An excerpt from one of my "Letters"

 

Hi All: Again, this past holiday in my adopted country of England I had another experience with another person who is in trouble. On Wednesday night, the 23^rd of June 2010. I had gone down to the Mc Donalds in Thornton Heath for supper [sic]. The reason for there is I really didn’t feel like going to a pub that night. Pubs tend to get expensive after awhile. After “supper” I had started walking towards Streatham Hill with the idea I would stop at the park atop Pollards Hill for a period of mediation.

While I was walking I decided to stop for a minute and have a cigarette [sadly I still have a problem with the use of those things]. I had no sooner lit mine when a man came along who was apparently drunk and asked me for one to which I obliged. After his was lit he started talking to me somewhat incoherently. I was soon able to calm him down and was able to learn that he no longer wished to live. Upon hearing this, I quickly dropped my smoke and motioned for him to sit on a nearby wall and talk to me. I had learned his name was Loannis and he was a member of the Greek Church but since the presence of that church appeard to be weak in London and he felt very alone,

He kept saying he didn’t want to live and I, in turn, tried offering spiritual, scriptural and psychological advise. He had told me he was looking for Jesus but was never able to find him. I kept reiterating to find Jesus he need look no farther than his own heart for this is where Jesus lives in all who believe in him and confess his name.

After a bit he said he wanted to go and I asked him if he would like me to pray with him and anoint him with oil to which he consented. So here I am, on the sidewalk of a very busy street in South London [The A23] praying with this man and anointing him with oil. When we were done, he held my left arm gently with both his hands and said, “You are a very kind man” and staggered off. I can only pray when he sobered up he will realise what happened and will hopefully get the help he desperately needs.

All I can say here is good luck, Loannis, wherever you are and you are indeed in my prayers.

After he was gone, I went to the top of Pollards Hill for a period of prayer and meditation. The question I keep asking myself is why me? And why London, especially South London? I know I don’t have the answer to that. This makes the third time in two years something like this has happened to me.

There are some letters I never finished writing. Someday, I will explain why not.

I quit smoking on Decenber 8th, 2014 :D 

Terry 

Lesson for the week 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

 

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

New King James Version

¹⁴ But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, ¹⁵ and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶ All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for ^[a]instruction in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Preach the Word

4 I charge you ^[b]therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead ^[c]at His appearing and His kingdom: ² Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. ³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; ⁴ and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. ⁵ But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

May you, the reader, be blessed by these words

Terry 

Lesson for the week 2 Timothy 2:8-15

 

2 Timothy 2:8-15

New King James Version

⁸ Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, ⁹ for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. ¹⁰ Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the ^[a]elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

¹¹ This is a faithful saying:

For if we died with Him,
We shall also live with Him.
¹² If we endure,
We shall also reign with Him.
If we deny Him,
He also will deny us.
¹³ If we are faithless,
He remains faithful;
He cannot deny Himself.

Approved and Disapproved Workers

¹⁴ Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to ^[b]strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. ¹⁵ Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  

May you, the reader, be blessed by these words.

Terry 

Lesson for the week 2 Timothy 1:1-14

 

2 Timothy 1:1-14

New King James Version

Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle of ^[a]Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

 ² To Timothy, a beloved son:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Timothy’s Faith and Heritage

³ I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, ⁴ greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy, ⁵ when I call to remembrance the ^[b]genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. ⁶ Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷ For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Not Ashamed of the Gospel

⁸ Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, ⁹ who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, ¹⁰ but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, ¹¹ to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher ^[c]of the Gentiles. ¹² For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

Be Loyal to the Faith

¹³ Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

 

May you, the reader, be blessed by these words,

Terry