what's happenin??!

What's the latest peoples? Everyone a weee bit busy to blog - surely someone has some news?

How was your party Claire? Have you got any photos we can download on to our blog :)
Now don't be shy I'm sure you looked FABBO in your 80s clothes! Or was it 70s?

Since my other two escapees have not done an update on our trip to Griffith looks like the person with too much time on her hands, (as my Pastor's wife would say), will have to fill in the gaps.

Zee, Myles and I went away for the weekend to visit our cousin in Griffith. We kept telling her for the last few months that we were coming, but there was always a clash with our busy lives. So finally we decided to go before she returns to NZ.

So we had a marathon trip to Griffith - 8 hrs out of Sydney. We left late Frid 25th just for a quick weekend away. Most of the trip there we had a storm following us. It was always just in front or on our right side or just behind. It was AWESOME. You could see the dark clouds spreading like it was following us and trying to catch us but it never did.

I love storms - the lightning was amazing. Zella's 10 yr old sister said the most imaginative thing about lightning - it's God taking pictures of us! How cool is that! No wonder I get such a buzz out of it.

Anyways we were seriously speeding - doing over 120k...we wanted to get to Griffith before midnight. We were almost there when out from the side ran a rabbit. I screamed, the rabbit made two very loud thuds underneath the car.

I felt so sorry for it but there was no point stopping. It was mince meat at the speed we were travelling. Then about 20 mins later just as we hit the small town just before Griffith our car just died.

We were all very thankful that the car died in a very well-lit street with town and street signs so we could give the NRMA guy directions. God and his great rescue plans. 10 mins before and we would have been stuck in the middle of nowhere with no lights and no way of knowing where we were.

After seeing Wolf Creek our imaginations would have worked over time!

So we got to Ems, our cousin, finally at about 2am. Car was towed to a garage. Next day we found out it had a hole in the radiator - no longer felt sorry for that rabbit....instead it was 'stupid rabbit, was it blind, couldn't it see the lights' :) We had a good laugh over that one. Plus the rabbit was growing in size - it became the size of a wombat, even joked it was a kangaroo. But unfortunately I have an instant replay in my head of it - it was a large grey rabbit - or hare...do they have these in Australia?

Griffith is such a small town that even the Holden garage/dealer didn't have a radiator. So we had to order it in - but it would take a couple of days. So instead of returning Sunday nite, we returned Tues, yesterday.

It was great we all caught up on our sleep, reading, watching dvds and relaxing. Zee was saying it was like the LORD knew she needed to rest and made her take time off work. Myles found a new best friend - this huge comfy cosy lazyboy chair which was big enough to accommodate all 6 ft 1 of him!

Sunday morning, Myles woke me up for church - I had gone to bed at about 5amish, so I wasn't feeling like going. But Myles said to me we have to go to support Emma. He was right so I got up and woke up Zee. We all hopped in the car we hired and drove around the corner to church (yip, Griffith is small).

It was an awesome service...from the moment we walked in to very loud music with only 7 or so people in the crowd but a full on band. There was a young woman with an awesome voice singing and I recognised the old songs of my baptist days - it was great. Just a small group of christians raising the roof with heartfelt worship.

They had a guest preacher - a Pacific Island man who goes around all the small towns to encourage them to keep up the good fight. He was incredible. There was nothing spectacular about him, I mean he looked just like us - just his awesome faith and heart for the LORD's people. An ordinary christian doing EXTRA ordinary work in God's body. It was incredibly encouraging to see even in small towns the LORD is moving and the message was awesome.

It reaffirmed messages from the LORD. I found myself writing so many things for our church and for our 40 days group.

The LORD is calling us to a greater level of obedience and commitment. For me it means an increase in my prayer life. I have already had this message from the LORD for me personally and for our church. He expects even more from those who already have.

What we say or do will have no major effect if we don't draw near to the LORD. The awesome thing is that we don't have to be at the same level to increase our commitment.

