baking bun ... in oven

Hallo our Australian friends and family,

..(my wife) & I have been working a poem and finally it is DONE, and we would love to share with you:

Roses are red, violets are blue

From different sides of the world God brings the two

Sharing our loves is all that we knew

And what we are hoping, finally come true

October is when our lives will change

Because we are so happy to say

Our bundle of joy is on his or her way, yay! 

With Love,   D&J R.

.........

And "Yea!

& Yea!

& Yea!

Yee-har!

Moth-ar/

Fath-ar!

We-ee -

wee-she

wee-he!

We're glad

(not sad),

not bad!

So good!

We could

& should

... give cheer

(a beer!)

from here!

We'd like

this tyke

to hike

out here

(appear)

THIS YEAR!

AMEN!

tough stuff

Aunty ... , How're things going? Dad tells me you were trying to contact me.... & that Uncle John might have had to cancel his trip to Tazzy. How is he doing? Feel free to call me, or text me ... I don't seem to have your number to call. .. I've got "Uncle John's", but if he's crook I didn't want to bother him...

...........


Oh God, please give your grace to this couple
that as these bodies wax & wane again
they will (as some young children in trouble)
both run into your arms when they're in pain.

Please help them to speak truth, & to listen.
Please give them some good friends right there with them,
Some precious ones, like jew-els to glisten,
to catch the light and send it on again.

Ohoh. Arr-gh. Ah ah. Love to you both.
I don't know what to say. So I'll look up.^
I still remember John, when I was loathe
to lift my head up high (when still a "pup"),

sent me a cassette - to help me keep on.
He lent me courage, helped me bear the load.
I don't now know what I can do along
the lines of that same way, now on this road.

Why yes I do. It won't be quite the same,
for I'm the younger one, & not so wise.
but I could play piano, if I came,
or, recorded & emailed through the skies*.

The Psalms have become life and health to me,
I play them now to help them get inside,
& pray them when I do to help me see
with eyes that see much farther than this ride,

or walk - they say this life is a journey,
a pilgrimage of sorts(?) how good & wise;
when we have shared our griefs at each turning
with he who walks with us - though in 'disguise'.

^ Psalm 123; Mark 7:31ff,

* This is a link to a home recording at the piano, of some Psalm, maybe more than One; 131, 123, 121, & 16, 11 & 8, as mp3 (a few mistakes, but you'll get the picture) and pdf.

(?) e.g. miss ta walker?,  Pilgrim Pulse,  poorly-el-walker  & , Well We've Walked the Southern Isle.

No-one is good but for (the nature of, & life and time spent with) God alone

Re: Thank you good brother...

Hi Paul.  It has been a good time (in another country) .... I sense it's building something of a bond between us (who are journeying together). It's been interesting here .... It's been good going through Knowing Him: a Fifty Day Study on the Life of Christ ... as we do things here. We've spent a few days...  (among people whose) movement aims to plant 100 000 ... (communities of people intent on following Jesus) among some of the most unreached (with the message of God's appointment of Jesus as the Leader of Humanity) people groups on earth by 2030. They major on training facilitators for the communities in Transformation centres that are like our first year communities (they aim for 35 000 facilitators by 2030). We spent the day in one today (see the picture below).Yesterday three of us helped run ... in a slum a meeting to honour Christ as leader. The little girl in the second picture was picked up from a rubbish tip aged two days in another slum that we visited in the afternoon. She's now in a family where a household ... aims to honour Christ in that slum.The level of commitment of these young facilitators is amazing. It's very sad how soft we've become in Australia with the prosperity and safety we enjoy. Grace and peace...

Amen, amen! We ARE; so DO as should!
How good of God. Yeah WE know that’s like him(!)
to do these good things. He's the source of GOOD;
& also to "waste time" seeing, looking (?)

at GOOD, the way it worked together for
more GOODness that could grow, and bear more fruit.
God help us to appreciate some more
your goodness that's around us, & is beaut!

I just remembered Judas' complaint
'bout lack of money given to the poor,
& John's small comment that his motives w'aint
so good, and then how Jesus didn't score

against him on the good thought of giving.
And also how he says "You feed these  folk",
who had given of themselves, their living,
to speed God's mission on within each bloke.

God make what Marty saw please come more true...
for you have said you've put your nature in
all people now in Christ (who're joined to you),
& they, each day, wear A "shroud of Turin"...

Our "day of death", our ritual washing is
commemorating - & our "burial" too.
Then ON with life, & "resurrection" biz;
so we'll recall that, each washing we do!

