Seek and Ye Shall Find...

A few weeks ago, I had to go into the bank here in town to get myself added to the church checking account. The manager who helped me with all the paperwork and stuff was extremely nice, taking time out of her busy day to make sure I understood everything and got it all sorted out. During the whole process, we were chatting about why I was here - to pastor a fellowship in the city.

Then out of the blue, she asked me 'have you ever had a time when you doubted? And were searching for an answer?' I told her yes, of course, there was a time early in my Christian walk that I doubted. She then asked 'how did you get through that time? What kept you going?' I was able to explain to her that it was really Jesus and His Word that kept me going through that time. During that time of doubt and uncertainty, I read my Bible a lot and kept my thoughts and focus on Jesus. Her comment - 'I guess that works if you believe the Bible'. Yes, it does! I was able to explain to her a bit more about my faith and the Bible before we finished with all the paperwork and I had to leave.

Yesterday, I went back in to thank her again for her help and also give her a book that ministered to me during that time - Josh McDowell's More Than A Carpenter. I also told her to call me if she has any questions about the book or about faith or Christianity, and that she can come visit us at church (she lives just down the street from where we meet on Sundays).

So please pray for her to find her answer in Jesus. Pray that God will use the book to touch her heart. I plan on going back in a couple weeks to visit her and see how she's getting on with the book. Anyways, please pray for more divine appointments like this!

Seek and Ye Shall Find...

A few weeks ago, I had to go into the bank here in town to get myself added to the church checking account. The manager who helped me with all the paperwork and stuff was extremely nice, taking time out of her busy day to make sure I understood everything and got it all sorted out. During the whole process, we were chatting about why I was here - to pastor a fellowship in the city.

Then out of the blue, she asked me 'have you ever had a time when you doubted? And were searching for an answer?' I told her yes, of course, there was a time early in my Christian walk that I doubted. She then asked 'how did you get through that time? What kept you going?' I was able to explain to her that it was really Jesus and His Word that kept me going through that time. During that time of doubt and uncertainty, I read my Bible a lot and kept my thoughts and focus on Jesus. Her comment - 'I guess that works if you believe the Bible'. Yes, it does! I was able to explain to her a bit more about my faith and the Bible before we finished with all the paperwork and I had to leave.

Yesterday, I went back in to thank her again for her help and also give her a book that ministered to me during that time - Josh McDowell's More Than A Carpenter. I also told her to call me if she has any questions about the book or about faith or Christianity, and that she can come visit us at church (she lives just down the street from where we meet on Sundays).

So please pray for her to find her answer in Jesus. Pray that God will use the book to touch her heart. I plan on going back in a couple weeks to visit her and see how she's getting on with the book. Anyways, please pray for more divine appointments like this!

Are You Rejoicing In The Lord?

This last Thurs I picked up our tubs/bins from the shipping company’s warehouse in Lower Hutt. These were the tubs we had sent from the USA and contained books, toys, clothes and kitchen stuff. After getting it home, we began to unpack and it was like Christmas all over again! You could hear the kids exclaiming - ohh, ahh, I forgot we packed that. Oh, I haven’t seen that in such a long time!

In actuality, it only has been less than 5 months - but I guess from a kid’s perspective, 5 months is a significant portion of their young lives! And it was so hard to keep them from trying to get into every tub/bin! And so they ran around the house playing with their ‘new’ toys and books and stuffed animals. We had dinner with a family from church that night and one of the first things out of their mouths was - ‘we got our boxes, finally!’ They were so excited they couldn’t help but tell others about it!

But as they (well, I guess WE all) were exclaiming our joy and excitement, it made me think - when was the last time I felt like this about spiritual things? (Ouch, that hurt Lord.) When was the last time I was exclaiming excitedly over a passage of the Bible that spoke to my heart? When was the last time I was sooo happy to comprehend that I had infinite spiritual blessings?

When was the last time I couldn’t wait to open the Bible to see what God had ‘packed’ inside? When was the last time I was so excited to use the spiritual truths that I had learned? When was the last time I exclaimed with joy about knowing God and couldn’t help but tell others about Him?

