Riots & Stabbings & Murders.... OH MY!!!

Hi everyone, forgive me for being so slack...

Things have really rev'ed up since the apprenticeship started 2 weeks ago - there has been a lot of training and meetings to get through to get us up to speed, and when those things happen, it seems that you need to play catch-up with everything else...

having said that, things are slowly starting to normalise... so hopefully I'll start to blog again soon.

I read a local newspaper yesterday that had a front page story about how Noble Park is in the grip of fear, after the riots, a local stabbing murder, and various other unrelated acts of violence... Now, I would not say that Noble Park is the safest, nicest place to live in the world - if it was there would be no need for the presence of a group like UNOH, but what purpose does an article like this serve?? There are enough people in this neighbourhood hiding behind massive security fences and roller shutters, people are already living in fear of the random attackers out there... I just wish that the newspapers would actually care to mention that in the vast majority of attacks and murders, there is some sort of a reason for it - the murder that happened a few days ago here was drug related, it was not just some random attacker breaking into someones house to murder them for the fun of it...

maybe our "entertainment" has a lot to answer for all of this as well, I have to admit, when it came out "silence of the lambs" was a bit of a hit with me, but as time has gone on, we have begun to swallow more and more crap that deals with death, rape, murder, so much so that they now serialise such things, with CSI, SVU, NCIS, Medium etc... they even advertise episodes of SVU dealing with paedophilia along the lines of "an episode no parent will want to miss..." WHAT IS THAT ABOUT!!!!!!! - have we gotten so thick in the head that feeding fears is now seen as educational, or at least being aware of what is going on in the world.

Little wonder community in general is dying out, little wonder people lock themselves up in their palace like prisons they call home, never having any sort of relationship with neighbours, and I guess, if we are to believe the increase of violence in the streets and unruly bands of teenagers causing terror in neighbourhoods this is the reason for that too...

here are some thoughts...

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. (1 Peter 3:13-15ish)

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:16-18)

There are plenty of other scriptures that deal with fear and how we should not be a slave to it, but I keep being told to keep my blog entries short, so I wont go into them all...

We as the Kingdom of God, are the answer to this problem, I am certain of it, but how can we solve this problem, when we are a slave to it ourselves???

a bit of a challenge from Naomi

I know it's not often that you get to hear from me, and as usual it's bed time and I can't sleep due to a racing mind........so my hope is that once I unload onto the the blog, sleep will come for me!!!

So I recently had this thing on my mind about how everyone is always busy these days, and not just busy but obsessed with being busy, like it is some sort of status symol......."I am so busy that I didn't even get time to sit down for a meal this week" "What you think that's something, I am so busy I never sit down for a meal, I never even saw my husband this week" "what, you two have nothing on me, I haven't seen my family in a month, I don't ever get time to eat and I can't remember the last time I had a proper sit on the toilet"!!!!

OK.....so these three people don't really exist......but they may as well, we are all caught up in the competition and ego surrounding how busy we are. It's like if we aren't constantly doing something (even if it's really nothing, but we can present it to others as something) then we must be worthless, and we are so afraid that someone out there might actually find out the truth of it all, that we have to present ourselves as busy to keep hiding the truth.

I think (note, this is just my theory) that the reason for all of this feigned busyness, and need to fill our lives constantly is there for the sole reason that we don't want to really face what might be going on inside us...........if we are always full of stuff then we never have time to sit in Gods presence and wait , that's scary......imagine emptying your schedule and your mind for a little bit each day......and waiting on God, you might end up having to face fears that you pretend you don't have, you might have to be reminded of people you need to forgive, you might be confronted about the way you live your life and you might even find that without God at the centre of your existence you are nothing, worthless and scummy!!!!!!

My challenge is to stop saying you're busy all the time, do what you need to do and at some point in your day STOP, turn off the T.V, home and away is not that important.........put away the vacuum cleaner, put down that trashy novel (or that good novel) , get up a little earlier, spend a bit less time at the gym, actually take your lunch break at work and find somewhere quiet to spend some time in solitude............do what ever it takes to put an end to this infectious disease called busyness!!!!!!!

