From A Park Bench - The Spiritual Mirror.

It was my Auntie Doris, who with the best intentions in a passing remark once said to me, “You look just like your Dad; I can see Billy living on through you.” My Aunt of course, meant it as a compliment, a word of reassurance but it made me think, where my identity is, is it foremost in the physical and genetic atoms inherited from my parents. Unfortunately, when I look in the mirror as I grow older the more I look like my dad.

In the same way as I grow older with Christ living inside me, the more I resemble God my father. Jesus was the perfect representation of the father and I am united with the fullness of Christ living inside.

I have an exchanged life in Christ not a changed life. All that there is for me is to live in the reality of who I am, I can see who I am in the spirit by looking into the spiritual mirror. The Bible is Gods spiritual mirror, it is his love letter to me, it shows me everything God has provided for me by His grace, it shows me how my Father is and the love that has been deposited inside me.

As I renew my mind by the words of God through grace, my new exchanged life permeates through my mind and starts to eradicate all the bad, corrosive residue of my old, dead sinful flesh. 

When my soul and body agree with my Christ centered spirit, then the supernatural flow of Christ’s life flows out of me into the physical world around me. I release the life of God by living and receiving the grace of God. 

My Premiership Predictions

It seems like yesterday that I was sitting here writing my football season predictions.

And how did I do?

My Premiership top 5 was:

Manchester United

Chelsea

Manchester City

Arsenal

Liverpool

And it finished up:

Manchester United

Manchester City

Chelsea

Arsenal

Spurs

And My Relegation fodder was:

West Brom

Reading

Norwich

And it finished up:

Wigan

Reading

Q.P.R.

My team Everton I predicted a 7th place and they finished 6^th.

And the FA Cup team was Arsenal but it went to Wigan

League Cup team was Newcastle and that went to Swansea.

So there we are, the 2012-13 season finally over for the Premiership. I didn't do too badly, I predicted the Champions and got all the top 4 in the top 4. Spurs surprised me, Everton thrilled me and Liverpool were a disappointment.

When it came to the cup’s I got it way, way wrong, but I am glad as Wigan and Swansea both deserve their trophies, I admire the way both clubs play.

I am looking forward to next season with Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea all with new managers; it should be more interesting than ever.

The two managers that have really shone this season are Sir Alex and way down the league at AFC Bournemouth, Eddie Howe, what an incredible achievement to gain promotion from the position he took over. Eddie Howe is a talented manager and Bournemouth are a great club. 

Until next season!

Fix Your Eyes On The Cross

Fix your eyes upon the cross

Clearly

Stay close to him who saves

Lovingly

Dwell with him in your spirit

Alive

Drink in the wine of his grace

Revive

Give him the keys to your heart

Surrender

Open the door of your secrets

Answer

Pour out your desires and delights

Share

Give with him all your cares inside

Prayer

Rest in all he has provided

Deeper

Sit with him in fleeting moments

Ponder

From A Park Bench - Jesus Our Shepherd.

One of the most endearing images of my childhood, is a really old fashioned painting my grandparents had adorning their living room wall. This painting wasn't particularly good and to be quite honest I found it a bit unnerving, but also fascinating. It was of a perfect looking Christ, cuddling a small, insecure lamb in his arms.  It was almost too perfect to be true. Too Victorian in its essence. But although it was very religious it contained amazing truth. That Jesus Christ is our shepherd and we are his sheep and just as sheep respond to the voice of the Shepherd, we can hear and recognize the voice of Christ.

We are safe and secure held tight in the embrace of God, because Christ lives and dwells inside of us. He is not distant, he is not far away, and he is ever present with us every minute of every day.

His voice is a voice of love, a whisper of reassurance, a whisper of hope, a confirmation that we are righteous in God. Not the voice of an angry headmaster, because he has nothing to be angry about. All his anger and wrath was poured out on to Christ, who died on our place. His voice is the sound of many waters, the fragrance of heaven, the voice of a lover rushing to meet his bride. With words of adoration, words of love, words of passion, words of desire, words of adventure, words of hope.

Just stop and enjoy the voice of Him who died so that you could live in the fullness of God’s grace.

The Descent from the Cross by Christina Georgina Rossetti

Is this the Face that thrills with awe

     Seraphs who veil their face above?

Is this the Face without a flaw,

     The Face that is the Face of Love?

