So long... AGAIN!

(background: Queen's "Another one bites the dust"...)

So yesterday Katie flew back to Oz. I met her and Vicky at the airport to say goodbye. Luckily there were no problems checking in, all her luggage went through without a hitch. We had a drink at Starbucks (honestly, I should have SHARES in that place) as we waited for her boarding time. We were very early, but that turned out to be the best thing ever, as we ended standing in the longest queue of people you could imagine! It seriously went bending and curving around forever! We stood there for about and hour before we got to the front. YIKES!

But anyway, there is the end of another chapter in my London life. (Yes, I know it's the beginning of another one as well.) Like Mitch Albom said in his book "The Five People You Meet in Heaven": "Every ending is a new beginning. We just don't know it at the time." (by the way- his book "Tuesdays With Morrie" is a great read- you can learn very much about people from this guy!)

So I guess this is goodbye Katie. For now anyway. See you in Brissie soon!

The Power of Prayer

I've just started reading 'The Power of a Praying Woman' (literally the first few pages) and I am very excited about it! When I was flicking through the pages it actually goes through fascinating things like names to call God when you pray, such as Redeemer, Saviour, Lord etc. I love that we can learn how to develop our walk with God on a daily basis.

Another book I am reading and THOROUGHLY enjoying is 'The 360 Degree Leader'. If you want practical leadership advice and tips, look into this one, it's extremely challenging!

Question Number One

Ok... so here we go, delving deeper into each other's world's and minds... SCARY!

So, if you could choose ONE superpower, what would it be?

Singin' in the Rain...London style.

Yesterday between services Kim and I went for a stroll around the little backstreets of London. This is one of my favourite passtimes as you never quite know what you will discover on your wanderings. Sometimes it almost feels as if you have left the real world behind and you are lost in a fairy tale, or a medieval adventure.

We came across a little deserted walkway and had a bit of fun...

I'm singing in the rain
Just singing in the rain
What a glorious feelin'
I'm happy again
I'm laughing at clouds
So dark up above
The sun's in my heart
And I'm ready for love
Let the stormy clouds chase
Everyone from the place
Come on with the rain
I've a smile on my face
I walk down the lane
With a happy refrain
Just singin',
Singin' in the rain

Just a pity there were two Debbie Reynolds' and no Gene Kelly to join in the refrain. I always knew I was made for Broadway, there was just one thing that ever stood in my way- my voice.

*Sigh*

The Devil is a Loser

On Sunday we had Jerry Savelle at church in the 11am service. He was HILARIOUS! That man could be a one man comedy show. The message was all about 'Failure is not in your Future, so Failure is no longer acceptable'. Uhm... ouch.

Basically he said that if you cannot handle all that life and the devil throw at you, you need to question if you are living under the blood of Jesus.

John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.

Jesus paid a price so that you may be free, but the choice to walk in that freedom or remain in bondage is yours. If you do not believe that you are free you will not walk in victory.

John 16:33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. (emphasis added)

So Jesus stated that we will have trials and sorrows. In fact, in the Amplified bible it says:
I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration...
I don't know about you, but I don't very much like the sound of that. Luckily Jesus doesn't stop there, he continues to say:
but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

He has deprived it of its power to harm us. So even when the tough times come, we know that it's not over yet. We are more than conquerors in Christ, but how can you be more than a conqueror if you have nothing to conquer?

Anyway, so getting back to the thing that we need to conquer. The bible tells us in Ephesians 6 that 'our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.' Basically we are fighting the devil and all his minions. The devil is known as the prince of this world, so while we are in the world we will have to face him.

So one of the ways that the devil will try to keep you down is by bringing up your past (this is again referringto Sunday's message). He will try and tell you that you are a failure. That you are not good enough and that you cannot overcome the things in your life, because maybe you didn't have the greatest past. Here's Jerry's tip on how to get over that: When the devil brings up your past, turn around and bring up HIS. When he tells you what a failure you are, remind of what a failure he is. Here we have someone who was once the angel of worship, one who was always in the presence of God and who now is so jealous of you for being in that presence that he will do anything to get you out of it. You can sit him down and tell him all about what a loser he is. What a failure he is. Where he came from and what he's done. And then, to top it all off, remind him that his future isn't looking too bright either- heading for a great lake of fire is not exactly something I'd be looking forward to.

All in all I'd say that we have reason to celebrate and worship and take joy in the Lord, for we know that no weapon formed against us shall prosper, we know that our eternal salvation has been secured and that we are FREE INDEED.

So devil, that's it for you- you're a failure, a disgrace and a loser, and you can SUCK EGGS!

aim at heaven
and you will get
earth thrown in
aim at earth
and you will get
neither

C.S.Lewis

What is Love?

