We need your vote!!!!!!

Hi all,
This is just a quick post and I need everyones opinion on something........that's right you can't just read this time.............I need responses......

ok...........every Thursday night our church has a community dinner, in the past we have all brought a plate every week, but recently the church split into 4 cooking groups, so each group caters for everyone once a month (thus giving us three Thursdays off from cooking)

Peter and I are lucky enough to be hosting a cooking group at our place and we need a name...........we are now down to two choices

We are trying to decide between................

Cheap as chips

or

the dodgy dinners

Sp pleeeeeaaaase, if you have never left a comment before, now is the time to start...........you don't have to leave your name............just your opinion on this very important matter............

Love to you all

Naomi............

Little Miss Sunshine

We went and saw "Little Miss Sunshine" at the movies last night, this was the first chance I have got to go and see a movie in a Looooong time, and I thought "ah crap - a chick flick" (not that I am adverse to many movies classified by many as chick flicks - but with a title like that - come on!)...

How wrong I was!!! - this had to be one of the better movies I have seen in a long time - possibly not a top 5 entry, but definitely in the top 10 to 20. This movie rated 'R' in the U.S. but only 'M' here at home was a dark comedy about a very broken family taking a road trip to get the youngest member of the family "Olive" to the "little Miss Sunshine" beauty pageant... The family include a drug snorting grandfather, an unsuccessful motivational speaker father, a suicidal, homosexual uncle, a worn out - trying to keep everything together - mother, a Nietzsche reading brother who has taken a vow of silence, and Olive, a glasses wearing, slightly chubby 7 year old girl, who does not fit into the usual mould of a U.S beauty pageant kid...

Anyway, without getting into a complete write up of the movie, if you think that the above line up of characters sound a bit depressing for you, and you can't tolerate the most versatile word in the English language (F**K), then I recommend you DON'T see this movie. But if you like a movie that explores the darker side of the human existence (think American Beauty) and somehow has a great laugh at the same time I highly recommend this movie...

Welcome Sisi

Hi, this happend a while ago now, but we have invited my sister Sisi to live with us. It is a bit weird having a teenage girl living with us - considering that all our kids are boys, however I am adjusting to it, and Naomi is very happy to have someone around she can be girly with...

Anyway sisi is a very talented girl in many ways, particularly in writing poetry and photography - in fact this is one of her pics that just caught my imagination so I thought I would put it in our blog:

I will also add one or 2 of her poems at some stage, because some of them are really good once you get past the teenage angst & darkness...

Anyway, it is great to have her around and she is proving to be a great asset to stuff that is going on around here...

Learning lessons

I think sometimes we can be a bit elitist when we move into a ministry position, particularly missions based ones. We do have this mindset so caricatured by so many Hollywood movies of the all knowing Man of God, here to save the savage, uneducated heathens. I'm not suggesting that our view of things is this extreme, however, we can still come to our mission field thinking that we have the answers. No matter how much we loathe the idea of being typecast into this sort of missionary, I think that we still have that outlook buried deep in our psyche somewhere.

For myself, I struggle with the terms mission or missionary, when I apply them to myself (or many others who are doing the same sort of thing around the world), just like I struggle with the term Christian when applying it to myself. In a theoretical sense these terms are fine, but I don't like taking them on myself because of the stigma attached. The sigma suggests arrogance, it holds values of colonialism, brashness, stubbornness, pride, greed, arrogance etc. We have to admit that this caricature does not hold up well against what the bible calls a Christian to be (as opposed to the caricature of a Christian, which is another matter all together),certainly they are values that I do not hold to or are trying to eradicate from my life (stubbornness is a big problem for me).

But having said all of that I feel I probably did come to this new ministry with a sense of arrogance. Not blatant "I am the centre of the Universe" type arrogance, but I did have some element of arrogance, I thought that I would come in, I would befriend people, I would make a difference in their lives, I would be doing a good work!!

The reality has been quite different however - I should have remembered my days back in Sri-Lanka, when I was too wet behind the ears to have this sort of opinion of myself. The stuff that I learnt there was amazing. Above all, in Sri Lanka I learnt the truth behind a God who has a bias towards the poor and marginalised (though it took me quite a few years to be able to articulate this lesson), I learnt the glory of worship done in church through a cheap casio and beaten up old acoustic guitar, I saw the love in genuine community as people of humble standing in life supported and cared for one another. Coming to Noble Park however I didn't think that I would be learning such lessons. I don't know why I felt this way, it was probably because the move was not such a major cultural change, I kind of felt that these people were still aussies; even if they did come from different socio-economic backgrounds and in some cases different countries to me, I thought that we would still hold a similar world view.

