Christmas Thoughts

We wish you a merry Christmas...
We wish you a merry Christmas...
We wish you a merry Christmas...
... and a Happy New Year!

Yup, tis the season to be jolly and all that! Today is Christmas Eve and we cannot believe that tomorrow we will be opening all our presents on a lovely Christmas Day. Seems like yesterday we were arriving at Aberdeen Airport and only a few days since we were celebrating Christmas 2005 in Santiago. Must be getting extremely old extremely fast!

Must say a couple of things here:

1. I have been totally gobsmacked that the whole of UK celebrates Christmas and yet hardly give a thought to what the implications really are. Here in UK, everyone is totally against the mad PC people who want to take Christ out of Christmas. But, in my humble opinion, it wouldn't matter to the majority of people in this country if it was only a "winter holiday". Because, to most of these people, Christmas is merely a time to drink, party, listen to corny music, kiss, decorate the Christmas tree, let the kids meet Santa, overspend and overeat. There are some positives - some go to church and most spend time with family. But often the church has no reality and offers no hope. They go, sing a few carols, eat a few mince pies and go home. Tragic.

Tragic because, if people truly believe in the Christmas story (and most do), then there are MASSIVE implications and consequences.

If this baby was the Messiah, then He must be the Saviour.
A Saviour must save us from something.
He can save us ... from sin, death and hell.
He lived, died and rose again, conquering all the above.
Through Jesus, we can go to heaven forever.
But ... there is a also definitely a hell. No in between. No second way.

I fail to believe why multitudes believe very definitely the baby of Christmas. They believe the claims of the Bible about who Jesus is. Yet, they reject Him as a Saviour. They all love to talk about heaven, but cannot possibly believe in the finality of hell. They believe Jesus is the Son of God, but they declare that all roads lead to heaven. They believe that God is love, yet cannot believe that He is also a righteous judge.

What a mixed up country we live in. What must God think? How the Lord's heart must be broken. We have lost the real meaning of Christmas - Jesus arrived to save us. Simple yet life changing.

My goodness, I started writing this blog in good heart and with great joy, but now I feel a bit flat! I think we, as Christians, must really re-evaluate what Christmas really should mean and be. What about you .. what do you think? Am I a grumpy so-and-so or am I making sense? Go on, surprise yourself ... write a comment below!

2. I must say how great it is to be a dad this Christmas. Like I said in my last blog, Lydia is at a wonderful age now where she is saying some really funny (and profound!) things. She is priceless. Josiah just goes with the flow and seems to be happy wherever he is.

It is great for us to be near our families this Christmas. We will be in Aberdeen tomorrow and boxing day. Mary's brother Bruce and his lovely wife Alison live there and Mary's mum & dad are down from Wick. Should be great. After all I have said above, I love the way that we can take a break from our hectic lives and spend quality time with our friends and family.

I leave you with a few photos I have taken over the last few weeks. They are of special places and special people. Enjoy Christmas and look after yourself. Many blessings ... I will blog soon!

Sure Dad?

Well, I am back in NE Scotland and getting ready to settle down for Christmas. Had a great time in Shetland and I had to spend a couple of days in the Central Belt this week. I have a "To Do" list about as long as roll of toilet roll, but it is time to spend time with Mary & the kids. This is just a wee short blog ... with a Christmas flavour!


A few nights ago I was telling the kids the story of Jesus when he went up the mountain and met Moses & Elijah. I know it's not Christmassy (is that really a word?), but Lydia always goes to the Index page of her children's Bible and 'chooses' the page number she feels we should go to. Prophetic at 4 years old LOL! Anyway explaining the word 'transfiguration' to a 4 & 2 year old was pretty interesting. I asked wee Lydia, "Do you know who Moses is?" I expected a "Dunno dad" but to my utter astonishment she replied, "Yup, he is the wee boy who was put in a basket and put in the river."

"Obviously having a daddy who is in charge of a Bible School is rubbing of on this wee beautiful girl," thought I proudly. I gave her a great big congratulations hug. Then I added, "How about Elijah, what did he do?", expecting a story of fire from heaven etc. "He was a lovely man" she said with great conviction, "He was the very nice man who picked Moses out of the river and looked after him!" My confidence was now wobbling.

