave the foster home and return to the street - something none of ours has ever done over 45 years.
The Government also, motivated by external forces as it is, is also insisting that kids that become 18 or over even if still in school or college, MUST leave the 'Children's Home' they grew up in and move into some other 'hostel'.    This is of course very bad psychology, but no matter.

SO Testimony House, and Testimony Faith Homes itself as a refuge for homeless children may soon have to re-think what to do.     A Home from Home, for countless children still homeless out there on our streets, yet unable to open its doors as a home - but only as a HOLDING Centre.  Some cold   heartless and purely institutional peace of social infrastructure.   We have discussed this with the County Department of Children's Services, and even with the minor gods that sit in high places in Nairobi, but to no avail.     Things are changing, and 'you will just have to knuckle down and get on with submitting to government regulations.'      It is a pity.    And it is a proven error in social planning and understanding.       What a sadness to see an error being promulgated so stubbornly in the face of common sense, no less.     When all of us now reaching out to kids are forced out of business I wonder what the government will actually do.      Will they do anything?   And who will thank them for it?

After 46 years in Kenya caring for children and watching them grow up, I have a lot of good memories of seeing them finally LEAVE, having gone through High, School College, and sometimes University whilst STILL anchored to the family home.  Able to return to us, to the family, for holidays and times of waiting when searching for a job.    IF we had turned them out at 18, where would they have stayed, what would they have eaten, and who would have been there for them in a time of need.    NO, it unthinkable to consider taking a child already having suffered the loss of home and family, and even of rejection, and then at a crucial period of life, make them go through it all again.     I personally went through it all when I was 16.     I survived, but not without a great deal of mental upheaval and emotional hurt.      I see no reason to do that to others when instead, with a little real care and concern I can help my children become men and women, able to stand confident and secure alone, with a job to feed them, and a foundation to steady themselves upon.  

I have said all this before on more than one occasion in writing up our other Blogsite (John Green's Notes from Kenya),      It is so appalling and frustrating that all that we have been and built up cannot now continue to be used to heal the pain and heartbreak of children, so that they become restored and happy adults.     My wife and I were able to build our home and fill it with the less fortunate whilst we all lived together as family.    We did it with GOD, and in His Spirit.      I may have just been for our lifetime.     It could have continued to provide examples of the many benefits of a stable, loving, and unselfish family life style.    And I can still say it, knowing that we were not perfect at all, and that we made many errors in our life together, yet without despairing, or giving or breaking faith with each other.     Give it a go - give GOD a change to make your marriage, your home, your family a BLESSING to and for others.     It will be well worth it.

JOB HUNTING

THE PROSPECT OF FINDING A FUTURE is crucially tied to finding work, a JOB that will pay enough to minimally pay for the necessities of life - and MORE, if you can get it!

When I first arrived in Kenya in the latter part of 1968 the population was put at approx. 13 million.   Job opportunities were more varied and less academically demanding.     For example with a Primary Certificate of Education one could be accepted for training as a Teacher or even a Nurse, and even more.   Additionally there were many Village Polytechnics which were open to those finishing Primary School, where trades such as Building, Electrical Wiring, Welding, Animal Husbandry and Farming could be learned.   Today it is a different world with a population that has more than trebled, and where Village Polytechnics have all but disappeared, and the Academic Qualifications needed to follow ANY profession has shut out any but the brighter Secondary School student.      Thus more and more are seeking jobs within a rising population, AND greater academic qualification and competition NOW contribute to what has become an Employment JAM.
There IS work to be had, of course, but usually of an unattractive nature such as casual labour; digging ditches, road sweeping and such like, all poorly paid and lacking in hope for the future; the
only recourse for many who drop out of school with no successful certificate.    Indeed there are some attempting these jobs today who have Degrees!

In 1968 fewer attended School; now Education is within the reach, theoretically, of all!!    And job opportunities have not increased noticeably.     The situation NOW, for young people growing up without wealthy parents, that might themselves set their children up in business or employ them themselves, is more and more frustrating and often hopeless.     This is an increasing problem facing our society in Kenya generally.      I wonder if any parent reading this may also be facing the same difficulties when considering how to get their sons and daughters started out in life  - especially those who are at the lower spectrum of academic success such as the 'average' or even less able student.

TESTIMONY FAITH HOMES has faced these advancing problems since they began, in 1969, being responsible for taking in and helping to grow and become independent citizens, orphaned and destitute children from all over the State.     In all the years up to the present we have seen more than
300 children (boys AND girls) come and go, with some 135 currently in residence.     An Average of say between 5 and 8 in any one year complete their education and seek Independence and a JOB.
No big deal, you may say,    True;  it is slow and expensive to take an infant child and bring it up till it can look the world in the face, and ready to stand on its on feet.     For all that we may not have to assist many of our seniors to find a future in any one year, yet it has become harder and harder to find jobs for them.
We are a Registered Charity, but one that is not endowed or funded by government or other sponsor.     We rely on public interest and giving without our Appeals or advertisement.   We have no influential help, and can be said to face the same challenges of any ordinary and helpless parent wondering how to move his/her child on in life.

