tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603720536814081192024-03-14T10:19:45.283+00:00What if..... ?Life is full of questions. Some seem to have no answers. Others will be answered someday, maybe! And some are just interesting to ponder. Questions like 'What if I had been ‘sent’ as a missionary to my particular street and looked at life with a foreigner’s eye? Would it make a difference to the way I approached the 'day to day'? 'What if God really speaks to us today.' How would I know? And would I obey or put it on the back burner of my mind?Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-69886422626892560422013-11-24T20:35:00.001+00:002013-11-24T20:35:31.919+00:00Do they KNOW WHY it's Christmas?<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Were you one of the people who were glued to the ‘Dr Who’
celebrations last night ? I have to confess that I’ve never been a great fan,
although we did watch it in the early days when our children joined thousands
of others hiding from the Daleks behind the sofa!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But that early exposure didn’t prepare me for the 50<sup>th</sup>
anniversary episode that I watched because I wanted to be an intelligent
grandmother – among other things! Well when I say ‘watched’, I flicked in and
out, and possibly because of that, didn’t have a clue what was happening. That was a pity because I’d like to have
known, and for those ‘on the inside’ it was obviously a great experience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Someone at church today remarked that this episode of Dr Who
was reflecting the war between good and evil and the need for a saviour. That
may or may not be the case – as I said I only watched bits of it - but it did
strike me that Christianity and what Christmas is really all about, is probably
as much of a mystery to the people who throng the streets for their Christmas
shopping, as Dr who is to me. If you asked the lady queuing up in Boots for her
‘three for two’ special offer, what Christmas means to her, I would be
surprised to hear her say ‘Well there is a battle between good and evil and we
need a Saviour!’</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Did people understand it better in earlier years? When I
went to visit the CLC bookshop in the City of London’s Ave Maria
Lane, I was fascinated to find
Christian references were everywhere . Amen Corner, Paternoster Square, the Shepherd with his sheep, the
towering grandeur of St. Pauls – over
and over again there were signs to remind passers by of the way Christianity
once shaped our land. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5MJFb2TVp-dlWxX46SA_ADl5ltYwr5gAa3V7sIJdULFnaYz60ozbh85wAfGvpTlkZssi3JTcz_TJXexXqucCF29YpypHeTesjEFRmnN1S3yB7mpH1NFDiUXPWw9mXibbVTYzqhuWjRzo/s1600/P1000640.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5MJFb2TVp-dlWxX46SA_ADl5ltYwr5gAa3V7sIJdULFnaYz60ozbh85wAfGvpTlkZssi3JTcz_TJXexXqucCF29YpypHeTesjEFRmnN1S3yB7mpH1NFDiUXPWw9mXibbVTYzqhuWjRzo/s320/P1000640.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CLC is one of the larger bookstores and sited where it is
among banks and officers, it’s a destination shop, visited by people out of the
centre of London who phone ahead to check that certain books are in stock. My
other destination that day was the Church House bookshop, tucked away off
Dean’s Yard, with the magnificence of Westminster Abbey and the Houses of
Parliament close by. That too is a place for clergy and others ‘in the know’ to
find books related to their ministry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And yet for the thousands of tourists thronging around near
both sites, the fact that ‘Unto us a child is born’ and all that springs from
that, is not part of their Christmas musings. What a privilege to have such
news to share! The question is ‘Do they KNOW about the real Christmas’ and if
not, do we care enough to find a way to
tell them? Or does Christmas become to us the sales figures at the end of the day and little else?</span></div>
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Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-67975725624962537942013-11-18T20:27:00.001+00:002013-11-18T20:27:46.378+00:00Because He gives, we give too<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Christmas is the time for giving. We all know that. And
as booksellers, publishers and authors we hope that people will buy their gifts
from us, or that what we’ve written or published will form a book-shaped bulge
in someone’s stocking or a glitter – wrapped gift under the tree.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Christmas is a time for giving. Giving money for good
causes … we’ve just had the razzle dazzle of Children in Need and the
generosity of British public was even greater than last year, in spite these
times of worry about bills and jobs. That is all done on a grand scale of
course. But what can the individuals in the Christian book trade do, with their
limitations of staff, facilities and size, to demonstrate to those who’ve never
understood it, that God gave the Greatest Gift of all?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Corner Stone Bookshop in Cirencester is well situated to meet people right where they are. It has a wonderful facade,
bow windows looking out onto Dollar Street, a few minutes walk from the Market
Square. It forms part of the ministry of Cirencester Parish Church, which has
one of the largest buildings for a parish church in England.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Housed in a building that is 350 years old, they serve
delicious coffee and home made cakes, and they had an interesting experience
one year when they gave something away. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Every fortnight there is a Farmer’s
Market right outside the church, and one Christmas, the team gave away mince
pies to stall holders and shoppers alike. A small enough thing you might think.
But people were amazed that the church was giving something away rather than
asking for something.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One stall holder, who hadn’t been to a service of any
sort since he was at Eton,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">was so
impressed, that he decided that he needed to discover more about a church that
wanted to give to him. He began to attend the church and now is a church
warden, his attitude completely changed about faith and God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are other ways in which The Corner Stone gives to
the people who visit the shop. When stock has been around for a while, manager
Lynne Doolan draws people’s attention to these books by regularly offering some titles at reduced prices rather than
using the 'sale or return' option with the publishers. When the bible reading
notes are out of date she makes them available free to people who want to ‘taste
and see’ whether they might be the notes that would help them on their faith
journey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I enjoyed my visit to Lynne and her team. Delicious
cakes, an opportunity to sign books and a real vision to meet the needs of both
the locals and the thousands of tourists who visit this lovely Cotswold town
every year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-41678828883590751062013-11-10T22:43:00.000+00:002013-11-10T22:43:29.702+00:00Discoverability - it works both ways<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the things I've learned from exploring the very specialist world of Christian bookshops, is that names are very important. If you're in a strange town, and perhaps the shop you're looking for has been moved , even if it is only a few yards up the road, or the shop numbers have altered, it can be very difficult to find what you're looking for. This is especially true if you have one eye on the traffic and the Satnav, and the other on the shop details. A shop definitely needs clear signage, but it is also helpful if the name makes it clear what is sold there. In other words, it should 'do what it says on the tin.'</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had never visited Stroud before last week, despite the fact that my husband's family obviously originate from the area. I had the impression that it was quite a 'New Agey' sort of place as far as shops are concerned, and b</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">eing on the small side, height wise, it took me a moment or two to locate the christian bookshop, even when the SatNav told me I'd arrived. Although The Centre has a hanging sign at right angles to the wall, if you're looking straight ahead, it isn't that easy to spot for a stranger.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However the locals obviously know where to find it, since the shop has been in existence for over 30 years and has strong support from the local churches - some 60 of them from the wider area use it regularly. One of the titles I noticed were a row of 'Friendship' books - compilations of material that I have often seen on the bookshelves of my mother's friends. When I queried whether that sort of thing still sold, Alex Luffram, the recently appointed manager was very positive about them. He told me that 40 had been bought in for last Christmas and when he checked his stock lists there were only two left.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most authors would be delighted to have two copies of a given title of theirs on the shelves, which all goes to point up another facet of 'discoverability'. Know who your core customers are and make sure that you cater for them [or in the case of authors, know who you're writing for.].