Navigating Faith

Learning to trust God completely is a daily process, but it starts with personal surrender.

In Genesis 12, when God called Abram at 75 years of age to leave his comfort zone and go on a mission to an undisclosed location, he trusted God whole-heartedly to navigate the way.

From the wisdom of Solomon, we too are encouraged to allow God to be our Navigator. In Proverbs 3:5-6 we read, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths".

Here's the key to navigating faith ~ "When we cannot see our way, let us trust and still obey. He who bids us forward go, cannot fail the way to show" (Song 772, verse 1)

How much more blessed we are when we daily trust in God as our Navigator!

Mission Refocus

Affirmation, challenge, rebuke and empowerment ~ these are all words that describe some of what we have experienced as we shared in the two-day intensive Corps Mission Conference under the instruction of Rev Dr Paul Borden.

Together we explored the purpose for which God raised up the Church and considered leadership principles to most effectively focus God's people on achieving the Great Commission, while retaining our unique ministry to the identified target group.

Obviously, we have had a lot of missional food for thought. But be assured that it will not be wasted. We're committed to leading our seniors-focussed ministry into maximum health!

Matthew 28:19 (MSG) ~ " Jesus gave his charge: God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life..."

Senior Singspiration

It's amazing to see the way that seniors respond to music, and hymn-singing, in particular.

Recently, due to a number of circumstances, we decided to change the format of our weekly church service in one of our nursing homes. Rather than continue with the structured service including songs, Bible reading, prayer and scripture comment, we introduced an informal hymn sing-along style meeting ("less talking/more music").

The response has been most positive ~ more residents attending due to the relaxed setting; staff members joining in and assisting the residents; as well as a noticeable increase in physical responses from dementia residents.

Pleasant smiles...hand-clapping...foot-tapping...memory recall.
These responses to the music we share bring a renewed inspiration to our vital ministry and make it all the more worthwhile.

Continue to give us "senior singspiration", Lord!

Christian Endurance

The Beijing Olympics is fast approaching as we are constantly reminded by the daily media. The athletes who have been chosen to participate have undergone stringent preparations and training to secure themselves a place in the race, in the hope that their physical endurance will result in them being crowned winners in their respective sporting field.

Likewise, if we want to be winners in the Christian faith race, we must have a spirit of endurance. This was the focus of our worshipful reflection on Hebrews 12:1-2 as we were encouraged to keep "Running The Race" and celebrated the empowering presence of God in and through our lives. What a blessed experience and inspiring time it was to "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith"!

Hebrews 12:1 (ICB) ~ “So we have many people of faith around us. Their lives tell us what faith means.”

As the World Youth Day celebrations and visit of Pope Benedict VI come to a close today in Sydney, during our sing-along this evening we sang these words prayerfully.

He who would valiant be 'gainst all disaster,
Let him in constancy follow the Master!
There's no discouragement shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent to be a pilgrim.

Since, Lord, thou dost defend us with thy Spirit;
We know we at the end shall life inherit.
Then fancies flee away, I'll fear not what men say,
I'll labor night and day to be a pilgrim.

Chaplains Togetherness

"Refresh...mint" was the theme for the Eastern Victoria Division's Chaplains Retreat. It provided an opportunity for personal encouragement, chaplaincy updates, reflective worship, open/honest sharing and group discussions. Despite the variety of our chaplaincy ministries, we met on common ground to "share the joy and lighten the load" and, in a personal sense, to seek renewal of hope for the challenges of chaplaincy.

One of the key discussion points centred around the fact that integrated mission needs integrated administration and organizational cooperation at all levels if it is to be implemented effectively.

A refreshing thought was that individually, and indeed The Salvation Army corporately, is not perfect, but that we "perfected in Christ" as we rely upon God's grace to enable us to be "the life and light of Christ" in our respective incarnational community ministries.

With this in mind, we prayerfully declared:

Lord Jesus Christ, you have called us together
To rejoice in who You are and to delight in who we are because of You!
We stand amazed in Your presence
Because You, o Lord, live Your life in us!

Proverbs 11:25 ~ “The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”

I Love The One Who Made The Stars!

This new composition by Major Howard Davies was flowing through my mind today and stirring my heart with wonder and praise. It was written especially for the cadets at The Salvation Army Training College in Lusaka, Zambia at the request of Major John Farquharson (fellow Australia Southern officer who is serving pro-tem as Training Principal, Zambia) and is primarily intended as a form of acapella praise.

Be blessed within your soul!

I love the One who made the stars!

Who formed the endless universe;

Who rules in majesty above,

While all creation shouts His love!

I love the One who came to earth!

Who healed the sick and raised the dead;

Who stilled the waves and calmed the storm;

The Son of God in human form.

I love the One who died for me!

Who took my place on Calvary;

Who bore my sin and owned my shame,

I tremble, that He took the blame.

I love the One who conquered death!

Who smashed the darkest dread of all;

Who lives to banish all my fears;

And wipe away the mourner's tears.

I love the One who soon returns!

To judge the world and claim His own;

Restoring all things that were lost;

His love the pow'r, His blood the cost!

Such mystery I cannot tell!

I only know I long to see

And love Him through eternity.

Called Home To Heaven

Today at Inala Chapel we celebrated with thanksgiving to God the life and ministry of Major Douglas Young. As far as life-long covenanted service goes Doug certainly maintained a constant, faithful witness, even on into his active retirement years.

The officiating officer, Major Bram Cassidy (CO, Waverley Temple), commenced by quoting the words of Amos Traver ~ "Death is not a full stop, but a comma in the story of life" ~ commenting that for Christians, death is the comma that accentuates the eternal hope we live for and experience as our promised reward.

We assure his wife and ministry partner, Major Vi Young, daughter Envoy Kaye and son-in-law Envoy John Williamson (currently serving in Jamaica), and granchildren, Kelly and Stephen, of our prayerful support for future days ~ confident that God's abundant grace is always sufficient.

What a wonderful man of God and spiritual giant! Major Doug's life certainly proved the saying, "It's not how you start but how well you finish that matters most."

The major's favourite word of challenge is a good conclusion here ~ "If Christ is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all!"

Song 890 (verses 1 and 5)

Servant of God, well done!

Rest from thy loved employ;

The battle fought, the victory won,

Enter thy Master's joy.

Soldier of Christ, well done!

Praise be thy new employ;

And while eternal ages run,

Rest in thy Saviour's joy.

James Montgomery