Little Foxes

Song of Solomon 2:15
Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

It's funny. Not laugh out loud funny. Just funny how many people focus on the little things in life. Mainly these are people in the first world. Too much idle time or time spent being able to focus on the little things when really what matters is the big things.

The important and not the urgent is what matters.

Sebastian Selgado and the Serra Pelada Gold Mine

But shhhh! Don't tell this to many. With the luxury of time, and what a luxury that is, some waste it away worrying about the little things, letting the bigger things in life slip away without so much as a whisper. Time for a practical lesson.

I've put some images up, and I hope I can keep them up, that Sebastian Selgado took at the Serra Pelada gold mine in Brazil (full credit to him and original posters). Amazing images. He also gives an amazing TED talk - but some of the images he uses in the talk are confronting so be warned.

But the one thing I like about these images is that they are a reminder that there are some people who have no time for the little things. They only have time for the biggest thing of all: living.

There is no luxury of time, having the riches of being able to fight battles over little things. They can only fight for life itself. Imagine what they think of some of us who don't appreciate time. They must think that regardless of our bank account, we are the richest people in the world.

Who wants to spend the rest of their lives fighting over the little things, trying to control every outcome when we live in a world of no control or where control rests in the hands of others who you don't even know. That's trust. That's faith. And if you put trust in them why not others? 

Every time you battle over a little thing, a small fox gets in and spoils the vine. If you realise it you can stop it and regrow it but if you don't then it may never regrow. It will wither.

Every battle has a casualty, every war a heavy price that lasts for far longer than the conflict itself. So ask yourself? Is this worth doing that for? Is it worth the casualties? Is it worth putting more hate into the world just to have your way? Is it worth letting the vine wither?

Perhaps it's time to look at images like these and realise it's time to stop those little foxes.

Or lest the next decision you have to make is how to get yourself out of a pit that you climbed down into in the first place.

Sebastian Selgado

Sebastian Selgado and the Serra Pelada Gold Mine

 

April Fools???

We seek revenge instead of compassion 

We seek justice instead of love 

We want control of everything we do but not the consequences for everything we do 

We want people to care for us 100% but do we care for others 100% 

We want money, careers, cars and huge televisions but we do not want to give this up if it means the world becomes fairer. 

We want to receive but we only give if there is a benefit 

We want others to be open and honest to us, but we use the past to be closed and deceitful. 

We want selflessness from others but for them to ask for nothing in return. 

We want...we just want. We only ever want. 

Shouldn't we be giving more than receiving?

And no wonder He cries for us.

The Rock

The other day I was walking along a beach and came along a rock. Only a small one, perhaps measuring roughly 10cm (4 inches) x 4cm (1.5 inches). It was incredibly smooth and light, and looked like it had been sitting in the sand for a long time. In fact it looked as though it had been on the planet for millions of years. A lovely turquoise colour, to match that of the ocean close by, I immediately had a thought.

This rock, small as it was, the colour it was, had endured good years and bad. And yet it survived when all around it, literally, had turned to sand. And it reminded me of this scripture:

"And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;" 2 Samuel 22:2.

I had been told that God would speak to me this trip away. And He did. I realised that I needed to keep my relationship to God strong, my priority Jesus. For if I do not then I may turn to sand, and not endure like a rock. And like the rock I need the ability and strength to withstand all weather, good and bad. But the weather also shapes me, as it has done to the rock. And like the rock, I can use that weather to become more resilient, Jesus to strengthen and guide me when the years are long.

For if I do not have a strong relationship with God then perhaps I will become just like the sand, and get blown anyway and drift but without any ability to withstand any bad weather and to enjoy the sunny skies.

Through His creation that day on the beach I know that His purpose for me is being slowly revealed and regardless of what the future has in store, good or bad, Jesus will be my rock.

Thanks for reading and God Bless.

Getting There...

In life, we struggle as individuals. This is not a negative. On the contrary it is a positive. Why? If we learn from these struggles then they have not been in vain.

We can overcome so many things. We just need to know that we can. Life is a journey but it is also a live action game where we have no replay or pause button. We have to learn or else we are bound to repeat the past.

I am getting there in many, many ways. God teaches me something new everyday. That in one day you can enjoy the valley on one thing and the mountains on something else entirely different.

Never take life seriously. No one gets out alive anyway. This is what we should live by. To see the positive and not the negative. To embrace life, to seek it out, but to know too that we will fall, but that we can also rise and rise again.

