Christmas blessings

I do want to wish all my followers and readers all that Jesus Christ offers us this Christmas.
Because life is crazier than ever in the Hawkins' household right now and I still have "stuff" to do before tomorrow, I'm just going to direct you to Ray's post with greetings from us both. He has included his poem "Mary's First Christmas Ponderings" which I read at our church service last night.
I pray it challenges you as it has this "Mary".

Click HERE 

I Just Want To Write - or do I?

Okay, so today it’s eleven days to Christmas.

Do I have our Christmas tree up yet? No.

Do I have any decorations up yet? No

Do I have our annual Christmas greetings sent yet? No.

Do I have our gifts bought. YES!

Why?

I just want to write! With about three-quarters of Her Outback Cowboy (working title) written I’m now at the stage where the hero and heroine have to get busy resolving their differences. Jennifer has to come to grips with what has happened to her the last few years.

David and her father need to know the truth of her years in Texas with her mother and why, when she became an adult, she never returned even for a visit to see them and the home in the Australian outback her sixteen year old self fought so hard not to leave.

Her Outback Cowboy manuscript has been waiting for years now while I wrote the Baragula series. Now I am impatient and longing to finish it!

 So, today I simply have to get moving. Right now, Jennifer isn’t sure just where her future lies.

I know where mine is – at least the next couple of days.

Jennifer – and blog and Facebook readers – just have to wait!

Past time for me to get busy on preparations. These next days are more important than Jennifer and Dave’s story.

IT’S CHRIST’S BIRTHDAY TO CELEBRATE!

The Bethlehem Warrior Baby book

My apologies for being late with this to the Blog Alliance and especially this Ray Hawkins!

"Life" - which includes putting writing on my current manuscript first - has meant new blog posts will have to wait for those hours when the story of Dave and Jenny is stalled in "Her Outback Cowboy".

Ray's writing has blessed me so very much for almost 48 years of him being not only my wonderful husband but also my "minister" at church. In fact, the Christian life he lives day by day has taught me equally as much by seeing what he preaches and teaches in action in his own life.
This ministry to me now continues also with his 31 Day devotional book series.

9 - 23 November

Australian Christian Readers Blog Alliance

is introducing

Bethlehem's Warrior (31 Day Devotional)

(Even Before Publishing November 2012)

by Ray Hawkins

Available from Light the dark this week for $7.95

About the Author:

Ray Hawkins

Ray Hawkins, retired after over 40 years as a Churches of Christ minister, enjoys sharing themes from the Scriptures through Devotional writing.

Married to Mary, multi-published inspirational romance author, they have three children and five grandchildren.

Ray shares his insights in his first two books on Marriage and Children with more ideas to come about ministry and much more.

Living in Beauty Point Tasmania, Ray heads up a new Christian Fellowship as well as doing relief preaching, community work and writing.

Book Description:

Bethlehem's Warrior (31 Day Devotional)

Short Book Description: In 31 daily devotional meditations Bethlehem's Warrior
Baby takes you out of a sentimental nativity scene and into a contest with
eternal significance.

It walks you through God's promise in Genesis 3:15 of Someone coming and the
clues to His identity in the old Testament. You become aware that in the
Christmas event that 'Someone' has come.

I believe Christmas is the culmination of Heaven's countdown to reclaim men,
women and creation from the tyranny of sin, death and Satan. The cost involved
to God to achieve this should make the reader bow in awe and gratitude.

Website - http://rayhawkinsauthor.blogspot.com.au/

Purging fires of a Manuscript

Every time an author is sent the cover of a new book there is great excitement. That long sweated over manuscript is actually going to be a book! 

Not long ago Ray had this happen for the fourth book in his 31 Day Devotional Meditation series. He has been very busy with emails going to and fro from his wonderful publisher, Rochelle Manners at Even Before Publishing. 

Today he shares a little of what he is feeling today as BETHLEHEM'S WARRIOR BABY goes to print.

