Just doing life

25 things about LAUREN!

2009-02-08T08:58:00.004+11:00

I was tagged, so here are my "25 things"

1. I love these things. I was excited to be tagged.

2. I wanted to change my name to Kimberly when I was in Kindergarten.

3. I am Ginger Spice.

4. I loved Hanson in High School, and I was convinced I was going to marry Taylor Hanson...kinda glad I didn't :)

5. I met Mick in year 7 when I was 12, but wasn't really friends with him until year 9 (when I started going to youth group), and we didn't actually start going out until after we finished year 12. We got engaged at 19 & married at 20!

6. While every 8 year old loved the all-girl pop group 'Girlfriend', my favourite musician was Eric Clapton.

7. I started playing netball when I was 8. I played rep from 11 & stopped playing at 16. I was sick of the 'politics'!

8. I worked at McDonalds when I was 15 for about 6 months.

9. I played the recorder in Primary School.

10. I have a phobia of deep water.

11. I am also petrified of Magpies. I don't go walking in Spring for fear of getting swooped.

12. I used to love devouring books. I just don't have the time anymore. And by devouring, I mean reading lots & lots.

13. I went on a student exchange when I was 16 to Spain. I got extremely homesick 2 months in & went home!

14. I'm happiest when friends & food are all around me.

15. I wanted to be an Illustrator when I was in early Primary School, and a Physiotherapist when I was in late Primary School.

16. I wrote a play in year 6. It was terrible. I also wrote songs with a friend. They too were terrible.

17. I love the colour pink.

18. I love clouds. Especially with sunrises & sunsets.

19. I didn't go to Uni, and have done quite well for myself!

20. I started my baker's apprenticeship in 2004. I lasted 6 months...I miss it though!

21. I love working in hospitality. I want to have my own business one day.

22. I don't like walking or running for exercise, I find it too boring. I prefer playing sport or riding my bike.

23. My vice is choc-chip cookies. And coffee.

24. I can't just sit & watch a movie. I always have to be doing something else, like Sudoku, or bumming on facebook :)

25. I don't want to live a mediocre life.

Well, there you go :)

Best thing ever!

2009-01-29T11:05:00.003+11:00

So the best thing ever happened to us yesterday as we were buying a few items at the supermarkets. We just picked up 1 or 2 things and were then headed for the nearest icecream (it was 35 dgrees outside- thats 95 degree Fahrenheit) when the lady behind us at the checkout asks us if we want some free iceblocks!!!
She and her 2 daughters were getting some iceblocks & as it was cheaper to buy a box of 8 iceblocks than 3 individual icecreams!
So we scored free iceblocks and the moral of the story is that is the best thing ever!!!
Thanks

C.S. Lewis Song

2009-01-26T15:43:00.005+11:00

This is my other song for the year:

C.S. Lewis Song - Brooke Fraser
If i find in myself desires nothing in this world can satisfy
I can only conclude that I was not made for here
If the felsh that i fight is at best only light and momentary
Then ofcourse I'll feel nude when to where I'm destined I'm compared

Speak to me in the light of the dawn
Mercy comes with the morning
I will sigh and with all creation groan as I wait for hope to come for me

Am i lost or just found? On the straight or on the roundabout of the wrong way?
Is this a soul that stirs in me, is it breaking free, wanting to come alive?
Cos my comfort would prefer for me to be numb
And avoid the impending birth of who I was born to become

Speak to me in the light of the dawn
Mercy comes with the morning
I will sigh and with all creation groan as I wait for hope to come for me

For we, we are not long here
Our time is but a breath, so we better breathe it
And I, I was made to live, I was made to love, I was made to know you
Hope is coming for me
Hope, He's coming

Yahweh

2009-01-26T13:36:00.003+11:00

I've been thinking about what this year is going to look like, and I could talk about all the things I'm doing, but I think it's more than that. I was listening to U2's how to dismantle an atomic bomb (what a mouthful!) album today & the last song's lyrics struck me. I think THIS is what I'm about this year...quite simply anyway :)

Yahweh - U2
Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes and make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt and make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul and make it sing
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn
Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands, don't make a fist
Take this mouth
So quick to criticise
Take this mouth, give it a kiss
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn
Still waiting for the dawn, the sun is coming up
The sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, tell me now
Why the dark before the dawn?
Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city if it be your will
What no man can own, no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it break

Beautiful

2009-01-13T19:05:00.002+11:00

I was watching Lily dance this evening & she started spinning. It was a beautiful sight to watch, she had a look of pure joy in her face. Simply beautiful. I hope she never loses that joy!

Waiting still

2009-01-12T18:37:00.003+11:00

I'm really looking forward to February! That's when Mick & I start (properly) working & we'll be able to figure out housing arrangements (any pray-ers out there, prayers would be gratefully accepted in that area :)...I guess I feel like things will begin in February.
In the meantime Mick & I are just riding out January, trying to enjoy not being busy, but failing...being stationary is a little frustrating sometimes!
L x

2009-01-08T19:19:00.004+11:00

Some recent musings...

Shedding skin, gotta rid myself of this guilt-racked cover life
Can’t win, sticks like glue
Gotta find the one that’s true
Fighting the lies, still some catch me by surprise
Grass is always greener on the other side
Looking at myself in disguise
Not recognising what I see
What’s on the surface isn’t real
But it’s what’s underneath that makes me flee
I’m looking for a lifeline
But what I grab makes no difference
Shedding skin, gotta let you in
Unconditional freedom

You know you're Australian if....

2009-01-05T14:54:00.004+11:00

I yoinked this from a friends facebook page, I thought it was hilarious! Especially returning from overseas recently :)

You know you're Australian if....

You know the meaning of 'girt'
You believe that stubbies can either be worn or drunk
You think it is normal to have a Prime Minister called Kevin
You waddle when you walk due to the 53 expired petrol discount vouchers stuffed in your wallet or purse
You've made a bong out of your garden hose rather than use it for something illegal such as watering the garden
When you hear that an American 'roots for his team' you wonder how often and with whom
You understand that the phrase 'a group of women wearing black thongs' refers to footwear and may be less alluring than it sounds
You pronounce Melbourne as 'Mel-bin'
You pronounce Penrith as 'Pen-riff'
You believe the 'L' in the word ' Australia ' is optional
You can translate: 'Dazza and Shazza played Acca Dacca on the way to Maccas'
You believe it makes perfect sense for a nation to decorate its highways with large fibreglass bananas, prawns and sheep
You call your best friend 'a total bastard' but someone you really, truly despise is just 'a bit of a bastard'
You think 'Woolloomooloo' is a perfectly reasonable name for a place
You believe is makes sense for a country to have a $1 coin that's twice as big as its $2 coin
You understand that 'Wagga Wagga' can be abbreviated to 'Wagga' but 'Woy Woy' can't be called 'Woy'
You believe that cooked-down axlegrease makes a good breakfast spread
You believe all famous Kiwis are actually Australian, until they stuff up, at which point they again become Kiwis
You know, whatever the tourist books say, that no one says 'cobber'
You know that certain words must, by law, be shouted out during any rendition of the Angels' song 'Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again'
You believe, as an article of faith, that the confectionary known as the Wagon Wheel has become smaller with every passing year
You still don't get why the 'Labor' in 'Australian Labor Party' is not spelt with a 'u'
You wear ugh boots outside the houseYou believe that the more you shorten someone's name the more you like them
Whatever your linguistic skills, you find yourself able to order takeaway fluently in every Asian language
You understand that 'excuse me' can sound rude, while 'scuse me' is alway polite
You know what it's like to swallow a fly, on occasions via your nose
You understand that 'you' has a plural and that it's 'youse'
You know it's not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle
You biggest family argument over the summer concerned the rules of beach cricket
You shake your head in horror when companies try to market what they call 'Anzac cookies'
You still think of Kylie as 'that girl off Neighbours'
When returning home from overseas, you expect to be brutally strip-searched by Customs - just in case you're trying to sneak in fruit
You believe the phrase 'smart casual' refers to a pair of black tracky-daks, suitably laundered
You understand that all train timetables are works of fiction
When working at a bar, you understand male customers will feel the need to offer an excuse whenever they order low-alcohol beer
You get choked up with emotion by the first verse of the national anthem and then have trouble remembering the second
You find yourself ignorant of nearly all the facts deemed essential in the government's new test for migrants.
You will immediately forward this list to other Australians, here and overseas, realising that only they will understand!!

Adri's thoughts on love

2008-12-28T15:20:00.003+11:00

This is a note that my friend Adri wrote in October. I loved it when I first read it, and I loved it still when I picked it up & re-read it yesterday and I just wanted to share it with everyone.

I’m loving the basic and simple gospel of loving God and loving others.

If life is about knowing the love of God, being rooted and established in it, and loving others with that same love, the question we need to be asking ourselves is ‘Where and with who do I need to be in order to grow in that love?’
I am realising more and more that the ultimate achievement and the greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.
I was listening to Nat King Cole singing that classic line and it made me think about love…. again...
God’s love is so transformational and utterly life-changing that it gives broken people the ability to know and share that love: guess what, we all qualify!
Love is surely not an emotional feeling but is God incarnated as the person Jesus.This messes with my mind!
Wow, I honestly don’t know when love got boiled down to a warm feeling, a Celine Dion song and a box of chocolates. (I’m not a big Celine fan, I do however like chocolate..)
The Bible tells us about the One send by the Father who loved us so much, and a Son being obedient to the point of death. It reflects in our lives in actions fueled by a deep understanding of this Jesus who is alive.The love I’m talking about is patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, isn't proud, isn't rude, isn't self-seeking, is not easily angered, and keeps no record of the wrongs. It does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (How challenging is that!)
It’s a love that is selfless, humble, giving and incarnational in it’s very attitude of the heart.

There’s some moments in my life when I feel like the receiving and the giving of that love that transformed and still transforms me are shared in a single moment:
I remember sitting in Mozambique a couple of years ago while having an official informal church service with some friends. Someone read some scripture and we worshipped together. I couldn't raise my hands in the worship, as I was holding the most beautiful two babies (parents who died with HIV/Aids orphaned them). My heart, however, was raised high.
I felt fully alive.
A week or so ago I had a similar moment where I was sitting in Reynosa, Mexico, with Kelly, a friend of mine who lives in Reynosa. We went to ‘church’ with a lady named Lucia. [Lucia's been in Boys Town, the walled city run by the Mexican mafia, for 35 years and by some miraculous way walked herself to rehab a couple of weeks ago.That’s incredible.
She woke up in rehab the next morning, unable to move her legs. For 5 days she’s in rehab, no feeling in her legs. On day 6, she wakes up, still unable to move her legs, and is asking for prayer. They offer her medicine, but she refused and insisted on having only prayer. Some people prayed with her and her legs were healed. She gave her testimony on the local Christian radio station…

So here we are with Lucia in the church service which is held outside just next to the river that separates Mexico from the US. I'm wondering if they can hear us sing in the States?We’re sitting outside, my feet are dirty, covered with mosquito bites and I’m getting a little bit hot while holding a little girl. A 13-year old takes my hand and starts painting my nails in a bright red. She does a really bad job and get some on my cuticles. I smile. The ‘grown-ups’ were singing a song in the back…I felt very close to the heart of the Father. No air-conditioning, fancy powerpoints or cheesy jokes (although I do love them...cheesy jokes)…just pure, raw, simple Christianity…I loved it so much.
I guess I just love the simplicity and depth of the gospel…and I’m trying to grasp together with all the saints how wide and long and deep the love of Christ is...
A love who calls a woman out of a red light district to leave behind decades of alcohol and drug abuse.
A love who cares for the motherless and makes me the mother of an aids orphan. A love that rejoices in truth and keeps on hoping in the midst of political unrest, financial instability, shocking statistics of people being trafficked or those suffering from HIV/Aids.

John (1 John) urges us not to love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.It also tells us that loving God means obeying His commands. Jesus said the first command is to love God, and second and equal to that is to love others. Simple, right?

May we be people known for loving God and loving each other. Loving well. Loving with patience, kindness and great wisdom. Someone once said love is helping people towards the greatest beauty and the highest value and the deepest satisfaction and the most lasting joy and the biggest reward and the most wonderful friendship, love is helping people toward God.

Let's pursue that Love, that's what I'm thinking while I'm eating some chocolate and saying good night with a little Nat King Cole...

2008-12-25T06:12:00.001+11:00

Merry Christmas everyone!

Facebook 'friends'?

2008-12-16T19:53:00.004+11:00

So I culled a few facebook 'friends' today! This all came from me seeing one of my facebook 'friends' at the mall & we didn't even say hi, or make eye contact! I figured if it's awkward to talk in real life then it's definately weird to be friends on facebook!
I think I was a little inspired by Brian Heasley's recent post on culling facebook friends :)

Blessed be your name

2008-12-15T20:15:00.004+11:00

"Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights." Habakkuk 3:17-19

Mick & I are trusting pretty hard at the moment, and it's really hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel...just like the first bit of Habakkuk says. Our challenge at the moment is to "Shigionoth it", as my friend Em always says (Habakkuk 3 is the prayer of Habakkuk on shigionoth). Praising God when things are bleak; to have our focus on God, not on our own circumstances; to have joy even when things aren't fine & dandy.

I'm not to sure about how to end this post, I keep re-reading this thinking that we pretty much sound like we're crazy!!! I also keep thinking that not believing isn't an option. I choose to believe so I can go above this, to "go on the heights".

Mick just showed me the Psalm he was reading. An appropriate end to this post.

Psalm 77
I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me.
When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted.
I remembered you, O God, and I groaned; I mused, and my spirit grew faint.
You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak.
I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night. My heart mused and my spirit inquired: "Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?"
Then I thought, "To this I will appeal: the years of the right hand of the Most High."
I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.
Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God?
You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.
With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were convulsed.
The clouds poured down water, the skies resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth. Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked.
Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen.
You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

To blog, or not to blog?

2008-12-06T08:53:00.003+11:00

I'm going through what I might describe as bloggers turmoil! I have all these wonderful things going on in my head, some silly, some serious, but they never end up on here coz I have this on-going battle in my head of "Why are you actually blogging Lauren? What do you want to achieve? Why do you want to tell people about your stuff?" etc etc, so on & so forth. Now, I haven't been blogging for ages at all, but I think I'm going to not stress about it and have a break, and try & enjoy it when I get around to it!!!
I think our living situation and the unsettledness that I'm feeling at the moment contributes to this, so we'll see what happens next year when we get sorted!
Lauren x

Long time, no blog!

2008-11-20T09:40:00.003+11:00

Hello friends!
It's been a while, hasn't it?! I've had plenty going on & heaps of thoughts that I wanted to share on here, but no brain space to try & articulate it all!!!

So, I thought I'd do a brief post of key things that have been significant to me lately...

Exodus 14:13-18

Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen."

Joshua 3

Crossing the Jordan

Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people: "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between you and the ark; do not go near it."
Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you."
Joshua said to the priests, "Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people." So they took it up and went ahead of them.
And the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: 'When you reach the edge of the Jordan's waters, go and stand in the river.' "

Joshua said to the Israelites, "Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God. This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD -the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap."
So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

John 15

The Vine and the Branches

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.
The World Hates the Disciples "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated me without reason.'
"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning."

All of these passages keep coming up regularly, so I've been spending time pondering on them a lot lately! I feel like God is about to do some big things that I get to be a part of, so I'm REALLY excited about 2009 :D

Anyways, I'll leave it at that...and hopefully I can make blogging a regular thing again!

Lauren x

Dirt+kids+digging+dad=

2008-09-23T15:14:00.005+10:00

Today Lily, Jakey & I embarked on one of my favorite childhood activities: digging in the dirt!

Dirty clothes, angry ants (everywhere especially in the kids hair), silly earwigs, a wiggling witchetty grub (pictured, by the way these are not the one we found), a old rusty tent peg, some old wire and lots of dirt and ants!!!

Tiny ants, black ants, white ants, brown ants, ants with food, ants trying to fight us, digging ants...

Well we had fun.

Maybe tomorrow I will take the kids to dig up the old bull ant nest out the front...

or not!!!

Michael

McNEWS

2008-09-12T11:12:00.004+10:00

Hm mm, exciting news is an interesting way of putting things Lauren!

Well as Lauren has informed she has joined the work force & I have been given the opportunity & challenge of fulfilling one of the things I have wanted to do with my life...

BE A HOUSE HUSBAND.

Yep it doesn't sound that exciting but I have always wanted to give it a crack, as well as not being one to stick to stereotypes. Let me tell you I knew it wasn't going to be easy but man my hat goes off to all the single parents, housewives/husbands, carers and the like in the world! Yes it is fun at times (and I tell you what I will never get sick of The Jungle Book) but man is it challenging looking after growing, curious children. Everyday is different and the same activities day in and out just don't cut it. I'm really looking forward to putting House Husband on my resume!

Um, I am currently pursuing (or is that agonising, I'm not to great at making decisions) further study next year at St. Mark's theological school thing place in Canberra, just not sure of the specifics so I'm gonna drag my arse over there next week to talk to someone and try to nut some stuff out!

Some doors are opening in regards to possible houses for us next year (excuse the pun) but it is all in God's hands, so no worries.

Oh yeah believe it or not but I don't mind the old washing, folding, sweeping caper but i have always been a tidy(ish) person.

I have booked in to renew my learners driving licence (it has been a long time & a long story), yes I'm slack, have a slight fear of cars in general and last time I had my learners I badly broke my arm (playing sports not driving) and just couldn't be arsed but now I am (mostly for Lauren).

Speaking of doing things for Lauren and long stories I have booked my wedding ring in for a resize so I can wear it without it falling off, thats right I have only worn my ring once, on my wedding day, now I could go on like the old Mick about symbolism and all sorts of stuff but the moral of the story is its not just about what i believe. So there.

Much respect to you all.

Michael

Long time, no blog

2008-09-11T08:00:00.004+10:00

Hey dudes,
It's been a while! I don't even know how long we've been back in Canberra for...I think it's a month & a half...is that all?!!? In all honesty it feels like we've been back for ages!

Anywho, I (Lauren) have been working for the past week or so at a busy cafe in Gungahlin - (where Mick & I used to live). That has been completely wiping me out - I'm usually ready for bed when the kids go to bed! Mick has been super house husband extraordinaire, staying at home with the kids. It's been quite a change, I've found it a little hard to adjust to! Every instinct in me tells me to stay at home with the kids & look after them! *Sigh* this is how it is for now.

Mick has lots of exciting news that I won't share otherwise I may get into trouble :)

What else?

We had our little trip to Perth a week & a half ago, which was very nice. I was stressing beforehand that God would want us to move there, but a couple of wise friends of mine said to just go & treat it like a holiday, so we did! We stayed with David & Susan White, and their daughter Rosy. It was our privilege to meet Rosy, as shortly after we left she was involved in a fatal car accident which claimed her life. But we were really blessed by their hospitality, and by meeting all the extended family too.

It was a really good time as a family, we went to the zoo, I went to a conference, we saw quite a bit of Perth City, but the best bit was catching up with Mick's best mate Rob! It was really nice seeing him, especially coz we just missed him when we got back from the U.K!
So, at the end of it all we really felt like Canberra was the place for us to be for now. There are things to do here!!!

I have lots of e-mails & messages I need to write but I've been a bit unmotivated, so if I haven't e-mailed you in a while don't be offended!!!

I think that's it for now, I just wanted to write a bit overview about what we're up to now - I'll try & write more specifics when I have time.

Love Lauren xoxo

P.S. To all my 24-7 friends, have an amazing time at "Home"!!!

Todays & Tomorrows

2008-08-19T07:40:00.001+10:00

Tomorrow we fly :)

Today we pack :(

Sunday arvo

2008-08-16T18:00:00.003+10:00

Sunday arvo,

got to love it...going to watch my Knights (probably lose) against the Raiders at the football & then go and speak at church.

Followed by sleep I hope.

Mick

4 YEARS... and counting...

2008-08-14T00:01:00.000+10:00

Dear Lauren,

well done on making it through 4 years of being married... to me! So maybe the public can give me a hand is the 4th year anniversary paper, scissor or rock?

Maybe I'll get you one of each.

We have been through ups & downs; all sorts of adventures; house movings; country movings.

We have been friends, lovers, husband & wife, parents and everything inbetween!

So everyone this is why I love Lauren so much...

Dispite my sleep talking, wriggling & fussing to get comfortable before I sleep (between 5mins-3hours), grumbling in the morning, talking over the top of or finishing off her sentences, my stubornness (especially when I'm in thw wrong), the way I rush through chores (even though we both know I can do them properly), my indecisvness at meal times, not tucking the kids clothes in... well I could go on...

and in light of all this you still love me.

Yep, 4 years ago today we began an adventure not knowing how it would go or where we would end up... in 4 short years we have almost moved to New Zealand, almost bought our own bakery, have doubled the number of our family, lived in 7 houses (possibly or technically 9), lived in the UK and well God literally only knows what from here!!!

It has been the most amazing time of my life and much more fun knowing that I have my best friend and wife by my side, through the crap and through the gold.

And just think if we live to 100 we can celebrate our 80 years anniversary!

I love you Lauren Anne Newman

Love always Michael Douglas Newman

Go West

2008-08-02T08:22:00.000+10:00

So this has come sooner than we expected!
The Newmans are headed west, to Perth!!! For a week long visit.
Plane is booked, accommodation is being found for us, rent a car & contact Rab.
It should be awesome and by should I mean that it will be.

It is unbelievable, we have gone from nothing to being able to jump to the opposite side of the country in the space of 2 weeks!
C'mon!!!

Lessons

2008-07-31T11:55:00.000+10:00

I've been home almost a week and a half and I feel like I'm really learning NOW the lessons that I thought I learnt on Transit. I mean, I'm only just beginning to understand how things really work & what they look like for Mick & I.

Lesson number 1: Faith.

I have to choose to believe in God's goodness,

His character,

His promises to me (through the bible or otherwise)...

Pretty much I have to choose to believe in God.

Or I could not.

Right now Mick & I feel like we are free-falling (no house, car, jobs...), so it's quite a logical conclusion to decide that God isn't going to look after me & my family, not trust God that he will provide for all of our needs (and the fact that He always has means nothing) BASED ON the fact that nothing has come through right now, at this present time.

Just because I don't have anything that I call my own doesn't mean that God isn't providing for me (if this sentence sounds a little like I'm trying to convince myself, that's coz I am!).

But God often doesn't work to what I think is logic. Faith is trusting in what we can't see, right? My friends are often in the same (or similar) boat as Mick & I are. I know they are right now! The other day I was chatting with one of them & they were reminded of the passage in 1 Corinthians 1:27-31 for their own situation.

"God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

I think I need to remember that one too.

I think I am learning about relying on people (because I'd quite happily go about being self-sufficient, not needing to even borrow a cup of sugar from my neighbour!), and I think I am being taught about what it is to truly rely on God. But ultimately, I am learning to live a life that points to God.

Anyways, that's me for now. Hopefully I'll get it soon :)

L x

Eat

2008-07-30T19:24:00.000+10:00

Lamb chops!!!
Australian LAMB CHOPS!
That is what I call dinner!
YUM YUM YUM!!!

Change

2008-07-30T15:46:00.001+10:00

Change is not often easy!
Being back in Canberra hasn't been to challenging until last night...
Lily was extremely tired and worked up, once she calmed down and got into bed she asked Lauren if she could go home. Lauren asked Lily where home was, to which she replied "with Louise & Colin'. :(

Poor little 3 year old, even the little ones need time to adjust to change.

This is something that I've been thinking about

2008-07-30T08:43:00.000+10:00

So Pete Greig just put this article up on the 24-7 website, I thought it was a good read.
L x

New home & new hair

2008-07-25T18:12:00.000+10:00

Hey folks,

As Mick suggeted in his last post we are now back in the 'Berra. It's really odd, but I suppose that comes when you leave everything & return to not much. But we are blessed & we are being provided for - it's just a humbling experience! Good for the pride.

Anyway, more on that subject later, I'm sure.

I really just wanted to show the crew in North America, The U.K. & New Zealand (and anywhere else friends may be) my new hair do! I got it on the day we flew out of the U.K, kind of to make me feel better about leaving!!!

So, without further ado...

There we go. I miss you all! I hope you are all well :)

Love Lauren xox

'Home' again.

