Posted by toomanyflowers | Under Uncategorized
Monday Mar 8, 2010
This is such an inspiring story, it just reminded me of the scripture in Isaiah
Isaiah 11:6 (New King James Version)
6 “ The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
Some people just seem to live in this state already, at peace with even the most base creatures, we seem to think that this is saved till the time of heaven……all in the future, a hope!
I also remember reading about St Francis of Assisi and his ability to tame wild beasts, also Sadhu Sundar Sing had a story of taming a wild tiger ravaging Indian stocks………….also the Apocrypha has some interesting stories pertaining to Jesus and animals…….
Folk stories?
Tradition?
Religious embellishments?
When I read stories like the below I have to think twice
South African Park Ranger
This Ranger is assigned to prevent poaching around the wildlife refuge area of Lanseria , South Africa .The way these animals interact with him is absolutely stunning!
The lions seem to know he’s there to protect them.
His charm works with hyenas and lions too. Hyenas are usually vicious.
Check out the pics taken in the river – amazing because lions hate water.
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Imagine kissing a hyena, swimming with a lioness!
A hyena can crunch bones with it’s powerful jaws, and he is giving her a bellyrub???
Most African residents and South African Game Wardens (I have met 2) I know would baulk and scoff at the idea ….but truly this ability to tame a wild animal is a gift from God left as a reminder of things to come, indeed a GLIMPSE OF THE HEAVENLY THINGS………………..
I cannot wait till it is my turn.
Posted by toomanyflowers | Under Uncategorized
Tuesday Feb 2, 2010
On the flip side of my previous post “My Struggle”
There are some home truths that keep ringing in my ears………
As much as I was changed, impacted, taught and directed by my experiences in Manila, I cannot live in that experience and set up camp there. It would be an injustice and travesty to the present.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Living in the past is a dangerous place to be
Yesterday’s victories
Yesterday’s failures
Yesterday’s powerful experience
Yesterday’s destructive memories
Yesterday is NOT now……it is TODAY that matters, not yesterday
Am I making a difference today?
Am I touching people today?
Have I impacted a person for their better today?
Have I changed personally today?
Have I done anything to improve my future today?
Have I taken steps to reach out today?
Have I loved people today?
Have I been more like Jesus today?
It is not yesterday that is important, yes Baseco has changed me, has focused me, has renewed me, has developed me………
But if I LIVE in that YESTERDAY experience I have failed TODAY.
- Live neither in the past nor in the future, but let each day’s work absorb your entire energies, and satisfy your widest ambition.
- Sir William Osler, to his students
British (Canadian-born) physician (1849 – 1919)
God help me be effective in the here and now!
God help me not make excuses!
God help me be content where you have me!
Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisel
y improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
US poet (1807 – 1882)
Posted by toomanyflowers | Under Uncategorized
Thursday Dec 31, 2009
What a year 2009 has been………
I look back and can say with a peace that “It is well with my soul”
I look back and remember my goals and aspirations and say that I am closer to them than I have ever been.
I look at my kids and say that they have grown, even in size………my 16 year old is now 6ft1in!!!
But they have grown in stature and in character……
My older two children preached their first gospel sermon this year
I saw my other children praying worshiping and touched by God in intercession and simple passion for God
I saw them struggle and deal with their flesh and change!
I saw our whole family grow and enlarge as we launched out as a family to Manila….we will never be the same…..NEVER
I saw my 10 year old achieve and earn his first trophy in Highland Dancing
I saw my 12 year old in uniform with South Australian Pipes and Drums and perform in various exclusive marches over the state
My 16 year old is ranked first in the state for side drumming
I saw my husband happy preaching and loving in Manila
I saw a resurrection of my Child Birth Education skills…not only in Manila but here in the Barossa where we fellowship
I see myself now enjoying the PARENTING and MENTORING side of my life emerging now
I saw a dear friend go to Jesus after a long struggle with a heart breaking disease
I experienced my first serious car accident
My 4 year old had her life turned upside down and my other kids learnt how to deal with it!
I saw babies live and I saw babies die
I felt useful and needed
I realised how much I love to Homeschool
I appreciated the freedom and diversity that my education choice gave me and my family and rejoiced in it!
I saw God
I learnt more about His love, His people and His calling
I saw the Body of Christ in action, every joint supplying
I learnt how to love my husband more and minister to his needs
I had moments of flesh despair and sometimes depression
I struggled to let Jesus be big when I wanted to let my flesh manifest
I felt sad and chastened at times
But exhilerated, excited and happy the others
This year was BIG,
This year was CHALLENGING,
This year was LIFE CHANGING
This year was a BENCH MARK
- The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.
- Malcolm X
US black nationalist leader (1925 – 1965)
I NOW NEED TO BE CATAPAULTED IN 2010 WITH THE SAME PASSION AND ZEAL, THE SAME VISION AND CHALLENGE…
I WANT TO TAKE WHAT I HAVE AND APPLY TO THIS YEAR
GOD WILLING IT WILL HAPPEN
- The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future.
- Stephen Ambrose, in Fast Company
American historian and author (1936 – 2002)
Posted by toomanyflowers | Under Uncategorized
Saturday Dec 26, 2009
If all we knew was our own reality, our own life, our own struggle……would we as humans be any better than an animal?
That may be the only distinction between us and say a monkey? A monkey can see past it’s own reality but can it do anything about it?
I do not think so? It is powerless
In the west however we have power, we have choice, we have money if it comes down to it!
It just depends on what we do when we see other’s reality and extend ourselves to DO something about it……
Truly that I think is our defining line.
The things that “we did and didn’t do” when we became aware of the reality……………….
God help me!
