That “MANGONUI is one of the jewels of the Far North,” I am reading in a column in our local newspaper. The town is famous for many things, it says, also for its “stunning picture-postcards views.”

IT IS A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN MANGONUI.

Not long before reading this in the paper, I visited Mangonui. I remember a very heavy downpour, that I did not take any pictures in spite of having two cameras on me, and that it was a day without sunshine. (You know what I mean.) It was a day to sit in the restaurants reading the paper and drinking coffee.

Days without sunshine remind me always of lives, people, without the “Sun of Righteousness,” the Lord Jesus Christ. (Malachi 4:2) In Psalm 84:11 it says, “For the LORD God is our  sun and our shield.” Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ, the “Sun of Righteousness?”

Just as Mangonui becomes a jewel (“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” – Genesis 1:1) in the sunshine, so people who know the Lord Jesus Christ, the “Sun of Righteousness,” become jewels, as it says in Zechariah 9:16, “They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown.” The Apostle Paul says in Philippians 4:1 about the Philippians, “…, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work.”

THE CROSS

“Now this is what the LORD Almighty says:

Haggai 1:5-7

Introduction:
‘Give careful thought to your ways,

1. You have planted much, but have harvested little.
2. You eat, but never have enough.
3. You drink, but never have your fill.
4. You put on clothes, but are not warm.
5. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.’

End:

This is what the LORD Almighty says:”

WAIPAPAKAURI BEACH: That’s where I saw this flower.

“I STRUCK ALL THE WORK OF YOUR HANDS WITH BLIGHT, MILDEW AND HAIL, YET YOU DID NOT TURN TO ME, DECLARES THE LORD.” – Haggai 2: 17

It is always a blessing to read books by Billy Graham.

“Who would you most like to meet?” is one of the questions in the Table Talkers box.

(“Find out the answers to 46 revealing questions in this box and get to know your friends and family a whole lot better at your next social occasion,” is written on the box.

“Who would you most like to meet?”

When I was a new convert the answer was certainly Billy Graham.

But of course I met other Evangelists as well after passing from darkness to light.

I was in Germany at that time and I heard Evangelists over the radio and also went to their meetings in Germany and also in Switzerland.

There was Werner Heukelbach, Leo Janz and his team, Wim Malgo, Samuel Furrer and many more.

But I never met Billy Graham. I almost met him in Bangkok while working as a missionary in Thailand. The Thai church had a special anniversary and Billy Graham was supposed to be the guest speaker. But something happened and he could not come.

“Who would you most like to meet?” The answer now is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Missionaries reaching children in Thailand.

Picture / Alan Collingwood

“Who is the person you most admire?” is one of the questions in the Table Talkers box.

(“Find out the answers to 46 revealing questions in this box and get to know your friends and family a whole lot better at your next social occasion,” is written on the box.”)

While working in Thailand as a missionary we had a so-called field conference once a year.

At one of the conferences the International Director of the Missionary Society was the guest speaker and he said that he was glad that he was not called to come because of problems on the field.

Have you ever been told that the greatest problem on the mission field is that missionaries don’t get on with each other?

The desire of missionaries is to reach the unreached.

And only just now I am reading in a missionary magazine I received today that missionaries are getting sometimes so stressed out with relationship problems that they are getting so tired and getting sidetracked.

When I worked as a missionary in Thailand from Christmas 1966 – Christmas 1979 we had a field leader from the United States of America. He said that if we put enough pressure on each other we will will all go home sooner or later.

There are others I admire, but I think he is the person I most admire because he was a wise leader, in fact he was like a father to me.

“If you’re happy, let your face know!”

“What makes you happy?” is one of the questions in the Table Talkers  box.

(“Find out the answers to 46 revealing questions in this box and get to know your friends and family a whole lot better at your next social occasion,” is written on the box.)

“What makes you happy?”

“Causing joy or gladness,” is the definition of “happy” in the Collins English Dictionary. “The happiest day of my life,” is given as an example.

That reminds me of the happiest day in my life many, many years ago now. That was when the Lord Jesus Christ came into my life.

And if you ask me now, “What makes you happy?” my answer is,”When I hear other people telling how they passed from darkness to light, how they began a new life.

That’s also why I want to be obedient to The Great Commission, which you find at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew 28, 16-20.