IN THE BOOK OF ISAIAH 32 and verse 2, it is written -

 A MAN

shall be as a Hiding Place

from the wind, a shelter from the storm

The illustration, shown here to the left, best describes how these words make me feel.

It is so very apt for all we have been led to do, and accomplish here in the last fifty or so years.   To tenderly and strongly take up children in need of care and protection and to give them the shielding, and care of loving hearts; to hide them in a secure and safe environment, enfolded in God's Love, from all that may in any way have disrupted or endangered their previous lives.

To the reader of Isaiah 32v2 it may look as if we are being told that a man - any man - should be a hiding place, and a refuge to those around him, who are in need of protection and safety.

We might even persuade ourselves that this is certainly something that we could apply ourselves to accomplish in our own lives as human beings.   Social Welfare, world wide, underlines the fact that men and women on their own can be motivated, and moved to do just that.     But with Man on his own, there will always be a 'shortfall' in the motive that drives him, unless he is driven by a still 'greater' Love or Concern for his neighbour - young or old.

I BELIEVE that it is the Christian - the one who has come to trust in JESUS, his death and resurrection, and in His Spiritual Presense to be now dwelling in him/her self, - who CAN be 'a Man able to hide, those who come seeking refuge and shelter from the travails and traumas of this life.    THEY carry within them THE MAN Who make EVERY effort to find and save all those who come to Him lost and astray, and endangered in our World.         His LOVE will never fail, and where you or I might fail to let that love fail or dilute, HE will make a way; force a way, against every negative, to ENSURE the one at risk is lovingly assured that all is well, and is safely founded on the Rock of His Good Will, and hidden under His wings, in the Secret place of God Himself.

ALL those who have been part of Testimony Faith Homes with us have believed this to be an integral ingredient of their  service and fellowship with us.

But, of course, none of us have yet been separated from our human nature - there is a constant pull to 'see', and even DO, things OUR way.    To succeed we have constantly to ask ourselves - as we face those we say we are reaching out to - is it ME, or JESUS that is giving this help.     Am I the one setting out the 'conditions' on which I will help or hide this one needing to be hid?    Or am I setting my conditions aside in preference to the unconditional  readiness of JESUS to hide WHOEVER it is needing to be hid, by the Covering Up  of His Love for them?         WE ARE, after all just flesh and blood.      We may not every minute be 'aware' of JESUS living in us.      Sometimes we may still find ourselves slipping out of gear with HIS WAY, and giving place to our own understanding.      BUT if we persevere we shall improve.

If we progressively endeavor to let HIS will and purpose, over-ride ours - then we shall be more and more LIKE |Him, and we may expect to see greater things being done all around US, than He himself saw Himself in His Day.

Of course whatever we strive to do in building the strong tower of a Family here with those who have been deprived of family of their very own, can never be  quite as satisfying as the real thing.   But if the effort is wholehearted it can produce real and lasting results.

This is a photo of the Kanneh-Mason Family

(the 7 children of Stuart and Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason)

            Stuart & Kadiatu

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, center with the Cello, played at Harry and Meghan's Wedding.   But I came across him just this week.   He was playing Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto at the Albert Hall.  I was so surprised - the more so because of the excellence of  his performance; it was brilliantly inspirational.  It was then I looked him up on the Net, and discovered a whole lot about his family also with many videos on the family too.    An amazing Family.    And their testimony, as a family, I found to be so praise-worthy, though they shared nothing concerning their faith, apart from their faith in themselves and in one another - but the Togetherness, the Confidence, the Security, and Joy they all evidenced in what each said and did was quite exhilarating.      THIS is a Family indeed.      A family as it CAN be, and perhaps should be.      Did they do it all on their own.      It is more than possible.    But if they did  I could not detect where God's Presence with them seemed absent.       Their testimonies of their lives together made me cry, laugh, and rejoice all together.  I Thanked God for them;   for their Witness to all of us of every race and colour.   

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All for today!

In future I might be publishing ANY day

as and when I might feel led.

A time of Change!

John, Esther  and Daryl 

Testimony Faith Homes.