</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I gather that some bookshop managers lean towards stocking titles that they like themselves, but while it is easier to put your heart into selling books and other items that you feel really positive about, you won't sell many of the Puritan writers if your local Christians favour writers </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">who appear mainly on the God Channel or vice versa. 'All things to all men to all men, that we may win some." Wasn't that how Paul saw it?</span>Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-2788758026388623762013-11-06T17:52:00.002+00:002013-11-06T17:52:45.280+00:00Discoverability - the KEY to Marketing for Bookshops and Authors<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A church minister, whose church was in the town centre, was lamenting to a friend about the reluctance of so many men to come through the doors of his church. His friend waved a £10.00 note under his nose . 'See that betting shop over there?" he said "I want you to take this money and put a bet on the next race."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thoroughly uncomfortable with the idea, the minister refused and his friend asked him why? 'Well I'm opposed to gambling on principle" he replied "and I've never been into a betting shop. I haven't the first idea about how these places work, so I wouldn't know what to do. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Besides, one of my congregation might see me go in and wonder what on earth I was up to!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That is certainly the underlying reason why many men don't want to be seen going into church, but to a certain extent it can be true of christian bookshops too.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our bookshops are full of 'treasure' but sadly most people who walk past are totally unaware of the riches within. They feel that they wouldn't know what to look for in a 'religious' shop, and would be embarrassed to ask. So how do we increase the 'discoverability' both of our shops and of the books and other items within them? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the important things is the appearance of the outside of the shop. Clean windows, eye catching window displays, and attractive signage will draw people in. When I was looking for the Light bookshop in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, the bright modern name caught my eye as I drove past. Invited to 'come into the Light,' I felt welcome and intrigued. and the sight of gifts and cards made it seem like a 'normal' shop and 'safe' to go in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ruth Creighton has dreamed of running a christian bookshop for many years, and when her family had grown up she and her husband had a long search for suitable premises for before discovering their shop, built on what had been the foundation of a Congregational church on a High Street Shopping Parade. Initially they lived in Gloucester but have now found a home in Stonehouse</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both Ruth and her husband Keith are no strangers to stepping out in faith. They are also involved with an unusual ministry to truck drivers, which offers support, 'goody bags' friendship and a listening ear at the many truckstops up and down the country www.ongloryroad.com </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ruth [pictured left] wishes they had room for a coffee shop, but the kettle is always full and ready for use, and her warm personality and listening ear means that many come into 'The Light' for a card or a gift, and leave having shared problems, joys and perhaps discovered a book which can help them to see life in a different light.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-85927757502424260262013-10-27T18:19:00.002+00:002013-10-27T18:19:49.406+00:00Marketing for the Technically Challenged and Totally Terrified - Bookshops,Bunyan and The Word<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bedford is a town you tend to pass as you drive up the A1 or M1. Which is a pity because apart from having a multi-racial and multi lingual population - 100 languages spoken at the last count - it is the place where one of the most famous books in the English language was written. </span><div>
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<a href="data:image/jpeg;base64,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" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; 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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pilgrim's Progress, a book that is second only to the bible in sales terms, was penned in Bedford gaol, when John Bunyan was imprisoned there for preaching outside of the established church.</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's always a great encouragement to me as a writer, that although few if any of Bunyan's sermons are remembered, it is what he wrote in prison, for the entertainment of his children, at what was probably the lowest point of his life, that has lasted and changed lives. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So 'Books' are certainly 'Us' in Bedford and there has been a Christian bookshop here since the late 1970's. Initially it was housed in a room above a local GP's garage,tucked down a country lane. How people found it is something of a mystery, but find it they did and The Pilgrim Christian Bookshop flourished within the limitations of its situation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After two or three years it was moved into Bedford, fairly near the centre. Staffed mainly by volunteers it had a coffee shop upstairs which served to draw people in. My father was one of those who helped out and during his stint on a Monday morning my sales increased by about 100% since he turned them all face out on arrival! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Scripture Union took the bookshop over when the Karach's retired and moved to Norfolk, followed by Wesley Owen and then the Living Oasis chain. Sadly it closed then for a while, before Joy Denny felt God giving her the vision for restoring the witness that a bookshop can give to any town, and the Word Bookshop was opened in a popular shopping area near Bedford's beautiful Embankment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is a small shop but crammed with stock and supported by at least 30 of the churches in the town. Joy has had bookselling experience, since she managed The Pilgrim bookshop for some years in the early part of it's life, and perhaps this is why she has seen steady growth in support and sales. But she is also aware of where the needs are. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While I was in the shop a lady was asking for a bible to give to someone who was doing an Alpha course at the King's Arms,one of the town's bigger churches. Rather that give her any version Joy rang the church office to ask what was being used in the course. Sadly the receptionist didn't know but, when pressed, promised to ring back.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I wonder if that is a 'Tip for the top' for other shops. Perhaps a register of the bible versions used by the churches running Alpha in YOUR locality would help you to serve enquirers well. And the Gideon booklet of 'where to help when' is available from your local branch of the Gideons, to tuck inside and make this Book of Books more accessible to a new reader.</span></div>
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Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-38400527749399248232013-10-21T15:49:00.003+01:002013-10-21T15:49:40.231+01:00Marketing for the Technically Challenged and Totally Terrified - York a city of surprises<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">York is a fascinating city with sudden surprises around every corner. And one of these is the Barbican Bookshop.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaZW-rS1FNTBxas5Y-bjI4DOobn8pn6OBV6AktT6Ss5Pb-qV6wJ20kxatmRdxEdcXWt4Z3XeA-Vuzmu2asPE_CV7kGo5nPJJULzgHVIlI-hzD_wXyBdFYXhib0h57Hd9iaVHyXwWVsbSY/s1600/366.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaZW-rS1FNTBxas5Y-bjI4DOobn8pn6OBV6AktT6Ss5Pb-qV6wJ20kxatmRdxEdcXWt4Z3XeA-Vuzmu2asPE_CV7kGo5nPJJULzgHVIlI-hzD_wXyBdFYXhib0h57Hd9iaVHyXwWVsbSY/s320/366.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A family business, it was started by Dick Rollinson in 1961. Originally it was housed in The Walmgate Bar, one of the four medieval entrances to the city, but moved to the City centre in 1967.The premises are an Aladdin's Cave of books housed in 10 rooms. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwELG_mHACoobWkowuMRpbmcdLoV9eh8rXZYCLpYP9HsrDnPgdVjUaBK-6P0Dexj-_wk5ohB_2Ts0SssmFPjktz4S_kgyeKujyJnD2_iuquonVwGo20_Aj1ZXi8iKoIXaTCjt3zEddkx4/s1600/369.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwELG_mHACoobWkowuMRpbmcdLoV9eh8rXZYCLpYP9HsrDnPgdVjUaBK-6P0Dexj-_wk5ohB_2Ts0SssmFPjktz4S_kgyeKujyJnD2_iuquonVwGo20_Aj1ZXi8iKoIXaTCjt3zEddkx4/s320/369.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A real browsers paradise, the Barbican bookshop specialises in books on York and Yorkshire, Aviation and Railways, Christian books and second hand volumes on a huge variety of topics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1972, Pickering and Co joined the firm, selling books in the Shambles for nearly 30 years until the lease ran out. The two stores then merged on the Fossegate site in 2000.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Les Bingham was very happy to see a Lion author in the flesh, having stocked my books for many years. Although now semi-retired, I persuaded him to let me take his photo with my latest offerings, which he did with cheerful grace.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> In four years time the shop could be celebrating its Jubilee, although Les was cautious about counting on that, in these harsh economic times. How sad it would be if they didn't make it to that special anniversary. The Barbican bookshop is obviously needed in York. The Cathedral shop has hardly any Christian books and is certainly not a competitor. So what is needed is for the Christians in York and the surrounding area, to 'man the barricades' by shopping there themselves and recommending this treasure store of good reading to their friends.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lets say it all together ...</span><br />