And just so you know, I am blogging this because it is an issue for me, of course I feel special and important when I can tell others how busy I am (we all do) so don't feel like I am pointing fingers and missing the plank in my own eye, I feel really challenged about this at the moment and want to share the challenge with others........please keep me accountable if you know me personally. And if you want to know more about where this all came from for me then read "Reaching Out" by "Henri Nouwen"

I would love to hear back, even if you hate my ideas and think I am the only person in the world who thinks this way!!!!!!!


Goodnight

Naomi

The Next Step Begins

Well, as of today, Naomi & I are officially UNOH Apprentices!!!!

It has been a long time in coming, but finally it is here. For me, it has been a ten year (or probably more) journey since I first got my love for missions & wanted to enter the mission field. Back then , I was introduced to missions more or less accidentally, I was forced to choose an elective at bible college, the choice was between Missions & Creative Ministry, and as I am not really into drama or messianic dance or anything I chose Missions as the better of 2 evils. My perspective of Christianity and Theology was turned up-side-down during that course. So much so that I changed my course to be a missions based course. The following years saw my passion for mission grow and mature from a purely Evangelistic view to a more holistic view seeing the importance and value in social action.

During that time, Jesus was also working on Naomi. I had expected to go to the mission field straight after Bible College, but God had other plans, Naomi was not ready, and I had learnt through my experiences at BC the importance of a married couple being a team on the mission field. Too many men have dragged their wives onto the mission field, where their wives have learnt to resent them, and this often harms the work & ministry of the mission. I did not want this, so I had to wait.

I would like to say that I did not put any pressure on Naomi over this time, but I did put out my feelers every now and then. I guess Naomi was aware of this and felt that I was putting pressure on her, so much so that she would explode in anger towards me. Little did I know that this was because God was working on her and she was resisting it out of the fear of putting her trust completely in Him.

Finally the crunch came for Naomi at the Surrender conference in 05, and since then Naomi has been running towards missions and I have been holding on tight in an attempt to keep up. The last 7 months have been about us getting used to life in Noble Park, settling ourselves and our kids in here, getting to know the people in the community and Rainbow Church, but now the aim of all that waiting is here and we begin the apprenticeship...

Please continue to pray for us as we begin this time, that God will be with us, that we learn to balance our commitments of study and practice, and that we will get a lot out of this time and grow in the Lord & what he has in store for our lives

Transforming Lives

The last few weeks have seen the loss of 2 valuable families to the Springvale Team as they head off to continue their UNOH work in Bangkok and Sydney. They will be missed, but they have important work to do in other parts, & God goes with them as they head out to make a difference...

With the loss of 2 couples from UNOH Melbourne, comes the inclusion of 4 new UNOH apprentices, of which Naomi & I are included, we will go through a year of training to become part of the team (before we go through another 2 years of training as novices but thats another story...).

It is an important work that needs to be done here... there are many lonely and hurting people here, it is amazing the divide that we make in society between rich and poor, a place like Noble Park seems to be ignored by most, until something like the Riots happen and then the commentary is on for young and old - well mostly old - as you listen to talk back radio about the the riots, and why they apparently happened... its never our fault (our being the wider community)... that's too hard a thought to deal with...

But transformation is happening here, it seems to be a slow process of 3 steps forward 2 steps back at times, and there are many questions that I have as a newby here that I know will be answered over the next year or so, but the rewards are obvious...

Recently I heard the testimony of a community member who had just been baptised. It was an amazing story... this person has had a very lonely life, particularly over the last however long... he had been looking for a place to belong, getting involved in various church and community groups, but never feeling a sense of belonging until coming to Rainbow. This person is old, and has many health issues and comes across quite ruff and gruff, but he is a person, and when you get along side him, you get to see an amazing man, and occasionally you get a smile out of him. He has an amazing smile, when he gives it, you are given a gift, and you know it really means something...