THIS YEAR we have here, looking actively for employment only TWO young men.
BENSON CHEGE aged 23 has been resident with us since he was 14.   A smart boy in school, he is Graduating this week with a Diploma in Management from The Kenya Institute of Management.   He is very committed and hard working with determination to do well.  
JULIUS ASARIKWA aged 19 has been resident with us since he was 8.     Academically Julius did not do well,  He is not a dull boy, but his gifts are more physical than academic.    He attended Chepterit Polytechnic form 2013- 14, obtaining a Certificate in Building and Masonry (Grade 111).
He has been working this year as an 'on and off' casual for Mwangi Builders Ltd.     But he is currently out of a job being laid off for lack of work by the contractor.    He is a good, hardworking boy, of a quiet and reasonable disposition.

They are only TWO but so far we have not been able to get them settled, and of course we need to see them leave us and be independent since we are a Children's Home, and not really set up to be a home for unemployed young men - there is a queue of young kids waiting to find a refuge here.
Please do remember to pray for us, and our children, children without their own family or relative to assist or help them.     NEXT year we shall have 9 to look out for !!!  Well, we knew from the beginning we would have to be with them in learning to fly and in taking their first flight away from us.  We do not regret.    

IF YOU are in Business, and maybe Management, can I gently entreat you to consider the plight of our young people.     Be kind and compassionate in dealing with their applications for employment.
They need hope, at the least, to believe that one day someone will take the step of asking them in!

GOD DISPLACED!

TO US A CHILD IS BORN, a Child, who in his Manhood would DIE for us ALL, that we might be FORGIVEN.   And we are used to seeing pictorial images of His Birth as portrayed opposite - Mary and Joseph - centre with the Baby Jesus - the Shepherds and the Kings, all come to worship their Saviour.  Very traditional illustration, with Jesus centre stage, God's Gift to mankind.   The most necessary and invaluable acquisition to and for the life of EVERYONE.  
O COME LET US ADORE HIM..!

No, not in this photo.  No Holy Babe in the Manger here, but a RED BAG!!***   The photo above depicts Joseph and Mary (centre) seated behind the 'crib (table) in the 'cattle shed.' three 'wise men / kings' on the left and the two shepherds on the right all worshiping.   But not worshiping the infant King, soon to come again, but a RED BAG manufactured with the fashionable <Mulberry> label.
One Commercial venture to sell their product - but not with GOD in mind.     Of course the 'Advert' is intended to put the 'BAG' centre stage, and in such a way, to suggest its unique desirability to both rich and poor.    A bright idea?  Perhaps but totally irreligious and without any fear of God, or respect for those that do. Will the 'Bag' provide the need of a guilty soul, or the despair of a lonely soul?   Can it truly be seen as a necessary and invaluable acquisition for my life....surely I CAN do without it, and suffer no loss; surely this BAG is no more than a bag full of air, soon to wear out, and having to be replaced; a bag of wind, vainglorious, and worthless to the salvation of my life, my eternal soul.     How totally shocking and disastrously IGNORANT to put such a BAG, or any other bag or thing for that matter, in the place of Jesus Christ, in place of the Holiness of a Living God.   It is hugely sacrilegious and irreverent.
I pity those who invented this dark picture of commercial acquisitiveness.   I pity their blindness and lack of understanding.

This is the World at its worst.     It is so regardless as it shunts God out of His place and fill the space with material lust and vanity.
Such a GAUDY RED bag.      Did the 'Maker' also want to fake the Blood of Christ?   Well, no cheap piece of plastic or leather coloured red could ever do that, and it is BLOOD, real BLOOD alone that is able to take away the SIN of the world from your life and mine.    And not just any blood but INNOCENT BLOOD; blood without the taint of any evil - and WE have all sinned.  Our blood, in which is our life, IS tainted.   None of US can ransom another.  NO, only the blood of Christ, from Christ bleeding for us on the Cross can avail.
Only His life poured out willingly for us, can save or ransom us out of the hands of the Devil and Evil.      Only Christ is to be worshipped in the Manger - not some flimsy, idolised label on a BAG.

Well but I pray those who put this advert together will one day see the truth that is in Christ, and repent, and find forgiveness.   I do myself forgive them, but am distressed for them, for they encourage an outrageous concept and appreciation of all that Christmas and the Manger stand for; they desecrate and vandalise it with their red bag graffiti.

CHRISTMAS will soon be here again.    Christ's symbolic Birthday.   We should be remembering HIM, we should once more be bringing him some evidence of how we think of him like the Shepherds and the Kings........ Will you be bringing anything to lay before Him?......or will you, as the majority will, hope to get something for yourself, nicely wrapped, beneath the Christmas Tree?    I am sure there will be a number of red bags received....
Much good will they or any other thing, apart from Christ Himself, do for any of us.     Only He will do......and every year I look for Him above all other to fill and satisfy my life.    And HE never fails.     A curse on these abominable bags, and upon the deceit that turns the minds of men and women away from what alone is valuable..more valuable than the finest gold.

