Words, deeds, actions and reactions can and do sometimes have far reaching effects. Word have the power to uplift, brighten someones day and positively impact peoples lives. On the downside the reverse is also true.

Have you ever had a discussion with a friend, neighbour, collegue and found out months later what an impact your words had? Sometimes, what we dismiss as idle chatter can really fill anothers day with a wonderous sense of wellbeing or a deep, hearfelt dispair. We walk off blissfully unaware of either impact, ready to carry on with our lives as usual.

How wonderful is it to find out that something you said positively impacted someone. How hard to undo an off-the-cuff thoughtless word, that months later, the receiver of those words is still paining over.

Be careful how you use and harness the power of the spoken word. The effects can be eternal.

27 years today!

Happy 2th Anniversary Honey!



I love you today as yesterday, but on a deeper, more mature level. When someone says “I would take a bullet for you” I don’t know if it’s true or not, and I don’t really care, because their words aren’t aimed at me . When you say it, I know it’s carved in stone, solid as rock, etched firmly on your heart and mind.

When I am low, when I am down, you are my knight in shining armour, the one person I know I call, count and rely on. For the times my world is falling apart, when I can’t do anything right, when my sanity hangs by a thread, I know your arms will stop me from falling. Your words will brighten my day, bring a smile to my face, make me a laugh until I cry, then laugh some more.

Our time together is like one big roller coaster ride, I wouldn’t have it any other way. We never know what’s round the next corner, up the road or over the hill. We make our plans and life throws us a curve ball, things we never even thought possible have, do and will happen. I love my life with you!! I don’t think any of our plans have ever turned out exactly as we predicted. I wouldn’t change a thing. Neither the good times nor the bad. It’s the hard times we live together that make me realize that for most of our marriage, I have been lucky enough (dare I say blessed enough) to be living life feeling as if I am soaring on the wings of an eagle.

Thank you for being there, loving me, loving our children, for building a life together.



Thank you for choosing me to be your partner.



I love you, I love you, I love you.

moving forward

In the interests of moving forward spiritually, as opposed to what I have been doing, which is nothing, (and possibly sliding backwards merely through my inability/lack of motivation to actually do anything), I am making a stand! No longer shall I JUST go to church when it doesn't interfere with any other sphere of my life. NAY!. Bible reading shall from now on be done in a consistent, contemplative way. Time WILL and has been allocated for this purpose.

Up until now, I have been doing the same things and expecting different outcomes! Whoever said wisdom comes with age, never got the distinct pleasure of meeting me.

sometimes

Sometimes, oceans fill with tears,
Still the tears keep flowing,
Sometimes, Words have the power to slowly crumble,
the solid rock.
Sometimes, the wounds, freshly soothed and balmed,
Just will not heal.
Sometimes, the ones you love most,
hurt the deepest.
Sometimes.

Just an observation

Families. They love passionately, wound deeply and forgive the unforgivable.

turbulence.

Turbulence.

Its a lifeforce.

It's a new opportunity

in disguise.

I SMITE THEE!

Wishing so very much that smiting

was back in vogue!

I could hold a good ol' fashioned,

humdinger of a Smite-fest!

Face planting

I seem to spend an aweful amount of my time picking myself up after falling metaphorically flat on my face. I suppose on the up side I do stand up ready to try some new endeavour, whereby I can, in spectacular fashion,fall flat on my face once again.

There was a time when I seriously questioned my ability to do anything well. I still question it quite regularly. The only thing is that now, my care factor of what people will think is gone or at least dimishing.

Is that a step forward or backward? I really don't know.

If you can't say anything nice

......come sit by me

Sittin' and chillin'

drinking fair trade coffee.

Can almost taste the justice and equity.

What a minefield!

Its been just on 3 weeks since I started looking into Fair Trade. Perhaps naively, I had the notion that all that was required to make the world a better place, was to purchase some Fair Trade coffee and chocolate. Anyone can do that!

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong.!

That theory all fell apart the instant, the second, NAY, the moment I started looking at other products, which of course, involved different problems with varying organisations battling those concerns.

Is the product fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, NoSweatshop, StopHumanTrafix, No hunger, organically certified? I had a severe case of information overload. Things needed to be broken down to few simple things that I could actually achieve without the associated headache.

So, as a consumer, Do I need it? If I do need it (or at least REALLY want it), does the purchase improve or lessen the quality of life for those people at the other end of the produce chain?

