WELL HERE I AM AGAIN. This was taken for my 77th Birthday which fell on 11th May, as usual! Had a recent hair cut which gave me a slight remission of the ageing process, but generally I thank God that I am fairly OK physically, though I am having a little trouble with my TOES! No doubt part of this may be to do with my Diabetes. They get very painful at times. Never mind I still get around, just don't run and jump as I did when I was seventy.
AS YOU CAN SEE above I did have a Birthday Cake, but only with two groups of seven candles which I easily blew out in one blow! Still plenty of 'puff'. A dear friend arranged for us (me, Esther, Daryl and Carol, and their kids Becky, Erica and Jeremy, plus our Manu to all go out for a Chinese Dinner in the evening. A truly happy time, and thence back home to Coffee and Cake together. Two more photos to round off - Me and the love of my life, dear Esther,above, and then a Group Photo of us all.
Me, Esther and Manu at the back.
Becky, Erica, Carol Jeremy and Daryl in front.
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GOD DOES NOT SMILE ON DIVORCE. In sharing this view from the Bible from time to time, I have found myself in the midst of heavy criticism. I was born into an England - in the 40s - that did not smile on divorce and made it VERY hard to obtain one. Perhaps the British Law was then more influenced by the Word of God than it has now become. And of course this affected the entire society who had to abide with tighter morals altogether. NOW we have progressed to a more open and licentious world society that allows practically everything, and frees us all from having to deal with guilt, and responsibility for a great deal of unhappiness and hurt - not only in respect of marital relations. There is a chapter in the Book of Malachi in the Bible's Old Testament, the last Book in fact. In chapter 2v16 says there ' The Lord, the God of Israel says, I hate divorce and marriage separation...' (The Amplified Bible). It is not said that 'divorce' is SIN, it merely says that God does not like it. He does not approve it; He is not made happy by it. He has ALLOWED it, but only because of the 'hardeness' of our hearts, and only then when one or the other party is found unfaithful to the other. TODAY you can find a way of divorcing for almost ANYTHING. God permitted it, but as Jesus said, 'It was not always so from the Beginning'. Only because of the fallen nature of Man did He permit it, but he never approved of it since it was against His own nature. There have been many times that God separated Himself from Israel, always with a plan in view to bring them back to Him and to restore the prospect of a Marriage relationship. God values Truth, Honesty, and Faithfulness in a relationship. When we stand at the altar and SWEAR before each other in Marriage that 'We will never cease to love and care for one another in Sickness and Health, in Poverty and Wealth, For Better or for Worse' we also call God to Hear us, and to Witness our Promise. When we fail to make it, and our Promise is broken it, we have not only broken our word to our partner,but we have made God a Party to it. God NEVER breaks His Word. This is something about God we need to know and understand ever more deeply if we want to let HIM LIVE IN US.
In Hosea 4v2 it is written that 'adultery' is one of the contributing causes of the whole nation to suffer the judgement of God. In v.6 God says MY people are destroyed because of lack of knowledge, and a rejection of knowledge (of ME), Our most needy occupation throughout our lives is to SEEK and discover all we can about God, His nature, character and spirit. In Jeremiah 9v24 God says 'LET him who glories, glory in this - that he understands and knows ME, and that I am the LORD, which exercise loving kindness, judgement, and righteous in the earth; for in these things I delight saith the LORD.' And all of these last words sums up GOD's main essence - LOVE. Divorce, separation, and a sense of giving up or of turning one's back on another just IS NOT the Love of God.
God has demonstrated clearly that He will go all the the way, do all that takes, and inconvenience Himself however long it takes, to mend and restore His relationships - THUS, he let Jesus die on the Cross for the very worst that might be found among us. That is GOD's WAY. And Yes it is - since the Fall of Man - NOT our way, We see and look upon life quite differently, and our compassion and mercy and forgiveness is all based on how WE see it - and WE would NOT die for an enemy, or unworthy, unprofitable neighbour. We would not be willing to suffer long for him or her - we would break off the business relationship, the friendship, the engagement, the marriage. AND of course there will be instances where this might improve our personal happiness, peace of mind, and even general prosperity, and thus encourage us to lean to our own understanding and condone our own righteousness. We are geared to this attitude, and it may even see just and right. BUT we are wrong. We have gone our OWN way. Put our own happiness first, rather than God's. WE have not understood that our current perceptions have all been tampered with, and our mind set put askew from the ways of our CREATOR. In the Beginning there was God, but NOW there is only MAN
I cannot see God loving divorce - even though he loves the divorcee. But surely a man and a woman have the right to be happy? - I used to believe this wholeheartedly when I was growing up.
