I will trust and not be afraid!

God I will trust and not be full of fear.

I love the way you work all things for good,

for those who love you and would come quite near;

as friends appreciate, and as they would 

give time of day to other friends they have

and listen quite respectfully to their 

ideas and their hopes, & what makes glad-

ness grow in them. They'll work to bring good cheer.

For those who truly love, and love what's true,

you see them as your kids - your very own,

and work behind the scenes to help them too.

I know that while I'm here I'm not alone,

and this life's not just all you plan for me.

You've warned me that the best is yet to come.

As foetus in the womb has more to be-

come in its watery world. There's more, and some

(when it comes out from that protected world)

to grow into, & then the growing keeps

on going with all sights, and sounds, uncurled.

With balance, walking, moving - so it weeps,

emotions growing, and opposing thumbs

that help to hold, manipulate and make;

while all the while it's language centre comes

alive in ways that lets a friend help slake

frustration, and allows its spirit to

be borne by solar winds to world's unknown

before. I see this journey is not new.

And yet such things bring out of me this groan!

A mate of late ... Reduced. And who's ... To say the way ...

O “Thank you” God for Bill Zinnack and his hard-working, well-thought-through service to us - and many more as well. Experience that’s practical he’s brought, with little fuss.
Thank you for his health & perseverance. We hear of growth in discipline and trust. It’s like he has returned from disappearance. Glad that he’s snuggled in your arms (and bussed*). 

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* In recuperating, he drove a school bus where he could help out.

Who R us? And Sue - ‘zat you? Go well!

After being filled in on some exciting developments...

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Well, bless you, brother Russ, and sister Sue.
From God our Father, who's involved in prayer
much more than we imagine, if it's true
that he hears ev'ry child - and ev'ry where!

And sometimes he may well call it a prayer
when his children just look up to the sky,
or act in some "strange" way because you're there,
or even give a groan, or a deep sigh.

And sometimes when our Jesus, Lord above
all others mentions one of us to God,
or says that we are on his team, or love
to hang out with him, tread where he has trod,

I think the scriptures might just call that "prayer".
And that's the kind that I would like to do.
Oh God, did you hear Russ's heart to share
your life & love, and to be grateful too?

We join with him, and ask you please to give
him not a great big "ministry", but more
the chance to work beside you, to forgive
and keep on loving folk who are a bore.

And keep on living out your kind of life,
a life that's kind, creative in it's love,
that has the smell of Jesus in his strife,
endures with wisdom that comes from above.

And thinking who R-us., we think of Sue.
And pray for both of them, and too ourselves.
To look to you in ev'rything we do.
We know when we see you, we'll be in health!

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Mat 5:45; 7:9-11; 18:3; Matthew 18:10, Mat 26:53; Rev 3:5

1 John 5:14-18; Mark 7:31-37

 

fault lines...

Oh father, here I am, a great big grump.

To three or four around me I react.

I seem to be short tempered, when I'm bumped.

I'm finding fault with ev'ryone, in fact.

I'm like an alcoholic, putting down;

instead of building up. That's all I do.

And I know that I'm same as any clown.

That means that I am stuffed, if not for you.

So here is all my insecurity.

A present for you: my hypocrisy.

Unless you can infect with purity,

I haven't got a chance, I clearly see!

There's no one else whom I could give this to,

this shite, that should be buried, left to rot,

and eaten by the worms of hell that you

spoke of, Lord Jesus. I love you a lot!

You know my needs. The deathly certainties!

My prognosis, was not looking so good.

It's like a cancer that cannot be sneezed

away, or just ignored. And neither should

that happen. But I here run up to you.

I think I need you now to clean me up.

Like little grand-child who has done a poo,

I'm stuffed if you are scared what might erupt.

And more than cleanliness, I want your life

to grow in me, to come out ev'ry way,

To follow up your leader more the stife

in what I hope and do, & think and say.

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Jiminy Cricket!

SMS2PW: Hey mate,  I hope things are well with you. The kids are sick and I think I'm getting it so I won't come in tonight. Look forward to catching up next week. Regards..

