"I see a branch of an almond tree"

The word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" And I said, "I see a branch of an almond tree." Jer 1: 11 (NRSV) How often will your group start a study on Jeremiah then the next week one of the group says the almond tree is blooming let's have the study at our house. We did, and I saw the branch of an almond tree. With a mandarin tree in the background loaded to overflowing.

It is an amazing blessing to be a minister in the country. I look forward to the word of the LORD coming to me and the people that I minister to and with during our time here.

The locals

Just of a couple of my neighbours! 

Birdbath

I have always wanted a birdbath in my yard.  Who would have thought I would have to move to Roma, Queensland, Australia to have that want become a reality.  We are settling into the "Uniting Church Manse" (that is what the sign next to the door says) and are very happy to be here.  We have met some of our neighbours, a few of the local clergy and a few folk from two of the congregations and we have a birdbath in the back yard.  It required a bit of maintenance which Mal quickly took to (just for me - I am not sure he considered it a priority) but I relax at the sink while I wash dishes and watch the birds come to drink and play.  The birdbath probably represents a whole bunch of affirmations that we are just where God wants us to be. Praise be to God.

You can never go back!

I am not the person I was 22 years ago.  That may sound obvious however, there are differences that are subtle. 

Today, I had the pleasure of worshiping in a church I had been a member of 22 years ago.  I had told Mal that I really wanted to attend worship at this church because, I had many good memories there.  My eldest daughter was baptized at this church.   

We rocked up and there was a very familiar and comfortable place and and there were a few people who remembered me.  They were so delighted to think that after so long someone would care enough and have loved them enough to come visit.  They were even more delighted to learn that I would soon be a minister.  It was heartwarming for them and me.  I will keep in touch now.

During the experience, I recognized how this place and these people had been God’s agents in my life.  I had grown in faith at that place in spite of myself.  

This is how I know that I am not the same person.  When I was here 22 or so years ago, I was young and loved adventure but was becoming insecure.  I was white anting myself so to speak.  I was wrong then.  Feelings are feelings but feelings to not always reflect the truth.  People saw the truth and demonstrated God’s love to me then and now.  The difference, then I knew God loved me but struggled to love myself and accept that others loved me; now I think I am okay and can accept that okay is okay.  I am also happy to accept that the people I met today really do love me and now Mal 22 years on.  

I tell people all the time you can never go back.  I went back physically because of circumstance but emotionally and spiritually went to a place an moved forward.  

I wonder

The other day, while traveling home on the bus, I saw a sign that had a name followed by "Legal Lawyers".  I immediately began to wonder would the "illegal" lawyers put that fact on their sign and if not why would it be necessary to put "legal" on the sign.  

Or is it that we cannot assume that lawyers deal with matters of law so therefore must describe them by another word, "legal", that we may or may not understand as having to do with law.

Most likely it is bad marketing and reminds me of being in places where English is the second language. 

 "Why Can't the English learn to speak?"  Henry Higgins where are you? 

cold

This is sunny Queensland, Australia.  Today is indeed sunny.  But it is cold.  This morning we woke up and it was 2 C; that is 35.5 F.  Because this is sunny Queensland, we have no heating but the little oil heater that lives in the bathroom.  So basically, the temperature outside is what we wake up to inside.  It was cold.  

The current temp is 18C which is about 65F.  It is lovely.  I have all the doors and windows open in order to absorb as much heat as possible to keep us warm in the predicted overnight low of 9C, a heat wave!

a poem

Long ago in a land far away, I used to write poetry.  I wrote one a couple of years ago and thought I should spend time with words in this way more often.  We in The Gap have been swamped by rain, 18 inches in less than 48 hours.  For many, not recovered from the last storm, this is disaster.  For us, it just meant water in a wall from a roof leak, not repaired well or overflowed we are not sure.  But there is water flowing everywhere.  The results....

