A Recipe To Follow

'Trust' was the theme of our worship service today led by Major Win Barker. In her Bible message, Win shared a story about a personal cooking experience. Not having all the proper ingredients, she ad libbed only to find out that the end product wasn't as satisfying as she would have liked. When speaking with a friend about it, Win was advised of the following.
"Well, you can't expect a good result if you don't follow the recipe!"

How fitting is that spiritually? Through the Bible, God has given us the recipe to live a fulfilling and rewarding life in the power of His Holy Spirit, if we would only trust in Jesus with our all.

My mind went to these well-loved words from Proverbs 3:5-6 ~ "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths."

...and it's a great recipe to follow!

Afternoon Tea Surprise

An 'out of the blue' invitation to share in a fellowship afternoon tea today at a fellow officer colleague's place turned out to be a 'surprise event' for all who attended as my Christian friend and Waverley Temple solider, Daryl Wang, announced his engagement to girlfriend, Roni. To add blessing upon blessing, Roni's mother was visiting all the way from China and was privileged to personally witness and participate in this lovely occasion.

"Bless them now, heavenly Father, bless them now!"

I pray, too, that God might surprise you again with a reminder of His great love for you in Christ Jesus!

Guided by Dog

No, there's no grammatical typo in the title! It's purely intentional. Even after 4 years, I continue to be amazed (and hugely proud!) of my wife's guide dog, Zarena ~ our beautiful dogdaughter [pictured below in action].

What amazes me most is that, when visiting new places, Zarena nevers fails to assess the unfamiliar territory and then do what she does best ~ safely guide Dabak in her every step!

Some places can be totally confusing, even to those with good eyesight. I'm talking about lifts with double-ended opening doors. Which one will open at which floor?

Recently, in a new cinema lift, Zarena took Dabak through to the back of the lift and stood by the rear doorway in preparation to disembark, only to find that one door was used to both enter and exit. After exploring the new surroundings, we ventured back downstairs via lift for a seat until our session. And, yes, you guessed it, Zarena took Dabak into the lift and did a huge U-turn standing her in front of the same door.

WOW! If only you and I were as quick to learn in life, how much easier it would be.

Certain Hope

Stopping at a set of lights recently, the following logo on the rear of the car in front caught my attention.

At that very moment, I praised God for our Certain Hope ~

Ichthus (ΙΧΘΥΣ, Greek for fish) is an acronym of "Jesus Christ, Son Of God, Saviour".

1 Timothy 4:10 (MSG) ~ "... We're banking on the living God, Saviour of all men and women ..."

Love Is Central

Jude 20-21 (MSG) ~ "But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God's love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life!"

On this Valentine's Day, I'm reminded of the greatest love expressed to us by God through Jesus Christ. It's a love that continues to uphold, inspire, motivate and equip us to be the best we can be as we live life to the full everyday.

Praise God, His love changes everything ~ for eternity!

Engaging Emotions

We live in a day and age when levels of commitment are no longer simply driven by past achievements, present activities or future aspirations. And yet, ironically, these all play an important part in paving the way for effective growth. Organisations everywhere are investing in strategic plans in the hope of increasing membership levels that will benefit their futures, regardless of whether they are corporate companies or church communities.
In addressing the Rotary topic, "How to increase and retain new members", Murray Collier (CEO of Performance Works Pty Ltd) made the following key points that contribute to effective growth.
1. Connection ~ establishing relevant relationships.
2. Communication ~ knowing your purpose and selling it well.
3. Significance ~ being confident of what you have to offer and its ability to impact others.
4. Engagement ~ ability to engage emotionally with potential members and touch their 'heart core'.

The idea of engaging emotionally with others was a real eye-opener. In reflecting on TSA, I am confident that, because of our corporate identity and public image, we seem to connect, communicate and express our significance well. However, I don't believe that we always engage well emotionally with others when it comes to our spiritual mission.
Nowadays, people's levels of commitment are directly linked to their emotional feelings ~ if they are touched at the core they will be more likely to commit to the cause. Perhaps then, we need to be more intentional in trying to engage emotionally with people ~ and that means being a lot more personal relationally.
Emotional engagement for the cause of Christ ~ Let it be!

John 4:23 (MSG) ~ "It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."

World Understanding Month

According to the Rotary calendar, February is "World Understanding Month". Last Tuesday night at Rotary we heard from an inspirational guest speaker, 15 year old Scotch College student, Hugh McKenzie, who shared about his personal experiences of assisting in a joint World Vision/Scotch College project of upgrading the Kapumfi School in Kopa, Zambia.
These were his reflections:
"Running along next to our bus, massive smiles on their faces enjoying every moment of their time with the ambassadors from Australia who built their school. ‘Shani’, ‘Whino’. The short words spoken between us and the Kapumfi children meaning ‘how are you?’, ‘I am good’. The children don’t speak English and these are the only words we knew, and found those words very precious, being the link and key to communication between us and the children of Kapumfi. Being a part of this trip made me feel very privileged ~ not only compared to these poor people but it has been such an eye opener and changed my view on the world.
Round and round our world turns with people every day of our lives ignoring what is happening on the other side of the world to them. Seeing those kids' smiling faces it is hard for me to forget what some people are going through. They may be thousands of kilometres away but everyday I am reminded of so many memories from the trip that has changed my life. Stopping the bus we hop out and follow our guide towards what seems to be maybe two or three huts and a couple of cows. ‘Everyone I’d like you to meet Michael’. In front of me is standing a boy around the age of 13, his dirt covered face with sad eyes and visibly shy stands there. ‘Hi Michael!’; he doesn’t understand what we have said, just like many people in Australia do not understand what is happening on this side of the world. His face immediately lowers and his eyes are forced to the ground; shyness wins out. Does it matter if you are shy in this cruel world that poor Michael lives in? Such a question makes you realise how we can live with this happening to the lives of others. As well as living in the extremes of poverty Michael’s parents died when he was six. Now he is looked after by his aunt. Imagine living in these circumstances ~ such poverty ~ and not have your parents support you and guide you. This I cannot relate to nor understand; how this kid gets by everyday. Meeting this young boy has been touching and will stay with me for the rest of my life. I admire this boy immensely and I have learned from this experience. When I think that I have it tough, I think of Michael; what is he doing at the moment? Being starved? Working so he and his aunt can have some food for the evening?
This also inspires me to try and make difference in people’s lives who are disadvantaged...to make Poverty History!

Hugh's story inspired me to do my utmost to "serve suffering humanity" right where God has placed me. Sharing God's resources always makes a difference!