Is God in Control? YES!

This Sunday I am preaching at our church on the topic of the Sovereignty of God.

I did not choose the topic it was given to me but God certainly had His hand in that. The preparation has been a blessing to me reminding me that if He is indeed God then nothing is beyond His ability. I can therefore trust Him no matter how difficult the circumstances.

As regular readers will know Marilyn and I are going through a time of change at the moment. We have been living in a rented house but the owner has had to go into a care home and her family needed to sell the house to pay her expenses so we have been house hunting.

We were originally due to be out of here at the end of last month but had not found anywhere suitable and the house sale was delayed so the owner said we could stay until the 15th.

We then found what seems like an ideal house (more about that in a later blog) and told the agents we needed to move by the 15th. They assured us that should not be a problem.

But things began going wrong. Firstly we needed more money than we expected because of the size of the security deposit that the agent wanted and because they charge a hefty administration fee. God provided.

Then forms that they posted took 4 days to arrive instead of 1 day. Forms posted back to them never arrived. This created a delay in getting the application processed.

The present tenants then decided that they needed some more time to move.

Up to this morning we were still in a state of limbo waiting to hear if we would be moving in 3 days time. If so we needed to contact removal companies and see if they were still available as well as sort out loads of other last-minute things.

This morning we got an email from the agents saying it will now only be at the end of the month.

I immediately contacted our present landlady and she said her sale has again been delayed and it would help her if we could stay on the additional 2 weeks.

So it is all coming together but I must admit that there have been moments over the past couple of weeks when I was wondering if God really did have it all under control. He does! So I now look forward to sharing this all on Sunday.

What happens to Christian House Sitters when we move?

Once we move I will change the contact details on the Christian House Sitters website and also the contact phone number. But do not worry the work will go on as normal. There may be 1 day when I am not able to update everything because the computer etc. is in transit but at the worst that will be a 24 hour period before all gets back to normal.

God bless you

Ray

I found this and it blessed me

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Why are we are never satisfied?

Why are we are never satisfied?

We always seem to want what others have and to undervalue what we have.

I remember as a teenager noticing that many white skinned people craved a dark sun tan while those with naturally dark skins were spending money on skin lightening treatments.

People with straight hair have it curled while those with naturally curly hair spend ages trying to iron it straight.

People in the city want to live out in the country while many in the country crave the convenience and comfort of city life. I could go on and on but I am sure that you get the point.

It is exactly the same as we think about our vacations. Right now most people in Europe and parts of the US would love to escape from the cold and snow into a place with glorious sunshine.

But at the same time many in the Southern hemisphere are longing for cooler weather and would be delighted to spend time frolicking in the snow.

It reminds me of the book of Ecclesiastes in the bible. Summed up in those dismal words in chapter 1 verse 2: “Meaningless! Meaningless!”  says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless!  Everything is meaningless”

Oh what a sad but accurate view of life.

In Ecclesiastes we find the solution in the final chapter where we are reminded that ultimately we will only find real meaning in life when we put God first!

However on a much lower level we can also use our differences to make this life more enjoyable. Here is an area where I have found Christian House Sitters a blessing.

If you are living in a cold place why not enjoy a rent-free vacation somewhere warm and at the same time you could (if you so choose) let someone from a warmer part of the world enjoy a rent-free vacation in your home. That will bless them, bless you and give you the security of knowing that you home and pets are being cared for.

Naturally the same applies the other way around. If you want to enjoy the snow and escape the blazing heat you can do that.

If you want to escape the hustle and bustle of city life why not have a rent-free vacation in the country and if you crave a taste of city life then that can also be arranged.

No Christian House Sitters can’t provide the meaning of life. Only God can do that but we can help you relax, travel the world, enjoy different countries and cultures and all rent-free. We can also help you save money by having someone look after your home and pets while you are away free of charge.

Everyone benefits.

Have a look at the website ( CLICK HERE)and feel free to ask me any questions

God bless you

Ray

House hunting and web site redesign.

Sorry that I have been neglecting this blog for the past few weeks. Life has been rather hectic. As I mentioned in a previous blog the house we presently rent has now been sold and we urgently need to find somewhere else to live. So for the past few weeks Marilyn and I have been rushing around looking at houses to rent but so far we have not found anything suitable.

Are we worried? No but we are concerned as we must move out of here before the new owners move in but we believe God has a place for us we just wish He would tell us where it is so we can get started.

Prayers would be appreciated

With the weather in the UK I thought of this as an option

ON ANOTHER TOPIC
Over this past weekend I was doing some work trying to make the Christian House Sitters website more attractive.

