Encounters with Australian Birds Episode 2: Apostle Birds

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Encounters with Australian Birds Series

"A Preacher's Progress"--Roy Raymond

Roy Raymond was a pioneering Churches of Christ Pastor.

He was the father and father in law of our late friends Patricia and Ira Raymod.

His remarkable story is told in his autobiography.

You can read it at the link below.


https://webfiles.acu.edu/departments/Library/HR/restmov_nov11/www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/rraymond/app/APP.HTM

"His Call" by Patricia Raymond

Patricia Raymond was a wonderful older friend of ours, as was her husband Ira Raymond.
We were honoured to be appointed their "guardians" while they were alive.

Patricia died in 2011.

A lovely person who was one of the most diligent letter writers and gift givers you would ever meet.

She was well known in her local community. She reached out to all in her gentle and humble way.

She would travel by public transport and foot all over Adelaide to visit people and give cards and gifts of flowers.

A person who reflected the love of God but who herself battled through her life in her own health both physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Yet her niece summed her up in the eulogy on that day.

“Maintaining her absolutely vital interest in the lives of others, right to the end.

Remembering pertinent details and asking in depth about what was happening in others lives and being genuinely engaged in every conversation.

That ever present gorgeous sparkle of life and love in her eyes.

You felt you were the centre of her very universe.”

This poem,written by Patricia, was read out on the day that is a wonderful testimony to faith in God.

            His Call

Outdoors, the scene was bleak and dreary.
Indoors,anxious and fearful of the day,
Restlessly I turned pages, read verses.I found myself in a market-place.
A flute was playing,
The clouds had lifted, the air shimmered.
A a flute,His flute was playing for me.

The music,pure and peaceful,drew me nearer.
Its vibrant notes sang of joy and bounty and light.
insecure,imprisoned in myself,
All my yearnings, all my aspirations welled up.
The radiant grace of God opened my heart:
The sweetness and the warmth flooded in.
The flute,His flute was playing for me.

He calls me to come and follow Him, the prince of life.
He calls me from fear into the courage of faith.
He calls me from sin's trammels into the freedom of love.
He calls me from estrangement into the family of God.
He calls me from my sickness into the health of peace.
In my Saviour's plenitude of grace
The Flute, His flute, is playing for me.

Patricia Raymond  1928-2011

Is God calling for you?

Have you responded to His call?

Are we going on with Jesus? Oswald Chambers

Here is today's reading from My utmost for His Highest.

Make it a habit to read My utmost for His Highest daily.

Are You Going on With Jesus?

By Oswald Chambers

You are those who have continued with Me in My trials. —Luke 22:28

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It is true that Jesus Christ is with us through our temptations, but are we going on with Him through His temptations? Many of us turn back from going on with Jesus from the very moment we have an experience of what He can do. Watch when God changes your circumstances to see whether you are going on with Jesus, or siding with the world, the flesh, and the devil. We wear His name, but are we going on with Him? “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more” (John 6:66).
The temptations of Jesus continued throughout His earthly life, and they will continue throughout the life of the Son of God in us. Are we going on with Jesus in the life we are living right now?
We have the idea that we ought to shield ourselves from some of the things God brings around us. May it never be! It is God who engineers our circumstances, and whatever they may be we must see that we face them while continually abiding with Him in His temptations. They are His temptations, not temptations to us, but temptations to the life of the Son of God in us. Jesus Christ’s honor is at stake in our bodily lives. Are we remaining faithful to the Son of God in everything that attacks His life in us?
Are you going on with Jesus? The way goes through Gethsemane, through the city gate, and on “outside the camp” (Hebrews 13:13). The way is lonely and goes on until there is no longer even a trace of a footprint to follow— but only the voice saying, “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19).

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Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

A fanatic is one who entrenches himself in invincible ignorance. Baffled to Fight Better, 59 R

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What about forgiveness?

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Walking in the light.

 Today I had the privilege of leading the worship at the Parkrose Village United Church. Lesley played the piano.

The theme was on forgiveness from a very challenging passage in Matthew 18. Look up the various translations on the Bible Gateway website.

Here is the order of service.

Welcome and Opening Prayer

Hymn: “God of Mercy,God of Grace” 218 3v

Announcements: Geoff

Bible reading: Matthew 18:21-35Living Bible (TLB) Pat

Hymn: “Here at thy Table Lord” 238 4v

Communion:

Offering: 

Church Prayer: Geoff. (Include the Lord’s Prayer)

Hymn:”Open my eyes Lord” 172 4v 

Sermon: “What about forgiveness?”  Geoff 

Hymn: “God forgave my sin” 3 verses.

Benediction and Vesper:  Now unto Him

Here is the sermon outline which had a few off the cuff remarks added as we went.  

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Sermon:

What price forgiveness?

Or What about forgiveness?

This passage we had read today is one of the most challenging in the New Testament.

Many seemingly fine Christians find it a great stumbling block.

It seems a very hard teaching.

Let’s talk about forgiveness.

You might know someone who has been seriously hurt by someone else’s behavior.

It may even be you, or me.

