PASTOR'S BLOG - While the wife's away

Day 11 – Family time

My brother Richard has been volunteering his time to help train and coach his daughter’s rugby league team – a big commitment. My dad, step-mum (June) and I decided to go and watch a game and support them.

June did something amazing. She, with some help from Auntie Linda, knitted beanies for the entire team to wear on their heads to keep them warm off-field. The team members were very grateful.

I am very grateful to be living near family again here in NZ. I am also happy Angella can spend more time with family in Jamaica again this year after braving the long journey.

The unity and oneness of family is very important to God too. One of my favourite verses about God’s plan for our unity and eternal destiny says:

having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,  that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. Ephesians 1:9-10

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=737188968206448&set=a.563953348863345

PASTOR'S BLOG - While the wife's away

Day 10 – No more wilderness wanderings

(*Remember blog is a few days behind)

It was Sabbath day here again today and I had a sermon I was excited to deliver, one I hoped would speak to the ‘I WANT IT NOW!’ person. Is that you?

If you are an 'I WANT IT NOW!' person, Christ has much to offer you. If your life is like the life of the Israelites who wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before reaching the Promised Land, but you’d rather have the Promised Land life NOW, you can!

Enjoy the sermon. https://youtu.be/E0_HNRZcl7E

After church we had an amazing Promised Land lunch together.

PASTOR'S BLOG - While the wife's away

Day 9 – Washing day (no counting of the articles on the line please!)

I remember a funny experience many, many years ago when I first moved out on my own. I had to go away on a work trip for a week or so with a Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal I worked for.

I thought I would leave the washing to soak, thinking it would be as good as new when I returned. Seriously, I was surprised to see a whole heap of mould. It inspired me to write the poem below, which is found in an unpublished book I wrote entitled POEMS FOR WEDDING RECEPTIONS And Poems Definitely Not For Wedding Receptions. If you’re a real poet and would like to consider whether the book is worth working on yourself with the aim of getting it published I‘Il send you a copy. Reed Books publishers did express interest at one stage:

DOMESTIC HELP REQUIRED

It's a brave woman that takes James on

I'll tell you a little about when James left home

Leaving home with domestic skills, shall we say, 'less than great'

I'm really not sure how he found his mate

James needs a wife to be a full-time mother

for around the house he's equaled by no other

Just ask his brother who checked his flat

the month he holidayed in Ararat

James had split, leaving the washing to soak

Just imagine it – what a joke!

The frogs that croaked and the mould he grew

meant the clothes (James) were not 'as good as new'

Things around his house were shockingly dire

He could have drowned in his own bathroom mire

or been caught in a fire, or his own mouse traps

which were hard to see under household scraps

Despite the live things in James’ fridge

he found a girl who was ridgy-didge*

She made a safe bridge across the unsterile

moved the dirty dishes and tarried for a while

But the whole flat had to be condemned

and James placed in a holding pen

This girl deserves a ten and our wishes best

I think she deserves a medal on her chest!

James was freed yesterday from the jail-house

although his freedom's at the mercy of his spouse

If she's got any nous, so she can hack it

I'd advice keep him in the straight jacket!

*Australian colloquial term for authentic, true, honest

PASTOR'S BLOG - While the wife's away

Day 8 – A man’s best friend

Below is a picture of my little friend while my second best friend is away. Isn’t she (or he?) cute? It’s the neighbour’s cat which camps in my yard for many hours each day.

Many times we hear the saying dogs are man’s best friend and in my experience the phrase has been applied to males, not ‘man/humankind’ generally.

I wonder whether the saying would be insulting to women or your wives generally?

And how about to Christ when we consider His words in the following verses?

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:15

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. John 15:13-14

May Jesus be your best friend FOREVER (and I literally mean ‘forever’).

PASTOR'S Blog - While the wife's away

Day 7 Blue Spring and McLaren Falls Park

After a good turnout to our Wednesday morning prayer group, I enjoyed taking my new Fijian friends visiting from Fiji to Blue Spring and McLaren Falls Park less than an hour from here.

I can’t believe Angella has been away a whole week already. Wow that went fast.

It is quiet living on your own, and it gives me a little more appreciation for the situation of others who always live on their own. I have therefore provided a link below to an article which I hope provides some needed encouragement.

https://www.lwf.org/.../heartwarming-bible-verses-for...

Only about 18 days to go!

(Picture of our nearby McLaren’s Falls)