2008-07-24T16:07:00.000+10:00

Well we are back safe and sound. We flew back into Australia arriving at Sydney airport at 6:30am to a fresh 10 degrees. After the customs shuffle which was a lot easier than expected we were out and free (or something like that, its amazing what 24 hours of travel can do to the mind and body).
My bro and his girlfriend drove us the 3 hours from Sydney to Canberra. I was struck by the wide open space, the way the sky seemed so big, blue and still. My first native animal sighting was a wombat that probably left a nasty dent in someones bumper and as we came through the great dividing range past lake George (i don't think there is actually any water left in it though) and over the hills into Canberra. A sea of trees dotted with buildings and roads jumped out at us, we are back. Snow on the Brindabella ranges, clear sky, crisp breeze, max temp of about 10. The most notable thing though was the lack of traffic, no back log of cars, no people 'cutting you up', actually after being home for 2 days I have come to the conclusion that Canberra could very well be a ghost town!
Great to be back, jet lag not very servere, kids doing alright, now we just need to face up to reality!
Much love to all our overseas peoples near and far.
And to all our local peoples see you soon!

ps I'm sure lauren will have plenty of stuff to add...

Leaving on a jet plane

2008-07-20T06:06:00.000+10:00

GOODBYES SUCK!!!

The end :(

D-Day

2008-07-07T17:23:00.000+10:00

Today we move out of 'ye olde Transit house' :(

We are the last of the 'west London' Transiteers (for now) & it feels a bit starange having to be the ones to pack up this house that has hosted Transit for the last few years.
But by this evening we will be out of home, into our final community meal and into the big old world!
Gulp!

It is time...

2008-07-03T18:07:00.000+10:00

Well, I'm just about to leave for Guildford to go to our last training block...can you believe it's really been 10 months? It's actually 10 months to the day since we flew in last September! Crazy days.

Quotable quotes

2008-07-02T17:56:00.000+10:00

My friend Rosie (so totally rad) has put up a hilarious list of quotes that people have said (although some not admittedly!). We had a quotes wall out here in Egham & I thought to add to the hilarity I would put them up!
Dan Jones sparked it all with a quote that will go down in the pages of history:
"Is it G'day all day?"

It all snowballed from there. Enjoy :)

"I just go from alert to broken legs in 30 seconds" -Rob Ellinger

"Don't get me wrong, I've done a lot of gardening in my time. I jsut want to know what a weed is." -Tom Tora

"No, I don't want any tea - I just came to see your hair." - Aimee Hayter

"That's good! That should be in the Bible!" -James Butler

"I can read, I can write and I can drive a tractor!" -James Butler, on upper class farmers

"I don't know...dribbling isn't always bad..." -Mick Newman

"Hee hee hee hee he....Hee he..hee hee hee hee he...." -Louise Phyn, Lauren Newman, Mick Newman & Jakey Newman

"Jesus is the supernanny!" -Lauren Newman

"Wa-was that it? Be more constructive with your parables." -Louise Phyn & Mick Newman

Mick: "It's red, I touch it?"
Lily: "No, it's red." -Mick & Lily Newman

"It's not fair! You can't away with anything with God!" -Bec McAuliffe

"Suitable for all. Contains mild peril" -James Butler, reading from the back of a penguin documentry

"Porridge is the DADDY!" Andy Burns

"I wish I was as small as Lily so a muffin was as big as my head" -Jon Swarbrick

"This hair do is making me unintelligent" -Lauren Newman

"I'm so cool, everyone wants to help me make a crumble" -Louise Phyn

"British Telecom. Breaking the internet to bring families together." -Colin White

"Pardon me for my...'ness'..." -Lauren Newman

"So...everyone agrees with me..." - Louise Phyn

"Wow! That cheekbone hasn't had that sort of work out in ages!" -Colin White

"When I'm freestylin' with Christmas Carols sometimes I lose confidence" -Lauren Newman

"Did I tell you about the time I punched myself in the head?" -Colin White

"I'm more qualified than you, I'm a giant broom" -Mick Newman

"And Colin was the most humble of all the creatures...even more humble than the humble pie" -Louise Phyn & Mick Newman

So there was more, except they fell off the wall & got destroyed by Jakey!
Have a happy day :)

4 days of Transit to go...HECK!!!

2008-07-01T20:42:00.000+10:00

I think it's getting to everyone, there is nervous tension in the air. I think everyone is beginning to strain under the pressure of packing & cleaning to be out of here by Monday, the emotion of saying goodbye to people & places that have 'got to us' more than we intended, and just general out-of-routine tiredness.
Last night we had dinner with the prayer community in Ascot, tonight we have a BBQ at Pete Greig's house, tomorrow we have a BBQ with the folks at East to West, Thursday we are in Guildford wrapping things up & on Friday we are partying!

We had quite an amazing time together last week in a 17th century manor house just near Bristol (see above). We didn't do much, but I think we all felt the significance of it and really had some precious moments (well I did anyways :).
I can't really describe what we've all gone through together over the past 10 months, it's really been quite unusual! I think this year marks an important time in my life & these people have journeyed through it with me...and yeah...I will leave it there (otherwise I may get TOO gushy & sentimental, and I wouldn't want anyone to know how I REALLY feel about them :).

To all of you in Oz...see you soon :P

Eek, I'm going home soon :S

2008-06-30T04:05:00.000+10:00

This, I suppose, is a confession of sorts. I have been freaking out all day about going home...I'm so scared!!! Stupid thoughts like what if I don't 'fit' anymore with my friends? I mean, what if I've changed too much...or they've changed too much...or we've BOTH changed too much?!?

These fears have been sparked by seeing my friends latest pictures up on facebook. Don't get me wrong, I love to see what they've been doing, what their latest haircut looks like, where they've been hanging out lately...you know, little detail stuff that I like to see...
I am quite aware though that I've been living in such a different context, so the thought of getting back to what used to be normal is terrifying! Coz it's not normal to me anymore, nor do I want to go back & just try and slot right back into 'normality'.

It's weird to wrap up here. We've taken all the stuff off our walls, it looks really quite bare. We have to be out of our little Transit home by the 7th, so it's a bizarre dynamic of trying to "finish well" & "be here to the end", but also having to pack & say goodbye to people here...*sigh*, I will stop getting nostalgic now, I just needed to vent a little!!!

The moral of the story is that I am really excited about going home & seeing everyone again, but I am quite reluctant to leave all the friends I've made here behind...but c'est la vie :)

I could get used to this...

2008-06-25T19:21:00.000+10:00

"I Could Get Used To This" - The Veronicas

You make me breakfast in bed
When I'm mixed up in my head
You wake me with a kiss
I could get used to this

You think I look the best
When my hair is a mess
I can't believe you exist
I could get used to this

Because I know you're too good to be true
I must have done something good to meet you

'Cause you wrote my name across your hand
When I freak you understand
There is not a thing you miss
And I could get used to this

I'm feeling it comin' over me
With you it all comes naturally
Lost the reflex to resist
And I could get used to this

You love the songs I write
You like the movies I like
There must be some kind of twist
But I could get used to this

Because you listen to me when I'm depressed
It doesn't seem to make you like me less

'Cause you wrote my name across your hand
When I freak you understand
There is not a thing you miss
And I could get used to this

I'm feeling it comin' over me
With you it all comes naturally
Lost the reflex to resist
And I could get used to this

If there's a dark side to you I haven't seen it
Every good thing you do feels like you mean it

'Cause you wrote my name across your hand
When I freak you understand
There is not a thing you miss
And I could get used to this

I'm feeling it comin' over me
With you it all comes naturally
Lost the reflex to resist
And I could get used to this

'Cause you wrote my name across your hand
When I freak you understand
There is not a thing you miss
And I could get used to this

You make me breakfast in bed
When I'm mixed up in my head
You wake me with a kiss
And I could get used to this

I've had this song in my head all morning, it may sound strange but this is how I feel like me & God are at the moment...well in some bits anyway!!!

Especially the bit that says "I've lost the reflex to resist, I could get used to this".

Sometimes it's hard to trust God, and the fact that he IS good, never changing & always faithful. I have so many defence mechanisms, like the reflex to resist, so quite often I try & do things myself because I assume God isn't for me...

But then it doesn't work & God steps in, when I admit that I can no longer do it by myself. He fixes my mess, makes things right, but only when I give up & admit that I can't do it by myself. It's the same old story, all the time!

So, there you go. My latest (and ongoing) lesson. God is faithful & I need to trust more.

The end :)

ANZAC BISCUITS

2008-06-22T17:24:00.000+10:00

This has been unleashed a few times of late, so I thought I should share.

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup desiccated coconut
3/4 cup brown sugar
125g butter, chopped
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Sift flour into a large bowl. Stir in oats, coconut and sugar.
Place butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir until melted. Remove from heat. Combine bicarbonate of soda and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl. Stir into golden syrup mixture (mixture might become frothy). Add immediately to flour mixture and stir until well combined.
Roll mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, into balls. Place 4 biscuits on each baking tray. Flatten to about 12cm (diameter) round, allowing room for biscuits to spread. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, swapping trays after 10 minutes, or until biscuits are golden. Allow biscuits to cool completely on trays. Serve.

Notes & tips

You can store Anzac biscuits in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
These are crisp Anzac biscuits. If you prefer them chewy, flatten biscuits to 10cm (diameter) rounds and reduce cooking time by 1 to 2 minutes.

You are a member of Christ's body...

2008-06-13T17:57:00.000+10:00

Hooray for pilgrims!!! D.T. is here :) What fun.

Today the Psalm for the morning was Psalm 65; and the verse from my book-y thing is:

"You are Christ's body - that's who you are! You must never forget this.
Only as you accept your part of that body does your 'part' mean anything."
1 Corinthians 12:27

MORNING

2008-06-11T15:06:00.000+10:00

"I am up far too early this morning. I think Jakey decided to wake up at 5:45am...well at least that's when I heard him!
It is, however, a nice time of day. It looks like it should be later in the day though!
Today I am looking after both of the kids, that should be fun. Mick, Lou & Col are off to a Youth Worker's conference thing in Staines. I think Mick is going for the free food!!!

Anyway, here's the next verse in that book:

"We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him."

This is your life, are you who you want to be?

2008-06-10T19:53:00.001+10:00

I was just reading a blog which people are now commenting on, saying that they are beginning to be disappointed with it & it's writer!!! What is the point of a personal blog if people want you to write a certain way?
It made me think about how we are such a "consumer society", we want everything tailor-made for us, packaged & delivered nice & neatly into our laps, something that is neat & tidy, that creates no mess or confusion; or even questions our being!

That is so true of Christians, and of me. I am seriously being challenged at the moment in the face of family tragedy about the mess of Jesus. Let me explain a little. Jesus is usually portrayed as a nice, clean man in white robes with lambs in his lap. But Jesus lived a messy life! He hung out with messy people! Ultimately he died a messy death. The first bunch of people following Jesus after his resurrection (eventually called the first church) were extremely messy.

Why is it then that the Church, or Christians in general, always try to keep things tidy...black & white, no grey...? Why do I do that? Why don't I trust enough to let go of my own hang-ups & live a messy Jesus life...coz that's what I want to do, I don't want normality, I don't want comfortability, I don't want security in possessions; coz all of that is meaningless at the end of the day. I want to live like my security & my hope & my life is in Jesus.
This is my struggle at the moment as I finish up Transit. It would be so easy to go home & slot right back into normality...whatever that is anymore!!!

I have a few songs in my head at the moment. One is the Switchfoot song: 'This is your life, are you who you want to be?', especially these few lines:

"This is your life, are you who you want to be?
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed it would be
when the world was younger and you had everything to lose"

The other 2 are Lifehouse songs, 'Hanging by a Moment'...

"Desperate for changing
Starving for truth
I'm closer to where I started
Chasing after you
I'm falling even more in love with you
Letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm hanging by a moment here with you"

& 'Everything'...

"You are the strength, that keeps me walking.
You are the hope, that keeps me trusting.
You are the light, to my soul.
You are my purpose, you're everything"

At the end of the day, I just want to be messy, it's the safest place to be.

A God-given right & visitors

2008-06-10T17:37:00.000+10:00

After my resolution to write one of these things everyday I didn't do it yesterday! Oh well. Here I am today!

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children not of natural decent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
John 1:12-13 (NIV)

Yesterday we had a couple of visitors over to our house, I love having visitors over!!! If there is one thing that I'm going to take away from Transit it'll be that!!! God continues to bless this little Transit house with pilgrims that bless us with their wisdom, knowledge, humour, stories, love, lessons learnt, words from God & God's Spirit it's self.
Tom Gillum from The Community of St Jude came in the morning & taught our final God Story teaching session on the book of revelation. It was a different teaching style (as it always is with Tom) but Tom is packed full of not just knowledge, but wisdom as well. And humility. We actually had to say our final goodbyes to him, which was sad. The beginning of the end is here!

In the afternoon we had Nate & Marisa Chud out from the Kansas City Boiler Room. We were so sad to see them go last night, we only hung out with them from 3 until 10ish, but they feel like family now! They came to check our little community out & really blessed us by just being who they are & sharing what they've learnt & where God is taking them.

Transit can get pretty insular sometimes & the tensions in the house can get quite overwhelming so yesterday was like a breath of fresh air. I think maybe even more than that. I think what was left from yesterday was a whole oxygen tank to get us through to the end.

Lauren x

Who I am.

2008-06-08T20:05:00.000+10:00

You are God's child, adopted into his family as his very own. It's the best family ever! You're a full-fledged member, entitled to an inheritance...

Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!)
EPHESIANS 1:4-5

I have a book that my friend made me that talks about what the Bible says we are when we are "Christians". They are little verses from the Bible, or paraphrased sentences, but I think I want to write this every day rather than something from me.

I honestly don't know what I could say at the moment.

Lauren x

Thanks everyone

2008-06-04T21:21:00.000+10:00

Thankyou to all you amazing people who have taken the time out to e-mail me, or pray for me & my family at the moment. Your support means a lot!!!

I should leave it at that, if I start to write more we'll be here all day :) I have a lot to do & I shouldn't sit on the computer all day :)

Thanks again,
Lauren xo

I think I'm desprate

2008-06-03T18:58:00.000+10:00

I have so much going on inside my head right now that blogging seems the only way to get it out! Logical? Probably not. Blogging pros will probably look at this post in disdain! But this is me right now & this blog is called Being Transparent...so here we go...

So I found out that my uncle died yesterday. He was my Dad's twin, not even 50 yet, bad news.

I also found out a friend is pregnant, good news.

The day before I found out that another good friend is really sick, but they don't know what is going on, bad news.

Mick's mum is coming over on Sunday to visit until we go home, good news.

And the most recent thing that has sent me reeling; I've been chatting with a couple of friends in Australia who I just want to go & just spend time with! One is struggling & the other needs rest! Well, they both need rest! Hard news.

What can I do from the U.K? I want to be with my family, I want to be with my friends but I don't want to leave here and I am definitely struggling to look forward to Transit finishing!
The obvious (and only) answer to that is to pray. But I don't feel like I know where to start. Hence this post. I am desperate for God to move, but I myself feel immobilised.

God, I feel broken, people in my world are broken, this world is broken. I can't, but you can...somehow. Amen.

Off the mark...

2008-05-26T16:43:00.000+10:00

Well done Jacob James Henry Newman, you have successfully made it through your first year of life in this funny old world! There have been tears or joy & tiredness. It has been an amazing journey from when you were born to when we jumped on a plane to fly from Australia to the UK when you were 3 months. While we have been over here you have learnt to sit up, smile, laugh, crawl, feed yourself, you have taken your first steps (though you are not interested in more than 6 steps at a time). You love to throw and chase balls, throw your arms in the air, squeal with your big sister, sit in the bath without being held. You have a certain love of food and dirt and well pretty much anything that is small and left on the floor, you love to let your sister know when you have had enough of her company (by screaming and whinging), you prefer eating books to reading them.

Well I could go on forever it has been hard at times, but I would not change it or give any of it up at all! his time has quite literally been a chance to not miss a moment of you.
May God continue to bless and grow you... may God give your Mum and I the strength, wisdom, discernment, patience and whatever else we may need in bringing you up.

Canberra!

2008-05-24T16:21:00.000+10:00

As inspired by Rebekah (Guildford Transit), I too wanted put up a post of my hometown, which is Canberra (or the 'berra, as it is affectionately termed!)
I wanted a photo that WASN'T the typical pictures you see of Canberra, like of New Parliament House, Telstra Tower, or of ANZAC Parade.
So this is a photo in front of Old Parliament House during the balloon festival that happens every year. Still a kind of typical Canberra photo, but I love that time of year when the balloon festival is on! I love spotting all the different shapes in the sky, it's something that I've grown up with!
I'm really looking forward to going back!

Describing Lily & Jakey

2008-05-23T05:15:00.000+10:00

Lily & Jake both got 2 really cute books when Jakey got baptised last year. Lily got 'What little girls are made of' and Jakey got (you guessed it) 'What little boys are made of'.
I was reading them to the kids at bed time tonight & thought that a couple of poems described how I see the kids at the moment. Sometimes it takes someone else's words to describe how you're feeling!
Anyway, here they are :)

Two small arms to hold you tight,

Two small feet to run,

Two small eyes full of love for you,

One small son.

AUTHOR UNKNOWN
A toddling little girl is a centre of common feeling

which makes the most dissimilar people

understand each other.

GEORGE ELIOT

A post by Alana

2008-05-22T05:43:00.000+10:00

This post is from Alana in Guildford's blog. I have been thinking a lot about all sorts of things lately & Alana touches on them in her post. Anyways, have a read!!!

Oh and if you want to check out her blog it's http://livingwithjoy.wordpress.com/, it's also on our blogroll :)

ANGER

This morning I was flipping through my usual online news sources -

BC - check

Boston.com - no hitter… excellent

CNN - check

Relevant - haven’t woken up yet, check back later

Newsweek - check

Globe and Mail….

And there I stopped. At the top of the page was the following article:

Xenophobic Rage Explodes in South Africa

In the midst of the news on China and Burma this had been completely off my radar. I read the article with a friend from South Africa, both of us in horror we read.

Just down the road, a mob set another Mozambican on fire here yesterday morning, and laughed while he burned to death. They burned another immigrant alive the day before.

Evidently this has been going on for five days:

A wave of horrifying violence has swept the townships around Johannesburg in the past five days. At least 22 people are dead, hundreds injured and an estimated 4,000 have been left homeless, most of them refugees and immigrants from other African countries.

and later:

The initial attacks in Alexandra last week, in which the first two people killed were South Africans who refused to join a mob, began after a community meeting about crime, for which foreigners, especially Zimbabweans and Mozambicans, are often blamed. The people at that meeting apparently added to the list that foreigners take jobs (the unemployment rate is an estimated 40 per cent here) and houses (hundreds of thousand of people have been on waiting lists for government housing for more than a decade) from citizens and even take “our women.”

As a mob rampage began, no distinction was made between recent, illegal immigrants and long-time residents who have obtained South African residency or citizenship. “These same people are the ones who have been our neighbours for more than 10 years,” said a Malawian woman who was too frightened to give her name; she was bundling her belongings into a quilt in preparation for flight yesterday.

This is obviously a complex issue involving years of relations between the countries and some desperate circumstances in South Africa. At its heart though, it seems to be about fear. Fear and desperation. The fear of the unknown. Fear of people who are different than us. Desperation to get a job. Fear of violence.

I guess I’ve naively thought of South Africa as being fairly stable, despite stories I’ve heard of the violent crime there. Bubbling under the surface has been this hatred and anger and now it has exploded.

Tonight on my way home from work I got my seat on the bus. Just before we were leaving an older gentleman got on the bus and came to sit by me. He started to talk and I was encouraged hoping there was some way I could brighten his day as he seemed a little lonely. What followed was a 30 minute monologue of anger - anger at the government for taking his money. Anger at foreigners for taking jobs. Anger at some unknown force that businesses downtown were going out of business. Anger at some unknown force for making this a bad hay fever season. Which brought us back around to high taxes and the government taking his money. I tried to interject with more positive comments, but he just wanted to vent. So I let him vent. Mostly I prayed for him.

It was an interesting juxtaposition of the two moments in the day. Certainly this senior was not about to join an angry mob, but he was still spewing hatred in any direction he could think of on the bus. The frequent US discussions about immigration and building a wall across the Mexican border to keep the Mexicans out also comes to mind. Especially when times get tougher, it’s easy to place quick blame or to let frustration at circumstances get out of hand. The mob in South Africa definitely stunned me and I admit it’s because I thought the country too “civilized” for that. In reality, I think civility is just a thin veneer. There’s probably an angry mob in any country, given the right circumstances.

Today I also had a shift in the prayer room and I was thankful for the time alone and for the reminder of the news articles on the walls. Our world needs prayer. And lots of it. There are no “easy” answers to solving the world’s political issues - at least none done in human power. I think the only answer to this kind of anger and hatred is redemption and transformation. A little salt and light …. and loads of desperate prayer.

Just pray.

2008-05-21T05:45:00.000+10:00

This is a post that I put up on the Boiler Room blog today:

I sat in Guildford a week & a half ago & I prayed for the people of Burma after the cyclone. We prayed that foreign aid would be allowed into the disaster areas. I honestly didn’t expect for much to happen (at least not straight away); I had the mentality of “the situation is so big, how on earth are my prayers going to make any form of difference – especially because this is a 2 second prayer!”

I was quite blown away when the next day Mick showed me the headline on the Sydney Morning Herald website; “Burma – foreign aid finally allowed in”.

I had the same mentality when I was at Boiler Room prayer the other morning. We were thinking about the things that break out heart, or stir up a sense of injustice in us. We were talking about the gap between the CEO’s of companies & its workers; and the ridiculous amounts of money that they get paid even when they do a bad job. Like when a big company goes bust, it’s the poor that get hit the hardest when CEO’s still get a fat, juicy retirement fund...

So we started to pray, not eloquently or brilliantly, but we prayed all the same. We prayed for the victims of the China earthquake & how the press have been overlooking the stories of the victims (not only in China, but in Burma too), and politicising desperate situations. We also prayed that journalists would start writing about the people that have been affected in the tragedies.

Again, the next day the headline for the SMH website was the story of a little girl orphaned by the earthquake. I then received an e-mail from James that said: ‘Since we prayed yesterday there has been lots of attention in the press of the victims of Burma and China; and also did you notice today the British Airways announced profits, and have split some of them between the staff and the CEO has refused to take his bonus! Crazy!!!!!’

I don’t know why these prayers seemed to be getting answered straight away, but I figure if you ask God to move in situations that break His heart then He will. God says that he’s looking for someone to stand in the gap, so why can’t it be us?

God calls us to pray, simple as that.

“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:20

Extra etc etc...

2008-05-20T22:23:00.000+10:00

Well I forgot all about the yeah Jakey is crawling (at 9 1/2 months)... now the little bugger is walking! Well he is taking his 1st steps as it were... 1 week before his 1st B'day piss up!!! that's my boy, he'll be down the mines before he knows it!
Lily is goin' off at school, the teachers are giving us lots of amazing positive feedback/comments about our little princess (terror), now it's either coz we are paying them or they are genuine!!!
So who has done the most learning and growing this Transit year? Lily & Jacob by a mile... congratulations to the 2 youngest ever Transiteers!

Rest for the soul

2008-05-18T16:58:00.000+10:00

This is me being tired ->

Exhaustion \Ex*haus"tion\, noun [Cf. F. exhaustion.]

1. The act of draining out or draining off; the act of emptying completely of the contents.

2. The state of being exhausted or emptied; the state of being deprived of strength or spirits.

3. (Math.) An ancient geometrical method in which an exhaustive process was employed. It was nearly equivalent to the modern method of limits.

Note: The method of exhaustions was applied to great variety of propositions, pertaining to rectifications and quadratures, now investigated by the calculus.

exhaustion

noun

1: extreme fatigue

2: serious weakening and loss of energy [syn: {debilitation}, {enervation}, {enfeeblement}]

3: the act of exhausting something entirely

I am exhausted. Above are the definitions of what exhaustion is. I am definately most of those definitions at the moment!!!

I got a message from a friend on facebook the other week saying that I'm always writing that I'm tired in my status & that I should get iron transfusion! I think that's a good idea, but it's not going to happen!

I was wondering last night if my physical state is a reflection of being emotionally & spiritually exhausted, or if it was the other way around?

Mick & I were also talking about being extroverted & introverted. Whether being around people gives us life or whether being on our own gives us life. I was wondering if it's a set thing...I used to think that I was quite extroverted, but today I found myself burnt out after a week of visitors & spending heaps of time with people. I really want to lock myself away for 3 or 4 hours to do absolutely nothing!!!
So, I'm left wondering what is introverted? What is extroverted?

A friend of ours (of everyone in our house) passed Psalm 127 for us, and told us that he'd been praying for rest for our house. And he said to remember that the best night's sleep you could ever have is nothing compared to the rest & peace you have in God.

That's what I need.

Psalm 127

Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.

In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves.

Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.

Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.

Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

Dear The U.K.,

2008-05-05T21:19:00.000+10:00

I don't understand!!!
I come from a land downunder where meat roams free and while the price is going up the product is delicious yet still affordable.
Very unlike the poor old UK, you wonder why you guys suck at every sport, it's because your meat cost a gold bar per pound and taste like dirt!
How I dream of Australia!
Oh how I miss the taste of animal!
Cruel world!