And yes, while Ray is rather reluctant to add having his own blog to his busy programme, it will happen - when time permits. Until then he continues to share his thoughts here with us on my/our blog and I trust you are blessed and challenged as much as I am. 

Ray writes:

Oh, if only I was inspired in my writing!

To sit at the computer and type away confident that every word falls into place, every illustration is apt, every quote is accurate. Oh, what bliss I imagine that would be.

Alas, I’m not inspired. I’m just a writer with conviction and a desire to see my thoughts in print so I write. However what I write has to be put through various ‘fires’ before the manuscript emerges complete. Only then can the invisible imprint be scorched into the book. What are the ‘imprints’? ABH (approved by heaven) and ATP (acceptable to publisher)!

May I share with you some of those purging fires through which I have to travel with my manuscript?

There are the flames which consume the concepts of the themes I have in mind. So many ideas are burnt as being unnecessary or repetitive. That which emerges now needs hammering into chapters.

Here is the next furnace. Facts and quotes, illustrations and verses are subjected to their appropriateness for specific chapters as well as the necessary format. In essence these initial ‘fires’ are cool compared to what is ahead.

Oh, the burning sensations I endure as my manuscript is tested by various rewrites, preliminary drafts and quality control inspections!  How many times am I expected to endure such heat? Guess that depends on how much dross remains after each application of the searching flame.

As if that wasn’t enough I have to hand my hard, scorched work over to an editor and proof reader. Their oven seems to be seven times hotter than mine. Their boiler room reveals misplaced commas, inconsistent settings, unnecessary jargon and irrelevant verbosity. These people have sharp eyes, quick minds geared to language usage and the ability to see the impact such words will have on the readers. This is really the most purifying part of the process through which my manuscript must emerge.

The last fire my manuscript endures is called ‘the final check’. Actually that term is a misnomer for I’ve had to do my ‘final check’ a few times.

All of this takes time and effort. It is perspiring work. It leaves me (and others associated with the various fires) weary. However as I handle the completed manuscript ready to be printed I am thankful and appreciative of those who have stoked the flames to their most effective temperature.

Now I must wait to see how the readers respond to the purging my writing and I have endured.  Whatever their reaction this I know, I’m not inspired but I have a desire to write. It continues to take me through the various fires to produce a manuscript with ‘ABH’ and ‘ATP’ scorched into it!

Raymond (with scorch marks) N. Hawkins

Need a special, different Christmas present for someone? Keep Bethlehem's Warrior Baby in mind. And may the fire purge not only our manuscript's mistakes but our very hearts before our Holy God who sent His Son to be that Warrior Baby.

Ray on Monday - Christmas Secret



Haylee's first Christmas



And so, for those of us in this part of our world, we are now trying to recover from our Christmas Day. For those of you here as well as in the far reaches of our planet, Ray and I wish you every blessing you allow God to pour out on you at this special time of the year.

And Ray again shares with us some special thoughts to meditate about during this Season.

A Secret No Longer

We have turned the awesomeness of Heaven’s invasion of Earth by the Christ Child into a childish fun parlour for adults. In the child’s Christmas there’s a sense of mystical, magical mythology which evaporates as a mist through maturity.

On the surface, Christmas is so simple. It’s about a promised baby who has arrived and survived the almost endless complications of birth in ancient times. He grew into manhood, did wonderful things, was hated and loved - and was crucified. Simple!

Trouble is it is not simple. Wrapped up in the Bethlehem baby who became the Nazarene is a mystery. This in Biblical talk doesn’t refer to something hidden which must be searched for. The word “mystery” which means what was unknown, hidden and incomprehensible has actually been revealed, clarified and defined.

Writing to the folk at Colossae, the gospel dynamo, Paul, explained some of the motivation which made him a great missionary, pastor and teacher. “My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col 2:2,3.)

Do you want to know what Christmas is about? Does your heart long for more than the froth and bubble of life? Is there a hunger for a new and deeper dimension for faith, hope and service? Look no further than the person and work of Jesus the Christ. The more you get to know Him through reading His Word, obeying that which He requires and expressing your faith through worship, the more you discover treasure for the mind, spirit and relationships.

