Home is where the Heart is.

I find because of my job in Liverpool, I get up early in the morning,  so I can have that extra cup of coffee,  pray and have a quiet time and wait on the Lord,  to keep my brain active at 5.30 am I’ve started to write my blog now rather than later in the day.

I now live in Southport, Merseyside having moved here just over 2 years ago from Neath, South Wales I’ve settled here and for the last two years Southport has been my home,  and I’ve committed myself to staying here until I die or until the Lord returns.   I have wandered previously and made a mess of thinks, but thanks be to God who has settled me here in Southport, my heart is here because this is now my home.

I remember visiting here just over 2 years ago,  and being in a mess and my good friend Dave Gregg (one of our Elders) was speaking on a Sunday morning at my church (now) The Community Church, Southport and he quoted at the end of his message he quoted

Numbers 10:29

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

29 Then Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out to the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you’; come with us and we will do you good, for the Lord has promised good concerning Israel.”

When I returned back to Neath, while I was praying whether or not to stay there or move here, the Lord bought my attention to some scriptures and because I had moved from pillar to post and back again several times, I told the Lord I would either settle in Neath or move to and settle here in Southport, the Lord reminded me of the story of Isaac and the wells.

Genesis 26:17-25

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

17 And Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar, and settled there.

Quarrel over the Wells

18 Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the same names which his father had given them. 19 But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of flowing water, 20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarrelled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they contended with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarrelled over it too, so he named it Sitnah. 22 He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it Rehoboth, for he said, “At last the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

23 Then he went up from there to Beersheba. 24 The Lord appeared to him the same night and said,

“I am the God of your father Abraham;

Do not fear, for I am with you.

I will bless you, and multiply your descendants,

For the sake of my servant Abraham.”

25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

Deuteronomy 8

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

God’s Gracious Dealings

8 “All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers. 2 You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5 Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. 6 Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.

Psalm 66

English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

How Awesome Are Your Deeds

To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm.

66 Shout for joy to God, all the earth;

2     sing the glory of his name;

    give to him glorious praise!

3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!

    So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.

4 All the earth worships you

    and sings praises to you;

    they sing praises to your name.” Selah

5 Come and see what God has done:

    he is awesome in his deeds towards the children of man.

6 He turned the sea into dry land;

    they passed through the river on foot.

There did we rejoice in him,

7     who rules by his might for ever,

whose eyes keep watch on the nations—

    let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah

8 Bless our God, O peoples;

    let the sound of his praise be heard,

9 who has kept our soul among the living

    and has not let our feet slip.

10 For you, O God, have tested us;

    you have tried us as silver is tried.

11 You brought us into the net;

    you laid a crushing burden on our backs;

12 you let men ride over our heads;

    we went through fire and through water;

yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

13 I will come into your house with burnt offerings;

    I will perform my vows to you,

14 that which my lips uttered

    and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.

15 I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,

    with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;

I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah

16 Come and hear, all you who fear God,

    and I will tell what he has done for my soul.

17 I cried to him with my mouth,

    and high praise was on my tongue.

18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,

    the Lord would not have listened.

19 But truly God has listened;

    he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

20 Blessed be God,

    because he has not rejected my prayer

    or removed his steadfast love from me!

When I moved here, the Lord made me several promises,  and give me the following scripture verses and I had some solid advice from an amazing friend in Swansea, Ralph Bettany who advised me to stay in Southport for at least 5 years and settle down rather than wandering around as I had done previously.

Jeremiah 29:4-7 and verse 11

New Living Translation (NLT)

4 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: 5 “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. 6 Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! 7 And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.” 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope

I would like to say a heart full thank you to my church family,  The Community Church,  Southport and my many dear friends there, thank you for welcoming me and making part of your church family, I love you all, and I wouldn’t be who I’m today without you, I would like to thank especially Geoff and Pam Grice, Dave and Su Gregg, Steve and Miriam Smith,  David and Gwen Raynor and John and Julia Sutton-Smith for your love, friendship, sound advice and your prayers.

                               

Psalm 85 Contemporary English Version (CEV) (A psalm by the people of Korah for the music leader.) A Prayer for Peace

85 Our Lord, you have blessed
    your land
    and made all go well
    for Jacob’s descendants.
² You have forgiven the sin
    and taken away the guilt
    of your people.
³ Your fierce anger is no longer
    aimed at us.