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Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-89887684453251624832013-10-14T12:00:00.002+01:002013-10-14T12:00:37.539+01:00Marketing for the Technically Challenged and Totally Terrified!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The late Edward England, who published many significant Christian books during his time as Director of Religious Publishing at Hodder & Stoughton, often said to his authors:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"It isn't enough to have written a book. It isn't enough to have had it published. You have only succeeded when the writer, publisher and bookseller work together so that the book is written, published, bought, read and acted upon.'</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That is obviously true, and sounds great - in theory! But where do you start? A drop of ink may make a million think, but unless the 'million' know that your book exists, the thoughts that you might hope to provoke aren't going to blossom.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> In these days of the social media, it's tempting to think that a few well aimed tweets, blogs and Facebook updates will do the job. But physical bookshops do still exist, thank God, and there's still no substitute for REAL people who are out there, passionate about sharing the good news that books can and still do change lives. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With that it mind, my first stop on 'Marion's Meet and Greet' tour was Lincoln to visit Melanie Carroll at Unicorn Tree Books in Lincoln's covered market. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Melanie is stocking my two new titles 'Dear God It's Me and It's urgent ' and 'It's Just You and Me Lord' in a bookshop that must be the only one to be in the form of an open square, with its walls, both facing inwards and outward, made of books!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Melanie stocks both general and christian books; new and second hand, as well as cards and other gift items. I didn't like to ask, but I assume that the 2nd hand books form the outside walls, in case any passer by fancies reading a book without paying for it!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And why The Unicorn Tree? This is the name of a group of tapestries, as famous as the Bayeux, featuring a Unicorn, which is, according to Melanie, a symbol of Christ.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A unique name for a unique shop, right where people are in the heart of Lincoln. Do visit it if you're in the area - you'll be glad that you did!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-57960617790133995792013-07-10T20:09:00.001+01:002013-07-10T20:09:54.488+01:00From Russia with love<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our Russian Waterways cruise from St Petersburg to Moscow had been amazing. Now we were homeward bound in Moscow’s busy Domodedovo airport. But after 12 days of sight seeing, my husband’s trusty tripod stick, on which he could perch and take the weight off painful knees while waiting in line, was rather the worse for wear, and the line waiting for Security clearance seemed endless. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We had somehow become separated from the rest of our Tour Group and we were both wishing that we had asked about a wheelchair. Unbeknownst to me, Gordon breathed a prayer for help. ‘Lord! Help! I don’t know how I’m going to manage this.’<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A Russian lady in a blue jacket, who was standing behind us, commented on the long wait and we agreed that it was even worse than London. We turned to face forward again, silently estimating how much longer it would take us to reach the unsmiling individual who manned the barrier. Suddenly our acquaintance tapped Gordon on the shoulder. ‘Come’ she said firmly, beckoning us forward. We followed her cautiously, wondering if she was some undercover security official. She marched us firmly to the front of the queue, brushing the other passengers aside, said something to the Security clerk and we were ushered through the barrier like VIP’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our next task was to get our Passports stamped by Emigration. There were two lines, one for Russian nationals and one for foreigners. You can guess which queue was the longest! We had just joined it, resigning ourselves to another long wait, when our blue jacketed friend re-appeared. ‘Come’ she commanded. We demurred, pointing out that we had British passports, and the line to which she was attempting to usher us said ‘Russian passports only.’ But she would have none of our protests. Our fellow travellers stepped aside meekly, and our passports were checked without comment. As we turned to thank her, I asked if angels always wore blue jackets in Moscow airport. But she was no longer there.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have a feeling that God sent an angel to help us that day. What do you think? have you ever had a similar experience? If so I’d love to hear about it!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-46251060350136640882013-05-07T12:15:00.001+01:002013-05-07T12:15:45.272+01:00Mothers and Others<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maypole dancing and Morris men, ‘well-dressing’ and students who climb to the top of church towers to greet the dawn with song, before leaping into the river in Oxford and Cambridge, still happens here in England. Although this time of year can be cold and grey, we optimistically celebrate what we hope will be flower-filled days full of sunshine.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A village four or five miles from where we live, has its own Maypole and yesterday we saw the children preparing to dance around it, with garlands of flowers in their hair. An activity probably more popular with the girls than the boys! But the custom of leaving a bunch of flowers on a neighbour’s doorstep or in a porch to celebrate May Day was new to me … until this year. And it got me thinking. If I could give a bunch of flowers to someone who has made a significant difference to my life, who would I choose?</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My mother would have been 100 years old this year, and she lived, always quiet and self contained but loving and giving, until she was almost 95. But I’ve been gifted with a second 'mother-figure' in my life. When my father’s job took him to Malaysia, at a time when there were no 12 hour flights to bring families together, and children tended to return ‘home’ for boarding school education when they reached their teens, I needed a ‘guardian’. Someone who would liase with the school and provide a home and family during the holidays.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My guardian, affectionately known as A.R, was a childhood friend of my mother, as unlike her as chalk is to cheese, but very special, so full of fun, possibility thinking and ‘get up and go’. She welcomed me into her home and family, was a second grandparent to my children and has blessed my life in so many ways. Now 98, she is waiting ‘for the call up yonder’ as she puts it, a little confused at times, but her example, and touch on my life at important moments, has helped to make me who I am, and I will send flowers to her care-home this weekend.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How about you? How many ‘unsung heroes’ have you had in your life? A teacher? A neighbour? A mentor, a grandparent or even someone who has written something that has made a difference to you? Who will you be sending a note or some flowers to celebrate the joy they have brought to your life. Mother’s Day is a chance to say thank you – to Mothers – and to ‘Others!’</span><br />
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Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-84862150137098470592013-04-24T17:37:00.001+01:002013-04-24T17:37:42.796+01:00Investing in the Few for the sake of the Many<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I was
discussing ‘summer camps’ for teenagers with a friend whose son leads a very
prestigious camp. ‘They only work with private schools’ she said. ‘They reckon
that even these days, statistics show that most leaders have a private
educational background, and the camp vision is to invest in potential Christian
leaders, and through them to bless the whole church.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> I didn’t say so but it seemed unfair to me.
