May 9 and 10

In childhood and youth the character is most impressible. The power of self-control should then be acquired. By the fireside and at the family board influences are exerted whose results are as enduring as eternity. More than any natural endowment, the habits established in early years decide whether a man will be victorious or vanquished in the battle of life. Youth is the sowing time. It determines the character of the harvest, for this life and for the life to come.

          Desire of Ages, page 101 from the chapter, 'The voice in the wilderness'

     Your time with your children is crucial. Just as God made sure that John was prepared by eating good healthful foods at God’s direction (which we should be doing as well) we should also be preparing our children for a lifetime of service to God and man.

     We are responsible for our own children. The church family is then responsible to give you the support you need at home and at church.

      Heaven is our real home. Our song is, "Shall we gather at the River", the artist is Buddy Greene with Jeff Taylor. I love the tin-whistle solo. Please click on the picture to listen



     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