CP 163 Near-death by phone call

CP 163 Near-death by phone call

This story is from a bloke I know well who recently had a near-death experience on Narellan Rd near where I live. He was driving toward the Hospital at Campbelltown. As he was approaching Narellan Rd he became aware of yet another huge black storm coming from the northwest. Remembering that he had left the lawnmower out he rang his wife to get her to pop it back in the shed. Surely there would be no harm in a quick call while stopped at the traffic lights. He made the call, ended it, noticed the lights had changed, and headed across the intersection. At least he thought the lights had changed.

They hadn’t! Cars braked furiously as he drove straight through the traffic coming from his right. Tyres screeched and many horns blared. One vehicle stopped just a metre from his car door. Shocked, he had the presence of mind to check for traffic on his left. Fortunately there wasn’t any. He kept going, all the while nominating himself as the biggest idiot on the planet while simultaneously thanking the Lord for preserving him. And swore that he would never again use a mobile-phone while driving. The episode shook him to the core.

The next day he passed the scene of an accident where a car had slammed into a tree and the driver, seriously injured, had barely escaped with her life. That shook him even more.

There are lots of issues here, not least the illegality of that phone call. Then there is the personal morality question of recklessly endangering the lives of others, let alone his own life. I also found myself wondering whether he viewed what happened as important in his relationship with his Lord. He certainly didn’t intend to cause an accident or endanger life. Was it an innocent mistake? There certainly was no malice involved. But can he engage in the sophistry of the Pharisee in saying that his intentions were good but he got it wrong? “I aimed to do my very best but failed badly”.

I felt obliged to remind him that the beginning of this near-tragedy lay in the unlawful and dangerous use of the phone. That was an ungodly action bordering on evil. The commandment is unambiguous… “You shall not kill”. He blanched at the thought.

It has been a salutary lesson for that man. He is grateful on two counts. First, no physical injury or death happened as a result of his actions. Secondly, he is grateful that he knows his heavenly Father forgives him in the mercy of Jesus the Christ.

He has resolved, with fervour, never again to use a phone while driving. Let’s join him in that resolve.

Be blessed in your Lord.

Fred

CP 162 Kings Cross recall announced

RECALL NOTICE: The Maker of all human beings (GOD) is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to a serious defect in the primary and central component of the heart.
This defect has occurred due to a malfunction in the original prototype units code named Adam and Eve, resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units. The defect has been technically termed "Sub-sequential Internal Non-Morality." It is more commonly known as SIN. The Manufacturer warns that continuing to exercise the unit without repair will render it permanently inoperable.

Diagnostic symptoms include:
1. Amnesia of origin
2. Foul vocal emissions
3. Loss of direction
4. Absence of peace and joy
5. Selfish or violent behaviour
6. Depression or confusion in the mental component
7. Fearfulness, shame and guilt
8. Idolatry and rebellion
9. Unbelief and stubbornness
10. Sluggishness, unresponsiveness and constant tiredness

The Manufacturer, who is neither liable, nor at fault, for this defect, is providing factory-authorized repair and service free of charge.

The Repair Technician, Christ Jesus, in a spirit of astonishing generosity, has offered to bear the entire cost of these repairs. All units must be presented at his Kings Cross workshop for the remedial work.

The access code to call for repair in all areas is: FATHER/PRAYER/JESUSCHRIST.

Once connected, please upload your burden of SIN through the REPENTANCE procedure. Next, after entry into the GRACE chamber via the FAITH switch, the Repair Technician will download ATONEMENT into the heart component, effectively re-creating it.

Regardless of the nature or size of the SIN defect, urgent attention is required to prevent catastrophic breakdown. When installed, the NEW HEART component, carefully cross-checked, re-tuned and re-charged by Christ Jesus, will then deliver outcomes with new power and performance:

1. Love
2. Joy
3. Peace
4. Patience
5. Kindness
6. Goodness
7. Faithfulness
8. Gentleness
9. Self Control

It is essential that users check the operating manual, the BIBLE. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth), for further details on the use of these fixes. It is vitally important to internalize the segment with the heading GOSPEL. (Grace Overcoming Sin Promising Eternal Life). This allows ongoing free cross-checks and will enable constant refreshment, care and strengthening of the new heart.

WARNING REPEATED: Continuing to operate the human being unit without correction voids all Manufacturer warranties. Inaction exposes the unit to the risk of permanent breakdown and removal. Entry into heaven will be impossible for any human being units which have not accessed the authorised repair for the SIN defect. You are urgently advised to act now. The Repair Technician is available at all times for free emergency service.

Thank you for your attention!

FATHER GOD

PS. Please assist where possible by notifying others of this important recall notice. You may contact the Father at any time by knee-mail.

CP 161 A very wet towel

CP 161 A very wet towel

Over the years I’ve often reflected on the fact that most days at least 5 boys in our family would use the same bathwater as dad. Recently I found myself musing over the other reality which accompanied that bath ritual. Unless my memory deceives me, there was only one towel! Dad used it first, then brother 1, brother 2, 3, 4, and 5… Imagine! Bath-user no.6 might just as well have washed himself down using the towel without even bothering the bath. It seems yuk today. Back then it was normal. But here’s my point for this blog. Just because that’s how it was then, it doesn’t have to be that way now.

All of us have such a family ‘history’. It’s about the way we handled hygiene, (including sunshine soap for everything!), the foods we ate and how we cooked them, (thinking among other things of the kitchen stove and cooking margarine!), the sorts of chemicals used as garden sprays, (DDT), the circumstances of our play, the way sleeping arrangements were handled, and the dunny arrangements out the back, (thinking of carefully torn newspaper on a nail).