But that is not the case, sure these people are a bit rough around the edges and have a long way to go in their own journeys with the Lord (as we all do), but the Lord has instilled in them some amazing truths, stuff that people from richer middle class backgrounds are missing, and often yearning for.

One of the most precious values that they have here, is the willingness to take people as they are. There is no need to keep up false appearances here. Sure there are arguments, gossip and people hurting each other just like in other Christian communities, (though they are more up front than in most other communities that I have been in - but that is probably a good thing too). All the people here have failed or are imperfect or broken in some way. They cannot hide this side of who they are, so they don't even try, I wont say there are no masks, because I know there are, however, the masks are different. These people are not trying to live up to some clonesque concept of what a perfect Christian living in victory should be. Nor are they expecting me to live up to this sort of value.

For me, I have become more comfortable in my disability in this community that I ever had in my life. For those of you who don't know me too well, I suffer from a mild form of cerebral palsy that affects the right side of my body. The Lord has done some amazing things in my life in regards to my disability, but the fact remains that he has not completely removed it from my life (I have seen improvement, I would say I am at least 90% better than when I was a child). This sort of disability is looked down on in the middle class church and society as a whole. For many Christians it is a sign of a lack of faith, or God's judgment, or sin in your life or some other horrible thing like that. As a result I can tell my testimony of the Lords healing in my life, and celebrate in the fact that He has helped me forgive those who teased me through my childhood, I can even say that I believe that the Lord has kept the disability in my life as a reminder of his authority & power as well as to keep me humble (and I strongly do believe these things), and everyone will be touched and praise the Lord with me.

But I still needed to hide the fact that I have a disability otherwise the illusion comes crashing down, all of a sudden it is not so worthy a story to praise the Lord for. So I have to hide, I don't dance, I don't play sports, because these things make it obvious that I am not quite right. But here, in this community I am surrounded by others that are not quite right, and in many ways some of them are less right that I am. Now, I find myself free to kick a ball around, I find myself free to dance with my wife. Friends in the community are calling me to play in a cricket competition with them, even though they know I am not the best sportsman in the world, in fact, I think they actually enjoy that fact. Unfortunately I cannot make it to the competition due to other commitments, but my friends rib me about it, and I enjoy it. I don't have to hide. I can be me.

Thanks Lord!

Peter

Throwing our kids in the bin...

This has been an interesting week for me, one of those weeks that you end up hearing those sorts of things that people only mean to be heard behind your back. We never thought that our decision to follow the path we have chosen would be popular, and in many ways we were surprised by some of the places we got support from, and equally surprised by where we got some of our negative feedback from.

One of the negative comments that I came across this week went something like "UNOH expects people to throw their kids in the bin!", suggesting that when we chose to follow this path, we did so without regard for our children, and that our children will suffer as a result of what we are doing.

When I first heard this I laughed, NOTHING could be further from the truth!!! Our Children have flourished in the environment that they are in.

When Naomi felt the call towards UNOH a little over a year ago, she denied the call due to her having children. Just as those thoughts where going through her head (it was during an altar call) the preacher mentioned that there was someone in the congregation struggling to come forward due to the fact that she had children and she felt that she could not drag her children onto the mission field. The preacher said that if God was calling us to the field He would have taken our children into consideration, and that we would be robbing our children of what God has in store if we did not follow him.

Having taken the plunge (and I know that I have mentioned this a number of times) I cannot deny that this is the truth... If all our plans to join UNOH fell apart today and we found ourselves stuck in Noble Park I would have to say that God's hand was in it, and His Blessing was upon us, the changes that living here have made in all our children through school, friendships and getting to spend more time with both their parents is amazing. But it goes beyond that, our children are part of our ministry, we really are a team. Our children open doors for us in this community that we would otherwise be struggling to open. Jacob has an understanding of this, and a real sense of adventure and excitement over it. Sam & Luke don't really get it yet, but their natural enthusiasm and friendliness are priceless.

