I
mentioned in a previous post, that I’m Welsh and part of being Welsh is the
love of singing or in my case attempting to sing !, My dad is a Male Voice Choir called Swansea
Gospel Male Voice Choir, and especially in the Welsh Valleys there is a History
of Choral Singing, (Choir Singing).
One
of the most well recognised and most famous Welsh Hymns is Guide me, O thou
Great Jehovah (or Redeemer) which was written by one of the most famous Welsh
Hymn Writers, William Williams (Pantycelyn) although originally written in the
Welsh Language as Arglwydd, arwain trwy'r anialwch, It’s known throughout the
World as Guide me, O thou Great Jehovah it’s also known as The Welsh Rugby Hymn
or Bread of Heaven, where it’s sung with equal gusto when Wales play Rugby to
when it’s sung in the Chapels and Churches.
Guide me, O Thou great
Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this
barren land;
I am weak, but thou art
mighty;
Hold me with thy powerful
hand:
Bread of heaven, bread of
heaven
Feed me till I want no
more.
Feed me till I want no
more.
Open thou the crystal
fountain
Whence the healing stream
shall flow;
Let the fiery, cloudy
pillar
Lead me all my journey
through:
Strong deliverer, strong
deliverer
Be thou still my strength
and shield.
Be thou still my strength
and shield.
When I tread the verge of
Jordan,
Bid my anxious fears
subside;
Death of death, and
hell's destruction,
Land me safe on Canaan's
side:
Songs of praises, songs
of praises
I will ever give to thee.
I will ever give to thee.
Several weeks ago. I had
the privilege to spend some time with one of my closest friends here in
Southport, He and his wife are great friends to myself and others and are an
inspirational couple, he’s also likes Organs especially Hammond Organs, a few
weeks ago he had to go to South Wales to collect an Organ, so I went with him
to help him collect it. On the return
journey we stopped at a Tesco Express Convenience Store to pick up refreshments
and I had an urge for Welsh Cakes, so I picked up a pack of Brace’s Welsh Cakes
and bought them home with me, a few days
later I was shopping at my local Asda and has I walked around the aisle’s I
noticed tucked away in the Bakery Aisle, Brace’s Welsh Cakes, the Lord spoke to
me through this, that he not would only provide me with the essentials here but
would provide me with blessings here, because I’ve been obedient to Him.
After our successful trip
to Wales, my friend asked me would I be interested in travelling to the north
of Scotland with him to collect an Organ, I of course agreed because I believe
part of being friends is helping each other, On our Journey we used two forms
of navigation a Sat-Nav and a Road Atlas, on this journey we had to stop for
fuel and food and we stopped at Carlisle, there were other people travelling
that day, and although my friend and I were travelling to Scotland not everyone
had the same destination as ourselves, as people either left the motorway because
they were getting to their destination or they were joining the motorway to go
to their destination, I wondered to
myself, firstly how long it would take to get to our destination and what would
we find when we got there and what would it be like, on our journey we passed
various road signs giving names of various locations like Glasgow, Stirling,
Perth and Dundee and as some people kept leaving the road we were on and other
people kept joining I wondered to myself how many people travelling had the
same destination as we had. We shared
the road with other travellers, and for part of the journey we travelled
alongside each other, then they left us and in some ways we left others because
our destination was different from them, on our journey we passed several
places of interest such as The Falkirk Wheel and Stirling Castle, but even if
those places are interesting, they could
have been a distraction to us, It would have quiet easy because of the distance
we had to travel to change our
destination and go with the flow and go somewhere like Glasgow or Perth, but
they weren’t our destination We kept travelling and further north we went we
saw less and less traffic, we passed through several sets of traffic lights
when we went through on the Green Light, it would have quiet easy in our
eagerness to get to our destination gone through on Red or Amber Lights because
we didn’t want to be delayed, eventually we arrived in the beautiful seaside
town of Gardenstown in Aberdeenshire, none of the travellers we had seen on our
journey had also arrived in Gardenstown and for part of our journey we had
travelled alongside others, either for a small part or longer part of our
journey.
Gardenstown, Banff, Scotland.
Gardenstown, Banff, Scotland.
In the Christian Life and
Walk, we have two forms of Navigation, the Holy Spirit’s guidance in our life and
the written word of God, The Bible, I notice
in our lives journey we use both forms of navigation and both lead us to the
correct destination, there were other people travelling when we travelled and
for part of our journey we travelled alongside each other but because our
destination was different we parted company at various junctions, we had to
also stop for fuel and food, so on our
Christian Life and Walk we need to stop to be refreshed and recharged, because our destination was further along
that others destinations it would have easier and more convenient to change our
destination but it wouldn’t have been our true destination or our goal, It
would have easy to be distracted and because we had seen something that
attracted us and looks more achievable that our goal we settle in places that
aren’t the correct or best place for us, because of various things we can be
delayed on our journey but we still arrive at our destination.
I live in Southport, and
our local train station is served by two train companies, Northern Rail who
provide services to and from Manchester and Merseyrail who provide services to
Liverpool, The Wirral and Chester, can you imagine if I decided to spend the
day by visiting Chester but decided to travel to Manchester instead both have
similar names but are two different places, Manchester is a great place but it
wouldn’t have been my destination, when travelling to Chester you have to
change trains at either Moorfields or Liverpool Central Stations , I could say
to myself it has taken me 45 minutes to get to Liverpool, and it will take another 50 minutes to get to Chester. I
know I will stay here for a bit then move on to Chester but you end up in
Liverpool which is a great place to visit but again not my destination, because
Merseyrail is a local commuter line it stops at every train station between
Southport and Liverpool one of these stations is Formby and in Formby there is
a National Trust site that has a colony of Red Squirrels, I could be distracted and decide to see these
Red Squirrels, but again it’s not my destination!
Chester, Clock.
Chester, Clock.
Why I’m saying these
things? You may ask, I’m using this has
an illustration, some of us have decided to go to places that aren’t our
destination/destiny but have made it our destination or destiny because it’s
similar to our destination or destiny and others have places where we need to
change to get to our destination or destiny and then others have been
distracted by things we’ve seen or have been told and yes we all say we’re
happy and fulfilled where we are and God is blessing us, yes this things may be true up to point but
to reach the full potential of our destiny we need to be where God has called
us to be in the first place, yes it will mean change and/or upset but we need
to be where God wants us to be!
It says in Habakkuk 2:3 For
still the vision awaits its appointed time it hastens to the end—it will not
lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it
will surely come; it will not delay.
It says in Ephesians 3:20
– 21. 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask
or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the
church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.
Yours because of His
Grace and Mercy
Blair Humphreys
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