John Gaughn was the lead singer and songwriter of the pop group,'Herman's Hermits'. They had many 'big hits' in the charts. He became a Christian and now travels extensively singing and testifying for Jesus.
One of the songs he has written and sung for Jesus is,'Hands up for love,hands up for living. Hands up for love,hands up for giving.'
Thank God for love! He is Love. He gives us love. He challenges us to love others.
It was great at Christmas to spend a little time with the family. The children are grown up now and live away from home,so it is always good for us all to be together.
My elder daughter is in love! She went to Bible College in September and has met a young man and love is blossoming! It's wonderful to be in love. Love has to be proved and mature. It has to stand the test of time. True love endures.
God's love never fails. It endures for ever. 'How can I help but love Him when He loves me so.'
'Down from His splendour in Glory He came,into a world of woe; Took on Himself all my sin and my shame,thats why I love Him so.' That lovely hymn sums up my feelings for Jesus. I'm not ashamed of loving Him.
Today is the birthday of the one I love. The girl I met 33 +years ago and we shared a song sheet and now we share our lives together!
We have been married for over 31 years and it has'nt all been easy and is'nt now, but we love one another and 'love is the glue that keeps us together.'
I declare my love for her again today. I am not all that I could be,but in Jesus I am seeking to be what I should be!
One of the earliest hymns in Sunday School,that I remember was: 'Jesus loves me this I know,for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong,they are weak but He is strong.
Yes Jesus loves me,yes Jesus loves me,yes Jesus loves me,the Bible tells me so.'
Well,I'm not so little now! My weight and waistline is bigger than it was then,but I am still weak without the strength of His love!
Thank God He first loved me. I respond to His love again and again. I see that love in my Saviour,the Lord Jesus Christ,who God demonstated His love through,in dying for my sin.
'Greater love has no man than this that he lay down his life for a friend'
In the early hours of the morning of New Year's Eve,I am thinking of how Love has found a way for me over this past year and I am assured that it will make a way for me through the next year!
God's Love is absolutely amazing! It was His Love that made a way,not mine. I do love Him but my love is inadequate,incomplete,unfulfilled,without Him.
But 'Love found a way to redeem my soul,
Love found a way that would make me whole.
Love took my Lord to the Cross of shame,
Love found a way,O bless His Holy Name!
These are the words of a hymn,that mean so much to me.
As I read 1 Cor. 13: 1-8, on this New Year's Day 2007,I feel as if I am no where at all,when it comes to love. My love falls far short of the love that God requires in me.
I place myself in His Hands again this coming year and ask Him to reveal His Love through me to others.
Here is 1 Cor. 13 (N I V)
'If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,but have not love,I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have a faith that can move mountains,but have not love,I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,but have not love,I gain nothing.
Love is patient,love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self seeking.It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil,but rejoices with the truth. It always protects,always trusts,always hopes,always perseveres..
Love never fails.........................'
Knowing that God loves us with all His Heart and seeking to love Him with all of ours, means resting secure in that love in the rough times ,as well as the smooth.
I am thankful that God loves us when things seem to be going wrong,as well as when things seem right.
We go to see an elderly lady,who went into hospital months ago,needing an operation to right something in her foot. She came through that operation,but later an infection set into it and the doctor said it would have to be amputated.
She was,at first devastated,but it was explained to her that it was better to lose her foot,than to loose her leg later,or even worse!
Did she blame God? No. She realises that God loves her. Sickness does not come from God,but from the devil. God sometimes allows sickness and can bring good out of it. We should pray for healing,because it is God's Will to heal.
We prayed for this lady and we do not understand why some are healed immediately and others are not. Some (like Selwyn Hughes,the 'Every Day with Jesus' author) receive their ultimate healing when 'absent from the body and present with the Lord.'
God loves us when we are well and He loves us when we are sick. He does not love to see us sick, He is there to help us through.
