Happy Birthday Maddy

Today, August 26th, is Maddy's

17th Birthday!

We had a nice surprise birthday party 

for her at teen group last night

and Abbi made an awesome cake!! 

And to top it all off,

she got her license today as well!! 

Woo Hoo! 

So, you know the drill.

Get off the road!

Another Holmes girl is on the move! 

Save the Date 

Tales of a Sheepdog

This little story was passed on to me 

today and I can't get the truth of it out of my mind. 

Please read.

1 Corinthians 1:18

 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 

   

The pastor of a large church was troubled over the lifelessness of his church members. Every Sunday he preached the Word of God faithfully, but he perceived that his people were bored with the saving gospel of Christ. He watched them doze off to sleep Sunday after Sunday under the preaching of the cross.

   So one Sunday, in the middle of his sermon, he departed from his outline and from his imagination he 
wove a tale about a sheepdog, a sheepdog in Scotland long ago. The tale he told had no basis in fact. 

It was a fairy tale he made up as he went along. His powers of description were such that he woke up the
 sleepy saints and wooed them into the web he wove. He told of the sheep that grazed safely on the moors,
 totally unaware of the storm clouds on the horizon. Not even the shepherd in his cottage knew that the cold rain, or that it would soon turn to snow, driven by fierce winds.    

   Suddenly, the storm struck and the sheep were driven before it, blinded by the snow, their fleeces soaked and cold and heavy. The poor old shepherd watched as snow flurries blotted out his view of the flock. 

He feared the loss every one of them. He called his faithful old sheepdog to his side and pointed him out into the storm with a command to bring the sheep to the fold. “Bring them in, Sheep! Bring them all in!” 
And away flew the old dog, into the teeth of the storm, snow blinded, running by memory, with his nose high, sniffing for the sheep and his ears up, hoping to hear them bleating for help.

   (As he told his tale the old pastor saw that every eye was upon him now and every ear attentive. Still he 
led them on, into the snare he laid for them...) Sheep raced down the lane and leapt over the fence 
expecting to find the flock waiting, but the wind had driven them away. Quartering back and forth he searched the paddock until he came to the gate that was left open to the moors. He paused to look back 
at the house, but it was lost to view. He barked once and again and then bolted 
through the gate and across the snowy fields, searching, searching, searching... 
 then the wind shifted and the snow fell so 
heavily that even the faithful old dog lost his bearings. He wandered nearer and nearer the cliff. 
His head coated with icicles, and his feet bleeding from the cold. Still he sought the sheep, all in vain. 
He could no longer see because of the snow, but he would not give up the search. Had not his master 
commanded him to bring them home? He knew not that he had lost his way or that the cliff was 
near until suddenly the ground fell away beneath him and he fell. Down, down into the darkness, on to the 
rocks, where he lay with his back broken and his hind legs now 
crippled. The snow covered his form, and... But wait, his head moves, and his eyes open, and he whines and tries to stand. He drags his body forward and whimpers. He must find the sheep. 

His master sent him to bring them home. He must find the sheep...." And just here the old pastor paused and swept his eyes across the congregation. Every eye is on him, the people wait to hear how 
the tale will end.

   But instead of the tale of the sheepdog, the people are stunned to hear their pastor shout,
 "You hypocrites! You despise the gospel of Christ, the power of God unto salvation! 
You sleep through the truth, 
and awake to hear a fable! I tell you a fairy tale that had not a word of truth in it, and you weep and sigh for a sheepdog that never lived! Depart! Come not again to this place of worship until your hearts 
are repentant and broken before God!" The people sat stunned for long minutes, finally arising and creeping out of the church with bowed heads and silent tongues.

 The old pastor left the pulpit and 
locked the doors of the church.  
   It is reported that the church was full of sober and repentant people that night, and that they attended
 the preaching of the cross with tender hearts. When the appeal was given, many in that church 
confessed their sins to God and sought His face and that it was the beginning of revival in that church.

   So, we cannot help but wonder if we have come again to the same dire, lifeless boredom with the
 glorious gospel. 
Do we need again a prophet of old to show us our hypocrisy and drive us from our sleepy churches?  

This was told to the congregation of the Baptist Temple church in San Angelo, Texas sixty years ago
 by our pastor, A. V. Henderson. -
Pastor  Buddy

It really hits home, doesn't it? 

How often are we lulled to sleep by the preaching

of the gospel, having heard it all before?

But a fairy tale awakens us out of our slumber,

and has us on the edge of our seats, begging

for more. 

Oh that our hearts would burn for the gospel

like they burn for fairy tales. 

How guilty are we of the same lukewarmness

this congregation showed? 