Christmas comes and goes yet life goes on. The Christ celebrated on that occasion wants to go with you into the highs, lows and the mundaneness of your life. He wants to share with you the riches of his grace, the treasures of His heart and the wisdom of His word. Jesus has made no secret of His willingness to do that for you and me.

Ray (a treasure hunter) Hawkins.

And a VERY happy Christmas to each and every one of you!

AND SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS – ALMOST



Haylee




Five grandchildren













For quite a few of us, Christmas each year is greeted with mixed emotions.

Certainly that has been my own personal experience since I was sixteen years old and my Dad’s funeral was on Christmas Eve that year.

This year has all the promise of a wonderful time together with all our children present.

Our son, daughter-in-law arrived yesterday morning from the Australian mainland on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry. They brought their two gorgeous german shepherd dogs with them. Our grandchildren are thrilled with the dogs and love their Uncle Lance and Auntie Kazza. Our daughter, Gaylene, is a school teacher and flies into Launceston at 8.25a.m tomorrow morning. Our son’s brother-in-law is due at the airport on Christmas Day. Both Mark and Gaylene always spoil their nephews and nieces each year and so extra excitement all around.

But then the phone call came a few minutes ago.

The Department of Health had just rung our son, Craig, to inform him the test results from his children reveals they have whooping cough. Our six grandchildren’s ages range between 9 years old and 9 weeks old. All are coughing except the baby.

And so, this blog has to be brief. I’ve rung my doctor to find out what grandparents who have had heaps of contact with them these last couple of weeks should be doing for our own health and those we come in contact with. The baby’s dedication was planned for Christmas Day and of course now has to be cancelled. The Hawkins house is in “lock down.” And there are folk we need to make sure are aware of the risk of a “cold” and “cough” being symptoms of this nasty disease, especially children at church. Summer school holidays commenced today but we know the Department of Health will still be going through all their protocols for this notifiable disease at the local school.

So, how did Ray & I just cope? Prayer first of all of course and we would appreciate yours also. Many years ago as a nurse, I nursed children with this horrible disease and have to confess am not really surprised by this diagnosis. After hearing that awful, breath taking cough, I’ve discovered even the decades since have not killed the memory.

So, Christmas is only another three days away. How glad I am that the Christ Child became the Christ of the Cross. In HIS loving hands those we love are safe – no matter what!

Ray on Monday -The Christmas Gauntlet

   THE CHRISTMAS GAUNTLET!

In the so called Middle Ages a piece of the knights armour was the gauntlet. This was a leather glove studded with plates of metal. The term “to throw down the gauntlet” was a challenge to an opponent.

Christmas for the Christian is a throwing down of the gauntlet on behalf of the babe born at Bethlehem. Almost the whole of the New Testament, and most especially the Gospel of John, is the gauntlet of the disciple (knight?) of Christ! John 20:31: “These are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”(NRSV)

In that verse three groups are specifically challenged.

The first is the Jewish people. The Apostle John declares to them that the longed for Messiah of their Scriptures (and ours) is none other than the Babe of Bethlehem, the Man of Nazareth, the Crucified One! His name is Jesus. The glove thrown down calls upon the one challenged to check out the Scriptures and see whether or not the accounts of Jesus life fill out the shadows.

The second group are the followers of Islam. Their claim is that God has no son. The Christian’s response is “O yes He has and his name is Jesus!” When the Scriptures call Jesus the Son of God it refers to his unique birth (check out Matthew 1 and Luke 1-2). It highlights the unique relationship between the earthly Jesus and his heavenly Father. In John 10:30 Jesus declares that he and the Father are one, meaning they are of the same essence. Also in response to Philip’s question, Jesus said, “if you see me you see the Father too.” The term “Son of God” points to a description of His authority, His rule. As the Son of God, Jesus dealt with all the obstacles between us and being acceptable to His Heavenly Father. Read the 1st letter of John and stand in awe at what is encompassed by this description of Jesus being the Son of God.

