November 30th day 4

    ¹²Then I turned to see [whose was] the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,

    ¹³And in the midst of the lampstands [One] like a Son of Man, clothed with a robe which reached to His feet and with a girdle of gold about His breast.

    ¹⁴His head and His hair were white like white wool, [as white] as snow, and His eyes [flashed] like a flame of fire.

    ¹⁵His feet glowed like burnished (bright) bronze as it is refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.

    ¹⁶In His right hand He held seven stars, and from His mouth there came forth a sharp two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in full power at midday.

    ¹⁷When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if dead. But He laid His right hand on me and said, Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last,

    ¹⁸And the Ever-living One [I am living in the eternity of the eternities]. I died, but see, I am alive forevermore; and I possess the keys of death and Hades (the realm of the dead).

Revelation 1 12-18

The thing that always blows me away about Christmas is that it is this Jesus, this resplendent, glorious, powerful, mighty awesome Messiah, who decided to become an embryo in the womb of a teenage girl in the middle of nowhere two thousand years ago.   I dont think we have any idea of just how much He chose to limit Himself in order to rescue us.  What He left behind in order to spend thirty three years walking in our footsteps.   It amazes me that he would take the risk of becoming just a few cells and trusting Himself totally into the hands of a couple of ordinary people in that society at that time.   As King of the Universe, with all divine power at His disposal you would have thought He could have found another way of dealing with the mess the world had got itself into. 

But He chose to come to us as a baby because He wanted us to know that He loves us.  He identifies with all of human experience.  He knows what it is like to be unborn, to be born, to be an infant, child, adolescent, man.  To love and suffer and think and feel as we do.  

When you love someone you would do anything to take their pain from them.   Jesus left His throne above, His power and His glory and the worship of angels, the fellowship of heaven to take our pain from us.   The pain of being far from God.

Lord,  one day I shall stand before you, seeing You in all your glory.  Maybe only then will I truly understand the price you paid for me.   Thank you for setting aside your majesty and glory to come to earth to die for me.   As I worship You this Christmas I would love to see not only a baby in a manger, but also a resplendent, risen and conquering King.  Show me glimpses of glory Lord.

November 29th Advent day 3

³⁶ “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³⁷ As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹ and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰ Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

   ⁴² “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³ But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.   Matt 24:36-44

Today is a Tuesday.  My busy day of the week.  On a Tuesday afternoon ten Mums and about twenty five children descend on my house for piano lessons.  Its a sort of Mums coffee morning, chance to chat type thing.  Piano students and their siblings all play riotously throughout the house and I pick them off one by one to give them a lesson.  Its chaos, but everyone enjoys themselves.   On a Tuesday morning, because I know all these people are going to turn up in the afternoon, I spend hours cleaning and tidying.  Putting away all the Lego so that small people don't break it and lose the pieces.  Setting the fire in the sitting room so that Mums will be cosy.  Clearing the kitchen table for those studious kids who want to do their homework as soon as they arrive.  It always takes ages.  And of course as soon as everyone has gone the place looks like a bomb has hit and I have to start all over again!

I prepare my house for guests.  I want it to look its best and be a safe and comfortable place for kids to play.  Its an effort, but it's worth it.

One day, maybe very soon, Jesus is going to come to my ' house'.   Have I put as much effort into cleaning and tidying and throwing out the rubbish as I do for my piano lesson Mums?  Is the fire lit for Him?  What will be on the table when He arrives?  Leftovers? Unpaid bills? A bit of a mess?  

I know its well corny to post Larry Norman at this juncture but.....:-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBFtWWeOQog

Lord,  there are days when I just want to neatly sidestep the rest of the story and skip to the end.  To the bit where we are dancing together on streets paved with gold and all that stuff.   Help me to remember that this life is a preparation for the next one.  That Your Spirit is getting me ready, helping me to prepare.  Putting my house in order so that when my time comes all will be as it should be and You will not find me wanting.  Help me to cooperate with Him as together we get ready for the wedding.

Nov 28th Advent day 2

Matthew 24:29-31

The Message (MSG)

 ²⁹"Following those hard times,

   Sun will fade out,
      moon cloud over,
   Stars fall out of the sky,
      cosmic powers tremble.

 ^30-31"Then, the Arrival of the Son of Man! It will fill the skies—no one will miss it. Unready people all over the world, outsiders to the splendor and power, will raise a huge lament as they watch the Son of Man blazing out of heaven. At that same moment, he'll dispatch his angels with a trumpet-blast summons, pulling in God's chosen from the four winds, from pole to pole.

