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.

Fishing Trip

A couple of weeks back I had the pleasure of going on a fishing trip to the beautiful south coast of NSW. The exact location? Well I have just plum forgotten. But I know that when the time is right, i.e. the next fishing trip, my memory will recall the exact place and venue.

I was really looking forward to this trip as I had heard so much about it from so many. When the trip was first announced I didn't get in quick enough and missed the chance to go, but then at the last minute a spare spot came up and the legendary organiser Jason Cutting slotted me in.

Being a 5pm Friday finisher, and having an empty family car, I was pleased that I was able to have the company of Rob, Leon and AJ for the trip down the coast. What a trip it was!

No I didn't speed or put the car on two wheels to see if everyone now thought I could be a professional stunt driver. We just all had a good talk. About everything and anything. It was not just about sharing wisdom, but also knowledge and talking about some of the challenges we face as men.

For the women folk reading, seriously, these challenges included how we could all sew better, that folding the washing is a brilliant idea and the in-depth and rowdy conversation on what brand of rice steamer is the best. I suppose you just had to be in the car to really know what we talked about but I will say Rob's story of how he popped the question was great :D

It was nice though to know a little more about everyone, to just talk and share our love of God. Even better to do that over a seafood dinner at Bateman's Bay, yummy! I am just so proud of all of us men saying no to those chips! Well at least 1% of them anyway!

We shared some more stories before arriving safely at our destination. Amazing how many stars you can see in the sky away from the night lights of a city, and the smell of the salt air and the sound of waves gently crashing onto a beach made that moment just a bit more special.

The next day was awesome - from the very first second to the very last before I left the camp early so I could get back home to usher the next day. It was great to wake up and smell the salt air linger in the air and then to see the magnificent blue of the ocean. Most of us had got up early to pray or to go fishing or to just catch up with other men, to talk and share some fellowship time.

It was great walking around the camp, seeing why it was just such a special place, and to go into a cabin and just relax and do whatever. The BBQ lunch was fantastic, nothing like a BBQ to make everyone feel that bit more relaxed.

That afternoon I walked down to the beach with several others. Some went fishing, some went swimming, some played games and some did it all! Yeah! Me? I walked down to the waters edge and just stood and looked out at the ocean. The first week I was born again I felt like I had just through a door and walked out onto a beach that looked out onto a massive blue ocean.

That ocean represented everything I was still to learn about God, and life. But it also represented the beginning of that journey, of walking with God. So standing on that beach was a time of reflection for me. Of what I had learnt, about my relationship with God, and my relationship with others, and, as my Dad says, there are only opportunities ahead for me, not problems.

That moment was perfect, a beautiful sunny day that was neither hot nor cold and very few clouds in the sky. Just awesome. I will put some photos up of that day, but it just doesn't do it justice. That moment was thanks to Jesus. He made it all possible. And perfect.

I spent the rest of the afternoon just enjoying the breeze and watching the sea eagle fly overhead on the currents of warm air rising off the steep hill that the camp was on. And of course having some great moments of fellowship.

All too soon the day was over and it was time to return home. I was blessed enough to have AJ, and following behind in his car Jono, for the journey home. An amazing trip for the fact just outside Batemans Bay we drove through a massive thunderstorm, but without the hail. Thank you Lord!

I can now see why so many men love going on the fishing trip. There were heaps of fish caught, Raul and Aaron caught bucket loads of everything from salmon to shark, but the chance to have some fellowship, to provide each other with strength and guidance on the issues that face men, well that was what the trip was really all about.

I think Ecclesiates 4:9-12 is not too bad when it comes to understanding the importance of the trip:

9: Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.
10: For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.
11: Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?
12: And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Thanks to everyone who helped organise the trip, especially Craig and Jason. I can't wait till next year.

God Bless.