The Come-As-You- Are Party

The Come-As-You- Are Party

I am a self confessed extrovert. I love people and  I love crowds of people and I love parties, parties full of people. I emotionally bounce into a place of excitement and happiness when surrounded by hoards of people. I love to receive invitations and I am always eager to attend any event I am invited to, from weddings to children’s birthdays to Christmas gatherings. I am bound to clear my schedule to try and appear, it if at all possible, to anything that involves celebrations and gatherings of people. My most favourite party is a themed dress up event. I love the challenge of creating an outfit based on the theme. When I arrive at the party I enjoy all the different ideas that people have come up with for their attire. 

Wild animal party ~ a tiger

Zebras

International Night, My Aussie husband and me from Papua New Guinea

I definitely have had my favourite themed parties. I have attended a cowboy party, colour themed  ones , Bible character events which  included a  Lazarus all mummified, a Super Heroes party, where I went, of course, as my own Super Hero, Super Sue and my husband was Mighty Mike. I have been a tiger, a zebra, worn a variety of hats, including a one that looked like a spider, dressed in International clothing at a wide variety of events, attended Australia day parties, Hawaiian and beach themed parties and one of my favourites was a backwards themed party. At this party we all wore out clothing back to front. We sang “Happy Birthday" backwards and we cut the cake and ate dessert before the main part of the meal. There have been many laughs and lots of fun with family and friends.

Super Sue and Might Mike

Hat party ~ The Cow and the Spider

Different friends of mine have attended other themed parties, which they have, with much laughter told me about. One friend was woken suddenly by loud, insistent knocking at the front door early one Sunday morning as she was just emerging from bed. Sleepily, while still in her pyjamas, she traipsed to the door as the knocking grew only more intense. As she opened the door, there stood several of her friends enthusiastically yelling, “Surprise!!!! You have been invited to ‘a-come-as-you-are’ party!”. In her groggy state, my friend’s mind tried to register what the excitement was exactly all about. As everyone hastily jumbled their words over everyone else, the realisation slowly dawned on her that she was invited to a party and all the guests were to wear exactly what they were wearing at the moment of their invitation, which for her meant attending a party in her pyjamas. There was eventually much laughter and fun as my friend did go to the party in her pyjamas and she found all friends attending in either similar attire or sports uniforms, work uniforms , evening wear, gym apparel or casual at home clothing. 

Bible characters

Hawaiians

Jesus invites us to “come as we are” to Him and He will receive us. It is not about our clothing like at my friend’s party, but it is about our hearts, who we are inside. So often we hang our heads in shame, thinking that somehow we need to do better, act more appropriately, or be good enough to come to Him. Jesus asks us to do none of those things. When we come to Him, just as we are, He loves us and then works in our lives to take us from where we are, to who we can become in Him. Come to Jesus, just as you are and allow Him to do an amazing work in your life today. Will I come? Will you come?

Matt 11:28 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

Rev 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let the one who hears say, "Come!" Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

Foxes of Discouragement

Foxes of Discouragement

New Year’s Eve in Australia is always a warm, summer’s evening. Outdoor activities and fireworks in cities and towns across the nation are all part of bringing in the new year with gusto. This past New year’s eve, my husband and I, headed to a peaceful bay just north of our home. It was a warm, sunny afternoon. The beautiful, large spreading trees shaded soft, green grasses by a peaceful beach of gentle lapping waters. People were starting to arrive as we parked our car and hauled our picnic chairs, table, and food out of the car. We set up a perfect picnic spot overlooking the sparkling, azure waters, under the cool of the trees, along with many others. Street entertainers provided music, balloons, bubbles and “magic tricks”. There was laughter and friendship.The atmosphere was happy, families gathered, friends talked, people who had never met before chatted with one another, children splashed by the waters edge and played in the sand as we all picnicked together and watched the sun slowly setting. In the gathering dark many children brought out their glowsticks; the fluorescent colours being waved around excitedly, brightening the blackening night. With an expected bang the sky lit up with the wonder of colour as  fireworks exploded before our eyes and the crowds gasped in delight.It was all over way too soon and in the darkness we all started to pack up and leave.

Our drive home took us on quiet, lonely, country roads with no street lights. The  trees of the Australian bush flanked the sides of the narrow road and my husband drove with caution as this is the time that kangaroos, koalas  and other animals can be found crossing the road. Suddenly a red fox appeared on the road, it’s eyes glowing in our car headlights. It stopped, mesmerised. My husband braked and swerved slightly to avoid colliding with the stationary fox, but it panicked and dashed back towards the direction we had swerved. Thud! Crunch! We hit it hard. It’s poor little body shattered instantly to pieces under the left side of the bumper bar of our car. The bumper cracked, lights broke and over $1000 worth of damage occurred, but we were safe and the car was still able to be driven.