Inspired by a recent chain e-mail (yes, I hate them too... but this one was actually really cool) about the meaning of love as defined by a group of 8 year-olds, we sort of started defining love in our own words. I started thinking of one of my favourite movie quotes about love, from 'Music From Another Room' with Jude Law:

Q:What is love like?
A:'You know how when you're listening to music playing from another room? And you're singing along because it's a tune that you really love? When a door closes or a train passes so you can't hear the music anymore, but you sing along anyway... then, no matter how much time passes, when you hear the music again you're still in exact same time with it. That's what it's like.'

In the words of Clovergirl:
"Love is: giving more presents than you get, listening to someone even when you're not interested, asking more questions about them than they ask you, giving massages even when your hands hurt, lending a book even when you think they'll fold the pages over and bend the spine, being totally honest even when it hurts, adoring someone even when they say silly things, not correcting them when they use bad grammar, and giving hugs even when they have BO."

And my own:
"Love is someone who drops everything because you need a friend, someone who doesn't consult a calendar to make time for you. Love is going out for a meal and sharing food off each other's plates. It is doing something you REALLY don't want to because you know it will mean something to someone and SMILING while you do it. Love is wiping someone else's tears away when your own cheeks are still wet with your own. Love is seeing what someone CAN be and believing that they will become that, no matter how far they are from it. But mostly, love is knowing that no matter what the distance or time that passes between you, when you see each other again you will pick up right where you left off."

So come on... anyone have some other ideas?

And some other random pics...

Africa Pics

These are some of my photos from my last trip to South Africa

Coffee Team ROCKS!!!

What more do you need to know??? These guys are just the BEST!

Africa, my heritage.

Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika (Lord Bless Africa)

Maluphakanyisw’ uphondo lwayo (May her glory be lifted high)
Yiva imathandazo yethu (Hear our petitions)
Nkosi Sikelela (Lord bless us)
Thina lusapho lwayo (Us your children)

These are the opening lyrics to South Africa's national anthem. Lord, bless Africa.

Over the last month or so I find my thoughts often drawn to Africa and her beauty. Everywhere I go I am reminded of her heart and her life, even though I am so far removed from her. I can see in my mind's eye the heat rising off the tar on the horizon, I see grasslands that dance to the rythm of the wind and swirling red dust. I see paperbark and acacia trees that spread their umbrealla's wide and throw off their long white thorns like spears. I also see cold blue oceans and towering mountains, sprawling white beaches and brightly painted mud huts.

I never used to understand that Africa was in my blood. Hot, red and dusty she flows through my veins and lives in my heart. For the first time in my life I actually appreciate that. I am proud to call Africa home and now I truly understand that Africa will always be my heritage. Her heart will always be the call that brings that familiar rise to my soul, that roar of the lioness which pierces the darkness of night and says: I belong here. No matter how long I am away I now know that I will never forget... Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika. Lord, bless Africa!

What a Week-End!!!!

I tell you what, none of the pictures I saw of Wales on the net gave credit to the beautiful scenery we experienced this week-end! We left Friday at around 7pm and got to the cottage around 10:45. It was snowed up everywhere, and we had a snow fight right on our porch.

The cottage was so quaint and perfect, we couldn't have asked for anything better. Everything was FLORAL though, which was a bit over the top, but who cares, right? Saturday morning we awoke to a white wonderland, and after a great breakfast of croissants and fruit salad we headed out into the field to have some fun in the snow. We sledged on some melamine trays, and it was such a laugh to see us skidding about in the powder, but we had the best time!

Katie and I then proceded to make a snow man which, by the way, is a lot of hard work! After half an hour we had just about got as far as we were going to get rolling snowballs around trying to get a bigger snowman. So we put Frosty together and stood back to appreciate him. Then I made a snow angel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!

We then realised that Frosty was in a field, and not actually by the cottage, so we did what anyone in our position would have done- we moved him. We carried him in two halves down tha road and put him by the shed in front of the house. We got some interesting looks from passers by in their cars though!

After warming up a bit and changing into dry trousers we headed off to the village of the Three Cocks for Horse riding. (Who names a place Three Cocks, anyway????) There was a lot of ice on the ridges, so we had to stick to the lower parts for the ride, but it was still really beautiful, and the weather really played along very well.

We came back from riding (a bit stiff and bruised) and then went up to Hay, which is a little village very well known for it's second-hand bookshops. Did you know that in Wales on a Saturday afternoon around 4pm everything is closed? Well, neither did we, until we got there. It took us about half an hour to find somewhere we could eat. Not good when the last meal you had was breakfast. But we found a little take-out place and I had fish and chips- LOTS of chips. Hmmmmmm. Yum. On the way back to the car we stumbled across a little fudge shop which made Katie's day- I've never seen anyone so excited aver sweets! So we bought fudge and headed home for the night.

Sunday morning we had breakfast and then made our way back to London.
All in all I would say it was a VERY successfull week-end, and we all had a wonderful time hanging out together.