HOLD ON TO THOSE RASHERS!!

So NOW we are being told BACON is bad for you - and Red Meat as well.   No more Bacon Buttys; no more Bacon and Egg!   No more Steak and chips!  Wow life changing habits are on the way.    AND if we don't comply with this latest advice that Medical Health Science and Research has come up with, we may all succumb to Cancer.    THAT should stop a good number in their tracks, surely?  No I do not think so.   Alcoholics still drink, and Smokers still smoke cigarettes - and a good many die of heart disease and lung cancer.    So many just do not have a healthy attitude to LIFE, and are willing to take a risk or two in order not to reduce what pleases and satisfies them.     In fact mankind has always tended to DO the opposite to what he is advised.      And in any case there are so many instances of us all continuing to defy death, and living long lives!!    I myself have enjoyed eating bacon, steak, and a great many other banned meats and still, at the age of 75, seeing no ill effects.    Should I now begin to anxiously look for a sudden onset of the newly found 'results'?  I will not hold my breath.  I am trusting in GOD

King Solomon said 'There is nothing new under the sun', and this is true even when it comes to fashion - including the faddy-daddies of diet.      I was brought up on a very basic war time diet which was based, even then, on good dairy products, whenever you could get them, and also red meat (usually horse meat but still red), and later into the late 50s and onwards I continued to enjoy an ever expanding choice and variation of these items.     THEN suddenly the Medics in the mid 1980s warned that Dairy Products were bad for us, and strongly advised us to cut them out of our diet.    Esther and I actually had already been diminishing the purchase of butter, cheese and cream, purely and simply because we could not afford it.     But the semi-ban on the use of these dairy products seriously affected farmers and the daily life for man, especially in the 1st World!
'The U.K. and U.S. Governments practically destroyed their dairy industries by supporting the 'Advice.'       THIRTY years later everything has been turned around again, and now we are told that 'BUTTER' cheese and milk aren't bad for you after all.     Thirty years of deprivation on the basis of what has now been seen and agreed to be 'flawed' information.     'A new Review says evidence for Trials did not support the advice given at the time.    It is incomprehensible that such advice was introduced to 56 million Britons in 1983 and 220 million Americans six years earlier, given the contrary results from a small number of unhealthy men.'

BACON was first produced in its present form commercially in the 1770 in the County of Wiltshire in England,   That gives it a moderate history of some 300 years in which its consumption grew continually more popular and universal.      The consumption of BEEF and other red meets go back into the mists of human history.
In October 1975 Australians opened their newspapers to discover that the link between cancer and bacon was so certain, that the delicious  smoked meat wold soon disappear from every shop. BUT in 1979 the Australian Cancer Council assured the public that 'bacon was not even slightly carcinogenic.'    We need to be on our guard not to be cheated by words that have not been properly verified or proved.     In other words ' Do not believe everything, but 'test' everything thing / every statement, Word, and Prediction.' World Society can be very manipulative, and not always for our good, but rather for some financial profiteering that can actually distress whole sectors of that Society.
In 1902 the world was first shocked to discover bacon was causing cancer.   Again in 1923 there was a renewed outcry and Warning against eating BACON!     It did not seem to affect its production and sale.!     So what will happen NOW?    Will YOU stop eating Bacon.....?     I will continue to do so myself, though not in very enormous quantities.    Probably at Christmas, and maybe a few other special 'Treat' days in the year; and even then only a few rashers rather than a pile!   I am not an 'addict'.   I am for moderation in life, and not excessive, undisciplined behaviour in any way.    Whatever we indulge ourselves in excessively will produce unhealthy and unwelcome results for us.  (See 1 Corinthians 6v12-13)

Having said all this I have to also say that I find myself often very suspicious of what Food Producers and Manufacturers are serving us up to eat!     We have little or no real way of knowing WHAT is actually IN a sausage for example!    It could be almost anything, and some of it might not do us much good.    Indeed these days a Steak might not be from any recommendable animal, and may also have undesirable additives from the 'Feeds' it fed upon.   It is the same with tinned/canned and bottled foodstuffs.    Nothing, rarely, is what it seems to be.     It is good to be warned and then to do our own research and carefully, with out eyes open, make acceptable and sensible choices.      Not all that glitters (looks attractive or worthwhile) is gold !!    We have to do our best not to be taken in by the advertising, and sales pitch.     We might be wise to ask God, and pray for guidance from His Spirit as we shop.!       St. Peter was presented with food that in the Old Testament had  been banned by Moses!    Peter was a bit apprehensive about eating it.   But God said EAT!!     Don't turn up you nose at what God has Created and made.    Give Thanks for it in the Name of Jesus; it will do you no harm - and Peter's life turned a new corner of FAITH.    Give thanks for what you eat, and trust God to keep you well and healthy.   HE is your Health.