thank God for the salvo's

the title is a phrase that is often used in Aus. in Canada, people wouldn't know who the salvo's are. however the term came about - and i am guessing it's due to the fact the aussies love to shorten everything - it's a term i love and miss.

anyway, each morning before we open up the cafe and community ministries, we have morning devotions to which anyone and everyone is invited. different staff from both the corps and community ministries take turns at leading. it usually consists of a reading or story, scripture and prayer. during prayer, we always open it up for anyone to make prayer requests and time to make requests for prayers of thanks. this morning, one of the guys who has appeared more and more regularly recently spoke up when it was time for prayers of thanks, he said 'i want to thank God for the Salvation Army, if we didn't have them, who else would we have'.

i was proud when i heard this, and i gave thanks to God for this man. i thanked God that we are doing the work he called us to do. now, i know we are not the only people our friend can come to for help when he needs it, but i am thankful that he does come to us, so that we may have the chance to share Christ with him, which would not happen at all the places he could go to for help. the key here is that we offer (and we need to make sure we do) more than just the items and assistance that would meet his physical needs. we need to make sure we also offer him the way, the truth and the life.

thank God for the salvo's who are doing the work God called us to.

the mysterious disease

so i awoke on monday morning only to head off to emergency, with my husband, as i had devleoped overnight some strange infection which we seen to be quickly spreading over my arm. i am doing ok now, don't feel sick, the redness is slowly disappearing and the swelling gone. i saw two doctors, 3 nurses and a medical student over two visits to the hopsital, yet i still don't know what is wrong (obviously, neither did they) but the antibiotics are working anyway. woo hoo. but every couple of hours i keep re-checking to see how it's going.

it's funny isn't it, how quickly things creep up on us and can suddenly have a huge impact on our lives and the way we are living. things sneak in, then, bam, are completely affecting how we live, look at life, treat others, etc.

i have never really been one who got into self reflection, but these days, i try to do it more and more as i have been learning what a valuable tool it can be.

got any strange mysterious infections/diseases that are creeping up on you - my advice - treat them as soon as possible. and do regular check ups.

my newest favourite scripture

1 John 2:3,4,5,6 (p.s. so easy to memorise)
3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

i came across these verses the other day in my devotions. i can't escape them. they are simple and yet so very powerful. verse 6 is my fav (hence the bold). if we claim to be Christians we must walk as Jesus did.

i get tired of Christians without perseverance. i get tired of Christians without discipline. i get tired of Christians without initiative. i get tired of Christians without commitment. i get tired of Christians without passion. i get sick when i think of Christians without mercy.

Jesus perseveres, Jesus is disciplined, Jesus initiates, Jesus is committed, Jesus is passion, Jesus shows ultimate mercy.

i must walk as he did.

facebook. you gotta love it.

even my mum and dad are on facebook now. is facebook taking over the world???

r-e-s-p-e-c-t

do you want to find out what it means to me? read on.

respect's a funny one.

some people deserve it, get it, but never command it.
some people derserve it, command it, but never get it.

there are some situations which require it. there are some situations which cause people to lose it. there are some situations where it should be given but is not till too late.

it can't be bought (unless perhaps by people who don't really understand it's true value). it can be found. it can't be forced. it can be renewed.

what a funny thing respect is.

the lifestyle that Jesus lived, while most certainly deserving of all the respect we could ever give, was not really respected by many. there were leaders of the day who never gave him any. some gave and took it away (and probably gave and took it away again). there were only a faithful, who still didn't really always understand what he was on about, who stuck with him.

is a lack of respect becoming more and more fashionable? i have started to feel, let's say, more advanced in maturity recently, when looking at situations which i think, even just 10 years ago would have happened very differently. is the world changing, or it is just how i am seeing it changing? am i expecting too much? hmmmm.

what scares more crap out of you?

yesterday i was involved in a discussion about evangelism. a comment was made 'speaking to someone about Jesus scares the crap out of me', the response 'does people going to hell scare the crap out of you?'.

it comes down to a decision about which scares the more crap out of you.

take it away keith...

good one.

i stole this from a friend's blog. had to post it myself. watch.

72nd

so i ran the toronto half marathon yesterday. in my category (25-29 women) i came in 72nd (out of 361). overall, i came in 1198th out of 3494 that finished. not too bad.

i did 1 hr 53. i am ok with that. when i first started training, my original goal was to try and run it in 1hr 45. but training did not go as planned, things like getting married, etc, got in the way. so i will be content with my 1.53. for now...

now i am pumped to run a full one. i have been meaning to for ages, but never got around to it. but now is the time!!! i just have to find the right race in the right place to run. i am excited.

i am also pumped because my great friends, merf and rick, had a little baby girl on sat (well it was friday here, but sat back home). welcome to the world Harriett. i can't wait to meet her. whenever that will be. what a precious little girl she is.

Catherine Mumford Booth - Top 5 for sure

After two recent conversations, I was lead to find an article written by Catherine Mumford Booth called Female Ministry; or, Woman's Right to Preach the Gospel (it was also titled Female Teaching at one point).

I will not go into details about the article (it doesn't take a genius to figure out the topic), but I will say this. As a female Salvationist, Catherine Mumford Booth has to make my all time top 5 hero list. I would hope that any female Salvationist would agree. And even the male ones too. If this is not the case, I'd have to reason that it's because you don't know enough about her! Go find out. She was a strong strong woman of God. Quite an incredible woman. Also, of course, a wife and a mother.

I love Catherine.

i'm married now

ok, so i have been slack for the last little while (i think deservedly so) on the blogging front. but please, do not be disheartened. i will be blogging again. just trying to get back into life now i am back at work and married and living in a new place, blah blah blah. it's all very exciting. here are some snippets to keep you going till i really get back into it

- the wedding was A LOT of fun. for me. i had a great day. will post photos soon.

- i am running my half marathon this sunday

- darren is coming to visit TOMORROW

- i am changing my surname to KEAN

- matt and i got a new computer (laptop) yesterday (his old one busted just before the wedding)

love you all. will blog very soon...