{"id":8810,"date":"2020-04-08T07:00:52","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T07:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=8810"},"modified":"2020-04-06T13:13:26","modified_gmt":"2020-04-06T13:13:26","slug":"spring-is-in-the-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/spring-is-in-the-air\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring is in the Air"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I am not going to mention the word that is filling the news and most conversation at the moment (but it has one of my favourite beers in it).&nbsp;&nbsp;Instead hopefully Im going to encourage you for the months ahead\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spring officially started on 20<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;March, and already you can see the temperature slowly beginning to rise, maybe a bit slower here in Scotland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a lad growing up in Orkney, I always got excited in spring time, for me it was the start of the football season. You could smell the newly cut grass on the football pitches, and even to this day I love the smell of newly cut grass, as it brings wonderful memories flooding back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We certainly have our troubles to contend with in the current situation facing the world, but by looking through the lens of faith I still&nbsp;&nbsp;believe that spring 2020 will bring many blessings, and that Gods promises are still something to keep hold of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Proverbs 3 v 6 says- In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths !!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This may be hard to understand in this current climate, yet I believe that the Lord still has authority over all the earth, and we as believers in Christ have to protect our minds by spending time in prayer and searching his word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another Proverb (Ch 16 v 9) says this: We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the God I know will make a way, whatever we face.&nbsp;&nbsp;His promises are true, we cannot see what is ahead, but our Lord knows the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Christians, we look forward to Easter, to celebrate the risen Jesus. He conquered the grave, and our hope is in him, eternity awaits us all, and through him we have overcome death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So this spring time, in these troubled days, cheer one another on, our hope is not on material things, not in Wall Street or our Government, but our hope, our freedom, is in the one they call, Messiah, Jesus, the Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.\u201d C S Lewis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/townmapsusa.com\/d\/Map-of-Spring-Hope-North-Carolina-NC\/spring_hope_nc\">This Photo<\/a>&nbsp;by Unknown Author is licensed under&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/3.0\/\">CC BY-NC<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/spring-is-in-the-air\/\"><\/div><script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png?w=750\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am not going to mention the word that is filling the news and most conversation at the moment (but it has one of my favourite beers in it).&nbsp;&nbsp;Instead hopefully Im going to encourage you for the months ahead\u2026\u2026\u2026.. Spring officially started on 20th&nbsp;March, and already you can see the temperature slowly beginning to rise, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":8812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[61,101,1107,666],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/map_of_spring_hope_nc.jpg?fit=953%2C481&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PoLK-2i6","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9171,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/a-game-of-two-halves\/","url_meta":{"origin":8810,"position":0},"title":"A Game of Two Halves","date":"7 January 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Let me start by saying I love the Lord and am passionate about the transforming power of the gospel. I love my family, love cycling, love kayaking, love a beer, love all sorts of music, but on this occasion I want to tell you about a passion I\u2019ve had for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/MUFC-mc.jpeg?fit=960%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2649,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/the-welford\/the-green-green-grass-of-home-your-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":8810,"position":1},"title":"The Green, Green Grass of Home&#8230;(Your Home)","date":"11 July 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Much of my younger life was spent desiring things. But not just anything \u2013 mostly things that other people I knew owned. \u2018If I could just get such and such\u2019 I thought \u2018My life would be so much better. Everything would be ok.\u2019 I didn\u2019t just limit this to inanimate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Welford&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9191,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/god-makes-no-mistakes-thanks-for-the-memory-part-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":8810,"position":2},"title":"God Makes No Mistakes \u2013 Thanks For The Memory. Part 3","date":"19 January 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"In the first part of this series I listed what are for me the positives of Asperger\u2019s Syndrome. I am all\u00a0too aware of how the negatives affect me (and others). Each day I have to make the conscious decision to live out the positives, sometimes I am successful, sometimes I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Friends of CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ben-white-8Mm7FbkDpz0-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2187,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/carls-thoughts\/a-very-british-revolution\/","url_meta":{"origin":8810,"position":3},"title":"A Very British Revolution","date":"18 January 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"People love big events. You get a buzz, \u00a0big sound, big names, big crowd\u2026you leave feeling ready to take on the world. I\u2019ve got nothing against a big event or a mega church. Both are great for a preach! I just don't think its where the real revolutionary work happens.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Carl Beech&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7842,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/reviews\/darkest-hour-pg\/","url_meta":{"origin":8810,"position":4},"title":"Darkest Hour (PG)","date":"4 January 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Darkest Hour tells the story of Winston Churchill's first few weeks as Prime Minister in the spring of 1940.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Reviews&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/darkesthour.jpg?fit=1000%2C512&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6141,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/rawfaith\/one-mans-story-of-football-family-and-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":8810,"position":5},"title":"ONE MAN&#8217;S STORY OF FOOTBALL, FAMILY AND FAITH","date":"2 February 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"'The Soul of Football' is a new book from Mark Chester of Who Let the Dads Out.\u00a0One man's story of football, family and faith by Mark Chester Cloning Jamie Carragher Lionel Messi's mistakes It's all Wayne Rooney's fault\u2026 ... are just three of the issues BRF's Who Let The Dads\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Rawfaith&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Soul-of-Football.jpg?fit=250%2C382&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8810"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8810"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8814,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8810\/revisions\/8814"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}