Another thought of the week from the Rev David Jones (we 8th January 2012)

Last Thursday the island of Samoa switched to the west of the international dateline and joined the Asian time zone and in the process lost a whole day!

This means that Samoans from being the last place on earth to see the sun setting will now be among the first to see it rise and will lead the celebrations in welcoming each New Year. This change which flipped their calendar from Thursday to Saturday has the potential for a better and brighter future as far as trade and tourism is concerned.

Not everyone was convinced of this and there was some resistance to this major adjustment, but now there’s no turning back as new maps, charts and atlases record this historic change.

It’s the same in our relationship with God who invites us to prove a real change that will bring us closer to him and to each other through trusting and following Jesus. When Jesus called his first disciples they experienced new dynamics that eventually changed not only themselves but the world.

It was in loving God, serving and caring for others, showing compassion and tolerance and believing in the amazing grace of God that they were changed. John Newton , who called himself the ‘great blasphemer’ was wonderfully converted, so much so that he was able to write of his experience in much loved hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ ‘I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see’ and all through the wonderful life changing love.

Rev. David Jones

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