Thats it. Simplistic solution for a complicated topic. It certainly doesn't fix everything, but it is a step in the right direction

Procrastination

If procrastination

were an olympic event,

I would be in the zone,

top of my form,

an elite athlete.

The cold Shoulder

why do people always leave empty boxes of tablets in the medicine chest?
Is it a sneaky was of raising hopes only to seem that hope dashed seconds later?

Fair Trade

Highly excited!

Tonight I am attending a meeting at citylife church regarding Fair Trade and what we as consumers can achieve by simply making informed choices on the purchases we make.

CityLife are calling it "Everyday Justice".

I shall find out more tonight. Stay posted!

How unseeingly faith grows

How many years has it been now since I first started my walk on the damn narrow path to Christianity. OOOH! the pain I went through. the doubt, the anger at even contemplating christianity, the despair created if I didn't follow. What a conundrum I was in.

I moved forward, it may have been painful but it was the better option than staying stagnant in pain and despair.Always, the feeling of never moving, never growing but still more at peace with my decisions lay within, ever beneath the surface. When oh when was I going to feel, smell, sense what it means to be a Christian. When was I going to have a slow, ever swelling sense of Faith built within. To know,without doubt, or at least reasonable doubt, that I did not have to do it all on my own; That faith would get me there and grace catch me.


Its not like a lightening bolt, is it? I thought it would be. There was no "wake up call", sound of trumpets or fanfare. Only the realisation that the wordsI have uttered for the last 4 or so years "I CANNOT go through that excruciating journey of pain again" are not directed at God. God did not cause mypain! I caused my pain, maybe the devil caused my pain, maybe the devil just sat back with his feet up on the coffee table because I was doing sucha damn fine job all on my little lonesome, who knows?

What I do know now is that faith grows. Silently it weaves through your inner being, bringing tears to eyes that never cried, peace to a mind that would never rest. More importantly my faith screams, yells, stamps its feet and proudly says "I will not do this again, I have felt the pain and here I stand". My anger yelled it at God. My faith screams it to the world.

TSUNAMI

Apparently, last night while we were out wine-ing and dining with friends having a merry old time, the East coast of Australia went on high alert for an approaching Tsunami.(Didn't even know that here in the land of Oz we had any kind of alerts for Tsunamis, let alone high ones).

How did I find out about the possible pending doom due to befall some of my children and close family members?On F A C E B O O K...... the next morning. I know technology marches forward, but HEY! a phone call would have been nice!

What ever happened to Michael Guglielmucci?

Ever wondered what happened to Michael Guglielmucci, a Pastor of Planet Shakers? I certainly have.

Just to recap, on the off chance anyone out there has forgotten the story. Michael claimed for just on 2 years to have a rare and deadly form of cancer. He wrote the song Healer, which apparently was inspired by dealing with Cancer. As it turns out, the cancer was a lie.Wonder if that makes the song a lie? I suppose if you are going to lie, at least make it grand.

So, my question is, where is he now? I don't mean geographically but mentally and spiritually, personally.

I may never know, but i am busting to find out.

Something to smile about

NOTE: NOT MY STORY!!








An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard.
I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of.

He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head;
he then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the
hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep.



An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.

The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour.

This continued off and on for several weeks.

Curious I pinned a note to his collar: 'I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is

and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.'

The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar:

'He lives in a home with 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 - he's trying to catch up on his sleep.

Can I come with him tomorrow?'

Bible Study

Never thought I would see the day when I would be doing a bible study. I had always thought bible study was for nerdy "churchies". Well make room people,scrunch on over, I'm coming in!

Book of Matthew, here I come.

Scrub-a-Dub-Dub

For the first time in the three years I have been working in retail, I didn't want to serve a customer, could NOT serve the customer for fear of gagging.

She was grotty, dirty, greasy hair with dandruff gently yet persistently falling all over her shoulders. How you have greasy hair with dandruff is beyond me. It looked like she had slept in the clothing she was wearing for at least the last couple of weeks.

It took everything I could do not to gag. I was polite but not helpful, insofar as whatever she asked for I said we didn't have. I wanted her out of the store. Pronto.

I wanted to tell her to go home, have a shower, bathe, give herself a good scrub-a-dub-dub and put on fresh clothing.

Not really showing the old Christian heart, is it? I was all up in arms about the customer UNTIL I started writing this and now I just feel disappointed in myself.

Now, What would Jesus do?

Whatever he would do, we can rule out the path I chose.