Bombers

I'm not a bomber but married one and his grandfather actually played for them. So when my son was a babe he was given the Essendon jumpers, hats, scarves etc. Well he is four and made it on the Bombers website this week. Doug and Sam went to see them train at Broadbeach while I visited my Melbourne friend Olga. It poured with rain intensely up at Mermaid/Broadbeach but the faithful team turned up for a bit of training and signatures. Doug was shocked to see his son on the Bomber website and promptly sent the photo out to his family, friends and bomber mates.

Are you encountering ‘The S-t-r-e-t-c-h’

Heard something that ‘resonates in my spirit’ the other day. It was that if you are stretched the divide between the end of yourself and the stretch is the God space. The space where he will deliver. You can’t rely or trust yourself. We are dependent on Him. I am undertaking something which requires certain demands I am not used to. Yes it’s scary but I know I must not shrink back because this is something which suits me and I am capable of. It reminds me of when I learned to drive. I was completely dependent on God. Men probably couldn’t understand this. I was 26 when I got my licence but 36 when I began to drive out of necessity. How ridiculous. I never wore P plates. I inherited my fatherinlaw’s car after he passed away. What was stopping me, the unknown. I was thrown in the deep end once again. I had a night job at World vision which meant I had to drive there. To say I was worried is an understatement. I would ask God every step of the way. That’s one way I learnt to hear his voice. Should I change lanes now etc. etc. I thank God for the stretch and now interstate I drive a little. This new task requires lengthy driving around and is just one of aspect of the stretch but I welcome the stretch cos I know it’s right.

Want to be Whole?

Ever had a great sense of well being almost like you were whole. And it wasn’t B Complex. That’s what it will be like in heaven. I felt like this the other day. I could only say to myself Somebody’s prayed for me today and I don’t know who it is but glory to God, I always need it.

One of our church members was widowed many years ago and it was like God asked her what she wanted and she said to be whole. When single parents were asked to put up their hands she put hers up one day and the minister made the comment to Anne Marie later, I never saw you as a single parent. God answers your prayers people. Wouldn’t it be great if for some reason God asked you what you wanted. What would you ask for? Does your dream require something because the Bible says believers have all things that pertain to life and godliness. Not sure what I’d ask for but that feeling of wholeness which comes over me every now and again by prayer is amazing.

Saw the Clinton Grybas funeral on Fox

Rex Hunt said some powerful words to the effect that…. if we take anything for granted we’d be fools. One of his best colleagues is gone. He said he accidentally rang Clinton’s mother one day and was able to honour her son and say he was responsible for restoring Rex’s career. Cinton brought life back into the radio station. He was brilliant and gentle etc.

Rex said one day Clinton rang him at 11pm just to ask, ‘How are you traveling?’ Clinton’s girlfriend of 4 years gave a brave rave about their relationship. It was great that she had the strength to do that. His brother looked on with parents also holding emotion.
As I said in a previous blog I was so affected by his death because of the nature of it – a sleepwalking mishap. It brings home the reality of a short mortality. Here is one Scripture which comes to mind, ‘The righteous die and no one lays it to heart. The righteous die to be saved from a further evil.’ Isaiah 57:1.

What’s to Come?

Funny start to the new year with 3 weeks of rain – the last week was non stop. It was beautiful and I was getting used to it except washing became a problem.

Then I heard about Clinton Grybus and I was stunned. I think I was so affected by his death because it was so unexpected, a sleep walk and stepping off into eternity. He was a sports commentator on Fox and 3AW and only 32 years. But a high achiever and well liked. I used to think where did he come from? Such a meteoric rise in football fame. And then it jelled with his conscientiousness. So sad.

I am reading Ecclesiastes and loving it. Solomon wrote it. The wisdom of Solomon is reknown. He was the son of David and Bathsheba but that didn’t stop the grace of God in wanting him to be anointed King when David was on his death bed. He was asked by God what he wanted. And because Solomon asked for wisdom to rule his people God said you can have everything else too.