I am afraid of some things in life. Like magpies swooping on me in spring. Terrifying. And I used to be afraid of the fire. Not anymore. If the fire is to come, then it always brings new life, new growth, a transformation into the brightest green and renewed energy and vigour. For when the fire has passed then it is time to achieve.

I always knew that 2010 would be big. And yet even I don't know how big yet. None of us do. So if you think 2010 is turning out to be your worst one yet, think again. The fire may be there, but so is the one and only God. You are not alone. You never have been. I understand your journey. I am on your journey. For you and I are living and breathing life.

So reach out, be proud of who you are but never be ashamed to say sorry and try better for we are always better people when we say we are wrong.

Thanks for reading and God Bless.

To my brothers and sisters

To my brothers and sisters in arms

Where would I be without you, my brothers-in-arms. I thank you my brothers and sisters. I walked through fields of fire and you did not desert me. As the battles raged around me, and my suffering increased, you stood next to me, unafraid and unashamed to call me brother.

I have fallen, and yet you have picked me up. You carried me when I was too weak. You prayed for me when I needed hope. When others turned away from me, you turned to me. When I sinned and was broken, you showed the way and spoke words that lifted me up. When I was alone, you gave me fellowship.

When I was slow to learn, you showed patience and tolerance. When others showed shallowness, you showed me the richness of life led with Jesus. You have no ego and no pride, but you have showed me the meaning of honour and respect.

When I was convicted you stood up for me. You love me as He does. You shouldered my burden when no one else cared. You cried with me when I failed and felt so small. You made me feel belonged, when others pushed me away. You spoke about the future when others just wanted to remind me of my past. You invited me into your home when others locked their doors to me.

You shed blood for me in battle, and showed me what happiness is all about. You always have time for me even if I have no time for anyone. You believed in me when no one trusted me. You always speak kindly to me, when others speak of my failings.

On this day, on all days, for these reasons I am proud to call you brother and sister. I give thanks to Jesus for you.

Thank you for reading and God Bless.


This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3.

To Shake Hands With the Devil

To Shake Hands with the Devil

Recently I heard a sermon from a sensational minister. He talked about a book called “To Shake Hands with the Devil”. It was about the UN military commander in Rwanda during one of the greatest periods of genocide in our history: the murder of over 800,000 over a little more than three months in 1994. It would be immeasurable the number of lives affected by this dark time in our history. There is a lot to read online about the Rwandan genocide, but if you have seen the movie Hotel Rwanda then a visit to The Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation website, founded by Paul Rusesabagina, is worth a visit.

One thing in life I have always believed is that sadly events such as these will be repeated. Those who commit such inhumanity to their fellow humans are not isolated to those who live in some third world nation or to a period of human history where an entire nation was swept up in the euphoria of a particular regime.

No. As Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 7:20: “For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin”.

But perhaps the next verse is more telling. It help explains where hatred starts.

“Also do not take to heart everything people say,
Lest you hear your servant cursing you,
For many times, also, your heart has known
That even you have cursed others”

But we do take things to heart when we should not. We all do. As that sensational preacher said on the first Sunday of 2010, if we tried to live like Jesus for just one day we would find it incredibly hard, not impossible as nothing is impossible with Jesus, but very difficult.

So we all battle with sin. Some lose that battle and find it easier to shake hands with the devil. The people who have committed the atrocities of recent times were not produced in some factory somewhere and sent into the world. No. They were people we might have called friends, neighbours, colleagues or even family.

People who one day found it easier to demean, dehumanise, degrade and disrespect their fellow humans than to do the opposite. As Proverbs 29:10 states: “The bloodthirsty hate the blameless, But the upright seek his well-being”.

The people they slaughtered were not indefensible. They were people who could not fight back because the thought of hurting another was not possible to them. They would rather die on their feet than live on their knees. Many missionaries have died exactly like this. Standing tall in front of our Heavenly Father as their life was taken from them.

When we do not seek after Jesus we start to turn to our own ways. And as Isaiah 53:6 states: “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all”.

But it is hard to live for Him when wrong has been done to us and all we want is to right that wrong. No matter how long ago that all happened. When we are treated badly we want that wrong to be righted. But this is where we go wrong so quickly.