And who had central heating or insulation in the roof? It’s also about getting a kick up the bum when naughty, or a spanking when we really crossed a parent’s line. For some of us there was kerosene lighting, a fridge with ice-blocks, bread delivered by horse and cart, no car and no phone. The circumstances of our lives played a fair part in who we were and who we became.

But I repeat; just because that’s how it was, doesn’t mean that’s how it has to be today. (An aside…I do understand that someone who experienced the famine in the years immediately after WWII might draw great comfort from having a fullish sack of spuds in the pantry at any time.)

Our “other histories”.

All of us have other childhood histories. Things that happened, or which we perceived to have happened. And we responded to them internally. Events and circumstances which caused fear and uncertainty. Feeling unprotected, abandoned or exposed. Being abused or bullied. Watching parents fight. Death of a sibling. A life-changing accident. Always feeling insecure and shaky. Even paralysed by some situations.

Seeing terrible injustice, or being on the receiving end of it generates anger and bitterness. Unfair treatment compared to others. A parent has a favourite child and it is not you. Undeserved punishments. Betrayals. You grow up with rage and hatred and unforgiveness as normal.

You got the message you’re a failure. Someone is disappointed in you, you couldn’t or didn’t live up to expectations, your very best was inadequate, you did something shameful, or unforgiveable. You think yourself dirty, unworthy, undeserving, always feeling guilty. You feel ashamed when you can’t even explain why.

The older I get the more I am convinced that almost everyone I know has such a history, and they are trapped by it. We are stuck-fast, and we connect that ‘stuck-fastness’ with what happened. Allow me to tell you a truth. Your imprisonment is not from what happened as much as it is about how you responded to what happened. It is always our inner, heart response, which comes from that part of us where we are who we are, that determines how life will be for us. Another truth is called for…

And here it is. There is freedom to change wherever Jesus Christ gets a hearing! You do not need to be bound by the past of your inner spirit. I promise you that if Jesus were to meet with you face to face he would not leave you in your frozen, hardened state. Still does it today you know. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is alive. Read and digest what he says to you and to me:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

I’ve seen it happen, hundreds of times. He did it then, still does it now. He’s done it for me. He wants to do it for you. Do yourself a favour and go ask him for the rest which is truly rest.

Bless you heaps in Jesus the Christ.

Fred

CP 160 The day the neighbourhood changed

A damp Wednesday afternoon in November in a suburb near you. An altercation occurs between some local boys. Why the fight? Who really knows. For this piece it doesn’t matter. What matters is that just a few moments later one boy is dead.

For his family everything is changed for the rest of their lives. Empty rooms, empty place at the table, empty hearts. Grief will be a constant in their lives. Heartache will not be imaginary. The pain is real and will never be forgotten. No 18th or 21st birthday celebrations. The relationships between all family members will be affected. One has to pray for recovery and forgiveness.

Nothing will ever be the same for those other boys either. Day by day on their way to school they will pass that spot. Further on they pass the entrance to the street where the dead boy lived. These boys too have mums and dads, brothers and sisters. What pain and suffering to bear. One has to pray for forgiveness of self and others. And for healing.

All these relationships, in both groups, including grandparents, uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces, friends and neighbours, fellow school students, are scourged by this brief and fateful encounter. The tragic outcome has consequences beyond imagination..
.
The neighbourhood has changed. It will never be home again with that innocence and security which is freedom.

(I cannot sit in judgement. Many years ago I was present at a fight at the Wagga Beach in which the loser was repeatedly kicked in the body and face while on the ground. The victor had training in martial arts, especially kick-boxing. The outcome could so easily have been the same. The brutality was halted only by the Council Health Inspector who happened to be in the area. I was there, with many others, and said and did nothing. I learnt much about personal ugliness and self-cowardice that day.)

The details of this story are unique to that event, but they are also echoes of the same theme, recurring again and again in human society and community. Sometimes things happen on a global scale. Other times it’s within a country or city. Sometimes deliberate malice is involved, sometimes it comes down to negligence. Sometimes there are accidents. And often enough, just silliness or stupidity without thought of consequence. But every time it happens, the neighbourhood, wherever or whatever it is, is irrevocably changed.

When Adam and Eve chose to grasp for equality with God, to act for self first, to enter into disobedience, and to reject accountability, their actions had consequences. The neighbourhood changed. Innocence was gone. Death entered in. God’s image became blurred so much that it was usually invisible to the naked eye. Mistrust and deceit became the norm. Relationships were always marred by self-interest. Every subsequent child of the first pair has been tarred by the same brush. Everybody somehow, someway repeats the behaviours. It is the neighbourhood in which we all live. Is there hope?

Enter Jesus… the Messiah who came to save sinners. He came to a sick and sorry world, an enslaved and desperate world, a violent and ugly world. But always a world and its people loved by God. His goal was restoration. His task was to open the way so the lost could come home. His call was simple… Follow me. His journey was not above sin and death but through sin and into death. It was the only way to break the satanic stronghold. He stayed the course and was never drawn off track. He is the pioneer of our salvation, who opened up the new and living way, as Hebrews tells us. He died and was buried.

AND ROSE AGAIN… AND THAT DAY THE NEIGHBOURHOOD WAS IRREVOCABLY CHANGED.

A Postscript… for example, by next morning one of the members of the Good Shepherd Church here had erected a white cross which became a focal point for a grieving neighbourhood… and again, something changed in the neighbourhood. I praise God for him and what he did.

Be blessed in Jesus the Christ.

Fred