Through the Bible in on year 2018; 21st February

Today we read one of the more well known Psalms.

David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then attempted to cover it up by arranging for her husband do be in a place where he would be killed.

He was then confronted by Nathan the prophet who told him a story about a rich person taking someones lamb. At first David is indignant until he realises that the story represented him and what he had done.

David had always been very careful to stay close to God and obey his laws and we see his repentance in this Psalm. He feels cut off from the most precious person in his life; his God.

“Against you and you only have I sinned”

We saw a couple off days ago how yeast represented sin and how it quickly grows. Davids initial sinful desire for a beautiful woman quickly escalated and resulted in death and the ruin of his reputation.

Again we see David recognising that all the sacrifices he could offer mean nothing if his heart is not right. God sees our heart just as Jesus saw the heart of he woman who washed his feet. She wanted to be cleansed from her sin but the Pharisees were weighed down with all their laws and rule.

If you are reading this and don’t know God’s cleansing forgiveness in your life, you can. Just ask him.

The readings for Thursday are;

Leviticus 13 & 14

Psalm 52

Luke 8

Through the Bible in one year 2018; 14th February

I’ve had quite a hectic day today so am not going to write much, but I was thinking earlier that being a Christian can sometimes be a bit like learning to drive a car.

When we first start we need someone guiding us, teaching us the “highway code”, how stay safe and reach our destination.

While in this phase we have “L” plates. It lets other people know that we are learning, we need someone supervising and helping us, other people know they need to be patient with us as we are going to make mistakes but eventually we become competent enough to “pass the test”

Here in the UK now when you pass the driving test you then display “P” plates which stands for probationary driver. You are able to “go it alone” but you are still very inexperienced and are still likely to make mistakes.

When some one is a new Christian hopefully they will have people to help them learn “the highway code”. They need time to learn, will make mistakes, sometimes with disastrous results and crash.

They need help to sort out, recover, sometimes there are penalties to pay but hopefully will “get back into the car” and keep going.

I was thinking that in reality we never take off the “P” plates or even “L” plates. We keep learning, we still make mistakes, we crash or suffer the consequence of someone else’s mistakes.

Of course our “Driving instructor” is Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the Bible is our Highway code.

The readings for Wednesday are;

Exodus 39 – 40

Psalm 45

Luke 1

Cycling

With the current publicity about the tragic number of cyclists being injured and killed in accidents a lot of the blame is being placed on drivers and probably in a high percentage rightly so, but my experiences recently make me think that cyclists should take more responsibility too.

Last night while I was driving, I turned right onto a stretch of a one way street, and a shadow went past me on the near side.  We realised that it was a cyclist riding in the wrong direction in dark clothing and with no lights.  There was no way I could have seen him (my assumption) and I was grateful that he did not hit me.

When I am out on my bike and I want to take a short cut like that, get across a busy road/traffic lights etc – I get off and walk my bike with the same care I would as a pedestrian.

A couple of weeks ago while walking into town I started across the road at a pelican crossing (a pedestrian crossing controlled by traffic lights) along with several other people and some on the other side of the road; when a large group of cyclists went through the lights at red.  How they missed the elderly man attempting to cross I don’t know and there were people with small children in buggy’s on my side too. Only one of them stopped, and that was probably because I had started to have a go at them.  Hubby commented when I told him about this that some bikes are quite difficult to stop but cars had stopped on the other side, when driving, you see traffic lights with pedestrians and you prepare yourself to stop – the same applies to cycling.

The rules of the road apply to everyone, cars, cyclists, motorbikes (who seem to think that speed restrictions don’t apply to them)  Red lights mean STOP!, One way traffic means the same for everyone.  If you are going to cycle in the dark you need lights – it’s no use then crying (if you survive) because a car driver pulls out in front of you if you can’t be seen.  Some bikes can travel very fast.

I always wear a bright yellow high visibility jacket when out on my bike to increase the chances of drivers seeing me and I take extra care at junctions, getting off and walking with pedestrian crossings if necessary.

I tend to walk more than I drive now so as a car driver (over 30 years) cyclist and pedestrian I take responsibility for my own safety and try as far as possible to consider other road and path users.  If on a shared cycle/footpath while on my bike and I come up behind someone I will shout to make sure they know I am there before passing as on many occasions I have been startled by a cyclist racing past me from behind with no warning.  I could probably go on but that’s enough of a rant for today.