Marching Forth!

Today I officiated a funeral for a much loved mum, nana, and friend.  It was an emotional time for all to hear touching tributes that conveyed the depth of love and gratitude coupled with mourning great personal loss.  Saying goodbye to a loved one is always hard, and it is a great blessing when grief can be tempered with the knowledge of a future reunion in heaven through faith in Jesus Christ. During the service attendees were invited to place a flower on the casket adorned with a lovely bouquet, Scottish tartan, and smiling portrait to the sound of bagpipes.  All the flowers provided were ultimately laid on the closed casket soberly and with tears.  It occurred to me after the service how the person we honoured and remembered was no longer with us, though the deceased body remains.  The real person created in the image of God, the soul of the departed, had already gone to God.  What remained in that casket could be compared to a seed, a husk that bear...

From the cross Jesus uttered the opening verse of Psalm 22 which went on to describe the suffering of the Saviour.  Roman crucifixion was the way God chose to fulfill  Psalm 22:16 :  " For dogs have surrounded Me; t he congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet ."  As unbelieving, unclean men mocked and scorned Jesus Christ He hung by nails which pierced hands and feet.  The Jewish religious rulers arrested and delivered Jesus to Pilate for judgment, saying Jesus ought to die for claiming He was the begotten Son of God ( John 19:7 ).  Jesus went to God's chosen people with the Good News, but they rejected and delivered Him to the Romans to be crucified. Isn't it ironic how a majority of the persecution and wounds Jesus carried were caused by His own countrymen?  We do not read of the Greeks plotting to destroy Him, nor of the Romans arresting Jesus for alleged insurrection:  it was the Jews to whom Jesus w...

At the people's request and God's permission, the prophet Samuel anointed Saul as king over Israel.  The ironic thing is people demanded a king yet many rejected the king at his coronation.  They weren't satisfied even when their request was granted in full.  This lack of contentment and refusal to accept or submit fully to God's authority is a chronic malady in man.  There were many people who were loyal to king Saul, gave gifts, and honoured him as the anointed of the LORD, though in the eyes of the majority he was without authority or power.  The following passage illustrates this. 1 Samuel 11:1-4 reads, " Then Nahash the Ammonite came up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, "Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you." 2 And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, "On this condition I will make a covenant with you, that I may put out all your right eyes, and bring reproach on all Israel." 3 Then...

Due to a prolonged drought in NSW, level 2 water restrictions are now being enforced.  This means sprinklers and hoses are no longer permitted for watering lawns or washing cars.  All watering must be done by hand with a bucket or watering can.  Had I known water restrictions were coming I wouldn't have put so much effort or time to beautify the lawn in spring! Because it has been so dry and hot lately when I bucket water on burnt spots the water just runs off.  The soil and roots desperately need water but the hardness of the ground repels it.  When I was trained to remove asbestos as a union mechanical insulator it was common to add a "surfactant" or wetting agent to the water before spraying the material to be removed.  Because asbestos is most dangerous when airborne a key part of the removal process is to thoroughly wet it.  The high surface tension of water does not allow it to penetrate the material and much of the water is wasted as runoff....