Nacho Libre & next week

2008-04-27T17:04:00.001+10:00

I want to try & blog more! So here I am, drinking my morning coffee thinking about what to write!

I am tired this morning coz I walked to Savill Gardens yesterday & then stayed up & watched Nacho Libre. The gardens were beautiful, I can't however say the same for Nacho Libre! I mean, yeah I smirked a little...but you know, each to their own!

So, next week we're officially getting into the program. We have a prayer week in June but preparations will be starting really quite soon! I have the same role as last prayer week, which is to facilitate everyone with all the different bits & pieces that they are going to put in the room. Sort of making sure there is a flow...sort of...what is my job!??!
It's going to be held at St John's church which is very cool. First of all, it's really close to our house so no trekking up the hill for this one!!! Secondly, the fact that another church has come on board is very exciting. And (hopefully) it'll mean more people to fill slots! More people to pray, which actually is the point (or one of).
I hope it goes well...hmm...how do you judge a successful prayer room? Because hopefully it's not because of how many people came, but what God did in each individual person's life. I don't think that can fully be measured at all! It reminds me of the passage in 1 Corinthians 3:6-7:
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

Anyway I better get into the day, Bec's coming round today!
Lauren x

Update of sorts!

2008-04-21T01:55:00.000+10:00

Well, I've been back from Wales for a week now. I must admit, I didn't want to come back! I felt slightly normal there! I shopped, read, prayed, shopped, hung out, watched T.V...shopped!!! Oh and I got a long-anticipated hair cut! (See left. Hooray! :)

Tomorrow we are heading off to Sunbury Court for a residential (for Transit)...it's supposed to be pretty intense though as we are doing a short "mission" course called Kiaros. I can imaging that Mick, the kids & I are going to come home a little frazzled.

Anyway, this kicks off our 3rd & final term for Transit...kind of exciting & scary! I'm really excited to be honest. I miss Australia!!! That's where I want to be! I'm quite behind on the God Story reading...I think we're supposed to be up to the book of James in the Bible but I'm only up to 1st Corinthians...kinda sad really. I would have loved to do the write-ups but alas I think I got bogged down in my own perfectionist, want to do a good job ways, which ended in me not being able to do it at all. Also I am generally quite buggered by the time I get around to it.

Having said that I'm excited about going home, I'm also really sad at the prospect of leaving behind all the good friends that I've made. I'm trying to get people to commit to coming out to Australia & visiting us coz God only knows when we will be able to come out here again to visit!

Well, this post isn't exactly the polished piece of writing that I would have liked to have posted...but it's what's on my mind.
I have a lot of other things on my mind that I want to blog but that requires more time! Hopefully I'll be motivated soon :)

Lauren xo

Welsh Sojurn & my birthday!

2008-04-02T02:01:00.000+11:00

I'M GOING TO WALES IN THE HOLIDAYS!!!

I can't tell you how excited I am, although you can probably guess :)

I'm going with Rosie (from Michigan) & Beth (from Wales, whose house we're staying at), and of course I'm taking Jakey J :)
I've been thinking about Wales so much lately, it's almost as if it's been luring me, or calling me...I don't know if that's a bit too airy fairy...

Anyways, I'll let you know how the trip goes, but in the meantime I'M SOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, it's also my birthday tomorrow, I'm really excited about that too! I think the only thing that's stopping me from being sad about having my birthday away from home is the party that I'm going to have with all my new friends & family over here! It's going to be good :) Bring on the wine!!!

I should post some pics...I also need to post more snow pics too...
SO: more soon! Lauren xxx

SNOW!

2008-03-23T19:19:00.000+11:00

It's snowing! We didn't have a white Christmas (which my Mum was a bit disappointed about), but we are having a white Easter!
It says in Isaiah 1:18 that "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool."
Isn't this the point of Easter? That Jesus died & became (quite literally) our scarlet red sin? And on the third day (today), he rose again restored; so we can be restored with Him, so we don't have to go to God crimson red; that we can go to God white as snow?!
Happy Easter xx
P.S. Check out these white Easter pics!

NEWS-FLASH!!!

2008-03-20T03:23:00.000+11:00

Jakey J has now (as of yesterday) joined the ranks of the crawling (proper crawling as oppossed to shuffling on his bum) babies society! Well done mate! Lily is enjoying being able to hunt more mobile prey... always one for a challenge!
Lily is also starting to lead her little bro into some interesting places...
oh dear, no more rest for Lauren and myself...
where has Jakey gone?
See ya!

Some form of poetry!

2008-03-14T08:00:00.000+11:00

I wrote a poem the other day, quite unintentionally I might add!!! I don't think I have written a poem since my angst-y teen high school years! Anyways, I wasn't going to put it on here but I will, so we can all indulge in a little teenage angst! Hee hee :D

Unfinished sentences,
Recycled poetry.

Misspellings

Misinterpretations

Meaningless words

Meaning...less. Missing the point.

Shallow heart,

resounding gong. Hyperventilating,

unsteady rhythm.

Heart...breaks.

Fragile,

Peanut Butter, Brittle.

cholesterol,

fat, obese world takes

life, consuming too much,

power,

love. But is it enough?

Teaching values: Driven thoughts.

Greed.

Desire.

Self. I am important

What's left? The Living God, heals.

Splinters

Shards of glass... are taken out

I have been shattered,

scattered,

ripped apart

for the sake of peace. I am made whole by peace.

There are a couple of different ways you can read it, in segments (with the colours) or as a whole.

I just had a thought...is angst re-named 'emo' these days? I used the phrase these days...I must be getting old!!!

Beauty

2008-03-14T07:45:00.000+11:00

I love sunsets. I love clouds. The sky is amazing. Some people are beach people, others are mountain people...I prefer mountains coz then I'm closer to the sky!!! Check out these amazing colours from a sunset in Egham one evening!

God's story...The Jesus years...the reading list

2008-03-10T06:47:00.000+11:00

Ok so here is what we read for the God's story Jesus years over a 21 day period: mt=Matthew, mk=Mark, L=Luke & J=John
John 1:1-5, 9-18, Luke 1:1-80, Matt 1:18-25, luke 2:1-20, 3:23-38, 2:21-38, matt 2:1-23,luke 2:41-52,L 3:1-23, 4:1-13, J 1:15, 19-51, 2;1-25, 3:1-36, 4:1-3, L 3:19-20, J 4:4-54, L 4:16-30, 5:1-11, 4:31-44, 5:12-39, J 5:1-47, L6:17-19, 12-16, 20-26, 11:33-36, 6:27-36, mt 6:1-18, L 12:22-34, 6:37-49, L7:1-35, mt 11:25-30, L7:36-50, 8:1-3, 11:14-32, 8:19-21, 4-18, 13:18-21, L8:22-56, mt9:27-38, 13:53-58, L9:1-6, 12:2-12, 49-53, 9:7-9, J6:1-71, mt15:1-39, 16:1-12, mk8:22-26, mt16;13-28, 17:1-27, 18:1-35, J7:1-10, L9:51-62, J7:11-53, 8:1-59, L10:1-42, 11:1-13, 37-42, 12:1, 13-21, 54-59, 13:1-17, J9:1-41, 10:1-42, L13:22-35, 14:1-35, 15:1-32, 16:1-15, 19-31, 17:1-10, J11:1-54, J11:55-57, L17:11-37, 18:1-14, mt19:1-30, 20:1-34, L19:1-27, J 12:1-19, mt21:10-16, J12:20-36, mt21:17-46, 22:1-46, mk 12:41-44, 13:1-37, mt25:1-46, L22:1-13, J13:1-38, 14:1-31, 15:1-27, 16:1-33, 17:1-26, 18:1-12, mt26:57-75, 27:1-14, L23:7-25, mt 27:27-66, mt28:1-15, mk16:12-14, J20:19-20, 24-29, J20:21-23, 21:1-22, ACTS 1: 4-11, L24:44-53, J21:23-25, 20:30-31.

So that is the messy not so well laid out version of the 21 days we spent reading the Jesus part of God's story!
Loz actually using Biblegateway.com (link on side of blog) put them into order on a word doc, whic we may try to get a link to... it is much easier to read! Flipping back and forwards can hinder the flow of reading the narrative... only thing is it's about 100 pages long!
Respect!

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD!!!

2008-03-09T02:05:00.000+11:00

One of my most favourite things about this whole Boiler Room thing is hospitality. It's also the thing that I've been challenged about the most too.

I just love that people can be bought together with a simple meal! Even if the food isn't that great, people will more often than not (in my experience) have a laugh & a good time!

I love how a cup of coffee with a friend can make me share sooo much more than I ever intended to EVER tell of myself, and how over that simple cup of coffee I hear so much more of people's lives than I'd ever thought people would let me hear...

I love making food too. I love watching people enjoy a meal that I've cooked. I don't want to sound arrogant, I just like making people nice things!

Some questions I really struggle with are: how do I be hospitable to EVERYONE? I mean, people that I don't like/make me uncomfortable...etc.

Jesus tells us to love the unlovely...who are they? Are they people the world defines as unlovely? Or is it someone I find unlovely? More often than not the people I find the most unlovely are people the world finds quite acceptable really! Who am I to determine who is unlovable?

And then there's the whole food issue...how do we feast together without pigging out, or without feeling guilty? How do we keep a balance? How do we remain aware AND active, not fat & passive?

This is all stuff that's whirring about in my head at the moment, amongst other stuff!!!

However, if you are in town, feel free to pop by for a cuppa! Lauren :)

God's story...the Jesus years...Easter from the eyes of Mick

2008-03-08T03:56:00.000+11:00

Why do I brush over Easter? Why, even now as I sit here knowing what it's all about, why does it not stir me? Many things come about once a year & as I get older they lose their excitement. Christmas is but once a year, the day we celebrate Jesus' birth, as a mere child...but even that fact does not excite me or bring me joy. New Years Eve/Day is but once a year & to me it is nothing more than a passing from one day to the next, a time to get a new calendar!
Easter-the whole point Jesus came, to die the death WE deserved, to take OUR place, to be sacrificed on the cross, to reconcile God & mankind! This also has become just another date on the calendar! What has happened?! Why does such an event as this, the single greatest act of all time NOT fill me with awe?
Jesus came to this earth & told people that God's Kingdom was near! Not near as in the world is about to end, but physically God's Kingdom was all around them & in them.
Jesus showed them God's Kingdom, not a kingdom of palaces, walls & temples, but of love, justice & mercy, of reaching out to the outcast, of giving until it hurts, of loving even when it isn't reciprocated, of humbling oneself - or as Jesus said to love God & everyone else...love them like you love yourself.

And after offending every cultural norm & religious leader he could, Jesus was betrayed by one of his own followers, taken into custody (in secret), then to trial (which was a sham). Even then those who were opposed to him could not bring any decent charges against him, the Roman Governor could find no wrong with him & reluctantly agreed to put him to death, for fear of the population uprising.

Jesus the Son of God, who claimed that he would die & rise again 3 days later, was flogged severely, mocked, taunted & treated like a criminal. His closest friends & followers deserted him thinking they would be next, they disowned him & went into hiding...had the last 3 years of their lives been a dream? A waste of time? Were they just destined to be plain old fishermen, tax collectors, uneducated, undesirable? Meanwhile their Rabbi, the one who Peter DECLARED was the Christ, was being nailed to a wooden cross, a terrorists death! Just another crucifixion? Not quite. Upon this man, Jesus, lay the sins of the world - past, present, future, everything that stood between God & mankind was nailed to those 2 wooden beams!

It was mid afternoon as Jesus breathed his last, dead like all the other criminals that had been crucified before, nothing romantic or beautiful about it! When the soldier pierced his side to see if he was dead, blood & bodily fluids sprayed out, not doves or gold or wine! Another dead man. Yet something strange happened. It became dark, the earth shook & later it was discovered the temple curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple tore in 2, from top to bottom.
Maybe it was just a coincidence? Jesus' corpse, just like most dead people, was placed in a cemetery, a stone tomb, no miraculous healing for those that touched his corpse - like the man who fell on Elisha's bones - just another dead body! No account of John, Mary, Mary & co taking his body to the tomb saying, "No worries, he'll be back on Sunday"! Had Jesus just been another rabble rouser? Just a man? To make things interesting the High Priest placed a guard at the tomb just in case anyone (or the disciples) tried to do a 'Weekend at Bernie's' with Jesus' body?
(A 'Weekend at Bernie's refers to a really bad movie, pretty much pretending that a dead body is alive, kind of like a giant life-sized puppet...)
So 3 days later God sends an angel to push aside the old stone from in front of the tomb& the guards freaked out! The Mary's went to tend the body, but the angel said something along the lines of "guys, it's been 3 days, don't you get it?!" Lo & behold there was Jesus [insert jaws dropping here], and of course he seizes the moment and tells them to stop gawking & get the others, it's business time!
Some of Jesus' followers returned to their old trades & some even left town, but over the space of a few days he appeared to them individually as well as when they were gathered. He then ran over everything with them again..."right guys, you know the stuff that we all went through for that past 3 years? It's now your turn, wait here, God will send his Holy Spirit to teach, counsel & guide you." Jesus reinstated his old students..."guys, you've passed! Now GO and tell EVERYONE about the Kingdom!"

Jesus then hopped on the elevator to his Father's house...and the rest is history!!!

P.S. The pic is of Mick's creative response for our Jesus assignment. Lauren x

Hope this works!!! God's story...the Gospel years!

2008-03-08T03:05:00.000+11:00

So this is the creative response/written thingo that mine & Lauren's good friend and fellow Transiteer, Beth did and shared and so now I pass on to you all (I hope it works on this post like it looks on paper)... Ps this is the part of God's story where we learn about a bloke by the name of Jesus. Stay tuned for some more stuff to...

Jesus Christ of Nazareth

Jesus

God

Man

the author of all enters the story

and the plot shifts

twists

is turned upon its head

everything changes

the rules by which life is lived are undermined and fulfilled simultaneously

nothing can ever be the same

ever ever again

the way to life

the way of life

is explain, showed, described in parables, demonstrated

but nothing is made clearer

confusion from extraordinary claims

claims of divinity and eternity

of being the off-spring of God

a prophetic life

fulfilling prophecies of the Christ, the Messiah

a King with no army

a Lamb with no wool

a Prince with no throne

redefining glory

challenging the comfortable

comforting the disturbed

revealing love as self-sacrifice

giving up his glory out of love

and dying

dead

light of world

lost

in darkness

hope dissipated

purpose forfeited

until…

victory revealed

purpose shown

resurrection

eternal life with the death of death itself

KINGDOM COME

Flippin' alright!
OK i would say that worked... thanks to Beth, hope you all enjoy!

‘Mission week’ 19th-22nd Feb.

2008-03-04T21:39:00.000+11:00

So Lauren, the kids and I jumped on the train and cut right across London to spend the best part of a week with the 217 boiler room community out in Stanford, Essex. We were picked up by Phil and Lisa Anderson who we meet and spent some time with during the 24-7 Feast in Seville Spain in October last year. We were taken to the boiler room community house where we housed. From the outside it is what seems just a lovely house, but as we entered it hit us this place has been dedicated to prayer! As we walked through the front door we passed the art/creative room on our left, the permanent prayer room on the right, straight through to kitchen dinning and facilities and upstairs we found our bedrooms reminding me more of a bed and breakfast then a house of prayer (with the most comfortable beds I have slept on for a long, long, long time). Now here is the part where I get honest and say when the man with 2 young kids and a wife who foolishly listened to God and came on this Transit course heard the words mission week and thought great now we need to load up the camel train and trek to the other side of London, but I write these words a few hours after arriving sitting in the prayer room and all I can say is I feel excited. This house feels different, as my sensitive wife said “I can really feel God here” & as her oversized child of a husband put it “oh yeah that’s what it is, I just thought it felt different!”

The prayer room is littered with prayers, scribbled on post-it, written on big sheets of paper and everything in-between. People come here to pray at different times during the day and night and it’s hard to explain but you can feel the prayer (there has been more prayer in this room than a Rosary bead factory!). So we reached the evening and being Tuesday we joined in the community meal where about 30 or so come to share a meal and some prayer and discussion. Being the guests we had the honour of trying to explain what the hell the 24-7 Prayer Transit course is... (Any clues? Anyone?) And as both parties bumbled their ways how God had got them to this point (and trust me I still have no idea) and at the end we got to pray for each other, which was a very special time.

After a long day we hit the sack (some extremely comfortably sacks!). Wednesday we got into it... we just became part of the community, people come and go during the day some to pray others to have their lunch or grab a cuppa and we spent a good few hours with Sally (one of the ‘leaders’ for lack of better term in the community) who was entertaining 3 ladies from Norfolk looking to start something similar up their way. It is really great to be here in this community at this time, they committed themselves to being a prayer community for 1 year (which comes up at the end of this march) and they are really seeking God on where to next and seeing if people are really committed to throwing their hats into the boiler room community ring.

On Thursday we got a opportunity to take the kids down to the seaside and trained it down to Leigh on sea for a few hours for a walk round and Jake’s 1^st sight of ‘the seaside’ or ‘Thames side’ if you want to get technical. In the evening we headed down to Corringham got on a re-fitted double Decker bus, complete with hot and cold drinks (at no cost) a few nibbles, a couple of playstations, a tonne of games and a prayer room. About a dozen volunteers spend a couple of hours every Thursday evening giving out free drinks, nibble, conversations and prayers to the 50 plus young teens that have nothing better to do in the area. We were told how much has happened and how far this bus venture had grown. They are seeing young guys who have never prayed not only asking for prayer, but queuing for it, getting involved in it and praying for their friends and you can really feel the comraderie between the young guys and gals that get in that bus.

On Friday Lauren and I (and the kids) got involved with the community’s weekly 24-1 , running 1pm Friday to 1pm Saturday. After spending our hour praying we said our goodbyes and headed off to the train station in the Anderson’s vintage Jag (with an Aussie flag flying off the roof for good measure, feel every part the foreign dignitary).

It was an awesome week for us as a family to slow down, relax and have a hint of normalcy! The community especially Robb and Sally blessed the socks off our little family, the house was opened up to us including the well stocked fridge (I swear there was enough food in that house to last a nuclear winter!). A great breathe of fresh air!

Rest

2008-03-01T18:36:00.000+11:00

Long time, no blog! Sorry. I think of so much to say but quite often I have a lot of trouble articulating what I want to, so most of it doesn't make it on here.
Anyway, one thing that I have been thinking about of late is the concept of rest. I'm half way through a book called Messy Spirituality by...some guy...I can't remember...anyway, I'm half way through this book & I've come to a bit where he is talking about rest. He says (and I think I've paraphrased it a little):

Rest is a decision we make.
Rest is choosing to do nothing when we have too much to do.
Rest is slowing down when we feel pressure to go faster,
stopping instead of starting,
listening to our weariness and responding to our tiredness,
not to what is making us tired.

Rest is the result of the humiliating recognition that we are not necessary.

Rest is what happens when we say no.

Rest is the ultimate humiliation.

In order to rest we must admit we are not necessary,
that the world can get along without us,
that God's work DOES NOT DEPEND ON US!

Once we realise how unnecessary we are, only then might we find the right reasons to say yes.

Then we might decide to be with Jesus
RATHER THAN
working for Him.

I thought of a couple of classic 'rest' passages in the bible, like Isaiah 40:29-31:

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

and Matthew 11:28-30:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

I was thinking about the way that I interpret these verses and what I've been taught about them, and I was wondering if I viewed them any differently after thinking about what that guy said in his book. I think I do.

In the process of humiliation, we are learning humility. We learn humility in rest. In resting we are being humbled. If we rest in Jesus we are humbling ourselves before him, acknowledging that He can & we can't. Our strength is not enough.

So in rest we can do the things that Jesus calls us to and be the person he wants us to be...but that only comes out of rest, out of BEING with him, out of relationship, out of intimacy.
Again I come back to the point of knowing who we are & that we can't & knowing who he is & he can.

I think that's it. I just need to learn to say no now.

God’s story week 14 & 15 a selection of Psalms

2008-02-16T03:12:00.000+11:00

Psalms 1-2, 8, 14-16, 19, 23-25, 27, 29, 38, 40, 42, 62-63, 67, 72, 82, 90-93, 95, 119, 121-123, 125-127, 132, 137, 139.

The 2 weeks of Christmas were enjoyed with a selection of psalms for our daily reading, with no notes to make. I must be honest I slacked off a bit during the holidays, but please don’t let that make you think the psalms are lame. The Psalms are full of ever kind of emotion you could imagine, beautiful images of life, death, God and everything in between.

Check out Community of St. Jude for some helpful hints from a community that uses the Psalms in their daily rhythms of prayer. Link is on the sidebar.

God’s story week 13: Who would want to be a prophet? Seriously!

2008-02-16T03:11:00.000+11:00

Amos 4-5, 9, Hosea 1-3, 6-11, 14, Jonah 1-4

Amos a shepherd from Judah had a vision concerning the northern kingdom: Israel thought they were the best in the world, but God was not so impressed with the state of the nation. So He sent drought and plague and war to get the people of Israel’s attention, but they would not turn to God for help. So Amos ventured into Israel to tell them to be sad, to mourn because their nation was going down! God wants you to seek Him, stop worshipping places and things; God wants you to just worship Him! You people of Israel think you have earned your wealth, this land. But it is God that has provided it, every last bit of it! Guys God wants you to hate what is wrong and evil in His eyes and to Love what He loves to seek after Him! God says that your worship is empty and insincere, you are hypocrites and only worship yourselves and for this all God is sending you into exile! God is going to scatter you people of Israel among many different nations you broke the covenant between you and God. But there will be a time when people that bear God’s name will be restored under God, no matter their nationality.

God was also speaking to Israel through other means and people during this time. God told the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute named Gomer, she was adulterous. God used Hosea’s marriage to highlight His relationship with Israel, God chose them to be His people even though they didn’t deserve it and they continually gave themselves over to others and their idols and practices. Hosea and Gomer had some kids and God told him to name the son born to them Jezreel after the people killed there during king Jehu’s days and as a sign that Jezreel is the place that Israel’s army will lose its power, the end of the nation. Hosea and Gomer had a daughter God said name her Lo-Ruhamah (not loved) because I will have no pity on Israel and will not save them this time, but I will save Judah by my own hand says God. Hosea and Gomer had another son whom God said to name Lo-Ammi (not My people) this was God’s way of saying that the northern kingdom Israel were no longer His people, but there will be a day when Israel and Judah are reunited under one ruler and will be called sons of the living God.

God used Hosea’s marriage to deliver the message, God and Israel like Husband and Wife. Israel is an adulterous wife running after lovers and thanking them for everything their husband had gave them. But God has exposed this adultery and the land has been laid barren and destroyed. God will send away his adulteruos people into exile, the people will remember their God in this time of distress and return to Him faithfully and God will plant them in the land (Jezreel means God plants). God will show love for those He called not loved (Lo-Ruhamah) and God will say to the people He called not His people (Lo-Ammi), you are My people and they will call Him their God. God told Hosea to show love and faithfulness to his unfaithful wife Gomer. Gomer had run away and gone back to prostitution, so Hosea went and bought her out of prostitution, the same as God’s relationship with Israel. Hosea told his wife live here with me now please don’t sell yourself into to prostitution again; I will live with you my wife. In the same way Israel will live a long time with no king or sacrifices or idols and they will seek God and will return to Him and God will bless them.

Hosea then told the people of Israel let us return to God, He will take us back because it was He that sent us away. Guys our devotion to God comes and goes like a morning fog, but what does God require of us: He requires mercy, justice, sincerity, not sacrifice and hollow tradition. God wants us to acknowledge Him, we haven’t kept our word and have done things that greatly upset and anger our God. God wants to restore Israel but we practice crime and deceit. Our leaders plot against one another, the nation seeks foreign customs and gods and we turn our backs on our God. The nation calls to our neighbours for help at the slightest hint of war when you should be calling for God’s help! God long s to redeem Israel but we go about our lives only thinking of ourselves, God will not allow us to stand this way. Our leadership will collapse because they have missed the mark on what it means to be God’s chosen people. We will be a laughingstock among the nations! We are in trouble now and people will cry out to God for help, but their lives are full of wrong actions and motives, they do as they please and have rejected God’s ways and made idols and call them god. Israel has sold itself out! Israel we have forgotten our God and built palaces and forts to show our greatness but God will destroy the lot! People of Israel its time to be sad God is leaving us! All the sacrifices will be in vain, the nation will be overrun by other nations and our treasures stolen. This is punishment for our sins against our God. You have ignored God and called His prophets crazy madmen! What happen to this nation that God chose... they gave themselves to idols so God will leave us alone in a hostile world, all because we His people have turned away from Him and God’s blessings on the nation will dry up and the people will be displaced! While our people prospered we built altars and idols to any god we could think of and our God is now calling us to account and you will mourn over your lost idols that will be taken as tribute into Assyria. The king and priest will be swept away and the people taken into bondage. Israel quick let us seek God, we are reaping our reward for our selfishness and idolatry. Israel has thought so highly of itself but it will soon lie in ruins! God brought us out of slavery in Egypt but we turned to the Baals, God lead, feed and nurtured Israel but they didn’t realise it. You refuse to give up your sinful lives so war will come upon you, God is heart broken how can He stand to watch us His children be completely destroyed. God says He will not allow it! You will turn back to your God Israel and God will restore you, bring you out of exile in Assyria just as He did when you were slaves in Egypt. So Israel return to God, sin has been your undoing. Ask God to forgive you and offer Him true worship, turn from idols and God will restore you and the land. God will care for you! If you are wise Israel you will realise that the ways of God are right and good and you’ll walk in them, but if you turn from God you will fall!