I guess its going to be pretty terrifying!   Not sure that I like the thought of the sun failing to appear and the moon vanishing and the stars falling.  Not really.     And reading this I suppose I assume that all of that is going to happen in one day - the day He comes back.  But it doesn't say that.  It could be that the earth will experience a season of  'cosmic trembling'   - maybe weeks or months.   I do find myself looking at the night sky on those evenings when the moon looks red and wondering if this night might be one of those nights.   But I think when it happens we wont be in any doubt.

 Unready people.....will lament'    Presumably they will lament because as they see Him coming they will instantly recognise Him and realise their mistake.   

It reminds me of one of the best testimonies I've ever heard.  A Christian lady, Anne Elmer , was in hospital in France and in the bed opposite her was an elderly lady who was clearly dying.  In the middle of the night Jesus woke Anne and asked her to get out of bed   to pray with the dying lady.  Specifically He wanted her to pray that she would recognise Him when He came to her.   Despite being unwell herself, Anne struggled over to the woman and prayed.  But she forgot to pray as Jesus had instructed .  She went back to bed and expected that the lady would not survive until the morning.   However, when she woke up the lady was sitting up in bed looking a bit better.  She waved over to Anne and said '  Did you come to me in the middle of the night?'   Anne said that yes she had.  The lady then asked '  And who was than nice young man with you?  Was that your son?'

She had clearly seen Jesus coming to her but had not recognised Him for who He was  ( Theres an interview with Anne Elmer here if you want to find out more.  Her story is truly amazing.  Check it out.  .http://prophetic.tv/watch.php?e=28 )

I love this story because it gives me hope that Jesus comes to everyone when they are dying.  Some people don't recognise Him - maybe they have never heard of Him.   But we can pray , especially for those who are on the verge of leaving this life, that when He comes they will both see Him and know Him.  And then be happy to go with Him.

At the end of the age when He returns there will be many who realise with ' lamenting'  that they have left it too late.  Let us ensure that we take as many with us as possible to that awe inspiring reunion.

Lord,  I don't often think about You coming back.  I don't often think about those who will be left behind.  I know You don't want any to be lost.  So help me to show You and speak You to anyone who comes across my path who has ears to hear and a heart to receive.  

Awesome photo of sun through clouds on Scottish loch by Deborah Uprichard :-)

Sunday 27th November Day 1

Its the first Sunday in Advent.  And I have this book by Joyce Huggett called Approaching Christmas which is a series of meditations for Advent.  I have used it before to help me focus on the real meaning of the season.  And this year I thought maybe I would write down my thoughts as I go along.  And possibly add some stuff...... and then put it out there for anyone else who might be interested to read.
So here we go.   Joyce splits her advent thoughts into three parts.  Inspired by the little phrase 
Christ came
Christ comes
Christ will come again.


She starts by focusing on the fact that Jesus is going to come back, then looks at the fact that he is present in our today and finally as Christmas approaches, focuses in on the fact that He became incarnate 2000 years  ago.   Seems good to me.   So lets start by thinking about His return.
¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.    1 Thess 4  16-18


I wonder what it will be like to meet Jesus face to face?


This year Ive spent alot of time on Facebook.  And through this rather amazing and wonderful tool I have been able to reconnect with people I havent seen in years.   Friends from school.  People to whom I was very close in my teenage years but from whom I drifted as life went on.  And now we are back in touch and it is such a joy.  Fantastic to see photographs of children I never knew existed.  To hear news and be able to exchange life stories.   Via Facebook a group of girls with whom I was very friendly at school have all re established contact and a few weeks ago they had a reunion.  In the town where we all grew up.   


I wasnt able to go.   


They posted photographs - nobody had changed a bit and they all looked as though they were   having so much fun.   I wonder how it would feel to be reunited with those friends again after all these years.  I know that they all really really enjoyed the experience.  


University friends of mine, with whom I have kept better touch over the years but who I dont see often are planning a big get together next year.   i shall definitely be at that one!   Cant wait.  


There is something very special about seeing dearly loved friends after a time apart. 
I imagine Jesus is feeling something like this as He waits to meet us.   And when we see
Him.....   well, I cant start to imagine what that will feel like.   As we start to think about the coming of Christmas and focus on the events of 2000 years ago lets remember to look forward with anticipation too.  To a time when we shall be with Him forever.  No more tears.  No more sadness.    Sounds good to me.


Lord,
Thank you for helping me to stop for a while today just to think about the fact that You are coming back.  That You and I are going to meet face to face one day.  Maybe one day soon.   And that when it happens it will be a moment to top all reunions.   Help me to be ready for You when you come.  With oil in my lamp, not ill prepared and caught unawares.  Help me to recognise You when You come to me.
Lord, bless all those dear friends who are far away and whom I have not seen for years but who are nonetheless precious and special to me.  Thank you for all the marvellous gadgets and innovations which help us to stay connected.  Bless all the bonds of friendship and keep them strong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SxToTUoWGM