PJBelfast

Yesterday my senior smartpass arrived. This entitles me to free travel across all of Ireland. Its available to Northern Ireland residents who are 65 years of age.  With the Senior SmartPass i can now travel anywhere in Northern Ireland on any Translink bus or rail service completely free of charge. I can also enjoy free cross border travel and internal Republic of Ireland travel. Although this concessionary senior smartpass is free to me, it costs the government Department of Infrastructure millions of pounds every year.  This concessionary pass reminded me of " the gift of God"  " For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God " (Ephesians 2:8) I cannot earn it - it's a gift I didn't deserve it - it's by grace It admits me to heaven.  It gives me eternal life.  Like the Senior SmartPass, it is paid for by someone else. As the song says,  " Jesus paid it all All to him I owe S

After hearing a recent sermon on "The Call of Samuel" I decided to delve a little deeper, to see what the scriptures had to say on the subject of Christian vocation.  Vocation is one's response to a call from the Spirit of God to use one's strengths and gifts to make the world a better place through service, creativity, and leadership Vocation means what you are called by God to be and do.  William Perkins in A Treatise of the Vocations states " Every person, of every degree, state, sex, or condition without exception, must have some personal and particular calling to walk in." I would like to explore the Christian vocation under two headings: I) The Universal Calling - A vocation for everyone II) A particular Calling - A unique calling for us as individuals FIRSTLY, The Universal Calling - A vocation for everyone There is work that God calls all of us to do, and it’s laid out for us in the Bible. God makes it clear again and again that we’r

To celebrate my 65th birthday on Monday past, my wife treated me to a lovely lunch at a beach restaurant in Portstewart called "Harry's Shack."  The weather was great so we decided to walk from our lodgings in Portrush along the coastal path - 5 miles there and 5 miles back. En route home I stopped off briefly at a hostelry called Inn on the Coast.  The next day I searched high and low, yet I just could not find my sunglasses. When I realised my prescription sunglasses were lost I decided to retrace my steps. I reckoned that I'd set them down at the Inn. Thankfully, it took a brief phone call to the Inn to hear the good news that someone  had kindly handed them in to the reception and I was able to reclaim them. It's a horrible feeling that I'd lost something that was both useful and valuable. I was so chuffed to find, that although they were lost, they were now found. The whole of chapter 15 of Lukes Gospel is dedicated to three stories that Jesus

Trans World Airlines  (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. The initials T.W.A . are also a great way of remembering the vital ingredients that make for strong relationships Let me illustrate using the intimacy of a marriage relationship to demonstrate our relationship to God. 1) T stands for Time . Every marriage relationship with it's salt and one that thrives involves investing time in each other. Making quality time is a key building block for any relationship. It's the same with our relationship with God. Investing in a "quiet time" is a key to developing a strong faith. When I make time for my wife it demonstrates my love for her. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 talks about time 1   There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:  2  a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,  3  a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to buil

" For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor 5:21) The verse above speaks of " double imputation ." Double imputation refers Firstly, to the imputation of believers' sin to Christ and  Secondly, to the imputation of Christ's righteousness to believers. Not only is our sin laid on Jesus, but Jesus righteousness is laid on us. This is the heart of Christ's redeeming love.  Other synonyms " to impute " are to ascribe, to attribute, to credit or to charge .  The essence of Christianity is that a sinless man (Jesus)  became sin for us, taking our place. This is best understood when we think of a substitute in football. A player is switched or exchanged for another with fresh legs. Jesus has taken our place!  This is demonstrated in the illustration of the whipping boy. A whipping boy was a boy educated alongside a prince (or boy monarch) in early modern Europe,

Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows (Matthew 10:31) Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Matt 6:26) I have come across two stories recently which talk of us recognising our true value.  The first is about an old car. A father said to his daughter “You have graduated with honours, here is a car I bought many years ago. It is pretty old now. But before I give it to you, take it to the used car lot downtown and tell them I want to sell it and see how much they offer you for it.” The daughter went to the used car lot, returned to her father and said, “They offered me £1,000 because the said it looks pretty worn out.” The father said, now “Take it to the pawn shop.” The daughter went to the pawn shop, returned to her father and said,”The pawn shop offered only £100 because it is an old car.” The father asked his daughter to go to a

Q. Did you ever feel your prayers were either too repetitive or just a bit of a jumble? A. Me too! Recently I have been thinking of " prayer journalling " but really didn't want to be carrying another book around. Like most things today, there is usually an App that helps meet the need. " Lo I am with you always" can also be applied to our phones! :)  So after a few checks on what Prayer Journal Apps got the best reviews, I have come upon a wee App called Altar . The upside is that you can record your prayers under various categories. The downside is that it doesn't let you edit what you have saved. (The way around this though is to send a WhatsApp message but just before you send, copy and paste the old content into a newly composed prayer.)  There is also a file in settings for "answered prayers."  Give it a go. It's free and it may make bring a new spark to your prayer life. It has mine.  Hey! Check out this amazing app that hel