Sunday morning

Alan preached his first French sermon today.

4 significant signs of the Cross,

1 The darkness was supernatural and not an eclipse as many people say.

We went to see an eclipse some years ago and it certainly didn't last 3hrs! Also apart from that, it was at the wrong time of year for an eclipse.

2 The earth trembled, not like one of the devastating earth quakes where hundreds of people are killed, and property falls to the ground, but trembling at the wrath of a Holy God

3 The temple curtain was ripped from top to bottom, at the exact time that Jesus died, the exact time of the evening sacrifice!!

I will never forget the time I worked at the Hospice in Crawley. There was an elderly gentleman, who had a bible on his bedside locker, and I was sorting things out after he had died, and his bible had lots of pen marks throughout, lots of verses underlined and notes in the margin.
One of the places he had underlined was the passage in Matthew, and he had made a note by the side of one of the verses , "note, the curtain was ripped from the top to the bottom, not the other way round!!"

No human hand could have possibly done this! I went away from that mans bed, quite happy and sure he had gone to be with the Lord, and amazed at the mercy of God.

4 The people who were at the cross, and the effect that Jesu' death had upon them, particularly the Roman soldier.

I understood nearly all that was said, although I may have missed some of the finer points, but that's my lack of understanding of the language.

Many folk said he did well, that the message was very encouraging, and that his French was understandable and good too.

It was so good to hear , I was struck by the fact that the curtain into the Holy of Holies was ripped in two, at the exact time that the Perfect sacrifice died,signifying that there is no longer any need for sacrifice, because the perfect sacrifice for sins for all time had at that precise moment been made!

You hear things many times, but sometimes they come back and hit you with renewed force! Wonderful....

So, the first sermon done. It was so good to see Alan in the pulpit again. What I mean is, that this is what his desire is, to preach the good news..

Some friends from the DEFLE were there,one who has a very strong faith, and the other, not sure. But it was great that they were there.

After the service, we spent the day with some friends, who are going back to the UK at the end of July.
Alan had to leave at 3pm ish for a meeting in Blaye, so we stayed for the day, with the children splashing around in their blow up pool and the women sitting enjoying the sunshine!!

Will miss this family a lot. They have been so helpful in helping us to settle here. It was nice to have friendly faces to see and chat to at the very begininning..

Well, today Catrin is off school with a head- ache and all over body ache. One of the children at the house we went to yesterday, wasn't that well, so I expect she caught it.

Alan will phone up about another house today. It is really near the school and seems to be remarkably cheap.. perhaps it's falling to bits? maybe it's gone, but we'll see...