Rivers

coursing, surging

twisting

Rivers

Rivers

raging, pushing

flooding

Rivers

Water

cool, refreshing

cleansing

Water

Rivers

flowing, lazy

floating

Rivers

Redeemed.

Defined by 3 M's

So, I had a bit of leftover lite cream and I wanted to see if it would whip. For cream to whip well there needs to be a certain amount of fat.   I need this information for the future so I won't buy this brand for whipping.   Mal found the bowl with sort of whipped cream and asked what is this.  I explained.  To which, my friend Erin replied, wow, you are everything.

Minister

Mom 

and Mad Scientist.

I thought that about sums it up.

I have been reading

I know that I should be writing.  But I have been reading.  I am on the fourth book in the Ancient Practices Series.  I finished reading Sabbath by Dan B. Allender and am nearly finished with Fasting by Scot McKnight.  Mal is also reading the series.

The style of each book and author, I suppose is quite different.  We have found all these book to be a bit challenging.  There have been many opportunities for us to test out what we are being challenged about, in general, why are practices important to begin with and do they matter to our daily life.  I have to answer a resounding yes.

I have been trying to figure Sabbath out for some time and this book was a terrific resource to do just that.  As for Fasting, I have learned that I have not understood the purpose and motivation of fasting at all.  Fasting as presented by McKnight makes much better sense. 

Why do the practices make a difference?  Well, I live and work in a world that is constantly trying to distract me from my joy.  The more set I am in my practice the more difficult for the world to distract me from that the more complete and consistent is joy.

Uncommon

The other night Mal and I commented on how uncourteous drivers have become.  I said that there is no such thing as common courtesy so we must be uncommonly courteous.  Mal said that also applies to common sense.  The sense that seems common these days is not the sense that I would have my children use.  So now I must teach my children to use their uncommon sense.....

Reflection on reflection

Have I stopped reflecting?  I seem to struggle to think of things to blog about.  I know that I am busy and most of my writing is for college or work.  When I began blogging, it seemed easy to pick up random thoughts and run with them a bit, however, now I don't seem to be able to concentrate on random thoughts.  Just too busy.  Busy is okay but ceasing to do reflection for me is not okay.  It is important that I see God; that includes my daily life.  Several times I have opened blogger only to close it again with no new post.  So I have restarted my effort reflecting on the stoppage of reflection. I sense that it is simply a part of the rhythm of life.  Sometimes, I will reflect more than at other times.  It could be that my life is simply got boring. 

Why God won't let me take myself too seriously - Part 4

I rushed out of the house today.  There had been a tradesman there replacing  screens damaged by the storm, so I was late. I sprinted to the bus stop and 2 meters from the door of the bus, the driver closed the door and drove away.  I couldn't believe it.  So I hiked quickly to The Gap village about 10 mins to catch the express bus, grabbed a sushi on the way because it was soon to be lunch time and the exercise had made me hungry.  Got to Milton for the eye exam that I was rushing to only to find out that the exam is next Tuesday.  So I walked across the tracks to the college where the Triune God lecture is and sat for an hour waiting for the lecture to start.  I would have time to get a sandwich and sit in comfort to eat which was the original plan but my hunger had driven me to wolf down a sushi on the run.  Today is hot and humid and my blouse was soaking wet by the time I got to Milton not only because of the sprint but also because the express bus does not stop as close to my destination and there was a hike at the other end as well.

I tried to tell Mal that he needs to take better care of me but he insists I read the calendar all by myself.

Somehow dignity seems to be so elusive for me. I thought I was being smart booking the exam before the lecture because they are in the same area.  Maybe next week it will seem to have been a smart thing.  Next week, I will be early to the bus

Repent

Mark 1:15 Jesus says, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."  The word repent caught my attention, in order to repent one has to accept responsibility for the error in the first place.  They would have to acknowledge that they had made a mistake.  Does this happen much any more, or is it everyone else's fault? How freeing it would be for most to simply say, "I'm sorry".  