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Yup, I'm ok. I pray for your few boys,

and their ol' dad who's had some crook-ness too.

"Please God, help them continue to make choice-

es that make smiles come on the face of you!

That little brother of Yeshua said

the tough times are what builds good things in us.

And though he knew his brother to be dead,

he saw him per-sev-e-re with no fuss,

and then continue, indestructible,

and state this was the plan, for ev'ry man,

or woman, child. He is quite ductible,

his gravity's to God himself, as planned.

So here we are, in sickness and in health.

We'd like to learn to love - whatever state

we find ourselves within; poor, or with wealth,

in Old or New, South Wales;  with our mate,

or separated for a tem'pry time.

We see that you are set to grow us up!

To love like you do. Thus to be sublime-

ly settled, knowing this world can erupt

and still your bigger plan to bring on joy,

and shalom peace (that means to grow and thrive),

will grow in us, as it did in your boy,

until we'll get to where we have arrived ...

right at that place you had in mind for us:

the fullness of the life of Jesus Christ!

We will not go alone. We'll learn to trust!

And let your greater knowledge, well, suffice!

Amen!"

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sick. & sorry.

2 Mate, whom I normally accompany to table-tennis

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I made it through today ok, but now
with coolness in the air, not fair-ing well.
I think I'd better stay, not play, somehow,
- or even go for dinner. Please do tell

them there I'll come as I am able to.
I hope that I'll be ready soon enough.
But mean-while I should use your table to
do practice, for I know I am quite rough!

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Have a good night!

tragic PNG pilgrimage

Mate, just saw on the ABC News-feed something about a pilgrimage going tragic, in PNG (while  celebrating 100 yrs of missionary contact)... You know anything more?

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God please help out, your people who love you,

to model simple trust and dying well,

display the life of Heaven on Earth too,

we know that they will live their tale to tell!

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Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; John 11:25 NIVUK, 

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(the Christ who is) my life is speaking

…Listen to him!

When Christ who is in fact your life itself,

the gate, the path, the true reality,

the pioneer, & doctor bringing health

the source who mediates humanity,

is once again displayed in word & deed,

then you will find your place along with him.

The glory which is so much more than "need"

will multiply around us, not grow dim!

Like Moses & Elijah, we will glow

for having done our job to speak & lead

by actions & creative acts that show

the kind of children God himself would breed.

And though folk may have listened well to us,

& looked where we have pointed with our lives,

we won't want them to read the signs then fuss

about us as if we had sourced the hives

of goodness that abundantly surround 

us we are not the queen bee, but some drones,

or worker bees that serve by flying round,

your plan's prepared abundant stores & homes!

---

Our community retreat hosts!

You two, we thank you for all that you've done,

in making space available to us

to gather, sleep, to eat, think, pray, (with fun,

-  and too, your coffees, where you made a fuss).

A prayer for PM and daughter in another country!

God, please give that there  family your grace
to love and follow through where they are led,
by serendipitous events that trace
your wisdom and your love through golden thread.

Joy...

2PW: Have just finished a short story of 8 little segments, which has been a great joy for me to make. Consider this text a party which I am throwing after having found the lost coin, coin being, finishing something which I had started, which was done for the pure enjoyment from doing something worth doing, as a response to God's great goodness to me for making me for the pure enjoyment of making me.

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PW: Yee Har!

Amen!

And the joy of God seems to be no less pure when it's felt in a human, just because it's bodily, as the Greeks seemed to suppose!

It seems to me that this God has made the whole physical world as a sort of a good metaphore for the deeper spiritual world... A way of extending goodness, through fun, and beauty, and design ...

Yee Har.. 

Wow-wee!

You Bet

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2PW: Yeah! That's true, and I wish to be bold, like jumping out of bed( although it's cold), into a life that gives till there is no more left of mine to give then like a mobile phone, whose battery runs out, has to recharge, perhaps God's left plenty of chargers lying about, plugged in to more joy, fun, and design..