⁴ Our Lord and our God,
    you save us!
    Please bring us back home
    and don’t be angry.
⁵ Will you always be angry
    with us and our families?
⁶ Won’t you give us fresh life
    and let your people be glad
    because of you?
⁷ Show us your love
    and save us!

⁸ I will listen to you, Lord God,
    because you promise peace
to those
    who are faithful
    and no longer foolish.
⁹ You are ready to rescue
    everyone who worships you,
    so that you will live with us
    in all of your glory.

¹⁰ Love and loyalty
    will come together;
    goodness and peace
    will unite.
¹¹ Loyalty will sprout
    from the ground;
    justice will look down
    from the sky above.

¹² Our Lord, you will bless us;
    our land will produce
    wonderful crops.
¹³ Justice will march in front,
    making a path
    for you to follow.

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society

And I will trust in You alone, And I will trust in You alone, For Your endless mercy follows me, Your goodness will lead me home.

The Lord’s My Shepherd

The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want;

He makes me lie in pastures green.

He leads me by the still, still waters,

His goodness restores my soul.

And I will trust in You alone,

And I will trust in You alone,

For Your endless mercy follows me,

Your goodness will lead me home.

He guides my ways in righteousness,

And He anoints my head with oil,

And my cup, it overflows with joy,

I feast on His pure delights.

And though I walk the darkest path,

I will not fear the evil one,

For You are with me, and Your rod and staff

Are the comfort I need to know.

Stuart Townend

Copyright © 1996 Thankyou Music

- See more at: http://www.stuarttownend.co.uk/song/the-lords-my-shepherd/#sthash.fbeZwlGM.dpuf

Psalm 23 New American Standard Bible (NASB) The Lord, the Psalmist’s Shepherd.

A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my shepherd,

I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

3 He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil, for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You have anointed my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Isaiah 58:5-14 A Message of Transformation, Hope and Renewal

⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,

    only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
    and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

⁶ ‘Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter –
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: here am I.

‘If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.
¹¹ The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.
¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
    Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

¹³ ‘If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
    and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
    and the Lord’s holy day honourable,
and if you honour it by not going your own way
    and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the Lord,
    and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
    and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.’
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Orphans of the EU meltdown: The shocking picture that shows how middle class parents in Greece are dumping their children in orphanages so they won't starve By IAN BIRRELL

PUBLISHED: 23:27, 22 June 2013 | UPDATED: 02:04, 23 June 2013

·          Isaiah 58:5ff

 5 

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
    only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
    and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 ‘Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter –
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: here am I.

‘If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
    Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

13 ‘If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
    and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
    and the Lord’s holy day honourable,
and if you honour it by not going your own way
    and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14 then you will find your joy in the Lord,
    and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
    and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.’
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Laughing children play in a pine-scented courtyard on a warm summer’s evening. 

Excitement rises to fever pitch as a creamy chocolate gateau is sliced. It appears a timeless, idyllic scene – but in reality it is a very modern Greek tragedy.

For this cloistered red-brick building in a wealthy suburb of Athens is a children’s home. Yet many of those youngsters are not orphans or the products of dysfunctional families. 

Desperate: Alexandros and Olga Eleftheriadou visiting their children Nicholas and Victoria at the Zanneio Child Care Institution

Instead, they are forgotten victims of the Eurozone crisis, handed over by parents who can no longer afford to feed them.

The financial meltdown in Greece has caused pain and suffering throughout the country. But in a nation where the idea of family is central to everyday life, its youngest citizens are bearing some of the heaviest burdens of the crisis.

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Scores of children have been put in orphanages and care homes for economic reasons; one charity said 80 of the 100 children in its residential centres were there because their families can no longer provide for them.

Ten per cent of Greek children are said to be at risk of hunger. Teachers talk of cancelling PE lessons because children are underfed and of seeing pupils pick through bins for food. 

At the Zanneio Child Care Institution, I was proffered a piece of cake by nine-year-old Nicolas Eleftheriadou. When I asked him how he was, he replied with a shy grin: ‘I’m as tough as a walnut.’ 

His parents, Olga and Alexandros, had arrived to take their three oldest children home for the weekend; the children attend the unit from Monday to Friday. The friendly couple both lost jobs in catering two years ago; he delivered pizzas, she worked in a sandwich shop.