Anyway, this guy got baptised at rainbow a few weeks back, he has been involved with the wider church quite a bit, and has been baptised as an infant as well as later on in life to become accepted by another church. but this time he was baptised because he wanted to show that he belonged to God, & was involved in a group that was majorly important to his life. Baptism was not something he had to do to gain acceptance, it was something he chose to do to show that he was at home...

The difference in this man's life is obvious, even over the six months that we have lived here (I have know him for quite a bit longer than that but it is only over this time that I have been able to get involved in his life). This is one story that to me shows what UNOH is here for, what transformation is about - it is not about winning souls, or growing rainbow numbers, it is about giving value and purpose to a person who is lonely & often forgotten by the wide community.

To see UNOH reach out into the Mt Druit area in Sydney and grow larger in Bangkok, fills me with hope and a sense of purpose - God is seeing his Kingdom established on Earth, it is a slow hard process, but it is happening....

Noble Park Riots

Some people have been getting a bit worried because they have not heard from us after the riots here in NP... this is just a quick one to let people know that the riots did not affect us or our immediate community in any real way - except that our favourite DVD store is closed down. The riots happened in quite a remote part of NP in relation to the town centre.

Thy Kingdom Come.... What's up with our Eschatology?

I struggle with Eschatology, I struggle with all the different views, I struggle with the word itself (The study of the end times), and I have a feeling that most Christians do. It is so confusing, in my life I have probably been convinced that the end was coming 3 or 4 times, but you may have noticed, it has not happened yet. When I was a kid, the big bad was the USSR, now I think it is Iraq, or possibly North Korea, but most likely the USA... It all gets so confusing.

One thing I have learnt however is that the predominant view on eschatology is not a good thing, and to me it seems to hold elements that are contrary to the gospel and what Jesus called us to do in this world. If you have read any of the Left Behind series, then you already know the basic outline, it goes something like this...

The world is getting worse, it is getting more heathen, but don't worry, the good guys get raptured just before it gets too bad, and then the poo really does hit the fan. Without a Christian influence in the world, it becomes one big hedonistic orgy, of premarital sex, gay marriages, and abortions. And the anti-Christ will rule this world and see everyone damned to hell. Some will become Christians in this time, but they will have to endure the sin in the world, and the persecution they must face as the anti-Christ tries to eradicate them... finally Jesus will return, smite the wicked with his great big smiting stick and all will be good in the world - I think he creates a new earth, or we all go to heaven for a big party or something, I can't really remember.

What is the problem with this outlook? - well I guess to me it seems to encourage us NOT to act in the world for the good of mankind, not to try to stamp out evil, or see evangelism happen or anything, because the world is getting worse and the less we do the worserer it will become, meaning that Jesus will return quicker - YAY!!! This view is what seems to be encouraging Christians to establish their own little Christian compounds where Heathens dare not enter... our friends are all Christians, we send our kids to Christian schools, our charity goes to the church in the form of tithes, so the church can grow and offer us better resources, so we can have Christian cafes, and gyms, and dating services, and theme parks.

This sort of Eschatology has resulted in the Church circling its wagons and becoming defensive, protecting itself & hanging on till the rapture, meanwhile the Western Church is in decline, because we are seen as ineffective, irrelevant and scared. But this is just more evidence that the end is coming right? - well it is a sort of self fulfilling prophecy really, if the salt stays in the shaker or the light under a bowl then of course things are going to get worse...

Where does Jesus' call for us to go into all the world and make disciples come into it? where does His (and hopefully our) prayer that "Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" come into effect, if we are not out there being the Kingdom (I often think that the Kingdom has been relegated to a post apocalyptic reality as well). Jesus taught that the Kingdom of God is at hand, yet we are too afraid to reach out and grab that Kingdom.