After all Jesus didn’t look for 12 young men with immaculate backgrounds. The
‘band of brothers’ who formed his inner circle of twelve disciples were a very
suspect group. An unscrupulous tax collector, an insurrectionist, someone who
would betray him for a few gold coins, men with ambitions for themselves and
fiery tempers when crossed … not very promising material .But he invested three
years in these few men to whom he entrusted his message. If they weren’t
effective in getting it out to the world when he had returned to his Father,
there was no plan B. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And not only
did Jesus invest in a few people, but he also knew what his mission was and
when to say no. After an evening of healing people with many diseases and
dealing with the demon possessed, the disciples assumed that he would continue
to make the best of his popularity. But Jesus had other ideas. Mark 1:38<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">‘Let us go …
to the nearby villages so that I can preach there also. That is why I have
come.‘<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What are you
investing in? How good are you at focusing on what you feel to be God’s calling
on your life? Do you have a dream? Are you prepared to put in the time and the
commitment to see it come to pass? As we move through life we sometimes have to
make adjustments. In his book ‘Put Your Dream to the Test’ Dr John Maxwell
writes:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">‘Going after
a dream is like climbing a mountain. We will never make it to the summit if we
are carrying too much …As we enter each new phase of the climb, we face a
decision. Do we take on more things to carry, or lay down things that won’t
help us climb, exchange what we have for something else or stop climbing all
together?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The writer to
the Hebrews put it so well in ch.12 ‘Let us run with perseverance <b>the race marked out for us.’ </b>It won’t
necessarily be easy but there is joy in the offering. Just as the sun, focused through a magnifying glass, can start a tiny flame which can end up as a roaring inferno, so can our focused efforts. And the key to success is
to refuse to be distracted by the many things that clamour for our attention,
and to fix our eyes on the One who has designed the race in the 1<sup>st</sup>
place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-41255060992723873112013-04-16T19:44:00.001+01:002013-04-16T19:44:09.883+01:00Nothing is wasted<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJDhygypEgmfNlcwiw9Fln7bo7OFM3dLDxgIlw-KxHGCf5gtwvWmBX5a4InAAJroFRUyWg3PbvlgueE62P5Bd9eW6YDGxLk7OOT_ylBjP4BbzocpPtl_kIYX9prMDyGbmGog_OIR26jWM/s1600/_52315078_photoofrjt,hanoverchapel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJDhygypEgmfNlcwiw9Fln7bo7OFM3dLDxgIlw-KxHGCf5gtwvWmBX5a4InAAJroFRUyWg3PbvlgueE62P5Bd9eW6YDGxLk7OOT_ylBjP4BbzocpPtl_kIYX9prMDyGbmGog_OIR26jWM/s200/_52315078_photoofrjt,hanoverchapel.jpg" width="149" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m glad that I wasn’t born at a time when missionaries packed their belongings in coffins and had an average life-expectancy of 18 months ‘on the field.’ Would you … could you have sent your son or daughter to what seemed like certain death with a heart full of faith for what they would accomplish in that short time? As a mother of a missionary daughter I quail at the thought. Would I have gone myself … knowing that I was unlikely to come back? I hope so but …And yet some of these brave men and women achieved more for the Kingdom of heaven in those few short months than the rest of us do in a lifetime<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 15pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 15pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of us will have read a lot about North Korea in recent weeks. It seems a very unattractive place to go now, and I suspect that the ‘Hermit Kingdom’ seemed equally unattractive to most people in the 1800’s. But not to Robert Thomas, a young Welsh missionary. His wife died in China as a result of a miscarriage, but rather than heading back to his native Wales in his grief, Robert was haunted by the needs of Korea. In 1865 he set sail for this spiritually unreached land, staying there for some months, before returning to China. I would have been deterred from the beginning by the fact that I had no written Christian material in the Korean language. Not Robert. He handed out tracts and New Testaments in Chinese. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 15pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 15pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><a href="" name="aa"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1866, Robert learned that an American boat, the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>General Sherman,</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>was going to try to establish trade relations between Korea and the United States. Here was an opportunity to go back to this needy mission field. So he offered to accompany the boat as an interpreter in exchange for a chance to spread the gospel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></a></div><div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 15pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 15pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The Governor of the province, Pak Kyu Su, attacked the ship, and as the sailors fled from the boat, the Koreans killed them. Robert leaped from the boat carrying a Bible. "Jesus, Jesus!" he cried in Korean to the attackers, offering them the Bible. His head was whacked off with a stroke of a machete according to one account, but others think he pleaded for his life and was beaten to death.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 15pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 15pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Was it all a waste of a young man’s life? However he died, God worked in the heart of the man who killed him. Convinced by Robert's beaming face that he had killed a good man, he kept one of the Bibles, wallpapering his house with it. People came from far and near to read its words. A church grew. A nephew of Robert's killer became a pastor.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">Today 40% of South Koreans are<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.christianity.com/"><span style="color: #3399cc;">Christians</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333;">and the nation has some of the largest congregations in the world. Even in the totalitarian regime in the North Korea, there are believed to be secret Christian believers, but they risk everything for their faith. If they are discovered, they are brutally punished unless they recant. In fact a recent report claims that when </span>fugitive Christians who were hiding in ditches in the countryside were caught, they were run over by a steam roller, feet first. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, those of us who reach out in faith to others, take little or no risk physically. But we can easily become discouraged and de-motivated when little seems to happen as a result of our efforts. It is then we need to remember what happened at the Feeding of the 5,000. Jesus took a very small amount of food, willingly offered, and multiplied it to feed a huge crowd. Even the broken pieces were worth collecting up at the end of this mass picnic. Jesus said’ Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ John 6:12<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love the words of the veteran missionary Amy Carmichael, who spent much of her ‘missionary’ work in India confined to bed. But her written words still resonate today: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Our dear Lord cares for the broken pieces of our lives, the fragments of all we meant to do, the little we have .. to offer and he will use even these fragments. He will not let even the least of our little broken things be lost.”<span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 15pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-26279458430617210982013-04-11T15:42:00.000+01:002013-04-11T15:42:32.909+01:00Only a boy called David<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Only a boy called
David</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are of the generation who went to Sunday School you
may have sung the chorus:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Only a boy called
David, only a babbling brook</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">only a boy called
David, but five little stones he took.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One little stone went
in the sling and the sling went round and round,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Round and round and
round and round and round and round and round</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> [<i>this
involved much arm waving, and if your neighbour got poked in the eye that just
added to the fun!]</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One little stone went
up, up, up</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the Giant came tumbling
down”</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8klRmS5Cpu1OHcsxOQnzh4PkFPP-RJBZE0DvlFPydfnqs2RioCH8ESGZo99pyQl2EZSIG7GvCb9zEuBvh_cRV7kn-ZavyoteWGWXJ_vtRSxX6P3X-UODWZUpsDuVTknldVp7N4yDQzSI/s1600/David-vs-Goliath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8klRmS5Cpu1OHcsxOQnzh4PkFPP-RJBZE0DvlFPydfnqs2RioCH8ESGZo99pyQl2EZSIG7GvCb9zEuBvh_cRV7kn-ZavyoteWGWXJ_vtRSxX6P3X-UODWZUpsDuVTknldVp7N4yDQzSI/s320/David-vs-Goliath.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><!--[endif]--></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We've had one of those ‘ David and Goliath’ situations in
our family recently. Having been brought up in Kenya, our grandson Cameron came
back to England for ‘A’levels two years
ago and hopes to go to ‘uni’ this autumn. But university is expensive and his
missionary parents don’t get a salary. So he desperately wanted a holiday job
this summer. 40 CV’s distributed and numerous phone calls made and still a job
seemed as far away as ever. He was willing to do ANYTHING, from working in
Next, to grave digging! I felt so
burdened for him and prayed earnest ‘grandmotherly’ prayers for something …
anything … that would lift the anxiety from his shoulders.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One morning the whisper came as I prayed. ‘What about
Richard?’ Richard is a builder and did the conversion on our house four years
ago. He is also a Christian. He has a
big job on this summer – a massive revamping of the inside of our church.