"And what about Jesus, Lydia, what does He do?" She immediately replied, "He makes people better when they are sick, he does good things and he died for us (by this point I was wonderfully amazed that her Christology was so accurate and that she was doctrinally sound) ... and sure dad, every Christmas he goes on a sledge and gives all the good kids a wee present. I'm getting a Barbie from Jesus, sure dad?"

A Peerie Blog!

I'm sitting here eating my toast, overlooking a magnificent view of Lerwick Harbour up here in the Shetland Islands in the far north of Scotland. Maybe some of you think that I should get a job with "Wish you were Here" .. and maybe some of you are right! Ghana - Amsterdam - Central Scotland - Lerwick ... all in a few weeks.

But it is great to be able to go to places and tell people about the Lord and to share the vision of Sefton Village. So many people have been touched, inspired and challenged by our presentation and we are blessed to meet people who are regularly praying for us and who support us in so many ways. I am here in Lerwick for a double purpose. I am here with Keith Pointon, our former agent who was 'ambushed' (his words!) by the Lord and called to China for 2 years! We have great news -Keith and his lovely wife Anne are coming to Sefton Village for 2 years to help us with the ministry there. They will fly out in March and they have already been to Sefton many times. They will be such a blessing and support to us. We cried out to the Lord for help ... and he answered!

But ... it does not stop there. The Lord also called a lovely couple from Lerwick to come and help us in Sefton. Matthew is a local Shetlander and Claire comes from Northern Island. They have a beautiful wee girl called Madeline and they are expecting their second child. Claire is a Teacher and Matthew is a Civil Engineer, and so there is so many things for them to do at Sefton Village. They have been interviewed by AoG World Ministries and we are hoping that they will come and join us in the middle of 2007. Exciting eh?

So we are here to speak to the Leaders of their home church - Emmanuel Lerwick. The church really wants to be a good responsible sending church and so we are able to give them some ideas of how they can get behind Matthew and Claire. Tonight, they church have invited leaders from churches from here in Lerwick to come for a meal and then afterwards there is a service for everyone where we will share the vision of Sefton Village. Praise the Lord!

Well, this is our last week of itinerary! I arrive home on Friday and on Sunday we are at 2 local NE churches ... so no driving! I am really looking forward to going to our last church on the itinerary - Braehead Church in Gardenstown. My uncles and aunties have been in this church for many years and they are so involved in the ministry of Sefton Village. They have even made the long trip to Santiago! They run 'Soup and Sweets' once a month and very often the Children's Home at Sefton Village are the benefactors of all their hard work! By the way, you have never lived until you have tasted the soup and deserts from Braehead Gamrie! They travel from all around to taste a taste of heaven!!!!

Itinerary is never easy and it has been such a busy time. It seems we have never stopped packing and unpacking and we have done over 12000 miles on the road. It has been especialy hard for Mary and I don't know many women who has done what she has had to do. But we are looking forward to having a wee break before we go back.

So, wherever you are, take time to thanks the Lord for all His blessings of 2006. I will get back to you ASAP ... but from where, who knows!!!!

H.O.L.L.A.N.D.

Hello again! This is Mark Ritchie, international traveler and jetsetter. I arrived home from Ghana on Saturday morning, was picked up at the airport by Mary et al, went to a missions banquet on Saturday night in the Central Belt, we spoke at Harvest Church in Hamilton on Sunday morning, zoomed up north to speak at new Hope Peterhead at night and collapsed into bed in Fraserburgh in the evening!!!

Great to be home though! We had an amazing time in Ghana ... fantastic. In the next couple of weeks my intention is to write blogs on:

1. Ghana
2. Philippines - Sefton Village
3. Itinerary
4. Our kids
5. Anything else that enters ma heed!

Listen to this ... I am in Amsterdam, Holland right now. I came home and realised that Mary & I needed to leave the UK for at least two days before we go back to the Philippines, and we planned to go next week. But other things came in and so it only left this week to go. Went online, realised that we could only fly from Aberdeen to Dublin or Amsterdam ... so here we are! The real reason is that we are home for 184 days on itinerary, and if we are home for more than 182 days we have to pay a whole years tax. So here we are, tax exiles! That's our excuse and we are sticking to it!

My mum & dad are looking after the kids, so it is a wonderful break for us. First time we have been away on our own since our honeymoon! Can you believe that!

Gotta go now ... clogs to try on, tulips to pick and windmills to see. Hard life!

Will blog again soon ....