Yea, this defaced, a lifeless clod,

     Hath all creation's love sufficed,

Hath satisfied the love of God,

     This Face the Face of Jesus Christ.

by Christina Georgina Rossetti

10 Truths from Rob Rufus

Even when you feel surprised, God isn't surprised. God is inside of you, God loves you and God is working your life out to a prefixed victory that He decided before time began

You merit all the blessing that Jesus merits because you are a joint equal heir with Christ and an heir of God and you are 100% righteous all the time and you will be in 10 years time and 5 seconds time and in a billion, trillion years time - you will ALWAYS be the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!

The MOMENT you are made His righteousness by a free gift, the blessings come automatically from heaven but according to the degree your heart is established in the understanding of the gift of righteousness.

The benevolent, peaceful government of God - it's not food or drink but righteousness. Whose righteousness? The gift of righteousness

Every promise God has made is yes and amen in Christ! So every promise - it's His absolute will for you to live in the benefits and fullness of New Covenant promises

When Jesus went to that Cross He surrendered to the sickness we deserve, the wrath we deserve, the curses - He surrendered to all of that willingly! For the joy set before Him - He endured the Cross knowing the joy we will experience when we believe this and are established in righteousness.

Jesus was crushed so that God would never crush you.

A people who have ALL condemnation lifted off them are empowered to have greater victory over sin.

Some Christians should go on a 5-year diet while that concrete is setting - stay on grace

The Father would take an oath never to rebuke us or withdraw His love - never to withdraw His peace but to always speak to us and relate to us with absolute recognition that we are righteous.

From A Park Bench - Say What You See.

Back in the 1980’s on a Sunday night Roy Walker’s  “Catchphrase” was essential viewing, trying to work out the “Catchphrase” before the contestants, consisted of shouting at the TV with what I might think was the right answer, invariably it was. Roy’s own catch phrase was, “Say what you see!” and this was the best advice he could have given anyone, but unfortunately some contestants saw different things. I am sure some even saw things that we not there! It was great entertainment.

Christ’s death on the cross changed everything, the Old Covenant laws and regulations were made obsolete and Christ through his death opened a new and living way to God. No longer was it all about looking forward to a day, now the day had arrived and God was fully united with man.

The Old Covenant had placed great value on faith in God. It laid the burden on man to put his faith in God.  Before the cross the flow of faith was us to God, but after the cross the flow of faith is God to us.

The New Covenant is all about God having faith in me. Christ is my mediator, my great high priest and he has perfect and great faith on my behalf. I do not have to examine myself to see if I have faith, as I look and focus on Christ, I live in his faith and he is the author and perfector of my faith.

My focus is on Christ and in Him I was crucified. The life I now live is by the faith of the son of God.

I have the faith of Christ living inside of me, I have His faith and that faith is a free gift by grace.

Christ believes in me, I am holy, I am righteous, I am sanctified, I am redeemed. God sees me as “In Christ”, perfect , secure and rooted in the power of the kingdom of God. I now “Say what I see” I see Christ living and united in me, I see Christ working through me, I see Christ’s faith in me.

Mystery

A life full of riches

A future full of glory

For the glorious heart of love

For the wonderful secret

Mystery hidden for ages

And now revealed

For the expectation of glory

Radiating his presence

And Christ living on the inside

The mystery made known

Perfect communion

Harmony in pleasure

Revealed in unmerited grace.

The Mystery Revealed

One of the great things about watching an Agatha Christie drama for the very first time is playing the detective yourself.  Great entertainment can be found trying to work out who done it! Solving the labyrinth of clues, joining up the hidden connections and working the mystery out. Let us be honest, there is nothing quite as satisfying as getting it right. Most clues are clouded in mystery and some are not revealed to the viewer, so sometimes it is just impossible to work out and it becomes a matter of guesswork and luck.

The Old Testament contained a mystery, a secret hidden in prophecies, pictures, images, words and actions. Something that was so radical, so good, so scandalous, so unbelievable that the Old Testament saints could only look forward to it, and put their faith in it, their hope in the coming Messiah, the promise of salvation. God’s grace and mercy was freely given to these saints, as they trusted a God who would one day reconcile himself to them. And just like an Agatha Christie drama all the clues were there for everyone to find and understand to uncover the final result.

And what was this mystery that runs through the bible, it is a crimson strand of God’s grace, it is that God now lives and dwells inside every believer, it is “Christ in us – the hope of glory”.

Christ gives us his riches, Christ gives us his glory, Christ gives us his righteousness, Christ gives us his life, Christ gives us eternal life, and Christ dwells in our hearts with the same power that raised him from the dead. He is totally and utterly united with in us.

