Jesus prayed for His Disciples in John chapter 17. Not only for the 12 who followed Him and whom He taught, but for all who believe in Him [20]. He prayed for many things for them: security [15], sanctification [17], service [18], strength as one body of believers [22] etc. Note that never once did He ask that they be removed from the difficulties they faced, but that they be able to stand through them. That they may be able to display to the World around them, the love that Jesus Christ had put in each one, in a way that would attract others to Christ. [23]

I believe that is still true of His Will for each believer today. Yes, He wants us to be safe and secure in our salvation, He wants us to live holy lives and to be serving in His strength. But it is no challenge to an unsaved person to see a comfortable Christian, who has all he/she needs and wants, living a peaceful, joyful life in the Lord. [A bit like Job was before God allowed him to suffer, to show the devil, Job belonged to God]

In [14] Jesus makes it clear that the world hated His disciples, because they are not of the world!!
So many believers in recent days have been called upon to give their lives or deny their faith, others have been tortured and imprisoned and still others ridiculed, sued and debased because of their commitment to live Holy lives.
But, instead of these acts resulting in people turning from Jesus, they have made many others realize the truth of their need and come to Christ, to find that peace, joy and eternal life that is offered.
The world can see the reality of a true faith, when people are willing to give their all to follow Christ. That is why Jesus doesn”t pray that His Church will be taken out of the World or out of dangerous situations, but that they will stand through them by His grace!

At a recent conference we attended, we heard two reports, which surprised me and caused me to think much on these things.
One was from a national worker from Ukraine, whose church has suffered terribly in recent years. He said that he is not sure whether he wants us to pray for Ukraine to be free or not, as although life is difficult and uncertain, the believers keep closer to the Lord. Not only that, but the church is growing in numbers at an alarming rate, even though people realize the cost of following Jesus is great!!!
The other was from a brother who works with his fellow believers in Kobane, Syria. Just as he was getting ready to speak and show us pictures of his colleague and himself working there, he got a call telling him that his colleague had had his head hacked off by IS. In tears, he related the news to us all and his pain was palpable, as he told us the others in the church told him not to return home, but to continue the conference as “even if they cut our heads off we will not deny Christ.” He also related the statistics of the many muslims who are finding Christ and how believers are more steadfast in their faith since these things happened.

So you see, it is true that often the church in persecution, not only grows more, but those who believe are more certain of what they believe and why.
Don”t you think that is why God is allowing so many things to happen concerning His Church? For to long now, we as believers have sat on the fence, trying to have one foot in the church and one in the world.
But the line of demarcation must become clearer. In the issues of same-sex marriage, abortion, divorce and betrayal, we who know these things to be against God”s Law, are in a twixt between obeying God and obeying man. But let us not be dismayed, let us see all sin for what it is and none worse than the other! And cleanse ourselves, take the speck from our own eyes, and be filled with the grace and love He prayed for us to know.

There is no doubt that the world is not at one with the beliefs of Christians. These laws being passed in our land, will mean that believers have to take their stand for what they know to be right. We trust it will help us to define exactly what are the fundaments of our faith, to look into the reasons why God made His laws and to show that Christ-like love, that He prayed would be in His people, towards those who have broken His laws.

We won”t win people by heated discussions or condescending ignorance. The only way, they will be won, is if they see Jesus in us and that means we treat them with love. We need to hate the sin and love the sinner just as Jesus showed us to.
Why are so many willing to give their lives for their/our faith in Iraq, Nigeria, Syria, etc? Because He first loved them! They saw and experienced His love and now they won”t deny Him. They know that “to live is Christ and to die is gain” as they will be with Him for eternity!

This is undoubtedly a difficult time in our world, but it will help us determine the basics of our faith and the reason we believe. It will also make the Church as believers, who stand firmly on the Word of God, much more attractive to others, in that it shares Jesus love & forgiveness with all who seek to know Him. May God helps us to follow Him as Jesus prayed!

