John 15:1-2

FACING GIANT PROBLEMS

(June 30, 2023) Richard Winter shares encouragement…

Our world continues to  face giant challenges! Yes, these are real giant issues even affecting we Christians – but we will overcome them as we trust our God!

The Bible has a famous story of a giant – Goliath, and a little shepherd boy, David, who trusted God. Goliath was 9 feet (2.74m) tall, a champion wearing heavy armour, who stood shouting and defying the people of God. (1 Samuel 17:1–11). To Israel he seemed to be unbeatable.

As well as physical giants, there are metaphorical ones that can shout at us! In short, a ‘giant’ is a big, seemingly insurmountable problem or issue.

Personal giants
These could include giant challenges in relation to –

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GOD DOESN’T HAVE A ‘TOO HARD WORK BASKET’

(June 17, 2021) Maureen McQuillan brings an encouraging reminder…

What joy we had yesterday afternoon when our darling granddaughter Bonnie-Jane called round with our latest family addition, little great-granddaugther Avaleigh Grace, soon to be three months old. Nice to see our son-in-law, now Grandda Steve, with them but, needless to say, the centre of attention was Avaleigh!

How she’s grown in only a few weeks… and those beautiful big dark-brown eyes taking everything in, as well as grabbing our attention with her warm grins. To our delight, it’s so obvious she’s a very intelligent child.

We joked with Bonnie-Jane… ‘She’ll soon be just like you were, crawling all over the place, into everything, opening cupboard doors and enquiring about this and that, question after question.’

Bonnie-Jane laughed as she too recalled early times. It really was a wonderful time together, especially as we’d been in lockdown for a couple of weeks and hadn’t got out.

After they left l remembered fun days with Bonnie, joyfully recalling many delightful happy memories that Robert and I have. We’ve always had an incredibly close relationship with Bonnie; throughout her childhood she would often spend much time with us and, she recently admitted, still loves to come ‘round the corner’ to us (that’s how far away she, husband Matthew and Avaleigh live).

‘Grandma, God must be pooped!’ memory
Like her keen-eyed little daughter, even when Bonnie-Jane was very young she too would always be quietly observing things. Even while enjoying a Maccas, she wouldn’t rush eating her food like some other kids but sit with us properly digesting her chosen burger, quietly observing both adults and children around her.

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