¹⁰For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

2 Corinthians 5:18-20

 ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

Ephesians 2

¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were  far off have been brought near  by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴For he himself is our peace,  who has made us both one and has broken down  in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility ¹⁵by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one  new man in place of the two, so making peace, ¹⁶and might  reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. ¹⁷And he came and  preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were  near. ¹⁸For  through him we both have  access in  one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹So then you are no longer  strangers and aliens,  but you are fellow citizens with the saints and  members of the household of God, ²⁰  built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,  Christ Jesus himself being  the cornerstone, ²¹  in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into  a holy temple in the Lord. ²²In him  you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by^[d] the Spirit

“I repeatedly asked Dawit’s mother to tell me the problem with her brilliant and sociable boy,” explains Mrs Mulunesh. “I started spending more time with her so that she would be comfortable enough to tell me what was wrong. After a lot of one-to-one time with her, she asked me how I would feel if she told me that she was HIV positive.” Though the mother’s frail body and health had given Mrs Mulunesh reason to suspect that she might have the virus, hearing this news was a shock. Reassured by the health worker’s nonjudgmental reaction, Dawit’s mother revealed another shocking fact. Dawit, too, was HIV-positive.
“I got him tested when his doctor told me to after his repeated health problems. It was hard to accept my son’s results. His father abandoned us and it isn’t easy to raise my children alone,” says Dawit’s mother. The Compassion staff immediately began much-needed health interventions for the family, thanks to funding from Compassion’s HIV/AIDS Initiative. Dawit’s recurring pneumonia left him with very little energy, so the Compassion staff devised a special diet to help him regain his strength. He was also immediately started on antiretroviral therapy. Many visits to the health centre and several follow-ups, later Dawit’s health began to improve.

Dawit, now 13, continues to live life like any other boy at the project. The money he receives for food supplies has helped him maintain a balanced diet, which is necessary to keep him strong while taking the antiretrovirals. Mrs Mulunesh and Dawit’s mother go to the market together to buy food for the children. They buy healthy foods like milk, rice and meat. The steady advice and the open discussion between Dawit and his mother and the project staff has encouraged him to be more optimistic about his future.
“Dawit is a very dynamic young boy who has shown great resilience in his daily life,” says Mrs Mulunesh. “Sometimes, he gets too tired to play with his friends, but most of the time he does everything his friends do. He is also a good student who is very focused on being successful.”
With all this support, Dawit hopes he will be able to grow up and realise his dream of becoming a doctor. He wants to help children who suffer.
“Had it not been for the timely intervention of Compassion, Dawit wouldn’t be here,” concludes Mrs Mulunesh. “His mother would have continued to hide her son’s illness, fearing discrimination. Even if he got medical help, the poverty would have made it impossible for him to get the proper diet to tolerate the medication. Compassion’s health intervention has saved this young man’s life and opened doors of opportunities for him to strive in life just like any other 13-year-old.”

Click here to donate to the Compassion AIDS Initiative

3-9 Don’t put your life in the hands of experts
who know nothing of life, of salvation life.
Mere humans don’t have what it takes;
when they die, their projects die with them.
Instead, get help from the God of Jacob,
put your hope in God and know real blessing!
God made sky and soil,
sea and all the fish in it.
He always does what he says—
he defends the wronged,
he feeds the hungry.
God frees prisoners—
he gives sight to the blind,
he lifts up the fallen.
GOD loves good people, protects strangers,
takes the side of orphans and widows,
but makes short work of the wicked.

What are your hopes for 2010? Feel free to add them to the comment box below.

For January I have chosen the word HOPE. This is the time of year when everyone turns to thinking about New Year’s resolutions, ambitions, goals and plans. We also reflect on the year gone by; whether we can consider it be a success or a failure. If our future is not secured and satisfied by God then we are going to be excessively anxious or depressed. We end up thinking about ourselves, our future, our problems and our potential, and that keeps us from loving. Hope leads to self-sacrificing love. That’s because we just let God take care of us and aren’t preoccupied with having to work to take care of ourselves.
If we don’t have the hope that Christ is for us then we will be engaged in self-preservation and self-enhancement. But if we let ourselves be taken care of by God for the future—whether five minutes or five centuries from now—then we can be free to love others. Then God’s glory will shine more clearly, because that’s how he becomes visible.
The word “hope” in ordinary English vocabulary is generally distinguished from certainty. We would say, “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I hope it happens.”
When you read the word “hope” in the Bible (like in 1 Peter 1:13—”set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ”), hope is not wishful thinking. It’s not “I don’t know if it’s going to happen, but I hope it happens.” That’s absolutely not what is meant by Christian hope.
Christian hope is when God has promised that something is going to happen and you put your trust in that promise. Christian hope is a confidence that something will come to pass because God has promised it will come to pass.

Last Sunday I had to give the children’s talk in Church, a job i hate, however it did get me thinking about how we can make a difference at Christmas. Reflecting on the previous week I came up with some very ordinary people who had been light in their community.

1. At our last Rock Solid youth club meeting we made small gifts to give to our families, nothing fancy just some chocolates in nice wrapping and a handmade gift card. I was talking to one of the boys as we worked on creating a fancy ribbon and he said he wasn’t going to give his present to some one in his family. Instead he wanted to go and visit a neighbour who was elderly and had no family, he was worried the man wouldn’t have a very nice Christmas and wanted to give him something to smile about.

2. The last week of term before the holidays in school is manic, as soon as you write December on the board a previously well behaved class develops a strange sort of insanity; then head asks to complete progress assessments! Never popular. On the last Monday one of my class brought a lovely letter to me thanking me for being her teacher and challenging her to be her best. While party chaos whirled around me and the fire alarm went off during a snow storm , I was still smiling.

3. Having completed a session on giving with our 11-14s youth group, I didn’t know how much had gone in, until they all
decided to give some of their tuck shop money up. They went on to raise £10 and bought clean water for 10 families in Ethiopia.

4. On Wednesday I walked into work with photographs of 4 children looking for sponsors. 3 were pretty girls in their best dresses and one was a rough looking lad from Brazil in an old t-shirt. I worried I wouldn’t find him a sponsor and had been praying carefully. I entered the office to collect some paper work and the admin officer asked to look at the photos. She held onto the boy and talked about how worried she was that he might end up involved in gangs. She is now giving up her Barcardis and coke to sponsor the boy. When I left on Friday she was composing a letter to encourage him.

It doesn’t take much to be light to someone. You may not be able to change the whole world, but in your own small way you can change the world for someone.

 Franklen is in need of a sponsor: for £21 a month he would be provided with the skills and opportunities he needs to break free from poverty.

 Through sponsorship the staff of Bicol Child Development centre provide Franklen with medical and dental checkups, vaccinations, health & hygiene instruction, recreation activities, field trips, tutoring, vocational training and school supplies.

Centre staff will also provide his family with education and support in the case of disaster.

Please pray for Franklen and his family.

If you would like to sponsor Franklen or another child in the Philippines contact Cath  email cath-o@supanet.com

• Please pray for the Lord to create strong connections between child development workers and the children’s parents. May the parents trust the workers and become involved in their children’s lives.
• Pray for the love of the Lord to be demonstrated through the many different relationships that affect children with their families, siblings, friends and the staff.
• Pray that the children would have a desire and passion to follow Jesus. Please pray for their hearts to be open to receive and understand the teaching from church.
• Pray for the single mothers who have to educate and raise children by themselves. Pray for their homes to become refuges for children and not dangerous places.