The third group invited to take up the Christmas gauntlet actually includes everyone else. It is a calling upon all people to give a sustained, intelligent appraisal of the Christmas event in the light of Scripture. The thrown down glove asks, ‘Who is there more outstanding, more worthy, more gracious than Jesus who can make a claim to our allegiance?”

But you object by saying Jesus is in the past. You want a modern day, living person to call Lord and Saviour. That is Jesus! According to the Scriptures, three days after his crucifixion Jesus arose from the dead. In doing so he fulfilled what was written. He also put the guarantee of who He is by rising from the dead. Read Romans 1:1-4 and 1 Corinthians 15.

So, every time Christmas comes around God’s gauntlet is thrown down. You can challenge it and accept the consequences, or you can yield and know what is wrapt up in the gift of life.

Ray (the yielded one) Hawkins.

Ray on Monday: Different Christmas Candles

On Sunday I shared in a Church service where candles had a feature role. These were not so much referring to the Light of the world at Christmas. Rather, they were candles of remembrance for those who had died. People had an opportunity to light a candle and reflect upon a loved one and pray to the Lord, thank Him for the person’s life, faith and influence.

Christmas has so many emotional stirrings and not all of them good. The loss of a loved one especially around Christmas can turn a joyful event into one of grief. When I read the first Christmas story I find that the coming of Christ was into a world of sorrow, fear and anger. (Sounds similar to today doesn’t it!) He came as Saviour yet the forces of this World fought against Him, even in His childhood. In Luke’s account, a man named Simeon told Mary she would have an experience as though a sword had pierced her soul.

Christmas doesn’t cancel out the loss and sorrow of life. Its promise is that the Lord God has come to stand with us in it. To achieve such a relationship Jesus had to become our personal Saviour. Only then could the swords which cut, hurt and maim be blunted, resisted and their cuts healed. In effect, one of the features of celebrating Christmas is to take heart in the fact of our Lord sharing in our history.

Christmas in our History

Christmas time they tell me

Is for peace, joy and family.

All I can see is rampant misery

Across homes, hearts and countries.

Christmas faces the darkness

With its message of forgiveness

Christ’s unfading light

To guide us through life’s long night

Christmas time has its crosses

When again we taste our losses

With memories bitter sweet

Our minds determine to keep.

Christmas candles cause reflections

Calming sorrow’s hypertensions

The symbol of its flame?

Christ’s comfort in our pain.

Christmas the Bible tells me

Is God sharing our history

With love’s testimony

To hallow all our memories

©Raymond N. Hawkins 2011

Ray on Monday - The Battle Cry of Christmas



Northampton England 2002


Christmas isn’t for the faint hearted. It isn’t about presents or carols or hot roast dinners. Christmas is the moment Heaven invaded earth to reclaim what the powers of Darkness had usurped. The Bible is clear that the coming of Christ heralded the final phase in God’s plan of redemption for men, women and the whole of creation.

The following poem highlights what the Angels' message conveyed.

The Battle Cry of Christmas.

The clarion call of Heaven

Was the battle cry of angels

Piercing the darkness

Of the night

And the soul!

Demons cowered.

Shepherds, dismayed

Believers

In the promised One!

Glory to God in the Highest

Is the marshalling call

For all who honour Him

To enlist

In the task!

Planned by Grace

Enslaved sinners

Redeemed

In the promised One!

Peace on earth to men

And women of good will

Angels proclaim

With delight!

Messiah’s

Mercy offered

To fallen world

Wrapped

In the promised One!

The clarion call of Heaven

The angels' battle cry

Echoes across time

Shattering

Satan’s hold

Over people!

Salvation now

Possible

In the promised One!

His name is Jesus.

He is the promised one!

Ray (I enlisted) Hawkins

© Ray Hawkins 2011

Journey into new experiences

So, this was Christmas. This year we "down-sized" our Christmas tree, but I did go just a teeny over-board with the cake!

Our New Year came in quietly. And no, as splendid as they may have been, we did not watch the Sydney firework celebrations for a couple of reasons. With the state of the economy, to see the millions of dollars going up in smoke just didn't seem right to us, and besides, we do appreciate more sleep these days!

