{"id":330,"date":"2010-08-16T15:24:49","date_gmt":"2010-08-16T14:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.pender.org.uk\/?p=330"},"modified":"2011-08-26T11:41:03","modified_gmt":"2011-08-26T10:41:03","slug":"and-finally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2010\/08\/and-finally\/","title":{"rendered":"And finally…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Then they said to each other, “We’re not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.”
2 Kings 7:9 (from The Holy Bible: New International Version.\u00a0 Copyright \u00a9 1973, 1978, 1984, by International Bible Society)<\/span><\/h3>\n

I remember that ITN used to finish their news bulletins with an “And finally..” item – a piece of ‘good’ news intended to lighten up the proceedings after all the doom and gloom of the main news.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>Lepers were the outcasts, the rejected of society in their day. A few years ago, their position in society was taken over by those suffering from AIDS; perhaps today it is drug addicts who have taken up the baton – those poor souls waiting at the side of the dispensing counter in the chemist for their methadone.<\/p>\n

The story in 2 Kings 7 is about a four lepers who were at the end of their rope and could see that they had nothing to lose. Their city was under siege and they were dying of hunger. They decided to go into the enemy’s camp – they would either get fed or dead. Instead, the enemy fled, so the lepers started to live it up.<\/p>\n

But then these men, who had been rejected by others and had every reason to get even by keeping their discovery a secret, had an And finally…<\/strong><\/em> moment. They gave some good news.<\/p>\n

It’s strange how tables have turned. In a lot of ways, Christians are now the outcasts in society. But we know that the enemy has been defeated; we have been into his camp and taken back what he stole from us. Why are we living in a day of good news and keeping it to ourselves?<\/p>\n

Our And finally… <\/em> moment might be that last chance that someone ever has.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Then they said to each other, “We’re not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.” 2 Kings 7:9 (from The Holy Bible: New International Version.\u00a0 Copyright…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[172,178,177,176],"class_list":["post-330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","tag-doom-and-gloom","tag-drug-addicts","tag-methadone","tag-outcasts","category-5","description-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfWaLo-5k","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1865,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2010\/11\/can-i-help-mr-cameron\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"position":0},"title":"Can I help, Mr Cameron?","author":"Robert Pender","date":"28\/11\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I was interested to read that Prime Minister, Mr Cameron, is going to spend \u00c2\u00a32million on measuring the happiness of the British people. Happiness, according to the dictionary is a state of well being and contentment. I do not see a lot of contentment in the society in which we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7182,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/12\/11-held-and-healed\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"position":1},"title":"11 – Held and Healed","author":"Robert Pender","date":"03\/12\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7183\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\"][\/vc_column][vc_column][vc_column_text] Held Well, that has been a bit of a week! Last weekend, I probably did a bit much. It's hard to tell, to be honest. In August I was as fit as a fiddle, now there are a few strings broken. I know I can't do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7131,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/10\/7-the-big-sea\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"position":2},"title":"7 – The Big Sea","author":"Robert Pender","date":"27\/10\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7132\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\"][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]For most of the first 20 years of my life I lived next to the Clyde, a beautiful river with stunning scenery around it. Where I was, the river was very wide and was for most of the time calm. Occasionally the wind would get up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7440,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2023\/07\/24-the-lucky-phew\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"position":3},"title":"24 – The Lucky Phew!","author":"Robert Pender","date":"25\/07\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7441\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\"][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I should have written this way back at the start of July, but things got in the way. In my last post I was saying that the CT scan had been delayed and that they had decided to extend my chemo a bit. I'm glad to say\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7072,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/09\/just-thinking-what\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"position":4},"title":"3 – Just thinking what?","author":"Robert Pender","date":"30\/09\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7073\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\"][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Most of the time, all is calm, then I'm in a bit of a storm. I was never a great fan of big dippers and so I always kept away from them. The trouble with this big dipper is that it comes to get me! I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7242,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14-plans\/","url_meta":{"origin":330,"position":5},"title":"14 – Plans","author":"Robert Pender","date":"16\/12\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7243\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\"][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I have always been a great believer in making plans, especially when we are doing something special or going away somewhere. It is best to get it right and not miss anything out. Be in control! The trouble is that we are seldom, if ever in control.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}