Now don’t get me wrong - excitement and emotion isn’t everything in the Christian life. But can’t it be said that we as ‘more mature’ believers have lost some of that freshness and excitement? I know I have in some areas.

‘Restore to me the joy of Your salvation’ - Ps 51.12
‘Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice!’ - Philp 4.4

Are You Rejoicing In The Lord?

This last Thurs I picked up our tubs/bins from the shipping company’s warehouse in Lower Hutt. These were the tubs we had sent from the USA and contained books, toys, clothes and kitchen stuff. After getting it home, we began to unpack and it was like Christmas all over again! You could hear the kids exclaiming - ohh, ahh, I forgot we packed that. Oh, I haven’t seen that in such a long time!

In actuality, it only has been less than 5 months - but I guess from a kid’s perspective, 5 months is a significant portion of their young lives! And it was so hard to keep them from trying to get into every tub/bin! And so they ran around the house playing with their ‘new’ toys and books and stuffed animals. We had dinner with a family from church that night and one of the first things out of their mouths was - ‘we got our boxes, finally!’ They were so excited they couldn’t help but tell others about it!

But as they (well, I guess WE all) were exclaiming our joy and excitement, it made me think - when was the last time I felt like this about spiritual things? (Ouch, that hurt Lord.) When was the last time I was exclaiming excitedly over a passage of the Bible that spoke to my heart? When was the last time I was sooo happy to comprehend that I had infinite spiritual blessings?

When was the last time I couldn’t wait to open the Bible to see what God had ‘packed’ inside? When was the last time I was so excited to use the spiritual truths that I had learned? When was the last time I exclaimed with joy about knowing God and couldn’t help but tell others about Him?

Now don’t get me wrong - excitement and emotion isn’t everything in the Christian life. But can’t it be said that we as ‘more mature’ believers have lost some of that freshness and excitement? I know I have in some areas.

‘Restore to me the joy of Your salvation’ - Ps 51.12
‘Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice!’ - Philp 4.4

Field Trip

The kids have each had at least one field trip with school so far this year. Both of the older kids went to an art exhibit of sculptures set up in the Civic Gardens here in Lower Hutt. They enjoyed it so much that they asked to go back, so I took all four kids one afternoon before the exhibit left. When they went with their classes they only got to see a few of the sculptures so we spent more time and looked at everything. There were some really cool ones. All of them were made by New Zealand artists. It is my understanding that they do this this exhibit, with different sculptures of course, every year. It is
called 'Shapeshifters' and it is designed to be an outdoor exhibit. I will share a few of our favourites here...

This is a Norfolk Pine and the star is how the branches grow on the inside... pretty cool!

I believe this one was called 'peace'. It's hard to tell in this picture, but she is holding a dove. The sculpture is made of terra cotta.

This is a fern leaf made with plastic stretched back and forth over the grass. The fern is New Zealand's national symbol.

These were little glass flowers.

These were big glass flowers. Notice the caterpillar, also glass...

There were many more, too many to post here...

Field Trip

The kids have each had at least one field trip with school so far this year. Both of the older kids went to an art exhibit of sculptures set up in the Civic Gardens here in Lower Hutt. They enjoyed it so much that they asked to go back, so I took all four kids one afternoon before the exhibit left. When they went with their classes they only got to see a few of the sculptures so we spent more time and looked at everything. There were some really cool ones. All of them were made by New Zealand artists. It is my understanding that they do this this exhibit, with different sculptures of course, every year. It is
called 'Shapeshifters' and it is designed to be an outdoor exhibit. I will share a few of our favourites here...

This is a Norfolk Pine and the star is how the branches grow on the inside... pretty cool!

I believe this one was called 'peace'. It's hard to tell in this picture, but she is holding a dove. The sculpture is made of terra cotta.

This is a fern leaf made with plastic stretched back and forth over the grass. The fern is New Zealand's national symbol.

These were little glass flowers.

These were big glass flowers. Notice the caterpillar, also glass...

There were many more, too many to post here...