BLOG FEB 16 09 - Hedged In???

I had a bit of a strange week ... have been focusing since coming back from holidays on 4 things - rest, peace, slow down, engage - saying it to myself over & over, almost like a mantra (or a meditation, don't freak on me now) - & last week it seemed that no matter what I attempted to do i felt my rest, peace, slowing down & engaging to be slipping like water down a slide.

Why???? I'm not sure - work got a little fuller & some last minute stuff, but that's nothing new, family were pretty crazy & tired, but just being kids u know ... (after our boy almost getting his hand bitten off by a baby Alligator on holiday & surviving he has returned with a new found determination to beat the tripe out of most things that move .. especially boys his age - help us Jesus :) Sometimes in life we know the right way to respond real well - as we r responding in the complete opposite way - last week, that was me! It's these times when I go "There r still parts of me that r so ugly!!" My wife thought I was having my time of the month :) - if u know my wife u know that isn't surprising! It was like for some moments I was an annoyed teenager!

So as I'm trying to figure all this out (which probably wasn't smart either) I eventually had the phrase come to me through something I read "You're being hedged in". Hedged In - not a normal saying I know but this is what it was kind of saying to me

"ARAN - the things that r coming out of u, that u don't like, those adolescent things - they r like weeds - weeds of incorrect thinking, incorrect issues of the soul that have been there most of your life, that are now coming to the surface to be rooted out & weeded out - just STAY where ur, keep living life, keep managing what u need to manage while I (GOD) hedge you in, so u can't go anywhere except wait & endure while I weed out that which has been deeply rooted in u in order to replace it with new seed that will EVENTUALLY produce new fruit in days to come - fruit that will feed OTHERS."

Maybe u feel hedged in too - that u have tried & tried but nothing u can do can get u out of your present living situation & issues of the soul - maybe just maybe the hedge is actually a help, a protection not a hindrance while the Gardener goes to work uprooting those weeds that always seem to come back ... the hedge means that no one can see the work that's being done until they come into the yard of our lives & get to see the difference of our garden - from old weeds to new seeds! God only hides us to heal us!!!

TILL NEXT MONDAY

FEB 9 BLOG - AUSTRALIA - AN AMAZING PLACE!!!

I'm pretty glued to the TV right now ... like most people I suppose - I've never really known much about Victoria - I've lived in NSW & Queensland - thought Victoria was AFL land & I've never got into AFL! Also thought their State government was ... well anyway!

But watching what has unfolded the last 48 hours in Rural Victoria - watching the people - in a disaster worse than the Bali Bombings, than many things that get world coverage - watching ordinary people act, love & respond in extraordinary ways - I've got to say - There's something special about OUR country - yep OUR means MY! Now all my New Zealand brothers & sisters please don't kill me or call me traitor - i still love my country, my homeland, my people, my food, I still support NZ in all sports - but Australia is also MY COUNTRY! I love this land & I love it's people.

God has placed the most amazing people in a most amazing culture in The Great Southland! Really ordinary people live in Australia, really real people - they can smell a fake a mile off.

I am a part of a local Church & their generosity is something else. For example, each year our people give a lot to help people that need a lot of help. Put this in perspective - when the Tsunami happened our Church gave amounts that were close to surpassing some of the biggest multi-billion dollar companies, please don't believe the reports u may read about certain Churches (like ours) - instead go talk to the people at the Detention Centres, prisons, orphans & widows in nations all around the world - the people in the cities, the suburbs, the outback - the real people with a real perspective.

But it's not just the Church - there is a generosity in most Australians which is simply astounding - $7 Million dollars has been given by our country to the wonderful people in Victoria who have fought the fire to stay alive - FOUGHT, oh man that's an understatement: A Mother & her 2 daughters, hiding in a wombats hole covered in wet sheets & blankets!!! - What a country, ordinary people - fighters, givers - even the media & Politicians - people we normally reserve judgment for are allowing themselves to be moved in ways not seen before!

Wherever ur right now - Australia, New Zealand, America, Uganda, England, Korea, Malaysia - God has placed us where we r NOT to be Superstars but to be met by Him & from knowing him that we would love in extraordinary ways - love God, love people, love living - cos we just don't know when TODAY may be our LAST Day

P.S - Advance Australia Fair!!!

TILL NEXT MONDAY

February 2 BLOG - A New Day

Hey Everyone ... so after having a magnificent holiday on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland ("QUEENSLANDER!" - A cry given to amp up the best State of Origin team in Australia :) my family & I are back into life & it has been a wonderful start to the year because - by God's Grace I am finding myself living in ... TODAY! I've actually always lived in "Today" whatever day that was but I am starting to REALLY LIVE in TODAY!

Have done some pretty big things for me this year in order to see freshness & difference in my life ... things like ... building my relationship with God in a pretty different way ... involves a lot more rest, less structure, greater reliance & more romance (yes Romance!) - starting to not do things because I SHOULD do but because i WANT to - not selfishly but from a place of Love & Care from god & 4 others.

God's love oh man! HE LOVES US!!! He Love U! No matter where your life is at today - today is a new day & today can bring change you've always wanted & some u never knew u wanted, if just 4a bit today u can stop & think - GOD LOVES ME! God loves the me I am now & not just the me I want to be! He loves the broken me, the happy me, the sad me, the joyful me, the stressed me, the procrastinating me, the confused me, the backslidden me, the tormented me - HE LOVES ME! & it's HIM & His love that is fiercely committed to bring me to a place that KNOWS He loves Me - where life changes forever!

This blog won't be long as I'm about to go to take my kids to swimming lessons (Jiana's 1st one) - but I pray that for YOU that TODAY would be experienced as a new day, not a wasted day or an undervalued day but a NEW day filled with opportunity to live life & know Jesus! Give time for the people u love - it is the very best!!!

MUCH LOVE EVERYONE - TILL NEXT MONDAY!!!