Had a special dinner of self toasted pizza and SHEPHERD'S PIE! Yum!! :D Warm tummy tummy.
Managed to clear some photos from my phone. Better to start early before I need to spend even more time on it when it accumulates.
Finished another book of Agatha's : The Pale Horse.
Excerpts:
Foreword by Mark Easterbrook (character in the book)
There are two methods, it seems to me, of approaching this strange business of the Pale Horse. In spite of the dictum of the White King, it is difficult to achieve simplicity. One cannot, that is to say, "begin at the beginning, go on to the end, and then stop." For where is the beginning?
To a historian, that always is the difficulty. At what point in history does one particular portion of history begin.
In this case, you can begin at the moment when Father Gorman et forth from his presbytery to visit a dying woman. Or you can start before that, on a certain evening in Chelsea.
Perhaps, since I am writing the greater part of this narrative myself, it is there that I should begin.
***
The Espresso machine behind my shoulder hissed like an angry snake. The noise it made had a sinister, not to say devilish, suggestion about it. Perhaps, I reflected, most of our contemporary noises carry that implication. The intimidating angry scream of jet planes as they flash across the sky; the slow menacing rumble of a tube train approaching through its tunnel; the heavy road transport that shakes the very foundations of your house... Even the minor domestic noises of today, beneficial in action though they may be, yet carry a kind of alert. The dishwashers, the refrigerators, the pressure cookers, the whining vacuum cleaners- "be careful," they all seem to say. "I am a genie harnessed to your service, but if your control of me fails..."
A dangerous world- that was it, a dangerous world.
***
It came to me suddenly that evil was, perhaps, necessarily always more impressive than good. It had to make a show! It had to startle and challenge! It was instability attacking stability. And in the end, I thought, stability will always win. Stability can survive the triteness of Good Fairy Diamond; the flat voice, the rhymed couplet, even the irrelevant vocal statement of "There's a winding road runs down the Hill, To the Olde World Town I love." All very poor weapons it would seem, and yet those weapons would inevitably prevail. The pantomime would end in they way it always ended.
***
'If things aren't all they should be, its better not to know about it, don't you agree?'
***
"Evil is not something superhuman, it's something less than human. Your criminal is someone who wants to be important, but who never will be important, because he'll always be less than a man."
*******************************************************************************
Disclaimer: This is a personal blog; the following would be something religious and of the Christian faith.
This Christmas, I seek for an intimate relationship with God.
I would like to share this from my daily devotion 'SOLID JOY' app.
Credits: Taken from the Website - http://www.desiringgod.org/sermons/the-son-of-god-appeared-to-destroy-the-works-of-the-devil--2
The Christmas Message
But now go back to the text with me for a moment to get the Christmas message. When verse 8b says, "The Son of God appeared [deity - clothed with humanity and born of virgin -who walked in obedience, laid down his life and rose from the dead] for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil," what are the "works of the devil" that he has in mind? The answer is clear from the context.
First, verse 5 is a clear parallel: "You know that He appeared in order to take away sins." The phrase "he appeared to . . ." occurs in verse 5 and verse 8b. So probably the "works of the devil" that Jesus came to destroy are sins. The first part of verse 8 makes this virtually certain: "The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning." The issue in this context is sinning, not sickness or broken cars or messed up schedules. Jesus came into the world to help us stop sinning.
Before I draw out three practical implications of this, let me put it alongside the truth of 1 John 2:1: "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin." In other words, I am promoting the purpose of Christmas (3:8), the purpose of the incarnation. Then he adds (2:2), "And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world."
Implications for Your Life
But now look what this means: it means that Jesus appeared in the world for two reasons. He came that we might not go on sinning; and he came to die so that there would be a propitiation [a substitutionary sacrifice that takes away the wrath of God] for our sins, if we do sin.
Now ponder this remarkable situation with me in a few closing minutes. If the Son of God came to help you stop sinning - to destroy the works of the devil -and if he also came to die so that, when you do sin, there is a propitiation -a removal of God's wrath - then what does this imply for living your life?
Three things. And they are wonderful to have. I give them to you briefly as Christmas presents.
1. A Clear Purpose for Living
It implies that you have a clear purpose for living in 1999 -the last year of this century and this millennium. Negatively, it is simply this: don't sin. "I write these things to you so that you may not sin" (2:1). "The Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil" (3:8).
If you ask, "Can you give us that positively, instead of negatively, the answer is: Yes, it's all summed up in 1 John 3:23. It's a great summary of what the whole book requires. Notice the singular "commandment": "This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us." These two things are so closely connected for John he calls them one commandment: believe Jesus and love others. That is your purpose in 1999. That is the sum of the Christian life. Trusting Jesus, loving people. Trust Jesus, love people. There's the first gift: a purpose to live.
2. Hope that Our Failures Will Be Forgiven
Now consider the second implication of the twofold truth that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to forgive our sins. It's this: We make progress in overcoming our sin when we have hope that our failures will be forgiven. If you don't have hope that God will forgive your failures, when you start fighting sin, you give up.
Many of you are pondering some changes in the new year, because you have fallen into sinful patterns and want out. You want some new patterns of eating. New patterns of TV watching. New patterns of giving. New patterns of relating to your spouse. New patterns of family devotions. New patterns of sleep and exercise. New patterns of courage in witness. But you are struggling, wondering whether it's any use. Well here's your second Christmas present: Christ not only came to destroy the works of the devil - our sinning - he also came to be an advocate for us when we fail in our fight.
So I plead with you, let the freedom to fail give you the hope to fight. But beware! If you turn the grace of God into license, and say, "Well, if I can fail, and it doesn't matter, then why bother fighting?" - if you say that, and mean it, and go on acting on it, you are probably not born again and should tremble. But that is not where most of you are. Most of you want to fight sinful patterns in your life. And what God is saying to you this morning is this: let the freedom to fail give you hope to fight. I preach to you that you might not sin, but if you sin you have an advocate, Jesus Christ.
3. Christ Will Help Us
Finally, the third implication of the double truth that Christ came to destroy our sinning and to forgive our sins, is this: Christ will really help us in our fight. He really will help you. He is on your side. He didn't come to destroy sin because sin is fun. He came to destroy sin because it is fatal. It is a deceptive work of the devil and will destroy us if we don't fight it. He came to help us, not hurt us.
So here's your third Christmas gift: Christ will help overcome sin in you in 1999. 1 John 4:4 says, "He who is in you is greater than he that is in the world." Jesus is alive, Jesus is almighty, Jesus lives in us by faith. And Jesus is for us, not against us. He will help you. Trust him.
Summary
In summary, three gifts: because Christ came to destroy sinning and to forgive sins
1. We have a clear purpose for living in 1999: fight sin. Trust Jesus and love others.
2. The freedom to fail gives us hope in the fight.
3. Jesus will really help us. He really will. Trust him.
Blessed Christmas once again, we look forward to the second coming of the LORD :D
=do something right=
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