Man was made to mourn: A Dirge

“Many and sharp the num’rous ills inwoven with our frame!
More pointed still we make ourselves regret, remorse, and shame!
And man, whose heav’n-erected face, the smiles of love adorn, ‚Äì
Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn!”

Robert Burns 1784 Scottish Bard

Not sure exactly who coined the phrase, perhaps it was read by Robert Burns from the writings of Samuel von Pufendorf from 1673 in The Whole Duty of Man (first published in Latin in 1673), This was among the first works to suggest a purely conventional basis for natural law. Rejecting scholasticism”s metaphysical theories, Pufendorf believed the source of natural law was to be found in humanity”s need to cultivate sociability. He wrote, “More inhumanity (to man) has been done by man himself than any other of nature’s causes.” Pufendorf was familiar to American political writers such as Alexander Hamilton James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. His political concepts are part of the cultural background of the American Revolution. Pufendorf was also seen as an important precursor of Enlightenment in Germany.

But whoever it came from, it is a perfect description of human behavior in many areas of our world today. You would have expected that since we have progressed so much intellectually, scientifically and even financially we would have learned something about how to treat our fellow man, but no! Nothing!! Our attempts at cultivating sociability have failed greatly, and apart from the downward trend to think of new ways to be more cruel and calculating in our dealings, we have really gotten worse.

Note, I mentioned financially! Yes, I do believe we are much better off financially than ever before. Many young kids are running around with iphones and ipads costing hundreds. Most western teens can go to college for further education, if they pass the necessary exams, and most drive some kind of motorized vehicle when they are still under 20 years of age!! Yes, we might live through economic crisis, but we do have a lot more than previous generations. Yet in Luke 12:15 Jesus said, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

We have IS, Muslin Extremists, Communist Extremists, you name it, fighting to ethnically cleanse countries of those who don”t believe as they do. People are hounded from their homes, their jobs, their countries, family members are, burned, raped and/or brutally murdered. Those who have managed to escape with their lives are subject to terrible, horrific conditions to survive. Then to crown it all, human traffickers are taking the money they can beg or borrow for a promised passage to a new life, and deliberately throwing them overboard or killing them on the journey.

Inside our own countries, we live with the constant threat of terrorist attacks, airplane hijackings, senseless suicide bombings and university or shopping mall shootings. It seems no one who is depressed or had enough of life is content to die alone, but needs to take as many others as possible with them!

As well as all of that, we have the caste system in India, where there are so many Dalits, Untouchables who are, to their people, of absolutely no worth at all as human beings. You know, even animals don”t treat each other as bad as we humans do!

Life has become cheap. We hear of hundreds of people dying in single tragedies, and as long as it”s not on our shores, we pass it over and forget about it. What is the value of a life today? Why do we try to destroy other lives? Where did we get it so wrong?

In Galatians 5:13-14 we read, “You were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

Personally, I believe, that we have taken this freedom we have been given as a sign, that we can do what we like with other people. Even in day-to-day life in a peaceful area, we think that we can immediately attack the character and lives of others, just because we have been hurt or because we desire to. We put importance on what we do and relegate what others are doing [and thereby the value of their lives] to a much lower and less significant position.

We have been so encouraged by psychologists and counselors to let our feelings out, that it makes us spew forth hateful comments and actions, and so undermine or even kill others. This can never be what Jesus meant when He said in Luke 10:27, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” With true love for another, one would talk to Jesus about our problems [imaginary or real] and instead of hurting others with our outbursts [either physical or oral], we can be cleansed of the problem by His love & mercy and grace alone.

Yes, that is certainly how the believer should behave, but is it not also a sign of our love for God and Jesus, when we spread the peace and strength that we have found in Jesus, to others. That we witness relentlessly about the “love of God” to send His own Son to die for them, that they too can experience this cleansing, and learn to love and respect their fellow man.

