Saturday, February 25, 2017

Balloons and Lollipops


Today, we had the opportunity to
bring the Youth Group
of Savannah Way Baptist Church
to the attention of the town of Katherine!

The YMCA was holding a
'Come and Try Sport Expo'
and invited us to hold a stall to show people what
we had to offer. What a great opportunity
to spread the good news to others!

Dave and James and Abbi and the girls
were kept very busy pumping up balloons
and writing sayings on them and handing
them out, while I talked to kids with my puppet,
Tembi, and along with the others,
invited kids along to Youth Group.

We were able to talk to many parents
and children and let them know who we were.

You must understand that this community event
is NOT Christian in any way, but the council
approached the church last year to see if we
were interested, which of course we were.

So, this is the second year we've been able to
represent the church and the ministry here
in Katherine, being the only church group to do so.

We were very popular today,
as we were the only stall with
balloons and lollipops!
I'm sure the parents just loved us 😄🎈


Please pray for fruit from this
event, that we would be
able to reach more precious souls
for Christ.

Matthew 19:14

But Jesus said,
Suffer little children,
and forbid them not,
to come unto me:
for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Friday, February 24, 2017

Pray First, Plan Afterwards



Recently, while reading a book on prayer,
I came across this simple,
but profound statement,
“Pray first, plan afterwards”.
And I found myself digging deeper.


It's true that God expects us to be orderly,
to manage our time, to be wise stewards,
to prepare well and discipline ourselves.
1 Corinthians 14:40
Let all things be done decently and in order.

1 Corinthians 14:33a
  For God is not the author of confusion,
but of peace.


  But, how often do we plan, plan, plan
our ministries and programs and meetings
in our churches, and then,
the day or week before the event we say,
“Now we need to pray about this”.
Raise your hand if you're guilty!
I don't think we consciously go about NOT praying,
but we just let it slide in the
business of the preparation,
planning down to the finest detail,
without ever asking God what it is
He wants us to do,
or how He wants it to be done.

It's almost like we say to God,
“Ok, God, we've got this all planned out,
we have all the bases covered,
we've thought of everything,
we have our contingency plan in place,
we know exactly where we're headed
and the goals we want to accomplish
through this ministry, now bless it, please”.

Ok, so maybe we don't say that aloud,
but isn't that what we're saying
in our hearts, when we fail
to get on our knees before the Lord
and pray for His will and way
before we start to plan?

How different would our programs and ministries turn out if we took the time to pray first, and plan afterwards? Would we find God leading us in a totally different direction? Would it help us see the bigger picture that God has for us? God is omnipotent and has all of heaven at our disposal, yet we work on our tiny, tiny plans, while He is waiting to open the floodgates of heaven and drown us with His blessings.


Isaiah 55:8 - For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

And what about in our personal
lives and in our homes?
How many plans do we make without
even consulting the Lord?
We plan out our futures without prayer,
then wonder where the blessing is.
The Bible tells us to 'pray without ceasing'.
This doesn't mean that we bow our
heads in prayer ALL day long, 
but it is more an attitude of God-consciousness
that we carry with us throughout
the day and continually remember
to call on God to know His will
and ask for His help and guidance.

Someone put it like this:

For Christians, prayer should be like breathing.
You do not have to think to breathe
because the atmosphere exerts pressure
on your lungs and essentially forces you to breathe.
That is why it is more difficult
to hold your breath than it is to breathe.
Similarly, when we are born into the family of God,
we enter into a spiritual atmosphere
where God's presence and grace exert pressure,
or influence, on our lives.
Prayer is the normal response to that pressure.
As believers, we have all entered the
divine atmosphere to breathe the air of prayer.

Unfortunately, many believers hold
their “spiritual breath” for long periods,
thinking brief moments with God
are sufficient to allow them to survive.
But such restricting of their spiritual
intake is caused by sinful desires.
The fact is that every believer must be
continually in the presence of God,
constantly breathing in His truths,
to be fully functional”


There is so much to learn about prayer
and being more effectual in our prayers,
that I will never reach its depths,
but I'm excited to see what God has to teach me
and what blessings He will bring
when praying first
and planning afterwards
becomes second nature to me.

