Floods



(c) Owen Humphries, Guardian website

 ‘Forecasters have warned there may be worse to come and after residents in the south west suffered from the floods over the weekend, people in the Midlands are now braced for the worst as bad weather moves northwards’, Channel 4 News, quoted from Google News. After one of the wettest summers for some years, many people are facing further rain and the very real danger of flooding in their homes. It is one thing to have a burst pipe and water in parts of the house. What must it be like to see water flooding into the downstairs level of your property and rising to two or three feet deep? It may be you can retreat to higher levels within a house, but ultimately the clean up time will arrive. Then, there is the process of insurance claims to try and provide funds to renovate and rebuild.

The agony of anyone in this situation must be finding that the insurance policy is not there. For whatever reason, there is no backup. What a real tragedy to find that everything is ruined and we have no insurance to cover the loss. For some, such an act of negligence would be unforgiveable. Surely, some would say, after this last summer you could have made some preparation for the possibility?

Many people are of the false opinion that “it can never happen to me”. They see the sorry plight of others and think that they could not be caught out like that. They confidently state, “I’m covered”. Perhaps I could ask you, “are you covered?” I’m not seeking insurance business. I’m simply asking, what preparation have you made for when you meet God? We all will. Rest assured. We all have to face God, either to accept His Son as our Saviour, or to face Him as our Judge. The Bible tells us of one man’s message, which was “Prepare to meet thy God”. Are we listening?

The preparation we need to make for this occasion is equally simple. As we are all sinners in God’s sight – we have all done things that are wrong – we need God’s forgiveness. We can only find it through believing in God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because some 2000 years ago Jesus died upon a Roman cross! I know, as a fact, and can state “Jesus died for me – He bore my sin and paid my debt”. Take Him as your Saviour. Believe in the sacrifice that He made and you can be prepared to meet Him as your Saviour and Lord, and not as your Judge.

UK government threatens firms over hidden customer data

Image taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyalty_program

‘The UK government has repeated its threat to legislate if businesses do not voluntarily release data gathered on customers who ask to see it’. This opening sentence on an item of news, 17/11/12, caught my eye. It reminded me of a training event I attended some years ago when the extent of information gathering by major retail companies was revealed and how that information shapes the plans of those companies.

What most of us don’t realize is that as we swipe our “loyalty” or points card we are automatically giving information to the store that supplied us with that card. They get to know our spending habits, what we buy and how often, where we shop and the distances we are prepared to travel to obtain the goods we require. Just how much information is gathered, stored, and used is difficult to determine. After all, we don’t really know and we don’t have access to our information normally.

I was reminded of a verse in the Bible. ‘All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do’. The writer is reminding us that there is a God to whom we must answer one day. That God does not merely record our shopping habits but stores every detail of our thoughts, words, and deeds. If we stop to think about it we must realize that the Biblical conclusion based upon the evidence gathered is accurate: ‘all the world . . . guilty before God’. Can we really question that fact when every detail of our life is scrutinised by God?

However, the good news is that God has supplied a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. We can have our sins forgiven. We can know our guilt removed. Through the death of Jesus Christ upon a cross outside of Jerusalem some 2000 years ago, we can find salvation. Through faith in Christ – a confession of our sin to Him and a willingness to trust and follow Him in our lives – we can be saved from sins guilt and penalty. Those who have come to faith in Christ can speak of the burden that has been lifted from their life. They can speak of the joy of forgiveness and peace with God. Can you? The Christian life is not easy but a relationship with God in Jesus Christ is the best in life!