What does the Lord require of us? In Micah 6:8 it is clear, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

People who live according to these principles will not be killing others or hating others in their humble walk before God! This message is for everyone, we have been given the privilege to carry it to others, and no matter what they have done in their past, in John 6:35 we are told, “Jesus said to them, ‚ÄúI am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

Many believers have given their lives in recent days rather than deny the Lord Jesus. We can”t solve the entire problems in the world, but we can show those around us some real love and care. We can begin with our children and teach them respect and love for other human beings and how to live with expressing our desperate feelings to God and allowing His peace to reign in their hearts. We can teach them to pray for the world and the persecuted believer. The power of prayer has stopped time on occasion, changed minds of kings and rulers and has saved many souls from Hell. By doing so, we will teach them according to Romans 13:9,where it says “For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” It is impossible to want to harm those we faithfully pray for!

At this time in our lives, many of our friends are facing uncertain tomorrows. Indeed, we all have only today promised and need to treasure each minute, occurrence, memory and event as precious, for the times when things get tough.
Dr H. Wilmington used to tell us that as believers we would either be “just going into a crisis, going through a crisis or coming out of the other side of a crisis” in life and this is generally very true.
But how do we keep things in perspective in our world today? We have the slow, but steady slipping of morals, ethics in our western lands into total and utter oblivion, with everything that is sinful or wrong coming to the fore! It is so bad now that it would be hard for us to even imagine a return to “normal,” when it was two parents of the opposite sex who were bringing up kids, babies were safe in the place provided by God for them to live until birth ‚Äì in their mothers womb, people had jobs which they worked at faithfully to provide enough money to keep their own families and children were obedient and respectful of the parents who brought them into the world!
It is very hard to envisage a world without serious crime on every corner, and the perpetrators are often only kids or teenagers. We as parents have often not been the examples our children needed to see and we reap the results of that fact every day! We only need to look at the lines of people waiting in a dole queue to sign their names every week and spending no part of that week looking for work.
We should take seriously the fact that so many people are committing suicide, unable to face life anymore, even though we may think they have everything to live for.
Looking further into the wars in Israel, Iraq and various other places as well as the removing, killings and persecuting of believers in Syria, Iraq and North Korea [to name but a few], we see that anyone who believes in Jesus Christ is under attack in these days. Whether you are just trying to live your life daily for Him in Iraq or refusing to bake a cake with a gay symbol in Belfast, you will be hated and you will be discriminated against, but there is only so long that this can go on!
Death and serious injury has become so much an integral part of everyday life now that we hardly even get upset or excited when tremendous tragedies happen. Therefore we do nothing, and sometimes the only thing we can do is pray, but how often do we even consider that option.
Yes, the days are uncertain, and we are not promised tomorrow, but for those who know the Lord as Saviour we have plenty of work to do. There are people who need the Lord dashing headlong to a lost eternity and we have the “Hope,” we know the One who can give them Hope and we need to share it.
Maybe we will be mocked, laughed at, despised, but so was He. Take another look at Isaiah 53 and be reminded of what He suffered for our sins, for what He did not and could not do!! Lashed and whipped until the flesh hung off His bones!!
We need to “be ready always to give an answer to every man that ask you a reason of the hope that is in you.” The world needs to hear one person at a time!
We can pray and raise prayer awareness for our suffering brothers and sisters in other lands. They need us to be faithful in asking God to undertake for them and to use them in their difficult situations.
We can support those who have taken a stand for moral right and are being punished for it by those who don”t know what it is to have experienced the Grace of a Living God in their hearts and lives!
But we need to be on one side of the fence or the other as having a foot in both worlds has gone on long enough!!!
Jesus is coming soon and He wants to find His Bride [the Church] prepared and ready to meet Him. It could be tomorrow!!

