see new blogs

While you are waiting for the next post on this blog, you might as well visit the following blogs:-

http://mystampsandfdcs.blogspot.in/ 

  

&

http://gunsinstamps.blogspot.in

Sailor boy.

Thank you Dear Ella. Yes, I do think I looked like this boy at 14!

Future Ship's Captain

My friend Karoly from Serbia sent me this card showing a Future Ship's Captain!

Have a nice Summer

Towe from Sweden wishes "Have a nice Summer" with this nice card.

Thank you Towe, hope you have a great Summer too.

The Terrible Lifeguard !

Gerda My Dutch friend sent me this card with a picture drawn by  Joshua Douglas a Dutch children's author.

Joshua Douglas made ​​his debut as a poet at the 32nd International Poetry Festival in 2001. In 2009 he published his picture book The Kiss Crocodile and other night creatures dear. " Loes Riphagen did the illustrations. Joshua is the brother of painter Daniel Douglas. He lives and works in Utrecht.

The Terrible Lifeguard – the picture depicted on the card is about Lifeguard Brulboei.

Lev takes his father to swim training to Lifeguard Brulboei, the most famous swimming champion ever. Everyone thinksthis idea is. But Lev knows better. Brulboei is the most terrible lifeguard you can think of. He is rude and mean, he is fierce, rough and cruel. And he has a terrible secret ... Together with his neighbour Lita he plays……. Can they uncover the terrible lifeguard and show who Brulboei really is?.......................

Interesting!

Seasons Greetings

To All My Dear Friends,

Wish you All the very Best for Christmas and in the New Year. God Bless You All.

Easter Greetings

Easter Greetings from Kate in Belarus. Thank you Kate.

Good Friday

My friend Karoly sent me this card for Easter. It is a depicts a folk motif for Easter.
Today is Good Friday. For many years I had wondered what was good about Good Friday, when the day is really one of mourning. It was then that I came across this article that tells one about just this enigma - what is good about Good Friday?

Why do we call Good Friday “good,” when it is such a dark and bleak event commemorating a day of suffering and death for Jesus?

For Christians, Good Friday is a crucial day of the year because it celebrates what we believe to be the most momentous weekend in the history of the world. Ever since Jesus died and was raised, Christians have proclaimed the cross and resurrection of Jesus to be the decisive turning point for all creation. Paul considered it to be “of first importance” that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was raised to life on the third day, all in accordance with what God had promised all along in the Scriptures.  

On Good Friday we remember the day Jesus willingly suffered and died by crucifixion as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. It is followed by Easter, the glorious celebration of the day Jesus was raised from the dead, heralding his victory over sin and death and pointing ahead to a future resurrection for all who are united to him by faith.

Still, why call the day of Jesus’ death “Good Friday” instead of “Bad Friday” or something similar? Some Christian traditions do take this approach: in German, for example, the day is called Karfreitag, or “Sorrowful Friday.” In English, in fact, the origin of the term “Good” is debated: some believe it developed from an older name, “God’s Friday.” Regardless of the origin, the name Good Friday is entirely appropriate because the suffering and death of Jesus, as terrible as it was, marked the dramatic culmination of God’s plan to save his people from their sins.

In order for the good news of the gospel to have meaning for us, we first have to understand the bad news of our condition as sinful people under condemnation. The good news of deliverance only makes sense once we see how we are enslaved. Another way of saying this is that it is important to understand and distinguish between law and gospel in Scripture. We need the law first to show us how hopeless our condition is; then the gospel of Jesus’ grace comes and brings us relief and salvation.

In the same way, Good Friday is “good” because as terrible as that day was, it had to happen for us to receive the joy of Easter. The wrath of God against sin had to be poured out on Jesus, the perfect sacrificial substitute, in order for forgiveness and salvation to be poured out to the nations. Without that awful day of suffering, sorrow, and shed blood at the cross, God could not be both “just and the justifier” of those who trust in Jesus.   Paradoxically, the day that seemed to be the greatest triumph of evil was actually the deathblow in God’s gloriously good plan to redeem the world from bondage.

The cross is where we see the convergence of great suffering and God’s forgiveness.  Psalms sings of a day when “righteousness and peace” will “kiss each other.” The cross of Jesus is where that occurred, where God’s demands, his righteousness, coincided with his mercy. We receive divine forgiveness, mercy, and peace because Jesus willingly took our divine punishment, the result of God’s righteousness against sin. “For the joy set before him” Jesus endured the cross on Good Friday, knowing it led to his resurrection, our salvation, and the beginning of God’s reign of righteousness and peace.

Good Friday marks the day when wrath and mercy met at the cross. That’s why Good Friday is so dark and so Good.

Justin Holcomb who is an Episcopal priest and teaches theology at Reformed Theological Seminary and Knox Theological Seminary wrote this nice article.

Wish you All a Very Merry Christmas and a Great New Year

These cards were sent to me by my Wonderful friends in Finland and in Germany. Thank you My Dears. I wish you all and all visitors to my blogs a Very Merry Christmas and a Great New Year.

Early Morning in Juilin

A lovely early morning Sun over rice fields in Juilin in China. This pretty card was sent to me by pcsuen from Hong Kong.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas says Tonnie from Holland. Merry Christmas to you too Dear Tonnie.

Pretty picture

A pretty picture to brighten your Day. Thank You Ella.

One Horse Power Rolls Royce!

Merja sent me this delightful card from Cyprus. She says, this is her on her "One HP Rolls Royce". Yes Dear, in these days of traffic jams everywhere, I think this is the right choice!

An old Adage

This pretty and thought provoking card was sent to me by Heike from Halle in Germany. Some of you may remember that the composer G.F. Handel was born in Halle, near which flows the River Saale.

Coming back to the card. The main text says, “A great man is he who has not lost his child’s heart”. So true. And the tub boat says it all, “Old Love”. Thank you Heike for this very nice card.

"Seaknights" by Igor Arty.

Thank you Yulia for this lovely card with the painting of a battle at sea. The "Seaknights" by a well known Ukrainian painter Igor Arty.

Cars

Masha sent me this cards portraying various cars in various states of repair and disrepair!!!

Girl in Every Port

Yes, you're right Nikita - A Sailor Boy can't survive without a Girl in Every Port :-))

Winter Wonderland

A typical peaceful winter's scene from Santa Claus Land.

Ooops!

Ooops! Did that little fellow really do that!

Fortune Favours the Bold

Thank you very much Merja. And the caption on the card is quite apt - Fortune Favours the Bold.