Christ is God’s gift to me given to me on God’s initiative, before I even existed. 

The good news is that I can be connected and interwoven into God, through Christ by His Spirit. The trinity now lives inside me; I have become God’s dwelling place, a holy, walking, talking, living temple.

Grace Notes - Joel 3 v 21

“I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: For the Lord dwelleth in Zion.” Joel 3:21.

When we believe in the reality of God’s grace, His favor that flows from the finished work of Christ on the cross, we position ourselves to receive the power of Christ flowing through and out of us.

Through Christ we are united into the fullness of God filling our bodies. We can carry the radiance of God’s presence on our lives each and every day.

We are His temple, we carry His presence here on Earth, God has come to His people and He is inside each and every believer. When we touch, breathe, lay hands on people we are imparting the power and presence of God into people’s lives.

God believes in you. He sees His promises inside of you. He believes that you can be everything He ever dreamed you could be. It is simply about living a life that believes in the power and the presence of God, believe that your sins are forgiven, believe that your debts have been relieved, believe that you have been healed, and believe that God in Christ by His Spirit has come to live inside you.

John G. Lake in his sermon on “The Tangibility of the Spirit,” explains that Christ blood applied to the believer cleanses spirit, soul and body.

“The Christian stands out as the revelation of divine power of Jesus Christ to come into the spirit of man, and change it and make it sweet and lovely like God Himself. To come into the mind of man, and take possession of all its faculties.  To come into the nature of man and change it by the power of God until his thoughts are pure, holy, and lovely. To come into his old diseased body until God’s action revolutionizes every cell of the blood. 

I believe that when the Blood of Jesus Christ is applied to a man’s nature, spirit, soul and body, that when his sin is forgiven, the effects of that sin should be eliminated from his life. This may not be true in all Christian lives because we have not been educated in our Christian faith to believe with the same force and power for physical cleansing, as we have for the cleansing of our soul. But the word of God says, “I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: For the Lord dwelleth in Zion.” Joel 3:21.”

Well Done Wigan

It was that special Saturday yesterday, the F.A. Cup Final.

It wasn’t as special for me, not as special as it was when I was growing up, then it was watching the build up three hours before, follow the teams and get really involved in the build up. Yesterday it was a quick rush home from my teenage boys work placement at a local stable and then switch on the TV ten minutes before kick-off.

Fifteen minutes into the game my daughter decided to knock over a glass of Coke and I spent 10 mintues clearing and mopping up from the floor, thankfully I missed nothing.

In fact I missed very little for 90 minutes, Wigan Athletic played some excellent passing football, their pressing and movement was superb, but they were toothless in breaking down an efficient Manchester City defence. In fact, there were times that I had to pinch myself to realize that Manchester City had actually turned up, their excellent Captain Kompany seemed to be the only player who wanted to win.

The game turned on the sending off, (no argument there) Wigan scored from a near post corner where the departed player should have been defending. An excellent goal and a just reward for an unnecessary sending off.

Wigan deserved their prize, the better team who actually wanted to win and played  the opposition off the park.

The smiles on the faces of the supporters and the Chairman said it all.

I worked in Wigan for eight years and I loved the town and the people. Warm hearted, honest and down to earth. I found Wiganers always friendly and warmingly suspicious of a South Coast lad from Eastbourne. Most of them looked at me in bemusement when that knew I came north from a holiday resort to work in a town like Wigan.

No town or team deserves it more than Wigan and it makes my heart glad that this great town has won this great trophy.

In the Cross of Christ I Glory by John Bowering

In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o'er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

When the woes of life o'ertake me,
Hopes deceive and fears annoy,
Never shall the cross forsake me:
Lo! It glows with peace and joy.

When the sun of bliss is beaming
Light and love upon my way,
From the cross the radiance streaming
Adds more lustre to the day.

Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
By the cross are sanctified;
Peace is there that knows no measure,
Joys that through all time abide.

by John Bowering

Goodbye David Moyes

Well it had to happen, as every Everton supporter on the face of the earth suspected, the wonderful David Moyes made the only decision that a manager of his ability and talent could make, he leaves the beloved Toffees for the glamour club Manchester United.

It is with a sad and heavy heart that we say goodbye to a great manager and I as a lifelong Everton supporter wish him all the best because he certainly deserves it.