Has Man any rights? Perhaps only the Right to SERVE God who made him with a purpose in mind. All the other 'Rights' that we hear about today are Man made Rights, made with only himself in view. Selfish Rights.
Because God is unwilling to joyfully condone Divorce, the Promise Breaker, the Adulterer, THEN He becomes a spoil sport, and set on Man's unhappiness..,,,,,,,,,,,,,AND the Devil has from the very beginning used this argument to turn us all OFF from listening to and heeding God and what HE is saying. SATAN will still say even in your ear and mine - 'HAS GOD SAID........' With all that this might lead to in changing the Rules and Laws of the Kingdom - IF that were possible.
BUT God has not Himself cursed the Divorced among us, but he will allow us to suffer the results of anything we do that in any way hurts another human being. Especially in Marriage. God will not expect us to be happy with the status quo - with the continuing growth of a 'root of bitterness', irritation, aggravation, or unforgiveness that will deepen the rift, widen the chasm between us and another person. God looks for a forgiving heart that will seek after the one chased away, or who has just run away. He will seek them, in order to heal the wound, bind up the broken heart, and finally bring them back home. Esther and I might have found any number of differences in each other that might have ended up in us seeking to be rid of each other, but for every upset, misunderstanding, and imperfection we felt we were confronted with, we STAYED together, and in staying learnt to FORGIVE, and in forgiving learnt to LOVE the more.
46 years will have gone by, God willing, this coming August. TWO individual, very different people, with different ideas and concepts that have made us collide often, continued to suffer, bear and love each other, and with no regrets that we did not run away. We put up with each other, learning more about each other.
Some couples have re-married and are very happy. I do not think that God expects us to undo such happiness. But if we have not remarried He will look for us to find out His Will now in our present situation. Remember it has to be His Will presented against what we KNOW about Him - NOT about what WE feel or know about ourselves. MARRIAGE world wide seems to be failing, if not disappearing as something recommendable, or even feasible. Yet a good, steady and strong Marriage is what is needed to provide a sound foundation for children to grow up in. We need to support what is GOOD and not applaud what is undermining our civilisation, and human society.
I hope you will forgive me (if you decided to read). I am not trying to make a Pharisaical judgement, but in love I want us all to be willing to appraise what we allow in our lives for Christ, for WE will all have to answer to HIM for how we allowed His life in us to continue HIS EXAMPLE to those we also live with.
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On Sunday we received news that Allan Nicholls at AENON Trust had sent another Gift to us, and we were totally without funds that day. Another Wonder Answer to our prayers, and we do Thank all those who made the Gift possible. Updates and Thank yous to soon be with you. The general scene here is increasingly difficult with the Government and other problems with the Drought continuing to spiral upwards the daily cost of living. Since we came in 1968 I do not think we have seen the economy in such a mess, and the general well being of the man in the street so threatened.
On the 10th The Public Health Dept visited and Inspected us. They seemed favourably happy with what they saw, and we will soon have their written Report. This will be the last document we need to include for our already overdue Application for Re-Registration of TFH. A great relief.
School is going on well, and generally we are at peace. There has been continuing RAIN, generally at night, and the day having plenty of sunshine. Very good, and everything fresh with newness of grass and flora. We are blessed.
Daryl is travelling to Nairobi on Monday with Dan, this time for a Second Examination prior to finally deciding on surgery. They will be travelling there and back in a minibus from town. Long and tiring journey. So Dan has been well, and we are hopeful for further good news.
Thank you ALL for the many Birthday Greetings received via E-mail, Face book, and ordinary mail. I was quite overwhelmed and filled with joy. Love you all.
God Bless and keep you safe this coming week
John, Esther and Daryl Green
1 comment:
Just thought of you both today with love.
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