I was tempted to feel so discouraged. Insurance covered the damage but in Australia, to access our insurance, we need to pay a lump sum called an excess, which was $650. A sum of money we couldn’t really afford to part with. I was tempted to lose my joy in the Lord. The Bible talks about foxes and grape vines. Jesus is the grape vine and we live a connected life to Him like a branch to the vine. The foxes in the bible were running through the vineyard spoiling the young vines that were in flower, damaging the branches. Do you sometimes feel discouraged , you’re losing your joy and things just seem to be going wrong? Are there “foxes” in your life trying to disconnect you from the vine, knocking the flowers out of your life that will produce the fruit of joy, love and peace within? Look to Jesus. He will deal with the “foxes” in your life. Will I choose to stay connected to Him? Will you?

Song of Sol 2:15 "Catch the foxes for us, The little foxes that are ruining the vineyards, While our vineyards are in blossom."

John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Healed Hearts

Healed Hearts

Scars! We all have them. Physical scars, reminders of past stories in our lives, some good and some bad. Childhood memories float lazily through my mind whenever I notice the scar on my lower leg. Times of hot summer days living on a quarter of an acre block with three older siblings. I remember the long lush summer grass under my bare feet. I remember happy times with my older brother as we chased each other through that grass, panting and laughing in the haze of summer holidays. My father had carefully placed sheets of corrugated iron up the back of the yard. One day I took what I thought would be a short cut over those sheets of corrugated iron, bare feet pounding on the hot metal. One sheet bowed and the edge of the top sheet curled up. My lower leg came in contact with the sharp metal edge and I received a deep wound on my leg. My wound eventually healed but it left a scar. 

We can carry emotional wounds. Unforgiveness, bitterness, anger and hurt make our wounds fester deep in our hearts, unhealed. They impact our lives, the pain always fresh. God wants to heal our wounds. He wants to give us the gift of forgiving others. He wants to take away the bitterness, the anger and the pain. He wants to leave just the scar of a healed wound,  just the memory, a reminder of His mercies to us that we may remember how God has healed and that we may have a story of healing to share. Will I let God heal me today? Will you?

Ps 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Ps 34:18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53iNPgFfFVU

Out of Focus

What’s wrong with it? I tried again and again. My camera just wouldn’t take the photo even though I had it aimed and I was pressing the button, over and over. I looked closely at it. Suddenly the photo took and I had a blurred print of the patterned carpet in the church. I had received a new camera for Christmas. It is my first introduction to DSLR cameras and I had no comprehension, yet, of the manual settings.Someone kindly fixed that problem for me, the camera timer had been set, but alas I had another equally disappointing problem. Now I discovered the camera wouldn’t focus. No matter what I did, as soon as I would zoom in the photo was blurred. What was wrong this time? My daughter, who had studied a class in photography at university, had borrowed my camera through the week, changed the settings, taken some photos and had not returned the settings  back to my familiar automatic ones. I was totally lost. Nearly all my photos for that day were blurred, ever so slightly, until someone noticed my camera was not set to Automatic Focus. A flick of the switch and instantly my photos were crystal clear. I breathed a sigh of relief as I gained some new knowledge of my camera that day.

I can come to the Bible in much the same way. I can focus on the history of the Bible, the beauty of the language, the factual information or the texts to be used in debate, to prove my point, but I receive only a blurred picture of Jesus. My focus can be out. To truly see Jesus in the full clearness and clarity I need to aim my attention and focus on Him. I need to pray for the Spirit to show me the wonders of Jesus in every page of the Bible and within the facts, the language, the history and the stories. Focus on Jesus today and see Him in all His fullness of beauty, purity and clearness as you open God’s Word.

John 12:21 “…we want to see Jesus.”

Heb 12:2  “We must focus on Jesus, the source and goal of our faith"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0jpHtsSEQo

Come Just as You Are

Come Just As You Are

BANG! BANG! BANG! There was loud, insistent knocking at the front door early one Sunday morning as my friend was just emerging from bed. Sleepily, while still in her pyjamas, she traipsed to the door as the knocking grew only more intense. As she opened the door, there stood several of her friends enthusiastically yelling, “Surprise!!!! You have been invited to ‘a-come-as-you-are’ party!”. In her groggy state, my friend’s mind tried to register what the excitement was exactly all about. As everyone hastily jumbled their words over everyone else, the realisation slowly dawned on her that she was invited to a party and all the guests were to wear exactly what they were wearing at the moment of their invitation, which for her meant attending a party in her night wear. There was eventually much laughter and fun as my friend did go to the party in her pyjamas and she found all friends attending in either similar attire or sports uniforms, work uniforms , swimmers, evening wear, gym apparel or casual at home clothing. 

Jesus invites us to “come as we are” to Him and He will receive us. It is not about our clothing like at my friend’s party, but it is about our hearts, who we are inside. So often we hang our heads in shame, thinking that somehow we need to do better, act more appropriately, or be good enough to come to Him. Jesus asks us to do none of those things. When we come to Him, just as we are, He loves us and then works in our lives to take us from where we are, to who we can become in Him. Come to Jesus, just as you are and allow Him to do an amazing work in your life today. 

