favourite things *7

one of my favourite things is seeing the nights draw in after summer.....the air smells like autumn and i begin to look forward to lighting my fire for the first time and long walks in cosy jumpers....we haven't exactly had much summer weather..so i am ready to move on and fully embrace the next season......

freedom writers....

watched this movie last night...based on a true story....it was so powerful....if you have not seen it i highly recommend it...i must admit to shedding a few tears.....a fresh reminder how one person can make a difference...and things can change ....even if they have been the same way for a long time.....

what would they see?

This last 6 months or so have been a very different season in my life and walk with God.........Stuart and i came out of full time ministry as we felt God calling us to live differently and engage more in our community instead of being bogged down with program that mostly kept us behind church walls......it has been eye opening in more ways than i had imagined........for those of us who have spent many years in christian employment..it is so easy to over time allow your work to be your relationship with God.....reading the bible is done with looking for a good sermon in the back of your mind..and our time spent in worship is at times distracted as we are leading the service etc...........we can easily confuse Gods approval of our life by the work we do for him...and somewhere along the road we lose the ability to simply... be.....to walk with Him to Know him... our relationship with God should be central to our service rather than our service being central to our relationship........if it were all stripped away and all that was left was you and God.....would your anchor hold?.........where is your identity found..................in Him...........or in what you do for Him........i feel he would rather have time with just us instead of endless program and meetings......we need some of that to of course...but it should never be more important than our personal relationship..........if we didn't have all the stuff we do in church or ministry to show people we love Jesus....what would they see of Him in your life...? Are you being the Church or just going through the motions?...

new book arrival..

stuart blessed me with a new read.....it arrived this morning.........both my mum and sister are reading this book and i cant wait to get started....francine river's has such an anointing on her life to write.......her ability to draw you into the story and bring the characters to life is amazing......if you are looking for a new read....join me.....or if you have read it already let me know what you thought...without giving to much away :-)...

little boy in the wrong suit.....

yesterday i nipped to the restroom at a cafe and on approaching i heard a little boy crying and shouting...'help me.... help me...... i'm locked in'..while thumping on the door................heart strings tugged.....i quickly assured him i would get him out...i ran off to get a useful tool to unscrew the lock and free him...on the journey i found his mum who joined me on the rescue......when the door opened a little boy dressed in his full spiderman outfit was revealed .....he ran into his mums arms sobbing.still traumatized from his ordeal....satisfied my work was done.....i went on into the ladies and as i closed the door..i heard the sobbing fade and the little boy say...'mummy if i had been wearing my Darth Vader suit i could've got myself out'.........that sentence alone made me smile the rest of the day..............

God so loved the WORLD.....

picked this book of the shelf yesterday..didn't even know we owned it.......i haven't put it down yet......we all need to get clued up about the world we live in.....and the damage we are doing......and how we can bring effective change before its to late....

IJM.....

we also came across this ministry...IJM...

International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local officials to ensure immediate victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators and to promote functioning public justice systems.

these guys are doing some amazing things in the most difficult places and circumstances...check them out...