Posted by toomanyflowers | Under Uncategorized
Friday Dec 18, 2009
I confess I am just in love
Manila did not help
Ever since I was a small child
A girl
A teen
A young women
A young mother
An older mother
I have loved “the baby”
Mine
Yours
Black
White
or
Chocolate.
My love affair is with the baby
It is who I am
It is what makes me tick
It is why I do what I do
Gorgeous Prince!
New baby Josiah
Sweet Kissable Delilah
Esther and I a few hours old
I am only just realising the power and impact a love affair can have on nations and individuals
One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.
Sophocles
Greek tragic dramatist (496 BC – 406 BC)
Posted by toomanyflowers | Under Uncategorized
Sunday Nov 29, 2009
Just imagine a life where your children’s playground was
a rubbish dump….
Just imagine that the name of your suburb was Rubbish Dump,
Tambukan where our church is means literally that
An ariel view from the roof of the Prayer House, most of the leaders houses are within metres of Prayer House…..humbling
Just imagine living in a house built of sticks, plastic and perhaps if you are lucky wood and iron
Just imagine!
Posted by toomanyflowers | Under Uncategorized
Saturday Nov 21, 2009
There is not a flower or bird in sight, only a small screen on which lines are moving, while the child sits almost motionless, pushing at the keyboard with one finger. As a learning environment, it may be mentally rich, but it is perceptually extremely impoverished. No smells or tastes, no wind or bird song (unless the computer is programmed to produce electronic tweets), no connection with soil, water, sunlight, warmth, the actual learning environment is almost autistic in quality, impoverished sensually, emotionally, and socially.
John Davy
My only hesitation as we leap into this techno savy generation is the impoverishment!!
Posted by toomanyflowers | Under Uncategorized
Saturday Nov 21, 2009
Why should we think upon things that are lovely? Because thinking determines life. It is a common habit to blame life upon the environment. Environment modifies life but does not govern life. The soul is stronger than its surroundings.
William James
US Pragmatist philosopher & psychologist (1842 - 1910)
When you live in an environment that is less than lovely, which smells, which has little or no natural beauty, you realise that human strength and character becomes paramount surprisingly people soar through the scum and float on the surface…..conquering their circumstances and environment. They are happy and mostly content………the human soul is made in God’s image made to soar and be majestic and mighty!!!
Posted by toomanyflowers | Under Uncategorized
Friday Nov 20, 2009
There are so many sayings around that pertain to truth and seeing things as they are……………
Everything is a dangerous drug except reality, which is unendurable.
Cyril Connolly, “The Unquiet Grave”, 1945
(1903 - 1974)
Reality is something you rise above.
Liza Minnelli
US actress & singer (1946 - )
I have come to the conclusion especially in the west that we like to NOT know the truth most of the time,,,,,,,,,,,,
Baseco is a reality, Slums are a reality, People dying DAILY from simple human rights such as FOOD SHELTER and CLEAN WATER is a truth far removed from the nice 3 bedroomed brick veneer houses we live in in suburbia………..
BUT IT IS REAL
I am shocked by the some (not many I am relieved to say) who still think that we want to use their money for our own purposes and want to soften our own sacrifice and fund our own ministry here in Baseco……do they really understand the life these people live over here?
I do not think so,
Most of us are happy to stay in a COMFORT ZONE and watch these things from a distance……….believe me it is safer that way, oh yes physically there is no threat in Australia (although ask people who have suffered and been touched by injuries in car crashes, murders and rapes they would have another story even in Australia!!) and spiritually it is a nice rewarding job that may even bring in income……..
But most people in our precious world live in poverty 70% in fact……..that is 7 out of ten people, 70 out of 100, 700 out of 1000 people live with little or no food water or shelter……Christians and non Christians poverty is no discriminator.
I urge you to WANT TO KNOW…….I cannot believe that God will NOT ask us to account for these millions of people and what did we do to change their destiny and situation, we have the power in the west to MAKE A DIFFERENCE…….the power is money, and with it comes health, education and freedom………..we have to see it, we must see it……….
It is easy to ignore the images, the comments and the statistics and stick our heads in the sand and do an ostrich!!!
Humankind cannot stand very much reality.
T. S. Eliot
British (US-born) critic, dramatist & poet (1888 - 1965)
Joel: That’s the movies, Ed. Try reality.
Ed: No thanks.
Ellen Herman, Northern Exposure, Only You, 1991
But the rewards are immeasurable and uncountable when you give and make a change
It does something in you and your children when you pour yourself out for others,
Live to give and bring change.
I am warped for ever
Cath
Set up as an ideal the facing of reality as honestly and as cheerfully as possible.
Dr. Karl Menninger
US psychiatrist (1893 - 1990)
Posted by toomanyflowers | Under Uncategorized
Tuesday Sep 1, 2009
To my dear Homeschooling friends today I sit on a balcony in another part of the world Baseco Manila, I am struck by the awesome privileged and freedom we have as Homeschoolers…… ultimately we have control over our kids direction and heart direction, very rarely do kids have the freedom or flexibility to see other cultures and hear other culture sounds and smells we have all in front of us.
Sweet families see the freedom and embrace the freedom we have, to serve God and our communities in a way some people could only dream of. I am full of encouragement today as I see the awesome opportunity we have to MAKE A DIFFERENCE!! To impact our kids for life and the community around us.
Sisters and Brothers think BIG, we have such a BIG God and He promised that we would do greater things than even he did on earth…….WOW, tea, coffee and cakes are good (Amen!!!!) but this let me tell you is BETTER, this is life an we are living it.
We have money, we have freedom and we have God what more could we need!!
The world is our footstool………….literally
Make a way, find a way to do something radical and different
WHY
Because we can!
Love Cath
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