We had many dark days before David Moyes took over in March 2002 and with limited resources, hard work, astute purchases and passion he put together a very good footballing team that plays in an entertaining and exciting style. He may not have won all the trophies but no one can deny his professionalism and his management qualities. He has the hardest act in football to follow, so I hope that Manchester United supporters are patient and give him the time he needs to make the job his own.

Where do Everton go from here?

Well it is important for the club to get the right manager. Roberto Martinez is being mentioned as the favourite and he has done a great job at Wigan. They play great passing football but Martinez has always had difficulty with his defending and no one ever gets anywhere unless they have a solid defence.

I hope we go for someone who knows how to win because when all is said and done, winning by one goal is better than playing beautifully and losing. 

I leave you with David Moyes own words, “Everton's fantastic fans have played a big part in making my years at Goodison so enjoyable and I thank them wholeheartedly for the support they have given me and the players. Everton will be close to me for the rest of my life."

Mr. Moyes will be close to all our hearts and I wish him all the best.

Oh Knickerbocker Glory by Jeanette Williams

The craving

On my taste buds

For sweetness in my mouth

Tongue betrayed by succulent flavours

And deliciousness

of lingering herbs and sauces,

Raspberry coulis destroying all that came before.

Shall I absolve myself

With lemon mousse?

Then I smell

Chocolate

And afterwards

I am sorry.

By Jeanette Williams.

Bygone Times - Knickerbocker Glory

When I was a 14 year old teenager in 1974, there was nothing quite as magical as those day outings to exotic destinations and for me that mainly consisted of a trip to Brighton.

If it wasn’t a family relative taking me there, it was my Sunday school teacher at All Souls Church, a portly, kindly Mr. Arthur Spackman. Mr. Spackman who was a dentist, treated us with miscellaneous technological gadgets and the weekly concoction of educational magazines and a Milk Tray chocolate bar. Every summer he would take the Sunday School class on a magical trip to the popular resort.

Our trip to the city was usually finished off in Debenhams’s restaurant where we were treated to a Knickerbocker Glory and for any 14 year old boy this was a treat worth waiting for.

Ice Cream, cream, fruit, meringue. Layers of different sweet tastes alternated and jammed into the tallest glass topped with whipped cream, syrup and a cherry.

It even had its own special very long spoon so to could reach right down into the bottom of the glass and get every last tiny bit of delight.

Even today the mere mention of one takes me back to the restaurant overlooking the tiny park in Brighton.  There is nothing quite like the pleasure of diving into this world of glorious sweetness.

From A Park Bench - Holy In Christ.

Ephesians 1:1

“Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus.”

Paul opens up his letter to the Church at Ephesians calling all those in the church saints. This is a statement of our position in the New Covenant. Every believer has been united to Christ in their spirit and is therefore declared holy; There is no hierarchy of saints in the Kingdom of God, no superstars , If you are in Him, you are Holy. You don’t have to try and be holy you don’t have to get holy. You are holy.

Holiness has got nothing to do with sinning or not sinning. It has nothing to do with our works or performance, we cannot make ourselves holy. There is only one person who is the cause of our holiness and His name is Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 10:10 - "We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all".  You have been made holy once and for all!

Religion has limited holiness to the absence of sin. This definition of holiness robs God of his awesome glory. Holiness is who God is. It is the essence of God. It is the pure glory of the fullness of his infinite goodness, mercy and love.

God is Holy and if you are in Him and united into him then you are holy and you are a saint. You are seated in heavenly places in Christ, You have been blessed with every spiritual blessing.

To live holy is to live from your eternal, heavenly position. To live unholy is to live from your current earthly condition. It has got nothing to do with sinning. It has everything to do with position. It has everything to do with where you are living from. 

Therefore we enjoy all the blessings of God as we live from our Spirit and let it permeate through our entire being. 

Grace Notes - Luke 8 v 50

Luke 8:50, "But when Jesus heard it, he answered him saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole."

Fear is all around us, fear of economic recession, fear of sickness, fear of accidents, fear of failure to name just a few. If we listen too long to the news and all the bad reports we can be overwhelmed with all the negatives the world has to offer.

Focusing our minds and thoughts on Christ and his finished work is the antidote of fear.  In Christ is the fullness of joy, every promises of God is ours in Christ, we have been redeemed from the curse and have been raised and seated into heavenly places in Christ.

Living from our heavenly position and being overwhelmed by the grace of God should be the place where we live our lives.