This was prompted because I received an email from someone saying that it was starting to look dated. He actually said it looks 6 years old and that in internet terms that is about the same as dog years. Ouch!

Anyway I have changed the colour scheme, redesigned the FAQ page, updated the Home Page, renamed Comments Received as Testimonials (his suggestion) and tweaked the meta tags to hopefully get us higher ranking in Google.

I am sure that there is still lots that could be done to make the site even better but as 100% of the income from this ministry goes to support a Children’s Home in Kenya who depend on us for food etc. I can’t justify spending money getting in a professional so I will just keep making what adjustments I can myself.

Have a look at the new design and send me your (hopefully) encouraging comments. You can see it at  www.christian-housesitters.com

Also please remember to tell your church, family and friends about our ministry.

It has blessed people all over the world who would otherwise have either not had a vacation or had to make do with something much less enjoyable.

God bless you

Ray

“To Go or Not To Go” – Blame Henry Ford

It is not often that I find an academic article on the subject of vacations and especially one that is easy to read but Sarah Fox has an excellent one. You can read the full article at  http://www.neumann.edu/academics/divisions/business/journal/review09/fox.pdf

She begins by saying:

“To go or not to go?” This seemed to be the question most Americans were asking themselves regarding a summer vacation last year. With gas prices reaching extraordinary heights each day, many people opted to stay home rather than go on a summer vacation. Summer vacations used to be as American as apple pie; kids and parents would look forward all school year to having that one week in the summer to relax and just get away. American summer vacations date back to the early 1900s. Henry Ford was one of the biggest influences on summer vacations with the invention of the automobile. ….. For years now, American middle class families have been squeezed by rising prices and shrinking take home pay  American’s have little extra money to pay for a vacation.

She then looks in some detail at how the cost of living has risen faster than the take home pay of the average family. I will not bore you with the details if you are interested they can be found at the link I mentioned before but I suspect that you do not need me to tell you how expensive life has become. Most of us tend to run out of money before we run out of month.

So to return to the question Sarah Fox asked. To go or not to go? 

In these tough economic times should we simply accept that a vacation is beyond our financial means and drop the idea?

There is a lot of research showing that working without a vacation will significantly increase your stress levels. The research also clearly shows that an increase in stress can lead to major health problems such as cardiac problems, reduced immune defence, digestive difficulties, depression etc.

There is even research showing that Stress May Cause Fat Around the Midsection in Lean Women  (Denise Mann WebMD Medical News  22 Sept 2000)

So how do you juggle the need for a vacation with the demands on your ever reducing bank balance?

One solution that many have found is to join Christian House Sitters where we enable our members to enjoy rent-free vacations all over the world. In addition we can also provide reliable Christian people to look after your home and pets free of charge while you are away.

Have a look at the website for more details. CLICK HERE

This may be the answer that you and your family have been seeking.

If you do have any questions please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to help.

God bless you,

Ray

 

 

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Top Vacation Destinations

I love travelling.

God has blessed me and allowed me to visit many countries over the years but I still get excited at the prospect of going somewhere different.

My personal list of places I would still love to visit includes Canada, Australia and New Zealand. I would also love to return to the USA and South Africa

As I was thinking about places I would like to visit I decided to do a little research and see how my list compares with the  ‘official’ lists.

 AMERICANS TOP PLACES.

According to http://bit.ly/UvW3CJ American people spend a lot of time arranging their vacations. For these people, vacations offer not only an opportunity to bond together with friends and family. It is also a time to get away and loosen up the body and mind. Vacations revitalize and make all of them enjoy what they have. For American people who spend their vacations in another country and for people who wish to go outside the country, they usually decide to go to:
Italy,
Australia,
New Zealand,
Great Britain.

 UK CHOICES

People in the UK spend multiple millions each year travelling. When going abroad their choice of destinations, according to http://bit.ly/6hN1jT, is:

Spain,
France,
Greece,
Italy,
USA

 AUSTRALIAN CHOICES

According to http://bit.ly/XiLuzx Travel + Leisure magazine invited Australians to vote on their dream lists of top spots throughout the world.
The results were:
Italy,
France,
New Zealand,
USA

Where do you want to go?

What is stopping you?

If the only thing stopping you is the cost we can most likely help by cutting out the cost of your accommodation while you are away and also arranging for someone to look after your home and pets free of charge.

Sounds to good to be true? Read on and judge for yourself.

When I looked down those lists it dawned on me that over the past year Christian House Sitters has offered rent-free accommodation in all those countries with the sole exception of Greece. In addition we have also offered rent-free accommodation in a large number of countries that did not make the ‘top places’ lists

This is a collage of a few of the recent rent-free properties we have been able to offer.