Also in these days God sent another messenger with a hard message! God told Jonah to go into the heart of the Assyrian empire to speak out against their wickedness. Now on hearing this job from his God Jonah thought stuff this, I’m out of here. So Jonah jumped on the 1^st boat headed as far from Assyria as possible. Sailing along God sent a severe storm and the ship was at the point of breaking up, the sailors were in a panic doing whatever they could to stay afloat and praying to any god they could think of to save their arses! Meanwhile Jonah slept on the lower decks. The sailors woke Jonah and told him to start praying because they were all about to die, they decided to draw straws to see whose god was angry and brought on the storm and it fell to Jonah! Jonah filled them in, that he was running away from his God, Jonah then told them to throw him in the sea and they would be fine. But the sailors didn’t want to run the risk of pissing God off any more so they tried to row to shore but finally after asking God to not blame them for Jonah’s death threw him in the drink! God sent a giant fish to swallow up Jonah, the storm ceased and the sailors were in awe of God! Jonah then spent 3 days doing what anyone would do inside a fish, he prayed! He prayed with great gratitude that God had spared his life and Jonah had a great revelation that God actually lives outside of His temple and outside of His holy land! At the end of 3 days the fish spat Jonah up on dry ground. Now God spoke to Jonah again, take 2 go to Nineveh in Assyria, so Jonah cheesed it to this great city and Jonah got in to the public arena and spoke God’s message to the city: God was going to destroy them for their evil. The people of Nineveh crapped their collective pants! The entire city including the king went into great mourning at hearing this news from God’s smelly prophet! The whole city cried out to God (God that they did not know!), everyone fasted including withholding food from animals in the hope that God would spare the lives of the city and its inhabitants. God had compassion on the city and its people when He saw their response to His message and He did not destroy them! Jonah wasn’t impressed by this; he thought he was foretelling the deathblow to the nation that oppressed his people. God’s people! Jonah was extremely pissed off with God and let Him know about it! Jonah questioned why God even bothered sending him to Nineveh; he knew God could’ve saved them on His own. Jonah then request to be left in peace so he could die, the enemy of his people were still alive. God asked Jonah what right he had to be angry and Jonah sat outside the city some distance watching in the hope God would have another change of heart and destroy them! Jonah sat and waited and waited and the sun blazed on his bald head and God caused a vine to grow and give Jonah shade. Jonah was pretty glad as it was stinking hot, but by the next day God sent bugs to eat up the vine and the sun continued to burn Jonah’s head. Jonah was furious and just wanted to die. God once again questioned Jonah, how can you be so pissed off about the vine, it provided you with shade for a day and you did not plant it or tend it, it’s My vine not yours and Nineveh is a huge city who have never known Me or heard of Me, should I, God not be concerned for them to.

God’s story week 12: A kingdom divided, will they ever learn?

2008-02-16T03:09:00.000+11:00

1 kings 11-19, 2 kings 2, 4-5, 9-17

Solomon loved the ladies and had amassed 700 wives and 300 concubines. Now these ladies came from all over the place, don’t know if anyone else remembers the whole thing with God telling the Israelites not to intermarry. Solomon was lead astray by these ladies and worshipped their gods (hmm). Now God was very pissed that Solomon did what he was told not to, so God informed Solomon that someone else would be taking all but 1 of the 12 tribes and that he would remain king of only 1 tribe only for the sake of David and God allowed the Edomities to hassle Israel the rest of Solomon’s days, when 1 of Solomon’s officials Jeroboam rebelled against the king. Jeroboam while on his way to Jerusalem was approached by Ahijah a prophet, the prophet cut his new coat into 12 pieces giving him 10 and said that God says he is giving you 10 of the tribes to rule over as long as you follow God and His ways, you will be blessed as David was. After the rebellion Solomon tried to have Jeroboam killed, but he had escaped to Egypt. After ruling 40 years Solomon passed away and his son Rehoboam took the throne. Rehoboam went to be crowned king by the people and the people asked the new king if the hard labour of his fathers reign would be eased, Rehoboam sought the advice of the elders and his friends. The elders said stop the labour but his young friends urged him to make it harder, so the labour was picked up a few notches, this pissed the people off and they killed the head of the forced labour and 10/12 tribes rebelled and made Jeroboam their king leaving only Judah to Rehoboam. Rehoboam prepared to take back his kingdom but was warned by a prophet, Shemaiah that God said go home, so he did. Meanwhile Jeroboam was settling into his new role as king of Israel (or northern kingdom), he was thinking that people might side with Rehoboam (southern kingdom or Judah) when they went to sacrifice in Jerusalem so he set up 2 giant golden claves (oh dear that sounds familiar) and altars on top of hills for people to sacrifice on, the bovine statues were set as their god and Jeroboam decided he would make his own religious festivals and traditions and choose priests from whatever tribe he pleased. A prophet from Judah came up to Israel while Jeroboam was offering on one of his homemade altars and the prophet delivered God’s message against Jeroboam: a boy named Josiah will be born to David’s line and will get rid of Jeroboam’s false priest and idols and to prove it would be so the very altar he was sacrificing on would split in half by God’s hand. Jeroboam pointed for the prophet to be seized and as he did his hand shrivelled up and the altar split in 2. So the prophet was right, Jeroboam asked the prophet to ask God to heal his hand and he did. Jeroboam asked the prophet to stay and eat but prophet was instructed by God to eat nothing offered him and to go home by a different route. An old prophet from the area heard of this prophet from Judah and sought him out and invited him to tea, the Judean prophet did his can’t eat with you line but the old prophet lied and told him God told him to invite him to tea, so he went. While they were eating the old prophet got a legitimate message from God for the Judean prophet that he would die for disobeying God’s instructions. As the Judean prophet went on his way a lion killed him but didn’t eat him or his donkey! The old prophet heard what happened and fetched the body and buried him in his own tomb. The old prophet was extremely distraught for he had realised that the Judean prophet was speaking God’s truth, but even after all this Jeroboam wouldn’t turn from his idol worship. Jeroboam’s son got very ill and Jeroboam sent his wife in disguise to the prophet Ahijah to ask what would become the boy. Ahijah was old and blind but God told him it was a ruse and what to say: God’s message: because Jeroboam turned from God even after he was given most of the kingdom, his entire line would be destroyed!

Ahijah told her that the boy would be dead when she got home. Israel will mourn but God will raise a new king, the people will be scattered from the land because of the sin Jeroboam has caused. She left and the boy died. Now in Judah Rehoboam’s people also started turning to the idols of there neighbours. Egypt attacked and took plenty of plunder from Jerusalem and the temple. Rehoboam dies passing the kingdom to his son Abijah who didn’t care much for God and lead the kingdom to idols he died 3 years later passing the reigns to his son Asa. Now Asa followed God and removed idols, but not the high places. Now Israel was threatening Judah so king Asa sent gold from the temple to the king of Aram and made a treaty with them against Israel (north kingdom), Aram captured several of Israel’s cities and Israel retreated from Judah. Jeroboam died and his son Nadab took over but after 2 years of his tyrannical rule and idolatry, Baasha of the tribe of Issachar killed him and took the throne of the northern kingdom for himself and put to death all males in Jeroboam’s line! Unfortunately Baasha also thought little of following God. Baasha did not honour God and seized control of Israel and God spoke to a prophet named Jehu and told him to tell Baasha the fate of Jeroboam awaited him, when Baasha died power moved to his son Elah. 2 years into Elah reign, Zimri 1 of the kings officials killed Elah and his entire family line in a drunken rage. The army heard of this coup and claimed their general Omri to be king of Israel and the army besieged Zimri’s home city and Israel was split between a few people claiming to be king. The army overcame and Omri was placed as king. Omri was a pretty shoddy king and died to be replaced by his son Ahab, he thought little of God and set temple to Baal around the land and married Jezebel the daughter of the Sidonia King. During his rule Ahab rebuilt Jericho, when he laid the foundations of Jericho his eldest son dropped dead and as he set the gates of the new Jericho up his youngest son died unexpectantly!

Now a prophet from Gilead, Elijah went to Ahab and told him the God that he (Elijah) serves is going to withhold rain from the land until he says so. God then told Elijah to cheese it & hide out. Elijah’s hideout had a well and God sent ravens with food for Elijah. The drought worsened in the land creeks dried and crops baked. God then sent Elijah to a widow’s home to get himself some eats. Elijah did so and asked the widow for some food, she told Elijah she had only a little oil and flour for her and her son to eat. Elijah told the widow to make him some bread 1^st and God would provide her with oil and flour until the rains come again, she always had just enough oil and flour for the rest of the drought. But the woman’s son got sick and died the woman thought it was her fault he died like she had angered Elijah or God, so Elijah cried out to God for the boy and prayed and the boy regained life and the woman knew that God was with Elijah. Few years on God told Elijah to tell Ahab it was going to rain soon. The famine had reached far and wide, during this time Jezebel was rounding up prophets and killing them but 1 of Ahab’s servants had hide 100 prophets and cared for them. Ahab and his servant were searching the land for food one day and split to cover more ground the servant came across Elijah who told him to bring Ahab, the servant told Elijah Ahab would kill him, Elijah insisted and Ahab and Elijah met up. Ahab accused Elijah of being a trouble maker to the kingdom but Elijah countered that the troubles and famine had been caused by Ahab and his families’ sins and challenged King Ahab to gather 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Ashroth and to meet him for a show down between his God and their gods on Mt. Carmel. 2 cows were brought and quite a crowd gathered the prophets of Baal and Ashroth built an altar as did Elijah each to call their own god to consume the sacrifice in fire. The prophets of Baal went 1^st all day long calling on their god, cutting themselves and crying out but nothing Elijah sat back and heckled them, in the evening Elijah made an altar for God there prepared and placed the sacrifice on it and drenched it and the fire wood with a tonne of water, Elijah then asked God to show them who’s boss and the sacrifice was consumed in a fire that fell from above, all the people fell down and cried out to God. Elijah had the false prophets seized and executed; Elijah then turned to King Ahab and told him to head home for he heard rain. Ahab went but Elijah hung around and asked his servant to look out to sea for any signs of rain, he did so 7 times and saw tiny clouds, then loads of clouds gathered and Elijah ran overtaking Ahab, he ran all the way to Jezreel. Ahab told Jezebel everything that occurred she was pretty pissed off and placed a price on Elijah’s head. Elijah heard the bad news and was pretty scared so he hid in the desert, where Elijah told God how sick of fighting he was, that night God sent an angel to Elijah who told him to eat, Elijah woke to see some food laid before him he ate and went back to bed, again while sleeping an angel came to Elijah and did the same. Elijah then took the 40 day walk to Mt. Horeb where he found a nice cave to sleep in. God asked Elijah why he was there in a cave, Elijah replied because he brought God’s message to Israel but they continually reject you God, I am the only prophet of yours left. God told Elijah to go outside because He was about to pass by the mountain, Elijah stepped out of the cave, a great wind, then a mighty earthquake followed by a sweep fire went past the mountain but God was not in them, then a gentle whisper came and God was there Elijah covered his face and retreated to the mouth of the cave, God asked Elijah why he was here, Elijah could only respond because the people have turned from You and want to kill me. God told him to go back to anoint Hazel to be king of Aram, Jeho to be king of Israel and for Elisha to become a prophet. These men will deal with those that turned to idols and false gods over Me! Elijah found Elisha ploughing his fields; he placed his coat on Elisha and called him to be a prophet, so Elisha learnt form Elijah. Now God told Elijah he would come up to Him (without the whole dying thing) so Elijah told Elisha to stay put while he did a last tour of the towns but Elisha refused to leave his side and at every stop they were informed by a prophet there that Elijah would soon be taken up to God, the got to the Jordan and Elijah rolled his cloak struck the water and a dry path appeared and they crossed. Then Elijah asked his young trainee prophet what he wanted before he left and Elisha asked for double the spirit (power for lack of better words) that Elijah had, Elijah said sure but only if you see me being taken up to God, suddenly a chariot made of fire came down from above and took Elijah. Elisha picked up Elijah’s coat and headed back to the Jordan striking it with the coat and parting the water as Elijah had. The prophets on the other side of the Jordan asked Elisha if they should go search for Elijah’s body, he told them not to bother but they did anyway and could find no trace of Elijah. Elisha stayed in Jericho where he helped the people by praying for their water and making it clean & while on his way to Bethel a group of youths mocked and insulted him so he cursed them in God’s name and a bear came a mauled them all! The widow of a prophet asked Elisha for help, the debt collector was after her and she had nothing but a small jar of oil, Elisha said pour oil into empty jars she did so and the oil kept flowing and she was able to sell the oil to pay off the debt. Another woman took Elisha in and provided him with food and built him a room in her home, Elisha wanted to get them a gift but they had everything, except kids so Elisha prophesised that they would have a son, it happened but the boy got sick and died. Elisha got the boy on his bed and instructed the servant to do stuff but the boy remained dead. So Elisha prayed until the boy regained life! Elisha also provided bread for some starving prophets by throwing flour into fire.

Now Naaman general of the armies of Aram had a nasty skin disease and his Israelite servant told him of God’s prophet Elisha and to seek him for God’s healing. Naaman went to the king of Israel with $$$ asking him to heal him, the king replied I’m not God I can’t help you. Elisha heard of Naaman and sent a messenger to him with instructions to wash 7 times in the Jordan, Naaman scoffed and said he could wash at home but his servant told him to just do it! Naaman followed the instructions and climbed out of the Jordan a healed man, he went to Elisha and offered him $$$ which Elisha declined. Naaman then took God as his God alone, but asked for God’s help because 1 of his duties was to attend the worship of his king’s gods. Now Elisha’s servant ran after Naaman and lied to him and got himself some dollars, Elisha discovered this and confronted his servant and cursed his servant with Naaman’s skin disease which past down the generations. Elisha then got 1 of the young prophets to go on a mission from God to anoint Jehu commander of Israel’s army king of Israel, he did so and God told Jehu to destroy Ahab and his line and Jezebel. Jehu went out 1^st to kill Joram the next in line to Ahab’s throne. Joram saw the army approaching and sent scouts to see if it was in peace or war but each scout joined the army’s ranks. Joram joined forces with king Ahaziah of Judah they both sought peace with Jehu, but Jehu wanted to destroy them for leading God’s people to idols and false gods. Jehu went to Jezreel where Jezebel was. Jezebel asked him what he wanted and Jehu told her servants to push her out the window, they obliged and she was killed and her body was devoured by the dogs of the city. Jehu sent word to the carers of the 70 sons of Ahab to prepare for a fight, but the carers responded that they were on Jehu’s side. Jehu said fine send me their heads then and they delivered the 70 heads to Jehu. Jehu went to Samaria & came across some of the king of Judah’s servants and Jehu executed all 42 of them. Jehu told those who were with him to watch him destroy Ahab’s line as Elijah prophecies. Jehu then played a trick on the prophets of Baal, he called them together to the local temple of Baal to offer a great sacrifice and as they offered the sacrifice Jehu had them slaughtered in the temple, Jehu knocked it down and turned the rubble into a public toilet. Jehu rid Israel of Baal worship, but he neglected to remove the 2 golden calves. God told Jehu good job now keep My ways, but Jehu didn’t and Israel’s enemies started eating into their territory. Jehu died and was succeeded by Jehoahaz.

In Judah king Ahaziah had died and his mum discovered this and then went on a killing spree killing all the successors to the throne and well she took power for herself, but 1 of the royal princes was saved and hidden at the temple of God and raised by the priests. The child’s name was Joash, the priests had the temple guard swear allegiance to the true ruler of Judah and the priest anointed Joash king of Judah, and they got Ahaziah’s mum and killed her and her followers. The priests then made promises between God, the people and Joash. So the 7 years old Joash takes the throne and all idols are removed from the land. Joash followed God’s ways and was instructed by the priests (though he didn’t remove the old high places), Joash got the priest to set some of the money coming into the temple aside for running repairs, but for 23 years none of this money was used for repairs. Joash wasn’t impressed by this and got the priests to set up a collection box to collect repair money. Now the king of Aram was on the warpath and Judah lay in that warpath, Joash decided to avert danger by sending the gold that had been dedicated to God to the Aram king. Joash ruled for 40 years until his servants killed him and Joash’s son Amaziah became king of Judah.

In Israel Jehoahaz continues to lead the people away from God’s ways and they end up being snapped by the Aram kingdom’s military and Jehoahaz cried out for God to save them and He did, their oppression lifted, but this did not make them turn back to God, they decided instead to continue the practices of idol worship. Jehoahaz dies and his son Jehoash next king of Israel, yeah he lead Israel in idol worship as well, one day he heard that Elisha was dying so he went to visit him and told him the armies of Israel had been decimated. Elisha told him to get his bow and arrows, Elisha put his hands on the king and told him to shoot it east, he did. It is God’s arrow of victory of Aram declared Elisha and told the king to strike the ground with his arrows which he did 3 times, Elisha was not happy, he should have struck the ground 5-6 times now he won’t have complete victory Elisha informed him. Elisha dies and was buried, Moabite raiders came into the land and... Raided it! Some men threw a body into Elisha grave during one raid and as the corpse hit Elisha’s bones he came back to life. The king of Aram died and Israel had 3 victories over Aram taking back a number of cities.

Back in Judah king Amaziah killed the servants that killed his dad, he followed God but didn’t remove the old pagan high places. Had some military success, Israel and Judah then meet in battle (like 2 bickering brothers); Israel kicked butt and took plunder from Judah. Israel’s king Jehoash dies and his son Jeroboam 2 took over; he extended Israel’s borders but was not good in God’s eyes! He died and Zechariah his son was next in line. Azariah was the next king of Judah did good in God’s eyes but didn’t you guessed it get rid of the flippin’ high places, he contracted leprosy and his son Jonathon governed until his dad died and he became king. In Israel Zechariah was assassinated after 6 months and a bloke called Shallum took title of king of Israel for an entire month until he was killed by Menahem. Assyria invaded and demanded tribute which Menahem extracted from the people, he died and his son Pekahiah he reigned for 2 years and did evil in God’s eyes, he was assassinated and Pekah made himself king of Israel he also lead Israel in idol worship and the Assyrian empire started to march into Israel and took people off into their empire. Pekah was assassinated by Hoshea who took the throne of Israel.

Jotham had now succeed in Judah and ruled well in God’s sight, the high places however remained. Ahaz was the next in Judah’s line. Now Ahaz was a bad egg! He liked the idol worship and even enjoyed the odd human sacrifice! Aram and Israel came against Judah, Ahaz sent God’s gold to Assyria to get their support against Aram and Israel. Ahaz then decided to push the altar in the temple aside and replace it with a new one he designed and forced the priests to use it, Ahaz enjoyed adding some new things to the temple decorations, idols etc. He died and was replaced by Hezekiah.

Hoshea, the last king of Israel. Hoshea did wrong by God, he was paying tribute to Assyria, but he was also trying to drum up support from Egypt. The Assyrians discovered this and full on invaded Israel and took the people off into exile. Now all these things took place because Israel had stopped following God and instead put their trust in idols, the people did not listen to the warnings from God’s prophets. Samaria was resettled mainly by exiles from other parts of the Assyrian empire, these people knew nothing of God and God sent lions that devastated the people the Assyrian rulers heard this and sent an old Israelite priest to tell the new arrivals about God, the God of the Israelites. The new arrivals to Samaria only half listen to the priest and added God to their list of gods and they continued to worship many gods and idols and passed their mixed up ways to the generations, thus is how we leave Israel (the northern kingdom or Samaria).

God’s Story week #11 David’s dying to Solomon the wise???

2008-02-16T03:07:00.000+11:00

1 Kings 1-3, 4:29-34, 5-6, 8-9, Proverbs 2-3, 8-10, 23, 31, Song of Songs 1-8, Ecclesiastes 1-2, 12:9-14

David was now old and sick, on his last leg. Speculation as to who would succeed the throne was the talk of the kingdom. Now 1 of David’s boys Adonijah put his own hand up inviting all David’s attendants and officials he could convince to a big sacrifice to celebrate his self appointed succession and of course Nathan the prophet and Solomon didn’t get an invite. But sneaky old Nathan got Bathsheba to make David promise that Solomon would take the throne (promises meant a little more back then) and David swore Solomon to take his throne. Nathan informed David of what Adonijah had done in secret. So Nathan grabbed the royal mule chucked Solomon on it and headed to Adonijah party and anointed him king of Israel in everyone’s presence and Adonijah P.O.Q.ed (pissed off quick). Adonijah feared for his life a took sanctuary at the altar and begged Solomon to swear he wouldn’t kill him, to which Solomon replied if he had not done wrong then he had nothing to fear. Solomon sent Adonijah on his way and King David was happy to see his successor with his own eyes. Now David called Solomon to him to hand him the keys to the palace and to advise him to stick to God’s rules, gave him a few loose ends to tie and then died after 40 years on top. Now Adonijah asked Solomon’s mum to ask King Solomon for 1 of David’s concubines to be his wife, Solomon was far from impressed with that dishonouring request, Solomon could see he was being undermined so he order Adonijah execution. Now Adonijah supporters were rounded up for execution including general Joab who fled to the altar but was killed right there for seeking the refuge of God without sincerity! Now Solomon was quite the ladies man (like father like son) he did a deal with Egypt and took Pharaoh’s daughter as part of the deal. During this time Solomon was building a temple for God, a palace and a wall around the city, because there was no temple the people were using the old pagan high places to offer sacrifices. Solomon went up to the high place at Gibeon to offer sacrifices to God and that night God came to Solomon in a dream and asked him what he would like. Solomon asked for wisdom to guide God’s people and God was pleased with Solomon for not choosing selfishly and promised Solomon wealth and a long life if he kept God’s ways. A while later 2 prostitutes that lived in the same house came to the king to sort a dispute. They were fighting over a child, each of them had a child but 1 of them lay on her child as she slept killing it and stole the others child. So to settle the argument Solomon asked for a sword to cut the child in half 1 for each 1 prostitute said fine if I can’t have the child neither can the other but the other said please give the child to the other, noticing this Solomon determined the 2^nd woman to be the mother and word got out about Solomon’s wisdom in all matters. People came from near and far to hear the wisdom that God have given Solomon in all matters. The king of Tyre heard of Solomon’s succession and sent him a congratulations card, Solomon sent a message back asking for building materials from Tyre to build God’s temple. Tyre asked for food for payment for the building materials, the swap was made and men from all over Israel were sent to gather the material and got building. 7 years later the temple was complete, it was like a larger more permenant version of the tabernacle and God told Solomon to keep His ways and he would fulfil His word to David to dwell amongst His people. All the importants gathered taking the Ark and placing it in the temple with all the other sacred furnishings and offered a thousand or so sacrifices in thanks to God for this permanent reminder and place of worship and God’s presence came down upon the ark like a cloud and dwelt there. Solomon proclaimed to the people that God had fulfilled His promise to dwell among them. The temple was dedicated to God and Solomon acknowledged that God cannot be contained, not even in the temple, but that God would hear His people’s prayers from this place. The place in honour of God’s name!!! Party time!

Solomon had now completed his building projects, God appeared to him in a dream: God reminded Solomon that the blessings would come to the people if they continued to follow God but disaster would befall them if they left God for another.

20 years of building had left Solomon in heavy debt to Tyre, so Solomon gave Tyre 20 cities in Galilee but that offered was knocked back Tyre said get stuffed that area is good for nothing!