He talked of sowing seeds to reap a harvest. Whatever seeds we sow we will reap. It made me wonder what will we reap with the seeds we are sowing now? If we want to save lives, to make a difference, to love God more and love others more - then are we sowing these seeds to reap a great harvest for our LORD?

We believe the LORD allowed this accident of ours to keep us in Griffith so we could hear this man speak. So we could rest and realise that we are not indispensible - work will always be there, commitment and responsibilities will always be there BUT without a one on one active and vibrant relationship with the LORD it all means nothing.

Good thing I am working - this lesson cost us $700 and it was worth every cent!

My heart was moved by George, this small town preacher, doing his part in the body of Christ. If each of us did as much as he did, unsung and unnoticed by the rest of the body, then the LORD would have an unstoppable church. It filled me with hope for the LORD's body.

I am going to tell our pastor about George. He's visiting Sydney and i have his email address. How cool would it be to connect us to his work, to support small communities, a lot of them aboriginal. It's definitely something we could include on our short term missions projects for our 40days group. He's from Bourke, NSW....I am imagining a trip to bless him in his community work!

This church only had about 8 people but they worshipped as if there 50 people there. It was very inspiring. They were like our church...people kept arriving late. Nobody really knows what the LORD is doing in all his churches and his communities. But it seems he is even busier than us!

stop and pray

family

we didn't stop and pray last nite. It's funny cos zee, myles and I were together but we forgot.

So if you read this during the day/nite, add to my prayers...

LORD

i feel the need to draw near to you - it's why i remembered that we hadn't prayed together. it's what i love about the nite, Lord, it's like the world has gone to sleep but you and me.

i'm missing you tonite and i think it's because i saw a lot of people in need today and it reminded me how important it is to build real relationships. that even your loved ones don't know who you are, how you're feeling, how you're coping with life.

I pray for our 40days group LORD, help us to build real relationships with each other. To speak the truth in love to each other, to support each other, to encourage each other, to accept each other with all our strengths and weaknesses.

I'm still adjusting to what it means to lean on others - my brothers and sisters are the physical representations of you. It's for that reason that I need them most.

I pray for our church LORD. Teach us LORD. Help us to seek you in everything we do. Help us to build your kingdom and not our own. Help us to work on your body LORD and not just our patch. Renew our minds LORD and fill us with your spirit. Help us to learn from our mistakes so we can be better at harvesting, better at building disciples who will go out and save the multitudes.

LORD, you know i'm not big on sameness. I know you've given us such variety in our church because we need each other to strengthen our weaknesses. I pray for the leadership team LORD. Help us to lead my example - not our own but your example.

Don't let us be a church that only builds on earth LORD, help us to prepare those you have given us for your eternal purposes. What good is a large church LORD if when we get to heaven there are only a few of us? A large church on earth means nothing if it's not a large church in eternity.

LORD help us to communicate with each other. Bind us together LORD, show us how to stand in the gap for each other. Help us to meet real needs, help us to listen. Don't let us build a house on sand LORD.

All this means one thing to me LORD.

Help us to love.

To love you and all those you give us.

I stumble all the time at loving those around me...it always brings me back to you. Teach us HOW to love LORD.

In your AWESOME life changing name, my Lord and Saviour.

'Wolf Creek' - a bad movie...but why?

Went to see a movie called 'Wolf Creek' last night with the team. It was meant to be a 'scary R18'. And I was wondering after why I thought it was a bad movie. Sure it had some 'gruesome, disturbing' scenes (rape, torture, murder)...I know this kind of evil exists in the world. Then I realised what made it a bad movie is that none of those scenes really added to the movie. They did not really add to the suspense...they just existed to be gruesome. Which makes it kinda boring. And the plot weak. And in terms of weak plots - I have watched enough episodes of CSI to know that if the lad at the end was picked up within walking distance of the camp, with the burnt out cars, the fact the baddie frequented fuel stops (outback locals forget little) - that the police would have easily found the large camp from an aerial view of the area.

As a Christian I don't shy away from a gruesome story (have you read the Old Testament!) but after reading the Bible a story has to have a good plot to have meaning!

