Time with Jesus - Friday, 05 April 2013
Hi all,
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| Pythagoras |
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| Archimedes |
Attached herewith, please find a copy of my latest Daily Light Meditation in rhyme and metre.
Schooldays were fun with new things to learn and get into every day. Some
things were easy. Others were not. We learned about a man called Archimedes,
who had a principle. It had something to do with his getting into and out of
the bath. There was another guy; an Italian called Avogadro, who had a
hypothesis. Fortunately for him, it wasn’t fatal! Then we learned about another
Greek, called Pythagoras. He was into trigonometry and taught us something
about a squaw on a hippopotamus; and the sons of the squaws on the other two
hides! It occurred to me that there were no squaws or hippopotami in Greece. So
he must have been a very smart Greek indeed!
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| Jim & Phyllida |
We did spend some time looking at a roundabout. Not the “Magic Roundabout”
of TV fame. This was a very ordinary one. We would try and persuade some of the
younger boys to stand on it. Then, we started pushing it round faster and faster,
until they were all ejected! It had something to do with what they called
centrifugal force. We were then told about another scientist called Sir Isaac
Newton. He had said that for every force, there was an equal and opposite
force. We tried this out on the roundabout, but never succeeded in getting
anyone thrown back onto the speeding roundabout. I’m sure Sir Isaac knew this. I
was never bold enough to find out why this was so. With a name like Newton he knew
something. Not sure where the “ton” fits in.
Today’s meditation is about the Lord and the roundabout. The Lord was with
us in School. Trouble is, we decided not to trouble Him with our troubles! The
comment was, “Never trouble trouble, until trouble troubles you!” Today, all
these years later, not troubling Jesus, was one of the most serious mistakes we
all made.
Please forward my poetry to others you think would enjoy it. All I ask is
that it is not used for commercial purposes.
Shalom,
Jim
& Phyllida Strickland
Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Friday, 05 April 2013
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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These
devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright
protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it
is for non-commercial Christian purposes
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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The Lord and the
Round-About
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Reading today’s Scriptures gave me the sense of being on a roundabout.
As a youngster, riding on one of those horses that go up and down, while we
went round and round, was very popular. It was fun. It was only later in life,
that I spotted the similarity between life and a ride on a roundabout. It
seems to go up and down and round and round and achieve just about nothing.
In October 1957, the Russians launched “sputnik 1” into orbit and initiated
a space race with USA. Sputnik went round and round the earth. It continued doing
so until 4th January 1958. I was almost 15 and remember going out
into our backyard in Port Elizabeth, to see it as it passed over. There wasn’t
very much to see. Not with the naked eye. But it was something new and I
recall the media asking, how it was that the Russians achieved, this before
USA? I rather suspect that US pride, in being the biggest and best, was somewhat
dented. Sputnik only weighed 83.6kg. President Eisenhower’s face was a bit
red! The next President was JFK. He spurred the USA on to land a man on the
moon and get him home by the end of the 1960’s. They did!
Also in the 1960’s, there was a play called, “Stop the World, I Want
to Get Off”. I didn’t go and see it. But I can understand the sentiments.
Shakespeare expressed it as follows: - “Life’s
but a walking shadow; a poor player that struts and fumes his hour upon the stage;
and then is heard no more. A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
signifying nothing” (dug out from school
day memories). The problem is Shakespeare was right. We must get off
the roundabout! “Stop the world, I want to get off”! But we are all on the
roundabout. We get on when we are born. We get off when we die. In between?
Good question.
Is there nothing we can do about this? Yes and no. We have to be born.
Then we have to die. Die to sin. We call this conversion, or being saved.
Jesus Christ made this possible. By His Spirit we are then born again.
Physically it may look as though, we are still on the roundabout of life. But
in and through Him, the journey of life takes on a new meaning. No longer is
it pointless and meaningless. It may look the same to unbelievers. But by His
Spirit, the horses become eagles and we can soar aloft, into a personal relationship
with our Creator. This expands the roundabout to approach infinity and His
arms are around us, to hold us and love us. Of course, Satan tries his best
to “cut the power”, so that everything grinds to a halt. But as we confess
our sin, repent and obtain forgiveness from Him, our new dimension hardly has
time to feel the bump! All this made possible by our Saviour! Today’s
meditation looks at the roundabout, our Saviour and God’s infinite qualities!
Jim &
Phyllida Strickland
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2 looking to Jesus, the
founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, is seated at the right
hand of the throne of God.
Heb. 12:2 ESV
8 "I am the Alpha and
the Omega--the beginning and the end," says the Lord God. "I am the
One who is, who always was, and who is still to come--the Almighty One."
Rev 1:8 NLT
4 Who has made that happen?
Who has carried it out? Who has created all of the people who have ever
lived? I, the LORD, have done it. I was with the first of them. And I will be
with the last of them."
Isaiah 41:4 NIrV
1
This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father,
who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ.
Jude1:1 NLT
24 He who calls you is
faithful; he will surely do it.
1 Thess. 5:24 ESV
6 There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind
that the God who started this great work in you would
keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus
appears.
Philip 1:6 MSG
3 Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by
their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren't smart enough or
strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it?
Gal 3:3 MSG
8 LORD, you will do
everything you have planned for me. LORD, your faithful love continues
forever. You have done so much for us. Don't stop now.
Psalm 138:8 NIrV
13 That energy is God's
energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what
will give him the most pleasure.
Philip 2:13 MSG
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Round and round in circles the sinful men will go!
But as for destination; the Lord alone can know.
They think they’re on a round-about as each of them rotate.
But if they are repentant, He’ll surely change their fate.
They have to do what’s needed and serve the Lord with zeal.
Then Jesus, in His wondrous love, will make salvation real!
He tells them all quite clearly, that if they persevere,
He’ll stop the dizzy feeling and quench their every fear.
For He is the beginning; He also is the end.
The Alpha and Omega, on whom we can depend.
He is, He was and will be. He’s the Almighty One.
He’s there when time was started and will be when it’s gone.
God causes things to happen and sees them carried out.
The author of creation knows what this world’s about!
He knows what in the papers, ten thousand years ahead!
He watches us from when we’re born; and even when we’re dead,
His presence will be with us. From Him, there’s no escape.
He’s known us from the starter’s gun up to the winning tape.
He planned His crucifixion before the worlds were made.
There wasn’t any other way, His Word could be obeyed!
If there had been a better way, He would have always known.
And He who made the Universe has heard creation’s groan.
There isn’t an alternative for us to know His peace.
He multiplies our blessings and causes wars to cease.
He curses disobedience, when people turn away.
But He is merciful to those who turn to Him and pray.
His love endures forever. His plans for us are good.
And we will see them all fulfilled, if we do what we should.
He doesn’t think like we do. He’s always known it all!
The sins we have committed; the big ones and the small.
And none of them are graded. To Him sin’s all the same.
From murder in the first degree, to ogling some dame!
From stealing from your mother’s purse, to rape and homicide.
And He tells us the very worst is being filled with pride!
And yet He takes great pleasure each time someone repents.
Compassion deep inside Him permits Him to relent!
His love endures forever. And He would rather be,
The Saviour of His people than them lost eternally.
Jim Strickland –
Written 5th April 2012
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