Death is Like a Wedding... Wow, That Sounds Kinda Creepy When Taken Out of Context...

Today, I found myself walking through a cemetery for the second time this week. No, don’t worry, I’m not turning Goth or anything. The first time was for an ANZAC Memorial Service, the second time was... cos it was there and... well, I had a camera with me... I swear I’m not turning Goth!!!

Anyway, I got to thinking about life (as one does when walking through a cemetery) and how grateful I am that God has prepared a place for me in Heaven. I am so glad that the grave is not our where our journey ends. If it was, I would feel so ripped off! I mean, just imagine getting through life only to end up a forgotten name on some crumbling stone in an overcrowded cemetery. It would be like making it all the way through a long and challenging video game, only to get a simple 'Game Over' screen for your troubles!

Christ offers us eternal life in Him and invites us to spend eternity with Him. He won’t force us, however – He gives us the freedom to either accept or reject Him.

Here’s a beautiful little analogy I heard the other day:

“In a sense, salvation is like the engagement of a couple. The male kneels and asks the female to marry him, but the female still has the choice to say no. If she says yes, she begins preparing for her wedding. God kneels to us and invites us into a relationship with Him, we have the freedom to say no, but should we say yes, we will then be preparing for the ‘wedding’ until the day we die. Our death is like walking down the aisle, once we’ve died we meet God at the alter to say “I do” and spend eternity with Him."

God bless,

KR Ludlow

An Inconvenient Truth About Homosexuality

(Please note, I am not out to attack anyone or cause offence. My apologies if you are offended by this.)

Once upon a time, there was a mother who had a very naughty son. Her child always seemed to be throwing tantrums, kicking and biting and punching. He pulled on his sister's hair; he bit the dog; he stuck knives into the toaster. Recently, he had even started stealing toys from other children at kindergarten. His mother did not know what to do, so she sought advice from a specialist.

"You cannot possibly love such a naughty child!" the specialist told her. "Being naughty is bad, and if you were to love him, then you would be loving the naughtiness too. You cannot accept such naughtiness, therefore you cannot love the child. Either force him to be good, or kick him out onto the streets."

The mother did not think this was the best advice, so she went to another specialist.

"There is nothing that can be done about the naughtiness," the second specialist observed. "And nothing should be done about it. You see, your son has absolutely no choice in how he behaves – he was simply born 'bad'. Trust me, it's all genetic. If you want to love him, then you must also love and embrace the naughtiness. Let him kick you. Look the other way when he sticks knives in the toaster. Encourage the tantrums. Speak to his kindergarten teacher to see if they can change the rules about stealing toys (after all, they wouldn't want to discriminate against him now would they?) Make sure your son knows there is nothing wrong in being 'bad' – it's just who he was born to be."

***

Now, this is a pretty ridiculous little story – yet these seem to be two commonly held beliefs when it comes to the topic of homosexuality. For some reason, people tend to think 'love' and 'agreement' go hand in hand. That you can only love someone if you agree with their actions or at least turn a blind eye to it.

But the truth is, 'love' and 'agreement ' are completely different! You can love someone without loving what they do. In fact, this is shown very clearly in the Bible.

Homosexuality is a sin – the Bible is very clear about it (see Leviticus 18:22, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10). To claim it isn’t a sin is to claim you know better than God. To encourage or engage in such sin is an act of rebellion to God.

God hates sin (including the act of homosexuality). After all, sin is what tears us away from Him! Nowhere in the Bible will you find anything to suggest God loves sin; nor will you find any passage in which He changes His perfect law to suit the sinful desires of man. No, God is truly against sin – and the wages of sin are death.

Yet God loves sinners (you and me included). In fact, He loves us so much He sent Jesus – sinless in every way – to take our place on the cross. Jesus loves us so much that even while we were sinners, He died for us. Yes, He loves us - but He does not turn a blind eye to sin. Rather, He calls us to repent – to turn away from sin and to turn to Him instead.

Homosexuality is a sin – nothing will change that – but that's no excuse to hate someone.

We can love the person – but that's no excuse to turn a blind eye to, or even encourage, the sin.

Love sinners – hate sin.

God bless!

~KR Ludlow~

(Originally from http://minstrelbear.deviantart.com/#/d4pnuhi)

Bubbles the Frumpy, Grumpy Guinea Pig

Meet Bubbles – the sweet little guinea pig. The most sweetest and charming little piggy you could ever hope to meet. Well... usually. When he’s not chucking a major temper tantrum, at least. He always loves a good cuddle... unless he’s sulking like a little kid who can’t get his own way. Usually, he’s very sweet, but lately, he’s been a bit of a grump. A big grump...

Ok, this story isn’t working out very well. Let’s try this again:

Meet Bubbles – the grumpy little guinea pig. The frumpiest, grumpiest little pig you could ever have the misfortune to meet. And why is he so grumpy? Bubbles is a grumpy little pig, because he had to go to the vet. Yes, our darling little frump got some scratches on his back so the vet gave us some special cream to put on it. And to cut a long story short, Bubbles does not like the cream. Not one little bit. He squeaks and squeals and protests and whimpers and glares at you as if to say, “Silly human, why are you putting this stuff on me? It hurts. I don’t like it. I don’t need it. Why are you doing this to me? If you really cared about me, you’d take this horrible stuff away. I just don’t understand!”

