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Counting My Blessings

22/7/2020

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​There’s an old saying that says good or bad things always come in ‘threes’. 
 
I’m not sure if that’s true but let’s see.
 
Today our youngest daughter got her Uni results and has been awarded a 1st Class Honours degree in History and German.  Good for her!
 
Yesterday was a beautiful bright morning in County Down.  Our son and his girlfriend and I enjoyed some mountain biking near the shores of Strangford Lough.  Good times!
 
On the way home I stopped briefly in Downpatrick where the bones of Saints Patrick, Brigid and Columbkille are interred.  I suddenly reflected that it was in a small Gospel hall not far from their grave I first attempted preaching when I was still only a student myself.
 
This Sunday DV we open our doors in Dunfanaghy and Carrigart Presbyterian Churches for public worship, our first such gatherings since the covid-related lockdown.  I hope to preach on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
 
I’m sure my first sermon all those years ago was pretty rough.  I couldn’t foresee all the places and people and opportunities for service there have been from then ‘til now.  I’m very grateful for the threes and fours and probably hundreds of blessings, seen and unseen, along the way. 
 
While I’m far from being a spiritual giant like Patrick, Brigid or Columbkille, I’m happy to belong in their fellowship, proclaiming the same message of new and eternal life through the crucified and risen Son of God.
 
None of us saw the corona pandemic coming or the changes and implications it has brought to our lives.  One lesson we should all be learning is not to be too self-confident about our plans in this life.  None of us know what a day, or a year might bring!
 
The letters ‘DV’ stand for ‘Deo Volente’ in Latin which translates ‘God -willing’.  We are wise to recognise higher authority ruling over what happens throughout the world and in our personal circumstances.  New Testament  Apostle James soberly comments, ‘Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live, and do this or that.’  (James 4 v 13-15)
 
Like everyone else, at times I wonder why some things happen as they do, but as a follower of Jesus Christ, after a lifetime of obeying His plan for me as it has unfolded, I’m just thankful.  Amazing grace has brought us safe thus far, I believe His grace will lead us safe home.
 
Was that three good things or four?  I don’t know.
 
I lost count.

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