& see that we add goodness to our faith,
with perseverance, knowing, ... through to love.
Because you are our Father, not our Wraith,
we'll copy all we see that's from above.

Amen amen.

Ow - a prayer

Let's be praying for Martin and Josh, who are overseas...
Pray for them and praise God for what He has for them.

> "It's mainly for us to see examples of fruitful mission in the third world, while looking closely at Jesus' life and mission, and to then consider what we might be able to do to be as fruitful as we can in our context, missionally. Pray that we will listen well to what God wants to teach us, through what we see and that we can be faithful to take on whatever He wants us to."

................

Oh God, we join with Martin & with Josh

& ask that they will see examples of

your mission bearing fruit. Please also wash

them clean (& us), to BE true samples of

the life/mission of Messiah Jesus.

Please use the friendships built within this time,

to spurr each on so that as God sees us,

& hears, he will be glad to hear each rhyme...

So "on Earth as in Heaven" comes more true

as we join ow-a forces here with yours;

for ourselves don't belong to us, but you.

We pray they'll listen well to you because

they have one teacher Christ, to show them how

to move forward with what they see & be

so they will be plain faithful, then & now,

(as we pray for ourselves) 'til we all SEE.

Amen.

Peace from above

So now I see what you do unto us -

oh living God (!) who loves your children back
to life, with love that empowers without fuss:
you save us from our lack of will, that's slack.

Well, yes you are the one who helps me want
to do what's true and loyal (faithfulness)!
For there are times I'm so low that I won't
want even to be true, or think to bless.

So thank you Father God who's more than met
this need in me by growing your love seed
inserting your love/faith in me so yet
I can rely upon it in my need.

Your kHesed* (faithful love) answers much more,
it helps me get beyond just having good
de-sir-es (like to live above the floor),
it helps me walk, and stand, - run as I should

well, like to - give up worry, & my self-
preoccupation, rise above my "ghosts"
that hold me back. The brightest myth to help
(is one about this god, this Lord of Hosts)

to show me next steps, give me direction,
was after that dead body was entombed,
then when LOVE intervened - resurrection!
The myth continues on - I've been en-loomed,

caught up in a tapestry of loving
my story woven into myths that breathe
all this without the slightest of shoving,
though wooing by this spirit brings a heave...

So, I don't worry about anything,
& I pray in all my circumstances,
I tell God what I need, and I thank him
for all he's done/ given, - even chances.

And when I do this I experience
a peace that I can't speak of  - 'cept to say
I think it is a piece of heaven since
it's more than what this world gives till today.

This peace is more than my mind understands.
It wraps & guards my heart and soul for love.
It gives & thrives, instead of just demands,
like life & wisdom that comes "from above".

*kHesed is the Hebrew term  that means "loyal love", or "loving-kindness", or maybe "faithful love",  celebrated throughout the scriptures Jesus lived out of. I wonder if the New testament is trying to render this concept into Greek by its emphasis on both "faith" & "love"... in fact Paul pulls both terms together in a summative (& yet process oriented) way in his letter to early Christians in Galatia (Gal 5:6  As for us, our hope is that God will put us right with him; and this is what we wait for by the power of God's Spirit working through our faith. For when we are in union with Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor the lack of it makes any difference at all; what matters is faith that works through love. Ga 5:5‭-‬6 GNTD)


I reckon everything as utter rubbish for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have thrown everything out; I consider it all as mere garbage, so that I may gain Christ and be completely united with him. I no longer have a righteousness of my own, the kind that is gained by obeying the Law. I now have the righteousness that is given through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is based on faith. All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death, in the hope that I myself will be raised from death to life.  ... So I run straight toward the goal in order to win the prize, which is God's call through Christ Jesus to the life above. ...  I have told you this many times before, and now I repeat it with tears: there are many whose lives make them (not exemplars, but) enemies of all that the cross of Christ stands for. They are going to end up on the rubbish tip, because their god is their bodily desires. They are proud of what they should be ashamed of, and they focus only on things that belong to this world. We, however, are citizens of heaven, and we eagerly wait for our Savior, our Prime Minister, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven to Earth again. He will change our weak mortal bodies and make them like his own glorious body, using that power by which he is able to bring all things under his rule. Phil 3:8‭-‬11‭, ‬14‭, ‬18‭-‬21 (PW version cf. GNB)

Keep on working (along with God, as co-workers) with care, an understanding of the importance of your job, & attention to details that matter, to complete your salvation, because God is (still & will always continue to be) at work in you to help you want to be willing, & then to be willing to do, & then to be empowered & enabled to live out his own great purposes and dreams for his world (Phil 2:12‭-‬13 PW version cf. GNB)

I don't worry about anything, I pray about everything. I tell God what I need and I thank him for all He has done for me.When I do this I experience Gods peace, which is far more wonderful than what this world can give, this peace is more than my mind can understand. This peace guards my heart and soul. Nothing compares. Philippians 4:6-7 (PM version)

 

enduring love

I give thanks to The Lord, for He is good, for His loving kindness endures forever. 1Chronicles16:34 (PM Version)

1Cor 13... (God's) Love never ends, gives up, fails; it endures forever!