We have some friends, acquaintances and relatives going through some really tough times at the moment, as i am sure many others do too! It seems there is sickness on every hand, other friends have lost their spouse, foresee the death of their child, involved in divorce, realise they did not wait on God”s choice of a partner, lost their job, have been wronged by another, raped, abused and indeed in many other ways are suffering and needing prayer. Those who are unsaved really do need our definite prayers, as I really don”t know how people face the dreadful things which happen in life without the Saviour to comfort and help them through. What a dark, lonely tunnel that must be!! But how wonderful to know, that even, and maybe especially, when people are in such situations, He is so ready to come to them and give them the comfort and support they are so in need of.
For those who are believers we have that knowledge that everything is in His control and yet we feel the rollercoaster of emotion that goes with the dreaded diagnosis or the sickening reality of what just happened, from one day to the next, knocking the ground from beneath our feet and filling us with fear!!
Turning to the Scripture we read that “we have a high Priest who was tempted in all points just as we are, yet was without sin!” Hebrews 4:15. What a comfort to know that! Have you ever wondered why Jesus did not just come to this world as an adult and suffer and die soon after for our sin? Why did he put Himself through the embarrassment of having his parents scold Him when He was teaching in the synagogue, the temptations of the devil in the wilderness, trudging around dusty streets with no safe place to lay His head, the mocking of the people when he came to raise Jairus daughter, or spoke to Mary Magdalene, the continual hatred shown to him by the Pharisees and Scribes as He taught, the betrayal and abandonment of His disciples whom He had called His Friends? Aside from the curse of Calvary, why did He suffer all the other injustices?
It was for our sakes, that we would be able to trust Him! We can be sure He understands, as He has been this way before us, He was abused, hated, abandoned, tempted, hungry, thirsty, poor, so He knows what we are going through. Even when we think we can no longer hear the voice of God speaking, He understands, after all, He endured God the Father turning His back on Him while he was on the cross!
You wouldn”t go and talk your troubles over with some teenager who had never experienced anything in life, or bring your problems to a class of primary school kids. No, you would seek out someone who had either good knowledge of what you are in need of, or another who had been through the same suffering. That is why we have so many groups set up that they can help each other through bereavement, addictions, divorce, cancer, etc
In Psalm 23, the Shepherd “set a table in the midst of our enemies”. Imagine it, enemies all around and we can sit in peace and feast at His table. This is true peace and is indeed only found in the one who will walk with us “even through the valley of the shadow of death!”
How precious to know that in everything, Jesus empathises with us, as he has passed this way before and conquered! He comforts and carries us and even though we don”t see the entire picture at once, we can safely trust Him for the next step in the journey!! If we allow Him to guide us, He can turn what we have to suffer into something that will bring Glory to His Name!
Christian, pray for your unsaved friend, not only that their physical need will be met, but that they will experience the help that only the Saviour can give to His Children!!!

Solomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes some very appropriate words for how I feel sometimes. I know, for many, this book is depressing or difficult to make sense of. It does in some places seem to portray a sense of hopelessness, but I think, it is a book, written to show us the futility of so many material and temporal things. It makes clear that no matter how hard we try, we can”t make much lasting impression on anything , or affect anyone to a significant change! Sometimes, it even appears that the harder we try, the less we actually accomplish!
However, I believe we should come to the point in life, when we realise that we are nothing, we know nothing, we have nothing and we can do nothing, without God!! I think that is then the beginning of us learning to live for Him and with Him, and what is achieved through Him is of eternal worth!
In chapter 5 verse 19 it is written, “We should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what is given and rejoicing in the work. It”s God”s gift! [TM]
At this time of Thanksgiving, we do have so much to be thankful for that He has given us. And he has given us the ability to enjoy it. His Salvation, His Love, His Mercy, His Grace, to say nothing of His Daily Provision of food, clothing, health, energy, work, His placing us in families with extended family, friends, and people around us, is also not to be taken for granted.
Most of us are grateful for the Harvest He has so bountifully provided. Many farmers have great joy in working the land and seeing it produce food for us all, and we are thankful for those who gather, who work the produce as well as those who sell it and get it to the place where we can buy it!
But do we really thank Him for each other and what we have? Do we take time even for those who may not be our dearest friends. Everyone brought into our lives is there for a reason and we are to enrich each other in some way! Do we have the capacity to enjoy, or do we merely go through a ritual of having to be together because it is Thanksgiving?
No one wants to live with deep regret, but we are all only here for a limited period and the time to enjoy is now!! The time to be thankful is now! The time to be prepared is now! There is a time for everything under the Sun, and that includes the time when it is our turn to be called home. Have we enjoyed our time on earth, as we relax and let Him work through us and see eternal things done through Him!!
Again in this past month we have seen the passing of two very precious ladies in our lives. They both showed clearly, in totally different ways that they were in our lives to enrich us with their love and prayers for us. Now they are reaping their eternal reward and we are bereft of their company, but thankful for their example and memory!!
Let us enjoy our Christian lives, our experience with God & each other and that Joy will overflow to others who need to see it and learn to enjoy what Jesus has given and offered to us all!! It is after all God”s gift!!