So may I encourage you to prayerfully consider the following:

1 If you want a rent-free vacation visit our site CLICK HERE and if you like what you see register as a House Sitter

2. If you want someone to look after your home and pets while you are away visit the site CLICK HERE and register as a Home Owner

3. You could naturally register as both an owner and a sitter.

God bless you,

Ray

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A Great Idea. Feel free to share it.

I received an email from one of our members telling me that he has just been appointed as editor of their church magazine. For his next edition he wants to include an article about Christian House Sitters and he therefore asked me to send him something suitable.

I have never claimed to be an author (although I have had 2 books published. One is on Stress and the other on Christian Discipleship) so I produced a draft article and sent it to him with permission to edit it, re write it or even dump it as he sees fit.

Now I am by nature happy to work hard but I am also more than willing to relax when it seem appropriate so I decided to use the article I sent him as my new blog post.

I hope that you find it interesting, informative and useful.

Feel free to use it in your own church magazine or to share it with anyone.

 Help for Christian Families During The Recession

The world is going through a period of serious international financial crisis. Recently the UK chancellor announced an austerity budget in an attempt to keep the UK from slipping further into deficit. As a result of the financial problems naturally many people are finding it increasingly difficult to afford a holiday. This is a problem as research has clearly shown that during times of severe stress holidays can be more important than ever and can help prevent many stress related health problems.

Probably the best evidence of the effects of vacations can be found in the Framingham Heart Study, which scientists have been plumbing for years to understand what contributes to our well-being. More than 12,000 men who were at risk of heart disease were followed over nine years to see if there were ways to improve their longevity. Among the questions they were asked annually was about vacations.

“The more frequent the vacations, the longer the men lived,” says Karen Matthews of the University of Pittsburgh’s Mind-Body Center, who analyzed the data to assess the benefits of holidays.

Christian House Sitters is a non-profit ministry that provides a worldwide service to enable members of recognized Christian churches to enjoy a rent free vacations.

It also enables home owners to have a reliable person to look after their home and pets free of charge whilst they are away.

This can save both parties a great deal of money and therefore enable them to benefit form a much-needed break that they may otherwise have been unable to afford.

Out of interest I spent some time today looking at the average cost of a reasonable (3 star) hotel in the UK for a couple with 2 children. The average was around £85  ($136)per night without food.

A small hotel room

For this you get to stay in an impersonal often small hotel room.

An average 2 week break would therefore cost approximately £1190  ($1912) Add to this that if you are a home owner with a dog my research today showed that it will cost you about £600  to have someone pop in once a day for the 2 weeks and feed / walk you dog. The rest of the time the dog is left alone and the house is unoccupied.

A recent listing on Christian House Sitters website

But by registering as a House Sitter you could stay in a lovely spacious house rather than a hotel room and it would cost you no rent at all. An immediate saving of about  £1190  and if you also register as a home owner (you do not need to register as both. You can register as either a sitter or an owner only if you prefer) you save another £600 ($963)  bringing your savings to around £1790  ($2875)

This service has already helped many people from around the world and it is expected that as the credit crunch bites many more will benefit from this facility.

The service is free for home owners and costs just a nominal £25 per year for sitters. All income from the site goes towards running a Christian Children’s Home in Kenya that provides accommodation, food, clothing, education and medical expenses for 80 children who would otherwise be left to either starve, beg or steal in order to stay alive.

Some of the children enjoying Christmas Dinner

Christian House Sitters is their sole means of support and all money is very carefully monitored.

Full details can be found on the Christian House Sitters website http://www.christian-housesitters.com

 

God bless you,

Ray

 

 

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Why Don’t You……..?

I often get contacted by people asking perfectly reasonable questions about Christian House Sitters.  Many of the questions begin with the phrase “Why don’t you….”

So I thought I would try to answer some of the most common questions in  this blog post as that may help you understand what Christian House Sitters do and do not offer.

Question 1. Why don’t you arrange house swaps or house exchanges?

Answer. I know that there are some excellent web sites around that do offer this service and we could easily have done so but after careful and prayerful consideration we decided not to offer it because we feel it is too restrictive.

It greatly limits the available choices for our members. We have found that it is better not to limit yourself to a direct swap. You can have someone look after your house and you in turn can find a house to look after without it necessarily being a direct swap.

So for example someone in America may want to visit the UK, a home owner in the UK may want to go to France and there may be a member in France keen to visit Australia finally there could be someone in Australia wanting to go to the USA. If we were working on an exchange or swap basis we could not help any of these people but with our system they can all be satisfied.