Tough decisions: Alexandros and Olga Eleftheriadou can no longer afford to feed their children after the Eurozone crisis

With five children, they struggled to survive on social security of £400 a month, boosted by odd jobs in the black economy. They want proper work, but there are few jobs.

Olga’s widowed mother tried to protect the family, providing food and funds from her own meagre benefits as a cancer patient. Sadly, it was not enough – and so for more than a year Nicolas, his eight-year-old brother and seven-year-old sister have been sent to Zanneio, an hour from their home on the other side of Athens.

The couple admitted it was incredibly painful. ‘It was so hard, incredibly hard, especially at the start,’ Olga says. ‘I could hardly bear it. The children have got used to it. The one consolation is they seem happier now and their teachers are very kind and caring.’

The Eleftheriadous’ story highlights the harshness of life in modern Greece, where the economy is in freefall – it is still shrinking at five per cent a year – and the unemployment rate is the highest in Europe. 

Almost a third of adults are jobless, along with two-thirds of under-25s. But even those in work struggle. Private sector wages have fallen by 30 per cent in four years and painful new taxes have been imposed as the country is crucified by its adherence to the euro. 

In the few days I was in Athens, Greece was demoted by the financial markets from ‘developed nation’ to ‘emerging market’ status, a human rights group condemned the appalling scapegoating of migrants and the state broadcaster ERT was switched off by the government to cut costs. 

The closure of ERT shocked Greeks and reminded outsiders of the scale  of the country’s crisis. The move  shattered the fragile three-party governing coalition with the smallest  pulling out – and could force the third general election in just over a year.

Strain: Olga Eleftheriadou holding two of her five children, who live at the home from Monday to Friday

Under the EU-imposed austerity programme, Greece must lose 150,000 of its 800,000 public sector jobs, many the product of political patronage and a key cause – alongside rampant tax evasion – of the huge debts dragging down this nation of 11 million. 

Such is the scale of the crisis that Greece’s economic contraction is already twice as deep as Britain’s during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Little wonder staff at Zanneio – which sits amid the beautiful villas of film stars, financiers and even a former prime minister – have seen so many heartbreaking cases.

One family was forced to put four children aged between six and 14 in the home after the father’s restaurant went bust with such big debts he was jailed under hardline new laws and their mother was unable to cope.

An angelic-looking 11-year-old girl told me how much she looked forward to seeing her mother each Friday. Her father was dead, her mother unemployed and unable to afford her upkeep; she had been there two years already. Such cases upset those involved in childcare. ‘It is not in the Greek culture for families to split up,’ said Menelaos Tsaoussis, 45, the foundation’s former director. ‘These situations are so traumatic for the families.’

Another charity last year reported four children, including a newborn baby, dumped on its doorstep. One toddler was found holding a note saying: ‘I will not be coming to pick up Anna today because I cannot afford to look after her. Please take good care of her. Sorry.’

The Child’s Smile, a Greek charity for families in crisis, said it helped 10,927 children last year with emergency supplies of food, clothes, shoes, school books and psychological support. The previous year, the number was 4,465. 

‘We used to have people only from the lowest economic level but now we are seeing people from upper middle levels when they lose their jobs and have nowhere to go,’ said Tania Schiza, a social worker with the group.

Often these ‘new poor’ are reluctant to seek support, worsening their plight. 

Staying cheerful: Nine-year-old Nicholas with the other children running to the backyard of the orphanage

‘We have some cases where families who used to donate money have become victims of the crisis.
‘Now they come to us for help,’ said Schiza. 

‘All of these families are deeply disappointed. They feel whatever they do, nothing can be done to change their circumstances in the crisis.’

Other charities told similar stories. SOS Children’s Villages helped 47 families five years ago; today it is helping 900 and opening new centres across Greece to stave off family breakdown amid soaring poverty.

Many turning to them are from formerly prosperous middle-class families; among the restaurant owners, shopkeepers and businessmen was one senior executive with a major company who had lost his job.

Like all such groups, it strives to keep families together. Despite this, with financial pressures growing more intense by the day as savings dwindle and firms collapse, a handful of children in its homes have been given up by impoverished parents. 

Threat: Eight-year-old Vallia Georgitsi's mother Metaxia is struggling to cope

‘This is a major shift in Greek society over the past three years,’ said Pavlos Salihos, a teacher and trained psychologist at the children’s village in Vari. ‘We never had cases like this before; it was just social problems such as drug abuse.’

