Mareeba

It's the winter school holidays, so, as we haven't been away for a long time, (not including our 'holiday' in Brisbane) we decided to have a few days in Mareeba staying in a colleagues house.

The kids enjoyed the animals, particularly the dog and the chickens. Ruben loves getting up early and 'hanging out with the chickens' as he calls it. Not sure that the chickens feel the same way!

We did a long hike up a hill and rewarded ourselves with diabetes in a jar. Not the actual name obviously. Bethany said it was the best cafe she had ever been too!

Daniel loved it too!

Ruben turns 6

Ruben turned 6 last week. He had been planning his 'shark' birthday for almost a year. Cairns has helpfully opened an aquarium in the last year to coincide with the event. It is not a cheap place to visit, so it ended up being just our family.  Tempting as it was to sleep with the sharks, at $199 per adult and $149 per child with a minimum of 20 guests, we'll float that experience until we are a lot richer!

.

Joshua decorated loads of balloons

Two boys snacking at the aquarium

Oceans

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy9nwe9_xzw

I was listening to the song, ‘Oceans’, by Hillsong today. Loved and listened to by churches all over the world, it’s a great song. Somehow we always seem to be able to relate well to all the water references in worship songs!

While Joshua was in hospital we had a line from the song stuck up on the wall, “Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders”. That’s a powerful line, but for me it’s a hard one. I want to trust, but honestly, I want some borders. Maybe I’m not actually verbalising it, but I am sure when I pray for more trust and faith, what I am actually saying is, I want to learn to trust you Lord, but please don’t let anything happen to the kids. Please give me more faith, but please don’t let anything happen to me. Maybe something small and manageable, no death, dying and illness and definitely not too much suffering. Definitely not childhood cancer. Am I brave enough to pray, “Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders”?

Fortunately, although we are called to trust without borders, God has clear boundaries. Jeremiah 5 v 22 says, “I, the Lord, define the ocean’s sandy shoreline as an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross. The waves may toss and roar, but they can never pass the boundaries I set." We may feel in the midst of tossing and rolling, not always a comfortable place to be, but at the same time we can know that what may feel chaotic and out of control, is still clearly within God’s control.

Another line struck me today. “Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander”. Although we know we have a deeper intimacy and experience of God in pain and suffering - which we feel we lose to some degree in the ‘good’ times, we would never choose the suffering. My feet never willingly ‘wander’ into deep waters.

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Romans 8 v 28. He causes everything to work together, not just the big things or the hardest things or the ‘things’ of certain people, everything. Sometimes it’s hard to understand how this can possibly work, suffering often seems wasteful and pointless from our perspective. I guess we catch a glimpse of God ‘working it together for our good’, when, from our suffering, comes a deeper experience of him.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Caleb won a colouring competition and got free tickets to go and see the new Incredible's movie. The promotions for 'the Meg' proved to be even more entertaining. 

Vision Christian Radio

I'm am sure you have similar things where you are, but just for those who are interested, this is a fantastic radio station.

You can listen to it live online or for those of you in the wrong time zone you can easily replay radio programs.

I thought of it today because I was listening to Elizabeth Kendell, a religious liberty analyst, talking about the Trump - Kim Jong Un Summit. For those of you interested in those kinds of things it's worth listening to. The program '20 Twenty' discusses lots of current political issues from a Biblical perspective. In these days of fake news, it always worth listening to another viewpoint, plus it makes the cleaning more interesting!! ( I listen while I clean).

The website is: vision.org.au

or to listen to Elizabeth Kendell go to  vision.org.au/radio/20twenty-podcasts and look for the podcast from the 13th June 2018.

Or look around the website for other things that interest you. There is even a talk about Fortnite. Parents of teenage boys will know what that is! Another guy I really recommend on Vision is an American preacher called Jeff Vines. Hope this is useful for somebody. Happy listening!

Fishing

Some of us quite enjoy fishing, although we aren't very good at it. We went a couple of weeks ago and caught nothing, but the people next to us caught a stingray. They were talking about making soup, but in the end, they threw it back. I I think if we are to improve, we need to take it a bit more seriously, using live bait for starters.

Update continued

A few photos taken on walks around Cairns. We are blessed to live in a place where there are beautiful view wherever you look!

Walking along the Esplanade last Friday evening.

Copperlode dam, where Daniel likes to go for his retreat days!

Sunset from our house. God produces a masterpiece every morning and evening and sometimes a bonus rainbow!

Walking the 'Yellow Arrow', a hiking path in Cairns.

View from Glacier Peak, another hiking trail.

 'The fields are ripe for the harvest.' Sugarcane near school.

Near another walking path.