For we forget, or even worse just ignore, the words of Jesus in Matthew 22:37-40:

“Jesus said to him: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind”
This is the first and great commandment;
And the second is like to it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself”
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets”

I have failed on this myself many times. But I try and try every single day to live better, to seek Him first and myself last. It is hard, but I will always try my best to serve God.

One of the single hardest things to do as a Christian is to forgive another for their actions before they have sought us to do the same. I have been privileged to meet and know many who live this way. I am proud if this is one of you. And I thank you for showing to me what it is and what it means to be a Christian.

For seeking after God is the only way that we can avoid meeting the devil and shaking his hand. Sadly, in our lifetime, we have all seen some horrific things. But this generation we see now as children I fear will see even worse. I do not want to shake hands with the devil. I want to stand in front of Jesus instead and feel His love for me. I want more and more to know Him, to feel Him, to seek him in greater abundance.

But there are those who feel greater fulfilment from hatred, negativity, bitterness, and their own need for vengeance. Nelson Mandela wrote on hatred: “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Sadly many will take a long time to replace hatred with love. In 2010 there are still very few who have answered for the atrocities they have committed, either in a court of law, to those they hurt or even to themselves. The genocide committed in Cambodia where over a million lives were taken, largely ignored by the world until made famous by the movie The Killing Fields, has seen few answer for their crimes.

I will always say a prayer for those who are in this position, who are shaking hands with the devil and not even thinking twice about it, because Jesus loves all of us and wants all of us to know Him, to know what love is. My tears I feel rolling down my cheeks are for those I know who no longer know what love is, what His love is, and instead seek to hurt the innocent. To bring more hatred into the world when there should be only love.

If you don’t get along with someone then don’t hate them. Please. Don’t call them a name that removes their humanity and makes it easier to hate or feel nothing when harm befalls them. As a cyclist it is amazing to hear many people I know say cyclists don’t deserve to be on the roads. You are entitled to your view, but remember 'they' are not just ‘cyclists’ but people. People God loves.

I hope I never have to shake hands with the devil. Maybe I already have and was saved from any harm by the love of Jesus. I hope that by seeking God with more abundance that I get to stand in front of our God and enter into Heaven to be with Him for all eternity.

Thank you for reading and God Bless.

Wednesday Thoughts

"Our greatest happiness in life does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits" - Thomas Jefferson

I saw this quote and wanted to share it with everyone. After all Jefferson was one of those who wrote that one of the fundamental rights of all people is the right to pursue happiness. Happiness, and the right to pursue it freely, to Jefferson was what distinguished a free society from one which was not.

One of my goals in life is to maximise my happiness every day. Every minute spent on being happy is one less minute spent on not being happy or content.

Sadly too many embrace being discontent or dissatisfied instead of finding out what makes them happy. What makes us happy is something only we know. But in our pursuit of happiness we should never ever tell another that they have no right to be happy or that their dreams are not worth pursuing.

Jesus was so right when He said to be first in His kingdom we need to be last in our lives. Does this mean we will never achieve happiness because we place others first? Not at all, in fact Jesus was telling us how to be happy and content. By learning and understanding Him we would learn and understand what makes us happy.

Just look at Philippians 4:8-9 for further proof:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

9Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

Surely finding peace is finding happiness. We can all start our pursuit of happiness anytime we want. We can start fulfilling a dream anytime we want. We will be faced with setbacks, doubters and words of negativity from ourselves and others but we know that with God anything is possible. The impossible just takes a little longer!

So don't wait for the New Year to start something new and joyful. Start that journey and may you one day really understand what Jesus, and Jefferson, knew all along.

God Bless

Wonder

Psalm 118:23-24

23This is the LORD's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. 24This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Every day I learn more and more about how God is active in my life. Maybe it's one small thing, or something that wasn't meant to happen but did, or a feeling of love and strength that is powerful and extraordinary that comes from nowhere.

I can be a far better servant of God in so many ways. After all God sees everything we do, the good and the bad. I know that what makes being a Christian difficult is that it is difficult to work on many things at the same time. Especially as a bloke, we blokes are terrible at multi-tasking!!

But one thing for sure is that I will always be in wonder of what God does in life. He is my greatest teacher. The Word of God has so much knowledge in it that we shouldn't get things wrong. But alas we do.

And yet His grace, His faith, His hope, lifts us up in even the darkest of moments. Oh how I love Him!!!