Jesus said:
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters yes, even his own life he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26)

The word hate here was not meant to be taken literally - that would be too freaky and would be in direct opposition to our loving God's character - rather it is hyperbole to say that all else must come second to a true disciple of Jesus. If we let anything get in the way of God's purpose for our lives then we cannot say that Jesus is Lord of our lives, whatever it is that is stopping us is the real lord - and unfortunately with children there seems to be an unspoken acceptance in the church for that sort of idolatry - makes you wonder about the motivation behind such groups as Family First doesn't it? It sounds like an admirable value but is it really biblical when taken to its logical extent.

In fact, this concept of having anything in the way of you truly following Jesus (& truly having Him as Lord of your life), puts a whole new serious spin onto one of our most watered down scriptures too...

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

Well that's about all I really have to say on that topic, I think I need to ponder in a bit more...

Hmmmm... (the sound of me pondering)

Peter

Finally an Update

Forgive me bloggers for I have sinned... it has been over 2 weeks since my last blog entry..

We have just gotten to the end of the school holidays, and what a mad time it has been... Mad, but Fun! Between women's retreats, men's retreats, Family retreats, extra kids for the holidays, A Burmese outing to Phillip Island & a huge grand final party, we have not had much time to think, let alone blog...

We were privileged to get the use of a house in the middle of farmland in Pakenham over the school holidays, first off the women of Noble Park got a chance to get away for 3 days, there was lots of eating and girlie talk (which is about all women do when they get together) . After this our family got to go away for a couple of days with a couple of the boys from the neighbourhood. The boys kept themselves entertained quite well, and so Naomi & I got some real relaxation time and got to watch a few DVDs along the way!
Once that was done, The guys got a chance to go for a couple of days, We got to spend a bit of time in bible study, but mostly it was about kicking a footy (yes Steve even me!) playing basketball and fishing.

We also got to spend the day up there this past Saturday for the grand Final (yes Steve I even watched a lot of it!). There was a massive crowd of us and we had a BBQ and played on the Trilampoline (spelt this way on purpose - its a Simpsons thing) - well it was probably more like wrestling...



Then today we got the privilege of taking around 40 Burmese immigrants on a day trip to the giant worm and Phillip Island, this was a great opportunity for these people to have a day out and see a side of Australia that they have probably not seen yet, they got to feed some kangaroos, pat a wombat & koala, play on the beach (even try to drink some sea water) and see some awesome sights it was a great day and a great opportunity to connect even though they all had little or no English.

So, now we are exhausted, and are looking forward to the kids going back to school so that life can get back to the usual hectic rush (as opposed to the madder than ever hectic rush of the last 2 weeks)...

Peter

Kids, Kids everywhere

I sit here watching out my window, my front yard is filled with kids (ok so there's 7 of them) They are sitting on the front fence...........just hanging out. I am filled with absolute joy and excitement at this picture I see before me. There's something awesome going on here, and it's so unreal to see that our kids can be a part of the life we have chosen.
About a week ago someone from the community approached me about the idea of a few of us starting a kids club in the community (something I had already been thinking about anyway) so to see it happening naturally and organically is super cool.

I have this funny feeling, that when we think we should start a new project or ministry.......the best thing to do is wait for a bit and see if it's already starting to happen.........if it's supposed to fit, then the threads will already be there.

That's just my take on the whole thing anyway, you might think something different!!!!!!

Naomi

Slave to Porn...

Ah, Pornography, sometimes I think it is the only reason that the internet was created...

I do not know what the official figures are on men who use Porn, but I know that the figures are high... Knowing a thing or two about computers I am often asked to help people fix up their computers, in doing this it is not uncommon to come across computers that are full of those tell tale signs of frequent Porn usage. This is the sort of stuff that does not turn up on your computer through the inevitable porn spam that we all suffer from, or accidentally clicking onto a porn site, this is the sort of stuff that comes from a habitual user. Let me tell you without naming names, that the vast majority of computers that I have worked on have this stuff, and many of them cannot blame it on their teenage sons (because they don't have any!). There are those that I have worked on (too few unfortunately) that have no sign of Porn on them, and they belong to people that I really do hold in high regard, these people have real integrity throughout their lives.

There has even been a time or 2 when I have had to help out a minister too, and the tell tale signs are there as well - even those we see as holy or ordained suffer from this hidden & dangerously addictive problem.