Thank you our Father,
for you; or rather

for giving a real
god to us, not spiel.

We real-ly know grace
when we find your face

around us on Earth,
each day since our birth.

Oh that like Noah
we'll see, and show a 

ruler of our world
whose flag we've unfurled.

And as such we say:
"Thank you for today".

G r a c e . o . u s

I went to sleep deciding to rest in him, while I rested in body, …, and that I’d trust God to help me when I woke to sort out what was needed for a big day of class. God gave me ways forward as I slept last night, sound, creative, maybe even fun things to do or explore in class today. 20151015

Lord I love you,

the Way you do

all things, and too

your grace in life.

You’re full of faith,

though we be waif

-er thin, your lathe

works grace in sleep,

and too waking,

with no faking

there’s no slaking

amazing grace.

You give us rest,

and still we’re blest

with work as guest,

and grace through death.

Hal-le-lu-u,
praise be to you;
graceous ONE who
creates, loves too!

Now I see more
that's why there's lore
"Dad/Mum adore"
each other, then

what springs from their
ONE-ness as bairn
must be loved, we're
learning that when

we watch your "face",
follow your ways,
begin to trace
your precious grace.

No King! Jesus bloody christ! Know King!

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 (PM Version)

The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living in you. Romans 8:11 (PM Version)

Keep on asking, and you will receive. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. Mathew 7:7 (PM Version)

..........................
 

Well Jesus Christ, like Yahweh God (His son
- a metaphore, but still the best we've got)
remains the same (means "character" stays ON)
through past, & present, future - as with God.
 

God's Spirit (who raised Jesus from the dead!)
lives in all his, and just as God did that,
he'll give new life to you now (& ahead).
This Holy Spirit makes 3D from flat!
 

So keep on asking, and you will receive
(there's more that's happ'ning on the other side),
know you are his child (never disbelieve
that), fun is in the waiting, with eyes wide!
 

And keep on seeking and you know you'll find.
Don't pull up short, then turn away and pout.
Keep looking, piecing clues with all your mind,
the game's to pull you in, not keep you out!
 

And keep on knocking doors beyond yourself.
You know love's open. Use all that you've got.
Expect you won't be left there on the shelf.
The centre of all life and love's no rot.
 

Then know, the door will open up to you.
He knows what life's like on "the other side":
no open, welcome, wash, or rest, or food,
with no place to belong, or to abide.
 

And if it's true that he has been raised up,
been christened now the "boss of ALL - & more!"
- he knows it from the bottom to the top,
he's copped a knocking, & knocks on your door.
 

A representative of God's "Elected Leader Of Planet Earth" (ELOPE) !

By Gods grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving Him by spreading His Good News. Ephesians 3:7 (PM Version)


Wow, that is a privilege!
Even if God didn't send
me with an apostle-age
I can still see that I spend


my time, & life, as his child,
speaking truth in love like him -
my big brother (who was wild,
yet whose grace has never dimmed).


And in truth i'm surely sent
by him, to this world of his.
Who else can I blame? Whose "bent
& twisted" humour is this?


- 'cept the bends and twists bring life,
('stead of only final death).
S'pose it's like husband & wife:
joy is with each loving breath.
 

See k i n g Yahweh

Seek The Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near. Isaiah 55:6 (PM Version)

I know the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. Psalms 16:8 (PM Version)

Teach me your way Lord, that I may rely only on your faithfulness. Grant me a pure heart, so that I may honor you. I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. Psalm 86:11-12 (PM Version)

..........

Well, seek The Lord while he  may be found out
(that's while we're limited, yet can feel some)
so call on him 'cause he is close about,
as mother is to baby "in the tum." .

Our job's to learn from each new metaphore
that strews the world around us as we go.
And who was better, who could do this more?
Yeshua's words (& life) did clearly so.

So in this knowledge now (confirmed in life),
as babe in mum, I can not get away,
where-e'er we be, in good times or in strife,
I know the LORD is with me here always.