I know God has much wonder planned for me, but I also know that to enjoy that blessing there is some hard work ahead. But I also know when that time is over, it will be all worth it as I will be able to rejoice in the knowledge of how much wonder God has brought to my life.

Thanks for reading and God Bless.

Thank you...

Thank you to all those who gave their lives to allow me to have freedom and choice in the world's greatest country.

Grand dad your sacrifice will never ever be forgotten.

Lest we forget.

God Bless.

Storm and Thunder

1 Corinthians 27-31:

27But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

28And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

29That no flesh should glory in his presence.

30But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

31That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Storms are amazing things to look at. Thunder. Lightning. And then rain. Big rain drops that wash away all the dust.

I want a storm to wash away all the dust in my life. I want to be closer to God. To learn from Him. To learn not to sin as much as I do. To embrace His way. To seek Him first and all else second.

I want to soak up His word as a person soaks up the rain when the storm breaks on a hot day, to gulp down His words like a person with their mouths open when the storm hits.

Jesus is my provider. He is all that I need. He has blessed me so greatly and yet He is so patient with listening to my wants and needs when He probably knows that they are so close if I just reach out to Him closer. Stronger. Longer. Deeper.

And if I can do all this, survive the storm, then I know my paddock, my life, will be green!

Thank you Jesus for all that you do and all that you are.

Thanks for reading and God Bless.

Great Video

If you want to watch a great uni professor give an awesome lecture watch the last lecture by Dr Randy Pausch...awesome!!! Just click on the title above and away you go...

Some Words for the Weekend.

The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good.

- Bertrand Russell

Now how true is that!

Thursday Reflection

Been listening a bit to this song since I heard it sung in Church a few weeks ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4_lG-wSjxQ



As Nelson Mandela said: “There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.”

It's nice to celebrate the freedom Jesus has given us and realise we are so amazingly blessed!

Time for some light.

Genesis 1:3-4

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

How great are our lives for what God has done in them? That's right! Absolutely fantastic! And the thing is with God in our lives nothing is impossible. No mountain is too steep to climb, no darkness so great that His light can't penetrate through it and shine through and show His glory. Our glory of overcoming.

When the darkness starts to surround us, when it feels like we are walking through the deepest, darkest valley there is, all we need do is call out to Him, our Saviour, and He will be there to bring light into the darkness.

It doesn't mean that the darkness won't still be there, but it does mean we know which direction the light is coming from, and His light will show the path we need to follow to leave the darkness behind.

Easy? Not all the time. We may have to change. We may have to do things we never thought we would. We may have to struggle against those who seek to take us down another path. But we will not have to worry about tomorrow, Matthew 6:31-34:

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

And those who seek to bring darkness should know that when we have God in our lives we are strengthened by the light only faith in Him provides. That others who have light in their lives will also help them overcome, be there for them and strengthen them in their struggle and lead them to victory and freedom!

Our God is so many things. To me, He showed me His light when all around was dark. He took me into the light and into the truth. I am no longer content to sit still though, and am ever seeking ways to make myself a better, stronger man. Although this has not been easy, it has been worth every sacrifice and change because I can feel the light growing stronger in me every day. Thank you, yes you, for helping me too!!!

Always remember that all you need do is call out to Him, talk to Him, and light will come where there is only darkness. It doesn't mean everything will be fixed or solved, we have to do our bit too, but it does mean we can embrace all the wonderful fruits of the spirit.

I will always thank God for bringing light into my life, for letting me fellowship with others who also love the light over the darkness and who want to keep the light shining brightly in their lives by embracing Him and the things that make Him love us. I want share this blessing with others, to help bring light where the darkness mistakenly thinks it reigns.

For there is only one King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And with Him in our lives we will always know that light will triumph over darkness.

Thanks for reading and God Bless.

Just a second...

James 4:13-15

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will[a] go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

In life time is one of the few commodities that God allows us to have some control over. Not much, but it is one of them.

So we can’t accuse or blame anyone else of wasting our time. It is we who allow our time to be wasted. As Lance Armstrong wrote in his book on cancer survival, every second counts.

But how we spend time is also a reflection of our priorities in life. One of my favourite sayings is never let the urgent stop the important but so often this happens to so many. I find it hard to prevent this from happening, but I do my best. If I make mistakes I want to make improvements, not excuses. To really make every second count.