I've got a long way to go,
being a born organiser, and having the desire
built into me to see things done decently
and in order and all laid out and to be able to say,
“I've got this!”. But, oh the blessing that comes
when I yield my will over to God
and sincerely say, 'not my will, but thine'.
Not my plans, but yours, Lord.


So, it has now become my motto
when the new ventures loom ahead of me,
and the ministry opportunities arise
and the programs need to be run,
to say with all my heart,
“Lord, I pray for Your will to be done
and Your plans to be put in place.
I will pray first, Lord, then I'll plan afterwards”.


Saturday, February 18, 2017

Tea for Two
(or 25 actually)



Today, a friend and I hosted a ladies
Tea Party! We ended up with 25 of us total
and drank lots of different teas,
and ate lots of delicious handmade delicacies.


Because my dining room and kitchen
is the size of  a matchbox,
we held it out of town at my friends'
block that over looks the escarpment leading
out to Nitmiluk Gorge.

Ahhh beautiful ♫

I was able to pull out all my lovely
tea cups, tea pots, antique dishes,
my grandmother's silverware,
retro plates and op shop special china. 

About time they got dusted off and used
for a good cause.



In a world of Lattes and Frappuccino's,
sometimes, it's just so nice to settle back
with a good cup of tea 🍵
and a bunch of friends.


That's not to say that I'm already
planning a "Coffee Party"
for the next get together!



So, kick off your shoes,
sit back and make yourself
a nice cup of tea 😊



God's Power at Work


Last night, here in Katherine, we
had a pretty epic electrical storm.
I was excited to sit out on the
front verandah and watch it for
2 hours, take a couple hundred photos,
and wait for that perfect shot!


 Psalm 77:17, 18

The clouds poured out water:
the skies sent out a sound:
thine arrows also went abroad.
The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven:
the lightnings lightened the world:
the earth trembled and shook.


 Psalm 97:4

His lightnings enlightened the world:
the earth saw, and trembled


Psalm 97:6

The heavens declare his righteousness,
and all the people see his glory.



Wednesday, February 15, 2017

The Long Way Home


A couple of weeks back,
when Dave and I took Cam and Lauren
back to Darwin to catch the plane,
we decided to come home a different way 😏

In the time we've lived here, we still
haven't done Litchfield or Kakadu,
so it was high time we at least drove that way home.




But, before that, we spent a little bit
of time at Nightcliff Jetty to kill some time
with Cam and Lauren.
The colours of the rocks and cliffs are
phenomenal!! (thank goodness for auto correct)

Due to recent rains, the water was all
brown and muddy, but it was beautiful
nonetheless.




Now, onto Kakadu.
Again, due to recent rains, most of the
tracks off the main road were closed,
but we were mainly passing through
with the view that we'd bring the girls back
another time and camp, when it dried out a bit.


The Wetlands were impressive!
I happily snapped away out the window as we drove
along and enjoyed the different scenery.



We had hoped to take a look at the notorious
Cahill's Crossing, but the first creek crossing
on the way there was 1.2 m over 😒
So, we left it for another day.


Impressive rock formations that
we just admired from a distance
seeing it was stinkin, steamin, hot and
we didn't feel like the walk!


Large expanses of water and flooded rivers


Creepy, croc filled billabongs


And beautiful skies overhead



Just another awesome example
of God's amazing creation!