And Yes, I struggle with porn too, I have the good fortune of having a wife (a forgiving wife) who caught me out. This brought the subject to a head for me & we were able to begin to deal with the situation... Too often this problem is hidden and not talked about - I'm not suggesting you need to go to your wives and fess up guys, trust me it will hurt them real bad, real, real bad. But maybe there is another guy who you can ask to hold you accountable, maybe if we stop hiding this stuff, we can start to deal with it, and become real men of integrity.

It is an addiction, a harmful, dreadful addiction, it may not see you dead in a gutter like drugs will, or kill your liver like alcohol, but it will destroy your life, destroy your family & destroy your sex life too (not to mention the harm it does to those caught in the industry - don't believe the lies that these women create to protect themselves, or the BS spun by groups like the Eros foundation). Although I had to deal with the up front consequences of porn through being sprung, it still had a hold on me, my head would still turn when I walked past THAT section of a newsagency. Though I would pull my gaze away from it straight away, I knew that the demon of lust still had a hold on me. But God has challenged me about it quite recently and I think that finally the demon's talons are released from me (I use the term 'demon' figuratively, though the Pentecostal in me still thinks there may be some deeper truth to this!). I came face to face with the destructive power of porn the other day when I visited a lonely old guy from the neighborhood - I will not go into any more details than that, but It shocked me into reality, then I came across this video clip (please guys share it around I think its message is very important...)

I came across it at a great site called www.xxxchurch.com* that deals with this whole issue of Christian guys and the problem of porn - it even has some great resources on it like an accountability program that allows you to select a friend to keep you accountable - every time you visit a bad site, this software sends an e-mail to your friend to let him know, talk about vulnerability, but to have the guts to use something like that...

Anyway guys, we need to face up to this problem, stop being ashamed and do something about it - it is harming us, our wives, our families, the poor girls stuck in the industry, and society as a whole - lets be men of integrity, lets be men who stand out from the lusts of our culture, lets stop harming the innocent and putting money into the hands of men who stand in direct opposition to the Kingdom of God!

*There was a guy who was wearing a t-shirt at the Surrender conference that said "Jesus loves porn stars" with the web address under it - this piqued my interest so I had to check it out... Here I was thinking it was about Jesus loving even sinners like Porn Stars. I thought maybe it would be a site dedicated to sticking it to the conservative self-righteous Christians out there , but it ended up pointing the finger back at me!!!

Irresistible Revolution

I have just finished reading Shane Claiborne's book "The Irresistible Revolution" and I must say the book blew me away. In a largely biographical fashion, Claiborne, goes about explaining the theology behind "Living as an Ordinary Radical." Shane reveals his story of being called to live with the poor and homeless in Philadelphia, his experiences working alongside Mother Teresa, and standing with Iraqi Christians in Iraq as his government bombed their home. Throughout these amazing and touching stories, Shane holds onto humility stressing that he has not done anything out of the ordinary, that he has simply taken Jesus' words seriously. Something that me all can do; unfortunately the Church has fallen asleep so those like Shane are seen as radicals. However he argues that they are, ordinary radicals, ordinary Christians with nothing more to offer than their lives, living out the radical, counter cultural teachings of our Saviour.

This book is essential reading for anyone who is looking for more out of their Christian walk than pew warming, and anyone who is starting to hear the cries of the poor, and see that the bible has an answer.

There are heaps of web links in this book, and I will be spending a bit of time surfing, I'll pass on any of the good links that I visit...

Peter

Surrender 06 cont'd...

Hi again.

Surrender 06 was an amazing time for us. It was at S05 that the final crunch came for Naomi and I in our decision to follow the Lord into the call he had on our lives. So in many ways S06 was an anniversary for us (even though it was a couple of weeks later than last year). S05 was a highly emotional time - particularly for Naomi who finally surrendered the battle she was waging against her call to Missions. The year that followed was mad, going through the discernment process with UNOH, visiting Bangkok, telling all our friends & work mates, moving into Noble Park , settling in etc.

For me, attending S06 was like the end of the first leg of our journey, a time to reflect on how our life has changed, and how much God has been with us and blessed us over this leg of the race. Sure there were great speakers and a lot to be thought about and pondered, but just being able to be a volunteer at the conference, working alongside all the UNOH & Rainbow guys, being a team, feeling welcome was what really stuck out to me.

