Charlie Hebdo, This means War!

Paris, this week. Nine journalists and two policemen shot to death by Muslim gunmen.
The usual chaos, mayhem,carnage and hand-wringing. All the predictable adjectives from shocking and horrific to barbaric and inhuman.
But now a fresh note has been sounded by Francois Hollande, the French president, who has said that militant Islam has issued a "Call to War" and by others, who have defined this most recent attack as "War upon the West"
At last the reality of the day in which we live has dawned upon our leaders, who have been forced from the thickets of political correctness and from the cowardice of being branded as racists, to recognize that we are indeed at war.
In 1939, when I was born, we were at war with Germany. Everyone knew it and nobody was guessing who the enemy was.
Turn the clock forward 75 years and now a different battle is being fought, not so easily defined but just as deadly.
It is a war, not against terror but against MILITANT ISLAM.
No longer is the battle confined to the Middle East for a Fatwa
has been issued to bring Jihad to the West and it could soon be coming to a city near you.
Once I took refuge in a Morrison Shelter against the bombs that were falling  round my house. Now my life is 'hid with Christ in God'. May I suggest, in this perilous hour, that you come to Christ and find that "He is a refuge and a fortress; a very present help in time of trouble."
Jubilate.

Ian

Hail the New Year. 2015

Ken, my friend from Toronto, sent me this little beauty by way of an encouraging word for the New Year.
Does it look familiar?
I used this illustration at a men's meeting last Saturday when I was speaking on setting godly goals for 2015.
If only we could follow through on all the resolutions that we made on December 31st.
The Bow-flex exercise equipment company has gone into overtime selling their latest work-out products. They start at a modest $1,000:00 and go up from there, depending on the number of bells and whistles that are added.
Some one wryly remarked "Wait until June and you will be able to pick one up for $250:00 in the second-hand shop"
Ah, how true. Jesus said "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."
Nevertheless, keep pedaling my friend and by God's grace we will be a little nearer the finish line by December 31st 2015.
Jubilate.
Ian