How often does a missionary come into our 

comfortable, lukewarm churches, and everyone

sits up attentively, listening to every word, the 

stories of faraway lands gripping them and holding 

them in an almost trance like state,

yet the faithful pastor, week after week, 

expounds the Word of God, with not even a 

head nod of agreement or a hearty amen! 

Shame on us! We listen every week to 

what the Lord has laid on the heart of 

God's faithful men, yet our callousness to the Word

of God shows us to be hypocrites! 

We say we believe, we say we trust,

we say we love,

yet we fail to be swayed by the preaching of the cross! 

Hebrews 4:12 

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 

Our Trip

Day Three

Ok, so where were we up to?

Oh, yes, on the last post we ended up in Halls Creek.

Now, the Canning Stock Route technically

starts at Halls Creek although the actual 'track' begins

at Bililuna, a small aboriginal community,

172km south via the Tanami Highway. 

Now, originally, I said I would give you some

info on the history of the stock route etc,

but, you have Google, so knock yourself out,

I am too busy right now to write a history lesson! 

Well, anyway, after tanking up on coffee (one

last time), we headed off to finally get off the bitumen 

and onto our 'real' adventure. 

After travelling on the Tanami Road for a while,

our first stop was Wolfe Creek Crater. 

It was pretty impressive and we were glad

to get out of the car after 23 km of corrugates

(visions of what was to come). 

Around lunch time we arrived at Bililuna community,

the start of the Canning Stock Route, and 

the start of hundreds of kilometres of corrugates!

After travelling a very short distance on the very 

bumpy road, the anti sway bar on the cruiser became

detached (sheered off really), so we pulled that off

and carried on our way. The first of many things to rattle

loose or fall off. 

We ended up setting up camp early at 

a beautiful lagoon called Lake Stretch. 

Being on Western Australian time now,

we hadn't really adjusted our body clocks so

we ate tea at 4pm! We were crazy mixed up. 

Here's a couple pics of the lagoon and 

also the lagoon and campsite 

through the lensball. 

It was very peaceful and relaxing down by the lagoon 

and it gave us time to plan our next days' trek. 

(Each night Dave and Kon would work out how

far we would 'try' to make it the next day. 

Of course I say 'try', as very often, things changed

and plans were abandoned. But that's the fun of 

adventuring into the great unknown. 

I enjoyed walking along the lagoon,

watching the brolgas and cockatoos

and photographing the reflections in the water. 

We finally got to have our first campfire 

and enjoyed our billy tea and damper. 

Once it got dark enough, I was able to sit

down by the lagoon and try and capture the 

Milky Way in all it's glory. Ahhhh. 

Wow! God really is a master artist.

Psalm 19:1

The heavens declare the glory of God;

 and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

Another day ended,

and a new one just over the horizon.

To be continued...………… 

BREAKING NEWS!!

Another Holmes Wedding!

Emilee and Laine are Engaged!

For those of you who are still out of the loop,

Emilee and Laine are engaged! 

So, it's all hands on deck here and mad wedding 

planning in the progress! 

After a romantic proposal today at beautiful 

Edith Falls (and a lovely picnic lunch),

on bended knee, the question was asked

and of course, she said Yes! 

As each of the girls prepares to leave the 

Holmes nest, one by one, mixed emotions

rise up inside of every member of the family. 

But for Dave and I, it's a time of soul searching,

"have we done enough training? is she ready to 

pledge her life and love to another? is she

ready to follow her man into the great unknown

and embrace whatever the Lord has instore for her?"

Sigh. It's always hard letting go,

but the decision is made easier when we know

that the future son-in-law loves the Lord

and wants to serve Him wholeheartedly. 

So as we start out on yet another 'letting go' 

moment, we are blessed beyond measure

knowing that this is God's will and that 

both Emilee and Laine want to follow 

the Lord in whatever He has for them. 

And for those of you girls out there

asking the question, "Where's the ring?",

well, here's a photo. 

Laine painstakingly sought high and low

for the perfect ring and it is beautiful! 

Our Trip

Day Two

Well, the second day of our trip took us 

from Kununurra to Halls Creek. 

Before we left Kununurra, we fuelled up

the drums and topped up the vehicles.

561 Litres later, you do the math! 

We made sure we drank more coffee

and bought some cold coke along the way

as pretty soon it would be a distant memory. 

Just a side note; I just wanted to play the 

newspaper reporter here and write something that 

gives credit to Emilee and her great achievement. 

If I was to write a rather wordy newspaper story title, 

it would go something like this: 

NEWSFLASH!!

18 year old, one-eyed P plater takes on

the Canning Stock Route in 

her trusty 79 series ute, on her first off road 

4WD adventure, and makes it through with flying colours,

despite having her 2 sisters riding along 

doing their best to belt out very poor renditions

of Old MacDonald had a Farm and Baa Baa Black Sheep

to various tunes, and fighting over who got the window seat

and why there was no more red snakes! 