So now we are looking toward another year with all its love, with all its new adventures. Our youngest grandson gave his parents a Christmas present - he took his first steps that day!

And now this new year, Adam is toddling off to explore his world. First to see those flowers.... then out to the road... but then it may take a grandad and a brother to see you safely home.

And what about our year to come? I started taking down our christmas decorations yesterday - after helping mind five gorgeous grandchildren for a few hours. Adam wore himself out and had a long sleep!

Recently on the American Christian Fiction Writers e-loop, mention was made of favourite verses that have meant much to us over the years. On my desk I had this plaque and small, rather battered little New Testament. It was presented to me many, many years ago in Toowoomba after I committed my life to Christ.

Inside this little book, our minister, Mr Eric Hart wrote out Philippians 1:6 "Confident of this very thing that He which hath begun a good work in you will continue it until the day of Jesus Christ."

I trust you can read the other verse on the plaque from 1 Corinthians 10:31. These verses always remind me of who I am in Christ, that God loves me, of the hope I have for an eternity with Him. The truth of these words have sustained me and challenged me through all my years of nursing, being a mother, a minister's wife and now a mother and a grandmother - and a writer too of course.  Whatever I do this coming year, wherever I may go, may it ever be to the glory of God and may this continue to be accomplished in and through me by HIS strength and grace in this new year of new experiences!

Getting ready for Christmas

Tonight the news showed the devastating snow storms in the northern hemisphere: Heathrow closed. European cities affected. More falls of snow predicted means a white Christmas but certainly an unhappy one for many people.

And here in Australia? After years of drought and water storage supplies drying up, the great Murray-Darling River system basin in dire need, the rain has come again with a vengeance.  Throughout large parts of mainland Australia we have devastating floods and even unusual snow in our summer on the high mountains in New South Wales and Victoria. Thankfully, Tasmania has missed out - this time! 

During the first week of November when Ray and I were driving up through almost the centre of New South Wales on that trip I've shared in my last two blocks, we stopped for a cuppa and a break at several places that have since been under water. At one place we had delicious scones with jam and cream out in the open at an information centre right next to a river.

There had already been a lot of rain back in the mountains even in early November.  Perhaps it is my writer curiosity and the habit of taking note of things I might one day be able to use in a story, but felt compelled to take this photo of those sandbags and that rising river.

The sandbags went for quite a long way up and around the buildings and the locals told us there was more water on the way. This is one town we know has since been inundated with flood water, and we are left wondering if more sandbags had been rushed in to try and protect some very valuable historical items in their small museum.

While for most of us most of the time, Christmas is an exciting, wonderful time of contacting family, old friends as well as new ones, of receiving and giving gifts, of enjoying a huge party, there are also many for whom Christmas is one of the saddest times of the year.  Many, many homes have been inundated, all Christmas preparations under water, people evacuated and of course several drownings. Then of course there is the horrible accidents on our roads that claim so many lives over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Our family had one savage reminder way back when I was in my mid-teens that tragedies can strike at any time. My dear Dad's funeral was held on Christmas Eve and it was a very surreal Christmas Day the day after for my mother, older brother, younger sister and another brother only just ten years old. Christmas had always been such a wonderful time for our close family but everything changed after that year. For over fifty years now, it is a reminder to me that for some it is indeed not a time of joy and the peace we love to sing about. This year there are those who mourn loved ones, those who have no Christmas "cheer" and those who are homeless, not only after these kinds of disasters but week after weary week during the year.

So, while we are busy decorating our own safe homes, wrapping up those gifts and cooking that Christmas cake, don't let's forget to pray for others less fortunate than ourselves, to be prepared to go out of our way to care for those for whom Christmas is a time of sadness. May it be that we will grasp every opportunity to point folk we meet to the Christ of the cradle who also became the Christ of the cross. He longs for us to know Him as our only safety, our only true souce of peace, hope and joy - if we will only go to Him in faith and love.