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Oh yeah! That's true, and I wish to be bold, 

like jumping out of bed when it is cold, 

into a life that gives till there's no more 

left in me so to give (& that's no chore!)

for like a mobile phone, I'm not alone.

With battery running out, I will not moan,

but run to my recharger. God's designed

me to give out and be recharged - in time!

And out of it, as well, it just might be,

for when our time is over, just might see.

And many recharge points are in his world

there's hidden power-points around untold.

For part of fun is sometimes finding out

perhaps he's left his chargers all about,

to bring more fun & joy, as we descry

and understand "to fly, we'll have to die"*.

P.W.

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For, as the grub spends time inside it's home,

which is a tight cocoon in which it rolled,

I wonder what it does, cos it's not dead,

perhaps it's spending time with God instead?

And even seeds are not quite dead in ground,

they hold potential life, as we have found:

some plants that weren't there yesterday, now peek.

Some people are transforming as we speak..

C.U.**

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* Thinking of the caterpillar, crawling into it's tomb, to end it's whole life as it has so far been known, trusting the transformative power of it's creator to bring a new expression of it's life into being.  …

** thinking about the story of Curdie where he is able to recognise people by shaking their hands and knowing what type of animal or person they are growing into, or from.

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couples "having kids"..

Some know it as the next challenge in life:

to learn to love, to give themselves away.

In poor soil still there grows some weeds of strife.

Some plants enrich the soil "themselves", I say.

Some couples have seen rightly that their love

is not so rich and verdant as the need.

If no help can ap-pē-ar from above

they're stuffed, and better stop - because of greed.

Their logic is impeccable and true,

they understand that kids need lots of love.

They self assess quite right (I'm like them too).

They make just one mistake. That peaceful dove

is utterly to be relied upon!

It's true, it shows up immaturity, 

but in itself that is no big problem.

For we are in a womb-world, you and me -

our chance to be supported and to grow!

I'm sure that this is true, as I now write,

a foetus here myself, I'm sure it's so!

I'll either learn to trust, or else to bite!

And both impulses I see here in me.

I'm not mature and integrated yet.

I'll either feel embarrassed, so to be,

or else, like little child, I'll just forget

about myself, and look to where I'm from.

The strangest choice of all, to choose my Dad,

a paradox, that been around and on

this Earth from our beginnings. This is "Rad"*!

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*  Rad.; Short slang form of radical (whose etymology takes us back to the "root"  of things).

His adversaries!

Well in they come with meditated swing,

unbeatable to any they've seen yet.

They've thought of ev'ry stroke, and ev'rything

that he could counter with. They've placed their bets.

They're confident that they will shame his face,

they've picked their topic, timing, and the folk

who'll see them, and they've also picked their place,

and now they'll watch him squirm, this Jesus bloke.

So in they come, with question put just right,

to force him to give answer where none could.

At least he will be shamed. What a good fight!

And ev'ryone will see just who is "good"!

...

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Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. ‘By what authority are you doing these things?’ they asked. ‘And who gave you this authority?’  Jesus replied, ‘I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism – where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?’ They discussed it among themselves and said, ‘If we say, “From heaven”, he will ask, “Then why didn’t you believe him?” But if we say, “Of human origin” – we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.’  So they answered Jesus, ‘We don’t know.’ Then he said, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. Matthew 21:23‭-‬27 NIVUK

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the poll-tax to Caesar or not?’  But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, ‘You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.’ They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, ‘Whose image is this? And whose inscription?’ ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied. Then he said to them, ‘So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’ When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.  That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died. Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?’  Jesus replied, ‘You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead – have you not read what God said to you, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” ? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.’ When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching. Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’  Jesus replied: ‘ “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’ While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, ‘What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?’ ‘The son of David,’ they replied. He said to them, ‘How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him “Lord”? For he says, ‘ “The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.’ ” If then David calls him “Lord”, how can he be his son?’  No-one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no-one dared to ask him any more questions. Matthew 22:15‭-‬46 NIVUK

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