For some work has become a priority that has no place other than no.1 in their lives. And those that don’t understand that are placed 2. And no one remembers who came second. So whilst these people are consumed by work and are consuming work everyone else who is just a second moves on.

Then one day the person who made work everything finds that work didn’t see it quite the same way, and then life changes. When they reach out to someone they find that they are no longer there because they got tired of being second. No one likes being just a second. And time is just too precious to spend being second.

There are so many ways we can spend time. As the US Declaration of Independence states, God has given us life, liberty and the ability to pursue happiness. Sadly we give God second best all too often. I do. And I want to do more, be better with what I give back to Jesus. To not place Him second. To make Him more than just a second.

For it is better to give than to receive. And this includes our time. It is better to give our time to Him, to loving others, to reaching out to others. The time we spend every second of every day is a reflection of how we feel about ourselves, our priorities and our motivation. To God we are not just a second.

But one day we will be accountable for all of our seconds. We already are but some have not realised this yet. Never be just a second. Never let God become just a second. As Romans 12:9-11 says:

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honour giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

As Psalm 100 says I serve God with gladness. I am gracious for the time He has given me. I am gracious that He has made me more than just a second. I want to make Him more than just a second. I want to bless others by telling them about how great God is, and why He should be first not second in our lives.

Thanks for reading and God Bless.

Hero of the Day

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear, Mark Twain.

There are so many people out there who are heroes to me. And they are not heroes of the day. Not that we should not have heroes of the day. But sometimes we place the heroes around us on a higher moral plane than others, and all of a sudden we find ourselves judging them harshly and being disappointed in them for their failings.

Sadly it is us who are at fault for being hypocritical and not realising that as people in the world as we are they too are sinners like us. Our heroes suffer as much as we do, and need help as much as we do with the issues in life.

My ultimate hero is Jesus. He endured more than I could ever imagine and not once did he run away. Some of my other heroes are some of my closest friends. And of late some of them have been buffeted by the strong winds of life. I have too. It is hard. Life is hard but sometimes it is only when we know how close we are to dying that we learn to fight for life, and in life. I want to become Superman strong in my faith, to bless others and help others, but don't worry I won't be wearing my undies on the outside anytime soon. It is growing strong but it still has so much further to go.

Stay strong my friends, my heroes, for you show not just courage but faith to many. Don't let circumstance or words break you. Reach out to our Hero of Life, Jesus. And love God and others with all your heart and soul and show them that Hero inside of you.

Quick post but I'll write more soon.

God Bless.

A Taste of Winter

Winter. Long nights. Short bursts of sunlight. Bitter winds.

Late last night I was reading some Psalms and Proverbs. I'm still learning about many, many things and my walk with God is still quite young but it was nice to stop, slow down and read the Bible for an hour.

Anyway, back to my topic. I am not sure if it is winter or perhaps I can discern these things more than before but there are so many affected by bitterness.

Bitterness is a terrible thing to have. Some point somewhere in time we were hurt emotionally, by something or someone. Emotional hurt takes far longer to heal than physical hurt.

Sometimes we were to blame, others we shared the blame and others we had no idea the train was coming on those tracks. Either way the result is bitterness.

I liked reading Jono's post on the Bitter is Sweet. Good piece of scripture that in Ezekiel. And a good post. Bitterness is part of the trials and tribulations of life and it must be overcome

If you read Job he talks a lot about bitterness. For example Job 7:11 “ Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul." Job sure went through a lot and had every reason to feel bitter but he maintained his faith and look what happened? Look what he allowed to happen!

But it is the times when we were to blame in any way that I have noticed that bitterness is at its worst in people. I think it's because as rational people we like to think we would never do those things to another. Or maybe it is that we see ourselves as strong and that would never happen to us, the Job principle, but then it does and we realise that we are not as strong as we thought.

But bitterness leads to anger, frustration and resentment, amongst other things. It is hard dealing with bitter people, especially when you want peace and happiness, for as Psalms 120:6-7 states:

"My soul has dwelt too long with one who hates peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war."







In other words bitter people turn to the easiest outlet for what they are feeling: someone else.

But we must not allow ourselves to react. We must be proactive. As Proverbs 17:28 says: "He who has knowledge spares his words, And a man of understanding is of a calm spirit."

We need to understand that bitterness is part of the learning process of life. It will happen to all of us at times. But with faith and love for Jesus it can be overcome. Both for those who suffer and those who endure that suffering.