The Kingdom of God has been instrumental in being salt to the world for hundreds of years, we have seen the eradication of slavery in many nations, education offered to many not just the wealthy, the abolition of child labour... etc, etc, what happened to the salt... Why has the Make Poverty History campaign (that had it's origins in a Christian initiative) been picked up by the secular world, while we sit around with egg on our face playing catch up or worse still denying it's importance...

I heard that this interpretation of the end times has only been around for less than 200 years and has been growing in popularity ever since, could it be partly to blame? Could an eschatology that calls us to protect ourselves rather than risk all for the sake of the Kingdom be responsible for the worsening of the world, rather than the anti-Christ?

Anyway, I don't have any real answers here, this is only a bit of an embryonic thought, I can't get into an argument about what view of eschatology I hold, because I just don't know, I just have my misgivings about this one, it seems to stand in opposition to so much of what the gospel teaches us...

what are your thoughts?

Judging books by their covers....

The Truth Behind - LEFT BEHIND.

Retails at $9.95 - that is one expensive note book....

Note book - get it? - its got blank pages.... Ha, Ha, Ha .... I am so funny!!!! ;p

Half a body....

Hello, we have just got back from 2 weeks holidays on the Mornington Peninsula. We had a great time of beaches, craft markets, and big breakfasts!! - ah well, off to Dietsville we go....

While we were on holidays, I decided to visit a local pentecostal church that I had heard about. I have a pentecostal background, though it has been about 4 years since I last stepped in one, so it was a bit of a flash back for me. I don't mind the Pentecostal Church, in fact, a lot of my theology and belief systems stem out of there in some form or fashion. Having said that, there is a lot of ugliness in the Pentecostal Church, just like there is in every other denominational stream... every church has its own errors or idols and this blog is not about bagging the Pente' tradition, these observations probably span across every denomination out there...

I went to the Church with a sense of optimism and openness, I have a tendency towards cynicism, a tendency that I am slowly learning to curb, but this day I was not feeling cynical at all. The church service formula was to be expected, the choice of choruses, stemming from Hillsong and other similar places was no surprise, the pastors attempt to stir up the congregation into spiritual fervor was something that I had not experienced for years, but again no surprises here, it was a Pentecostal church after all... The thing that struck me, time and time again, no matter how much I tried to shake it, was what could almost be described as a vision, especially if I wanted to get all Pentecostal on you all...

What I saw at this church was quite a graphic sight, it was the sight of half a body, a human body really cut right down the middle, one leg, one arm, half a head, one eye, one ear, half a nose... you get the idea...

It was a church that was really only interested in peoples souls, it was all about being saved, being born again to be more specific, this was the ultimate goal, and in many ways nothing else mattered. Prayer was also important, there were a number of prayer requests;

"This ladies grand daughter who is not born again is suicidal, lets pray for her..."
"This young man has been diagnosed bipolar, lets pray..."
"This young family are in financial trouble, lets us pray..."

Living in a community that cares so much for one another, that tries to meet the needs of anyone in need, at a physical level as well as a spiritual level, I saw this half body ignoring the fact that it was incomplete, that it was only half there, and as a result probably dead*. It was busy dressing itself up & applying makeup to its malformed, incomplete body. The pastor boasted about how they had seen over 100 souls come to the Lord, a boast that when looking around the congregation did not seem to add up. Obviously it was simply the decision that mattered, not ongoing growth and discipleship.

My heart ached, as I sat there, listening to the pastor all but predicting the rapture and return of Christ for 2007, I wondered about that suicidal girl, the bipolar man and the struggling family... would anyone come along side these people, would they help them out in the here and now???? or would they simply offer up a prayer and go on living their own lives.

I wondered about the 100 souls, where were the bodies attached to these souls, most of them were not in the church (not that church building attendance is at all what it is about - but certainly for these guys it was). How were these 100 souls traveling, were they being discipled, supported and loved, or had they simply been immunised against Christianity.

