Working for God's people in North Wales

As you know, I have become involved in a project to help a Welsh hill farmer save his business and his family from financial doom. Our local Methodist churches have rallied round to buy the equivalent of 55 whole lambs which, under the government scheme would have been slaughtered and incinerated at a silly hand out price not worth rerpeating. Last Wednesday, along with a friend I travelled to the farm up in the hills to collect the first order. We had to wait until the farmer returned home with more bags for packing the order. My friend played with the young son who was not well and off school whilst I helped get ready the last of the joints etc for packing.

Then the farmer arrived back with a new supply of bags. At this point we were tucking into wonderful bacon butties! He and his wife packed the remaining joints and we loaded the vehicle. Then, over an hour late in our schedule, we slowly negotiated the narrow country lanes as we returned to Anglesey. The first load was left at our sister church and then we drove a further half hour back to our home church to unload the rest. A number of batches had then to be delivered to certain house. By the time I finished for the day I found myself eating a Chinese takeaway meal at about 10.30pm

As I had a further need for 6 lambs I agreed to be the courier for other orders on Friday. Loaded up with 22 lambs, I set off for my first drop in Bethesda. This proved hard to find even with Sat/Nav but eventually I found the customer. My next port of call was a house above Llanfairfechan which I found eventually. It is not easy to navigate in the dark. Next I got a phone call from my wife asking if I would make it to a Bangor address for 5.45pm. This could not be done so I then drove across to Y Felinheli, south of Bangor where I dropped five and a half lambs. The house was a terraced property in a narrow cul de sac. So I had to reverse very slowly to regain the road.

That was the end of the mainland deliveries and off I went to Brinsiencyn where the old Mermaid Inn sits on the shore of the Menain Strait. After relieving myself of a further load of lamb I set the Sat/Nav to take me across the island to Llandonna. I knew the people at this drop so I called them up and they guided me to their house. After the offer of a coffee which I declined, I set off for Benllech where my customer took 3 lambs. Then I drove over to Amlwch to drop off my last load for the night. At about 9.30pm I was back home unloading a whole lamb for personal use.

Next morning I drove over to Cemaes Bay to deliver half a lamb. I came home, had some breakfast with my wife and set off to drop the remaining lamb in Bangor. It had been stored overnight in the boot of my wife's car which was as good as refrigeration that night. The previous night I realised that someone had made a mistake with my order and I was short by half a lamb. Luckily this customer was not too bothered and will be getting a half lamb later next week.

Next week I shall take my wife out for a drive in the country and stop off at the farm to get this small order. It has been very hard work but I have thoroughly enjoyed it because I was physically helping someone in need. God calls us to undertake many different rolls in life, but this one was a bit different. Before hand I was looking forward to it and now I can say I enjoyed it tremendously!

The Magi come to Jesus

It is well that during Advent we think deeply about the "coming" of Jesus. When Jesus was born the Magi had already set off from their homeland to locate a new king and worship him. They were astrologers and lived in an age when all people believed in astrology. It was believed the future could be foretold from the stars. Who these men really were we do not know. We do not know, for sure, how many of them travelled on that journey that ended in Bethlehem. Search your Bible and you will find no reference to three kings, only three gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Knowing that the stars appear to move in the sky we can see how, when they were in certain alignments, men noticed particular happenings took place. So an impressive bank of knowledge built up so that when the stars appeared to realign in the night sky the happenings that had occurred on the previous identical alignment would be predicted to happen again.

Many ideas have been advanced as to which star was the bright star that announced the birth of Jesus. Nothing has come up so far to satisfy the scientists so the name of the star remains unknown. But these wise men had been doing their astrological plots and decided which direction they should take to find this new king. It seems strange, when you think about it, that they should set out from the Far East looking for a king.

Yet it is true to say that in that part of the world there was a strange feeling of expectation, a waiting for the coming of a king. Even the Roman historians were aware of this. Suetonius wrote, "There had spread all over the Orient and old and established belief, that it was fated at that time for men coming from Judea to rule the world." Tacitus had it that "the Jews had the belief that about that time one from their country should become governor if the habitable earth."

We cannot attest to the truth of the story of the wise men but it is entirely possible that it happened as the story in the new Testament says. It was a time when men were waiting for a saviour. The desire for God was in the hearts of humankind. The people of the day discovered they could build the golden age without God. So Jesus came to a waiting world. We often bang on about him lying in a lowly stable and forget that the inn landlord actually provided Mary with the best possible place to have her child. It was a warm place that afforded privacy for a young woman experiencing her first labour. It was the right place for the Son of God to be born.

The kings came to worship and honour the new king and quietly slipped back home via a new route. The new parents were told to take Jesus out of the country because Herod's men were on the warpath, killing all infants they found to make sure Herod faced no threat.

As for the new king, it would be another 30 years before he set out to win hearts for God. Events had occurred which would see the world changed forever.