Thought for the Month - November 2008

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind - By Barry Adair

(The answer IS blowing in the wind)

Its good to receive some feedback on the website. Most of these are very positive and even the some of the ‘scathingly critical’ ones can lead to a few interesting email conversations.

I received one email from a lady who had a real hate of anything Christian. We ‘talked’ about the reasons and it turned out she had felt totally neglected by her local church and local Christians after a series of family disasters. Unfortunately she still carries those hurts but I did get a fair hearing and God willing, He will draw her back some day.

Even though I don’t often receive feedback from within the church, after last month’s website update I received an email from ‘The Quiet Man’ in Grove. Last month’s verse for the month was Psalm 121:1-2:

"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.”

Noel (the Quiet Man) is an avid mountain climber and here is his feedback:

You are quoting my verse as verse for the month - from Psalm 121!

When we were climbing the mountain in India and got past 6,000 metres mark and realised that we were not going to be able to go any further, two of our Sherpas decided that they would try to reach the summit themselves. They detached themselves from our rope and as we went down across the snow-covered crevassed glacier, they went up towards the dome summit. However, before we parted, our lead Sherpa produced three sets of Buddhist prayer flags, one for each of us, and a marker pen. Buddhists mark all high places by strings of multi-coloured flags (red, yellow, blue, green and white) and on every flag the popular Buddhist mantra is written "Om Mani Padme Hum". As the flags flap in the wind on a high pass or a mountain top or a temple or some other high place, they believe that this prayer is carried off to whomever may hear it.

The Sherpa gave us each a set of flags and told us to write our name and a message on the back of the white flag. That presented me with a problem - what to do? My compromise was to sign my name and write out Psalm 121 v1 on my string of flags.

Our Sherpas fixed our flags to the top of the mountain when they reached the summit two hours later. So if anyone ever again gets to the summit of Yalangong Peak and takes a close look at my tattered string of prayer flags they will find Psalm 121 v1.

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.”

Who knows, someone may even have replied with verse 2… “My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.”
After all, this is a very true statement and many of those reading this Thought will be able to testify to God’s help throughout their walk with Him.

And in the case of Noel’s Bible verse, Bob Dylan may just have been right…

“the answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind”

And if you don’t know of this help or have more questions than answers?

Then please follow the link below…

Are you SURE that you have your place booked in Heaven? Read this if you're not!