Does this mean we have to "cop it sweet" when someone else dumps their bitterness on us? Maybe James 3:16-18 has the answer: For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."

So be willing to learn from the winters in life. Be willing to know that by doing so spring and summer are not far away. Be willing to let that sun shine and peace reign. Be willing.

I hope that all makes sense. But for me I am going to enjoy the forthcoming weekend with a cup of hot chocolate, wearing tracky daks and an old footy jumper, and the warmth of being inside when the outside is so cold and bitter.

Thanks for reading and God Bless.

Just saw this...

I just saw this quote and thought I'd share it as I think it is great:

If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years.

- Bertrand Russell

Hope everyone is well. I will post again soon, very soon.

God Bless

1440

1440

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is made of – Benjamin Franklin.

1440. Maybe you know what that means. Maybe you don’t. 1440. It isn’t a small number but it is a massive one. So time I tell you. That’s if you don’t already know what 1440 means. It is the minutes in one day. It seems like a lot but as all of us can attest to they can slip by in what feels like seconds. And we can always find a use for them. But the one thing we can never ever do is get them back.

No matter how rich or poor you are the one resource we all have been given by God in equal measure is time. But as Thoreau once wrote we can kill time but in so doing injure eternity. For there are times we wish we never had or never were. God knew that though and allows us the chance to repent and let that time remain in the past, so it need not affect our present and leave us with a bleak future.

Some days are filled with sadness so great or times so troubled that it feels like those 1440 minutes will never end. You know what I mean because you like I have gone through those days, those minutes where the darkness is so great and so black.

But as Psalm 30:5 reminds us:

For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

He shines like a beacon in that darkness and soon those dark times, those slow, agonising minutes, are replaced by times so great that we want time never to move from that time onward. Ah yes, the best times. The times that we wish we could hang onto forever. Times that are so enjoyable, and so precious, that we wish those moments would never end. Soon our sadness is gone, replaced by joy. But we should have never ever doubted that He would replace our gloom with happiness, with bubbles :-)

For Romans 8:28 says: 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.

Then there are the ordinary times. I like to think of these of good times that we just haven’t realised are good times right now. It is nice to have an ordinary day; a day of nothing. But to God no day, or minute is nothing. It is something. Special. Precious. 1440. Remember that number. 1440. Appreciate every single minute. All of them.

The seventh richest man in the world is Ingvar Kamprad. Who? Ikea. Ah, that’s who. The name came from his initials, IK, with an E for Elmtaryd, the family farm where he grew up, and an A for Agunnaryd, his home village. He started off with hardly anything but that one commodity we all have. 1440. He made the most of them, even divided his time into 6 minute blocks, ala lawyers and accountants, and then kept a diary of how he spent his time. He puts this attitude towards time as the key reason for his success for he knew the harder he worked, the more he would achieve and the more successful he would become. Not that he has ever lost sight of his humble beginnings, still liking to travel on the cheapest seats on the cheapest airlines and haggling over fruit and veg prices at the local markets. And those pictures you see are of he and his wife and their house. They look like any other old couple still in love with each other and isn’t that just great!

I notice that the people who complain the most about shortness of time are the ones who waste it. Who don’t realise that our time here is only a vapour. Nothing. So we have to make the most of it. We need to remember that we owe our time to Him, the one who has given us everything. We can choose any of the 1440 to start living more like Him, for Him. But that decision only belongs to each of us.

We are blessed enough to live in a great country called Australia where how we spend those 1440 minutes everyday is our decision. We can’t blame another person for how we spend our time. It is a gift from God that we have them in the first place. That is why it is called the present.

1440. God knows the value of time. Always has and always will. To be like Him we need to value time. Every minute of it. Even reading this post I hope that you have used your time wisely. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes about the importance of time, of how everything has a time. Not a place. A time. 1440. Ecclesiastes is a lot about time. It's time I read it again.

Okay, it is time for me to stop writing. And for you to stop reading. And for both of us to go now and use the 1440 minutes we are given everyday to glorify His greatness for in so doing we will bring blessings and love and peace into our lives, and an attitude that values and makes the most of time. The time He has given each of us.

Thanks for reading and God Bless.

Fishing Trip Happy Snaps

Here are some happy snaps from the fishing trip...won't post them all up online as I think I will run out of space but contact me if you want some.