Have I offended? you bet I have - now I am sorry.  

Home from Holidays

Well believe it or not, we have nearly a gig of photos from our trip to the red centre of Australia.  It was a great time for so many reasons.  Mostly because God was there at every turn.  In conversations and in quiet.  So as a place to start, here is one of the awesome sights.

Travel is bad for my blog

When I travel, I don't take time to blog.  It is low on the priority list and catching up with people is high.  I was recently in Guam and had a few interesting experiences that I thought I would log here.  When I checked into the hotel, I was given a letter that explained that the cable TV would be experiencing outages while the company moved stuff.  I thought that is okay, I don't watch much TV.  Later that day, I finally paid the $10 US for one day (24 hours) of internet access to let Mal know I was there safe.  Then the next morning when I tried to connect to internet nothing happened.  I stopped at the front desk to say I didn't get 24 hours of access and the receptionist ask if I got the letter.  I asked what letter, she said the letter that explained that the cable was out.  I said, "Yes, I did and the internet runs through the cable, huh?" She affirmed that.  The letter did not mention internet.  Oh well, I should have known.

The next day, I got a letter from the hotel informing me that the next evening the city was shutting off the water overnight to repair a broken main down the street.  The letter also said the hotel would continue to operate on reserve water supply.  How many hotels have reserve water?  The outage was to be from 22pm to 4am.  Is 22pm a time?  2200 hours or 10 pm maybe?  

Of course, the outage began on time when did water return?  I don't know I left for work at 6:20am that is 0620 hours and there was no water then.  I was thankful, I had showered at a friends house the night before. 

Unlike other hotels in Guam, this hotel had a note that it cost $.75 to make a local phone call.  I thought no problem there are two pay phones next to the elevator in the lobby for $.25 .  I stopped on the way to make a local call, dialed the number then when instructed to insert a quarter, put a quarter into the slot.  The first phone would not take a quarter or any other currency for that matter.  The second phone just let the money go through the phone into the change slot.  So, I paid $.75 for local calls.  

I think there was a little earth quake on Saturday night at 7 pm. It had to be little but I was on the 11th floor.  

On Sunday morning there was a drunk in the parking lot, sitting on the ground with his head in the drivers seat of his car.  His windshield wipers were running but the car was not.  I tried to inform hotel security but they were suddenly no where to be found.  Most days, there were two or three of them hanging around.  

There were more Guam stories but I have forgotten.

On the flip side. The weather was wonderful.  I enjoy catching up with people and overall the work was good.  

I will not blog again for about 3 weeks as I am taking my Dad to the red center of Australia.  Will bring you photos. 

We change

As time passes we change.  My tastes have changed in food and in fashion as I have aged.  But also my sporting interests have changed.  After I moved to Australia, I found it difficult to watch Sunday football (Grid iron to Australians) because it comes on Monday mornings and I am at college on Monday mornings.  So I thought it prudent to begin to learn about some of the sports my husband enjoys.  Out of the many choices of sport, my husband follows AFL and the Brisbane Lions a bit and he follows Australian Cricket.  

As Mal is a patient man, he was able to answer my plethora of questions until now I can understand both games, but, I really enjoy cricket the most.  

I had the privilege of attending the Boxing day test at the MCG which was an extremely cool experience.  And now that the test series is over between Australia and South Africa, they play one day matches and a variation called 20/20.  This is a much different strategy to the same game and is very exciting to watch.

So why to I enjoy cricket. First I think I learned to enjoy sport because my brothers are extremely athletic and I have the hand eye coordination of a sheep.  I learned by watching to appreciate what they could do so easily and I could not.  

Cricket is a game of amazing thought and athleticism.  Last night, I watched a young man, J. P. Duminy, hit this amazing shot.  Unlike baseball you hit the ball hard, in cricket there is a bit of finesse and you can hit the ball in any direction.  Cricketers also hit the ball off a bounce unlike baseball.  Young Duminy stepped to the side of the crease as a bounced and got his bat under the ball and launched it over his head to the boundary behind him.  It was amazing.  Australia won the game but both teams are very good (S. Africa won the test series).