Naturally  people who register with us, as both a sitter and an owner,  can mention in their profile that they would be interested in a direct swap. This will be displayed with their details. But they would not be restricted to a swap. They would have much more flexibility.

Question 2. Why don’t you have as many houses available as some of the secular house sitting websites?

Answer. There are a couple of reasons.

Firstly our pool of potential members is naturally smaller as we only accept people who are members of a recognised Christian church.

But that is not the only reason. I have been doing some research. In fact in order to do the research I ended up having to join a few secular sites. I discovered that most of the houses shown on their sites are not actually available. This is because many of these sites do not remove any listing until the end of the available period.

We on the other hand ask our members to inform us as soon as a house is taken and we then immediately remove the listing. This saves our sitters the frustration of applying for houses that are no longer available. To be honest occasionally owners do forget to inform us. But as soon as a sitter lets us know that they are not getting a reply from an owner or that the owner has replied saying the house has been taken we investigate and if the house has been taken we remove that listing.

Finally our houses are made available for vacations purposes. Through my research into some of the secular sites I was astounded to see that a lot are not vacation offers but simply a way of trying to get free labour.

Here are some real examples “Someone with building experience  to help with renovation of the house. “

Another said ” Nightwatch the hotel do some gardening, some cleaning, sometimes making breakfast, welcoming clients. Check in clients. In spring and summer we have our own staff which you will be ‘ working’ with. In winter you will be alone, working with us.”

To my way of thinking these are not vacations. They are job opportunities and for jobs with no wages.

Our listings are for a genuine vacation!

Question 3. Why can’t I see the list of available houses before I register?

Answer. This seems a very reasonable question and it is something we could very easily arrange but we believe it would be wrong because it would encourage people to join because they have seen somewhere that meets their requirements. They could then register, wait while we process their application which can take up to 12 hours although it is usually quicker than that, they would then be notified how to login and apply for houses. By this time the house they saw may well have been taken. Some houses go very quickly. Others don’t but houses in popular places can be snapped up fast.  We would rather have people pray about joining and if they feel it is God’s will  for them they can then trust that God will make the right house, in the right place and at the right time available during their 12 months of membership. Our experience is that the vast majority of our sitters find a suitable house and in fact it is not unusual for sitters to have 3 or 4 different vacations in a year. One of our members took a year off to travel around the world. He and his wife found suitable houses in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, America, Canada, France, England and Wales.

During the entire 12 months they only had 2 periods without somewhere to stay rent-free. The first was a week and the second 11 days.

I hope these help you to understand why there are some things that we don’t do even though at first glance they seem so reasonable.

If you would like to find out more about what we do offer then why not visit our website. CLICK HERE.

While  you are on the site please take some time to read the following pages.

A Brief Summery,

About Us

House Sitting Explained

FAQ

Other pages you may find really interesting are:

Comments Received

Media Coverage

Then if you still have questions please feel free to ask.

I look forward to welcoming you as a House Owner, a House Sitter or both.

 

 

 

God bless you,

Ray

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5 Tips to Save You Money on Your Next Vacation

Here are my tips to save you money on your next vacation.

1. Book as soon as possible

Time Flies

I was reading an article a few minutes ago that reminded us that to get the very best bargain on your next vacation you should be booking now.  It says Summer might seem a long way off but having sun, sea and sand to look forward to could just take the edge of the harsh winter months. While last-minute deals often prove to be a bargain, booking early for summer 2013 could save you a bundle.(See full article by Clicking here) 

2.Do not pay for a hotel room.

Stay rent-free in a lovely house instead. Register with Christian House Sitters so that you can benefit from having your accommodation rent-free. We have members all over the world so this may mean you can get to visit that country you have often dreamed of seeing but could not afford. Full details click here

3. Do not fork out a fortune for kennels, cattery or pet sitters.

This is available free of charge. Tell Christian House Sitters your dates and we will try and arrange for someone to come and look after your home and pets free of charge. This keeps your home safe.and it will save you a lot of money on pet care. Full details click here

4. Do not go where the Beckhams are going.

I could not find a royalty free image of David Beckham

I see that David Beckham is taking his wife, Victoria, and their 4 children on an 11 day vacation. So what? I hear you ask. Well the thing that caught my attention was the price. According to the report (click here to read it in full) these 11 days are going to cost him a quarter of a million pounds. Yes that is right it is costing £250,000 or in American money $403,000.Frankly to me that feels wrong. Yes he has  the money but to spend that amount for 11 days when there are so many who can’t even afford a meal or anywhere to live shows a real lack of compassion. The amount he is spending for half a day could rebuild our entire children’s home, equip it with better dormitories, a new kitchen a dining room. new equipment and have enough left over to cover the cost of education and food for our 80 children for a long time. Details of children’s home click here)

OK Get off your soap box Ray!