When we last visited her she was slumped in her wheelchair,sleeping. Her face lit up when she saw us and after talking she asked us to take her down to the hospital chapel. This was acceptable to the nursing supervision.
I shall never forget sitting with her there in the chapel and talking of the things of God and praying for her. Before we left we pushed her chair to the front and she spontaneously prayed. What a lovely Godfearing old lady. Trusting God in the bad times as well as when she was able to serve Him in Catering. We continue to pray for her continued healing
'Nothing can seperate us from the love of God,that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' (Rom 8: 29)
My wife's Mother and Father came to visit us yesterday. Thank God for family! My 'inlaws' accepted me into their family when I married their daughter. From a very early stage in our relationship,I was calling them 'Mum and Dad 'and still do 33 years later!
My own parents have passed on now. My Mum and Dad were very precious to me,as are my 'inlaw' Mum and Dad.
We've had our differences. All familys do,if they care about each other. The only ones who don't are those that pretend they don't,but really they do! I respect my family,as well as love them and they respect me and love me
The Church is a Family. We are all different but we have to learn to get on with each other,because we are related! Brothers and Sisters in Christ. As we love the Lord and one another we can serve the Lord and one another and also a needy world around us. We can do more together than by ourselves.
The Word of God also says that 'He sets the solitary in familys', so none of us need be left out!
Well,it is a beautiful morning,as we rejoice in God and rest secure in His Love! Whatever may be happening outside with the weather.
Actually it's the end of the day for me. It's 05:41 GMT and soon I shall be on my way to bed. After this time of theraphy and prayer.
I'm a night worker. Well that's my 'tentmaking' job to earn a living. (Not actually making tents but working in a Mail Sorting Office.) I'm in the UK.
Last night was 'one of those nights!' I felt tired, hassled. It was like a hard walk uphill. I was feeling the monotony a bit.
They are proposing to close our County Mail Centre, which means all the mail that normally comes to us to be sorted in the night, will have to go on an 80 mile round trip to another Mail Centre to be built. If it's Mail from our County it will only have to be sent back to our area after sorting to be delivered. It does'nt take a genius to conclude that this is ludicrous.
It will add to more traffic on what is already a dangerous road. It will add to the pollution and enviormental problems. People will get their Mail later in our County. 450 employees will have jobs threatened,who work at this Mail Centre.
Local M.P'S and Councillors of all Partys are opposing it,as well as local employees and the Public. It is,at present going through planning permission and other things. It's still not too late for the Company to change their mind,although unlikely.
Hey, but just a minute! Despite how I was feeling last night,God was with me. He was with me all night! He is always with me. My mind is at peace with Him.
I did a little talking to Him last night and also a little talking to myself! I was reminded of 1 Tim 1: 7 'God has not given us a spirit of fear,but of power and of love and of a sound mind.' As we talk the Word of God rather than how we feel,His Peace which passes all understanding feels our hearts and minds. Thank God for that!
I had a better night last night,at the Mail Centre,although I was there longer. Started early evening,as I do three evenings a week. I work on a six night rotational week for five weeks with the sixth week off. Sometimes I work the week off to help with finances. The weeks I work are 60 hour weeks.
This is my 'tent making' job,as I am associate pastor in a small church where only one pastor can be supported financially,at present. We have a mid week meeting for prayer and Bible study and services Sunday morning and evening.
I have been in fulltime pastoral ministry,in the past and enjoy doing what God calls me to do.
We do need to give time however to our wife and family.Our children are grown up now,but we need sleep and rest and recreation. There needs to be a balance and I think I've missed it a bit. I need to be careful in these things and live in the Grace of God because my best is not good enough,but God's Grace is more than sufficient!
Hands Up For Love 
John Gaughn was the lead singer and songwriter of the pop group,'Herman's Hermits'. They had many 'big hits' in the charts. He became a Christian and now travels extensively singing and testifying for Jesus.
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