Stars and icicles. Taken by Linds from our apartment deck...brrrr it's cold. 

Isn't this a great picture of me and Linds, it was taken by the very talented Mrs Allison Longueil. 

How has this happened???

I am writing this trying to be calm and write this clearly, I hope I manage to convey my feelings properly.

I have just been checking news on the BBC website, I like to keep up with home life. And one of the subjects was the division caused in the world wide Anglican church because of the US church's Bishop-elect Gene Robinson, who is a practicing homosexual.

Now before I have people yelling I want to make sure that people know where I stand. I have/ had gay/lesbian friends, I viewed them the same way I view everyone else, no-one is perfect. I know that all sin is detestable to God, whether it be lying, murder, lust, adultery....it all hurts Him.

But, I do feel that there needs to be some standards when picking our leaders, like accountability, like openness to their sin, and a want to change. I would feel the same way if a compulsive liar was asked in to leadership, or someone who lived with their partner without being married, or someone known to be violent, if any of these people were in leadership and were not repentant and seeking the Lord I would have HUGE issues. Why then is this different? Why is it that people in the US episcople church feel that they can ignore Gods word, I find it offensive that Gene Robinson said "You can't elevate a piece of historical scripture to give it a modern significance it does not have," he said. "The Bible is the story written by us about our love affair with God," he said.

I believe the Bible is the Word of God, I truly believe that it is the guidelines of how to live my life, and I really try hard to live by it. I believe that when you fall in love with Jesus you want to change. That through the growing friendship with Him, you have a desire to get rid of all things that hinder that friendship, and the Bible clearly states those hinderances. It makes me sad that this is happening in our world wide church, not only that the Bible is being ignored or twisted, but that it is causing so much anger and hurt. I am praying that God shows me His heart on this subject, I am praying that any anger that is felt is a righteous anger. I am also praying that we would unite as a church and deal with this issue, with Jesus as our judge, not ourselves.

I do believe that the Bible is the our guidelines, but I am also very aware of God's views on not judging others....so how do we deal with this?

Any comments would be welcome.

Thanksgiving

We had a very nice weekend. Friday night was Snr High, then I went out with some of the other leaders while Linds went and played hockey. Saturday was nice and lazy, and I went to a girls night at the Enns house and watched 'Girls just want to have fun' featuring a very young SJP and Helen Hunt. Sunday we went for lunch after church with Linds parents and had friends over in the evening to play games (I think Kristen is addicted to Uno Extreme now). It was Thanksgiving yesterday (Monday) so it was a bank holiday, and we went over to Marlene and Peter's for a turkey roast, which was delicious. It was a fun, sociable weekend, now I just need another rest.

A lesson finally learnt

My family are all musical, all of us. We all can sing, but everyone else seems to have found the instrument for them. Dad can play the organ, Mum the piano and a little violin, Sue is great at both piano and violin, my bro his tuba. Me, I could never find my niche, I tried recorder, piano, violin and percussion, nothing really stuck.

I remember the percussion lesson that was the last straw for that passion. The teacher was trying to get me to 'ad lib' after only having had lessons for a couple of monthes...I just couldn't do it, I didn't have that kind of imagination, but he made me feel like I just wasn't trying. Now I'm not just trying to excuse the fact I quit, I was lazy when it came to practise, but I really don't have that kind of imagination to just ad lib on the drums.

I was thinking about it this evening, and whenever I think about it I always feel guilty and worthless...I'm so stupid, lazy yada yada yada how come my siblings are so good at what they do, it's not fair, I want to be outstanding in something Lord grouch grouch grouch. But something from last weekend came in to my head, He didn't give me those gifts, He gave them to my siblings and it's NONE OF MY BUSINESS. He gives us what we need for our purpose, we shouldn't be envious of what He gives to others, we should just be grateful for what He has given us. I'm left wondering why it seems to take me so long to get this stuff, I'm just very grateful that He is patient!

Womens retreat

I had such a good weekend. The womens retreat went really well, 20 women of various ages worshipping, chatting, having fun, learning from the Word of God, sharing experiances. It was AWESOME! I love spending time with the older women, they have experianced so much (and have some top class funny stories) It was a little chilly, but the scenery was beautiful with all the trees in various autumnal colours. Some of us 'young 'uns' stayed up late chatting, it was great.

What was really great was how everything just fell in to place, I love how God puts things in to place, as long as you trust him, I love how faithful He is, such a good reminder that He is far better at knowing what is good for us.

The weekend was called 'Beauty tips for the heart'. We had a really great speaker who talked about beauty being a by product of love, and how we become more beautiful as we receive and respond to God's love. One of the best tips she spoke about was 'Practicing the presence of God', I can't remember which book she took this from, but it is all about taking time throughout your day to remember that God is with you and really appreciate His presence, doing this at regular intervals more and more frequently leads to you actually being more aware of Him, more conscience of Him. I spent today reminding myself of His presence a LOT, and it really worked, I felt closer to Him, more in control of my emotions, more at peace....I love my Lord, He is so faithful!!!!