The Women’s Refuge  here in Kaitaia is not hard to find. The place is right in the middle of the town on Commerce Street.

Whenever I hear or read the word refuge, verses from the Bible come to my mind. The Lord is our refuge. He is not only the refuge for women and children, no, He is the refuge for the whole family.

Today, when I opened one of the local papers I read: ” Violence at home affects our tamariki.” ” Violence at home affects our children.”

There is also something about family violence in the latest issue of the War Cry, the magazine of the Salvation Army.

According to a study of the World Health Organization “one in three women experience  physical or sexual  violence from a partner in their lifetime.”

In the War Cry it says also that “Ten children are killed every year in New Zealand by a family member.”

The Lord wants to be our refuge. The Lord wants to be the refuge for the whole family. The Lord wants to be the refuge for all of us.

In Psalm 16:1 David says,”…, for in you I take refuge.” In Psalm 2:12 we read, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” Find a concordance and look up more verses!

Have you taken refuge in the Lord? I hope you have.

Are you living creatively for Christ in the HOME?

Billy Graham says in his Devotional Treasury “Unto the Hills”:  “Living creatively for Christ in the home is the acid test for any Christian man or woman.” (page 118)

“CAN YOU IMAGINE A WORLD WITHOUT WORDS?”

I discovered the leaflet at the local Women’s Refuge Office here in town. It is a Literacy Aotearoa ( Choice – Change – Freedom) publication and on the front- page  the reader is asked the question:  “CAN YOU IMAGINE A WORLD WITHOUT WORDS?”

My answer is very simple: “No, I cannot.”

I love books, especially the Bible, the Word of the Living God. I am very much interested in the question and I am glad that I came across the pamphlet with the question: “Can you imagine a world without words?” Straight away it came to my mind, that the Bible says that the Lord Jesus Christ is THE WORD. Jesus, the Word! Proverbs 8:22-31; John 1:1; John 1:14. There are of course more verses.

I belong to those people, who take literacy for granted. I find it hard to believe, but it says in the flyer that “more than ONE MILLION  New Zealanders have difficulty with reading, writing, using numbers, speaking and communicating effectively every day of their lives.”

LITERACY AOTERAOA ( Choice – Change – Freedom ) WANTS TO CHANGE THIS.

I have also another pamphlet here advertising “Literacy Aotearoa Certificate of Adult Literacy Tutoring – LEVEL 5.”

LITERACY IS COMMUNICATING!

The leaflet says also that Literacy helps us to “be independent, get our message across, make decisions about our life, understand our culture, understand our language, increase our knowledge, be affective at work, inspire and be inspired, choose our future and change our world.”

Literacy helps us to “inspire and be inspired.” I like that. Literacy helps us to “get our message across.” I like that even better. Why? Literacy helps me to get the message of the Bible across…. to you!

No, I cannot imagine the world without the words of the Bible. No, I cannot imagine the world without JESUS!

Visit one of the local pharmacies here in  town, and you can find big posters there. On the posters we are encouraged to  spread the word. It says there in big letters, “Please help us spread the word.” It continues,  “Put up as many in Influenza posters as you can.”

It is all about “DON’T LET THE FLU GET YOU. Ask your doctor or nurse about influenza immunisation.” “INFLUENZA You’re never too fit to get it.

Big and small poster are available and more can be easily ordered.

“Please help us to spread the word” it says on the influenza posters.

As important that is, it is of uttermost importance to spread the BIBLE, the Word of the Living God.

Jesus is the WORD!

I say: PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!

John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

“Remember, if you throw dirt, you’re losing ground.” – Coffee News

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt

“Blessings we enjoy daily, and for the most of them, because they be so common, men forget to pay their praises.”

Izaak Walton

The life you can Save

Today at The Warehouse, “where everyone gets a bargain”, I picked up a very interesting little booklet. The title of the booklet is “Love being a Mum, it’s worth every moment!”

On the back of the publication I read, “This booklet has been developed as part of a joint project between SKIP and The Warehouse.” SKIP is short for Strategies with Kids / Information for Parents.

I read the booklet with great interest. On one page is written:  “Having kids doesn’t come with a manual, but I’m being the best Mum I can be – learning as I go.”

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Most of the things you buy come with a manual, a book of instructions and information. I have a good  number of computer manuals on my bookshelf.

The book of information and instructions for LIFE is the BIBLE, the Word of the Living Good!

Proverbs 22:6 says: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”

“O for a thousand tongues to sing

my great Redeemer’s praise,

the glories of my God and King,

the triumphs of His grace.”

C. Wesley