My jumbled thoughts whilst praying one evening…

My faith is the only thing I have that I will never give up.. but I am willing to share it with anyone, anywhere and at any time.
God’s grace is the best gift I have every received, but never deserved.
His mercy gives me the confidence to accept the correction I need to grow in Him.
His forgiveness allows to try my best although I often make mistakes
His words encourage, and drive me on along life’s often rocky road
His sacrifice has taught me that there is a price that I could never pay for the liberty I currently enjoy.
His love knows no bounds so I must strive open my heart to love my fellow man without condition. 

It sometime feels like it is getting harder to stand up for our beliefs, or share our faith,  what with political correctness and such, but in fact it is easier (dependant on the way you view it).

The believers of old never had the internet, the mobile, telephone, television, radio’s and such. They just lived the life as best they could and when people questioned the way they were living they explained as best they could. The prophets of old went around the streets, temples and synagogues and proclaimed their faith. The apostles went from town to town and shared the gospel of Jesus Christ

“ Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

Robert Lewis Stevenson once said; 

"To talk is our chief business in this life,

It founds and fosters friendships,

It can be enjoyed in any state of health,

It cost nothing and is all profit."

So let's communicate more and profit!

I can never understand why we as a people tend to look at each other and make, what can be interpereted as, brash judgements about one another, when we can just speak to each other freely and acquire a greater and more honest understanding of each other. It could stop wars, predudices, and divisions.

Language is a great gift and coupled with cooperation …good communication can achieve great things.

But what do I know?…I am only the servant and try my best to learn from the master ..my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

God Bless you all.

Hello .. I thought it would be nice for me to introduce some friends and people who have encouraged and inspired me to create the 'Walk to Glory'

  Firstly this is David Knowles my friend of many years and my brother in Christ. Without his technical know how this site would not exist. He is a constant source of inspiration to me and his house is a second home for me whenever I visit the Nederlands. His wife Els and two children treat me like one of the family.

He maintains this blogg and corrects any background problems we may encounter. I am blessed to have him as a friend.

Meet my friend Postie, he travels with me and  loves having his photo taken with my friends and any new people I meet. He also enjoys visits to church so you will see pictures of his travels and who he meets in future articles.

And the Stainsbridge's a lovely couple who played host to me and three friends on our visit to Le Charente in France. The own a lovely Bed & Breakfast establishment in a lovely rural setting. It was during my stay with them when I wrote the poem 'I Fell Into A River' (see Article Archives)

And this is David  a former work colleague,  friend and of course another brother in the Lord. We've known each other since 2004 and both work in education. Dave is a very talented 'Dance DJ' who has a unique gift in the way he creates and uses dance music to share his faith.

Dave has recently joined us at the Walk to glory and is now developing the 'Music & Dance' section. So keep an eye on his bloggs you clubbers out there. I have no doubt you will all be inspired by his veiws.

I never really thought about the effect of media on my life. I had always been the kind of person who would watch the film or listen to the music or read the article and (Thought) I was OK with what it was about. I hadn't really thought about the effect media had on my life.

I used to read trashy teenage magazines I'd look at the fashion pages and wish I had the money to buy the clothes, I'd read the gossip pages and judge people who I didn't even know, I never really thought about it as "Rubbish in". If you put rubbish into your life then you are more likely to put rubbish out.

I used to listen to "Emo" music and for a while didn't think it had much effect until I became depressed and it wasn't until I had come through it that I saw just how much of an effect that kind of music has on my mood, on my day and then on my life!

A few of my friends have made a pact not to watch any films rated higher than a 12. At first I didn't really understand why they did it. I thought that it was them being weak (I could watch these films and be fine! But they can't) or just going over the top, but recently I watch 2 films both 15 or higher and it was amazing how much of an effect it had! There was a lot of sexual references which in the past haven't really had much of an effect even though I had always said (Even before I became a Christian) that I didn't want to have sex or be in a sexual relationship until I was married, but now because I'm more open about it and it's something that I really stand by, the Devil is able to use it as a thing to pull me from God.

I'm 17, I go to college, I have non – Christian friends, I have a Boyfriend (Who is also a Christian) and as a 17 year old college student with a boyfriend and non Christian friends it can be really hard to keep everything under control temptation wise. Some of my friends don't understand some of my views and don't agree that sex before marriage is wrong.

