Dr Paul Allen

Christmas Eve celebrations feature Tradional Christmas carols , items, Bible reading , songs and a gospel Christmas message. Hope Church Varsity Lakes 6-7pm 175 Varsity Pde, Varsity Lakes Qld 4226. 

Scrooge's third visitor, from Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. With Illustrations by John Leech. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843. First edition. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Bah! Humbug!” These two words are instantly associated with Charles Dickens ’ immortal fictional anti-hero, Ebenezer Scrooge . Scrooge was the prototype of the Grinch who stole Christmas , the paradigm of all men cynical. We all recognize that Ebenezer Scrooge was a mean person - stingy, insensitive, selfish, and unkind. What we often miss in our understanding of his character is that he was preeminently profane. “Bah! Humbug!” was his Victorian use of profanity . Not that any modern editor would feel the need to delete Scrooge’s expletives. His language is not the standard currency of cursing. But it was profane in that Scrooge demeaned what was holy. He trampled on the sanctity of Christmas. He despised the sacred. He was cynical toward the sublime. Christmas

Image via Wikipedia Biblical prayer is one-way communication made available to man by the grace of God in order that man may communicate with God. While today God primarily speaks to man through His written Word (the Bible ), He encourages man to speak to Him through prayer. Prayer is not complicated or difficult.  In a nutshell, it is simply talking to God . Prayer is a grace-gift from God to man, that is, man does not deserve such a privilege and can never, by his own works, merit it.  The Bible’s first clear reference to prayer, i.e., talking with God, is found in  Genesis 3:10 , when Adam replies to God in the Garden of Eden ; although it is assumed that Adam had many conversations with God prior to this time.  From that point (fall of man) on God and man continued to talk, even outside the Garden of Eden ( Genesis 4 ), but it was not until  Genesis 4:26  that … men began to call on the name of the LORD .  The word “call” in this context is the Hebrew word,  gara , whic

Image via Wikipedia This year I started doing something I’ve never done before.  As I went through and looked at the major themes and ideas, I put a “+” or “-” symbol next to each one, indicating which of those seemed to have had an overall  negative  or  positive  impact on my soul  at the time .  ( Ultimately, there is no real way to judge this since over time we often end up seeing negatives as positives and vice versa…  But it does help me see and understand why there may have been seasons I felt depleted, depressed, or discouraged….or others where I felt energized and strengthened.  Identifying patterns or rhythms is important! ) GRATITUDE  – Through this process, there almost always comes a point where my heart swells with an immense amount of gratitude and thanksgiving for what God has done in my life and in the lives of those I love and lead.  So I take time in the midst of this reflection to offer thanksgiving and gratitude to God. QUESTIONS –  At the very end, I’ll take some

Image via Wikipedia This year I started doing something I’ve never done before.  As I went through and looked at the major themes and ideas, I put a “+” or “-” symbol next to each one, indicating which of those seemed to have had an overall  negative  or  positive  impact on my soul  at the time .  ( Ultimately, there is no real way to judge this since over time we often end up seeing negatives as positives and vice versa…  But it does help me see and understand why there may have been seasons I felt depleted, depressed, or discouraged….or others where I felt energized and strengthened.  Identifying patterns or rhythms is important! ) GRATITUDE  – Through this process, there almost always comes a point where my heart swells with an immense amount of gratitude and thanksgiving for what God has done in my life and in the lives of those I love and lead.  So I take time in the midst of this reflection to offer thanksgiving and gratitude to God. QUESTIONS –  At the very end, I’ll take some