A beautiful book to read

Here is a review by Nicky: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/403188368

Butterfly story

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

~ Unknown

Like the butterfly, our struggles are exactly what God knows we need in our life. There are heartbreaking and tough times we face that God wants us to go through in order to change us into the person He wants us to be. As Christians, the struggles we go though are a part of God's journey for us, so we need to learn to rest in His promise to never forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) as He works everything around for our good (Romans 8:28). He's preparing us for what awaits - He's preparing us to fly.

Source:  thank you Dot

Paul's shipwreck :a stunning discovery!

St Thomas Bay, Malta

The tiny island of Malta in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea has a rich history as one of the oldest Christian communities in the world.

It all started with a shipwreck, as told in the book of Acts, about 60 AD while the apostle Paul was en route to Rome. Boarding an Alexandrian grain freighter on the isle of Crete, a fierce Nor'easter blew the ship off course. It looked like all was lost.

"On the fourteenth night, they were still being driven across the Adriatic sea when the sailors sensed land approaching. They took soundings and found that the land was 120 feet deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found that it was 90 feet deep. Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, the sailors dropped four anchors from the stern, and prayed for daylight," the book of Acts describes the story.

"When daylight came, they did not recognize the land. But they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea," it continues.

A Shipwreck's Impact

With the storm still raging, the ship struck a sandbar, and began to break apart. With the vessel and her cargo a total loss, the nearly 300 men on board swam for their lives. Miraculously, everyone survived.

"Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta,"the story reveals.

And so began a Christian influence in Malta that has continued down through the centuries.
Saint Paul is memorialized throughout the island, no where more than in Saint Paul's bay, where tourists come to visit the Shipwreck Cathedral, and see the spot where most believe Paul's ship ran aground nearly 2,000 years ago.

Searching for Facts

But when former Los Angeles Crime Scene Investigator Bob Cornuke paid a visit to Malta, facts in the biblical narrative didn't fit with the view from Saint Paul's bay. Those anomalies began a 10 year search for the true location of Paul's shipwreck. Cornuke started his search in the pages of his Bible. The crux of the story revolved around the four anchors. Could they be found?

"I looked at the Bible and I said, 'Could I solve this like it was a crime? Could I take the evidence that exists on the pages of the Bible and actually find these lost anchors that the Bible talks about?'" he recalled.

Acts 27 and 28 give a very detailed account of the story. From it, Cornuke listed four factors that would have to match up in order to find the true location:
A bay with a beach
A reef or sandbar where "two seas meet"
The seabed at about 90 feet of depth.
A place the sailors did not recognize.

To help track these down, Cornuke enlisted the help of a group of men who know the waters around Malta best -- the Maltese fishermen.

"So I started my search by going out with these fishermen, who knew the weather, knew the currents, knew the topography of the ocean," Cornuke said. "They took me out and explained to me all the possible places based on what the Bible narrative says."

Narrowing Possibilities

Most of Malta is surrounded by cliffs, so he quickly narrowed the possibilities down to a few bays with beaches. To figure out which site was most plausible, Cornuke looked to Dr. Graham Hutt, an expert on Mediterranean storms.
"I've been studying these storms and weather patterns in the Mediterranean for more than 30 years," Hutt said. "And it resulted in a book on Malta and North Africa which covers all these issues with the weather."

Hutt's expertise helped make sense of the clues in the biblical narrative.
"They were really scared of getting dragged down into the bay of Syrtis, so they would have been trying as much as they could to head in a northerly direction, but only actually making northwesterly," he said.

After dropping a sea anchor, the ship would most likely have been driven up towards the southeast quadrant of the island. The only bay in that area that fits the biblical narrative is called the Bay of St. Thomas.
"In my opinion, bearing in mind where they most probably would have been, they would not have been able to round up and head further north than they did," Hutt said. "So in my view, St. Thomas' bay is a much more likely place."

An Electrifying Discovery

The theory goes that this was the bay written about in Acts 27 and 28. Part of the biblical account says that the sailors didn't recognize the island until the villagers told them. If the sailors had been on the north side of the island, there were many ports there they should have been familiar with.

One day, Cornuke made an electrifying discovery by way of an old diver with an incredible story.
"I met a man named Ray Ciancio and he said, 'Hey Bob, back in the early 60s, we dug up four anchors at about 90 feet of depth,'" Cornuke said.

The location: just outside St Thomas' Bay, near a dangerous sandbar called the Muxnar Reef.

The anchors were later donated to the National Maritime Museum, and expert analysis confirmed they were Roman-era anchors from the right time period. But the divers had no idea what they had at the time.
"As I say, it was of no importance to me whatsoever when we found them," Ray Ciancio said. "It was, 'Yipee. We found a piece of lead.'"

Anchored in History

Ciancio agreed to show CBN News the area where the anchors were found.