A lot of films and books these days for people of my age have got some kind of sexual reference. I'm lucky, my boyfriend is great, we share the same views on a lot of things which does make avoiding temptation easier, we have a list of things we don't want to be doing and we are pretty good we can stick to it, but we are only human, sometimes we do something and think 'Maybe we should avoid doing that, just to be safe!'

Some of the films I watch are not appropriate (in my opinion) for young Christians especially young Christians who are trying to avoid temptation. Films that have a lot of sexual content -although they may not effect you now they may do later.

Sometimes it's really hard to forget some of the things we see. If you see something (Anything) then you can probably call it back later. Sometimes it's totally beyond our control you can be in a situation thats nothing like what you have seen but you remember it and its bad enough then. But just think if you are sitting with your boyfriend/girlfriend your not doing anything that you shouldn't be doing but you recall what you have seen it's going to be so much harder to resist temptation.

It's different for everyone, some people don't struggle with temptation which is great! But for the people that do, think about what it is that makes it hard for you to resist and think about how you can change it. You don't necessarily have to say that your not going to watch any 15s' or 18s' but there might be a few films that are defiantly worth giving a miss, and it's not just sex that can be a temptation. For some people its alcohol, for some it's drugs or smoking for some people its even self abuse. That was a big thing for me, I used to cut myself, it got bad, it became one of the only ways I could express myself but I over came it!

I think it's normal to be faced with temptation, it's part of being a human, it's an earthly thing. But we should – as Christians- be striving to be 'Not of this world' we should be trying to shake of these earthly chains, the things that hold us back from God and we should be trying to get closer to Him.

Don't be ashamed of things that could be classed as a weakness (Alcohol, sex etc.) Turn them round, make them something to be proud of. Make them the thing you overcame! Make it your way of kicking the Devil back and say 'I'm for God not for the world!'

I have scars from my weakness, some people would see them as a reminder of how things where, how the Devil got to me but I see them as where I have over come the Devil, It's hard to explain, but in someways I'm proud of them, sure it used to be a problem, but they are just scars now.

God Bless

Just a little something for you to read  to encourage you.

Three Bullets
 
 There once was a man who had nothing for his family to
 eat.. He had an old rifle and three bullets. So, he decided
 that he would go out hunting and kill some wild game for
 dinner. As he went down the road, he saw a rabbit. He shot
 at the rabbit and missed it. The rabbit ran away. Then he
 saw a squirrel and fired a shot at the squirrel and missed
 it. The squirrel disappeared into a hole in a cottonwood
 tree. As he went further, he saw a large wild 'Tom'
 turkey in the tree, but he had only one bullet remaining. A
 voice spoke to him and said, 'Pray first, aim high and
 stay focused.
 However, at the same time, he saw a deer which was a better
 kill.  He brought the gun down and aimed at the deer. But,
 then he saw a rattlesnake between his legs about to bite
 him, so he naturally brought the gun down further to shoot
 the rattlesnake. Still, the voice said again to him, 'I
 said 'Pray, Aim high and Stay focused.'
 So, the man decided to listen to God's voice.
 He prayed, then aimed the gun high up in the tree and shot
 the wild turkey. The bullet bounced off the turkey and
 killed the deer. The handle fell off the gun and hit the
 snake in the head and killed it. And, when the gun had gone
 off, it knocked him into a pond. When he stood up to look
 around, he had fish in all his pockets, a dead deer and a
 turkey to eat for his family.
 The snake (Satan) was dead simply because the man listened
 to God.

 Moral of the story:
 Pray first before you do anything, aim and shoot high in
 your goals, and stay focused on God..  Never let others
 discourage you concerning your past. The past is exactly
 that, 'the past.'  Live every day one day at a time
 and remember that only God knows our future and that he will
 not! put you through any more than  you can bear.
 Do not look to man for your blessings, but look to the
 doors that only He has prepared in advance for you in your
 favor.
 Wait, be still and patient: keep God first and everything
 else will follow.
 Don't worry about tomorrow, God is already there!!! 

 My God is a good God. Amen!