I sometimes worry that I have become too liberal in my social action based theology that I now live by, but I realise now that I have not, I still care for souls and want to see them enter the Kingdom, but I realise that these souls also have a body, and that the needs of the body need to be met also, without it, it is only half a gospel, a deformed gospel, a dead gospel, that leads inevitably to a half church, a half body deformed and dead.

There is a saying here at UNOH, that goes something along the lines of "the soul is not the price of our friendship" meaning that we do not only get into friendships with people to see a convert, but that we build a friendship because we see a need. Sure we care about these peoples souls and would like nothing more than to see them enter the Kingdom, but we are not only in their lives for that purpose, nor do we simply let them flounder around on their own if they do make the decision, going onto a new unsaved project... Jesus certainly demonstrated a concern for a persons physical and spiritual health, at times he only focused on the physical, just like at times he focused on the spiritual, but one thing can truly be said - he met the person at their need, he was not concerned with the sinners prayer, altar calls or baptism in the Spirit, and he called us to "Go and do likewise" Have we gone to far, have we taken Paul's teaching on the sinfulness of the flesh too far and fallen into some sort of gnosticism??


*I don't want to go that far, I don't know if is superstition in me that keeps me from being too harsh towards the church or if it is the Spirit, whichever it is, this church is not beyond fixing its problems and becoming whole, so I am not condemning it in calling it dead, it is simply the impression that I got.

Magic V's Religion

Many, many, many years ago I wrote a paper at Bible College that dealt with the issue of syncretism and the western church. Syncretism, is that tendency of a people group that adopt Christianity to mesh their new found beliefs with those of their previous religious beliefs – resulting in a variety of Christian hybrid religions – some that you could say were essentially Christian, with a few errors – some you would have to say are so removed from any sort of Christian framework that they were no more Christian than the original peoples religion (Voodoo is probably a great example of this).

The question that I asked in my paper was; as western Christians, have we combined our Christianity with the beliefs of the west? & if so to what degree does it affect the salvational (I think I may have made that word up sorry) value of our religion? I kind of took the easy way out with my paper focusing primarily on the Word of Faith Movement (Kenneth Hagan, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, etc), saying that the Word of Faith Movement had lost the plot, and that their influence over the broader church was to its detriment. I still believe this, if there is a movement that can really get my blood boiling it is the WFM, Their teachings spring up all over the place in regular church circles, and millions of dollars are sent out of third world countries by well meaning but misguided poor Christians to help fund the ministry & lifestyle (and search for a more realistic toupee) of such people as Benny Hinn.

But as I think about it more, I start to feel that the WFM is not the cause but probably a symptom of a wider problem (surely it is a symptom that nurtures and feeds the disease but that is another story for another day). I think the key word here is magic. Magic means various things to us as westerners, from illusionists such as David Copperfield to the use of white or even black magic that seems to have become so in style over the last ten years or so. But taking it away from entertainment or the occult, on an anthropological level, magic could probably be defined as the manipulation of spirits through rights, rituals or offerings to the benefit of the practitioner. In contrast, religion probably could be defined as submission to the will of a higher being. Magic is about what self wants; Religion is about what God wants. As I think about it, Western Christianity is so much more about self than it is about God, and a good serious look at the shelves of any Christian bookshop would prove my point… We employ good Christian principles to get more wealth, health, dates, well behaved kids, etc. There are numerous self help books out there that somehow combine the secular pursuit of psychology with the Christian belief system. There are countless CD’s coming out where the importance seems to be more on how much they sound like the secular world or how cool they are rather than on actually worshiping God, or instilling Christian values.