We really have been accepted as part of the community by now, I was able to have a chat with a couple of people over the weekend who were paying me a compliment over a message I shared at Rainbow, and saying that I was obviously a great preacher. I was saying that I did not want to be a great preacher and am very nervous speaking in public like that, that I was much better at doing teaching on a one-on-one or small group basis. These friends then said to me that it was silly for me to be nervous talking in front of the Rainbow Church crowd, as they were all friends. That conversation has had a big impact on me, not that I am proud to be a great speaker or anything( because I am not!), but that I am accepted as a friend by these 2 and everyone else at Rainbow. Social situations are not my favorite things, and to think that despite my social retardation, I have fitted in and am accepted has really done a lot for me, and my confidence in my call to work in NP.

Surrender 06

We are in the middle of the anual UNOH conference - "Surrender 06". The name of the conference comes out of a conviction to take seriously "surrendering to Jesus" It has speakers like Tony Campolo, Ash barker, John Smith, Darryl Gardiner etc... great, inspiring, challenging stuff - but alas - naomi is angry at me for blogging right now - we don't have time, so any more reflections will have to wait for another day!!! - see ya

Quote of the Week:

Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.

Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, 'Who is the LORD ?'
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.

Proverbs 30:8-9

Lilies of the field

Recently, in my morning devotions I was reading Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). I think all of Jesus' teachings present a real challenge to us if we take them for what they really say, versus what we have reduced them to. However, if we were to take the Sermon on the Mount literally as a guide on how to live a Christian life, what an amazing challenge that would be! Suddenly Counter Cultural would mean a bit more than wearing Diesel brand t-shirts with Che Guevara's image on them, or sporting 'Make Poverty History' armbands.

Especially when we read Matt 6:19-34, This is the passage that covers storing up treasures on earth and then goes onto the passage about the Lilies on the field. We cannot reduce this passage down to simply having mastery over our money (cannot serve both God & Mammon v24) and then deliver a tithe message. Nor can we simply reduce it to a message about Faith, saying that if we trust the Lord he will look after us. If we are true to the message here (remember last weeks quote of the week?), then are called to so much more, this passage stands in direct contrast to the lives that we in the west are living!

The first part tells us not to store up treasures on Earth, but to store up treasures in Heaven. Yet we live in a society and church that promotes the building of our own little Kingdoms; our own homes, investments, 2 cars, plasma TV's, a wardrobe full of clothes, (dare I say, a Fancy, Flashy new church building?). Whilst all around us there are images of people starving to death - we cannot fain ignorance about it, it is forced in our face by organizations like World Vision every day (and rightly so!!). The Early Church Held that if a child starved to death, and a Christian has extra food, then that Christian is guilty of MURDER. My God, how many have I murdered!?! Yet we can calm this guilt, all we need to do is tithe to a church that does great work in the third world, and maybe sponsor a child through world vision for "less than a cup of coffee a day" - if we have done that, we have done our bit right? Not if we are to take Jesus' message seriously. We call this sort of thing sacrifice - giving to the needy, but if it does not hurt, how can it be sacrifice? Sacrifice is pain, sacrifice is death! - remember "The Passion of the Christ?"

If this is all we are called to do, then why would Jesus tell us not to worry about our food and clothing, if we are still living in our own little Kingdoms of luxury, we don't need to trust in the Lord to supply our needs! Clearly Jesus is calling for more than just a tokenistic response. The early church sold their possessions, shared out of their wealth, so that none would have need (Acts 4:32) If we take God's words seriously, if we give sacrificially, then we have to trust in the Lord, then we really do need to pray "give us today our daily bread". Suddenly that line of the Lord's prayer makes more sense... We cannot view it simply as asking God for more. In fact if you read the above quote of the week, you will see where this line out of the Lords Prayer actually originates...

In building our little kingdoms here on earth, I fear that we have missed the point of it all, we are no longer working for the kingdom of God, we are working for the kingdom of self. The kingdom of God is at hand, but we can't grab hold of it, because our hands are full of our own possessions...

Sorry about the delay

It has been well over a week since we have last updated our blog - if there are any regular readers out there? (I ask this question as besides Andy, we don't get any feedback, and we like to think that this space will become a conversation rather than a monologue!) - we apologize for the delay - there have been illnesses and other issues stopping us - hopefully however we will be connected to the net in 2 days and then we can keep updated more regularly (by e-mail as well!) - woo hoo!!!!