Recently, while looking through my mother”s Bible, I came across a sermon from my father Rev. Neil MacDonald. It was rewritten by my mother”s hand, as she so often rewrote his sermon notes to make them more legible.
Since I have recently been typing out sermons both from my father and from David, I know dad appreciated the labour of love mum did for him!

I thought of how often we sat together at night and read the Bible and prayed together, and I”m eternally grateful for that privilege, as they shaped our lives for the Potter. We, in turn, have passed this habit to our children, who do the same with their children. As they grow up, trusting in Jesus, they too will know what it is to be formed into vessels fit for the Master”s use! Don”t neglect to teach your little ones about God and let Him form them for Himself!

It is a simple sermon from Jeremiah 18, and I want to leave it with you in short form!

Jeremiah 18:4 “the vessel he made of clay was marred in the hand of the Potter; so he made it again, another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it!”

Four words are the key to this message: “He Made it Again!”
Here we have the Gospel of Recovery, or the Gospel of the Second Chance!
There is Grace sufficient to take the most disastrous backslider and make him what he should be because: “All things are possible with God!”

We have here three simple stages:
• We have Creation
• We have Desecration
• We have Re-creation!

1. Creation:- The potter had a lump of clay and he wrought a work on the
wheel.
But there was hardness in the clay and it failed the test!
It was not pliable and would not come up the design of the Master!

The vessel was marred! Is that the case with you?
Has he given you a task to do and you failed? Or you said, “I can”t”

2. Desecration:- God says you can!
He says He is willing to re-make you! To give you another chance!
Don”t look at anyone else”s failure.
There is enough in each one of us to mar the vessel!
If a man wants to play a reed instrument and make good music,
he must first fashion the reed [cut it and flatten it]!
God wants to make music out of our lives and sometimes before He can do that, He needs to flatten and reform the vessel to make it anew!

3. Re-Creation:- He made it again! No attempt to patch!

• With Passion – The Potter is passionate about his work.
God has great passion for our souls. You need not fail,
but if you do, with His whole heart God wants to restore you!

• At a Price – It costs time and effort, possibly material to reform a vessel!
The Potter”s Field was bought with the price of blood!
This field was littered with broken vessels, but Jesus paid the price for every broken vessel and He works faithfully to remake us!

• Through a Process – The clay must be broken, crushed, softened –
and only then comes the remaking!
If we will allow Him, He will make us vessels fit for the Master”s use!