Now I am not saying that self improvement is not a way of life for a Christian, because it is – the bible is clear on how we must live our lives and become more Christ like; God is very concerned about our lifestyles. But it seems to me that Jesus has become our little genie in a bottle, which we call on to answer our needs and see our wants met. We love the passages in the bible that speak about all things being possible, ask and it shall be given to you etc, etc, etc. We plaster them on our walls with cute pictures of kittens, or bunny wabbits. But we forget about (or trivialize) the passages that call us to forsake all for his sake – sell all, give it to the poor and follow me, pick up your cross and follow me, die to your self, those that wish to be the greatest amongst you must humble themselves and become as servants. Maybe it is because verses like these don’t go well with pictures of fluffy animals & eagles or maybe it is because this is not what we want to hear – it is too hard work – it cramps our lifestyles too much… it is submission of the will to Christ – it is religion…

What do you think? Have I gone too far again? Am I too cynical? Or do I have a point? – Please leave some feedback and let me know!

Peter

Oh and by the way, Merry Christmas!!

finally a second to blog

well, what a week it has been, it is annoying that at the busy times when there is so much to write about there is never enough time to actually sit down and blog... the MEC went well, poor Sammy was quite unwell, so we sort of had to tag team the whole experience.

The best part for me was pretending to be homeless in Danenong, trying to find accommodation and other things for the night. It was quite a desperate situation - finding only one place in the whole of the city of Dandenong that was willing to help with accommodation, and they were focused on helping youth only, I got to experience judgmental reactions by supposedly loving Christians, as well as true care by other truly loving Christians (we visited a lot of churches in our search for accommodation). We got a great feed at cornerstone - a mission established by three Dandenong churches, got to visit the needle exchange program (there was an experience!! - I had to organise rehab for myself as part of the project!), and generally walk around Dandenong, being directed from one place to another looking for help...

Naomi and I had out psyc assessment on Monday, that was an interesting experience too (a good one) - we got to find out that we were not nuts, so we are a bit worried that UNOH will not want us anymore, because you probably need to be nuts to join them... but seriously, the psyc assessment was the final hurdle that we needed to jump to get into UNOH - so i guess now we are officially in!!!

the apprenticeship starts in February...

Peter

send Jonny an e-card!!!

I was just visiting the make poverty history website and came across a great idea - sending jonny howard and your local member of parliament an e-card for christmas calling for more aid in the 2007 budget - its worth looking at and maybe sending one yourself - you never know, if enough of us do something.... well thats what MPH is all about isn't it!! - check it out here

Mission Exposure Course

Well, it has begun, the mission exposure course...

this is a 9 day course running here through UNOH to introduce people to the idea of working amongst the poor and marginalised. It is one of those pre-requisites to joining UNOH that I talked about earlier - so even though we already live and work in the community, we are required to do the course...

having said that, I believe it will be a benificial and enjoyable time, there are about 12 people doing the course, including ourselves, and the other 10 people are farmed out to different unoh workers homes for the 9 days (you are expected to live in the community during the 9 days) - we have been fortunate enough to be included in one of the houses that will be hosting the course attendees, so we will be having a young married couple and their 8 month old daughter living with us.

Anyway, that is about all I have to say at this stage, We have to get prepared for our first big MEC activity toomorrow - going to the beach with the kids!!! - ahh, mission life is tough, but someone has to do it.

Peter

Walking the Streets of Noble Park

Over the last few weeks, a change has happened to the way I view my work here in NP. Over the last 6 months of life here, my time has been about getting to know the community that revolves around the UNOH work and Rainbow church. It has been about getting to know the people, building relationships with those in the community, and seeing where I can help out... It has been a great time, a time of affirmation, a time of finding purpose in life.

But mission is not about maintenance, it is about going out (well strictly speaking being sent out - but I guess the important bit here is the word "OUT"). It is too easy to focus purely on maintenance, to get caught up on the busy work of keeping a church community running smoothly. It is so easy to continually look inward, and forget about looking out. This is the big error of the western church, in my opinion, it is the same error that the nation of Israel made, that in many ways resulted in the Kingdom being taken from them and given to others (I can't be bothered proving this right now - maybe some other time). But if the church is not looking out it is not doing its job. Likewise, if an individual Christian is not looking out he is not doing his job either. I could keep going on about this, discuss different models of church; centripetal verses centrifugal and really get stuck into the nitty gritty of it all - it actually is a topic I am very passionate about...