Another official with SOS Children’s Villages said some youngsters were in such bad shape they could barely talk. One school said one in six of its students suffered malnutrition. In others teachers have started handing out fruit, sandwiches and milk. A public health body believes food security levels in Greece have fallen to those of some African countries. Social workers said they look out for children who simply give up on school work, the first sign of mental trauma caused by the crisis.

Suicide rates and mental health problems across all ages have risen sharply over the past three years; on my previous visit, I came across a woman who had lost her job and was threatening to jump from her office. One newspaper has said Greece was a ‘society on the verge of a nervous breakdown’. 

Ironically, the image has grown of Greeks as feckless and lazy, although studies have found more entrepreneurs per head and longer working hours than elsewhere in Europe. 

But to make matters worse, as demand soars from desperate parents, the maelstrom that has engulfed Greece is making it harder for cash-strapped charities to keep such centres open. 

On Friday, the day I visited, the foundation that runs Zanneio was marking its closure and merger with another group; the buildings have been bought by the church for training priests. 

Although its 19th Century founders endowed it with dozens of properties, the foundation’s rental income fell in the financial crisis from £1.3 million to £850,000, while new taxes imposed by a government scrabbling around for funds took an extra £300,000 a year. 

The centre has been taken over by Hatzikonsta – the oldest children’s welfare organisation in Greece, founded by a family of wealthy traders 160 years ago. Hatzikonsta has already seen the number of children it is supporting rise more than four-fold since the crisis began – and four-fifths of children in its residential care are there for economic reasons.

Yet it, too, is struggling to survive. It is owed more than £850,000 from property rentals; already its 72 staff have taken substantial salary cuts. ‘I feel I must have been Genghis Khan in a previous life for such punishment,’ joked Leonidas Dragoumanos, the director trying to juggle the finances.

Metaxia Georgitsi, 40, a single mother of three, put her oldest child – a 14-year-old boy – in full-time care after seeing her income from cleaning work fall by nearly two-thirds, then losing her job and trying to survive on benefits of £300 a month. 

‘We both cried every day to begin with,’ she said. ‘I tried to visit him every day, which made it a bit better, but it was hard. 

‘Without a husband, what else could I do – we had no option. 

‘It was very difficult – I had loans to pay and did not have enough money for food. But at least they helped him with his homework there and he ate properly.’

After one year, the family was reunited last autumn when the boy came home. But now her unemployment benefits are due to stop after a year without work and she may have to rent out her home, which she retains only because her elderly parents pay the mortgage.

Special report: Ian Birrell went to Athens where he heard middle-class families' concerns that they could not look after themselves

‘I just don’t know what I can do in the future,’ said Metaxia, who believes single-parent families have been hit especially hard. ‘The crisis has undone us. I fear I may have to put my boy back in the orphanage, send my girls to live with my mother and I will stay with a friend. Then the family will be completely split up. It’s the worst possible scenario.’ 

Amid the soup kitchens, shut-down shops and scavengers on the streets, there is one sliver of good to emerge from this Greek catastrophe: the rediscovery of self-help and communal values as the welfare state is gutted and people pull together. 

In Marousi, a suburb of Athens that has had a 70 per cent cut in state funding, mayor Giorgos Patoulis has led a drive to open a health centre treating 6,000 uninsured patients, food kitchens, clothing banks and even a pharmacy staffed by volunteers and stocked with donations.

‘The mentality had to change and there are signs of a new solidarity,’ he said. ‘But if this crisis extends much further, how will we be able to take care of all our people?’

It is a question many more Greeks are asking, especially those thousands of parents teetering on the edge of the abyss. Most would echo the words of Amalia Ntougia, 46, a widowed mother of three from Marousi whose shop closed in the crisis. Although living off handouts and crumbs from her disabled father’s small pension, when asked if she would give up her children to a care home, she replied indignantly: ‘No, I am a Greek mother.’

Tragically, for many Greek parents, even such intense family pride is no longer enough.

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Psalm 68:3-6a NIV may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God;

 

3 But may the righteous be glad

    and rejoice before God;

    may they be happy and joyful.

4 Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,

    extol him who rides on the clouds;

    rejoice before him – his name is the Lord.

5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,

    is God in his holy dwelling.

6 God sets the lonely in families,