Labourers are needed. Yesterday Cameron spent the day shifting bricks for
Richard’s current project. He’s got the job! And not just any job.When his exams are over, he’ll be
working with a team that shares his faith, and he’ll be helping to rebuild the
church! And we will have the pleasure of his company for a couple of months – a
rare and precious bonus for grandparents who have had to love this particular
family of grandchildren from afar!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another old chorus came to mind:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will build my church</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the gates of hell</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shall not prevail against it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of us have to face our own 'Goliath of Gath' at times. But the words of David still ring true against the threats of Satan. ' You come to me with sword,spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of heaven's Armies. 1 Samuel 17:45</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He will build His church - we just have to go to him for the right ammunition.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.grahamkendrick.co.uk/songs/item/245-i-will-build-my-church"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.grahamkendrick.co.uk/songs/item/245-i-will-build-my-church</span></a></div>
Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-70369036358912885742013-04-08T17:04:00.001+01:002013-04-08T17:04:19.437+01:00Bars of Iron Can't stop Him<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My current water walking adventure is centred on letting people know that my book 'Its Just you and Me Lord' is being sold in Sam's Club. The motive behind this is to see the book in the hands of people who would never go into a Christian bookstore or order on line from the publisher.</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When you look at it in the cold light of day, it seems a hopeless task – worse than looking for a needle in a haystack. I’ve never seen a Sam’s Club [we don’t have them in the UK] , but I gather that the goods are sold in warehouse type buildings and are stacked high so that sheer volume of sales will allow them to be sold at low prices.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘How will a small gift book like ‘It’s Just You and Me Lord’ be found and make it’s mark in such surroundings?’ I ask myself in the middle of the night. I feel as hopeless as the disciple at the feeding of the 5,000, who said “We have only 5 loaves .. and 2 fish … but what are these among so many?” But when they were handed to Jesus a miracle occurred. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi46oU_4o0RuD7qEfDUf1ehDMS91yzLN8Mj14pqvjNIbaih-YBmnK2bT-UHt41Ofz7ANHnOKv1qnJpbyYrcAChAxAuMce9dLJco2OPOnNVy6J3JiQzt6E1I1Srmz9Bju2vM7E18bRl9ziQ/s1600/Esfahan+street.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi46oU_4o0RuD7qEfDUf1ehDMS91yzLN8Mj14pqvjNIbaih-YBmnK2bT-UHt41Ofz7ANHnOKv1qnJpbyYrcAChAxAuMce9dLJco2OPOnNVy6J3JiQzt6E1I1Srmz9Bju2vM7E18bRl9ziQ/s320/Esfahan+street.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I love the way that God speaks to us in our doubts and fears. Yesterday in Church, we had a reading from Is.45: 1 which seemed just for me:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> This is what the Lord says to his anointed … whose hand I take hold of … to open doors </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">before him so that gates will not be shut;<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I WILL GO BEFORE YOU AND LEVEL THE MOUNTAINS<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I WILL BREAK DOWN GATES OF BRONZE, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">AND CUT THROUGH BARS OF IRON.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will give you the treasures of darkness<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">riches stored in secret places<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">so that you may know that I am the Lord<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> the God of Israel, who calls you by name.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These words were spoken to Cyrus, a pagan king who was being used for God's purposes. Without any disrespect to Sam's Club, it encourages me to think that God can use anything and anyone, for his purposes.</span></span><br />
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</span>Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-44262400288765853172013-04-05T11:22:00.000+01:002013-04-05T11:22:03.338+01:00Water Walking for Beginners<h2>
<span style="font-size: small;">Meet the Indalo man</span></h2>
<ul>
<li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
I like the Indalo man. Discovered originally as a prehistoric wall painting in a cave, he has been adopted as the symbol of the Almeria province of Spain for the last hundred years. He is everywhere in that area. Painted on the wall of our hotel bedroom, he walked confidently over the waves, holding onto the rainbow arching over his head. I like him because he reminds me of Peter. Doing the impossible; walking on water and holding the promises of God in his hands.<br />
<br />
During the next 6 weeks I’m going to do some water-walking. It’s not the 1st time, but I’ve never done anything quite like this before.<br />
<br />
My new book 'It's Just you and Me Lord' will be in Sam's Club, in time for US Mother's Day, [May 12th] If I was in the US, I'd know what to do in order to make people aware that it can be bought from there. But from England I'm definitely working in the dark! Apparently it's considered quite a coup for it to be stocked by Sam’s Club, but I want to do my part to let people know it is there.<br />
<br />
Why bother? Well it’s not to sell more books because they have taken a certain number and I don't suppose they'd re-order even if they sold out. But like Paul, I want to go ‘beyond the borders’ with my books, and get them into the hands of those to whom ‘God’ is just a vague idea.<br />
<br />
With this as my goal, I’m praying for the hundreds of thousands of women in America, who would never go to a Christian bookstore or order a book directly from the publisher [dhp.org ] but who know about Sam's Club. This could be a very powerful opportunity to get ’It’s Just You and Me Lord’ into the hands of those for whom prayer is a mystery, and who have never thought that God wants to communicate with each one of us. <br />
<br />
To make it fun, I’m asking people to take a photo of the book in Sam’s Club for which there will be PRIZES! More details soon. In the meantime:<br />
<br />
If you live in America or have friends and family there could you let them know that ‘It’s Just You and Me Lord is available in Sam’s Club and would make a great gift? If you haven’t read it, Anne Bauman at Discovery House has 10 copies to give away – first come first served. email: abauman.rbc.org with your postal address.<br />
<br />
Do you have any networks through which you could spread the word? Your blog? Your Facebook page? A bible study group? A women's group in your church? This could make a tremendous difference, because publicity is mostly down to good old ‘word of mouth’. If each person who read this blog or the email I’ll be sending out, told five people and they in turn told five others – well do the maths!<br />
<br />
I love the sign in the shop window which says: <br />
<br />
‘We strive to do the impossible immediately. Miracles may take a little longer to achieve’!<br />
This goal is beyond my powers to accomplish alone. Will you help to ‘achieve the miracle’?<br />
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Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-67872771532651557512013-01-02T16:43:00.001+00:002013-01-02T16:43:06.684+00:00What if ... I lit just one small candle<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">It's the second day of 2013, and it is DARK. We haven’t seen a glimmer of sunshine all day, just steady rain onto ground that is already saturated. Three days away from Epiphany,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">the Christmas lights are still on display, and make a huge difference in weather like this. Flickering on and off along our fence, sparkling on the huge Christmas tree in the town centre, swaying gently from lampposts in the shape of Christmas stars and wise men. They’re very small individually, but together they show up better on this dark day, than they would if the sun was shining brightly<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">A New Year has begun.How do you FEEL as you look ahead? Are you excited by the plans you have for the coming 12 months? Does your calendar sparkle with possibilities? Is your world full of ‘sunshine’, with exciting plans for family, home and work? If you are a writer, have you got a list of contracted books and healthy advances or is this year promising to be dreary and dark with no ideas, rejected proposals or a manuscript which just isn’t working?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Some years ago, my husband and I were about to welcome a 10 year old into our home. Our older three children were away at university most of the time, we were already foster carers to her brother and sister, and the family with whom Gemma was living needed a break. So we’d said yes to ‘our’ children’s pleas to keep her in the family, but with a degree of apprehension. Life was very busy and she had a reputation for being a handful! A friend offered to stay in our house for the weekend and look after our family, while we had a brief break before the new adventure in parenting began.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Staying in Lincoln, a beautiful old city perched high on a hill, we wandered into the echoing spaces of the empty cathedral.’ Lord” I whispered under my breath ‘are we completely mad? How am I going to cope with six children coming and going? Was this idea really from You?’ Then, in a lady chapel, a huge modern candle stick, probably six feet high and at least 3 feet across confronted me. Around the rim was a circle of flickering tea lights, and the letters engraved upon it spelled out God’s answer. ‘The Lord will make us equal to the task’. We went home comforted and encouraged.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">You may have heard of the words that King George quoted in his Christmas broadcast in 1939 as the world plunged into war :<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">“</span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, 'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.' And he replied, 'Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!” </span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">― Minnie Louise Haskins<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I’m sure that Minnie Haskins never expected her words to be spoken by a king or echo down the generations, bringing comfort and hope to many. But she used her talents to do what she could, to bring God’s answer to a world in the grip of fear and darkness.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Whatever spiritual warfare we face in 2013,let’s remember that we too can step forward with confidence, knowing that it is worth all the struggles we may face as we seek to share God's answers. One small light can make a difference, and that the Lord WILL make us ‘equal to the task.’</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-76116271289972334102012-11-11T20:32:00.000+00:002012-11-11T20:32:23.628+00:00Who has GOT your back?<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Today is Remembrance Sunday here in Britain, when we
honour all those who sacrificed their
‘tomorrows’ in the First World War, and onwards through the years of continuing
