March 13

 Rapt in the contemplation of these scenes, He did not remain beside His parents. He sought to be alone. When the paschal services were ended, He still lingered in the temple courts; and when the worshipers departed from Jerusalem, He was left behind.

         Desire of Ages, page 78 from the chapter, 'The Passover visit'

       My son Timothy went walkabout. Two hours later we found him. He probably deserved a smacked bottom but he didn’t get it. He probably deserved a good talking to. He didn’t get that either. Let’s face it, how on earth do you reason with a 2 year old who should never have been left alone by his Mum and Dad? Guilt and shame went hand in hand – with the love we showed our son. He, of course, had a wonderful time being looked after by a lady well down the road from where we lived.

     Mary and Joseph had a teenager in tow, but thankfully their son was Jesus. You could rely on Jesus being reliable, but in Jerusalem the dutiful son was a new man with new interests. He was silent as they left the temple and had shown unusual interest in the scribes discussing the scriptures.

     There are times when we feel guilty and deserve to feel guilt. There are times when we do our very best but things happen. Those are the times to learn and not to beat yourself up.

     Housekeeping details for you

     The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.

     A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here