In most of Europe and America and many other parts of the world, Easter has already been celebrated. This is an amazing time for believers who remember the fact that Jesus not only died for our sins, but that He rose again and is coming someday soon to take those remaining home to Glory! The cross has been the symbol for Christianity since the middle ages, but really the cross is only one part of the story. If there had not been an empty tomb, as believers, we would not have had the definite knowledge and proof of Jesus resurrection. Also the sceptics, of other religions, who had watched the whole procedure from start to finish, would be inclined to believe in this Jesus.
The unbelieving Jews knew that! Why else did they seal the tomb so carefully? They thought that if some of the believers were to steal the body and hide it, then people would believe that Jesus either had not died or that he was alive again. They thought to keep humans out, but the tomb could not keep Jesus in! They in sealing the tomb and guarding it carefully, actually added to the excitement and the evidence of His resurrection. Yes, the Empty Tomb is the real symbol of Christianity and of the hope we have for the future with Jesus in eternity.
Easter has not yet come for the people of Greece and other Orthodox lands. We will once again celebrate the Empty Tomb and the Resurrection on May 5th this year with the other believers in Greece and Macedonia.
In looking forward to that time again, I am reminded of the raising of Lazarus from the dead and have been looking at that passage in John 11. Jesus loved, Lazarus and his sisters Mary & Martha, of that there is no doubt as we are told clearly in Scripture. Yet for the sake of the onlookers, He did not rush to their side to help immediately, but allowed them to go through the suffering and grief of bereavement for a time. God was going to do an even greater miracle than healing a sick man, therefore Lazarus was allowed to die before Jesus arrival.
Lazarus was already 4 days dead. Is that significant? Yes, the Jews believed that by the fourth day there was a separation of the soul from the body, therefore no more chance of life. This only would add to the miracle Jesus would perform and also show some of the Jews the folly of some traditional beliefs. I like to think, this was also a little bit of an assurance to the believers, that if Lazarus could be raised after 4 days, then it was going to be no problem for God to raise Jesus to life after three. But that is only a side thought!
Knowing that He was in control and would eventually raise Lazarus, why then did Jesus weep [35]? Was it for the deep sympathy He felt for Mary & Martha, that they were suffering this bereavement? Was it His deep personal love for the man Lazarus? I really don”t believe that is sufficient cause for Jesus to weep, especially since He knew the end from the beginning. When we look at another time Jesus wept in Luke 19:41 , He was weeping over Jerusalem and their unbelief in spite of all He had shown them and taught them. In the Garden of Gethsemane, [Mark 14:33,34] Jesus was again distressed and weeping over the weight of our collective sin, which He was to carry to the cross.
I think in the instance with Lazarus, it is probable that Jesus was groaning in His Spirit and weeping over the fact that despite all his teaching and discipling, still even those He loved, and far less the onlookers, did not understand who He was or what He could and would do. Our unbelief makes Jesus weep, yet so often we doubt what He is doing in our lives, or don”t see the bigger miracle until after the fact!
Do we really believe He has risen and lives in our hearts? Do we know with deep assurance that He is coming back for us one day? If so, this is the best news anyone ever had and many, who are still causing Jesus to weep with their unbelief, need to hear it and see in our lives that we live for another world and not only for this temporal one. Make this year count: as you ask the Lord to cause you to weep over the sin of our nations, plead with God for His Mercy and Grace for the unsaved and spread the Good News of the Empty Tomb and the Resurrection to our friends, families and acquaintances.

In Loving Memory and with grateful thanks for the life of

Elizabeth Ann (Betty) MacDonald,

died 6^th February 2012

One year has passed since Mum was called, to her eternal rest,

Now living with her Saviour, we know she”s fully blessed

Mum left this earth so swiftly, in the blinking of an eye,

She was gone to join our father, we”d no time to say goodbye,

But, we really need no special day, to bring thoughts of Mum to mind.
For a day we don”t long to have a chat, would be very rare to find.

Our thoughts so often go to her, whose place no one can fill.
In life we loved Mum dearly; and in death we love her still.

 

Yet, we know that those who mean the most, are never really gone.
For in our thoughts and in our hearts, their memory still lives on

Though Death has left us Heartache, which on earth won”t ever heal
Their Love has left a Memory, which none could ever steal.

No space of time or lapse of years, can dim that treasured past.

A loving memory keeps it dear and affection holds it fast

To us, They haven”t gone away, nor have they traveled far,

Just entered God”s eternal home and left the door ajar.

That those of us, who must remain, till it is our time to go

Can go through life and follow the example they did show,

Of loving Jesus first of all, then with true servant hearts

Tell the wonder of eternity, where we”ll never need to part.