Have changed interests or have I just redirected an admiration? Am I just getting a bigger view of the talents that God created in man?  Adding breadth to my contextual library? Or is cricket just a reeeallly great game?

2009

Happy New Year.  I realize that we are almost a week into this year but it has been busy already.  Mal is away already for work.  I am trying to get some study done to lighten the load for next semester.  Yesterday, I spent some time hanging out with a friend who is going on a mission trip to Africa and have also spent some time with another friend who is bunking at our house on her holiday.  Then my two girls came and all of us went to Ikea and I bought curtains.  

Later my daughters' husbands came over and we watched movies and ate pizza.  It was a great day except for Mal missing.  While we were eating and watching, the whole house began to glow golden and even though no one could see the actual sunset (I have no west facing windows in the living room) everyone commented on how beautiful the sunset was.  They could see the golden glow through all the other windows.  I went out to actually see the sunset then came back for my camera.  

I really felt that all creation was calling to my soul to join in proclaiming the greatness of God.  Below is a photo of the sunset.  You can decide for yourself, as for me - God is truly Great!

Down under

It is Christmas.  My rose bushes are blooming.  Yes, roses for Christmas.   It seems somewhat odd to me.  I grew up in the northern hemisphere, where Christmas is nestled neatly into the cold and snow.  Perhaps, it is not so in America's south but where I grew up Christmas is cold.  This year, I have trimmed my tree and cut roses for the dining table.  After Christmas, we will go to the cricket.  I really mean, "the" cricket, as we will go to the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) for the Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) test match.  There is a bat and ball so my American friends might think of it as a sport like baseball (although not at all like baseball) in December.  But remember, it is not cold it is summer here, the roses are blooming and the game is on.

Prayers for you and your family though this blessed time when we remember God's gift to the world and anticipate Christ's coming into the world.

Merry Christmas to all!

Don't ask why

I love the outdoors.  Last week, Mal and I were in North Queensland, Etty beach near Innisfail to be exact.  There I watch a Cassowary and baby, they are fascinating.  There was a man above the retaining wall trying to scare them away.  He was a safe distance as the parent was over a meter (bit more than a yard) tall.  He said that they are not too smart.  They actually look a bit dinosaur to me with the horn and all.  Don't ask why they have a horn.

Then at the beach in the wet sand were many beads of sand push out of holes by mini crabs.

  The beads made beautiful patterns on the beach.  They seemed to be star-shaped patterns but were probably quite random.  Don't ask why they made pretty patterns.  

These are things I don't know, I just observe.  I have to admit, I have lots of observations and don't really know anything about them.  Sometimes, I wager a guess.  Sometimes, maybe divine inspiration gives me knowledge.  A lot, I just don't know.  God knows and most of the time that is good enough for me.  

Weddings are a big deal

The wedding was Saturday and I am still a bit tired.  Yesterday, I literally just showed up at things there was not much thinking or anything; but I was there.  The wedding was a lot of fun and went very well.  It was all beautiful.  So why am I so tired?  Mia and Sam did almost everything (Mal and I and Sam's parents did fork out dough) but the work was done by a determined young couple.  I think Deb support Mia a lot as only sisters can do.  And Sam's mom recycled a dress for Mia.  But I am tired.  I didn't sleep much on Friday night, that is because my girls didn't sleep.  So I am sure that contributes.  I imagine my tired is because I put all my emotion and spirit into wanting their wedding to be perfect and not getting in their way.  I am so glad for them that this is behind them and they can press forward into the world and life ahead of them.   Mia n Sam - if your watching,  I love you both and pray that you have a wonderful trip. I can't wait till you get back to hear all about it.  Take lots of photos!