Quote for the Week...

The matter is quite simple. The bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obligated to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.

Soren Kierkegaard, Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard (2002)

The Gift of Coffee Making

I still remember growing up in a Pentecostal/charismatic type church the quest we went on to find our spiritual gifts - the gift of healing, the gift of prophecy (or is that the gift of manipulation? - I get those two confused sometimes!), the gift of speaking in tongues, etc. etc.

They were all great gifts to have and be proud of, I can still remember walking around with pride comparing the gift God gave me to others gifts:- "you've got the gift of speaking in tongues huh? - well I'VE got the gift of interpretation of tongues!!". And then there were those who just didn't seem to get it, who could not find their spiritual gift - these people were told that not all spiritual gifts were of the miraculous type, some had the gift of hospitality or something like that (Of course us truly sanctified & spiritual people knew that that was just a cop-out)

Many years on I have finally let go of trying to impress other Christians, by my spirituality - we really missed the point if that is all the gifts of the spirit are used for. I still believe in those miraculous gifts of the spirit and respect those who use them (not their cheap imitation). But one that I have learnt to respect above many of them of late is - the gift of HOSPITALITY.

Yesterday was an interesting day for me. As the guys here in the community get to know me and get to be more comfortable with me (I think it is easier and more natural for women) , I have begun to get visitors at our door, just after a coffee and a chat, many of the guys here are very lonely and just need somewhere to feel like they are valued. Yesterday I had a couple of such visitors. The first was a great old guy from a "home for the broken" around the corner from us. He just dropped in for a coffee and a biscuit, and to say 'hi' - we sat for a while and I tried to have a conversation with him, I asked him any questions I could think of (you can't ask this guy what he does for a living, or where he is planning his next holiday), and more often than not I would get an answer that had no connection to the question. However he did say along the way that he was feeling anxious, and when he left he thanked me for all my help and left.

The same night I had a visit from another neighbor, who was crying, drunk and reeked of both alcohol and B.O. This neighbor is a great guy, witty and always ready to crack a joke or laugh raucously about the smallest thing. He had just heard the news that a family member had died. We talked we prayed, we drank coffee, we sat in silence, we even laughed by the end of it, and again this friend left feeling at least somewhat better, and that he had someone to talk to, that he had value.

I am not mentioning these things to say - Look at all the really great things that I am doing, I'm mentioning them to ask the question - why do we look for the grand gestures that we can do for the Kingdom - the great healings - the great mission trips - the great amounts of money to do great works in His name, when all it takes is a $3 jar of Nescafe*, and a willingness to open your door to those who need to feel loved!

* Nescafe have not sponsored this blog entry in any way - in fact I'd prefer you did not buy Nescafe coffee - but rather another coffee brand - given Nestle's history in third world countries! - want to know more? Go to www.globalexchange.org

Some Praise & Prayer Points...

Hey Everyone,

Just a quick catch up from Naomi,
The big move on Saturday went extremely well, we are so grateful to all the wonderful people from Foothills who pitched in and helped us out............it was a great way to end our time in such an awesome community.

I thought some of you might like to hear some prayer & praise points........you don't have to pray for us..........but if you want to......

I would like to praise God for

The wonderful acceptance that we have been shown in our new community.........I was imagining sitting around and being bored for the first little while......boy was I wrong.

The fantastic way our kids have settled into our new way of life, new school e.t.c........in fact, they are not just settled, they are thriving!!!!!!!!

Teaching C.R.E in a new school is going very well, I have had extremely positive responses from various members of staff, and am beginning to become familiar with some children and families in the school.

Please Pray For

Me in particular to find some time for rest and to be able to fit more time with God into my crazy schedule..........It would be nice if people stopped commenting on the dark rings around my eyes

I am running Ladies group for the first time tomorrow (i'm a little nervous)

So few of the kids at Noble Park attend C.R.E, please pray that more kids would want to attend

Peter is beginning to form friendships with a few of the Men in the area, please pray that he would naturally form some meaningful friendships, many of the men around here are lonely and often have no where to go....it's good to be able to offer our place as a drop in for them.

We still don't have our names on the lease where we are living...........the Estate agent thinks it will be fine but is taking her time to sort it out with the owner, I am finding it hard to unpack boxes because in the back of my mind I am thinking "what if I have to repack soon" It would be really great to have that one sorted out.