It's Your Call

Jan 1 2008 says it’s a new year. Now you have a second chance.

‘To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven’ Ecclesiastes. A time to review and set goals or let yourself off the hook and cruise into this year with a stress free attitude.

It’s usually an emotive time because you are facing a blank page. The old is gone. You can write on this what you will – it’s up to you. It’s your second chance.

About ten years ago Doug and I stood on the threshold of our new life together. It was the 1st of the 1st we happen to be at the Twelve Apostles, Great Ocean Road when we met another surfer who was spiritually hungry. Doug had befriended him in the water and he followed Doug up out of the surf smiling. I could see his keenness to have what we had then and as we stood there on that bright sunny day in Victoria he was brought to an encounter by his own will with one prayer to a new life in Christ. We met with God on the precipice.

His surname was Bridgewater and that was where he was headed funnily enough.

Each year is our opportunity to turn over a new leaf. So this year I see a list in the Courier Mail of resolutions people make – it’s always the same:
Be Debt free
Enjoy life more
Spend more time with family and friends
De Stress
Exercise
Lose weight
Have a Holiday
… we’re all the same aren’t we? We all seek the kingdom of heaven in effect without knowing it because the above aspirations lie in kingdom living.

So Cheers Happy New Year

The Restoring Power of a Loving God

As children my four sisters and older brother and I were compensated for any robbery at home with the our grandfather’s carnival from Christmas onward. It was a treasure trove of pure fun and a very popular place on the peninsula and we were privileged to get free rides as we worked there year after year through our entire lives. Well my last year was when I was 18. In the long summer school holidays. I thank God for this compensation which was quite needed. My grandfather was an amazing entrepreneur and he had a way of gathering tens of volunteers to the carnival with the idea that 50% of the profits would go to charity. They had an honorary badge and most were retirees. He also thought he would bless legacy boys who were on an outing to the carnival. Again I would like to thank God for this advent which taught me the work ethic, the corporate/team spirit and its rewards and the great sense of security it brought. The beach, the fun, Straus’ Blue Danube and other carnival music are in my blood. To live in tents against a beautiful backdrop of a black velvet skies and carnival lights, milling crowds and distant music, the day filled with lazy mornings or hunting for coins, community lunches, and finally running the rides, selling tickets all night was absolutely blessed.

How to Get Happy at Christmas

‘Tis the season to be jolly’ is a strange lyric. Christmas is often a very trying time for lonely people or those who have to face family they don’t click with or those who are too busy to stop. If you try some of the stuff below you may survive the tough side of this season…

Don’t be by yourself if possible
Do things for people even strangers
Pray for people. If this is a foreign concept think of the good in people
Be Proactive in any area where you feel powerless
Don’t dwell on the negatives
Count the good things up every night ‘He daily loads up with benefits.’
Ask God to help you out of despair
Pour your heart out
Forgive yourself for wrongs, God will
Look forward not back
Get some good lyrics and music that helps your soul
Tolerate family who dampen your spirit with criticism

The Reason…
Jesus thanks for coming to earth to show what God is like. Thanks for identifying with the people you created. Thanks for the way you came and where you arrived according to the prophecies. Being so vulnerable as a baby escaping Herod.

Radio Nowhere

Names are quite important things. I met a little child called Hercules the other day. He also had an interesting Greek surname to top it off and he was a robust little character to boot.

Names are important things. For example an Aussie band Gangijang came up with a great song many decades ago. One of them lamented that if only they called the song something including the word Australia it would have sold heaps but alas it had some obsure title and the sales were lost as no one knew how to find the song. I will tell you the lyrics I remember… ‘Out on the patio we sit and the humidity we breathe. See the lightning crack on the cane fields. We laugh and think this is Australia.’ We all adored that song and yet I still don’t know the name of it.

