Carol Purves

I know for some of you this is a dream too far. I’ve just been onto the Open Doors site and seen a  list of the 50 most persecuted countries in the world. While we still have greed, hate, bitterness and loathing in the our hearts, peace will not come.

I, and maybe you, are very insignificant, but our few small kind parts can add up to one large kind part. As the carol says ‘Peace to the world, the Saviour brings.’  May we all do our part, so I do say ‘Peaceful New Year to you and yours.’

Carol

Jesus Christ is referred to in the Bible as ‘the corner stone’, ‘a solid integrated structure,’ ‘ a foundation with a ‘tested’ stone,’ ‘stone at the corner.’ ‘the principal stone.’

God talks to Job about it ‘Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation …who  laid the cornerstone?’

Isaiah tells us ‘The Sovereign Lord says, See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation.’ It was ‘rejected by man, but chosen by God.’

Plus, we are told ‘you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood.’

With all this evidence we don’t need to be builders to know the importance of ‘God’s cornerstone.’

Carol

This is what the wise men asked Herod when they were seeking Jesus. Although they found out the answer, Herod never did. Having been warned by an angel, Mary, Joseph and Jesus fled to Egypt, thus ensuring the baby’s life was saved.

It is a question which is still asked today, ‘Where is He?’  Where is He when all the world is suffering, numbers of refugees are increasing and poverty is growing? Where is He when wars are raging, family life is collapsing and old age is becoming a problem?

One answer is that He is there in the midst of all the trouble. He is with the Syrian refugee and the starving children. His heart is pierced in the midst of all the devastation.

Acts of heroism and kindness go unreported. The only news to hit the media is bad news. The good does not make headlines. But the good news is that He is still there and the good outweighs the bad.

Carol

My dear friend’s husband has just died. Alec was 91. All his life he had been wondering what heaven was like and talking about it continually. Now he knows what it’s like. No more does he guess and imagine. He is there and he knows.

In some ways it was the opposite for Jesus. He had left heaven, he knew how wonderful it was. He then had to endure the troubles and restrictions of earth. He suffered pain, death, sadness and despair. He even had friends who could desert him when things got tough.

Christmas is the time when we remember. Jesus was born so that He could suffer, He was born so that he could die, rise again and then go back to heaven.

It is a thing most wonderful, almost too wonderful to be.                                                     That God’s own Son should come from heaven and die to save a child like me.

Carol

Before I get too busy I would like to wish all my readers a Happy Christmas, wherever you are in the world. In Russia, where many of my readers come from, you will have different traditions from ours.  Christmas in Australia will be different from one in Finland. And so on.

But wherever we are, in good times or bad, we need to concentrate on the true meaning of Christmas. It is about a little baby who was born, lived on this earth, was killed, rose again and then ascended into heaven so that we who believe Him may join Him. That’s quite a tremendous thought.

Carol

The first stone was probably quite small, but useful for chucking at a speaker he disagreed with.  This could have been followed by someone else finding a larger stone to throw. Then the mob, who were always willing to join in any uprising, all started hurling the stones. The first few would have grounded Stephen and then as the assault went on the life would have been battered out of him.

The crowd probably didn’t set out intending to kill the first martyr but one thing led to another.  The message that they were hearing from Stephen was not to their liking. It reminded them of the man Jesus who they had also managed to have put to death. Big bad things start in a small way.

Carol

I know many of you round the world can cross really big borders, but by travelling just one hundred miles I was able to spend a day in the capital of Scotland – Edinburgh. And very festive it was too with a large German Christmas market and hundreds of people.

I was especially please to buy a number of Christmas presents but I can’t tell you about them in case  one of them if for you.

Carol

Stones can’t make a noise. They are inanimate. But Jesus said the stones would cry out. Why and how? He said if the praising crowds were silenced even stones would praise God.

Not strange really when you consider that God is the author and maker of everything. He has control over everything, nothing is beyond His care. Our edict is to praise Him now while we can.

The time is coming when everything animate and inanimate will bow down and worship Him. In many cases people will not wish to worship Him, but they will have no choice. Plus their worship will come too late. Let us praise, worship and obey while there is yet time. Time to praise before the sheep are separated from the goats.

Carol

One of the advantages of being a freelance writer is the places I get to visit and the people I meet. My latest foray was a Christmas lunch with the Scottish Society of Authors in Glasgow. I nearly said ‘free lunch’ though it wasn’t but at the Radison Blu hotel it was well worthwhile.

I was able to meet other writers (we are a strange bunch) and was also able to do networking. We each took a wrapped copy of one of our books to exchange with another wrapped book. I thus obtained a book about the Sikhs of the Punjab by a Dr of Anthropology. Wow, a bit out of my comfort zone but a fascinating read.

Carol

It seems the devil is well acquainted with stones. When he decided to tempt Jesus he referred to them twice in just three temptations.

Firstly he says to Jesus ‘If you are the Son of God tell these stones to become bread.’ When we are hungry and weak we are more liable to fall into temptation. As the Bible also says ‘the flesh is weak.’ We cannot cope with too much hunger, heat or freezing conditions. In such circumstances we need to call on the strength of our God.

Then the devil quotes scripture back to Jesus, ‘If you are the Son of God throw yourself down, It is written ‘He will command His angels concerning you and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’

Again the devil is questioning the deity of Jesus as he has to use everything to his advantage, even scripture.

Jesus finally defects him by quoting scripture himself, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’

Carol