“Why, my dear little Bubbles,” says I, “This is a special steroid based, antibiotic cream recommended by most professionals for various skin conditions in cats, dogs and even guinea pigs like yourself! Its special formula works as an antibacterial, as well as an anti-inflammatory. It even has a slight anaesthetic effect, numbing the area and promoting healing. Isn’t that just so cool?”

Bubbles, being a guinea pig, does not understand a word of this. He cannot appreciate the benefits of the cream. All he knows is that this stuff hurts!

Sometimes, we can be like Bubbles. Something bad might happen – something we cannot understand – and so we turn to God saying, ‘Hey! This hurts! I don’t like it. I don’t need it. Why are you allowing me to go through this? If you really cared about me, you’d take this horrible stuff away. I just don’t understand!”

We may not understand why God allows things that we may not particularly like. We may not be able to see any reason for it – at least from our point of view. But we can trust God. He will not abandon us. We may not always understand what we are going through – but He does. He understands and He cares. Will you trust Him?

God bless,
~KR Ludlow~


"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

The Battle Belongs to the Lord

Anyone who knows me – or has read some of my earlier posts – might have realised that I have a thing for swords and medieval style battles. I just love that Lord-of-the-Rings style image of an army following their captain into battle with their swords drawn. Warriors charging across the battlefield, ready to fight for what matters most.

This sort of stylised battle may only be seen in the movies these days, but believe it or not we are at war ourselves. The battlefield is all around us; in our homes, our workplaces, our schools. No matter where we go, there is a battle raging -a spiritual battle. OK, so you may not see a businesswoman hurrying to work with a shield strapped to her back. You may never see a teacher walking into school with a double-edged sword. You may never see a check out chick in full body armour. You may not see a business man rush into his office with a loud war cry. But warriors can be found all across the Earth– you yourself might even be one!

The warriors I'm talking about are the warriors of God. Warriors sharing the good news with those who need it. Warriors fighting for the truth. Warriors fighting against sin. Warriors building people up. Warriors encouraging others. Warriors reflecting God’s love and light. Warrior’s giving to those who have little. Warrior’s comforting those who are mourning. Warrior’s clad in the full armour of God, taking up the sword of the Spirit – the Word of God.

Yes, we are at spiritual war – but the battle belongs to the Lord!

God bless,
~KR Ludlow~

Cool Photos; Even Cooler Bible Verses

Lately, I’ve been experimenting with the colour saturation, brightness and contrast of some of my photos – so here are a few of my favourites. Enjoy :)

Hebrews 4:12

(For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.)

Hebrews 12:29

(For our God is a consuming fire)

Genesis 1:2

(And the Earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep...)

Genesis 1:2

(... And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.)

God bless!

~KR Ludlow~

With a Quack! Quack! Here...

Yes, it’s time for another post about ducks!

Lately, I’ve become a fan of ducks and have even made a few feathery friends :)

(When I took this photo, the white duck had her eyes half-closed and was opening and closing her smiling beak as though she was singing silent worship to her Creator ^_^)

I absolutely love feeding these three – they are just so adorable and they each have their own distinct personality.

My favourite is the snowy white duck. She’s the boldest of the lot and the clear leader of the trio – wherever she goes, the other two follow. Every time I pull out a slice of bread, she’s always the first one there; so close she’s almost sitting on my lap as she looks at me with her beak curved into what one could almost swear was a smile.

Then there’s the black-headed one (the one furtherest away from the camera in the above photo). He’s the bodyguard of the trio. Whenever they come to the shore, he always keeps a watchful eye on the other two. Not quite as bold as Snowy, this duck enjoys the odd bit of bread, too.

The third duck is the shyest and most hesitant of the three. He is always tagging along behind the other two and prefers to keeps his distance – his love of bread not great enough to overcome his uncertainty of humans.

Then there’s this girl:

She’s perhaps not the prettiest duck around, and has a tendency to scare the others away, but she’s quite friendly once you get to know her. I can always tell if she is enjoying a feed as her tail wags madly after every delicious morsel :)

It’s amazing to think God – our God - created not only these four ducks, but every duck that ever was. And not just factory-made, either. Each glossy feather and individual personality bears the fingerprints of our Creator. In the big scheme of things, ducks don’t really serve much of a purpose yet you can find them all over the place – each one hand crafted by our loving God.

I am always amazed at just how much care and detail God puts into His creation.

God bless,
~KR Ludlow~

“Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and women, old men and children.”

Psalm 148:7-10

Feed the Ducks, Tuppence a Bag...

Today, I did something I have not done in quite a while – I fed ducks! Armed with a tasty piece of bread, I sat down at the bank of the pond and waited patiently for some ducks to arrive. It wasn’t long till three hungry ducks (and a couple of sneaky Ibises) waddled up for a feed. One particularly bold duck even ventured to take the bread straight from my hand!

The Shy Duck

The Cheeky Bold Duck

The Proud Duck

Please, Miss, Can I Have Some More?

As I fed these beautiful birds, a Bible passage popped into my head:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
Matthew 6:25-27

Although the ducks enjoyed the bread, they did not need to rely on me for their survival – God was taking care of them. He provided them with plenty of food, water and shelter; He clothed them in beautiful glossy feathers. These ducks did not need to worry and stress – God provided for them. And if God looks after ducks, how much more will He look after us? After all, ‘are you not much more valuable than they?’

In today’s worry and stress filled society, perhaps we can learn something from the humble duck...

God bless,
~KR Ludlow~

“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
Luke 12:6-7