Roses for Valentine’s Day

I was nervous, as I put on my school uniform I realised that today might be the day that I had been hoping for since Christmas. Today was going to be the day I got my first rose. He had promised he would give me a rose. I had butterflies in my stomach as I picked up my satchel with my school books in and ran down the stairs and out the front door. My Dad drove slowly through the traffic. It felt like it was going to take forever to get to school.

With a kiss on the forehead my Dad said goodbye and left me at school. I stood where he had left me watching people getting out their cars I noticed the sea of red that came with them.  There were roses, lots of them, beautiful full blown red roses. I hoped I was going to get one. I saw teddy bears of various shapes and forms. I saw cards of many sizes. It was finally here, Valentine’s day and I was going to be special to someone today.

I got to my class and saw other girls shriek when they found something special in their Desk. The usual questions followed “who was the secret admirer, who had left the rose for his love?” a boy in the background secretly watching would normally smile and blush when he was noticed. He would deny it of course, but everyone knew.

I lifted the lid on my desk slowly peeking inside to see if there was anything. Nothing, I lifted the lid and felt my heart sink. Maybe he needed more time. I made sure I stayed away from my classroom as much as possible to give him time to do something, anything. Whenever I came to look there was nothing. I waited in the passageways hoping he would come to me and reveal himself. Still no-one came and nothing was revealed. I was beginning to be disappointed. Was I not worth it? Did he not love me? He had promised and I knew that he would keep his promise.

I stood waiting for my Mom to fetch me outside the school. As I stood and watched I saw a sea of red leaving the school as people returned home. My heart sank further and further the longer I stood waiting. It was not long before I was standing alone. A tear was forming in my eye. I was sad and heart broken. The tear ran down my face and then fell off towards the ground and landed with a splat. As it landed the water began to disappear into the dirt. That was when I saw it.

It was a red rose. The biggest I had ever seen. It was on a rose bush in front of me. I was sure there had not been one there before. I walked towards it and stopped. Another rose popped open in front of my eyes and then another and another. The bush slowly turned red with roses as one by one the buds came to life. I smiled as the strong smell of the roses filled the air. He had given me many roses and he loved me more than I could imagine. I started humming “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tell me so”.

As Valentine’s Day approaches don’t forget the greatest lover of them all. For God so loved the world, he gave his son Jesus for each and every one of us. This is by far the greatest gift anyone can give. Regardless of how you feel about yourself or how you think others think of you. Know that Jesus loved you enough to die for you on the cross. Stop for a moment and consider the pain, humility, suffering, torture, ridicule that He bore on that day. Then consider the joy, happiness, elation and sense of completion when he rose from the grave. Here is Jesus, the rose of Sharon for you on Valentine’s Day.

Cheers

Greg

New Year Giveaway Surprise

It was New Year and I was Grumpy. My dad had dragged me out to some remote area. It sucked. I had far better thing to do. I had friends to see, parties to go to. I had my whole life ahead of me. Why would he drag me into such obscure locations? I guess it was where his heart was at. He had been a Christian for many years and always wanted to help others, but why on New Year’s. There was so much more to do. He had woken me at the crack of dawn to make sandwiches. He had bought bread for a small army and jars of jams of various flavours. We were going to make the usual one I had for school. The one that sat in my bad and got soggy from the heat and I eventually threw it away. I did not know how people would eat them. I had suffered under the oppression of jam sandwiches for years. It was terrible. We had slaved for two hours making sandwiches. The entire time I had bugged my dad and begged and pleaded to get out of it. My hands were a bit stiff from all the spreading of jams. I think I had even mixed some of it up. Someone was in for a strawberry apricot surprise all mixed in one.

The road to where we were going was rough. It had many pot holes in the gravel and needed careful navigation. My dad’s four by four made easy work of it. I wondered how these people moved around. The view on the drive was terrible. All I saw was tin shacks, dirt, garbage and dirty people. I was not enjoying it at all. When we got to our destination I was surrounded by screaming children with dirty faces. I was sure they were trying to steal my mobile or wallet. I went back to the car and locked them in the cubbyhole. My dad was in his element. He greeted everyone with a smile. I was sure he hugged all the old people and there were a lot of them although they were outnumbered by the children ten to one. Where were the children’s parents? It was a Sunday. There was no way they were at work. Everything had been closed down for New Year’s.  

We pulled out the food and started handing it out. I was surprised at the response. It was as if they had not eaten for days. The children were well behaved and came one by one. They thanked me every time. I noticed one or two who snuck back in queue for seconds and I ignored the offense. They were just as polite the second time round. We stayed a few hours and played some soccer. My dad chatted to the older people and prayed for a few of them.

When we left my dad explained that the food we had brought was the first meal they had for that day. He also explained that the children had no parents. Their parents had died of aids and now the grannies looked after the children. Most of the children were not even related to them. They children had just needed a home when the parents had passed on.

On my way home all I saw was friendly people, soccer fields, family and people trying to survive. I was glad I have spent my new year doing this. I asked my dad if I could go with him next time to see my friends.

This year we should spare a though for the less fortunate amongst us. In South Africa we have many orphans who go to school on empty stomachs. We have many grannies that look after large families and have only pension payouts to feed them and ten children. Maybe take a break this year for a few hours and go and help out the less fortunate. Go and make some new friends and help them out where they are at. Be the salt and light in the world in a way that people cannot mistake it.