God had a way of changing people’s names to best suit their purpose in Him. He changed Simon’s name to Peter (upon this ROCK I will build this church) Sarai became Sarah Abram became Abraham (father of many nations). These all had suitable meanings for their callings. Jesus name was chosen because it meant He saves. The Old Testament prophesy in Isaiah said ‘For unto us a child is born. And his name shall be called Immanuel which meant God is with us.

Jacob’s name meant supplanter or trickster cos he stole his brother’s blessing and birthright as the first born.. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel because Jacob wrestled with God.

Saul, after his conversion became Paul. Sorry I’ll have to look up the meaning. My sister’s name is Pauline which means little Paul.

Anyone for Golf?

My husband and I have been working on a longterm project all year. He wrote Golf - Your Perfect Plan for Practice and Play and its now available through his website and also clickbank marketplace.

If anyone is interested in checking out this wonderful work go to "http://annek77.dougk710.hop.clickbank.net"

Anne K

7 Up Series

Got to watch a rerun of the Seven Up series late on SBS last night. This doco over the decades covers the lives of a bunch of children every seven years since they were seven years. Glad to see that Neil (I think that’s his name) is doing all right now after many years of being withdrawn and living the life of a squatter. He is now a Christian and went to live back in the city. He pushed himself and after a year or so became used to city life. A fellow 7 up man – a secondary school teacher let Neil stay with him for a while so he could settle in properly. Neil gave a speech at his mate’s wedding ceremony.

Neil entered local politics and was reelected again. He did say in one of his earlier episodes that he would like to do something important in politics. Now at 42 he is making a difference to the world despite his struggle with nerves etc.

Life Skills for School Leavers


I don’t know what they teach at secondary school level now but these are subjects I wish I learnt when I was at school. Under the topic of Life Skills

1. Finances and Budgeting for Life
2. Benefits of Team sports for School Leavers(theory)
3. Sharing Your Life for School Leavers
3. Nutrition for Boys and Men/Nutrition for Girls and Women
5. Different Traits of Men and Women
6. Domestics eg pet care and other life skills
7. Assertiveness Training for Win Win Solutions
8. Getting along with others (Pulling Your Weight)
9. Natural talents and Gifts Explored
10. Development of Core Values
11. Social Awareness for School Leavers eg. Alcohol

God Qualities in Man

Do you marvel at some qualities in man/wo-man? We are made in God’s image and so we see things in our family and friends that can only be described as super human. These are the same traits we find in an omnipotent God.

God has always good to me in dishing out friends. Here are some of my closest friends and their amazing qualities.

Fiona
Fiona was my best friend when I was seven to twelve. She had a sense of fun and sharp wit unrivalled. Her parents were English and quite old when they had her. She was pure sanguine but clever as well. She came first in a school beauty comp when we were 12. I came 2nd. Those were the days, politically incorrect. We were in separate grades at secondary school but always in admiration of each other. She sent me a postcard years after we left school and I was touched as I never forgot her either. I tried to introduce her to Jesus when we were both deserted by our then husbands. I think she is still childless as she didn’t want to have children after primary teaching!

Gayle
Gayle was a confident, tall blonde. She was a melancholy perfectionist who tried hard at everything. Her gift was being faithful in the little things. I wasn’t surprised when she won a truckload of money and bought a beautiful house in Donvale. I once decided to eat a toasted cheese sandwich as slow as Gayle did as we sat in David Jones, it was the best I’d ever had. I watched Gayle brush all the pulleys off her top carefully and thoroughly while we talked.. She married young and had two boys and a girl.

Erika
Erika was a sanguine full of life and love. She was tad spoilt by old parents and I met her when she was 19. She was an arts student living above a shop in Glenferrie Road Hawthorn. It was quite a big group of arty people. Erika dyed her great fair hair black and wore black. I lived a few doors up above another shop. She would cook large baked potatoes and make guacomale dip and have parties putting on her ‘china face.’ Erika decided to teach art in the outback. She was raped there and life took a turn for the worse. I sent her an invitation to see Jeff Fenholt (x Black Sabbath) testify a few weeks before she suicided. I felt like her big sister and was devastated. Men were sobbing at her funeral.