Solomon gathered non-Israelite people from his land to be slaves and formed an Israelite army and grew in wealth and stature. With some more time on his hands Solomon wrote down some of his wisdom for the benefit of all people. Telling people to apply God’s words to search for God’s understanding and then life would be good but for those who choose wrong, wicked they will be lead away from God’s people and but off. To search for wisdom because God will give it. Not to forget that God’s teachings bring prosperity. Trust God don’t rely on you for everything. Acknowledge God in everything you do and thank God for everything He gives you: health, wealth and do not be upset if God pulls you up on something wrong, He does so out of love. God’s wisdom gives confidence to those who follow His ways, no fear, help others and don’t hold back or be disobedient. God looks for wise and humble people to bless but the wicked, selfish and proud fools He puts to shame. Wisdom is in the nature of God; it speaks truth and deters evil (wrong). Wisdom is greater than treasures! To fear God is to hate evil, wrong, injustice. God’s wisdom allows us to lead diligently. Through His wisdom God ordered all of creation. Listen, follow and look for God’s wisdom. God’s wisdom calls people in and offers them understanding, leaving the mockers to mocking. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, if you are wise your wisdom will reward you. But if you are a mocker you alone will suffer. Folly calls people in and offers them quick fixes that lead nowhere! Wisdom= joy! Foolishness= grief! Righteousness= blessings! Wickedness= curses! Those who are wise remain firm and confident; those who are foolish and wicked live in fear of being found out. The wise don’t always have to say something, but the foolish are constantly explaning themselves. The wise and righteous have much to look forward to but the foolish and wicked are on the road to nothing! Don’t go after privileges, delicacies or possessions it’s a trap! Don’t waste your energy trying to get rich. Riches and possessions are here today, gone tomorrow! Don’t waste your time arguing or take advantage of others. Apply wisdom to your life, keep your families on the right track, don’t try and keep up with the Jones, but just follow God. Listen to your parents, spend time and effort in wisdom, dicipline and understanding so you don’t go after quick fixes or spend your time escaping into a fake world. Boys don’t devote your life to chasing the ladies! Don’t get drunk and forget your responsibilities, leave those who wallow in self pity and go speak up for those who are down trodden, for the one who’s rights have been taken away. Judge all equally; defend the rights of the poor and needy. How precious is a godly woman, she can do all things through God. A woman who fears God is to be looked up to!

Solomon also tried his hand at poetry using human terms to describe God and Israel’s relationship which he drew deeply on from his knowledge of womankind (his vast knowledge, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more!). Using the story of 2 lovers to illustrate the complete and passionate love of God for His people.

And some of Solomon’s later works (not from the best of places): everything is meaningless! What do we gain from working and striving after things, generation after generation the world marches on. But people remain the same and don’t remember what and who has come before them. I have devoted my life to studying and exploring God’s wisdom, I have seen all the paths laid before mankind, they are all pointless! I increased in wisdom but in gaining it I also gained the understanding of the opposite, that it is all pointless, for in gaining wisdom and knowledge comes more sorrow and grief. I thought to myself lets find what is good to do, but found it all to bring no meaning to life, not wealth, women, slave, possessions. I didn’t hold back any pleasures from myself and when I saw what I had amassed for myself I realised that it was all in vain and it brought no meaning to my life! I then pondered wisdom and folly: what more can be done in life, I can see that wisdom is better than folly just as light is to dark but both types of people come to the same end! What do I gain from being wise we all die in the end! I hate work, what do you gain, you achieve a little then it is passed to the next generation! Will they be a wise or foolish generation, what is the point. What more can we do; eat, drink and be satisfied in your work for without God who could do any of these things or find enjoyment. To those who please God, God fulfils but to those doing their own thing God allows to gather wealth, but even this is meaningless! God was wise and shared His knowledge with the people, He wrote up what is right and true. Firm and true are the wise sayings. Study and searching is endless, so in conclusion: Fear God! Follow His ways for God will bring everything you do into judgement, everything seen and hidden, good and evil.

God's story week 10: Samuel rebukes Saul to David, sheperd & king

2008-02-13T03:12:00.002+11:00

1 Samuel 13,15-20,24*2 Samuel 5-7, 11-12

Saul was 30 when he became king and rules over Israel 42 years. Saul with 3000 Israleites attacked a Philistine outpost, Saul sent word through Israel that he had attacked their oppressors for the people to join him in the fight. The Philistines mustered their forces to squash this uprising and when the Israleites saw the Philistine army most of them ran and hid. Saul and the remaining troops waited for Samuel at Gigal, they waited 7 days as Samuel had instructed but with no sight of Samuel and the massive Philistine army before them the Israleities started to lose hope. Saul was losing numbers quick so he decided to make offerings to God to seek His help and just as Saul finnished the offering sacrifice Samuel arrived. Samuel questioned Saul as to what he was doing and Saul explained that he was waiting, the Philistines had come out against him so he offered sacrifices to gain God's favour. Samuel rebuked (told off) Saul for not keeping God's command to wait for him. Samuel told Saul that if he had followed what he was told his kingship would've endured, but not know, God has sought someone after His own heart to be leader of Israel someone who would do as they were told (Saul not only didn't wait but offered sacrifices which was the role of the preist and he offered to buy God's favour). Samuel left Saul, his son Jonathon and the 600 remaining troops, they gathered whatever they could find for weapons, tools, farming gear etc as the Philistines had removed all the blacksmiths from the land.

A while later Samuel came to Saul with a message from God, that God chose him to be king of Israel so go and attack the Amalekites and totally wipe them out to the last person and animal, do not spare anything. Saul gathered 200,000 troops and ambushed the city of Amalek. The Israelities took the king of Amalek, Agag and some of the choicest animals of the land alive. God informed Samuel of this and His displeasure at it, this clear disregard to His instruction, this troubled Samuel and he cried out to God all night. Early the next morning Samuel went out to meet Saul, but Saul had gone up to Mt. Carmel to set up a monument in his own honour. Samuel caught up with Saul, Saul greeted Samuel and told him how great God was for his victory, saying that he had followed God's instructions. Samuel sid to Saul if you followed God's instructions what the hell are all these animals doing here, they are the plunder, the rest were sacrificed per instruction was Saul's reply. Samuel told Saul to shut up and listen to what God had told him last night regarding Saul: you were once small in your own eyes but God made you king of Israel and told you to completely destroy the Amalekites to the last sheep. Why didn't you do as you were told Samuel asked.

Hang on I did Saul showed Samuel the sheep and the kink Agag and said we wre taking them to sacrifice at Gigal.

To all of this Samuel told Saul, God is not after sacrifice, God is after obedience. Rebellion and arrogance are just as bad as idolatry and fortune telling in God's eyes and because you rejected God's words, He is rejecting you as king. Saul apoligised and said he just did what everyone else wanted. Samuel would not listen and Saul grabbed Samuel's cloak as he left tearing it. Samuel turned to Saul and told him that God would tear the kingdom from him and give it to anither, someone better than Saul. Saul begged Samuel to come and worship and thank God for his victory, Samuel relented and did so, Samuel demanded that king Agag be presented before him and Samuel ran a sword through Agag. Samuel and Saul never saw each other again, though Samuel did mourn for Saul.

God told samuel to stop worrying about Saul, he is no longer God's annoited king. God told Samuel to invite Jesse and his sons from Bethlehem to a sacrifice and to annoint one of the sons king of Israel in Saul's place , God would tell Samuel which son. Jesse and his boys came but God said no to all 7 boys. Samuel asked Jesse, do you have anymore boys and Jesse fetched his youngest boy, David who was with the sheep. As soon as Samuel saw David God told him David is the one. Samuel annoited David king and God's spirit was with him.

But God's spirit had left king Saul, he would go into fits of rage and depression, Saul's attendants seeked musicians to soothe Saul's dark moods. So the attendats took a young man by the name of David ( the above mention sheperd and king to be, though Saul didn't know that yet) Saul liked David and his music soothed the king.

Now the Philistines were making war against Israel, so Saul gathered the army to fight them. The Philistines had sent out their champion fighter, Goliath a nine foot tall monster covered in armour who challenged any Israelite to a one on one winner takes all fight. The Israelites were crapping themselves! 3 of David's brothers were in the army, Jesse sent David his youngest to the 3 fighting sons to give them some food and david saw what Goliath was saying about God so David knowing God was on his side went to challenge the oversized warrior to a fight. King Saul let the young David go out to fight, Goliath laughed when he saw the little sheperd coming at him but David told goliath that he would die for insulting the living God and David put a rock right into Goliath's skull. The Philistines ran for it and the Israel army cut them down. Saul's son Jonathon and David became great mates, David was kept in saul's service and excelled at all tasks given to him and he caught the eye of many a lady! Saul became jealous of David so jealous he continually sent him on suicdal miltary missions but eevery time David won evening winning won of Saul'd daughters in marriage. Saul tried to get Jonathon to kill David, but he would not. Saul even attempted to kill David while he was playing music for him! David fled and hideout with Samuel and Saul could not get him. Saul continued to pursue David's life but Jonathon told david it wasn't safe to come out of hiding yet. Saul found David's hideout among the caves and went searching, while Saul was sleeping David snuck up and cut the corner of Saul's robe, David's mates urged him to kill Saul but David felt guilty for dishonering God's annoited king of Israel so he woke saul and explained what he had done. Saul realising what could've happened told David that he was much a better man than himself that God had truly chosen David as king of Israel and aul went home. The tribes were happy with David as king and David set the army to action attacking the walled city of Jerusalem that had not yet been conquered. The Israleite army took the city and set it capital of Israel and David built his palace there, which he filled with (too) many wives, concubine, riches and other king like household items. The Philistines then came against David in force, David asked God if he should go to meet them or stay in the stronghold of Jerusalem, God said go circle behind them I'll give you a sign then attack and you will gain victory because I AM with you, the Philistines suffered defeat. David decided it was high time the Ark of the covenant came to Jerusalem so he set out with his army, placed it on a cart and headed home but as the cart went over a bump the Ark slipped and 1 of the men reached to steady it and was struck down instantly. (God had instructed Israel not to touch it). David was angry and scared towards God and thought how could I have something like the ark in my home so he left it with a man on the way and the 3 months that household had the Ark and God greatly blessed that household so much so David sent for it and brought the ark into Jerusalem, sing and dancing to God, like a common fool as one of his wives put it. One day David asked the prophet Nathan: how can I live in a palace while the ark is in a tent. Nathan told David to do what he had in mind. But that night God spoke to Nathan: I have no home, I have never told anyone to build Me a house. I took David from a mere sheperd boy and made him king of My people and his family shall be kings and they will build a house for My Name. I will be the Father of your desendants and your house shall rule forever. Nathan passed this on to David, David went to spend sometime with God and asked Him how he a nobody that God would promise such great things, what can I do God, You are the great one. You have chosen Israel to be an example to all other nations. God I trust You and know that through Your promises to me and my family You will be glorified.

Now the army was off fighting but David decided to saty at home. 1 night he peered from his window and spyed 1 hot lass, Bathsheba was bathing on her roof, so after several minutes he asked his servants about her. They told him she was the wife of a soldier and David sent for her a enjoyed her company that evening. A few days on David was informed that he had knocked her up, so David devised a plan he sent for the woman's husband, who csme back from the fighting. David told him to spend the night at home but the soldier refused to go home while his commrades were at war. David sent him back to the front where the fighting was hardest and the soldier fell in battle. After a short time David took Bathsheba as one of his wives, she gave birth to a son... God was less than impressed with David. Sometime on God sent Nathan to David with a message: you were given everything that was king Saul's but then you had to go and also take from another, you killed a man for your own gain, this is evil. Od says that war will not depart you or your desendants. David acknowledged his wrongs before God and was forgiven but the consequences still remained. David had shown contempt for God right in front of everyone. David's son born by Bathsheba had an illness and David prayed and fasted for the child, after a week the child died and David ate and worshipped God. His servants were baffled and asked the king why he know ate while before he wept and fasted. David's reply was that while the child was still alive God could have saved him but now he has passed and gone to God.

Bathsheba fell pregenant again and gave birth to another son, Solomon. God loved Solomon and sent Nathan the prophet to king David.

Meanwhile general Joab was wagging war for David against the city of Rabbah, the city was on the edge of defeat and Joab told King David to get there quick smart before he took all the credit for the military campaign. David obliged and there was much plunder taken back to Jerusalem.

God's story backlog...

2008-02-13T03:12:00.001+11:00

here are some of the previous weeks...

A prayer for sorry

2008-02-11T02:06:00.000+11:00

These are some thoughts that I had during morning prayer on Friday - sort of prayers for reconcilliation.

See the storm clouds
off in the horizon,
Lightning crashing
Thunder booming
Clouds rolling.

Lightning sparking fire,
sweeping across the land
Making fertile ground,
Opening the seed pods
and planting seeds.

Flooding rains of forgiveness pour down
Flowing in the streets,
Bringing relief from the searing heat of the flames,
quench the dry land, the drought,
with tears of healing.

Pictures of reconcilliation
a symbol of healing
and forgiveness
for all time.
Art & images to soothe the pain.

SORRY!!!

2008-02-11T01:48:00.000+11:00

Sorry... ok so this one has been bouncing around the inside of my skull for a while, and yes it may be a bit of a touchy subject.

I for one am glad Kevin Rudd as Australian PM is willing to stand up an apologise for former government policies that lead to what we now know as ‘the stolen generation’. It takes a whole lot of guts to apologise for most things let alone for some thing on this scale. I know there are many views on this topic including many on the “I didn’t do it so I don’t need to say sorry” side of the fence, and I guess while yes many of us were in no way involved it doesn’t mean that it wasn’t wrong or that we should not show remorse for things our forebears did. I know there is concern that if wrongs are admitted then compensation will need to be given and the country we end up broke or something, I really believe the way some people carry on they fear this. But I think these side issues should not stand in the way of the fact that as a nation Australia needs to say sorry, to confess the sins of our past.

There is still a lot of damage and hurt from European invasion or settlement or by turning the land into a giant jail, whatever way you look at it and I believe these hurts, this damage cannot be fixed by throwing money at it or by ignoring it. But an apology, a confession of past wrongs is a great way of getting the healing process on the move.

Some great examples of people who have apologised on the behalf of nations can be found in the older testament of the Bible:

In Exodus 32:31-32

31 So Moses went back to the LORD and said, "Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written." -Moses confesses the sins of the wandering Israelites.

Daniel chapter9

1 In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom- 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

4 I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: - between the verses of 4-19 Daniel confesses the sins of his fellow Judeans and of all the people that had gone before them.

Ezra 9:6-7

6 and prayed:
"O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. 7 From the days of our forefathers until now, our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today. – Ezra returning from exile with the people of Judah is so afraid of the people turning from God again and winding up in strife that he confesses the peoples sins.

I believe that by being sorry, confessing the wrongs done to each other and to God we can move forward, work on bringing healing to communities, lives and to the land. We need to acknowledge and remember the past to help us and the future generations to not make the same mistakes.

PRAYER:

God we ask for strength, boldness and integrity for Kevin Rudd and the Australian government, for ‘the stolen generation’ we ask for peace and inner healing. Father God, what happened let it be ever remembered and never forgotten and may nothing of the sort ever happen again to anyone of any race, gender or creed. We ask God that You would send Your love and unity to the entire nation; we pray that through the statement of apology that the nation would be drawn closer to You, and that Your spirit would really break through like never before. Father that Your healing and restoration would rest on the dry parched land! Father this is our prayer, through Jesus Christ.

Thanks God.

AMEN

God's story:The in-between years

2008-02-10T06:37:00.000+11:00

So we find ourselves at the crossroads of this thing called God’s story left off with God’s words to Malachi telling of the coming of God’s messenger and the impending day of the Lord.
Between this last point of this epic tale and the next spans a quite eventful and history shaping 400 odd years! So the temple in Jerusalem rebuilt, the establishment of the synagogue- local centres of worship and study. The returned peoples of Judah start to get serious, there is no way they want to stuff up and fail God again, so Pharisees and scribes start popping up, people devoted to studying God’s ways and trying to find ways to absolutely avoid stuffing up!
They followed the law’s of God as closely as possible and then piled on laws to totally avoid getting anywhere near sin.
The left over’s of the old northern Israel who had been devastated and mixed up with many races after the whole Assyrian thing, these people where known as Samaritans and were despised by there southern cousins who where know shutting up shop and doing their best to keep all outside influence out!!!
Meanwhile Alexander (the great) rides out of Greece conquering left, right and centre, including the Persian empire which little old Judah once found itself included. Alexander brought with him Greek culture, but his empire would eventually fall to civil war and was divided up with Judah stuck in the middle. A few kings tussled for power in the region enjoyed keeping Judah under thumb until they rebelled (the Maccabees rebellion) but any sense of freedom was short lived when the little old Roman Empire marched into town to stake its claim over the land.
So the people of Judah now went about there business under the eagle eye of the Romans.
So this is the scene where the story picks up. In a state of Roman occupation on one side and strict religious laws on the other.

week 20 God's Story: we (re)built this city...

2008-02-10T05:46:00.000+11:00

Nehemiah 1-2, 6:15-7:3, 8-9 Malachi 3-4

Jump forward a few years, King Arataxerxes is running the Empire and his cupbearer Nehemiah the son of exiles from Judah overheard what was going down in old Jerusalem town and he prayed and fasted that God’s people would get their act together and follow Him wholeheartedly. Nehemiah was so upset that the king questioned him about his mood, and after a quick prayer under his breath Nehemiah told the king how hearing how Jerusalem the centre of his culture is still in ruins mostly and then he boldly asked the king his permission to go to Jerusalem and to rebuild it’s walls, clear up the rubble and if the king didn’t mind flipping the bill. Luckily for Nehemiah God was on his side and he was allowed to go to Jerusalem to rebuild its walls. Nehemiah didn’t tell anyone of his plans and after he (someone quite high up in the advising of the king) arrived in Jerusalem, he surveyed the damage to the city in secret. Nehemiah then rallied his fellow Judeans and told them of the plan to rebuild the walls and restore Jerusalem, they began work and the neighbouring governors mocked and accused them of wanting to rebel against the Empire to which Nehemiah replied watch our God rebuild this cities walls! 52 days later the wall was completed despite opposition and the surrounding people crapped themselves at the amazing rate at which the entire wall was completed under God’s protection. God’s people then gathered and Ezra and the Levites read to them God’s law over the whole week, many of the people became very upset because the now understood where they had gone wrong with God but Ezra and co. Told them to be happy for this was a special day of coming back to be a people devoted to God. The elders and leaders of the people then got into studying God’s words and laws to see how the people where to go about life as a whole. About a month later the people again assembled and confessed all they had done wrong all the ways they had failed God and a prepared prayer was read before God and His’ people which ran through their entire history from God creating the world, to Abram, Moses and the law, the prophets, the mighty wonders, the highs and lows of the nation but over all their thankfulness to God for being ever faithful who acts justly despite all their failings. And the people made a vow to once again follow after God, to be His people.
In these days God spoke to the prophet Malachi with this message for the people: God is going to send a messenger to prepare the way, to purify and make right and that the immoral, unjust, those who do not fear God will be judged for their actions. God asked His people to trust Him for every thing to give to those in need, to give until it hurts and then watch God do the impossible in providing for them even though there isn’t enough for them. Live generously, give your food, money, clothes, time, your everything and let God provide for you and people will watch you and be amazed at God! God does not change it is you who have returned to Him, He did not leave you! God asks why you have bad mouthed Him and you respond how so and God answers by not following My instructions. But those who love Me have remembered what happened in the past, they will be My people and there will be a time when My people stand out from the rest of the crowd, a time when the difference between those who love me and those who don’t will be obvious. Surely this day is coming when everyone will be held to account for all they have done in their lives. Those who love and follow Me will rise up in great joyfulness but those who have scorned Me, those who hate Me, ignored Me they will not be so lucky! God then tells Malachi to remind the people to remember the laws, that God IS sending a prophet to call the people back from their sinful ways and to turn to God.

To be continued...

Calling all people!

2008-02-08T02:25:00.000+11:00

DT has a blog everyone!

Yeah, DT!
link on side of this blog.
Much respect DT

God’s story week 19: Jacob and the lions den, oh sorry family joke. Dan the man and return to Jerusalem

2008-02-08T02:22:00.000+11:00

Daniel 5-7, 9, 12 Ezra 1, 3-5 Haggai 1-2 Ezra 6-9

The next king of Babylon Belshazzar threw a massive party; he took the items taken from God’s temple in Jerusalem and with them made toasts to his gods and idols. When this was occurring a giant hand appeared and wrote some huge undisguisable words on the wall, everyone wet their pants! Sends for Daniel who is still kicking around Babylon and Daniel told them what God had wrote for them...Nebuchadnezzar was allowed to be great only because of God, but he was full of pride and God humbled him by making him like a wild animal until he admitted that God alone is sovereign! But you Belshazzar have held God in contempt by using what is his to honour your idols and the writing is on the wall: your days are numbered; your kingdom will be divided between the Medes & Persians.

Despite the negative message Daniel received promotion and that very night the kingdom was invade by the Mede-Persians and Belshazzar was slain. (SNAP!!!)

The new ruler Darius set up shop and after hearing of Daniel’s fame set him amongst the management and being the studious worker he was drew a lot of negative attention from his new work mates. So Darius’ other advisors and officials plotted Daniel’s downfall, but could find no fault, but they did notice his absolute devotion to his God. The officials coaxed Darius into signing a decree making it punishable by death to worship anything besides him for an entire month and being so on himself Darius agreed. Daniel kept on praying (3 times a day) and in public view as he had always done. So Daniel was rounded up and king Darius reluctantly threw one of his favourite administrators into a pit of lions (roar roar) as he was thrown in Darius told Daniel that he hoped his God whom he faithfully served would save him. The king was so upset that he didn’t sleep a wink and in the morning ran to the pit calling out Daniel’s name and to his surprise Daniel’s voice replied that his God had sent angels to protect him as he slept, Darius was overjoyed pulling Daniel out of the pit and having his accuser thrown in his place... needless to say the lions had a feast! The king set a new decree acknowledging Daniel’s God as a top notch bloke, Daniel prospered during Persian rule. 1 night Daniel had a dream about God’s judgement on nations for their actions and God giving authority to a man to rule over nations but there was still another power to rise up and rule over God’s people. But God would overcome and establish His ruler and His kingdom forever, this dream deeply troubled Daniel and he kept it to himself.

Daniel was reading through a letter from Jeremiah the prophet and saw that the exile was to last 70 years as foretold by God through Jeremiah so Daniel got down and prayed and acknowledged the sinful way in which God’s people have gone about, their unfaithfulness and the fulfilment of the curses God told Moses that would befall them for turning from God. Daniel begged God to take them back not because they deserved it but because God is merciful (kind and compassionate when it is not deserved). God sent the angel Gabriel to Daniel who told Daniel the time of exile for their sins would be up and they would be rebuilt as a nation, God would send the Christ, the messiah, the saviour, redeemer but his would be followed by war and false leaders that would come to lead the people away from God. There will be a time of great distress in the world but those true to God will not fear and will lead others to God. Daniel then looked out over a river where he saw 2 figures 1 on each bank, hovering just above the waters edge and Daniel asked the closer when all this will be fulfilled and Daniel was told when it happens it will happen and Daniel didn’t understand but was told that in that time many would turn to God and be saved, but those who refuse God will continue to do so. Daniel was then told to go on his way until the end comes.

Fast forward to the 1^st year of the next king Cyrus who decided that the men of Judah should be freed from exile and allowed to return to Judah and rebuild the temple of God all expenses paid! So some of the exiles returned to Jerusalem many of them had never been there before 70 years is a long time. The altar was rebuilt 1^st and sacrifices and festivals were resumed and the locals (a mix of many nations) were not impressed with these guys coming in and setting up shop! The temple rebuilding was not going well foundations not complete and local resistance meant lots of stops to the rebuilding process. But they pushed ahead and laid the foundations, the people of Judah praised God as the temple foundations were built, but many of the oldies that had seen the temple in its former glory wept. There was much opposition to the rebuilding but also some locals that wanted to get on board the project, the Judeans said no Cyrus said let us do it, didn’t go down well with the locals so they convinced the king that if Jerusalem was rebuilt the Judeans would rebel from him, so the king ceased all work... this lasted for 16 years. Now some prophets Haggai and Zechariah encouraged the Judeans to continue to rebuild God’s temple so they did, the locals said what’s the deal, but the building continued unhindered, the king was informed that the temple was resumed under the orders of God and it was discovered that the temple rebuilding had been ordered by Darius so it went ahead. Haggai had received word from God: who told you to stop building the temple, how can you sit in your newly made homes while God’s temple is a shambles, you are not satisfied in this land and you expect everything to be awesome but you haven’t even finished making God’s house. God is with you rebuild His temple, stop putting yourselves 1^st and honour your God. God then told Haggai that He would be in the temple greater than the days of old, tell the My people to keep My ways, remember how little you have now, because I AM going to pour out blessings upon you and you will know it is from Me. God promised that He would overcome all odds and set His authority over the world.