 Cheers

Greg

The END of the WORLD

I had searched everywhere. I had checked the kitchen, the bathrooms, around the house. Even the Garden shed. I could not find my Mother. Her car was here, so she had not driven anywhere. The keys were where she always left them. I tried her cellphone for the tenth time and left another message. Where had she gone? This was ridiculous. It was dinner time and she needed to make me food. I had been out the entire day with friends having a great time doing things she and her church would disapprove of. I was old enough to make my own decisions. I could live my life the way I wanted without boundaries and rules. Church was for old people or people who did not keep up with science. God did not exist.

I turned on the TV to see the usual presenters only to see that there were new ones. They must have fired them or they were on Christmas leave. It was silly to have them both on leave at the same time. The new presenters seemed very nervous and unprofessional. They were to say it bluntly, quite useless. I started to listen carefully and then started sweating. The news was about the disappearance of people off the planet. People had just gone. What got my attention was when the presenter said in a very sarcastic tone that it seemed to be mainly religious fundamentalists and that the world was better without them. They were talking about my mom. Now I was really worried.

I grabbed the phone and dialed again, still no answer. I called her friend Betty. The phone was answered by her daughter Melissa. She had not seen my mom and wanted to know if I had seen her mom. Maybe they were together at one of those prayer meetings at the church and their phones were on silent.

I grabbed the car keys and headed for the car. I was going to see what was going on at the church. I was getting very freaked out. I remembered being taught about the Rapture. The Rapture was time when all Christians would disappear and be with God. I had always though it was rubbish, much like all the other myths in the Bible. Ridiculous and made up fairy tales.

When I got to the church there were cars in the car park. I ran inside to find the building empty. It was very, very weird. There were so many cars and yet no one in the building. I was about to leave when I heard sobbing in the corner. I ran to see who it was. It was the Pastor. I had met him a few times before. He was on his knees crying his eyes out. He looked at me and said. “So you also got left behind”. I knew what he meant. It had happened. God’s time had come. I burst into tears and collapsed to my knees and began praying. I had not done that in years.

There is a time limit. No one knows what it is. God is a patient God and has given mankind many years to make a decision to follow him. He’s given you many years as well. How many more years will he give you to make up your mind? Perhaps you have made up your mind already by not making a decision. At some point we will all stand before God and be judged for our relationship with him and how we have accepted him. For those who have not accepted there is eternal torment in the fires of hell. God Loves us but also has to be true to us in his wrath and in his judgment. After all we have done, we deserve punishment. He has given us a way out. Don’t wait too long to make your decision. You might run out of time.

Cheers

Greg

Time to get Wet...Make ur Choice

I had been in my car, stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for more than an hour. I was sweating in the heat. The air conditioner had not been working for a while. I was starting to get frustrated. Where all this traffic came from had me puzzled.  Maybe there was an accident further up the road. I prayed that it had not been serious but knew it was probably going to be bad judging by all the cars sitting bumper to bumper on the freeway. Some cars had pulled to the side and seemed to have given up hope of getting anywhere.  Every few minutes I would start the car and move forward a few inches hoping I would see the end of the traffic. I turned on the radio to see if there was any information on what had happened and how to get around it. The announcer was hopeless and did not help in the least. There was something happening but nothing the announcer knew about.  Blah, Blah, Blah…..lots of traffic…..Blah, Blah, Blah…..no idea what is causing it….Blah, Blah, Blah…..police are on the way. How on earth where the police going to get through this traffic jam was beyond me.

People started running past my car. At first I thought we were being attacked from behind and everyone was running to get clear. I taking a closer look I realised that the people were not running away but rather running towards something. They seemed strangely happy. I could only assume it was not an accident as I had assumed. Maybe some famous person had blocked the road. One thing was for sure we were no longer going anywhere. Traffic had come to a stop. The inches I enjoyed were now completely gone with abandoned cars all over the freeway.  After a few minutes I realised that I could not miss out.  I was as curious as anyone could be.

I reached for the door handle and opened the door almost hitting a person running past in excitement to get to whatever he was trying to get to. He managed to veer to the side and avoid being knocked over by the door. After making sure the doors were locked, I started walking down the road in the same direction to where everyone else was heading. It was a strange feeling following the masses without knowing where I was going. The excitement was building for me even though I had no idea what was happening. I started to trot forward at a slightly quicker pace trying to match those around me.

I heard someone shout a name. It sounded like Jesus. I had heard stories about him. He had changed people’s lives in dramatic ways. He had healed some sick people. A blind guy could see, a lame person had started walking. There was a rumor that he had raised someone from the dead. It was ridiculous. No human could do that. He must be a magician of some kind.

In front of me I could see where the crowds had gathered. It was by the lake on the side of the freeway. The bank at the edge of the lake was covered in people watching someone in the water. I could tell it was the Jesus I had heard about. There was a long snake of people heading towards Jesus. The people were up to their knees in water. As they got to Jesus he would have a few words with him and then he would baptize them under water. The people would come out smiling and happy like all the cares of the world had been lifted from their shoulders. It was amazing to see what was going on. I knew that there was something special about Jesus. I knew that I would be faced with a choice.

You have a choice. Jesus had come to seek and save the lost. He called people to repent and be baptized. He called us to believe and be baptized. Do you believe? Have you repented? Have you been baptized? If you were standing on the banks of the Jordan what choice would you make if you saw Jesus in the water. You can make that choice now. Find a church with a good Pastor. Speak to him, Confess, believe and get Baptised. There is no time like the present. After all Jesus got Baptised and said we should is that not enough reason.

Cheers

                Greg Hay