"So when I went out and I looked at the location where they found these anchors, I looked at the shoreline and it fit with what the Bible said," Cornuke said. "There was a bay with a beach. There was a reef where two seas come together."
"And when I saw that anchor, my heart skipped a beat and I realized that I could be standing in the presence of Bible history," he added.

Today, the sea floor is again tranquil and calm, giving no clues to the secrets it may hold. It's impossible to know for sure if it is the spot where Paul's shipwreck occurred, but if nothing else, the idea is prompting some Maltese to re-think their tradition.

Anchored in Faith

Joe Navarro is one of the divers who helped retrieve the anchors in the 1960s.

"I think it is high time we questioned ourselves," he said. "I myself am convinced that it is more plausible that the shipwreck was on Muxnar, not on St. Paul's island. We have believed St. Paul's island, but nobody ever questioned, 'But, are you sure?'"

"For me, finding these anchors is not just an archeological find," Cornuke added. "For me personally, it did a lot to enhance my faith. For me, they're a symbol of hope.
Today, the anchors are tucked away in the corner of Valletta's Maritime Museum, labeled only "Roman Anchors." Most visitors pass them by, having no idea what history they might hold.

*Original broadcast February 26, 2010. source, 

Kerygma bus bbq evening

We had a fantastic time tonight at the Kerygma bus bbq in Hixon playing fields. More than 50 children attended and we started to play a new game of netball, only the ball had to fall in a basket...pretty comical...you had to be tall to manage to shoot it ...Then we played rounders, not with bats but with tennis rackets. 

Time for bbq ended up with more games and the ultimate desert, roasted marshmallows! (la guimauve en français!)

Ninite.

 

Off to the Kerygma bus

We are off to the Kerygma bus and tonight, it's bbq time, an event that the children enjoy very much!

There is no bus in the summer, we all meet under a gazebo in the Playing Fields. Two weeks ago, it was another exciting event, the Talent Show. I was honoured to be asked if I could be one of the judges..and we found it hard to chose, every candidate was sooooo good!
Have a lovely evening. Blessings in Christ. N.

Fundraising fun!

    The 'Tour de France' comes to Hixon! I am not very confident in my drawing skills, so I thought I'd find a few pictures inspiring me and others. However there is no French reference there. Well we'll have to add a flag!

Our pets

Lucy the cat (our friends'cat) giving a love to Christopher one of our rabbits). Mima, the other female rabbit is on the left. A very short video clip! Do you have pets?

How big is your faith?

How big is your faith in Jesus?
We read in Matthew 21:22 that Jesus-Christ, our Saviour and Redeemer says:
If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. 
Here is the context

18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21 And Jesus answered them, Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain,‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

Have a blessed evening in the name of Jesus. N.

A new page

I've just added a new page: the Jesus film. It's an excellent documentary on the life of Jesus-Christ based on the Gospel of Luke.
Have a blessed Sunday :)

The Lord's great love..

Today, in my daily bible reading:
Lamentations 3:22-24

22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

The prophet Jeremiah walked through the streets and alleys of Jerusalem after its destruction by the Babylonian soldiers and saw nothing but pain and suffering. This happened in late 586 BC or early 585 BC. In this book, he expresses his grief over the fall of Jerusalem because of her sin and reminds the readers that “sin, in spite of all its allurement and excitement, carries with it heavy weights of sorrow, grief, misery, barrenness, and pain.” 

In the midst of all the suffering, Jeremiah reminds us to put our hope and trust in the Lord who loves us faithfully as we are his beloved children. 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Have a blessed day in Jesus-Christ.

3 incredible animals in Madagascar!

First,  attempt to find the giant leaf-tailed gecko. Unlike chameleons, which change colour to communicate and convey emotions, some geckos alter their appearance to make them hard to spot - partly as a means of defence, but also to allow them to catch prey. Chameleons want to be conspicuous; geckos want to hide.

The slow change in the body colour occurs when cells bearing differently coloured pigments beneath the lizard's transparent skin either expand or shrink. 

Not all the 2,000 species of gecko, found in warm climates around the world, can change colour. 

But they do possess the species' other qualities, such as self-cleaning toe pads that enable them to climb vertically or walk upside down. The only surface to which a gecko cannot stick is Teflon. Source

Second, the most famous of these animals is the lemur, but unfortunately they are in danger of becoming extinct due to deforestation. Less than 10% of the original forest cover actually

 exists today.

The Blue Coua is a species of cuckoo endemic to Madagascar. As the name suggests, what makes it unique – and incredibly beautiful – is the striking blue color of the feathers and the eye!

Source

Praise the Lord, for his amazing creation. Sometimes we forget that in other countries, animals are extremely different to our local species but however the similarities are striking! In my opinion, our Father has a sense of humour!