I'm back!!!!

I didn't intentionally stop blogging - It's just been one of those extra busy times in my life. And so now the computer is free and I have some spare time.

I am back at Bible College this year and loving it. There is so much to think about and process! I'm still getting my head round double listening, and heaps of other stuff I am learning in class.

I have also learnt that going to Bible College does NOT automatically make you this person with all the fruits of the spirit shining through for all the world to see - in other words being in a place full of christians does NOT mean I will NOT need to be asking myself the question "Where is your long suffering, patience, gentleness, self control etc?"

I keep having these "light being switched on" moments at Bible College. Sometimes you can know something for a long time and that is all it is - just knowledge and then something happens and it becomes more than knowledge, it becomes a life changing and life challenging theology that makes you think and reshape what you thought about things.

Like realising that in John 3:16 when Jesus said "For God so loved the world... the world actually means "Cosmos" which is all of God's creation - the earth - as well as people.

So, what does that mean for me? If I am made in the image of God who loves the world, then what are my responsibilities as part of loving the cosmos - all of a sudden looking after the earth, especially where I live seems much more important in the light of this revelation - who knows? I could well be on the way to becoming a "greenie".

Life Lesson 25437

If you take your car to the panelbeater because taxi drivers think they don't have to stop at red lights, you need to remember not only to leave the key to your car and the remote key for the alarm, but you will also need to leave the alarm master key - so that when they disconnect your battery so they don't fry the electronics the alarm won't keep going off and driving them nuts.

It also means you won't get a very terse phone call from the panelbeater telling you to get down there with the alarm key ASAP! This is after he has already rung and you've told him the alarm key is in the glove box. Apparently the silver thingy in the glove box is not the alarm key, it is what you use to take the wheels off. (Well I was nearly right, they are both silver after all!)

Doh!

A grandmother's words

Was cleaning out a lot of old papers the other day and came across the letter written by my grandmother who was living in Shetland at the time.

...I didn't know you had a boyfriend until I got the snap with you and Lyn (my sister) dressed up going to the Methodist Ball. I hope there's nothing serious between you and Alastair yet. I sincerely hope you will not be thinking of marriage, Annette, for a long time yet. Just be good friends, and its nice to have a partner for any functions you are going to. So many youngsters get married now-a-days before they've had a chance to mix with the opposite sex. Soon they are quarrelling and the next thing is divorce. So please, Annette, wait for a few years yet....

Well Granny, I have to say you were wrong - I married Alastair 2 years later, we're still together 30 years later and we're not heading for divorce - although I can't say we've never quarrelled.

Room with a view

This is the view of Lake Brunner we woke up to each morning from our log cabin window, accompanied by the sound of bellbirds singing. But sadly the holiday is over and it is back to work...

We're celebrating..

The wedding of Nathan and Kirsty on Saturday November 25. A very special couple!

Life lesson 25436

When an email comes round at work saying the water is being turned off you really should remember that fact - especially before and not after you have liberally soaped you hands with liquid soap and have turned the tap on expecting water to be gushing out!

Where am I in the scene?

As the scripture about the children being brought to Jesus and the disciples rebuking those who had brought them was being read in church on Sunday I suddenly had a very vivid scene of this in my mind - almost like a page from a children's Bible Story book.

I am looking at the scene and there is this insistent question that keeps being asked of me "Which one are you?" I look at each part of the scene and I wonder:-

Am I one of those who are bringing "little children" to Christ to be prayed for and His hand placed on them?

Am I one of those "little children" who are brought to Christ by others to be prayed for and His hand placed on me?

Am I one of those "disciples" who rank people and categorize and rebuke those who love and nurture and want the "little children" to be blessed and know the hand of Christ on their life?

Am I the voice and hands of Jesus praying and touching the lives of "little children"?

Or am I one of the crowd who stands by and does nothing as the "little children" and those who love them and care for them are being held back from having the opportunity to get up close with Christ?

It is a question that I will ponder on for a long time.