So the temple building went on paid in full by the Persian Empire and it was dedicated to God (and you can bet many animals died). The temple was re-established and set into service and the Passover was celebrated for the 1^st time in a long time and the Judean people thanked God for bringing them back to Him and restoring them to Him and to the land. Now Ezra 1 of the priests was devoted to God and God’s law, he took the 4 month trip from Babylon to Jerusalem along with him were many priests, Levites and other temple types along with $$$ from the royal treasuries to fund the running of the temple. Ezra arrived and being a keen studier set up the task of teaching the people the ins and outs of God’s law and the history of the people. Their was much rejoicing! Ezra found that some of the returned exiles had intermarried and noting this as a big part of their original downfall, he mourned and was deeply saddened, there was no way in hell he wanted the people to go through exile again, no way the people wanted to stuff up in God’s eyes again. So the people that had intermarried said farewell to wives and children and anything that was not in accordance with the law. They didn’t want to run the risk of going down the same path again. The new Judah was now ready to get on with life and they thanked God for returning them, bringing them home!

God’s story week 18: Isaiah gets told...

2008-02-08T02:21:00.000+11:00

Isaiah 40, 42-50, 52-56, 58, 60-62, 64

God tells Isaiah while in exile to speak to His people and bring them comfort that Judah has paid for her sins. A call back to God, acknowledging past wrongs and leaving them behind. God then asked Isaiah to tell His people to trust Him, to just rely on Him. The God that created all. So God is going to send His servant, someone right with God and bringing peace and justice. So all peoples may know and praise God. God’s people have paid no attention to God’s wonders and signs but went after riches and neglected the poor. So the God that made them a nation allowed war and exile to happen to them, but if they would just rely on God He would protect and save them and Babylon would not be left unjudged for their own actions. God asked His people to listen, that He would restore them their sins forgiven, chose Me begs God, I have shown you IAM alive. I will free you and rebuild your nation. God has allowed nations to conquer others and through this Judah will be saved and the nation restored and other nations will come in search of God. Don’t bother with the idols anymore God is your sustainer His plans will run their course. Keep an eye out for God is sending righteousness and salvation. Babylon is stuffed God allowed them to overcome you, without mercy they took you and none of their magic tricks will save them now. I (God) told you what would happen if you held me in contempt ages ago and for My Names sake I have allowed you to be taken through the ringer in exile so that no nation can bad mouth Me, I AM your God, and you will leave Babylon in joy. God’s servant will bring His people back to Him and lead people of all nations to Him. God wants His people to know they have been exiled for their sins, but only God cab help, they can try but they will fail. God then said of His servant that the servant would be a plain normal person on the outside but filled with wisdom and the servant will offend many with what comes from his mouth. The servant would suffer greatly, He would do no wrong and God would allow Him to become the ultimate guilt offering for the sins of everyone, everywhere through out time. God is going to restore His people and never again would God send enemies against His people to judge them. God invites all that love Him to draw from Him, He will always love and people from all nations will be drawn to Him. And God’s will will be fulfilled for His Name, Honour and glory. God said act justly hold to my ways and anyone from anywhere that does so is welcome in my family. Tell the people again you have sinned, God does not care for your empty religion, how about helping those in need instead of thinking your better than other because you can go a day without food! Just try it and see God unleash His power, it will change the world and you will find true joy. Live lives of absolute integrity that’s how you show people God’s goodness. And under God the provider would bring places of peace and righteousness that will stand forever. Lives will be transformed through experiencing the living God through the lives of His people and God’s servant will become the saviour of those who are true to God.

Isaiah then told God: Please come God, let everyone see You and let Yourself be known to everyone! Like the old days God, we want to see You work and move in this world. No other god had done what You have done; no other god has helped people like you help those who are true to You! But God when we turn away from You, who can save us? All our best attempts suck; we try but fail every time. But You God have made us, we Your people are devastated and ruined please don’t leave us in this place of exile from You, please don’t punish us forever!

God’s story week 17: by the rivers of Babylon...

2008-02-08T02:15:00.000+11:00

Jeremiah 1-5, 2 Kings 24-25, Daniel 1-3, Ezekiel 1-5, Lamentations 1, Jeremiah 29,31 Ezekiel 37.

During this time of great fear in Judah, world superpowers threatening on every side God spoke to a young man by the name of Jeremiah. God asked him to be His spokesperson to Judah, Jeremiah being a young man doubted his ability to carry out such a task, but God told him to just do and say what God says. God told Jeremiah to warn Judah that an enemy is coming to destroy them because of their persistent rebellion against God but that through this they will be redeemed and saved, God told Jeremiah to be strong and not worry about what others say or try to do to him. God got Jeremiah to tell Judah that because they no longer trusted God but would rather go after riches and pleasures, blaming God for every bad thing that happens and misusing what God has given only turning to God in desperation. For all this God will not listen to their cries for help as long as they don’t trust Him. God also gave Jeremiah a message f: turn from idols and foreign gods Judah, did you not see what happened to Israel! Jeremiah sent to the northern part (Israel) to call them back to God and a few did return from their wicked ways. Acknowledging their wrong before God. God was asking His people to turn back to Him and be a blessing to all the other nations, Judah was warned to get rid of sinful ways or an army would come and the most horrific war against them would occur. God told Jeremiah of His deep sadness with His people, that even though He promised them all that they need they went after riches, pleasures, neglecting the poor, turning to foreign gods, so for this God would allow them to be destroyed, but not completely. Some would be taken to serve foreign nations.

Jehoiakim king of Judah was in power when king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded Judah, the Babylonians allowed Jehoiakim to be puppet king, this lasted 3 years until he rebelled and the Babylonians decided to completely take over Judah. The next king Jehoiachin lasted 3 months before surrendering to Babylon who had besieged Jerusalem. Babylon took 10,000 of Judah’s elite as well as riches and items of value off to Babylon leaving another puppet king ‘in charge’ this lasted 11 years. Again the Babylonians returned to Jerusalem and besieged the city for 2 years causing an extreme famine within the city, the soldiers in Jerusalem tried to make a run for it but were captured, and the city was laid to waste. The temple, the palace, the wall and many building of great significance to the people were utterly destroyed more people taken into exile into Babylon and only the dregs of society left in the city. Now in exile some of the Judean elite were taken into training to join Nebuchadnezzar servants, these men were taught all about Babylon culture etc and were given food from the king’s table, but 4 of these Judeans Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azaraih or Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (as the Babylonians called them) refused the king’s food because it was unclean according to their Jewish laws, so they told the man in charge of them to give them veggies and water for 10 days and see if they were fit or wasting away. They past the test and excelled in their learning and were eventually taken into the king’s service. Now Nebuchadnezzar was having some troubling dreams and he called all the wisemen, astrologer, physics etc to come and tell him what his dream meant, but so they wouldn’t lie to him he asked them to 1^st tell him the dream then interpret it, they could not and Nebuchadnezzar sentences them and all the wisemen in his service to death. This included Daniel and his 3 mates, they were rounded up and Daniel told the police to give him and his mates a little time and they would be able to interpret the dream. The 4 young men spent all night seeking God’s advice and Daniel received the answer to Nebuchadnezzar request, told Nebuchadnezzar all about and got it bang on! Nebuchadnezzar was amazed and promoted the 4 of them to some pretty swish jobs and the execution of the wisemen was averted. 1 day Nebuchadnezzar set up a giant statue of gold and had a grand opening where all there were told to worship it or die, the crowd just happened to contain Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who refused to worship an idol. When Nebuchadnezzar was told he was furious and questioned them. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied they only worship there God no matter what the consequences, that if God wanted to He could save them from death but even if God didn’t save them they would not worship anyone or thing but God. So they were thrown in an oven but they didn’t die or even get burnt, the Babylonians were amazed that God saved them.

Another Jew in exile by the name Ezekiel received a vision from God: God spoke to Ezekiel and told him to be his spokesperson in exile to the exiles, to speak only God’s words to the people in exile. God told Ezekiel to be stubborn and Ezekiel went and spent a week with some other exiles and at the end of that time God told Ezekiel to watch over the Israelites in exile to tell the wicked to turn to God and the good to keep following God, God told Ezekiel it was his responsibility to tell the exiles to turn to God and His ways in this time whether or not the people listened to Ezekiel was not to be his concern but just that the people understood that if they didn’t turn to god they faced judgement for their sins. God got Ezekiel to act out Jerusalem’s destruction to the people which he did with a little Jerusalem toy set complete with Babylonian army toys, Ezekiel was told to do this all while lying on his left side for 390 day then his right for 40 days, a day for each year that Israel and Judah had been living in sin. God then got Ezekiel to cut his hair off with a sword to show the people the shame and judgement God was brining on them. With 1/3 of his hair Ezekiel was told by God to burn on the little Jerusalem he had made, another 1/3 was chopped up and scattered around the mini city and the last 1/3 was thrown to the wind and only a few strand were kept and Ezekiel placed them in his robe. God used this little scene to show the exiles what was going down in Jerusalem, some died in the city or were cut down outside it by the armies or taken into exile but a few will remain loyal to God through this. While this destruction of Jerusalem was actually playing out Jeremiah wrote a poem about it lamenting Judah’s riches to rags story, begging God to save them from their enemies who delight in Judah’s destruction. Jeremiah then penned a letter to those in exile informing them of what God was saying to them: to settle down in the land, to keep on going, to keep on praying to God and seeking after God, seek and you will be rescued from exile. God had brought this exile about for rebellion against His name; Judah’s rulers have leaded the people to other forms of worship so God will allow Babylon to hold power over Judah. Warning don’t listen to those saying she’ll be right will be back in Judah before you know it, God is gonna kick their butts.

God had promised to bring his people back out of exile and in that time He has shown that they will be new people, full of joy and praise for God. They will remember what happened for rebelling against God and stop blaming others for their problems, God promised to be place His law in their heart s and minds. The people will once again be God’s people and He their God.

Meanwhile God was speaking with Ezekiel in exile: God showed Ezekiel a valley full of dry bones and told him to prophesy life over the bones and God caused the bones to come to life and were covered in flesh and muscle and had breath in them. God told Ezekiel this army is Israel; I will put my spirit in them and bring them back to life and the land which I gave them. God then told Ezekiel to take 2 sticks 1 for Judah and 1 for Israel and to join them together. This was to symbolise the reuniting of the 2 into 1 nation, God will cleanse them, no more idols, under 1 king and God will be their God. God told Ezekiel a king like King David would rise up, from the line of David, a king that would rule forever and God would dwell with them forever and all nations will see that God is God.

Judah is stuffed! Whispers of a saviour...week16

2008-02-08T02:14:00.000+11:00

Isaiah 2, 6-12, 2 Kings 18-19, Isaiah 36-39, 2 kings 20-23

Isaiah a Prophet in Judah received a vision from God, it was a vision of the end of the world people from all over the world were coming to the place where God was and the people turned from their old ways of life to one of peace with everyone. The people at the time had turned from God to idols and foreign religions, they loved themselves and all they had accumulated, but when God comes to judge they will run and hide in fear of His majesty. Isaiah had another vision in which he saw God seated on a throne and Isaiah crapped himself a seraph came to him and placed a hot coal from the altar on his lips to purify them from sinfulness. God then asked who would go and be His messenger, Isaiah put his hand up for the job to take God’s words to Judah: even though the had God’s instruction and laws they would not understand how to live by them. Isaiah asked how long this would be, and God replied that until everything they had accumulated and built up was destroyed and all but few were taken from the land. Judah was under constant military threat, God got Isaiah to tell the people to not fear but stand firm and believe God had their backs or they were stuffed. God told the King at that time, Ahaz, to ask for a sign, but Ahaz would not ask God for he thought it was testing God (big no no). Isaiah inform the king that was too bad because God was going to give him a sign anyway a boy would be born to a virgin he would be called Immanuel (God with us), but before this an army will come a waste you, the people will live in fear. The animals will run wild and the people will live of curds and honey. God then got Isaiah to warn the people they are going to be punished for their persistent rejecting and sin, but God will not let his people be totally destroyed. God told Isaiah to live for Him to follow the rules to live as an example, the people will turn everywhere for help in this time, except to God. But God will bring hope to all the Israelites, but it will come out of Galilee of the gentiles. A messiah will bring freedom from oppression and will be know as the prince of peace, lord of lords, He will come to establish a kingdom of justice and righteousness. But the people have gone their own way, full of pride, so God has allowed nations to overcome Israel. Yet the people did not call out for God’s help. Where will the people get their help from, their riches can’t save them. God will punish the evil of those who come after Israel, just as they have come to punish Israel for her evil. In this time a group of people fully devoted to God will rise up and God will save them from their enemies. A man will be born into Jesse’s line (of King David’s line); he will be full of God’s spirit. He will judge not by what he sees and hears but by what is right in God’s eyes, he will turn away the wicked and some will turn and follow God’s ways. The earth will be full of the knowledge of God and the people will come from all over to be with him. In that time the people will praise God even though they had not followed Him wholeheartedly, they will acknowledge that God is their strength and salvation they will give thanks for all that God has done and let the whole world know about it.

King Ahaz died and his son Hezekiah took the throne, he loved God and destroyed any idol he could find. Hezekiah rebelled against the Assyrians who took Israel into exile and Assyria started to invade Judah, scared Hezekiah relented and paid Assyria asking them to withdraw. The message came back from the Assyrians: what are you basing your confidence on? Egypt? Your God?... your God told us to smash you!

The Assyrians tried to convince the people that their God couldn’t save them, to just make peace now or be destroyed; no god had stopped them before. But the people kept their mouths shut. Hezekiah was so deeply saddened by this that he went to the Temple and mourned, he sent word to Isaiah, who told him that Assyria would with draw to their own land and the king would be killed there. Again Assyria told them to give up and Isaiah gave them the reply from God: Judah despises you, you have insulted the living God, you have played your part, God knows all you have done and will deal with you.

God informed Hezekiah that Assyria won’t enter Jerusalem, god will defend the city. That night 185,000 Assyrian soldiers were struck down in their sleep, the Assyrian king withdrew and while praying to his own gods in Assyria was murdered.

Little while on Hezekiah is dying of sickness, Isaiah came to tell him what God had to say and it went something like: sort yourself out.

Hezekiah prayed like a man dying way to young, telling God about the good he had done in the kingdom and god allowed him a few more years of life and told him the people would be free of Assyria for good and gave him a sign. God told Hezekiah that He would make the suns shadow go back up the stairs, insert reverse shadow here. Hezekiah then wrote in his journal about how he was so afraid of dying young and now that God had given him life he would use it in God’s service. That through his pain, God had shown him love. So Isaiah knocked up some balm and gave it to Hezekiah to use in his getting better. Babylon sent some messenger to congratulate Hezekiah on his miraculous recovery (and to drum up some support against Assyria) and Hezekiah took them on the access all areas grand tour of Jerusalem. When Isaiah inquired about this tour and found out who they were God gave him a word for Hezekiah: everything the Babylonians saw they will take back to Babylon. Hezekiah accepted the words and was just happy that there would be peace in the land. When Hezekiah died his son Manasseh took the reins, he wasn’t much into God. He set up idols in every corner of Judah, including God’s temple. Manasseh lead all of Judah away from God and prophets came and spoke against Judah, God had given them the news that Jerusalem would be taken for its evil, they had witnessed what had happened to the northern kingdom of Israel when they turned to idols yet they still chose to follow suit, instead of following God.

Manasseh passed away, his son Amon succeeded reigning 2 year. He enjoyed a bit of idol worship until his officials assassinated him and Josiah his son became next king of Judah. Josiah saw that the temple (God’s temple) was a bit run down; he got the priest to get the maintained money and fix the old girl up. Whilst dusting one of the shelves one of the priests found the book of God’s law who gave it to Josiah’s servant who read it and after doing so took it to King Josiah and got him to have a look. The king was deeply saddened to read that the way the kingdom was going was opposite of what God wanted. A Prophetess told the king that according to the laws, the blessings and curses written in that book by Moses as instructed by God, Judah was stuffed!!! But God would spare Josiah from seeing it because he had turned back to God. Josiah then sprang into action, he read the law to all the people of Judah and recommitted the covenant with God, and he then went through the whole of Judah clearing it of all idols and articles of worship that wasn’t for God. Josiah reinstated God alone as Judah’s God and His ways as Judah’s ways, he desecrated the Pagan worship places and killed false prophets and all those who lead Judah from God.

With the rising threat of Babylon, the Egyptians decided to join forces with the Assyrians. This was not a great situation for Judah, being a tiny nation stuck between the 3 superpowers, Assyria to the north, Egypt to the south and Babylon to the East. So Josiah decided to take the fight to the Egyptians but was killed in battle, Jehoahaz became next king of Judah that lasted all of 3 months when he was taken as a prisoner into Egypt. The Egyptians then set his brother Eliakim king of Judah, they forced tribute from Judah and Eliakim did not care for following God.

God's story update

2008-02-08T02:11:00.000+11:00

I am a bit behind with submitting my 'homework' (sorry Dan).
So I will post the earlier weeks later...
but here are some more recent offerings!

Stupid blog...

2008-02-07T07:20:00.000+11:00

I have no idea what happened but we weren't able to get into our account...very annoying. I am just writing this to say that we'll blog later :) Bye xox

Scatterbrain-ed thoughts!

2008-02-02T06:19:00.000+11:00

My mind is all over the place, I'm thinking about so much so this post I think will be a bunch of dot-points.

I'm thinking about age. I feel young, but when you talk about a time span of almost 24 years, that seems like AGES! 2 years is even ages! This was bought on as I was thinking about my parents ages & firstly wondering what my life would have looked like by then/what it will be like by then. Then secondly I was thinking that 50ish isn't such a bad age, quite respectable really!
A question that I've posed myself for the rest of Transit: will I be remembered (here in Egham, on Transit, with 24-7...)? Will I have set any standards? Have I lived up to last years & the years beforehand's standards?
Which brings me to my next question: What will my life be remembered by? Will I have made an impact? Will I have changed/saved the world :)?
Fame. I've been thinking about how much fame intregues me. I have a perception that you have the freedom to do more if you are famous. Now, I know there are many flaws in that, I can see it myself. I just have a facination with it. I think I even want to be famous to an extent...kind of. Not in a paparazzi kind of way though.
When will Jesus come back?
Am I living a life worthy of Heaven?
I've been thinking about my friends at home a lot, about how much I love them & miss them and want to see them be the best they can be in whatever they're doing.
I've also been thinking about something similar with my family.
A question that continually comes up: Have I messed my kids up with the choices I've made?!?!?
And do I trust that (because God has called us over here) God will look after Lily & Jakey & help overcome any of the downfalls & stuff ups we make?

10 is a nice round number, I'll leave it there. Hmm...no wonder I'm feeling so full right now! And it's not just from having too much pudding!
Oh, I also get to talk to a couple of my closest friends on Sunday, hooray :)
Lauren xox

Kind to people...is messy

2008-01-29T19:37:00.000+11:00

This article is written by Lou (who I live with) for the 24-7 Prayer website. It's something that happened shortly after we arrived here - she tells the story pretty accurately! Have a geez...

January 17th, 2008

Honestly, I'm still not entirely sure if this is a story about kindness or stupidity. Whatever I reckon, glory to God and I better say thanks to Him too. He manages to make even the screwiest circumstances mirror his love.

It was a Saturday and as such our day off. I was looking forward to a fairly normal, relaxed day. The two boys in the Egham Transit house had ventured off to a conference, so Lauren and I decided to take the kids up to Tesco's, do the shopping for the week and maybe have a cup of coffee together. We didn't expect anything different to happen. I think I probably prayed that morning but, to be honest, I can't remember! I don't think God gave me any particular tips or warnings...

And somehow we found ourselves sitting in café Nero, opposite a Spanish-speaking Romanian named Dragos. He was in desperate need of a job and a place to stay. He was in desperate need of help. These are the situations I admire about other people's stories but desperately try to avoid. It was one of those moments when you are confronted with someone's need and a split-second decision must be made if you have the ability to help somehow or even if it's a good idea to get involved

It turned out this guy had been in England a week, spoke no English, thought he could get a job but couldn't. Now he was getting kicked out by the landlord of the friends he was staying with. And, of course, Dragos had no money left. Both Lauren and I didn't know what to do. We couldn't put him up for the night, but we didn't want to just give him money for a bit

So without anything more we could think of, we offered him lunch, the use of the Internet, and tried to get in touch with a Spanish-speaking Christian community in Egham

We eventually sent him off to try and stay with his friend one more night, with a meeting with "Jesús" set up for Sunday morning. Yes, that's right, Jesús (hey-zoos). He's a leader in a Spanish congregation in Egham. Except that the meeting didn't happen, and Dragos called us on Sunday night desperate to find somewhere to sleep. That was really hard, because we decided we couldn't do that ourselves with two kids in the house. It's not like you can palm him off on someone else for a night. "Hiya, friend I've known one month! Would you like to house a homeless Romanian indefinitely? By the way he doesn't speak any English and we met him yesterday!" Slightly unrealistic. Apparently he slept on the streets that night, and then turned up at our house Monday morning. We were all feeling like we had run to the end of our resources. Would we have to house this guy after all

Here's the funny thing: almost by chance we discovered that one of our lovely neighbours spoke Spanish. So she came over to help translate and ended up spending the day with us ringing embassies with "hypothetical" questions about homeless European nationals, and eventually buying him a plane ticket to Madrid! We were flabbergasted... and a little worried. But our neighbour, Anna, literally asked herself the question "what would Jesus do" and seemed determined to do it. Dragos left the house well-fed, with all the change we could find for a night at the airport, and our prayers... I think he was completely dumbfounded by the generosity of a community of people he had never met. I love that somehow this became a community affair.The transit house gave him time and food, but we couldn't solve everything. Even if, in a worst case scenario, this guy was a conman (coz we had no idea really who he was) he must have been blown away still.

After Dragos had left, I didn't get that warm fuzzy feeling of a good deed done. Looking inside myself, the way I had seen the situation was anything but Jesus-like. I had been distrusting, scared, judgmental and uncomfortable a lot of the time. I hadn't had any clear idea of what I could do or should do. To be honest by the end of the saga I really just wanted Dragos to go away. But just by not looking away, not completely ignoring this guy, Jesus used his church to help him out. In some ways I'm amazed that Jesus would have us make all this effort to just help out this one man who wasn't particularly "special" in the eyes of the world. He could be considered untrustworthy simply because of his nationality. He told us that once the people we asked about jobs found out he was Romanian, they said it would be almost impossible to find work. But that's just like Jesus isn't it? Careering off after that one dumb sheep who managed to get himself indefinitely lost .

I am so glad we got to act even a little bit like that. That's my conclusion about being kind to people. We can look. We can try. We can offer something small- even a cup of coffee. and then when things inevitably get too big for us to handle, that's exactly when Jesus gets mucked in. All my love to you random everyday missionaries (chances are if you're reading this article, you are one!), and prayers for God to be with you Dragos, if you ever read this.

Bio

Louise Phyn hails from New Zealand, but as of September 2007 moved her life to England to be a crazy Transit student. Before that she went to University, which she frankly found a bit boring and so decided to do lots of other cool stuff like be a youth counselor , design prayer weekends and go on 100 km walks with her friends. Lu loves climbing mountains to hang out with God, furiously windy beaches, engineering fun with unlikely people, and coaxing art out of things that think they're ordinary.

The way of love: LOVE EXTRAVAGANTLY

2008-01-26T05:14:00.000+11:00

I write this post I think as a kind-of knee-jerk reaction to an article I read this afternoon about an anti-gay preacher having a go at Heath Ledger coz he "glamorise[d] and glorif[ied] that filthy, deadly sin of sodomy" (referring to Brokeback Mountain).
Here's the link: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=371907
He also calls Australia the land of Sodom. He & his 70-odd congregation are also known for picketing at funerals of fallen American soldiers, gay rights parades, etc.
Interesting bloke.
All that stuff makes me churn! Why do blokes like this nutter get heard so much louder than people who are really living as Jesus asked; loving rather than hating, accepting people rather than protesting against them...
Like I said, a knee-jerk reaction. I just hate that people see that bloke as a 'Christian' & dismiss Jesus, when really Jesus would have hung out at the G&L Mardi Gras!!! I mean he hung out with prostitutes & tax collectors for goodness sakes!!! They're the ones that accepted him the most!!!
What, then, is Christianity? I mean how do you 'explain' what it is? (I'm honestly asking here...) I find it really hard. Most of the time I'd prefer to just live, but that's even bloody hard coz I always get wrapped up in what people think about me, how I'm feeling, etc...
We just had a training block on hospitality (with AMAZING food - thank you SOOO much Emma :) & one thing that I am truly challenged by is that Jesus doesn't want us to be nice to people or have people over for dinner. He doesn't even want us to give our money to charities (gasp).
He wants us to love his people. TRULY, HONESTLY, RAW-LY (is that even a word?). Loving people out of the love we have for Him & the love he lavished upon us!
So yes, being nice to people helps. Dinner parties are often a great way to get to know people. Giving money to the needy is very practical & helpful! Am I making any sense? I'm actually trying to process some of what I was challenged by yesterday :) I don't think I can sum it up as well as Eugene Peterson puts it in the Message Bible:

The Way of Love

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

And there I'll leave it. You're more than welcome to let me know what you think :)
Lauren xx

Life is short, live it well!