Sorry but I just needed to get that off my chest.

5. Save on food.

Eating in a fancy restaurant is lovely and I am sure it will be a part of your vacation but there is no need to eat out every day. If you are staying in a rent-free house through Christian House Sitters you will have a fully equipped kitchen and so you can prepare quick, tasty and easy meals at a fraction of the restaurant prices and then use some of the money you saved to have a few really special meals at a local restaurant.

God bless you,

Ray

 

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Almost Christmas.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING

You don’t need me to remind you that Christmas is fast approaching. There are reminders everywhere.

Every shop seems to be offering so-called Christmas Special Offers, the radio waves are full of Christmas themed songs, the TV is promoting their Christmas Specials and even the police are talking about their annual Christmas drink driving campaign.

Oh yes we know it’s Christmas.

But do we really stop to think about what that means?

Christmas has nothing to do with snow, cheesy films, mince pies, roast turkey or getting into debt.

Christmas is the time when we are reminded afresh that God loves us. In fact He loves us so much he came in human form to live as a man and then to die in our place. (At Easter we are reminded that His death is not the end of the story. He rose again!).

So as we approach this special time let us each ask ourselves if we are guilty of the same thing as the famous Inn Keeper. Remember he said he had no room for Jesus and sent Mary & Joseph to the stable.

Sadly we often do exactly the same. We push Jesus aside and allocate him a small outside annex rather than allowing Him the place He deserves as our Lord and Master.

This Christmas will you make sure that you make room for the King. Room in your heart. Room in your thoughts. Room in your actions and room in every area of your life.

As an aside I must naturally say that if you are thinking of going on a vacation you do not need to worry that there will be no room at the inn of your choice or that it will cost too much. Remember Christian House Sitters offers rent-free vacations all over the world and can find reliable people to look after your home and pets while you are away without any cost. See Christian House Sitters

God bless you,

Ray

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Superstorm Sandy. Be warned another danger is approaching

America is battling to recover from Superstorm Sandy.

As I watch the TV coverage my heart goes out to the people who have lost their lives, their homes and their jobs and all I can do is pray that somehow God will sort it all out.

Thankfully there was advance warning that Sandy was approaching and as a result many hundreds of thousands of people were able to evacuate and I am sure this saved many lives.

It is going to take a long time for the country to fully recover and the financial cost could impact on Americans lives for a long time.

But I have some more bad news.

There is another storm coming!

This will not be due to a hurricane and the damage will not be to houses and the transportation system. This storm will hit people psychologically and physically. It will result in loss of income, poor health and sadly even death for some of the victims.

What am I talking about?

I am talking about burn-out.

I was sent a copy of a report from the Daily Mail. They state, and I quote

A survey of U.S. and Canadian employers found nearly two-thirds are asking their employees to work longer hours since the recession. And about half of the 300 companies asked expect the trend to continue for another three years. The worrying trend seems to have been particularly bad for senior and middle managers, according to the Towers Watson survey. The survey also discovered that it is not only the length of the working day that has been affected,  but the amount of time off. One in three of respondents said their employees had been taking less time off during the working year.

It continues   Laurie Bienstock from Towers Watson added: ‘In the short run, having employees work extra hours can increase productivity, but in the long run, extended hours can negatively affect employee well-being and retention.’

Yes it is true.

The human body needs to have time off. We were designed to have periods of rest and recovery and we ignore that at our peril.

Is this how you are feeling?

Countless studies have shown that not taking a vacation is a false economy as it can lead to burn-out and many health problems. It also makes us far less efficient at work, more prone to making mistakes and to having accidents. We are also more likely to have major disagreements with our family, colleagues and even our clients.

Evacuate Now.

Get yourself out of the danger zone by planning a vacation. Take the necessary precautions to protect yourself, your loved ones and to help you remain a productive member of society.

It does not need to cost a fortune! Christian House Sitters can help you! We can arrange for someone to look after your home and pets while you are away and that will not cost you anything We can even help you find rent-free accommodation all over the world. No not in some dingy dump but often in beautiful houses located in lovely places where apart from relaxing and having fun your only responsibility will be to look after the house while the owner and their family also enjoy a vacation.

Sounds too good to be true.

I know but it is true. Have a look at our website. Read the many press clippings in our Media coverage page on the website. Then if you have any questions contact me and I will try to help you.

God bless you

With our help you can probably afford that vacation

Ray