Desalination co$ts the Earth

I saw this sign on a car a while back and I agreed with it. Though I don’t know a lot about the Desal I know Dubai has 30 plus plants, Malta has been living on it for years. It’s a sad thing we have to resort to measures such as Desalination plants to supply us. Firstly it depletes the sea of marine and plant life by taking from it and leaving the salt there. The Dead Sea is an example of a salty sea so salty they warn not to put your eyes in it or else. Secondly the Desalination maintenance would take 40 million a year. This would be translated into costly rates for locals. I have also heard that the filtering systems are not perfect and any salt traces ruin washing machines etc.

The mansize pipes running down local street to feed Brisbane one hour away are to run down lots of residential streets. Imagine the red tape and time it would take to complete when the residents get wind of it. I want the next generation to have water. It’s not a selfish thing on my part. Just read ‘The Lorax’ by Dr Seuss to see the long-term results of something like Desalination. Bottled water being sold is a sad reminder of the earth’s condition of which we are stewards.

Spooky

Ever looked at Google earth? Typed in a city and feature and watched the earth spin round and home in your specified area. It really spooks me for some reason. I feel like I’m playing God and how could I have such access. It really makes me feel big. I can walk down memory lane and find all my old abodes.

The Rich Ruler

There was a rich ruler who approached Jesus about how he would inherit eternal life. (Luke 18: 18)He called Jesus good master and Jesus knew him and unfortunately he said No one is good only God. Jesus went onto ask him about if he'd kept the commandments and the man was proud to say he had. Then Jesus said, basically, ... sell what you have and give it to the poor. The man was probably shocked and went away sad. He now knew his problem was he loved money. He wasn't about to give it up. And while Jesus wasn't advocating selling everything we own as a flat statement he was advocating the commandment to love God with all your heart soul and mind (above all else). This true story in the Bible has challenged me recently. I think of Myanmar and know I must take up the small challenge to donate something to that devastated nation. I hope the rich young ruler had a good long think about his eternal destiny as more was required of him. He may have changed his heart.

Holidays and Honour

Had the best holiday imaginable.

4 days at Nanas, a day at my Step mums, 4 days at Rye, 3 nights my sisters, 4 nights in Southbank, Melbourne and 3 more nights at my sisters. Caught up with family and friends and the weather was great - Autumn. Got to the zoo, the Aquarium and Scienceworks and Luna Park. Sam has a great time with his cousins. Hard coming home to routine and catching the same flu virus once again.

Learning the value of Honour. To honour brings reward. Respect for the kingdom from God down to fellow man. Christ died for the ungodly. He always showed honour to all.

I honour the Anzacs and the soldiers who died for us and still do.

Ownership

I wanted that pink hibiscus. It was attached to a healthy bush in someone’s front yard. Flowers are to be picked I said to myself. God wanted me to have that hibiscus. But out of respect for the ownership I didn’t pick it. They planted it. It was there to be admired by all. When I was 18 I lived with Brenda in Carlton. One day she came home with a bunch of gorgeous local flowers including jasmine. She had taken a pair of scissors around the block with her. (Well she was a character caught awol and thrown out of the army.) But back to ownership. God owns the ‘cattle on a thousand hills.’ Why is it we have to claim our plot, stick our flag on the moon etc. It’s funny the way we have to stake our claim. There’s nothing wrong with ownership. God was to show Abraham the promised land and I am a descendant by default or really by Plan A. I can enter the promised land which is the true kingdom, the land flowing with milk and honey. They were to kick out the enemies and stake their claim (Joshua and Caleb). Jesus is going to prepare a place for us. In his kingdom are many mansions. But back to the land of the living. We all hope to own our own home and leave some legacy for those we love. Jesus said ‘Occupy until I come’ That is bring the kingdom to wherever we are.

Magic Versus Prayer

There’s not a lot of difference between magic and prayer. Both may achieve supernatural results so here’s a run down as I see it.

Magic /Prayer
Want something Done /Want something Done
Self will /God’s will
Summon power of self or evil /Summon the power of God
Inferior power of Magicians in DanielMoses time /Daniel &Moses outdid the magicians
Simon the Sorcerer in the New Testament / Magician in Exposed with a heart problem by the Apostles



God detests magic. I think I know why. Not because He is left out of the equation but more that we are left to our own silly devices (like Merlin). Word was out that it displeased God for many generations and finally the truth has been abandoned. The resurgence now through New Age and Harry Potter has forgotten this truth. If Christians were to rise to the occasion and enter into faith smashing miracles, magic would soon take a back seat and hopefully it’s not far off. For Christians we walk in the light but those who haven’t crossed over stumble around in the dark searching.

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.