God's Umbrella

Out of all the few Christian books I have read so far, one book has stood out far beyond the rest in recent times...one called "God's Covering" by David Cross from Ellel Ministries. It was one of those "wow, revelation!" kind of reads for me that was obviously directly applicable to real life.

I like the umbrella analogy. Many times we wonder about misfortunes like accidents for example and wonder why did God let this happen to me...why wasn't he protecting me?!!

God's Umbrella is always there for us. But if we are disobedient in some way, essentially we have willingly stepped out from the safety of God's umbrella and shelter. We then may be as good as meat left out for hungry dogs...Heads served up on a platter images also spring to mind(!)

God has left us a guide - the bible - a framework for how we should live which derives from his Almighty All-Knowing WISDOM borne out of his overwhelming LOVE for us...

Humans are naturally willful conceited creatures that often like to think they know best.

Disobedience, Rebellion and Arrogance are definitely key traits that shaped MY Youth and especially without the fortune of being brought up in a Christian household knowing God's wisdom, I fell and fell and fell and dug my own pit again and again until now in recent adulthood having had my eyes opened by faith I have finally LEARNT...There is NO OTHER PLACE I'd rather be than under the safety of God's Umbrella!

It took me a looong time to have the maturity to understand that rules are not just set up by self-important megalomaniacs to oppress us and take away our freedom and make life less fun - they have been put in place by people like Parents as well who CARE enough to guide us and want to keep us from harm in their great Wisdom and Love for us....like Our Loving Father.

Once yielded to God in Obedience and following his precepts set out in the bible, suddenly life becomes so much easier...how blessed are we that life can be so much less overly complicated than it tends to be if we just follow God in Obedience? Not only are we safe and protected under God's Umbrella but Obedience also opens the doorway to the Fruits of His Blessing! :)

So...if you are feeling buffeted by stormy weather, it may be a good time to reflect and self-examine...is there anything YOU have done to have stepped out from God's Umbrella? More importantly, is there anything YOU can DO to get back under God's Umbrella?

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7)

Prayer Flag

I was walking around in a different city when a community art centre piqued my curiosity so I wandered in and was invited to paint a flag. They were doing an art project to display in the city square 5000 flags painted by people in the community. The theme for the flags was "Hope and Dreams". As I looked at the strings of flags hanging up it reminded me of a moden twist on the Tibetan prayer flags which are strung outside a house and when the wind has blown them away then the wish has been granted and the prayer fulfilled.

The fabric colours you could choose from were orange, yellow, red, purple and blue. I thought blue best reflected my message. This was my contribution: