It's been such a blessing the kindness of people in this
community. The Salvation Army nationwide have a Christmas present appeal where
we ask anybody who comes into the hall and those in the community to help those
who will be referred to us by buying a present. These presents will be given to
families who struggle to afford any presents for their children. This whole act
of giving is just an enormous showing of unconditional love, strangers buying
presents for strangers. It really is amazing the love that is shown and in
particular how apparent it is this time of year. Thank you God for the love and
kindness people have and continue to show.
It's quite incredible what God is doing in my life at the
moment. The one thing that has really stood out to me this year is this whole
idea of Grace. It's obvious that the Lord needed me to understand what it is
and really experience Grace this year. I say this because this week the big
news story is the passing of Nelson Mandela and it really struck me that
Mandela's story was basically a story of Grace. He went from a convicted
criminal, accused of terrorism to a man who would end up as president of South
Africa. Not only that, he was a man who left prison not with anger or malice or
revenge in his heart but a whole spirit of forgiveness and incredible Grace. To
see the hardship and pain Black South Africans went through and yet not want
any retaliation. Surely an embodiment of Grace? But I know this doesn't sit well
with people this thing called Grace, how can we be graceful when everything
about us is saying not to accept it but to condemn it. Our House Group, as
previously said in other blogs, are going through Phillip Yancey's "What's
so amazing about Grace?" and one chapter is called "Grace- an
uncomfortable idea" and it is uncomfortable, being Graceful is not part of
the human race's DNA, we would rather be angry and sometimes like to have revenge
upon people. But this is the exact opposite of who Jesus is and what Jesus
taught us, in fact some of His very last words before He was crucified was
"Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do". As the song
says; O to be more like Jesus. I so want to be more Graceful like him and I so
want to understand more about this Grace but I think it is one of those
mysteriously Godly things that I will never quite get a grasp of, however much
I try.
I suppose I could write about Grace for the 20 blogs and we
still wouldn't get anywhere in understanding more about it and although you may
get bored, it is one of those things that will continue to fascinate me.
So there we are. Can I ask you who is reading to pray for
Eston Corps at this time, we are very busy like many Salvation Army corps
around the territory, we have some big and exciting events coming up soon such
as Carols in the Car Park where the community is invited to come and share with
the Salvation Army, last year the corps had 300 people turn up! We also have
our distribution day for the Christmas present appeal. I hope you have a good
week.
Get in touch:
@peggo36
Every Blessing!
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