Psalm 19:1

 The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

Psalm 148

1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord
from the heavens: praise him in the heights.
Praise ye him, all his angels:
praise ye him, all his hosts.
Praise ye him, sun and moon:
praise him, all ye stars of light.
Praise him, ye heavens of heavens,
and ye waters that be above the heavens.
Let them praise the name of the Lord:
for he commanded, and they were created.
He hath also stablished them for ever and ever:
he hath made a decree which shall not pass.
Praise the Lord from the earth,
ye dragons, and all deeps:
Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours;
stormy wind fulfilling his word:
Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees,
and all cedars:
10 Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things,
and flying fowl:
11 Kings of the earth, and all people;
princes, and all judges of the earth:
12 Both young men, and maidens;
old men, and children:
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord:
for his name alone is excellent;
his glory is above the earth and heaven.
14 He also exalteth the horn of his people,
the praise of all his saints;
even of the children of Israel,
a people near unto him. Praise ye the Lord.


Monday, February 13, 2017

RAIN RAIN RAIN
☁☂☁
Well, after a few dismal
wet seasons, we are now
having a decent one.

The Katherine River today
was up to 15 metres!


The locals, including ourselves,
have been keeping a close eye on the
river levels and going out to check every
couple of days or so.








 The photo below was taken in 2014..........


 And today!


And below is the Low Level Crossing
near where Abbi and James live.
So, they have to take the long way around now:)
You can actually see the river from their house.


And somewhere underneath this water,
is the picnic tables, a parking lot and toilet block:)



☁ As the rain brings renewal
And the tender buds begin to come alive,
So is my Word.
Giving seed to the sower,
And the bread to the hungry
'til they thrive,
So is my Word.
And the Word of my mouth,
it shall not return empty;
It will bless the earth wherever it is heard.
This is my Word. ☁

Sunday, February 5, 2017

LAUREN TURNS 21!!!

From a baby............

















To a Lady


Happy Birthday Lauren



Saturday, February 4, 2017

Holmes/Drews Adventure


Recently, we drove up to Darwin to pick up
Cam and Lauren from the airport after there
trip to Timor. Over recent weeks, we've
had to do quite a few trips to Darwin,
which is unusual for us, so it was time for a detour.

It's not that the road is boring or anything,
but, sometimes something different is in order.

Well, we decided to do a loop road that
goes past the old Grove Hill Historic Hotel.

Problem. Wet season. Hmmm.
Well, we had just picked up Emilee's new ute
and what better way for Emilee to get her first drive
in it, than taking it on a dirt road full of washouts,
potholes, mud, flooded
causeways and creek crossings.


Emilee puts the L plates on and she's off!



Cam followed behind in our cruiser
and splashed through
all the puddles as per usual.
(seriously, is there any other way???)

Well, we were going along fine, but as the road
got worse, Dave took over the driving and we
came to a bigger, much deeper crossing.



Well, the fellas said Lauren and Chloe
and I could wade across to check
the depth and conditions.
Ok, so well, maybe we volunteered
because we love getting wet.


Well, once it got to our thighs, we began
to get the heebie jeebies about whether or not
there was any crocs in this fast flowing creek
and we could only see the tip of the guide post,
and it wasn't getting any shallower or shorter,
so, we turned around and
decided to find another way.

Dave wisely didn't feel like having to drain all
the oils etc out of both vehicles for the next week
and our old cruiser needs some TLC at the moment.

So, we turned around and tried
to figure out the best
way back without going over the same tracks again.
We took one road that was very interesting,
but petered out into little more than a goat track
and we realised that wasn't the right one.


Here's the girls trying to get a bar of reception to
look at Google maps to find a better road.
We were unsuccessful with that by the way.


All in all, we had a good time and got home
late, tired, hungry but happy that we took the
long way home and explored new ground.

Dave has now found an interesting old
site to go explore some more some time.

Sometimes life calls for the long way home!

And in other random news,
we had a nice downpour the other night
so I had to grab the camera and sit out on
the verandah to see what I could see.



Neighbourhood vista through rain





And some light painting with lasers!



And of course bats bats and more bats
The girls crack the whip to scare them out of the
trees behind our house and they go crazy,
fly away, then someone up the road scares them
all back again. It's a game we like to play. LOL.

"The world is a book,
and those who don't travel,
read only one page"