God's Providence - His People

My Local Church
I am blessed to attend a fellowship were the Bible and the gospel are valued, Crossroads Presbyterian Church. I appreciate hearing the Bible preached weekly. I am also grateful that at the end of 2005 we began having more singing. We sing mainly hymns, which I love. We also became a bigger church in 2005, through receiving back two church plants to form the "new Crossroads". At this church I have many friends, and I greatly appreciate God's gift of these relationships. We are a church of mostly twenty-somethings, and we meet in this very, uh, unusual building, with an unusual colour scheme.


It used to be a cinema. There is also another large room with booths, that used to be a bingo hall! This is good for chatting after the service.

God's People Far Away
I am also grateful for relationships with God's people overseas, through letters, email, and phone calls.

Another aspect of God's Providence is people I don't know personally, who bless me so much through their writing and speaking. In 2005 I benifitted from reading many people's contributions on the Internet, which challenged me in new ways. I also benefitted from reading many books, including several commentaries on the Bible. It is wonderful that God's people can be such a blessing even from a long distance. One book I read in mid-2005, Joshua Harris' Stop Dating the Chruch!: Fall in love with the family of God, challenged me to more deeply grasp God's plan for working through his church. I don't think I've ever been a real "church hopper". However, I did not see how important the church is to God and how important he wants it to be to us.

Answers in Genesis Conference
This year I also had the privilege of attending an Answers in Genesis conference, which I loved. I was able to go despite my back problem, because they had inner spring mattresses. I had a wonderful time of fellowship on the Gold Coast. There were very few people my age, but I enjoyed talking to many older people and having the privilege of hearing their stories.

Here I am with some of the ladies I enjoyed meeting:

During 2005 the Answers in Genesis ministry helped me to understand that there are two types of science:

1. Observational science can be measured and observed through repeatable experiments, and enables us to create things like computers.

2. Historical science concerns the past and cannot be observed and tested in the present. The views people come to on historical science depend upon their interpretations and beliefs. Evolutionists and Creationists have the same facts.
Evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould said "Facts do not 'speak for themselves', they are read in the light of theory." Evolutionist educater P. MacInnis said: "The Genesis account of creation may even be the correct one, but there is no way science can prove or disprove that, and the creationists know it."

Many sincere, godly Christians are confused because they believe evolution is "proven", when it is not. They try to fit death and suffering into a "very good" world before the fall of man, which undermines the gospel message. I am deeply grateful for the ministry of God's people at Answers in Genesis, who have helped so many to trust in the truth of God's word and the work of Christ on the cross.