But the point is, that even with my passion, I got sucked into an inward focused mindset (centripetal - sucked in - its a pun! -get it? - geeze I'm a nerd!!). And God has begun doing a job on me, shifting my focus back outwards, back onto the wider community of Noble Park. I have begun to purposefully walk the streets of this community, firstly in the morning I go for a prayer walk, visit all of the major community centers within walking distance, praying and seeking God as I go along - there is not much ministry going on here, as there are not that many people out and about at 6am, but this is laying the ground work on a spiritual level, and allowing God to increase my passion for this neighborhood. I also intentionally walk places as much as possible to get to know the people out and about. Time permitting (and I feel I need to make a conscious effort to make more time for this) I will also go for a walk around the community at times that people are more likely to be around, becoming more familiar with the people and places of NP, and looking to build entry level relationships with the people I meet.

Judging books by their Covers

Well, this one is probably a bit more than judging a book by its cover, to me, my old mate Benny has always had a bit of a slimy reputation - I always thought it quite apropriate that Benny Hinn & Benny Hill only had one letter seperating their names (ok so it is 2 letters but they are the same letter)

Is it strange that every time I think of Benny Hinn that Hill's old theme music "yakety sax" plays in my mind???

Anyway... there is only really one thought that comes to mind when I see the cover of this book...

"I HOPE HE WASHED HIS HANDS AFTERWARDS!!!"

Interview Update

Hello everyone...

It has been a few days now since the interview - and I thought I should write a quick blog to say how it went.

The interview was really a catch up to see how we went with the past six months of our life here in Noble Park, more than an interview to prove that we have what it takes to join UNOH. I guess our participation in the community has already done that for us.

The official word is not out yet, there is still one more stage that we need to go through in the name of consistancy (everyone else has had to do it) - once that is done I can let you know offically - however, things are looking very posative.

Thankyou for your prayers and thoughts over the last few weeks (and months)

Peter

More than a bottle of water

I popped into the bakery next to coles today to grab a pie for lunch, and noticed a group of maybe 5 Aboriginal guys/girls hanging around front of the supermarket entrance, these guys are usually around a bit.......sometimes asking people for money, and sometimes just hanging. While I was in the bakery paying for my pie, one of the girls came in with an empty coke bottle and asked the girls behind the counter if they could fill it with water for her, the bakery girls looked at each other and said "no, we don't do water" I kinda thought that sucked, so I raced home (we live very close by) grabbed the biggest empty bottle I had, filled it with water and went back to give it to them. As I gave it to them, I saw their faces.......it was just a bottle of water, no big deal.........but they looked at me, and I felt some tears begin to leak out as I realised I was encountering Jesus
If you don't beleive me, read Matthew 25 v 31-46.

You might be reading this and be thinking, easy for you, you live in a poor suburb filled with needy people, it's easy to find a need and respond to it. But, I could have just as easily walked right past without even noticing, just like we all have at times and all will in the future, it doesn't matter what suburb you live in, if you open yourself up to the idea allowing God to open your eyes, ears and hearts to what is happening where you are, then you too will have the opportunity to find Jesus in the face of a stranger.

Naomi

Quote of the Weak

OK, so it has been well over a week since my last quote - but look again at the title it does not say weEk it says weAk...

For everyone, there are certain verses in the bible that really speak to them, verses that encapsulate how they view or live their lives - or probably more accurately how they strive to view or live their lives...

This passage is one of those for me - I can relate to the thorn in my side analogy very well, and so strive to live out the attitude that Paul espouses...

7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

1 day to go - then we jump!!

Hi everyone.

Tomorrow is the big day, when we get to find out if we have made it into UNOH or not!!

at around 11.30 we will be in a meeting with 3 UNOH members and a board member, where we will discuss what we have learned and accomplished over the past 6 months after moving into Noble Park!!

