National High Five day?

Yes.  The third Tuesday in April is always National High Five Day.

So who am I to argue?

So who are you hai5ing today?

Off again

By now you have hopefully realised that my past two weeks ago about moving to a foreign country was an April Fools Day joke.  If not…. well I’m not giving the donations back, so don’t even ask.

I am however going away for a few days this week.  You might remember that last year about this time I took a trip to a Men’s Conference in my home country called Mighty Men.  Well, I am going again.  This year will be the last conference of its kind, and we are counting on nearly 500,000 men going.  It should be fun.

I am scheduling some posts for the rest of the week, so you won’t even notice I am gone, but if you leave me any comments or messages, I won’t be seeing them until next week.

Have fun, and I’ll see you soon.

RDM 19 – Bless My Socks Off

If you are very good at counting, you will notice that last week’s Rainy Day Monday post was number 20, and the week before was 18.  So it only makes sense that this week should be 19, because that’s how I roll.  Deal with it!

Rainy Day Monday’s are a day to take a post out of the archives, and expose it to a fresh audience.  Many of you probably know Annie K over at Buzz by Annie’s.  She takes some pretty awesome pictures of the sun (yeah, really) and blogs some pretty awesome insights.  One of these that she blogged in January 2009 was called Bless My Socks Off, and she has kindly agreed to let me post it again.

Bless My Socks Off

Lately, I've been feeling a wee bit down. I think that probably all working wives/moms feel that way, kind of like an episode of The Neglected Housewives. So, this morning, I threw down a dare to God (in a 'nice' way). I get these little devotions emailed each morning from Turning Point Ministries. That is Dr. David Jeremiah's ministry and if you have never heard him speak, you should find a radio station that plays his messages and do so. I have a tremendous amount of admiration and respect for the man because he knows his stuff. Anyway, back to the 'dare'. I told God, "I dare you to bless me this morning." And He did. (Now I don't know if God likes it when we do that, but somehow, I have a feeling that after I read my little devotion and said 'wow, that blessed me' he probably blew the smoke from the barrel of the gun and walked away to the sound of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly playing in the background.) Because I love you all so much, I wanted to share my blessing with you.

Irrevocable Promises

For the Lord your God will bless you just as He promised you.
Deuteronomy 15:6

Some days are harder than others, and perhaps this is one of them for you. Life is full of frustrations, and we can grow mighty weary with financial pressures, family problems, church misunderstandings, and workplace conflicts. It sometimes seems like we’re losing our minds.

But God is not losing His! Remember that nothing revokes His faithfulness. His promises to us are irreversible, unalterable, firm, and fixed. There are conditions to be met, of course; but outer circumstances must bend, in His time, to the purposes and promises of God for our lives.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “God does not give us everything we want, but He does fulfil His promises… leading us along the best and straightest paths to Himself.” The Lord your God will bless you just as He has promised in His Word.

His promises are sure, His blessings are great, His grace is sufficient, His presence is near, His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations. Cheer up! It’s not as bad as it seems.

Let God’s promises shine on your problems.
Corrie ten Boom
Oh, and as God was walking into the sunset, I thought I heard him say 'touche'.

So pop over to Annie’s Blog and say “Hi”, and then do your own Rainy Day Monday Post.  You know you want to.  We have Mr Linky, and buttons.  What more could you ask?

Biblios Hokku – 2 Corinthians

It has been a while, but I have not forgotten my Biblios Hokku Project. 

 

2 CORINTHIANS
We walk by our faith.
Strength made perfect in weakness.
Created anew.

RDM 20 - Hope

Well, in a strange turn of fate, today actually is a Rainy Day Monday, because it is cold and wet.  It had to happen some time.

Rainy Day Mondays is a meme I host where you choose an old post of your own, (or someone else's), that didn’t get as much attention as it deserved when it was posted, and so you save it for a Rainy Day Monday.  Today was supposed to be a RMD post from a friend, but I decided today will probably be something of a low day in blogging.  After the long weekend, many are on holiday, and probably won’t be checking their computers.  (Come to think of it, what are you doing here?)

So I am posting a short post I did many months ago called Hope  The “poem” seemed appropriate, given the season we are in, as it talks all about hope and faith.  It was originally part of a larger poem, but, as often happens, the one line was the best part. 

 

Hope

Hope comes in the morning,
But faith gets you through the night.
(Sharkbait)

Sorry, that's all I got for you today. If you want something a little more profound...

 

If you are taking part in Rainy Day Monday, snatch the button on the side bar, and post a link in the McLinky widget below.  If McLinky is misbehaving again, just give him a kick, and leave your link in the comments section.

Need I say more?

It is official people.  I will be leaving you for a while, possibly a long time.

My friend Jacques Beit of the Van Dingnimmo foundation called me last night, and told me that they wanted to offer me a position on their ministry team.  Full time preparation of teaching material and Christian manuals, and an opportunity to advance the Kingdom of God. 

The catch?

The position is in a foreign country.  A very foreign one.

There is a small French/Arab protectorate in West Africa called Fein D' ingni Mo, and their leader Shah Kebat has recently given permission for "Western Missionaries" to come into their country.  The Van Dingnimmo foundation has been trying to get literature into the country for a long time, and now they think if they can set up a publishing house locally they might have sucess.  They also think that using Africans will make us seem less 'foreign' and allow us to be accepted more easily.  So I have been asked to sign on for an eighteen month contract to head up their new materials division.  A wonderful opportunity.

The problem is that religious tolerance in Fein D'ingni Mo is a bit of a joke, and they are doing this mainly as a publicity stunt.  E-mails and internet access is very limited, and heavily monitored by the government.  All blog sites are restricted, ever since local student reported in the Hew Ha-Hah rebellion of 2008, and so I don't think I will be able to get an outside line for my blog.

So you might not be hearing from me for a while, but know that you are all in my thoughts.  Please start praying for me.