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Hi, I am Robert, and I have to admit that I am getting on a bit. That isn’t exactly true, though. The truth is that my body is getting on a bit, but my mind, as my lovely wife Libby often points out to me, is still very young. I think Libby’s actual word is “childish”!

That’s OK, though, because I really believe Jesus when he said “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them!  For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.”

So, maybe being a child – or a wean, as we say in Scotland – is a good thing and is what we should all aim for!

Hello! I am Libby, the sweeter of the pair of us, and I am deeply indebted to my truly wonderful husband for setting this up, because I don’t have a clue what is going on! I am not too computer literate, you see.

On our wedding day I not only became a wife, I also immediately became a step-mother and a stepgran. It is definitely the way to do it – you miss the discomfort of  pregnancy, the pain of childbirth, and the years of wondering if they will ever leave home!

But that’s just part of the story – I also have to look after the wean on the left!

What makes us tick

Faith

Like many people, perhaps all people, we often think that there has to be more to life than this (whatever this might be at the time). Unlike most people, though, we know that there IS more, much more – and we are looking forward to it!

It is not something that is going to last for just a day or so, like everything else in life. It is not something that we will tire of, or get bored with. It is not something that we have to save for, or get a loan for. Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. It’s free, and it lasts forever.

You see, we both believe that God loves the world so much that he gave his one and only son, Jesus Christ, so that the people who believe in him won’t suffer for all the wrong things they have done; they won’t die and stay dead. They will rise from the grave and be with him forever.

We believe in Jesus. We know that he is our Saviour. We know that one day we will see him face to face.

Hope

Have you ever felt helpless? It is a terrible position to be in and, if you see no help coming, it is not long before you feel hopeless. From there the spiral downwards can be alarming. Many of us then turn to alcohol or drugs to get rid of the ensuing sadness, but it never helps – it just makes it worse, accelerates the mess. You get to a place which you hate, a place which holds you captive. You try to break free, but the nearer you get to the top of the mess, the helplessness raises it head, the hopelessness kicks you again.

We have spent time with so many people in that situation. They strive to beat it on their own. They might manage to get back on their feet and feel their zest for life return, but it doesn’t last.[perfectpullquote align=”left” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again – my Saviour and my God! [/perfectpullquote]
They still don’t have hope. They have a wish – they wish they could break it – but a wish is not a hope. It has no substance.

Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping – believing that he would become the father of many nations, believing that the promise which God gave him was true, because he believed God. That is the substance which matters.

We believe God. We have a hope – not a wishful hope, a real hope.

It is a hope which tells us that help is on its way.

Love

It is strange that the English language has more words than any other language in the world, and yet it is so limited in one of them. The word “love” is that word. Love comes in many forms, and yet there seems to be only one word for it.

We use it to say that we merely like something, or that we are addicted to it. We use it to describe how we feel about someone, or about sex with them. [perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud. It does not demand its own way. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.[/perfectpullquote]
We use it to describe the parent/child relationship, a love which seems so deeply set in us that it has become part of us.

But there is another kind of love, which is greater than all of them, wider and deeper. It is a love that sees past and through all the hurt, the shame, the pain. It is a love which never stops, even if it is not returned.

It is the love which took Jesus to the cross, the love that kept him there as he died in agony, the love that helped him to say, “Father, forgive them.” It is the love that God offers to all mankind, through his son, Jesus.

It is the love which we have both accepted, and which has changed our lives.

It is the love which is available to you.

Three things will last forever – faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love.
(1 Corinthians  13:13, NLT)