So I will not be shaken, for he's right
beside me - closer than the air I breathe.
Teach me your way of seeing by "your light"
- the good, which here within this world now seethes.

As God sat back and "saw that IT was good",
that's even though IT was still unfinished,
he's given model to us so we could
learn how to look, yet be undiminished.

Lord, that I may rely only on your
own faithful father's heart (grant me this too!)
to look for,  and then see what's good, before
I praise and glorify its source - that's you.

I see that "seeing good", requires I'm good,
with good and pu-re heart, to be the lens.
So you may remake me, as only could
the one who made me first. Can we be friends?

aStephen-ing&aPaul-ing

Stephen2Paul... 

..I'm thinking of a change of job to see
what new thing now our Lord will do with me..
But either way I think I'll be waiting
on him for what two thous-and and eighteen

will hold, so maybe we can join in prayer
and see what God will do, since he is there -
and here, and has a heart for a real pres-
-ence**. And is helping us en-flesh his cares.

It's "complicated" since his spirit's come -
poured out from heaven on humans (well some) -
who are "in Christ", and he was incarnate,
and as his bride, we're made to be his mate!

So his ecclesia has now been sent
as he was sent by Father (and he went)
to be born as a human here with us.
May God's angels again make quite a fuss!


** Deut 4:7


Paul2Stephen

That Master Builder said that he would build...
"and... I will build ecclesia (of me)" -
a government where all the earth is filled
with knowledge of the Lord, an ass-em-bly

that's legislative in it's nature for
it won't just carry on the status quo.
It's power isn't just a power that's more -
it works on diff'rent principles, you know.

It's principles are seen in how he lived;
and seen in how he clung to his dear life
- NOT! For his knowledge and choices have sieved
the kind of person he is - and his wife!

And I think he is "growing" new wine skins...
just like the skins that God used to en-clothe
the man and woman's nakedness within
the garden setting, as he was disposed

of by his children, and the snake they met.
He worked along with this new shame some felt,
a-vail-a-bil-i-ty of skins was yet
because an animal had somehow dealt

with death, and had not clung to it's life dear
(or passed on death to others; - saved itself).
The same thing with the wine-skins talked of here
to carry his new wine from off the shelf.

Lord use these bags of skin to hold your wine
of life and love, 'cause you poured here inside
of us your Spirit - who's fully divine,
and we are his - it can not be denied

has come from God's own mouth, not to be trife-
-led with & by his nature which is ours
is now our holy breath, and kiss of life.
We now have hope, as trees grow (from stumps) boughs!

..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....

Oh God please grow uneasiness within
your people so our cheesiness and grins
will fall away and we'll begin to work°
in what we say & do - that we'll not shirk

but learn from how the crops and harvests go,
as farmers now (& then) have learned (quite slow)
to plant and water, harvest & winnow
in ways appro-pri-ate to what they sow... ^

And you have taught, as they opened their eyes
& listened with their ears (and looked at skies),
and they had chances to co-operate
with who has time, is never early/late,

and planted the first garden in this world*
- an orchard where the trees (& vines?) unfurled
their leaves, like flags, to catch the light of day,
producing fruit to keep hunger at bay.

God save us being just like a fig tree
that uses soil and space, but leaves only -
what's then produced to cover up our shame
while fruit that feeds is only in the name.

We see your anger in that synagogue
where people were not brave to take the log
from their own eye, but feigned to help someone
whose splinter in their eye was not much fun.

Those fig trees (in his story#, and his play~),
were doomed because their fruit had gone away.
But we would follow in your footsteps Lord
and die to bear good fruit as you assured<.

° Gen 2: the man was put to work to tend and care for God's garden (as were the shepherds, mentioned in Ezekiel and 1Peter, to tend and care for God's flock );  in his letter to the Christians in Corinth, Paul says "as co-operators with God we beg you..." 2 Cor 6:1

^ Isa 28:23-29 esp. v26

* Gen 2:8-9,15-16

# Lk 13:6-9

~ Mk 11:12-14

< John 12:24; 1Cor 15:36

Celebrate: Jesus - the very "yes"ance of God!

If anyone says yes to Jesus; If anyone believes what Jesus said; If anyone will just reach out to take it now- then God will give them this wonderful gift: To be born into a whole new life; to be who they really are; who God always made them to be; their own true selves; God's dear child. John1:12,13. (PM Version)

We-ee who-oo!

We-ee who-oo...
know this is true,
aa-are gla-ad
that you're our dad!

Amen, Ye-es!
Yes, amen, yes!
Jesus, of God:
"Amen.", "Yes." Nod!