conflict, so that we could have our ‘todays.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As we stood with heads bowed for the long, silent minute
of the Act of Remembrance, in church this morning, I reflected on the sacrifice
that others had made so that I could live in freedom. I was reminded of the
words of Jesus in John 15:13 as he spelled out the true meaning of love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> “Greater love has
no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” he said, knowing
what lay ahead of him. Years later, on the other side of the Cross and
resurrection, the apostle John remembered those words and commented “This is
how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought
to lay our lives for our brothers.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I never cease to be amazed at the total commitment
soldiers seem to have to one another. They have shared so much, that even when
they are injured, they are often utterly determined to return to their regiment
as soon as possible. The phrase ‘I’ve got your back’ means that they can step
out into danger, confident that the man behind them is on the alert keeping
watch, sheltering them from the enemy that they can’t see. As the Three
Musketeers used to say ‘One for all and all for one!’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Who looks after your back? As Christians we’re definitely
in a war zone. We need those who ‘understand where we’re coming from’ and will
pray for us and protect our backs. We need encouragement, a listening ear, and
sometimes a hand to pull us up and get us back on the right path again. There’s
no room for ego’s and personal kingdom building in God’s army. Satan loves it
when we stumble and sometimes get wiped out altogether. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When a soldier is hit by the enemy, the cry goes up ‘Man
down.’ and immediately the whole focus is to get that soldier back on his feet
and fit for battle. I wrote this to
honour those who have given their all, and to remind me that I have a
responsibility, to watch out for those who seek to ‘fight the good fight’ by my
side..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Man Down!” That’s what they shout Lord,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">when one of those they call ‘comrades in arms’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">sprawls wounded on the desert sand,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">or, worst of all, lies dead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And this man was so young, dear Lord, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">just three days short of twenty one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But now he’ll have no use for gift wrapped packages<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">so neatly stowed beneath his army bunk….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In ambush, snipers watched and waited <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">while he, and many like him,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">searched for, and then disarmed <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">those lethal IED’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He made the sandy path a little safer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">for those who came behind,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">hoping that by his skill and courage,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">he would be able to prevent<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">another agonising shout -‘Man Down’ ….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You know about self sacrifice, dear Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For ‘Greater love’ you said while here on earth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> ‘has no one showed
than this,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That one man lay his life down for his friends.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And that is what you did. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">No bombs or bullets took your life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But knowing very well what lay ahead<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">and sweating blood, you chose<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">the whip, the thorns, the spittle and the taunts,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">and for Your enemies,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">as well as for Your friends,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You chose the nails.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And now Lord you have called each one of us,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">to fight against the enemy of souls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Not flesh and blood,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">but rulers, powers and evil spiritual force<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">in heavenly realms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Unseen, but prowling nonetheless <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">to weaken and destroy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Today please help us so to stand, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">arms linked<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">strong in Your power, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">protected by Your blood<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">so that whatever strategem he may employ,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> the shout will not
go up from us<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Man Down!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-64377645829037616412012-10-31T20:38:00.000+00:002012-10-31T20:38:41.515+00:00Any time will do - or will it?<br />
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A
centipede was happy until one day, in fun,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A toad
said ‘Pray which leg goes after which?’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">which
strained his mind to such a pitch<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">he
lay distracted in a ditch<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">considering
how to run.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In writing circles, November is known as the month of
NaNoWriMo, when many would be novelist, and probably as many published ones,
set themselves the task of starting a new piece of work, and writing 50,000
words in the 30 days of November. This wouldn’t be sufficient for a full length
novel, but should produce the raw material for the major part of one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘I’m going to write my Christmas novella’ predicted one prolific writing friend confidently. She has done it before and while others of
us dither and try to decide if there is any hope of spending so many hours in
front of the computer, she just gets on with it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Are you a procrastinator? You may have read about the
mule that had two bales of hay put into his stable. While he tried to decide
which one of them to tackle first, he ate neither and starved to death!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Perhaps you don’t put things off altogether, but you never
really throw your heart and soul into a project. I was challenged recently by
the story in 2 Kings 13. The prophet Elisha was on his death bed and King
Jehoash thought that he’d better consult the prophet while he was still alive.
Elisha commanded the King to fire one arrow though the window, and then to bang
the rest of his quiverful on the ground. We don’t know whether Jehoash felt
embarrassed, got tired of the whole thing, or felt it was a pointless exercise.
But after three hearty raps he gave up, and Elisha told him that in the light of that,God would only give him partial victory over the enemy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s easy to give up too soon. For it’s not just the
opportunity, but the attitude with which we meet that opportunity, which
determines the size of our victory. It may be sticking to a diet, getting our
Christmas shopping done before the hordes descend on the shops, or writing
50,000 words in a month. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">How would things be different if for 30 days, we invested our most valuable resource, our time, into our most important possession, the
opportunities that God has given us? NaNoWriMo anyone? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-90899942694883349462012-10-24T21:04:00.000+01:002012-10-24T21:04:06.855+01:00How much would you pay? <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve just come back from a trip to America. I don’t rate
flying very highly, but we got on the plane, had a seat each, if rather a small
one, were fed and watered and arrived safely at our destination.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> We took a train
from Chicago to Grand Rapids which was very different from travelling on
British Rail. Because there are few protected level crossings, the Amtrak train
was sounding a mournful horn almost all the way. But the seats were comfortable
and the journey, if slow was safe enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Later in the trip we went from San Francisco to Monterey
for a Writer’s Retreat. The bus broke down, but we sat in a comfortable hotel
garden until a replacement came. Some people had lost their luggage on their
journey, others had experienced delays of all sorts. But none of the journeys
compared to this one being undertaken by a man in Africa en route for Media
Associates Littworld conference in Kenya, this coming week. This is what he
wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br />
</span></b><b><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Thank you
so much for the sacrifices made to help me attend this conference. By the Grace
of our God, I have the ticket and will start the journey from tomorrow;
Wednesday 24 Oct. I will sleep at Kigali(Rwanda) and Thursday morning, I will
take the bus from Kigali to Kampala(Uganda) hopefully, around 03h00’P/M, I will
be connected to another Bus from Kampala and I will get at Nairobi Friday
morning. The problem is that; I don’t know the Bus companies I will be using,
especially the one from Kampala to Nairobi!</span></b><b><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Buses in Africa are not comfortable and the roads can be
potholed and very dangerous. You might well share your seat with livestock or
someone else’s luggage. Breakdowns and accidents are frequent occurences. And
yet … for this African writer the chance to meet others and to learn writing
and publishing skills so that he can spread God’s word in his own country is so
compelling that he is more than willing to pay the price.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Which makes me ask myself ‘How much am I prepared to pay
in order to obey God”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Not in money perhaps but in time and effort. What about
you?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For more information about Littworld go to www.littworld.org </span></div>
Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-19542294239265769802012-09-12T14:43:00.000+01:002012-09-12T14:45:38.778+01:00Leaving a Legacy<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s over! Well nearly! Slowly the excitement of the
Olympic Games is dying away, and the question that all of the great and the
good seem to be asking is ‘Will the Games leave a legacy? Will all the positive
feelings and excitement translate into a fitter nation, where talented children get the
opportunity to do sport at the highest level and everyone else has the