2008-01-22T01:17:00.000+11:00

I really like Mondays! In the morning we have our God Story teaching (God Story being us reading the bible chronologically throughout this year & the teaching is drawing stuff out of it). On Monday big tall James (our fearless leader) lead us through the the part where the Israelites are living in exile. Before I launch into my thoughts, I think I'll run through a bit about what James said...

He started out by asking us 4 questions :

What do we know about the promises of God?

How do the Israelites see YHWH (Yahweh), God?

What is Jerusalem to the Israelites?

What is the Temple to the Israelites?

James established that at that point in time for the Israelites (at the point of exile) they saw God as the one who chose them as a nation to be blessed & to prosper in Him (God). They had a complacent, selfish view of God, they saw God as their territorial God.

They had a distorted view of everything that God had said to them as a people (God's promise to Abraham - blessed to be a blessing).

Jerusalem was the centre of their faith. It was the economic centre, everything revolved around Jerusalem. It was one of the definers of their identity. The temple was in Jerusalem. That's where their faith revolved around, the pinnacle of their faith. Another definer of who they were as a people group.

When Jerusalem fell their whole identity fell with them. James gave Psalm 137 as an example of that.

How did that affect the theology of the Jews at that point in time? How did it affect the outworking of their faith?

I can imagine that the Israelites would have been a bit like, "God said that he would bless us, He said that prosper us in this promised land, what happened?", and "what the heck are we supposed to do now, we have no place to go, we have no temple...how can we go on? Can we even go on?!?"

As James put it, the exile gave the Jews a theology of judgement, suffering & hope.

I guess the next bit is the bit that I relate to the most. Not that God has sent me over here to live in exile coz I've sinned (maybe :)! This next part of the story is where the Israelites learn how to live in exile & serve God.

They would have been stuck between the glory times of the past & the lost-ness of the future. Everything about the past (the glory days), about Jerusalem & the temple would have been 'tinged with gold' (as James put it).

During my struggles here it's so easy to think about Australia, the place where I came from, the place where God called me out of, and think about all the things that were good: my family, friends, support networks, familiarity... all these things are so brightly tinged with gold sometimes!

And I forget that life was sometimes crap at home! I forget that God challenged me just as much at home as he does here, it was just easier to run from it in Australia. I could camouflage myself!

So as the Israelites began their life in exile it's easy to think it was just like Egypt. I thought it was. But they weren't oppressed, they were encouraged to live & live well! They were also only in Babylon for 70 years. Not much in the grand scheme of Israel's history!
As I live here in Egham, I need to remind myself it's really not that much time in the grand scheme of things. 10 months is only a small dent in a life time. It's really only a speck in the big picture of eternity!
Daniel is such an inspiring guy in the Bible. He is living in exile, yet he lives & lives for God. In the midst of destruction & devastation he chooses life, he chooses God. And when he figures out that it's only 70 years that they are in exile he doesn't get complacent, he sees it coming & he prays! He wholly & completely submits himself to God! Not only that, he prays on the behalf of Israel, he joins the long line of people who have interceded for the nation of Israel in the past.

I guess what I've learnt is that God actually leads us down a path of suffering to gain a better understanding of his plan, of who he is & actually that it's about him - not us. It's stuff that we don't like to hear or admit! Sometimes I think that life would be easier if I could just be a happy-clappy Christian with minimum responsibility but would I really be living out what Jesus instructed us to do? It'd also be quite unsatisfying & really unfulfilling!
I was also really shocked by Heath Ledger's death today & it really bought home these thoughts that have been forming in my head about living & living well.
Like Markus Lagel said in Seville late last year, TODAY is the day of salvation!

I can't think of a title except for 'digesting"

2008-01-21T05:29:00.000+11:00

So, it's been a while, eh?

I think I'm having trouble processing everything that I'm reading about, thinking about, repenting (!) about...you get the point.
Phil Togwell came to our house on Monday night to join in on our Boiler Room community meal. He shared a little about what's going on in his community, his life & his world. I loved hearing what he had to say coz it's so rare you come across a person who cuts the crap and points you simply & directly to Jesus.
One of the things he said was how apparently Americans have 5 pounds of undigested meat in their stomachs at any point in time. He then went onto say how he feels sometimes that he reads all these books & hears all this amazing teaching but really doesn't have time to digest it all before moving onto the next thing.
This is how I feel. My mind is swimming with information & feelings & events & experiences that I haven't realised the weight & significance of!

Hence the lack of blog posts! I'm really struggling to "tell my story" (as it's put in 24-7Prayer circles) here on this blog.
To be honest (and don't ask me why I'm opening up on the Internet...what maybe 5 people read this? 500?!!?), the only thing I know right now is that I don't know anything!
I've come to the conclusion that I'm either really stupid for doing Transit, or completely in the will of God. God must have something for me here, or to get out of this time. I have to believe that, otherwise what do I make of the dark times? What do I make of all the difficult weeks (note the restraint of swear words :)? How do I reconcile myself, then, to dragging my kids over here & making them live in a completely foreign environment in a house that is really REALLY too small with two other people in it?
Do I even have the right to justify myself then? I mean for all the bad times that the kids have gone through? Tears prickle in my eyes as I write this. I sure hope (& pray) that this is a God thing for real. That may sound pretty faithless, I don't care. I love God, but right now I'm at a place where more than anything I just want my kids to be O.K! I don't want my decisions to screw them up!

I get a little grumpy at people sometimes who tell me that they admire my family for coming over to do Transit. I generally smile politely & say something like I know that God called us here...blah blah blah... Really I'm just thinking that there's nothing to admire. I want to tell them to come & live with us day to day & then see how admirable it is, trying to remember EXACTLY what God said to do in the midst of chaos & God-silence...

*SIGH* That's enough of that for now! Maybe I just digested a pound of meat then?

If you're a prayer, maybe shoot up a prayer for us - I mean our little family. Just that we know that the hand of God is with us! Cheers xx

Thoughts unfinished

2008-01-04T08:28:00.000+11:00

Deuteronomy 29:29

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. (NIV)

God, our God, will take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are our business. It's up to us and our children to attend to all the terms in this Revelation. (MSG)

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (NKJV)

“The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions. (NLT)

I really don't know what to write about this one. This passage really makes me think a lot. I think the last translation sum it up the best for me.

Practically though, how does this look?
?
I thought I had this post all figured out, but as I type I'm having more & more thoughts! I'll just work on them & get back to you! Sorry about the randomness :)

Manna to eat...

2008-01-03T08:02:00.000+11:00

Deuteronomy 8:3-20

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.
When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.
If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.

This is a tough passage. There is so much in it; like not forgetting the word of the Lord, not forgetting who the provider is, not forgetting to praise God coz he provided, observing God's commands, but the one that strikes me the most is the bit at the beginning where God humbles the Israelites. I think this strikes me so much is coz I think maybe that's me at the moment being humbled by God.
I'm sort of trying to picture it, the dislike of the Israelites being where they are, wanting to be in the land of milk & honey, longing for the place where they lack nothing. But instead, they are in the desert. Hot. Dry. BORING! Hard. Endless. They are longing for the goods, but at the same time they want to be careful not to stuff it up in the desert coz they know (because they are being told) that God can take away just as much as He can give. They don't want to increase their time in the wilderness. They also don't want to get to comfy in the promised land as they want to know God all their lives. The want their children to know Him & His goodness & to live in that goodness!
But it's all sandstorms and manna. BLAND manna. One key thing missing here though is the fact that it's nutrients from God. God's provision. He still is looking out for the Israelites. For me. Don't let me forget. Thank you God.

Finally, Lauren puts some God Story stuff up, HOORAY!

2008-01-03T07:13:00.000+11:00

Well, I've been meaning to do this I think maybe for 2 months now...?
Anyway, it's finally here and it's probably going to be 3 or 4 posts worth of stuff condensed into 1. A bit dodgy I know!
I guess I wanted to write about all the particular things that stuck me over the term of reading.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Deuteronomy 8:3-20
Deuteronomy 29:29
Deuteronomy 31:9-13
Actually...I've only jotted things down from Deuteronomy! I really quite like Deuteronomy. Apparently it's where Jesus quotes from the most.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

I really like this passage for a number of reasons. I think it raises a lot of questions for me, for instance, how do you go from knowing God's commands to loving God with all your heart, soul & strength? How do you impress that on your children? How do you tie them as symbols & write them on door frames these days?

I think the part where it talks about tying them as symbols on your hands and binding them on your foreheads is quite practical for someone like me who has a memory like a sieve! Wow, I just found this pic on the net...
That's amazing! What strikes me about the Jewish tradition (and something that I LOVE) is the idea of not only telling the story, but having (quite literally) on you all the time! I think it challenges me to keep remembering God's story (this sound a little silly coz I know that it's the point), keep talking about it, musing on it, floating ideas - even stupid ones!
I think I need to be less afraid of asking questions & floating my ideas. I need to be less afraid of 'getting it wrong', coz really with God has anyone got it right yet? If anyone has I'd like to meet you one day...

Anyways, not quite what I was intending to write, maybe my condensed God story posts won't be so condensed after all!
Lauren xx

The little master

2008-01-03T03:37:00.000+11:00

1st sorry to any Indian cricket fans that typed in the key words 'The Little Master' expecting to see a insightful and praise filled blog about the other Little Master (Sachin Tendulkar), this post is about 'The Little Master', Jacob James Henry Newman who as of yesterday added to his arsenal of awesome baby skills firstly rolling from his back to his front, followed a few hours later with rolling from his front to his back.
What next you ask? International banking, rally car driving, sleeping through the night...
we can live in hope :)

The final count down... nah! This title has little to nothing to do with the actual subject matter. I just couldn't think of an appropriate one

2008-01-03T02:59:00.000+11:00

Here are a few reflection type thingos from somewhere within my skull...
The 1st term of Transit is well and truly over now that there is about 3 days of holidays remaining and I was thinking about the term gone: 'True to Christ' (that's what the term was entitled).
What does 'True to Christ' mean, what does it look like?
1st of all by no means is being 'True to Christ' something you learn on a course or read in a book. It is a life style, not a 12 step guide to life and I think you would have to think long and hard before you modeled your life on someone who literally gave up his life for others.
Being 'True to Christ' is a way of life that crosses all demographic & cultural boundaries fitting into all situations that you can expect to come across.
Need to be 'True to Christ' in my (your) reality. For me this Transit course is not my reality, my reality is my family & friends, the people I meet all over the place. So instead of changing my reality to be 'True to Christ', I need to change myself to be more 'True to Christ' in my reality. But I guess what is being 'True to Christ': is it doing the will of God, acting justly, loving mercy, living humbly?
Life for me is a far cry from what it was at the start of 2007, going from full time work and family life & extra activities on top of that, to being around my family full time, study as well as doing extra activities & helping out.

There has also been a lot of focus on rhythms of prayer in life. It may not be as foreign a concept as it sounds at 1st, whatever your concept of rhythms or routines in life.
One area I have really struggled with so far is with the children, it is hard when children have irregularity in routine. Lauren and I have found that in really putting in the hard yards and trying to fix these routine problems by setting up routines that are flexible yet solid, life has been easier (not easy). It is not easy to set up routines, it takes many late nights and early mornings, many many tears and the odd grey hair begins to form but we set up routines for kids not so Lauren and I (or parents in general) can have sometime to ourselves (though it is nice to have some time), but it is healthy for kids to have routine. It brings them more fun during the day and much needed rest at night.
I think there is a direct parallel between rhythms in prayer and routines for children, when we bring ourselves before God on purpose even if we feel like crap or that we have nothing positive to say to God but just because we know deep down inside somewhere that God loves us, we should expect to see change in our lives. And just like anything else it will take many late nights, early mornings, tears, grey hairs, failures, triumphs, good times and bad but if we just stick in there we can and will see change.
Take it from the man with 2 kids, who has had to change there routines to suit a new lifestyle and time zone.

A prayer for the new year

2008-01-01T20:13:00.000+11:00

"This day is a new day
That has never been before.
This year is a new year,

The opening door...

Enter, Lord Christ -
We have joy in your coming.
You have given us a life;
And we welcome Your coming."

Celtic Daily Prayer from the Northumbria Community - Prayer for the New Year

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T19:27:00.000+11:00

Well here it is, 2008. I was going to write 'finally' but I feel like 2007 was one big blur!!!

I have no idea of what is in store for this year, I think that's a first since I finished college!

I've also been thinking about New Years resolutions and I'm not sure if I want to make any. I think I'm a bit hesitant coz they always sound great in theory, but when it comes to crunch life doesn't always pan out like you plan.
I guess I don't want to be bound to any of my plans but be more available to what God wants me to work on & grow in. Maybe that's my resolution, more of God, less of me! I'll keep you posted on how I'm doing ;)

Lauren xx

Dog and Bone

2007-12-26T07:54:00.000+11:00

Merry Jesus birthday everyone.

Well Egham turned on a proper grey, wet and cold Christmas for us today, quite a change from the great land down under!

But nothing could dampen our spirits today!
There is nothing quite like receiving a telephone call or 2 from friends and family back in Oz.
It was great to hear some familiar voices and brought a tear to this big softie's heart!
Ummm...

Can't wait to get back and have a beer with you all, oh and some meat!!! The meat over here sucks!
So enjoy the festivities and bring on the new year,

God bless
Mick

Stopping...

2007-12-24T07:20:00.000+11:00

I was going to call this post silence, except that would be....well wrong! Things are not silent, EVER!!! They have stopped slightly though now that we are on holidays. Just a little. Enough for some thoughts that I've put in the "I really don't have time to process that" category to come flooding back!!!
I've had so much to say about the God Story, and I'm quite bummed that I haven't had time to work on those thoughts. I'm actually hoping to get a few of them up here over the break, as well as breaking my silence on what's actually going on in my head!!! Those thoughts have also gone in the "later" compartment!
Anyways, sorry, hopefully I'll be back after Christmas...possibly New Years...hopefully before then!!! Much love to you all in blogland!
God bless,
Lauren xx

P.S. In the meantime, you can catch up on God Story coz Mick too is catching up on his homework :)

God's story week 9

2007-12-24T03:29:00.000+11:00

Judges11-16*Ruth*1 Samuel 1-3,8-10
Jephthah the Gileadite to king Saul

Jephthah the Gileadite was a warrior and the son of a prostitute, his fathers son (half brothers) kicked him out of home. War came to Gilead and they people needed a general for their army but no one was suited to the role, so they sought out Jepthah, he said you kicked me out why should I help you, but they pleaded and told him they would make him head over the whole tribe. So Jephthah called God as his witness to this and lead the army, he sent messages to the Ammoritie kings asking why they were waging war against them. The reply came, because you took my land, now give it back! Jephthah replied that when Israel came out of Egypt they sought passage to go through the lands of Moab, Edom and the Ammorities but they refused and Israel went around, then the Ammorities attacked Israel and Israel won and took the land. Jephthah told the king to let his god get him land and I will let my God get me land. God was with Jephthah, he defeated the Ammorite king but then in the glory of victory he swore to God to honour him with a burnt offering the 1st thing he saw when he got home, returning home Jephthah's 1 and only child, his daughter came out to join in his victory. Jephthah mourned (and exclaimed a few words that can't be mention here I'm sure) and he had to explain to his daughter the foolish vow he had made. The daughter took it pretty well considering, she went to the hills with her friends to mourn for 2 months then returned home and the deed was done, Jephthah fulfilled his foolish vow. The men of ephraim complained that they were not invited to the fight but Jephthah said he did but none came so a fight broke out between Gilead and Ephraim. Jephthah lead Israel 6 years followed by Ibzan for 7 years, then Elon for 10, then 8 years of Abdon whose 40 sons and 30 grandsons each had a donkey!!!
Israel turns from God again and the Philistines came to power over Israel for 40 years. 1 day an angel came to a woman and told her she was going to have a son, even though she was sterile. The angel informed her to keep off the booze and 'unclean' foods, that the boy was to be set apart for God and take the Nazarene vow (no booze, no haircuts, no touching dead people and no non Jewish foods). The boy would deliver Israel from the Philistines, the woman rushed home to tell her husband and he prayed that God would show them how to raise the lad. The angel came to the woman again she went and got her husband, the angel told them I already told you what to do, so they prepared an offering for God and the flame shot up into the heavens and the angel ascended in the flame. The boy was born and named Samson. Samson grew up and had a very large soft spot for the ladies. He spied an attractive philistine lady and told his dad I'll have that one. His parents objected but Samson dug his heals in. Samson went to see her and on the way a lion attacked him, but he killed it bare handed for God had given him great strength. He meet the lady type and liked what he saw, sometime later he went to marry her, bees had made their hive in the carcass of the lion he had killed, so he helped himself to some honey out of the lion (as you would). Now at the wedding Samson was sitting around with some Philistines and made a little wager with them winner getting a whole lot of clothes. Samson gave them a riddle about getting something sweet to eat out of something that is strong. This stumped them. The Philistines pressed Samson's wife to get the answer, she kept nagging until he gave her the answer, when the men gave Samson the correct answer he was furious because he knew they had pressed his wife for the answer, so he killed all 30 of them and went home and Samson's wife was given to another man. Now a while later once Samson has cooled down he went back to get his wife to discover she had been given to someone else, they all thought Samson hated her. Now Samson was super pissed (think the Hulk), he tied fireworks to the tails of foxes and threw them in the food storehouses destroying the lot, so the Philistines killed Samson's wife and her family, Samson in turn killed a whole bunch of Philistines and then went into hiding in Judah. The Israelites there were questioned about Samson's whereabouts, 300 Israelites went to get Samson and Samson agreed to be handed over to the Philistines, they tied up Samson's hands and handed him over but Samson broke the ropes grabbed the nearest weapon, a donkeys jawbone a slew 1,000 Philistines. Samson than demanded God to give him a drink and God sent him a spring of water, Samson lead Israel 20 years during the rule of the Philistines. One day in Gaza Samson decided to visit the local red light district, the people saw him go to spend the night and thought they would lay in ambush outside the city gate and jump him in the morning, but after Samson had enjoyed the service he got up in the middle of the night tore the city gate from the wall and tossed it on the hillside.
Later on Samson eye was caught by another lady type, Delilah. Samson was infatuated by her and the Philistines noticed this they offered Delilah a suitcase of cash to help them bring down Samson. So Delilah used her femanine charms to try and coax Samson's super strength secret out. 3 times she tried and each time Samson lied, she tried each way binding him up and raising an alarm but each time he broke free and Delilah was not impressed. But after much nagging and seducing he gave the whole story of his vow to God. So Delilah cut his hair tied him up and rose an alarm, Samson woke but couldn't brake free, the Philistines came in and took Samson away, gouging his eyes out and beating him. Samson was put to work in the prison and his hair began to grow again. The whos who of Philistine gathered to honour their god for delivering Samson to them, they brought him out to dance and entertain them in the temple. Now Samson asked his guide to take him to the middle of the temple and he rested against the 2 support pillars. 3000 Philistines were laughing at Samson and praising their god for defeating him and Samson prayed to God and asked him for the strength just once more to take revenge on the Philistines. Samson pushed on the 2 pillars and they fell bringing the temple down killing all there.
During this time of judges in Israel there was a famine in the land. A man from Bethlehem, Elimelech took his wife Naomi and 2 sons and moved to Moab. His sons married Moab women Oprah and Ruth, but all 3 men died leaving Naomi, oprah and Ruth to fend for themselves. Israel had recovered from the famine and Naomi heads back she tells the girls to go back to their own land. Oprah says ok bye and goes home but Ruth sticks with Naomi and heads to Israel.
The people are surprised to see Naomi but she says don't call me Naomi (means pleasant) anymore call me Mara (bitter), Naomi blamed God for all her misfortune. Ruth goes to the fields to get the poor peoples gleanings. Boaz a close relative of Naomi owns the field and leaves extra food for Ruth to collect and tells his workers to take care of her (Boaz did this because Ruth was looking after her mother in law even though she was not obliged to do so). Boaz gave Ruth lunch, which she took some back to Naomi. Naomi said she thinks Boaz fancies her and that she should go show her interest in him. Now Boaz was what was know as a kinsman-redeemer someone who kept family stuff in the family, example buying fields, keeping family lines going etc. so Ruth proposed to him, Boaz said he would take her but there was a closer related kinsman redeemer who would get 1st pick. He said no and Boaz took Ruth as wife and took Naomi into his house and Naomi's husband and sons land became Boaz's. The elders blessed this union and blessed Ruth that she would be like Rachel and Leah the wives of Jacob and like Tamar who continued her husbands line through Judah. Boaz and Ruth have a son and they thank God, now Naomi has a grandson to look after her in her old age. The boy is named Obed who is the father of Jesse who is the father of David.

Now there was a man with 2 wives, one had children and the other did not. Every year the man took his family to Shiloh to offer sacrifices to God, Hophni and Phinehas the 2 sons of Eli were the priests there. The man loved his childless wife more than the other. The other wife lorded it over her for she had children and was loved less, she tormented her. While at the temple the childless wife cried out to God and begged Him for a son of her own, she promised that she would dedicate the child to the service of God. Eli the priests saw her there, it looked like her lips were moving but no sound was coming out. He thought she was drunk and went over and told her to get out and stop the drinking, but she explained that she was crying out to God, Eli gave her the very good and may God grant you your request. In time she fell pregnant and had a son whom she named Samuel, the next year as the family prepared to go offer at the temple she stayed at home telling her husband she would go an give the boy into God's service once he was weaned and this is what she did. She took Samuel to the temple told Eli of her prayer and gave him into Eli's care so he may work for God. Samuel's mum praised and thanked God for blessing her and for His greatness in the whole world. Samuel grew up as an apprentice in the temple, but Eli's sons were not God fearing priests they enjoyed their place of position and power, taking from the offering what was meant for God. Well God wasn't too impressed by it all, Samuel on the other hand ministered before God and grew closer to God. Eli by this stage was an old man and he caught wind of what his boys were up to, accepting sexual favours, stealing God's offerings etc. Eli told his boys to straighten up and fly right but they didn't listen. Samuel on the other hand continued to grow in God and found favour amongst the people. One day someone gave Eli a message for him they had got from God: God had chosen Eli and his family to be priests to bring glory to God, not to fatten themselves up and that his descendants would pay for it God would not continue to bless them and Eli's sons would die on the same day and God would raise a faithful priest to replace them. Visions and words from God were rare in these days. Eli was blind and one night while he was fast asleep and Samuel also sleeping when he heard a voice call his name, he ran into Eli's room and said you called?. But Eli said he had said nothing, this occurred a 2nd and a 3rd time and on the 3rd time Eli realised it was God calling to Samuel and he told Samuel to talk to God. Again God called to Samuel and Samuel replied yep. God told Samuel how he was going to bring judgement on Eli and his family. In the morning Eli asked Samuel what God had said, don't hold back or lie to me he told Samuel and Samuel told him everything and Eli accepted it. God revealed more of His ways and will to Samuel who passed them on to the people of Israel and they could see Samuel knew God. When Samuel had grown old he appointed his sons Joel ans Abijah leaders in Israel, but they did not follow God, they were dishonest and out to make a profit. The elders told Samuel of this and that they were not impressed, they asked Samuel to appoint a king over Israel to rule all the people in every tribe. Samuel was not so sure about this idea but he asked God anyway, God told Samuel that if the people want to reject Him as king that He would let them, but God told Samuel make sure that they understand what they are in for with a king ruling over them: the king would force them into work, make them soldiers and would reap the benefits of all their work. When this happens the people of Israel will beg God to relieve them of the king but God will not because they asked for it. The people said to Samuel give us a king anyway! Samuel told God their answer and He said let them have it.
A man from the tribe of Benjamin had lost his donkeys and sent his son Saul (a strapping young man, tall and built) along with his servant to find them. They looked for ages but could not find them, they were just about to throw in the towel when the servant spotted a town in which he knew lived a wise man of God that would help them. Saul ans the servant went down and met the wise man of God, Samuel. Samuel invited them to the sacrifice feast, God told Samuel as soon as he saw Saul that he was to be king of Israel. In regards to the donkeys Samuel told Saul not to worry about them because soon he would be without any wants. Saul was a bit taken back by this comment and Samuel gave Saul the place of honour at the feast and asked Saul to stay with him for a few days. Samuel took some oil and poured it on Saul and kissed him telling him God had chosen him as king of Israel. Samuel sent Saul on his way telling him on his way he would meet 3 men, 1 with 3 goats, 1 with 3 loaves of bread and 1 with some wine, they will offer him to loaves which he should accept. Next you will pass a Philistine outpost and meet a band of wandering prophets, God's spirit will come upon you and you will join in prophesying with them and once these signs are fulfilled God will be with you in whatever you do, next head to Gigal and wait for me 7 days. Now all happen as Samuel had told Saul, people saw Saul prophesying and said wow is that Saul, what has happened to him. Samuel called the people together and told them even though they didn't want God as king, God had chosen them an Israelite to be king. Samuel cast lots to see who would be king of Israel and tribe by tribe and family by family were taken out of the running and the final lot fell to Saul, but Saul was hiding behind the suitcase. The people asked where is Saul and God pointed behind the bags, they pulled Saul out and hailed him as king. Samuel told Saul and the whole of Israel what was expected from a king of God's people and after writing it down everyone went home, but not everyone was happy with Saul being king.

