“Planner 2014,” it says almost at the end of my 2013 Collins 83A diary.

In his letter James, the brother of the Jesus, asks the question: “How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow?” (James 4:14, NLT)

PLANNER 2014

I do not know what my life will be like tomorrow.  I do not know what my life will be like in January 2014. I also do not know what my life will be like in April 2014.  And you do not know either what your life will be like next year.

BUT GOD KNOWS!

That’s why James writes we ought to say, “‘If the Lord wants us to, we will be alive and do this or that.'” (James 4:15, NLT)

I want to do that. I want to say, “If the Lord wants me to be still alive in 2014, I want to serve Him.”

ONCE AND NOW

ONCE I was darkness. It says so in Ephesians 5:8.

ONCE I had no identity as a person. First Peter 2:10 (NLT)

ONCE I received no mercy. First Peter 2:10 (NLT)

ONCE I was under the power of Satan. Acts 26:15-18

ONCE I belonged to the devil. John 8:42-47 In John 8:44 the Lord Jesus Christ says, “‘You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire.'”

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT

But NOW I am light in the Lord. Ephesians 5:8-10 Now I want to live as a child of light and I want to do what pleases the Lord. What does the fruit of light consists in? The Bible teaches that the fruit of light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth. I am also reading that the deeds of darkness are fruitless.

NOW I am a child of God. First Peter  2:10 (NLT)

But NOW I have received mercy. First Peter 2:10 (NLT)

But NOW I am under God. Acts 26:15-18 I have received forgiveness of sins and I have received a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Jesus.

But NOW I belong to God. John 8:42-47 Now I hear what God says.

I am praising the Lord, that  I have been under God most of the time of my life.

Almost 55 years ago I passed from darkness to light and began a new life. My second birthday was on the 2nd of September 1958.

The Lord led me to a Bible school (Bibelschule Brake) in Germany, and I worked as a missionary in Thailand (WEC International) and here in New Zealand (United Maori Mission), where I live now.

“Our readers tell us about the day they felt the richest,” I am reading in an old Reader’s Digest on page 48. (January 2012)

Let me also tell you about the day I felt the richest.

The day I felt the richest reminds me of a hymn or chorus in German. At least  I think it is a chorus. Put me right if I am wrong.

Here are the words in German:

“Das war der schoenste Tag den Gott mir jemals gab, als Jesus in mein dunkles Erdendasein kam.” (“That was the most beautiful day that God ever gave me when Jesus came into my dark life on earth.”)

“WHEN JESUS SPOKE AGAIN TO THE PEOPLE HE SAID, ‘I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.'” – John 8:12

“O Happy Day!” is an English hymn written by Philip Doddride. Here is the chorus:

“Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away!

He taught me how to watch and pray and live rejoicing ev’ry day;

happy day, happy day when Jesus washed my sins away!”

“THE NEXT DAY JOHN SAW JESUS COMING TOWARD HIM AND SAID, ‘LOOK, THE LAMB OF GOD, WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD!'”- John 1:29

I still remember the day I felt the richest. And that feeling has never left me and will never leave me!

“DRESS STANDARD

Smart casual dress required at all times.

Admission at the discretion of the management.”

If we want to be admitted to certain places, we need to dress appropriately.

There are only two places where we are eventual going and that is heaven or hell. All of us are on the way to hell since birth.

What must we wear now in order to enter heaven?

Some people are dressing themselves by saying, “My sins are not so bad. I am not as bad as others are.  But that does not work. We need a new dress!

Some people are wearing the dress of their own righteousness. They are doing good works. We can fool other people by doing that, but not God. No! We need something completely different.

Do you remember the Parable of the Lost Son in Luke chapter 15? In Luke 15:22 it says, “But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; …” (Authorized Version) He received a completely new robe from his father.

God will give us also a new robe, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ wrought for us sinners on the cross.

AT THE ST JAMES CHURCH IN KERIKERI / NEW ZEALAND

In Isaiah 61:10 we read,

“I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” (NIV)

An anonymous hymn writer rejoices:

“I am covered over with the robe of righteousness

That Jesus gives to me, (gives to me)

I am covered over with the precious blood of Jesus,

And he lives in me; (lives in me)”

“Get lost in these BOOKS,” I am reading on the cover in big letters of the 2013 Kiwi Kids’ Good Book Guide, (New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards) I picked up today at our local library here in Kaitaia.

“GET LOST IN THESE BOOKS”

“Books play a key role in the development of young minds – opening up new horizons and new worlds of possibility,” says the sponser at the beginning of his note.

Do I ever know that from my own experience. I surely got lost in the books of the little school library in the north of Germany. I went to school in a little village called Faulueck near the border of Denmark. The school does not exist any more. I liked especially the books about foreign countries like Australia and other far away places. My desire was to go to the countries I read about. And I did! I used to live in Thailand for quite some time and now I am residing here in New Zealand.

In the 2013 Kiwi Kids’ Good Book Guide is also a note from the three judges.

“This sheer variety makes judging especially hard, and so we have tried to read with an eye for those special books whose qualities will outlast the current fads and fashions,” the three judges are writing.

I mentioned already that I got lost in the books of the little school library in Faulueck in the north of Germany, but now I am getting lost in the BIBLE, “The Book of Books.”

Why do I get lost in the Bible like so many other people worldwide? My answer is that the Bible will not only outlast the current fads and fashions, the BIBLE will outlast everything.

Once upon a time the Bible was for me like any other book on the book shelf. But a day came when I got to know the author of the BIBLE, the Holy Spirit, and from that day on the Bible became alive for me.

I don’t know how many times I have read the Bible from cover to cover, every word. That I don’t know is rather unfortunate.

In Matthew 24:35 it says,

“HEAVEN AND EARTH WILL PASS AWAY, BUT MY WORDS WILL NEVER PASS AWAY.”

And this is what Martin Luther said and please excuse my poor translation from German into English: “The BIBLE is not antique, the BIBLE is not modern, the BIBLE is eternal.”

“Time to bring in the dog to reduce crime,” I am reading on the front page of our local paper, THE NORTHLAND AGE. (Tuesday, May 7, 2013)

KAWAKAWA IS A TOURIST MAGNET – THE VINTAGE RAILWAY

There is a staff shortage at the KAWAKAWA police station and at the KAITAIA police station and it is difficult for the police to get on top of  burglaries and wilful damage.

Calls to the KAWAKAWA police station  don’t go further than the answerphone. (The Northland Age, Thursday, May 9, 2013)

But business people and residents in both towns are working towards reducing crime.

“SOW FOR YOURSELVES RIGHTEOUSNESS, REAP THE FRUIT OF UNFAILING LOVE, AND BREAK UP THE UNPLOUGHED GROUND; FOR IT IS TIME TO SEEK THE LORD, UNTIL HE COMES AND SHOWERS RIGHTEOUSNESS ON YOU,”  we are reading in Hosea 10:12

And in Isaiah 65:24 we read, “Before they CALL I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.”