opportunity to take part?’ At the moment we have no way of knowing, but it has
set me thinking about the legacy that I would like to leave. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One of my favourite modern worship songs talks about
‘serving the Kingdom of God in my generation,’ and ‘giving my life, for
something that will last forever’ – the question is … what will that be?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> As a writer, I hope
that my words will linger in the minds of some of my readers, and perhaps make
a difference to the way that they live or serve God. It’s like tossing a stone
into a pond. The ripples spread outwards and you have no idea how far they will
spread.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Ethel and I
started a coffee morning to share our faith with our neighbours. Many
good things came out of that five years. People were encouraged and
strengthened in their spiritual journey, but, as far as I know, no one met
Jesus for the first time.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So I was thrilled when I read a review of my book ‘What
Me Lord?’ I wrote it because other people caught the vision of using their
homes for evangelism, and I was asked to write about how we had done it. The
lady who had written the review hadn’t even bought the book, but found it in
the library. She was excited and challenged by the ideas it contained and
gathered some friends to begin a coffee morning in her village.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A number of people came to faith over the years that she
opened her home to her neighbours, including her husband. Then she moved and
left her friends to carry on what she had begun, while she started again in
her new area. The she moved again I met
her when she invited me to speak to the third group she’d formed – she had
cancer and died a few months later, but what a legacy she left behind her! And
I had a small share in that legacy, even if it was once removed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So how do you create a legacy? A successful writer in the
USA, Cec Murphy, gives hundreds of dollars away each year to allow beginning
writers to go to a writer’s conference. Other experienced writers invest time
in helping the less experienced put their dreams into words. But of course it
isn’t just writers who leave a legacy. We all leave something behind us – the
question is will it be for good or for ill?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> As I watch
children passing our house on their way to school I’m reminded of the elderly
lady who prayed for a group of teenaged boys who scuffled their way to a school
near her home. One of them was George Verwer, a teenager who came to faith and
a within a short time started Operation Mobilisation </span><a href="http://www.uk.om.org/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">www.uk.om.org</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> .
This organisation now has 6.100 people
working in 110 countries reaching out to people through literature, the
creative arts, relief and development work, and so many other ways, to tell
people how their lives can be changed when they meet Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One elderly lady. I wonder if she felt that there was
little she could do? Maybe she was
housebound. I’m not sure if she ever knew what her prayers had been the
foundation for. But she did what she could, where she could, by using whatever
she had. And God increased her giving a hundredfold.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-81464768930157727942012-09-03T10:22:00.001+01:002012-09-03T10:24:17.132+01:00Digging ditches<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m not much of a one for digging in the garden. A
combination of a creaky back acquired from heavy lifting in my working life as
a physiotherapist [no slings to move the patients around in those days] and our
heavy clay soil, makes it a daunting task. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So I have a lot of sympathy for the soldiers in 2 Kings
chapter 3. The three kings whom they served had taken them on a route march
through the wilderness in order to creep up on the King of Moab. But after
seven days of trudging through the sandy wastes, they arrived at their
destination to find that the river had dried up and there was no water for the
men or their animals. It was a very uncomfortable place to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wisely, one of the kings consulted the prophet Elisha and
was told that the soldiers were to dig ditches in the river bed. And although
they wouldn’t hear wind or see rain, by the morning the ditches would be
filled. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I wonder what the soldiers thought of that idea. Dig
ditches? What with? They could have said that they didn’t have the tools,
didn’t know about the technology of ditch digging in sand, and anyway it wasn’t
what they were trained for. Whatever they thought, they had to get on with the
job, and next morning the ditches were indeed full of water.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If we take on any task for God, it can seem as if we’re
marching through the wilderness without a sign of obvious progress. It’s easy
to doubt and ask ourselves if the enemy is going to get the upper hand. Like
many other writers I’ve asked ‘who reads blogs?’ ‘How can I get my new book to
the people for whom it’s intended, in a world where there are thousands of
competing titles? God has said to me, ‘Dig ditches. If you will do the basic
work required, I will fill them with water.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Have you had a ‘How on earth do I do this Lord?’ moment
recently? If you feel that you’re stuck in the ‘Help! what do I do now
wilderness’ ask God how you should go about digging the ditches to receive the
water of His blessing, and then stand back and watch Him provide. Perhaps
you’ve already done that. If so I’d love to hear about it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-3753946894484057702012-08-27T14:02:00.001+01:002012-08-27T14:04:03.672+01:00One toe in ...<br />
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One toe in</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What if … God has called me to something but it looks as if it might be a total waste of time, and end in tears? Have you ever grappled with that thought?</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I began writing I thought that I would be writing fiction for children, but after 3 children’s books, the direction of my writing took a very definite turn towards non-fiction, and for years that is what I did. There were plenty of gaps in the market that needed filling and God blessed my efforts.</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then about 5 years ago I went to a conference about friendship evangelism – something I’d done a number of times in the past. It was a great conference and there was a lot of laughter and helpful teaching. But somehow I felt detached. ‘Lord,’ I prayed on Sunday morning ‘What am I doing here? I’ve been here, done all the things they’re suggesting and even written a book about it. Is this a waste of time and money for me? Did I make a mistake in coming?’</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">‘I want you to write about it again’ God seemed to whisper. ‘But this time make it fiction and make it fun.’ I shook my head, wondering if my imagination was working over time. ‘Fiction and FUN?’ What on earth did that mean? I knew that ‘inspirational fiction’ was a rapidly growing genre in America, but in Britain Christians were used to borrowing their fiction from their local library, which, for the most part, ‘didn’t do inspirational’. For that and other reasons, British publishers were not interested in publishing it. So to write the kind of book that God seemed to be suggesting looked like a spending time and effort on something that would definitely result in a dead end.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You’d have thought that I would have learned by now. There have been many times in my life when God has seemed to ask me to do the impossible. But for some reason I’ve been firmly stuck on this one … arguing, stalling, putting it off … that is until I read these words :-</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>“It isn’t necessary to understand the whole journey, in order to obey and take the first step. Surrendered people obey God even when it doesn’t seem to make sense.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i> Abraham followed God without knowing WHERE it would take him.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i> Hannah waited for God’s timing without knowing WHEN.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i> Mary expected a miracle without knowing HOW.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i> Joseph trusted God’s plan without knowing WHY circumstances happened as they did. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Hmm! My delaying tactics and arguing would seem to be saying only one thing … how about you?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-17591533745517405082012-08-21T19:40:00.005+01:002012-08-21T19:40:46.816+01:00Something beautiful for God<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What if … I obey God’s
prompting, and step out in faith, but nothing seems to happen as a result? I
saw a beautiful example of the kind of dogged determination that ‘keeps on
keeping on and gives up giving up’ when I was in Bulgaria last year. It moved
me so much that I wrote about it in the form of a prayer for my new book ‘It’s
just You and Me God’ published by Discovery House in a few weeks time.<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Huddled
against the early April chill<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">she sat there
in the doorway of that little church <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">muffled in
gloves and scarf,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">her shabby
winter coat was barely thick enough<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">to keep her
warm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And yet she
sat there in the early morning chill<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">pulling the
rope that reached the bell tower,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">so that the
single bell tolled out its message,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">‘The church
is here<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">God is
waiting<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Come and
worship’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The building
has survived dear Lord<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">throughout
the years <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">that aetheistic forces ruled the land.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But now perhaps
God seems quite unfamiliar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">and church attendance,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">is deemed
both dull and out of date,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> to those who’d never known you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For though I
watched her for at least an hour,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">as far as I
could tell from where I sat ….,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">no one came.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Did her arms
ache, dear Lord<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">and was her
heart discouraged?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Feeling
perhaps<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> that it was hardly worth enduring<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">the cold, the