God's story 8th week

2007-12-23T01:11:00.000+11:00

The sun stands still to ditching the idols

5 Ammorite kings united against Israel seeing that the Gibeonites had made peace with Israel so they attacked them. Joshua an his army came to Gibeon's aid and routed the Ammorite armies and God sent a severe hail storm on the retreating troops killing a great deal of them, God gave the 5 Ammorite kings into Joshua's hand, the kings had hid in a cave Joshua had the cave sealed up while the rest of the enemy were rounded up and killed. The sun stopped in the sky and stayed up a full day as the retreating enemy was destroyed. When this was done Joshua returned to the cave, the 5 kings were taken out a held to the ground. Joshua told the Israelite army to not fear or be discouraged but to be strong and courageous for this is what God is going to do to the enemies they are to fight. Joshua struck the kings with his sword and hungs their bodies on trees until night when they were taken down and buried. The Israelite army then sweept southand along into the western foothills defeating the people there, for God was with them. The army now headed north where the kings had united against them. God told Joshua not to worry because by that time tomorrow the kings armies would be defeated, the next day Joshua lead an attack against the massive united army and scattered then in all directions taking all the cities in that region and waged war with those people for a long time (except the Hivities living in Gibeon whom they had made peace). Now no other people tried to make peace with Israel so there was much fighting in the land and they followed what God told them to do. In that time the Israelites destroyed the Anakites from the hill country from Hebron, Debir & Anab and the hill countries only in Gaza & Ashod did any survive, Joshua took the land as God had directed Moses and he divided the land amongst the tribes and they had rest from war. Caleb the other original spy along with Joshua that brought the good report to the people came to Joshua and asked him for the land promised him by God, Joshua blessed him and helped him to drive out those in Hebron which was Caleb's inheritance for following God wholeheartedly. After many years God had given Israel rest from war, joshua no well into his years called the elders and leaders together, he reminded them to stick to God's ways and promises, to obey carefully, to not turn to the nations around them or the people who used to live there because their ways will be a snare to Israel and if they do turn to them they will lose sight of God, their God and God will leave them to fend for themselves. Remember everything God has said He has deleivered, just as all God's blessing have come to pass just as surly all God's curses will come if you stop obeying Him and turn from His promises. Joshua assembled the people and prested them all before God then Joshua told the people their story from when Terah the father of Abraham left his home, through to their time in Egypt, the exodous in the desert, the crossing at the jordan river and all that God had done in the land they had now entered. He then called the people to serve God wholeheartedly. Joshua declared that his family would do just that follow God wholehearedtly, and the people responded we too will follow god wholehearedtly. But Joshua said you are not able to serve God, He is too holy for you, He will not ignore rebellion and sin. If you forsake God, He will bring disater on you. But the people insisted that they would follow God. Joshua told them that they were witnesses to their own promise, to throw away all foreign gods and they made a covenant (sort of like a contract) to serve God and God alone. Joshua set a stone as a memorial to this promise and the tribes went each to their own piece of land. Joshua died and was buried in the land of his inheritance and they lay Joseph's remains to rest in that land (yes they had been carrying Joseph's bones all that time from Egypt, 40 years in the desert and through all the fighting) and Israel served God all the years of Joshua and the elders that knew him.

After the death of Joshua Israel asked God who was to go and fight the Caananites 1st, Judah was the 1st choice who along with the Simeonites were the 1st to head to the land allotted them, they attacked the people there and took the land. All the tribes went out to take the land allotted them but when the people living there put up a fight, the tribes gave up and just enslaved the people there even though God said to wipe them out. And well God noticed that the Israelites had compromised and not trusted Him to clear the land so God said fine if you won't trust then these people will live among you and torment you. Now all the elders from Joshua's time had passed on and the next generation that had not seen what God had done for them turned from God and turned to the local people's gods and customs, so God allowed His people to be subject to attacks by other nations and bands of raiders who plundered and murdered Israelites and the Israelites were in distress. So God raised up judges (or leaders) to lead His people in this time, to deliver them from the raiders and other nations. As long as a judge was leading Israel they followed God but as soon as the judge died the people turn back to other gods. Now God allowed the original inhabitants of the land to live among the Israelites to test Israel and see if they would choose Him and His ways or their gods and customs. The Philistines, Caananites, Sidonians and Hivities lived among the Israelites and they intermarried with these people and served their gods. Now this was evil in God's sight and God allowed the king of Aram to invade them. Aram ruled over Israel for 8 years the people cried out to God and God raised up Othniel to save them, God's spirit was with him and he went to war and freed Israel from Aram and there was peace for 40 years until Othniel's death. Then Israel turned from God again and the king of Moab took control of Israel for 18 years and again they cried out to God and He raised Ehud (a left handed man), Ehud went to the king of Moab and took him a gift along with a concealed knife, he presented the gift to the king and told the king he had a special message for him. The king dismissed his attendants and Ehud drove the knife into the kings belly (the king was very fat), Ehud then ran for it, he gathered an army and attacked Moab making them subject to Israel and there was peace 80 years. After Ehud, Shamgar lead Israel. Most notably killing 600 Philistines with an oxgoad (a stick you poke ox with). But once again Israel turned from God and spent 20 years under the rule of the king of Caanan. The people cried out to God who sent them a prophetess Deborah she lead Israel and the people sought her for advise. She told a man named Barak that God wants him to take 10,000 men and free Israel, but Barak said not unless you come with me and Deborah said I will come but I will get the credit instead of you. They went out and won, the enemie commander fleed and hid in a tent of a local who took him in, but when he fell asleep she drove a tent peg through his head and showed the Israelites what she had done. Deborah and Barak broke out in the whole song and dance routine about how God had taken them out of oppression and there was peace 40 years. Israel went back to evil and for 7 years were enslaved by the Midianites, they stole Israel's crops and livestock. Israel cried out to God in their distress and He sent them a prophet who reminded the people of God saving them form Egypt and that they had turned from Him. Now Gideon was threshing wheat which he had hidden in a winepress, God came to him that He was with Gideon, that Gideon was a mighty warrior. Gideon than said hey where are you God we are being oppressed here. God told him to go and save Israel, but Gideon said pull the other leg I am the least in my family and my family is the least in our tribe, God said dosn't matter I'll be eith you and we will save Israel together. Gideon told God to hang on a moment while he prpared an offering to see if it was really God. Gideon presnted the offering and God set it alight, gideon clicked that it was God. God instructed Gideon to tear down the villages idols, set up a proper altar and offer sacrifices on it, which he did at night for he feared the others would kill him. Next morning the villagers were pissed that Gideon had destroyed their idols, they were going to lynch him, but Gideon's dad said let those gods defend themselves, so they let him go. Meanwhile the Midianities were preparing to raid Israel God told Gideon to gather an army from the surrounding tribes and they marched to battle. Now Gideon asked God for a sign that Midian had surely been delivered to him, he placed a fleece out over night asking God that if the fleece was wet but the ground dry he would know that God had handed him victory, it was so, but the next night he asked God to do the reverse to the fleece and it was so. Early the next morning God told Gideon that he had too many troops, that when they win they will think it was because of them, so God told Gideon to let those who were scared to go home and 22,000 men returned home leaving 10,000 fighters. But God said sorry you still have too many troops, He told Gideon to take them down to the river to drink and seperate those who lap the water up like a dog from those who knelt down to drink. 300 lapped it up and God said with those 300 I will save Israel. During the night God told Gideon to attack the camp but if he was scard he could send spies to check it out. Gideon went and checked out the camp, the guards were talking about how God's army was going to kick their butts. THE TROOPS were gathered and each given a jar with a candle in it and a trumpet and told to follow Gideon's lead they went into the camp smashed the jars and blew the trumpets the Midanite camp went into chaos running around all over, Gideon sent word to all the tribes of Israel to not let any survive. Some Isralites grumbled at Gideon for not asking them to fight, but Gideon said you are better than me why are you complaning. Gideon and the 300 pursued their enemy when they reached Succoth they asked for some refreshments, they said no why should we, and gideon said stuff you then, when I am done here i'll come back and deal with you. Next they reached Peniel & made the same request and got the same reply and Gideon promised to come and pull down the towns tower when he was done fighting. The remaing 15,000 Midianites made camp where Gideon and co. suprise attacked them taking their 2 kings and wiping the troops out. Gideon the n went back to Succoth and Peniel, in Succoth he beat the 70 elders there and in Peniel he pulled the tower down killing many. Israel asked Gideon to be their leader but Gideon said not he nor any of his family would lead Israel and taking his share of the plunder went home their was 40 years of peace. He turned his gold into an ephod (a priest garment) and put it in his home town but people worshiped it, Gideon had 70 sons and numerous wives, Gideon died and the people again forgot God and turned to idols. Now Abimelech theson of 1 of Gideon's concubines wanted to be boss he killed all his brothers except 1 which escaped. Abimelech selfproclaimed himself in charge but Jotham the one that got away hid and when Abimelech was selfproclaiming Jotham had a go at him saying that if Abimelech had come to power fairly than fair enough but if he had come to power unfairly than he better watch his back. For 3 years abimelech ruled but God punished him for his wickedness and he was overthrown. Sometime later Tola rose to save Israel he lead Israel 23 years.Next Jahir lead for 22 years and had 30 sons each with his own donkey (sort of like 30 sons and 30 BMWs), then the people turned from God (what again) and looked to idols. God allowed the Philistines and Ammorities to terroise the people east of the Jordan for 18 years, people fled across the river and were all like crap God we are sorry, but God told them to let their idols save them, but they said no God we are sorry only you can save us. The people rid themselves of the idols and God could bear their misery no longer.

God's story week 7

2007-12-22T22:33:00.000+11:00

Deuteronomy 10-12,17-18,28-31,34*Joshua1-9
Remember New Tablets to deception in the promised land.

Moses reminded the young Israelites that he hand bloody carved the 10 commandment so they better stick to them, remember you guys have been called by God to be set apart. Now Moses set it out following God's way = good/blessings. Not following God's ways = bad/curses, destroy everything used to worship things other than God. Do not worship God in that manner, ask God where He wants to set His place of worship and sacrifices, the rules for sacrificing are then gone over again, so everyone knows and so everything can go well for them. God lets Moses know that when the people enter the land they will want to set a king like the nations around them, but tell them that I am the one that choose who shall be king and these are the strict guidelines to being king of My people: must be an Israelite, must not gather riches or wives. The king is to write down all of My laws and read them everyday of his life, so he may learn to revere Me and not consider himself more important than anyone else. Now as for the tribe of Levi, the priests they aren't getting any land they are to live off of the offering made to Me, they have been set apart to minister My word said God. Once again I warn you don't do what the other nations do or I (GOD) will be angered! I will raise up prophets to bring My words to the people for they asked not to speak directly to Me their God. The people must listen to the prophets and discern if what they say is true and from Me, if it comes to pass it is true. Moses again reminds Israel God will abundantly bless us in all areas of life if we obey His words but He will greatly curse us in all areas of our life for disobedience. God renews His covenant with Israel, reminding them (common theme) about all He has done for them so they have no excuses if they turn from God they know the cost and if they do turn and cry out to God in the middle of their distress and turn back to God, He will restore them into His blessings as long as they follow His ways. God tells the people that His law are attainable that it is not beyond them to follow His ways, God gives them the choice between a life of blessings or a life of curses. A reminder to them that He is their very life, all that they need. Moses than appoints Joshua the new leader of the people of Israel. Be strong and courageous and do not be discouraged for God is with you and the people and He will go into the land before you Moses told Joshua. Moses jotted down a copy of the laws of God gave them to the priests and had them read it to all of Israel. Moses then took Joshua to Moses tent and God commissions Joshua for the job of leading Hid people.
Moses climbed a Mt across from the city of Jericho where God showed him the whole land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob etc.
Moses died and was buried, Joshua was now their leader and he talked to God on their behalf as Moses had before him.
God now told Joshua to get the people ready to cross the Jordan river. God instructed Joshua, I will never leave you or forsake you, obey My laws, be strong and courageous, I will be with you wherever you go.
Joshua got the people organised and got the troops ready for battle. 2 spies were sent into the land, they went to Jericho and stayed in the house of a prostitute named Rahab who lived on the wall of the city. The spies were not that good at being spies and it was discovered that there were spies in the land. When the guards came to search Rahab's house the spies were no where to be found because they had been hidden in the roof. Rahab told the guards that the spies had been there but had left the city and pointed them in a random direction, so the guards set off in that direction. Rahab went up to the spies, she told them she knew that God had given them this land and that she had heard all that God had done bringing them out of Egypt. Rahab asked the men to swear an oath that they would spare her life when they took the city. The spies swore that Rahab and her family would be spared if they were in that very house when the Israelites attacked and a scarlet cord (red rope) was hung from the window so the house could be identified. The spies returned and reported everything to Joshua. The Israelites got back on the road towards the Jordan river with the ark of the covenant about 1km (0.6 miles) in front. Joshua instructed the people to dedicate themselves to God for tomorrow He was going to do something big amongst them. The next day at the banks of the Jordan river Joshua declared to the whole of Israel, this is how you will know that the living God is among you and will go into the land before you, the priests will take the ark walk into the river and the river will stop flowing. Well the priests stepped into the waters and they stopped flowing even though the waters were at flood levels and the whole of Israel crossed the river bed which was completely dry. Joshua then instructed 1 representative from each of the 12 tribes to grab a stone from the riverbed (not small pebbles I imagine, I'm thinking rather large rocks) and with these stones they set up a memorial so the generations to come would know what had occurred there and to thank God. God got Joshua to get the priests out of the river bed and as soon as the priests carrying the ark left the dry riverbed the water gushed back to where they had been. The peoples living in the land heard of how the Israelites had just miraculously crossed the flooded river and were too afraid to go out and meet them. Now God had all the men in the Israelite camp take the snip (the tradition/sign of circumcision had ceased in the desert mostly because of the laziness of the people. This bush surgery would of taken all the men out of action for a few days, in enemy territory too!)! God told Joshua you made it mate, the escape from slavery is complete, you are no longer a people of slavery, that night the people celebrated the passover feast and the next day they enjoyed some of the local produce and God stopped the manna supply. On the road to Jericho Joshua saw a man standing there with his sword drawn, he asked the man if he was friend or foe, neither was the man's reply, but as the commander of God's army I come have now come the 'man' continued. At this Joshua fell face to the ground and asked what God had to say to him. Take off your shoes this is holy ground was the answer, Joshua did so.
The fighting men of Israel now reached the fortified city of Jericho which was locked tight for the people had seen the number of Israelites that crossed the river. God told Joshua that He had given the city over to him and instructed Joshua to march the army and the priests and the ark once around the city (in silence) for 6 days. On the 7th day they are to march around 7 times and on the last lap to blow trumpets and yell and the walls would come down and the city could be stormed. Well they followed God's instructions and the walls came down the city was taken every man, woman, child and animal was killed (except Rahab and family per oath) all the treasure was dedicated (totally destroyed) to God and the city made into rubble. Joshua then cursed the city before God that anyone that tried to rebuild Jericho would do so at the cost of their 1st and last born sons. Now 1 Israelite, Achan didn't follow to the letter God's instruction and took a little treasure for himself. In the mean time Joshua sent spies to the next town, Ai. The spies concluded that they would only need a small force to take the town, so 3000 went but the defenders of Ai forced them back. Joshua mourned and cried out to God, he did not understand why god was not with them. God told him to stop his crying, to get up and listen, someone from among you has taken what was supposed to be dedicated to Me. God had Joshua get the people to come before him 1 by 1 and ask them if they had taken anything that was God's. They then had to swear before God that they had not done it, when it got to Achan's turn he confessed. Achan, his family, their possessions and the treasure were taken to a valley where the rest of the Israelites stoned them to death until everything was buried and the sin completely removed from Israel (sin is a serious business). God told Joshua now Ai would fall before them that the treasures and livestock they could keep (Jericho was the '1st born' or '1st fruits' hence given to God). He set up an ambush, the majority of the army went up against the town while the rest hid. The army of Ai came out to meet the Israelite army and Joshua ordered a retreat God told Joshua to raise his javelin towards Ai, while this happened the ambush forced enter the undefended town of Ai they set fire to the town. The men of Ai saw the smoke rising and that they were now stuck between 2 fronts. The Israelites put them all to the sword, men, woman and children. They kept the animals and treasures for themselves, the king of Ai was hung on a tree and put to death as a warning to the surrounding towns and cities, in the evening the king was taken down and buried. Joshua set up an altar to God on which they offered sacrifices to God, Joshua wrote out a copy of God's laws there and read them to the whole of the Israelites.
Several of the local kings seeing what was happening joined forces against Israel but 1 peoples the Gibeonities decided that deception was a better idea. The Gibeonities got together a delegation but on old worn clothes and shoes, but old bags on their donkeys and loaded up with moldy bread. They came to Joshua and told him they had come from a distant land and had heard of what God had done and to promise peace to them. Joshua and the elders looked at the men in tattered clothes and the moldy bread and made peace with them, but they didn't inquire of God. A few days later Israel got wise to the sham story the Gibeonities had sold them. The Israelites confronted them and the Gibeonites told them how they had heard what God had told Moses about destroying everyone in the land. So because they had sworn peace with them the Israelites could not kill them so they turned them into servants and told them that they had to do all the crappy jobs.

God's story week six:

2007-12-22T04:12:00.000+11:00

Exodus 34-36,40*Leviticus16,19*Numbers1,10-14,20-21*Deuteronomy 1-9

New copies of the 10 commandment to a long time in the desert!!!

God get Moses to carve out 2 new stone tablets for the 10 commandments, Moses than headed down the hill with the instructions from God to tell the people the dos and don'ts again. Now after seeing the glory of God Moses face was radiant so much so the people were scared of him so Moses wore a covering over his head. Once again the sabbath outlines were told to the people and the offering for the tent for God continued and people came forward to offer their skills in making things, so construction of the tent commenced and the offerings had to be stopped because they had received more than enough from the people. God told Moses how to set this tent up and how it is to be used in worship to Him. So they anointed and set the tent which they called the tabernacle to God and His worship. Aaron and his sons were anointed to serve God in the tabernacle and to offer sacrifices for the Israelites. Now God would come down on the tabernacle and a pillar of cloud would envelop the tabernacle and the people would stay in that place until the cloud lifted and the would move on. God set up a day of atonement for the people once a year Aaron and his sons (the priests) would go into the tabernacle offering sacrifices to enter and then more for the sins of the people a goat would be killed on the altar as per God's sacrifice instructions and another goat would be lead into the wild (the scapegoat) to represent the removal of the sin from the people. They had to sacrifice because God is so perfect and just that He can not stand our sins so the sacrifice would bear the sin and punishment. God elaborated on the 10 commandments telling the Israelites to look after the poor, to be just and merciful to everyone and to not be like the nations around them. God got Moses to take a head count of the men in each of the tribes (each coming from the sons of Jacob ... Joseph is represented by his 2 sons to confuse you more), he then appointed leaders over each tribe. The cloud lifted from the tabernacle and off they trotted. Some of the people complained about all that God had said, God in turn was less than impressed and surrounded the camp with fire now the people were scared, but Moses to the rescue, he begged God to leave it and the fires died down. But Israel continued to grumble, they were sick of plain old manna day after day and complained that they had it better in Egypt where they had meat (and slavery). Now Moses on the verge of insanity asked God why He had sent him to lead these whingers, Moses told God they are your people, so God got Moses and the elders to gather, the elders were to help Moses with the people and God sent His spirit on the elders and the prophesied. Now God said I will send you meat for a whole month so much meat that you will be spewing it and so sick of it. So God sent quail one days walk all around the camp, 3 feet high in quail ( a metre of chicken) and the people got sick, quite literally! Now Miriam and Aaron (Moses sister and brother) were jealous of God speaking through Moses, God was not happy at them for this and afflicted Miriam with a skin disease. Aaron told Moses and asked him to pray for her and after a week the camp moved on. Now they were close to the promised land and they sent out spies 1 from each tribe, for 40 days they checked out the land and brought back the fruits and riches of the land. The spies reported 10 said great land, but we cannot take it the people there are to strong and numerous. But 2 spies reported the land is great and with God we will take it. Well the people sided with the majority and complained why have we come all this way to die! The 2 spies with the good report Joshua and Caleb tried to tell the people that God would deliver but they wouldn't listen. The straw snapped and God informed the Israelites that none of the people that saw God's plagues in Egypt would enter the land (all 20 years up), they were told they would wander the desert till they were all dead. The people were deeply saddened by this and said sorry God we will go and take the land you promised but God said I am not with you, you have made your own beds. Some men went to take the land but were slaughtered. So the Israelites wandered the desert and well ran out of water and complained, God told Moses to speak to the rock and water would come out, the people had gathered and Moses stormed over to the rock he was feed up with God's people and taking his staff struck the rock and water came forth. Now God was mad at Moses for not doing as he was told and in front of all the people so God told Moses and Aaron that neither of them would enter the land. The people of Edom would not allow the Israelites passage through their land so Israel tip toed around them. God took Moses, Aaron and his son Eleazar to go up a Mt, God told Moses to make Eleazar the new priest and Aaron passed away. While the people were on this detour they continued to dis God so God sent snakes among them that killed a great deal of people, the people quickly changed their tune and got Moses say sorry to God. God got Moses to make a bronze snake on a pole, when the people looked to the snake (after being bitten) they lived, look to God and live.

Now Moses told the young ones their history of why they were about to enter this land...

so we are on the edge of this land God promised to give us but the people sent spies 1^st and saw that the land was great but occupied. The minority of the spies said c'mon we got God lets go but the people feared what they saw and forgot everything God had done to get them to that point. This made God sad and mad and He only allowed the 2 spies Joshua and Caleb and you youngsters to go in. now we tip toed around the surrounding nations and stayed out of their land wandering for 40 years, then the last of the old generation died and we now find ourselves wandering through the land of other peoples but God said don't touch them or try to take their land, I will tell you what to do:

God told the young Israelites to head into the territory of Sihon the Ammorite king of Hesbon, Israel sent him peace for passage through his land but he refused so the 2 peoples came to blows and Israel completely destroyed them and took their livestock and continued on their way. Until they came across Og ammorite king of Bashan and meet him in battle, God said do not fear just do the same as you did to Sihon so they completely destroyed Og and his kingdom keeping the animals and valuables for themselves. So the land east of the Jordan river had been taken. The land was then started to be divided Manasseh, Gad & Reuben all receiving land on the east of the Jordan. Now all the fighting men were told the job is not yet done. Moses took Joshua aside and told him you have seen everything God has done & He will continue to do to the land as He did to this bit, he told Joshua not to fear that God Himself would fight on their behalf. Moses then went and pestered God to allow him to at least see the promised land, God took Moses up a Mt and allowed him to see the land God told Moses to train and encourage Joshua to lead the people. Now Moses instructed the new generation in God's laws to follow them, stresses that this law has been given by God, to not add to it or take away from it, to teach it and keep it and warns to keep away from idols or God will lay the smack down on them!!! Moses called everyone together and read them the 10 commandments, now live by them he implored them, these are the words God spoke to the people, they are the way to life. The law and it's importance was reinforced, learn it, write it down, don't forget that it was God that provided this land, teach the generations to come this story. God then instructs the people that when they enter the land to totally destroy, not to make peace, to smash all idols and false worship, pay attention to Me and My laws and I will pay attention to you, bless and prosper you. Don't be afraid for I AM with you. Remember the 40 years in the desert, don't rely on yourselves but rely on God who provides your every need. God will go ahead of you into the land to subdue it, not because you Israelites are righteous but because of the sin and wickedness in the land. Remember this, do not forget it! Remember the golden calf when Moses smashed the 10 commandments, God was going to destroy you then but Moses cried out on your behalf. Remember how God punished the last generation for their sin and rebellion...