You are currently browsing the monthly archive for June, 2007.
Just had to write about this and see how others on here view this. I’ve received a couple of emails today from some top prophecy buffs regarding the fact that Tony Blair is going to be a special kind of Middle East Envoy based in Jerusalem. Here’s one press release on it:
=================================
Tony Blair will be moving to Jerusalem to become the Quartet’s special peace envoy to the Middle East.
A statement released Wednesday by U.N. headquarters in New York confirmed Blair’s appointment, which was reportedly agreed upon yesterday in Jerusalem at a meeting of the Quartet, the diplomatic grouping made up of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.
As envoy, Blair is charged with mobilizing international assistance to the Palestinians, securing support for the institutional governance needs of the future Palestinian state, promoting Palestinian economic development, and coordinating Quartet objectives with other countries.
“As representative, Tony Blair will bring continuity and intensity of focus to the work of the Quartet in support of the Palestinians, within the broader framework of the Quartet’s efforts to promote an end to the conflict in conformity with the roadmap,” the statement said. “He will spend significant time in the region working with the parties and others to help create viable and lasting government institutions representing all Palestinians, a robust economy, and a climate of law and order for the Palestinian people.”
Blair’s new post will be based in Jerusalem, with a potential second office in the West Bank, and will be assisted by a team of experts.
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/102673.html
===============================
Don’t know about any of you, but I’m a planner type of person. I tend to like to be able to plan at least the day ahead, but preferably my week and better yet, month. And sometimes I get to do just that, and it’s great. But inevitably things change, and situations happen unexpectedly. I went through a time just over a year ago, when I was getting particularly stressed about interruptions to my routine. I’m a very routine led person – maybe comes through age, but whatever the reason I’d found myself extremely locked into a particular routine that I absolutely hated to have changed especially without my consent!! 
I’m disabled and that particular year was too ill to go out much, so found myself having to occupy myself more at home. I had a couple of days in a week when I did some part-time work which had to be turned in on time without fail where possible. But because I’m not technically employed, my friends and family tend to think I’m sitting around all day doing nothing. So it would inevitably happen that on any given day when I would have a particularly large batch of typing to do, and struggling to get it done, that one of said friends would phone me to talk. But instead of talking, I’d renege, and tell them I was too busy, and really had to get the typing done, and could they phone me back later. Of course, what then usually happened was that we both forgot to reconnect, and it would be days later perhaps when I’d finally remember to contact them again, only to discover that they really needed to talk that day, and I’d made sure it wasn’t going to be me they did it with!
It incredibly took me quite some time that year though to learn the utterly important and vital lesson the Lord wanted to bring home to me. After quite a few of these occasions, the knowledge of the lesson was so overwhelming He may as well have just spoken it in audible words. The lesson basically was that IF I declared that I was His child, and IF I accepted He was not just my Father, but my Creator and my GOD, and IF I truly wanted to serve Him and honour Him, and IF I was submitting my day to Him (as I do every morning) then I absolutely have to accept that every single thing that happens in my day, good, bad or otherwise, is brought into my path solely by HIM alone! And if that is the case, which it is, then I need to stop grieving Him and continually sinning against Him by saying NO to every interruption into my schedule.
Well, despite my ongoing hand/wrist difficulties, card making has been in full swing. I’ve begun with embossing again having had to take a short break from it while my left wrist healed, but with so many beautiful Mattie stencils that are available I determined to at least have a go, and although the results weren’t anything like the examples in the book, I was very pleased (middle card below). Sadly I can no longer use border punches easily, so have had to just use scissors for edging cards and inserts – nowhere near as nice a result. The vellum wraps were a new find for me too, so have enjoyed using those (the first card below). But the vast majority of my cards now are done for giving away to either my local church or other such outlets, and thus tend to have a scriptural or Christian influence where possible. I’ve pretty much given up selling now except to friends who insist on paying, or at Christmas when bulk buys are requested.
I have a couple of wonderful South African friends, Gavin and Desiree Campbell, who run Rose of Sharon Ministries there, and Desiree makes cards to sell for funds. So my donation to their work was a batch of around 50 cards or so and a lot of my excess stock to help her out. I got totally obsessed with making as many as possible in the couple of weeks prior to their visit last week, and some of the designs are shown in this set. Goes without saying – if you live in SA and can support their work please do – it’s a wonderful and vital ministry to the community there.
http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/587856 And also my card website at: http:www.kitsandcards.co.uk
And for those of you who’re maybe just browsing and not that interested in seeing the whole lot, here’s a taster of just a few for you to enjoy.
Listened to a superb commentary by Albert Mohler recently on this topic, and just had to bring it to your attention…. it would appear that political correctness is taking itself to yet further extremes, pandering to the whims of the feminist minority who would prefer to remove any context of God being masculine. Their argument is that the patriarchial title of “Lord” was conferred by those who translated the scriptures in Victorian England and elsewhere, where this would have been the natural state of their own culture. English Lords were certainly men of high status whose very existence served to accentuate the lines of power between them and everyone else, so a perfect title to give to God at that time. They go on to state that this is no longer acceptable in modern day religious culture, and thus the term should be completely dropped from use both in scripture context and prayer.
As Stephanie Innes reports in the Arizona Daily Star, some churches have banished the word “Lord.”
From her article:
At Tucson’s largest Episcopal church, St. Philip’s in the Hills, the creators of an alternative worship service called Come & See are bucking tradition by rewriting what have become prescribed ways of worship.
For the faithful, that means God isn’t referred to as “him,” and references to “the Lord” are rare.
“Lord” has become a loaded word conveying hierarchical power over things, “which in what we have recorded in our sacred texts, is not who Jesus understood himself to be,” St. Philip’s associate rector Susan Anderson-Smith said.
“The way our service reads, the theology is that God is love, period,” St. Philip’s deacon Thomas Lindell added. “Our service has done everything it can to get rid of power imagery. We do not pray as though we expect the big guy in the sky to come and fix everything.”
First Congregational United Church of Christ in Midtown even has a different name for The Lord’s Prayer. They call it “The Prayer of Our Creator.” We do still use the word ‘Lord’ on occasion, but we are suspicious of it,” First Congregational pastor Briget Nicholson said. “Inclusive language is important. Our United Church of Christ hymnal does have hymns that will say ‘Father’ and ‘God.’ but the next verse will always then say ‘Mother’ and ‘God.’ It’s gender-balanced.”
