The weekend, it be approaching!

(Part one of two)
It's Friday and I have that Friday feeling!!
Last night we had our small group as normal; it was great to catch up with our friends.
I started a new bible study with the guy's that looks at the book of James. The study is called 'Live Wisely' and is written by Bill Hybels. Anyone who has read the book of James knows that it contains some really down to earth teaching about the Christian life.
The first session looked at 'Developing Perseverance' and was taken from both James 1.1-4 and Job 1.13 - 2.13. It was an interesting topic to start with and looked at some rather difficult issues for us as a group, their required a lot of soul searching on all of our parts.
Troubles come our way as Christians, no one said that such things wouldn't, but we need to be asking ourselves:
Do we hold on to Jesus in those times?
Does our faith grow and do hard times promote perseverance within us and our relationship with the Lord?

2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
(James 1.2-4, NLT)

James encourages us to look at our troubles in a new light; they are opportunities for growth within us as we grow into maturity in our life with the Lord. That isn't an easy thing to do is it?
But we can find joy in God even in hard times, (read Paul's words in Philippians). That joy is hardly likely to be in the very thing that is causing the hardship but should be in our faithful God who is always there with us in the hard times, who always brings us through such things, who always loves us even if we mess it all up.
With such real encounters with Jesus we can view hardships as growth opportunities even if they are ‘times’ that we would rather didn't come our way.
I guess we need to be looking first to God and then to what the end result in it will be?
Know this; it will involve opportunities to glorify God and also opportunities to become, more and more, the person He has created us to be.
One more thing we looked at in this study was the need for brotherly love and support of each other, particularly seen in the reading from the book of Job.
Job had three friends who came to be with him, they didn't get it right at every moment as you will see if you read the whole of the book of Job. But in this reading they did something really well, they spent time with Job; they sat with him for seven days and nights, they grieved with him.
Notice though, that they were silent!
When we support our brothers and sisters, our friends and our families we don't always have to have the right words to say. Often it’s about just being there with your love, with a hug and a smile.
We can all do that, can’t we?
Are you facing hard times at this moment?
Will you hold onto Jesus in the midst of them?
Will they cause you to grow more and more, into the person God has designed you to be?
Or are you someone who has been through a number of battles, and the very person whom God is looking for to support another person who He loves dearly?
Things too think about eh?

I've got more to say but think that I should maybe do another blog entry so as to keep each entry within a measured chunk!

Make a cup of tea, and then come back to my next blog entry!!

Part two, (how’s the tea?)!!

(Part two of two)
Well, this one will only be a short one.
As I said earlier, ‘it’s almost the weekend’, YAY!
Louise and I are off to Port Elizabeth Saturday. We tend to visit PE once every second month. Louise does it for me really; I miss the opportunity to get out on a Saturday to walk around the shops etc.
Trips to PE tend to be rather eventful but often for the wrong reasons sadly. So this weekend, we’re looking for a break from what is becoming the norm!
It is going to be our last visit to PE before we leave for the UK in December and we want to stock up on groceries etc (boring, I know!!). While we are there we are hoping to maybe pick up a few Christmas presents for people. I’m also hoping to buy myself a watch; I’ve been saving pocket money and should have enough to find one I like.
So that will pretty much be our Saturday.
Sunday will see Louise attending a Sunday school pick-nick, so we’re praying for a nice sunny but not too warm day. I hope that everyone has loads of fun!
I’m preaching Sunday evening and have just completed my sermon; I’ll probably give you my thoughts on it in another blog post.
So that pretty much is going to be our weekend.
I hope that everyone who reads this has a great one and thank you for reading.
God bless ya!