No, seriously, Emilee really does need to be congratulated

on putting up with her sisters the whole trip and not 

kicking them out when they were distractingly annoying! 

This was Emilee's first off road trip and she drove

amazingly well! Traversing sand dunes, washouts,

dry river beds, rocky outcrops and corrugates that made your teeth rattle.

To tackle a trip of this magnitude took some guts 

and a whole lot of stamina and concentration,

but she did really well, and we were very proud of her! 

Anyway, back to Day Two.

We travelled to Halls Creek where we 

stayed in a Caravan Park and had our last real hot shower.

I didn't sleep well, with strange noises and goings on

throughout the night, including watching a police car

patrol the park and finally, climb a tree (not the car, the policeman), 

near our tent, and put up a 

surveillance camera, that they retrieved in the morning, 

not sure what they were looking for,

but it made for interesting viewing for me

while everyone else was sleeping. 

Well, the morning came all too soon, 

and once again we went in search of coffee

and headed off to finally get off the bitumen 

and onto some 'real' road! 

To be continued...………...

Canning Stock Route 

Our Trip

Day One

Well, I am finally getting started on blogging some of our 

trip details and pics.

Life here has been pretty crazy since getting back,

and so this will be a long and slow process,

which hopefully will not bore anyone to tears. 

Once I get to the actual Canning Stock Route 

part of the trip, I'll give you some history and info

on it all (for those interested), and if you're not

interested, then you can just be lazy and look at 

the pretty pictures and carry on with your ADHD. 

Well, we celebrated Territory Day on the 1st of July,

with Cam and Lauren, Abbi, James and Miriam, and Laine.

We enjoyed watching the boys light up the sky with all kinds of 

fireworks. And apart from one firework going AWOL

and hitting James (don't fear, no harm done), we 

had a good last night before our trip in the morning. 

After getting business attended to and last minute packing,

we headed off on our adventure mid morning, coffee in hand 

and ready for whatever our trip would throw at us! 

Emilee, Maddy and Chloe were all squished 

into the front of Emilee's ute, with plenty of music and

 lollies at the ready. (more on them in later posts)

Our friends that we were travelling with had gone on ahead

of us, so we met up with them in Kununurra. 

The only thing they confiscated at the border was our

unopened bottle of store bought honey. 

Our first night was spent in a lakeside caravan

park in Kununurra. It was peaceful and had nice

hot showers, which we would soon miss in days to come. 

The boab trees along the way were magnificent and 

abundant and came in every shape and size, ranging from

little baby ones to giant whoppers you could house a whole family in! 

The morning found us making sure we had 

our last minute coffees and fresh fruit and veges, 

and off we went! 

To be continued...……………...

Happy Anniversary

Well, as it was James and Abbi's 

wedding anniversary yesterday,

Grandma and the Aunties (and Grandpa of course)

got to babysit Miriam so Mummy and Daddy

could go out for tea. 

And as is always the case, Grandma

had to get her camera out for a very quick

photo shoot.

After a super quick and creative prop improvisation,

we had a brief little photo shoot,

quick photo edit and print out of a lovely

little gift for Mummy and Daddy! 

Happiness or Happen-ness

Recently, I was reading an excerpt from a sermon of Vance Havner's, where he mentioned this phrase, “happiness or happen-ness”. I've been giving it a lot of thought and come to realise that so much of our happiness is so often 'happen-ness'. Our happiness depends on what happens. We let our circumstances dictate our level of joy.

We know that true joy can only come from the Lord. We can fake happiness on the outside, but real joy in our hearts, can only come from God. And yet we 

let what happens become the joy decider.

We read in the Bible of Paul's trials and the calamites that befell him. And yet,

 he was still able to say in Philippians 1:12,

But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;

Paul's joy was not dependant on the circumstances in his life. He was able to rejoice because he knew Romans 8:28 held true.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

He knew that what men meant for evil, God would turn to good. And just a side note, it's interesting how often you hear that verse misquoted. Christians will often rattle off the first part, and neglect the part about loving God. That's a requirement of the promise. Loving God. All things DON'T work together for good if you

 are not loving and obeying God.

Paul was able to say in Philippians 4:4, (and from prison mind you)

Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

What drives a man, beaten and hurting, sitting in a dark and probably miserably cold and smelly prison, to give praise to God? Joy. True joy, that's what! What the world calls happiness is not what God calls true joy. Paul was content in the lot God had given him and he knew what had happened to him was for the furtherance of the Gospel. 

What faith. What love. What trust.

It's a strange joy that fills our hearts when our eyes are filled with tears. When we don't depend on what happens to bring our joy. When we fully trust the Lord to bring us joy and we don't let our circumstances steal our joy away. 

We don't live in happen-ness, we live in happiness!