Aches and Praise Three Hundred & Seventy Four

November 9, 2018
 
Dear friends, I have always loved to walk and seeing my grandson, who is almost 15 months old, walking in a field of leaves earlier this week brought a smile to my face. While raking leaves might be drudgery to many adults, toddlers delight in the sound of leaves swishing underfoot and the sight of a multitude of colours glistening in the sun. Our perception of things often changes as we get older, doesn’t it?
 
One of the things that I learned listening to Dr. Glenn Smith during the Global Christianity conference at Peoples Church of Montreal last month is that near the equator, the sunrises and sunsets occur more rapidly than in distant places. Glenn and his wife, Sandy, visited family in Solomon Islands (less than 700 miles south of the equator) in July and were impressed by how quickly darkness was dispelled in the morning and how suddenly it returned in the evening. You can listen to Dr. Smith’s message entitled “Healing Light” at: http://www.peoplesmontreal.org/sermon/you-are-the-light/. Reflecting on this, I realized that believers in Christ must stay close to the Son of God in order to have the proper perspective of life and remain in the light (please see the Scripture for the weekend below).
 
I also learned recently that the almond tree is the first tree in Israel to blossom and the last tree to bear fruit. While preparing to teach on the first chapter of the book of Jeremiah in Children’s Church, I found an informative article by Dr. Juergen Buehler, Executive Director of ICEJ in Jerusalem – https://int.icej.org/content/lesson-almond-tree. What wonders we see in God’s creation and what treasures we can discover as we read His Word!
 
Scripture for the weekend: “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”1 John 1:5-7 (NKJV)
 
Thought for the weekend: “Christians must allow God’s light to be on full display in their lives. Their responsibility is twofold: to guard against anything that can separate them from their only source of light and to let their light so shine that others will see the reality of Christ in them and glorify their heavenly Father.” – Dr. David Jeremiah (from his Study Bible).
 
By His grace,
 
 
Steve

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