Scripture from my journey

hey all...as part of our study I ran us all through scripture I had received since becoming a Christian that I felt was special.

Firstly, Philippians 2:12-13 "...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and act according to his good purpose."

Then a couple on salt - Mark 9:50 "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other." and Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."

Then two on secrets - Luke 8:17 "For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open." and Hebrews 4:13 "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

And finally, what could be the Bible in a summary - 1 John 3:16 "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

And finally some words from an old Negro spiritual:
we feel like a-shoutin as we
come out of the wilderness
leanin' on the Lord

nite owl

don't know why I am still awake. I should be tucked up in my bed sleeping soundly but instead I'm awake. Oh well an opportunity to post.

I should have gone with Rob to watch the rugby, but instead i feel like hanging with the LORD.

LORD

Thanks so much for an awesome last few days. It's been great having spare time to do nothing and then time to spend building relationships.

We had Wednesday to go watch family play oztag that was great and heaps of fun. Thursday saw TD Jakes who amazed me with just how much he spoke the word (memorised verses and stories). His version of the prodigal son story gave me fresh insight into a story I already love because it's an AWESOME illustration of your GRACE and LOVE.

Thanks again for the awesome alter call. I had such a burning desire to pray for the alter call even before TD Jakes had finished his sermon. I could sense the presence of your spirit, that feeling of warm hands even tho there was a cold wind blowing. It felt like your spirit was walking through the aisles seaching for your lost sheep and calling me to pray to set them free. You were probably calling all your children to do the same in that meeting.

It was very moving LORD. I couldn't help but cry in awe of you and your love for us. How you long for your children to be saved. At times it frustrates me that I can't scream to the world that you are the answer to all they seach for and long for. But they don't recognise that you are the answer because of us, your children.

It saddens me LORD that with all we know about you that we still can't understand that it's your kingdom we are building not our own. What's the point of recognition and honour in this world if when we get to heaven it's empty and hell is full?? I'm reminded of Reinhardt Bonnke's narrow road story. That your sacrifice on the cross bridged that narrow road so that many would be saved.

You spoke before your death Jesus about this narrow road but after your resurrection you opened the doors of heaven to the multitudes. Forgive me LORD for not doing enough to save the lost. There are people you have put in my life over the years that I have not done enough to save.

LORD, if you put these people back in my life, then I will not hestitate to tell them that I am who I am because of you. That all the good that they saw in me was from you. That you love them and you are willing to wait for them to return home.

So many blessings you have given me. All my life you have watched and guided my steps even when I walked the opposite way you wanted me to go, I took you with me. Like a spoilt little kid who dragged their Dad by the hand somewhere he didn't want to go. You didn't try to stop me but you knew what would happen and would scoop me up exactly when I needed to be saved and protected. I learnt from my mistakes and I wouldn't do it again.

Help me to bless others LORD. To see them with your eyes. To love them as you do. To be like you and see their heart. Don't ever let me get in the way of your work LORD. Help me to hear your voice, to know your will in my life. Renew my mind more and more LORD.

Thanks for the great week...
Friday I spent the day with Irene which was heaps of fun. Thanks for all the good stuff you are doing in her life LORD even with all her struggles. She has so much potential to be an awesome woman of God and Satan knows it. Thanks for protecting her and her family LORD. Thanks for continuing to answer my prayers for her - especially not letting her give up!

Friday nite had Claire and Zee over after pass the plate. Thanks for bringing so many people that nite. I have clicked on that secret weapon. I'm excited about Christmas coming up and how much more we can show others the true meaning of celebrating your birthday.

Today blessing zee with an opportunity to buy herself clothes for work and do her budget. Then hanging out with my two girlfriends. LORD, please help them. You reminded me today of how else I can bless them. I invited them to our Christmas service - thanks for that opportunity. Please give me another one to follow up on the invite. I would love to share Christmas with them in some way LORD. For them to see what Christmas is really all about.

Tired now. good nite, LORD.