Our Father

Our Father

who art in heaven

hallowed be thy name

thy kingdom come

thy will be done

on earth

as it is in heaven.

Give us this day

our daily bread

and forgive us

our trespasses

as we forgive those

who trespass against us.

Lead us not into

temptation

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

the power and the glory,

Forever and ever,

AMEN.

Lord, I thank you for me

Lord, I thank you
for slowing me down
for making me see those details
that I so often ignore
as I rush on by.

Lord I thank you,
for letting me see
that weakness in me
that needs so much
to be strengthened by You.

Lord I thank you,
for relaxing me
that I may take one step back
and let be, those things
that I have no control over.

Lord I thank you,
for the change I feel in me
as I slowly re-build my wounded,
rushed, exhausted, ignorant self
because in Your presence
I have the courage to do better.
Lord, I thank you.

by Pauline Okposi.

Christ on the Cross

They stripped you bare and stole your clothes,
and jeering passed you by;

They stretched you on a wooden cross
and hung you out to die.

Now I before an altar stand,
nor find a place of death
But with a living Lord contend,
and my indwelling breath.

For you are my salvation, Lord,
my hope and vision bright;
The all-revealing living word,
and my indwelling light.

You are my indwelling Good,
a presence all divine
Of God in human form bestowed,
to be holy, to be mine.

So when I take you in my hand,
my Lord, to life the key;
To all the world just bread and wine,
to me your guarantee.

by John Rae, of Littlebourne, Canterbury, Kent.

Just keep working, those debts will go...

These are turbulent times.

This almost seems like an understatement but it's not.

These are turbulent times.



How do we cope?

Things seem to get harder but still we ask the question.

How do we cope?



Keep on saving your money.

There is not enough to live on so how can you say so, but

Keep on saving your money.



Where is your faith? In money or God?

Right now focusing can be difficult because worries are too many. Still

Where is your faith? In money or God?



Right. Just keep working, those debts will go.

Really? Yes. "Be strong and work; for I am with you." Haggai 2:4

Right. Just keep working, those debts will go.



By Pauline Okposi

Failure. What failure?

Has something you have been working on failed to impress? Take heart and learn from those who have been there done that.


Oscar Wilde remained unshaken by the failure of his early play The Duchess of Padua:

'The play itself was a profound success.

But the audience was a profound failure.'

Now isn't that a clever way to get up when you are down!

Only don't forget to look carefully at both sides because the source of failure is somewhere in-between.

Be wise!

Advice on being content

Quentin Crisp's view of social mobility:

'Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level.

It's cheaper.'

Benjamin Franklin, one of America's Founding Fathers put it this way:

'If you want to know the value of money,

go and try to borrow some.'

Everyone is talking about me...

Have you ever been in a situation where 'everybody' knew something that had happened to you and was telling everybody else about it? That must have made you really angry.

'Why can't they just mind their own business and keep quiet?' you may have asked. Or better still, you might just decide to go on and give them something to talk about. Whether that does you any good or not is up to you.

The way I see it is that you cannot stop anyone from talking about you. Today it is you, tomorrow it is someone else. It is the social nature of human beings. Mind you, it would be odd if nobody had anything to say about you.


Oscar Wilde, the flamboyant Irish dramatist believed that:

'There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about,

and that is not being talked about.'

There you go, not so bad, eh?

So what next? The answer is simple: Guard against your reputation, it is far more important than gold and jewels.