Jo
Jo, friendly and sporty. Jo and I became friends in Year 12 and were very close for the next 20 years. She was a true friend and drove me around before I drove. We had one of the best holidays I’ve ever had, driving up to Cairns and back. She also became a Christian and we shared our great faith together. She was a servant of the Lord and dragged me to church. God prepared her for a special task after her sister died in a head on car crash.

De-tox in every way

Today I met up with one of my gorgeous friends in our connect group which meets fortnightly. We both coincidentally want to start running and also do a de-tox. We are both of the funny theory that a detoxed body is a detoxed spirit. Well more like body soul and spirit all impinge on each other and if you’re healthy physically, chances are you’ll be healthy emotionally and spiritually.

Im about to look up detox methods on the net and choose one probably in a diet sense which includes Adam’s Ale H2O. It’s hard to psyche yourself into things but with the help of others it becomes easier.

Happy detox to you too.

Are you being falsely Accused?

Ever been accused of something you didn’t do. It’s something that occurs through life and even if you bothered to justify yourself you would be doubted. This happened to me when I was seven at school. I don’t even know what the crime was but the blame was put on me and another girl. Thankfully I think we were justified, I’m not even sure.

Again this happened to me when I was at my prime spiritually. I was accused of stealing an exam out of someone’s drawer on another floor and making it known to my friends.

The truth is a lot of us were about to sit an exam. I had been for an exam a year earlier and remembered some questions and wrote them out and the answers and gave them to my friends. When my friend was quizzed about me she defended me saying I was a Sunday school teacher etc and I never confronted the poor man. It was probably unwise to do what I did, but I was under false perception. I didn’t bother to sit the exam in the context of work, after finding out what happened. I would’ve been totally unaware if she didn’t tell me.

What’s our example when falsely accused? Joseph in Genesis, was falsely accused of raping Potiphar’s wife. He went to jail for this and rose to the top again after being faithful in all he was entrusted with.

So if you’re falsely accused, just ignore it. Keep an innocent attitude. God will justify you and promote you if you stay true to yourself and Him.

Australian Idol

Australian Idol was brought up on a Current affair's show a few weeks back as hosting many Christians affiliated with Hillsong. I do watch the show and was delighted to hear that. It turns out there were about four in the final 12 who were from AOG churches from around Australia. While Hillsong has the principal minister of the ACC (Australian Christian churches) of which AOG churches take part, all AOG churches are autonomous. The ACC churches have the same logo and that's about it. I used to send out the logo's.

I think it’s so great that the children brought up in these churches are taking part in worship through music and have the opportunity to develop their skills, with band practice weekly etc.

http://www.jamesbrausch.com/?p=827

Regarding this blog, I have been learning about traffic generation and internet marketing techniques from the blog of guru of the industry James Brausch.

My question to James which he invited on a recent blog post called Open Question Time at http://www.jamesbrausch.com/?p=827
Is:

If all the traffic you get is mainly from blogging and you employ ghostwriters who blog regularly for you, from you interns, how do you maintain control of the content. What checks do you put into play to make sure it is all approved by yourself, when you outsource like this? The trust you earned, do you think it grows in the light of ghost writing?

What’s right? Punctual or Late

I never thought I’d be late for my father’s funeral. My friend Jo drove many kms through the winding roads of Kangaroo ground down through Eltham to Doncaster. I thought for some reason it began at 1.30 but it was 1pm and to top it off my three year old was carsick. ‘I’m hungry’ he had said, but in fact he meant ‘I feel really sick.’ And we thought we were in plenty of time. My emotions were playing havoc as I walked down the aisle through a poised packed house, wearing Jo’s clothes, to the front seat with our old pastor patiently waiting.