As Andrew Wommack explains no problem is too big for God and Christ has everything we need to overcome in our union with him: -

Jesus told Jairus to "believe only," implying that faith and fear can operate in us at the same time. This is also the reason James tells us not to be double-minded, or to waiver (Jas. 1:5-8). Fear will negate faith. We can have both thoughts of faith and thoughts of unbelief at the same time.

Fear and faith are opposing forces. Fear is actually faith in reverse. Fear is believing something or someone other than God. Therefore, fear makes us subject to Satan and his death just as faith makes us recipients of all that God has to offer. This is the reason Jesus told Jairus, "Fear not." Jairus' fear would have sealed his daughter's death.

Instead of trying to build huge amounts of faith to overcome our fears and unbelief, a simpler method is to remove our fears by cutting off their source. Then, our simple "child-like" faith that remains will do the job. It doesn't take big faith - just pure faith.

Where does fear come from? Second Timothy 1:7 says, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love, and of a sound mind." It doesn't come from God. The way that fear is able to come upon us is that we take our attention off of Jesus and put it on our situation.

Fear or doubt cannot "just overcome" us. We have to let it in. In the same way that faith comes by hearing the Word of God, fear comes by hearing or seeing something contrary to God's Word. We would not be tempted with fear or doubt if we didn't consider things that Satan uses to minister that fear and doubt.

Satan tries to distract us with thinking about our problems. No problem is too big for God. We should cast our concern about the problem over on God and just keep our eyes on Jesus, the Word.

Man of Sorrows by Philip Bliss

Man of Sorrows! What a name

For the Son of God, Who came

Ruined sinners to reclaim.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,

In my place condemned He stood;

Sealed my pardon with His blood.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;

Spotless Lamb of God was He;

Full atonement can it be?

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die;

"It is finished!" was His cry;

Now in heaven exalted high.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious King,

All His ransomed home to bring,

Then anew His song we'll sing:

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

By Philip Bliss

The Miracle of the New Creation from Under The Waterfall of Grace

Sometimes you read a post that just blows you away. This was posted on the amazing blog “Under the Waterfall of Grace” by Sparrow Girl.

It is a wonderful, awesome grace and faith filled article on who we are in Christ. It is absolutely brilliant and if you get a chance visit her website and soak in all the truth that she shares. You will not be disappointed.

The Miracle of the New Creation

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."          2 Corin. 5:17

Here is one of the most wonderful verses in the Bible describing what God has done for us by grace!  First, who is the verse talking about?  Anyone in Christ.  Anyone, whosoever, any person at all is included in this verse.  If anyone wishes, they can identify with Christ.  Christ has already identified with us.  When He was born a human baby He was born "one of us."  When He was baptized, He was saying, "I identify with humanity, I will live my life as a human and represent the human race in all I do."  He included us in His obedient life, in His dying for sin on the cross, in His burial and resurrection, in His going to the right hand of the Father and sitting down after His finished His work. When we believe in Christ, we are identifying with Him, and all that He did in our place becomes reality and experience in our lives; we come alive to all He did 2000 years ago as our representative!  That means all that happened to Christ happened to you. When He died to sin and its power, you died to sin and its power.  When He rose in victory and newness of life, you rose in victory and newness of life.  When He ascended and sat down in authority in heaven, you did too, in Him!  All that comes 'online' for you when you believe in Christ!

What does the verse say is true if anyone is in Christ?  They are a new creation!  The old you has died and the new you has begun!  You aren't just a patched up version of the old self you were before you got saved.  You are totally different, totally new.  The word for 'new' in this verse is kainos, and it means fresh, novel, of a new kind, unprecedented, unheard of.  The new creation you is something that is totally new and unprecedented.  This new creation is so novel and different it has never been around before.  It is a totally new thing that God has created or made!  Jesus at His resurrection started a whole new creation.  He started a whole new realm of existence or environment, and He started a whole new being or species/race of people to go in this environment.  Everything about the new creation is new, new, new!  When you were born again, you were born as a new creation, born into this new creation realm.  You are a citizen of heaven and belong to the heavenly realms!  Through the Spirit, you have been born from above, born of God Himself!  You are a totally new creation!

What does the verse say has happened to the old you?  Old things have passed away!  Everything about your former life is gone!  The old you is gone and passed away, and doesn't exist anymore!  Everything connected with that old self is gone, too, including all the guilt, problems, worries, sin issues, and so on.  So now any hangups, struggles, sinful thoughts, fears and oppressions coming at you are seen for what they are - lies of the old existence.  They don't represent you anymore! They are part of the old self, and that self died with Christ on the cross.  You are now a new self, who was raised with Christ in the resurrection!