We have had some good time to reflect this week, and we have been seeking feedback from members of the community here and UNOH workers, and it has been a good and uplifting process... so we go into the interview with a certain level of confidence.

Having said that we are still quite nervous, not that we won't make it through (though I guess there is a small amount of that), but more that tomorrow seals our fate as far as this chapter of our lives is concerned. Whatever happens, we have taken a huge, irreversable step into the unknown. Relying on God to see us through is always an exciting experience, but also always a nervous one - you lose all control, and just have to trust - I can imagine that the experience is probably similar to sky diving - where you jump off the relative security of a plane - freefall for a while relying on the parachute on your back to open and deliver you safely to the solid ground below. I imagine that if I was going to go skydiving tomorrow instead of going to an interview - my guts would probably feel the same as they do now anyway... heaps of excitement, a fair amount of fear, restless, happiness, faith... a whole bunch of emotions...

Can't Sleep......it's 12:44 AM

Hey all,
Naomi here for a change...........for some reason God always seems to knock on my door at the most inconvenient times.........like right now, it's nearly 1:00 am and I desperately need sleep, but God has just hit me with something and all I can do is think on it and the more I think, the more urgent it becomes!!!!!! I think he wants me to blog it, then he will let me get to sleep!!!!!!

So here goes,
Many of you know, and some of you don't that ten years ago Pete and I lost a baby, I was around 23 weeks pregnant and my waters broke early, I was rushed to hospital and after many painful hours of the doctors trying to stop the bleeding and all that stuff, they decided the only thing to save my live was an emergency cesarian which resulted in our little boy Caleb only surviving for 36 hours.

About 1 & 1/2 years ago when I thought I was totally over the pain of it all and had well and truly moved on with my life, God gave me an amazing vision of my three healthy boys in one hand, and my tiny fragile baby in the other......at this point I burst into tears and said why God Why?? God then put his hand on my shoulder and said "Naomi, you don't need to know why, you just need to trust me" this was one of those life changing moments where Gods presence in all of my life was so clear and undeniable that I could do nothing but worship his awesomeness!!!!!

Anyway, I guess I thought that was book closed, healing done, move on with life...........until today...............today my husband shared with me that an older gentleman in our community has shared with him the story of his first baby being still- born, in the same hospital we had Caleb (of course many, many years earlier) this man has shared with Pete the pain he still has, and when I heard that I burst into tears, I just feel so sad that this man still has pain after so long, when we have experienced healing. So when I tried to get to sleep about an hour ago, I couldn't get this man out of my head, I tried praying for him............and I am sure that's great, but I realised that God wants this broken, hurting man to experience the same healing that Pete and I have experienced.........This healing that God offers is for everyone, not just a select few. I don't know how, but Pete is becoming quite involved in this guys life and I am sure God knows where it is all going.

Anyway, last thought to do with this stuff...........I am so excited by the idea that God is the master of the slow reveal!!!! imagine if ten years ago I lost my baby, then God healed my hurt and it all happened fast................ instead, when I thought the book was totally closed on it, God showed me even more, and has given me even more compassion for those that are hurting and pained...............wow, he is a mighty God!!!!!!!

Anyway..........Peter wants to sleep (the computer is in the bedroom, and I woke him up)

Hopefully I can sleep now,

Thanks for reading

Naomi

Don't Judge a book by It's cover? - Yeah Right!!

I know that the saying Goes "Don't Judge a book by Its cover, but sometimes there really is no choice but to...

Take Australia's own Col Stringer, well actually he is a yank by birth he just loves trying to prove his Aussie-ness by writing books about Australia's Christian Heritage and stuff ...

His Yankee-ness really does come out in his newest book as he leans against his Humvee - in his classic king-gee pose - sunnies and all, suggesting that that is what it is to be a man!!??!!

Well as I said I will never read this book so I cannot judge it by its content - only by its cover - but I think I will never measure up to this sort of manhood - maybe I should change my name...

From Peter (Peta?)