That I would be able to follow God's leading with making some good connections in the school community

That's all I can think of now, Peter probably has more.......but he's not here so it's up to me.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read this.................

Love from Naomi

Quote for the Week...

Love without courage and wisdom is sentimentality, as with the ordinary church member. Courage without love and wisdom is foolhardiness, as with the ordinary soldier. Wisdom without love and courage is cowardice, as with the ordinary intellectual. But the one who has love, courage, and wisdom moves the world.

- Ammon Hennacy (Catholic Activist, 1893-1970)

Finally, we are moving in!!!

Well, 5 weeks in and we are finally getting to the stage where we can move our belongings to Nobel Park!!!! - yay!!! - that will mean that we will be able to sleep in our own beds, sit on our own couches get food out of our own fridge... Sorry it is all wearing a bit thin for me - it will be great to finally just relax and call a place home again.

Out side of that, things are going great and continue to get better. I know we go on about it a lot, but Sammy is just doing wonders, and we can not say anything other than it is a miracle and a real example of God rewarding the faithful actions of his followers.

Naomi was called in to the school by one of the aids to discuss sammys progress, going in with fear, she soon found out that the aid wanted nothing more than to assure Naomi over how well Sammy was doing. The aid showed her Sams work and the work that he is doing is not at all modified (something that we were asking the other school to do for ages) and he is doing extremely well at it too - his work is on display with the other kids work in his classroom (again something that didn't happen at the other school) he is participating in class discussions and being relevant to the topic. In fact they are implementing a number of strategies that we have been crying out for the other school to try for months in not over a year off the bat, and things could not be better - NP Primary got the reports from his other school and were preparing for an absolute monster to join their school - however they have had nothing but an angel for more than a month now!!! - this is not simply because Sammy has decided to change either (though he did try his best to start with) this is because this school seems to understand the ins & outs of Autism and they treat Sammy with dignity! - PRAISE THE LORD - is all I can say - it certainly does not fit into earthly logic or wisdom that a move from Ferntree gully to Noble Park would work so well for an Autistic child! Tomorrow night he even gets to be involved in the school production (again - surprise, surprise - not in he other school) - he is a cowboy in a dance revolving around the village peoples YMCA.

Luke is also in the production as a cat in a dance to "What's new Pussy Cat" and Jake gets the lead in Rocky Horror Picture Shows "Time Warp" - he assures me he is not wearing fishnets and stillettos though!!! - once I have my computer back on the net I'll try to post a picture.

On news about Naomi & I, it looks like I have been given the role of looking after the food distribution at the Food Bank here on a Tuesday morning as well as a number of other responsibilities that are just beginning to form around me at the moment. It is hard to describe what a day consists of here - though a lot of it has to do with relating to people, having visitors, making very lonely people feel loved etc, so it is very hard to put down our roles in neat boxes. Naomi is currently hosting a women's group back at home, so I have been kicked out and therefore am catching up with things here at Cafe Salvo - the new local hang out, where if you want to meet a local, have a great coffee or jump on the net its the place to be - a bit like cheers, without the alcohol or woody!

Anyway - I have run out of things to say as a general catch up - I'll post again soon, especially once I am on line again but until then - see you later.

Peter

Finally..........a word from Naomi

Hey everyone,
Sorry it has taken me so long to leave a post..........Peter has had to literally bring me to the computer to get it done!!!!!!!!

I just want to let everyone know that things are going really great here, I am really enjoying getting to know my new neighbourhood, and enjoying spending heaps of time with people here.

I taught my first C.R.E class at Noble Park Primary yesterday, it felt really good and natural to get back into teaching......I missed it for the few weeks that I wasn't doing it.

I would have to say that one of the nicest bits about moving is the brilliant way that Sammy has settled into his new school.....we are at week 4 now, and he has been brilliant. The school has assured me that they love having him there, he is doing all his school work and behaving the way he should be.........he is even going to be a cowboy in the school production next week!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess God really does know what he's doing!!!!!! Moving the kids, and particulary Sam, was a huge faith step for us, and one I struggled to trust God on.......so it has been an amazing experience to see it all work out so well.

Anyway..........I promise I will will make a bigger effort with getting on line in future......

Thanks for reading, and we'd love to hear back from you

Naomi