I don’t like leaving people waiting. I’m glad I didn’t know I was late till the last minute. I’ve always strived to be punctual and if not I get anxious. But if there are unexpected disruptions my stress levels go through the roof. The challenge is to keep a good attitude when you feel you’re missing out.

It’s hard when I’ve always been surrounded by latees and relied on them on occasions.

But I’ll be surprised if there are clocks in heaven. Corrie Ten Boom’s old house was converted into a clock shop in Haarlem the home town of my own father. Timekeeping was very important to him and if members of his family were late to the dinner table they copped a hiding.

Jesus was often late. He left Lazarus 3 days in the grave while his sister Martha was ‘tearing her hair out.’ She had a dig at Jesus and said Lazarus now stunk. But in fact Jesus came in God’s timing and therefore he was punctual. The man Lazarus was brought to life which truly showed the glory of God.

Jesus often ‘tarried’ or was late and behind schedules (of man’s) to be in the will of God. He couldn’t be squeezed into the clock.

Though being punctual to me, would appear to be considerate and to be late, rude, that’s not the way God necessarily sees it.

Here’s an interesting Scripture to meditate on, ‘He who makes haste, believeth not.’

What do you think?

How Do you Turn the World Upside Down?

What is standing in the Gap? This is Christian speak for praying or interceding for others. It is done in private but can…

Turn the world upside down.

I just finished an intercession course which covered Bible stories on this issue. Now I am truly equipped for this fun task. My mentor was my grandmother. She was brought up by Nuns in Windsor, after her mother died when she was young. This gave her a genuine reverence for God and made her a quiet intercessor.

This sent ripples into our family extending to the 70s when all of us committed our lives to Christ. It was an easy thing because we were all ripe and ready. I had spent years searching for the meaning of life since I was 10 when my mother was picked up by ambulance and taken away to a hospital as I watched on feeling helpless and like a traitor. I grew up in that instant. But she had become violent (paranoid schizophrenic) and we were all suffering as a result.

This standing in the gap by my grandmother was handed to me like a baton. I was a similar temperament and inclined this way. You can be any temperament.

I love to pray. I love to defend the helpless, the weak, the downtrodden which funnily enough includes the environment these days and my small suburb of 5000. The greatest thing I learnt about intercession is to do it in a cluster. Over the years of praying I discovered the ‘backlash’. I want to pray in a group for the bigger things. It’s not always easy to get away but that’s where my heart is. I found a little group 1 minute away from my house which includes a couple of dedicated women from my church. I feel safe in the group and can be really creative in my praying. It’s like a blank canvas to me. We see what's weighing down our hearts, we get the will of God for a situation and in agreement believe for a change. We see the results unfold and God gets the glory.

Sincerely

Anne K

Latest Thoughts

Australian music awards the Arias saw John Butler Trio sing Funky Tonight with Keith Urban. What a great song. Doug had been playing it over the weeks and I stood up and took notice of that one. Reminded me of one song Mason Rack does too.

Last night watched Boytown about an 80s band getting back together. Glen Robbins was funny as always and it had a nice little twist. I would’ve loved to see more Melbourne settings. If I was to make a movie I’d get the MCG at twilight late autumn, where droves of people halt traffic donned in their colours through the glorious light of silhouetted trees. Mont Albert Road in full autumn with dark red and amber leaves falling from the oaks and other beautiful settings.

Retractable Needles

A friend’s little girl stood on a syringe this week at the beach. It was a deep wound. Of all people for this to happen to. I got to know her through proactive campaigning to save the environment around where we live and she has been a voice in the wilderness to be reckoned with. Now she is campaigning for retractable needles for drug users and the like. It was on front page of Border Mail. While I pray her daughter doesn’t contract hepatitis or HIV to be known in many months even years, I hope her efforts to get needles modified is heard.