Finding direction in life

Photos courtesy of Unsplash 

The River Severn rises in the mountains of Wales, passing by the Powys towns of Newtown, Welshpool and over the border into England. Meandering through Shrewsbury and on to Stourport, Worcester and Gloucester. Here there are inland docks with the commencement of the canal to Sharpness, with its access to the Severn Estuary and the Bristol Channel. The river itself flows on to open out into its famous estuary. It has seen times of substantial waterborne cargoes.

Before the days of steam tugs, hundreds of vessels called trows, either propelled by sail or pulled by horses and men, carried cargoes up to Pool Quay near Welshpool. It was not easy as the river is notorious for being shallow. Crews had to rely upon spring tides  and flood water to keep going. 

Children in Need

Photos courtesy of Unsplash 

What has Solomon from the Old Testament, the prophet Joel, again from the Old Testament, the late Sir Terry Wogan and Pudsey Bear got in common? Care for children, for ‘Children in Need’ to use the phrase from the BBC’s annual appeal as it raises millions of pounds to fund services for children. 

 

In Psalm 127, which is a song by Solomon for worship, we read that “Children are a blessing and a gift from the Lord.” As a comprehensive school teacher, I have had the privilege of working with thousands of youngsters for over 25 years now and also had the privilege of helping out in Sunday school work and Youth work. Children have, and continue to be a very important part of my day-to-day life. 

It’s all over!

Photos courtesy of Unsplash 

And suddenly, it’s all over!

Once again, after all the adverts, lights, shopping, nativity plays and seasonal films, Christmas is once again behind us and we start talking about “the New Year”. 

It reminds me of my Christmases when I was a boy.  The excitement started building weeks before the big day and the anticipation grew daily until, finally, it was Christmas eve.  As I was packed off to bed, I felt sure I wouldn’t sleep a wink – but I always did.  Then Christmas morning arrived with all the excitement of new toys and, even better, new books.

Good Will

The Christmas season is looked upon as the time of goodwill but will it be for many people in different parts of the world, particularly the Middle East? Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, Israel to name but a few. Problems of political contrasts, social and religious divides cause an absence of goodwill. Some of their leaders have had to either stand down or be executed, having lost the confidence and goodwill of the people.

Back in July Dr. James Zogby, Founder and President of the Arab American Institute wrote an article entitled ‘Diminishing goodwill for U.S. Middle East policy’. He stated ‘A few months back I had a quick exchange with President Obama about the U.S. standing in the Arab World. When I mentioned that we would be conducting a poll to assess Arab attitudes two years after his Cairo speech, he responded that he expected that the ratings would be quite low and would remain low until the U.S. could help find a way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Well, the results are in, and the President was right. In our survey of over 4,000 Arabs from six countries (Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE), we found that favorable attitudes toward the U.S. had declined sharply since our last poll (which had been conducted in 2009 after Obama's first 100 days in office). ……If anything, the results of this latest poll of Arab opinion demonstrates how precarious the position of the United States is in the Middle East and how important it has become for American policy makers to pay attention to what Arabs are saying. Some may play politics with critical Middle East issues and gloat at their success at having stymied the President's efforts to make peace and restore America's image in the region. But as the results of this survey make clear, their success has come at a price; one that is being paid by the entire country.’

Is there any goodwill being shown in the demonstrations, riots or strikes in so many places? Folk have their own agenda and give little thought to the consequences of their actions as it relates to the disadvantaged. Many suffer loss as a result of violence and selfish behaviour.

Allow me a moment of fantasy. How if top managers and CEO’s were only rewarded for success and not failure and that their bonuses bore semblance to the level of success and did not put the rewards of their emplyees in the shade. What if young men and women, instead of defacing and trashing their enviroment used their energy and ability to improve their locality and assisting elderly or disabled people to cope with daily life. Some business people do show goodwill to their employees wth an appropriate gift at Christmas. A generous boss will secure the loyalty of their workforce when production is required to rise, or overtime to be worked. Goodwill is a two way street and has a tendacy to improve relationships and the well being of all that benefit.

There are five quotations of ‘Good will’ in the Bible, the first in Deut.33 is the blessing of the tribe of Joseph by Moses before he died, “And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. Moses showed plenty of good will himself to Joseph but also wanted God’s good will upon him.

The first New Testament quote is probably the best known one, it is Luke 2;14, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” It was when the heavenly host of angels announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds at Bethlehem. Their song was only fourteen words, revealing three precious aspects of truth. They sang, “Glory to God in the highest”, giving praise and worship to God for sending His Son into the world to be the Saviour of sinners such as us. Salvation finds its source in the deep love of God; we owe everything to Him for sending and giving His Son ultimately to die on a cross at Calvary. They sang, “And on earth peace,” this poor old war-torn world that is marked by such daily blood shed, will soon enjoy the blessing of this heavenly melody when the Prince of Peace returns to establish His kingdom. I think that the last four words, “Good will toward men” would have been a crescendo of praise by the sweetest of voices, expressing the desire of God’s heart for the blessing of all mankind. God desires that all should be saved, be born again, His good will is seen in sending Christ in order that mankind might be blessed with salvation. But everyone will not be saved, because not everyone believes in Christ nor have received Him as their Lord and Saviour, never been born again. John said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” to enter the kingdom of God one must be born again.

Now think of this! At the time Christ sets up His kingdom on earth, every person entering in will be born again. There will be peace on earth for the government shall be upon His shoulder. Bloodshed of man will not be a daily thing, it will not happen; all on earth will experience the good will of God. Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

Written for Stan Burditt and published on Stephen G Baker’s Blog

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

One of the things that I really love about this time of year is the music. I mean all of it, I love all the songs but particularly the Christmas Carols.

We sing the same songs, year after year, and the words get stuck in our heads; we can often recite the words without even thinking about it. 

Many people attend Carol Services and Concerts and while a wide range of songs are sung the majority are still Carols. The words of the Carols can teach us a lot about the message of Christmas. 

Does anybody care?

Does Anyone Care?

Does anyone care? That’s a question that lonely people often ask themselves throughout the winter season. Everyone else seems to have people to share the Christmas season with, and the first weeks of the year can be dreary and depressing.
Life is full of questions and often the answers are difficult. Stephen Baker seeks to answer various questions about life and faith using the Bible as his only source. Listen to Stephen’s show, “Life Questions,” on HopeStreamRadio as he tackles the challenge of life questions.

Does Anyone Care?

This time of the year can be a lonely time for many people! Everyone has their family, or do they? There are a lot of people about who are very private and keep themselves to themselves. They would not trouble anyone with their problems and would not presume that anyone else is interested.