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• THE JOURNEY IS OVER (JOURNAL 90)

  3 June, 2016

  If you were to read our journal entry for this day last year, you would read the following Today's instalment… [more]

• JOURNAL 89

  22 May, 2016

  Hi sweetheart, Sometimes I experience periods of “What if…?”. These are times when my mind seems… [more]

• JOURNAL 88

  17 May, 2016

  Hi Darling, Coming home from the hospital with a mechanical device fitted to my chest – a P.E.G. I think it… [more]

• JOURNAL 87

  13 May, 2016

  JOURNAL 87 The doctor said I can go home this morning. The surgery has had the desired effect and this new means of… [more]

• JOURNAL 86

  10 May, 2016

  JOURNAL 86 MOTHER’S DAY Hello sweetheart, I haven’t spoken to our children as to… [more]

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3. Our Journey Through The Valley (55)

• Our Journey Through The Valley (55)

  4 December, 2013

  ~~Making comparisons between people in their varied circumstances is usually unfair, illogical and unhelpful. Yet this is what I was doing last week. I was musing about our circumstances and this walk through the valley of the shadow of death. With Bev having been given a diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease, there is a fairly predictable path before us.  So I got to making comparisons about our situation and that of others we know.

  
  A good friend of ours has suffered with hip problems for years. This week she got a hip replacement and, all things being equal, she will get well and go on with the rest of her life. I'm pleased for her but I am jealous for my wife. There are no replacement motor neurones for her. No medication. No surgery.

  As I thought about such things, a passage of Scripture came to mind. It came in such a way that I sensed  this was an initiative of the Holy Spirit. He had something to tell me that I needed to consider with great care. The passage records a discussion between Jesus and Peter.

  "I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go."  Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him21, "Follow me!"  Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?" .......Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me."  Because of this, the rumour spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?"  (John 21:18-23)

  I am finding a fresh revelation that is giving me a changed perspective. As this reality begins to take hold of my spirit, the foolishness of the kind of comparisons mentioned above becomes more obvious.
  The phrase "....the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God....".   You know, I don't think that I have ever seriously considered the idea of glorifying God in or through death.  Yet Jesus, on the eve of His execution asked the Father to bring glory to Himself through what was to happen. Like you, I know of specific instances where the death of a person was so powerful etc. that those who observed it, gave glory to God for what they witnessed.
  (Part two next time).