early rising, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">the tuneless
clanging<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">of that
solitary bell,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">when no one
came?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For Lord you
couldn’t say it was a lovely sound.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Unlike the
joyous peals that thunder out<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">from churches
and cathedrals,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">created by a
team of eager ‘campanologists’,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">a thing of
beauty in and of itself,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Especially
when in this small village<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> no one came.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And little
seemed to happen<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">to reward her
work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And yet Lord<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">when you
whispered to my heart<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“You don’t
see what is going on<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> within the hearts of those who hear”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I
realised <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">that at the
very least <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">she had an
audience <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">of two.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">You, Lord,
who saw her sacrifice of love<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">and treasured
it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And me, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">to whom you
spoke so clearly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So thank you
Lord<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> for all the hidden people,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">who
faithfully rise early<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">and labour
late,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">doing the
little things you’ve called them to,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">in spite of
difficulties and disappointments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">‘Tolling’ their particular bell,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">so that the
people all around them,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">whether they
seem to listen and respond<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">or not,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">can know that
God is here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">They
faithfully repeat the news<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">He loves and
values them<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And waits
with arms outstretched<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For them to
find their way back home,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">To worship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-88632972364907268042012-08-15T12:17:00.000+01:002012-08-15T12:18:50.628+01:00Taking a Risk<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What If … God seems to be prompting you to do something that is way beyond your current ‘pay grade’! Can you step out in faith without ending up in a horrible mess? My friends Daniella and Svetlana would say ‘Yes! Absolutely!’</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were all sorts of reasons why, humanly speaking , it was not a good idea to start a woman’s magazine in a post communist country, in the late 1990’s. At that time Christians in Bulgaria, were often poor and there were virtually no book shops in which to sell a magazine. Everything would have to be done by subscription through the churches, but this was a risky strategy, because culturally people weren’t used to subscribing. The communist years had left a legacy of distrust in authorities; why would you give money for something you might never receive? Would women take that step of trust, with the little money they had? And who would write the articles? Apart from Daniella, who could do the editing, they knew of no Bulgarian Christian writers. So they would have to find suitable articles from Christian magazines in the West, and get permission to translate them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite all these difficulties these two brave women inched their way forward as God opened one door after another. Other editors did give them permission to use their articles initially. They were both able to attend Media Associates Littworld conference [ www.littworld.org ] in England, where editors, writers and publishers from all over the world came together to learn how to produce literature for their own cultures.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the bookshop at the conference centre, they discovered a book by Joyce Chaplin, a former ‘literature missionary’ who had created a Christian publishing house in Ghana , and trained local writers to write for it. Daniella and Svetlana took her ‘Christian Writers Club’ home with them, translated it into Bulgarian, and set about training a group of a dozen women who loved the idea of writing for Leah, but had no idea how to do it. Little by little these fledgling writers gained skills and confidence, others went through the training process, and now, after ten years, the quarterly magazine is entirely written by local contributors.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What was their secret? They believed that they had heard God speak, they took one step at a time, and in spite of Daniella’s serious illness, the challenge of getting women to commit their money, and a steep learning curve for all involved, Leah has changed the lives of many many women. And the next challenge? A Leah Library of Bulgarian authored books for women so that they can grow and flourish as Christians.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What are you hesitating over today? I love the quote about commitment that urges us to just take that step and see what happens.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">‘Until one is COMMITTED there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Concerning all acts of initiative and creation there is one elementary truth – that the moment one definitely commits oneself then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would otherwise not have occurred. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in ones favour all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whatever you can do, or dream you can, BEGIN IT.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-86445842565813413172012-08-06T12:26:00.001+01:002012-08-06T12:26:13.205+01:00One thing leads to another<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One
thing leads to another<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bulgaria in the early 1990’s was a very different place
from the country it is today. Grim grey blocks of apartments dominated the
skyline and packs of dogs roamed the city streets, turned out to fend for
themselves by owners who could no longer afford to feed or look after them. But
the people were warm and friendly, with the same problems of rebellious
teenagers, and husbands who were not prepared to share their wives’ attention
with a ‘God’ whom they could neither understand, nor see any need for. Women
have the same hopes and fears the world over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Over those ten days we visited 5 different churches, one
of which was still under construction. The highlight of my trip was the night
we spent with an old lady who had used her home out in the country for meetings
of the underground church during the Communist era. What an honour to sleep
under the same roof as someone who had risked her life for her Saviour, even if
she did wake us at 5 a.m because she had invited the leading ladies of the
church to come and have breakfast before they went to work!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The time flew past and as I said goodbye, God seemed to
put a thought into my mind that I should share with my hosts from Mission
Possible. “I’ve loved speaking to the women in your churches “I said
tentatively, “But they need so much more.
Have you thought of sending out a monthly letter [ no email then] with some
suggestions for bible studies or answers to their leadership questions?’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Daniella, who was the editor of their magazine for
teenagers, went somewhat pale but made polite noises! I flew home and for 18
months heard nothing. Then I had a letter which set both them and me on a new
path. “You suggested a Newsletter” wrote Daniella. “But God has shown us that
we should make a magazine for women. We think we will call it Leah, because
women are looked down on in many churches and in society. And Leah was the less
favoured wife of Jacob. Can you help us?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Do you have instances in your life when God has taken you
in a totally unexpected direction? What happened? I’d love to know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60372053681408119.post-55731429990566771762012-07-30T16:35:00.001+01:002012-07-30T16:35:15.408+01:00Stepping Sideways<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Stepping sideways<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The message
left on the telephone was brief but to the point. ‘I’m a missionary in
Bulgaria’ said a woman’s voice. ‘I have just been asked by my mission to train
women to lead bible studies and work with other women in their local churches.
I need material. Can you help?’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Needing to
consult an atlas before I was even sure where Bulgaria is, [I have always been
geographically challenged!] I returned the call and invited V. to visit me as
she drove south from a conference. I sorted out the various addresses where
women’s study material could be obtained, and some samples of what I’d used
successfully, and spent a fascinating evening hearing how God had moved after
the fall of Communism [this was the early 90’s] and how many women had come to
faith. But their husbands hadn’t joined them, and the churches were very
patriarchal, so even though the women formed about 75% of the congregation,
they were very closely overseen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I added a
copy of ‘I love God and my Husband' to the pile of paperwork that I gave to my
new friend, waved her goodbye, and apart from an occasional prayer didn’t think
much more about it. Eighteen months later I had a letter. ‘Could you come to
Bulgaria this summer for 10 days?’ V. asked. ‘We want to train some of the women
who have leadership gifts, and we also want to help women who have not yet
believing husbands. Could you come and run some seminars for them? You could
stay with me and I could translate for you. We would visit 5 different churches
in different parts of the country. How would you feel about that?’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">How would I
feel? Shocked and daunted was the honest answer. Staying for ten days with
someone I had only met for a couple of hours? This was certainly unfamiliar
territory. I had spoken quite frequently over the past few years about the
needs of women who were lone worshippers, but not overseas, and not through a
translator. This was definitely water-walking stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Marionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01799534333434372982noreply@blogger.com2