Matt 11:28 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

Rev 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let the one who hears say, "Come!" Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzgH5S_mDXg

Foxes in the Vineyard

Foxes in the Vineyard

THUD! CRUNCH! Nooooooooooooo! We were on a lonely, dark country road and driving at the speed limit of 100km/hr when we hit it. A red fox had suddenly appeared on the road, it’s eyes glowing in our car headlights. It stopped mesmerised. My husband swerved slightly to avoid colliding with the stationary fox, but it panicked and dashed back towards the direction we had swerved. We hit it hard. It’s poor little body shattered instantly to pieces under the left side of the bumper bar of our car. The bumper cracked, lights broke and over $1000 worth of damage occurred but we were safe and the car was still able to be driven.

I was tempted to feel so discouraged. Insurance covered the damage but the insurance excess we needed to pay was $650. A sum of money we couldn’t really afford to part with. I was tempted to lose my joy in the Lord. The Bible talks about foxes and grape vines. Jesus is the grape vine and we live a connected life to Him like a branch to the vine. The foxes in the bible were running through the vineyard spoiling the young vines that were in flower, damaging the branches. Do you sometimes feel discouraged , your losing your joy and things just seem to be going wrong? Are there “foxes” in your life trying to disconnect you from the vine, knocking the flowers out of your life that will produce the fruit of joy, love and peace within? Look to Jesus. He will deal with the “foxes” in your life. Stay connected to Him.

Song of Sol 2:15 "Catch the foxes for us, The little foxes that are ruining the vineyards, While our vineyards are in blossom."

John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-vSGoJtB0M&feature=youtu.be

Heir Apparent

Heir Apparent

On June 23rd, 1894, heir apparent, Prince Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David was born. His parents, the Duke and Duchess of York were later to become King George V and Queen Mary. He was the great grandson of the then reigning Queen Victoria and in direct line for the royal throne, thus at his birth he was immediately titled Highness Prince Edward of York. His upbringing was carefully calculated to train the young Prince Edward to one day reign as King over the United Kingdom. He was educated at home with with strict tutorship, which included tutors in French and German. At 16 his father ascended the throne bringing Prince Edward closer his own regal reign. He was invested as Prince of Wales  at a special ceremony and preparations began in earnest for his role as future king. His studies included training at the Royal Naval College and Magdalen College, Oxford. Throughout the 1920’s Prince Edward represented his father, King George V at home and abroad, on many occasions. He undertook sixteen royal tours of the British Empire between 1919 and 1935. Finally, after many years of exacting training, Prince Edward was proclaimed King Edward VIII upon the death of his father, on January 20 1936. However, a crisis in the royal family and the government of Britain occurred, when King Edward VIII fell romantically in love with a divorced American socialite named Wallis Simpson. As the head of the Church of England, King Edward could not marry a divorced woman, whose former two husbands were still alive. In December 1936 King Edward chose to abdicate the throne of England to marry the woman he loved.

King Edward’s choice to abdicate thrust his younger brother, Prince Albert, suddenly into the limelight and without a life time of preparations, to be crowned the next reigning Monarch. Prince Albert was born in 1895. He was not raised to take the royal throne. He was known as “Bertie”. He wore leg braces as a child to correct his knock knees. Naturally left handed he had been forced to write with his right hand. He was often ill and easily frightened and prone to tears and tantrums.At 8 years of age he developed a stammer which was to plague him for the rest of his life. Although Prince Albert was trained in the Royal Navy Academy, he finished at the bottom of his class. He was shy and awkward. Upon reacquainting himself with beautiful Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, he was smitten. After twice refusing the Prince’s marriage proposals, Elizabeth finally agreed and they were married in 1923. The quiet unobtrusive couple completed their family with the birth of two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret. Then with a sudden unexpected twist of events this young family were thrown into the public eye and prominence as the untrained and ill prepared, Bertie, now Prince Albert became coronated King George VI.

King George VI was a conscientious and dedicated King and he worked extremely hard and tirelessly for his people. WWII found him greatly beloved by the nation as he refused to leave the palace for safety, choosing to stay and suffer with his people. He developed a close working relationship with Winston Churchill, war time prime minister of England. He greatly strengthened the link between King and people during the war and he went on to successfully reign until his death in 1952. Churchill placed a wreath at the King’s funeral, with the simple words written thereon, “For Valour”.

King George VI and the Queen standing among the bombed ruins of Buckingham Palace

What made a shy, ill prepared, untrained, quiet, retiring man become a courageous, dedicated and conscientious man? He had not been raised to be the King. He had received no special instruction, disciple or preparation. Upon his coronation he became King George VI. He knew who he was and what his role was and the purpose of life. He rose to the occasion, gained wisdom from leaders around him and nobly served his country and Kingdom. 

I was born not knowing that my future destiny would one day  be a regal one. I had no idea of my true purpose. As I accepted Christ as my Saviour I suddenly became an heir apparent. I was ill prepared for my new role. I am to one day reign with Christ. I have a royal destiny which starts today. Do I know my identity, my role in Christ and my purpose in life? Christ sends His Spirit to prepare me “rise to the occasion”, to gain wisdom, courage and to enable me to nobly serve the Kingdom of God. Who am I? I am a daughter of the King, heir apparent. Who are you? Will I step into God’s purpose for my life? Will you?

Rev 5:10 And have made us to our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Rev 1:6 And has made us kings and priests to God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

John 17:4 "I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do

1 Cor 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.