This was the poem in the paper in Fort William recently, which we trust it let people know just a little of how life is so very different with out mum. We have just had the birthday celebration of my Grandmother who is 103 years old and although I missed mum so much in the party and all the celebrations, I believe she would have been thrilled at how it was done. It was a very fitting celebration, to honor a lady who needs more courage now to be a very old lady waiting to go home, than she ever did. Life for my grandmother was not easy as she saw the very early death of two husbands and one son, and more recently two more of her children on whom she was quite dependent. Still she faces each day bravely as she keeps her trust and faith in the Lord to bring her to join them all when He comes or calls.

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Granny Jean Lyttle. She went home to be with the Lord on Monday and the family are all gathering in the next few days to say goodbye to the matriarch of the Lyttle clan. Jean has walked with Christ for 40 years and now rests in the arms of the One who has been holding her so long. Please be in prayer for her children who faithfully cared and visited her these past many years through failing health and her time in the nursing home, and her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren who adored her. Though Granny is in a much better place and is happy, she still leaves an empty place in all of our hearts.

As a faithful prayer warrior she was constantly interceding on the behalf of her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and also this ministry. Constantly writing letters, often visiting us overseas, looking after the boys and many times sending care packages with the taste of home, she always made sure to stay in touch and to let us know we were being thought about and prayed for. It is at times like these when we have to realize the extent of the calling to missions, and the things we have left behind in order to be faithful. As with the home-going of the previous 3 grandparents we were unable to be there at the moment of passing, each one coming very suddenly, causing us to try to make our way home to be with the remaining family members during the hard times, but still after the fact. We thank God that He will grant us peace during this hard time and ask that He will also be with the extended family as they too mourn.

Prayer Requests:

• The Rev. Eric Stewart as he preaches the funeral
• Traveling mercies for family overseas trying to get home from Australia, the Middle East, the USA and the rest of the British Isles
• Comfort for family members
• Openings into the hearts of those who have fallen away from the Lord, and those who have never wanted to hear

Brother Andrew the Dutchman, who founded Open Doors, to assist the Persecuted church, has given 55 years to the Lord”s work and is still working on! In a recent interview, he said “people can retire from secular work, but not from their calling”.
It was through the reading of his book, “God”s Smuggler” that David was called into this work and I am sure there are many others whose lives have been changed through reading that book. Open doors is now a huge organisation producing literature, sending people to help train pastors, providing for the persecuted, educating children who would not otherwise have any chance of schooling, creating work projects for many hundreds denied jobs because of their faith, etc etc.
It is a wonderful privilege to honor men like Brother Andrew for the work and ministry they have done. He deserves every earthly reward and we know his eternal reward will be massive. However, more and more, as I look at the men whom God has called to do great works for His Church, they tend to be humble men and not to want any praise for themselves. Indeed, the greatest statement in my opinion that Brother Andrew made in that interview, was his reply to being asked how he would like to be remembered.
He said, “When Jesus was carried into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, how many people honoured the donkey? Not one hair of that donkey”s back changed color because Jesus rode on him! They were not interested in the bearer, but in the one who was borne!” Likewise Brother Andrew was the one who carried Jesus to the people and he wanted not to be remembered, but that His Life would have achieved its purpose if His Saviour is remembered and served by others.
Sometimes it makes us feel good to be honoured or praised, but let us never forget the one who we carry to others = Jesus! We would not be where we are if not for Him and I dread to think what we would have turned out like if not for His Salvation! He has said in John 12:32 “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all [men] unto me.” Carry Jesus to the multitudes around one at a time, uplift Him and your life will be as rewarding as it can be on this earth ‚Äì there is no nobler task!
Brother Andrew says the one regret he has, is that he should have been more radical, done more!! I believe, if we are truly serving the Lord faithfully, the vastness of His love & compassion for mankind will always cause us to wish we had given Him more, been more and done more, yet all He asks is that we are faithful and obedient, giving Him all the Glory!