Hey, what a revelation that you don't have any hangups, problems, issues, or sin struggles. The person who had those problems is dead! When God made the new creation, He didn't make a flawed and messed up person with sin issues, no!  He made a righteous, beautiful, pure and lovely new creation, created in righteousness and true holiness after the image of Him who created it (Eph. 4:24-5)

In the verse, how many things have become new?  ALL of them!  There is absolutely nothing left of the old self in you!  Sure, you haven't gotten a heavenly body yet, but the REAL you inside is already completely changed and new, with nothing old left.  That is the real you.  The thoughts in your brain, the desires sometimes felt in your body, these aren't the real you at all anymore!  They are projections of the enemy onto your body, an attempt to deceive you into thinking you are still the old self, still have sin problems, still have struggles and fears and hangups.  NO!  Don't believe that lie!  The verse says old things have passed away - that means they are gone forever!

And the verses also says ALL things have become new.  You are completely new without one trace of evil, wrong, problems, struggles, lusts, doubts or fears.  That is the real you!  You are a beautiful person.  You are righteous.  You are acceptable.  You are approved.  You are holy and pure.  You are strong.  You are healthy.  You are blessed.  You are complete.  You are whole.  You are of a sound mind.  You are perfect in God's sight!

How can we say that?  Because He made you that way!  He re-made you in Christ, and in Christ means that you have the qualities He has.  As He is, so are you.  You have His holiness, purity, righteousness, strength, power, blessing, wholeness, approval, etc.  In fact, because He is the very source of life inside you, because you have been re-made with Him as your very life, HE is actually all those things in you!  He is righteousness, love, power, purity, completeness in you!  Your amazing qualities are the Person of Christ in you, for you were formed with His spiritual DNA and with His very Life as your own life material!    You are part of Christ and knit together with and in and by Him!  You are pretty awesome!  What a wonderful new creation He has made of you in Christ!

From A Park Bench - Genesis 8 v 22

“As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.” – Genesis 8 v 22.

The promise of God declared to Noah in Genesis has continued through the centuries and into today. Every person can trust God’s promise regardless of status, continent or race. Even if you don’t believe in God this promise still affects and underpins your life. It is a promise of mercy and grace, Gods oath that will be upheld until the end of time.

Just take a look at any seed, study it, touch it, hold it in your hand. Every seed contains everything that plant needs to grow and develop into a full mature plant. Every seed is a tiny, miniature full plant waiting to be planted, watered and grow.  It is a wonder of nature; it contains all it needs to make a mature plant.

God anticipated the every need of man before he created him. Every need not only of Adam and Eve but of the entire human race. God has created everything we need and his original creation is self-perpetuating. God is not going to create anything again; he has stopped creating and rested.

He rested from his created work because everything was perfect. He anticipated man’s every need and ceased from his work.

In exactly the same way, the finished work of the cross was perfect; it provided all we need by grace to inherit all the riches of heaven. God anticipated all we need to live a victorious, overcoming, glorious eternal life and provided it for us in Christ.

Forgiveness, holiness, prosperity, health, freedom, joy, happiness, fulfillment  bliss, were all provided and given to everyone, free and all we have to do is say ‘Thank You’ and receive them.

When you look at a seed in your hand you are looking at God’s provision, his perfect solution to sustain and keep nature. When you look at Christ you see God’s solution to the need of mankind, the perfect sacrifice that reconciles a fallen race to a loving God, and it is provided and wrapped up in free undeserved grace.

Bygone Times - Airfix "Golden Hind"

Every kid that i knew in the 1970’s had to attempt at least one substantial “Airfix” model. Now these were the days before computer games and the internet, so we had to busy ourselves with other forms of entertainment. There were many, many models you could choose from but on the advice of my Dad I purchased the ‘Golden Hind’ Francis Drakes famous sailing ship.

This project was of magnificent proportions, sails, masts, rigging, decks; cannons all had to be lovingly put together and painted. I recall 8 paints that i needed all in little pots.

Newspaper was laid across our dining room table and every night, bit by painful bit i assembled and painted the ‘Golden Hind’.

I cannot remember how long it took me, but it seemed to take forever and i do recall feeling very proud of the finished model.

What happened to it? I don’t know, probably went to the great ship yard in the sky when i left home. To be honest, i don’t ever remember looking for it. But for a few months the ‘Golden Hind’ was the center of my life.

I didn't attempt another Airfix model that one was enough for me.