This has been a serious hurt and very wrong.

It might be a sudden action,

 a one off,

or it might be something that happened over many years.

How do we deal with it?

When we read todays reading it is obvious as Christians we need to forgive those who have wronged us.

For us to go up to someone and say you should forgive  that person,

for what they did to you,

 while it might be well intentioned,

it can be met with a very painful reaction.

You might be met with the retort;

“Why should I?

“Why should I forgive?”

Not after what they have done to me or my family!”

The person reacting like this obviously is suffering from very painful memories and sometimes physical scars of what has been done to them.

Some might say I know I have to forgive but I can’t.

 It was too bad!

 what was done!

to me!

I was hurt so much!

In any case I can’t forgive until I feel I can!

And I can’t forgive until I see justice served.

Until I get my revenge!

So if it is so hard for people to do this what is the consequences of our unforgiveness?

Before we tackle that let’s get back to our own forgiveness by God.

Was it because He loves us?

Yes it is.

He does love us,

 but not because we are good people worthy of His love.

Our forgiveness is not based on any good qualities He sees in us!

His love for us is unconditional.

His forgiveness is the result of His sacrifice for us,

His death on the cross,

In reality we are no better than anyone else.

It is only through God’s providence,

 and how we have been blessed,

that we have not committed the horrible things that others do.

Given the same  circumstances, we are quite capable of the same evil.

If we think we are above others we are fooling ourselves.

We don’t understand the Gospel.

The consequences of our un-forgivness of others are many.

Unforgiveness in our hearts can cause us:

 to lose sleep.

to become emotionally crippled and withdrawn,

to always be full of anger,

to have a short fuse,

to be super critical and judgemental of everyone,

to be full of fear,

to never have any joy,

to have all sorts of pyschosomatic illnesses,

like ulcers and other things,

and the list can go on and on.

Our unforgiveness will cut us off from really knowing the peace and fellowship of God.

That’s why our passage today tells us we should forgive 70x7.

So, two things to ponder!

1.  Our lack of forgiveness is sin.

God clearly requires us to forgive when we read the scriptures.

What caused our distress in the first place was likely the sin of someone else.

We don’t have to say “well that person was quite ok to do what they did!”

We don’t have to feel love for them before we exercise our forgiveness.

Forgiveness is an act of the will.

It is not a feeling!

We use our will power to forgive and ask God to help us with that.

If we are walking in the Light, as He is in the Light, continuing in unforgivness is not an optional extra.

The passage read to us today is very severe in it’s consequences.

I don’t think it is saying we lose our salvation if we don’t forgive others, but it is saying our unforgiveness will cause us a lifetime of grief.

The second thing to ponder.

2.Healing from the effect of other people’s sin.

Healing from all these consequences will often only come about as we forgive the perpetrators but also as we ask Jesus to heal our many unhappy memories.  

Often we have things deep down that we have suppressed.

Hurts that we have suffered even as little children.

 We are not necessarily conscious of them.

We just know things aren’t right.

We can ask Jesus through His Holy Spirit to heal us of these unhappy memories.

In summary,

 if we truly forgive others,

 from our hearts,

it will be,

 that for those we have forgiven,

 they will sense a change in us, if we are still in contact.

Often the person who has wronged us is full of guilt themselves .

It is important that we know how to forgive ourselves,

 but also how wonderful when the person we have wronged forgives us.

How wonderful is reconciliation with someone when it really takes place.

The disciples of Jesus remonstrated  with Jesus over Mary, the prostitute, who anointed Him with expensive perfume.

Jesus told them “Where much has been forgiven, the same shall love so much.”

Folks we are so blessed to have received the Grace of God.

To know God’s forgiveness.

One of the statements I hear often these days, and you do to, is when someone being interviewed on TV, often after a court case says “well now we might have some “closure”.

They know in reality that there is not closure even when justice seemingly has been served.

The wrong that has been done is still not healed,

The only true statement and act of “closure” was by Jesus on the cross.

He said. “It is finished!”

The reason He came to earth was accomplished.

He had finished His work so that His cross could become active in our lives.

The work of reconciliation and forgiveness and healing.

I close with a reasonably well known story of Corrie Ten Boom.

Corrie and her family were locked up in a prison camp in the second world war.

It was one of those places where many Jews and their supporters were murdered in the gas chambers.

Corrie and her family were imprisoned there because thay had been hiding Jewish people in their house in Holland.

The Ten Booms were a fine Christian family.

Corrie was the only one who was released eventually from the prison.

The only one of her family.

While in the prison Corrie and her family were treated very badly and she witnessed her sister, on one occasion, being badly beaten by one of the guards.

After the war Corrie became a Christian author and travelled around the world conducting Christian meetings throughout Europe.

At one of these meetings she was approached afterwards by a man who said this to her.

“Frauline, I was a guard in your prison, I am a Christian now. Will you please forgive me?

He extended his hand to her.

Corrie immediately recognized him as the man who had cruelly beaten her sister.

Her memories and image of her sister suffering at the hands of this man came flooding back.

She thought how can I possibly do this?

She thought I can’t,

Look what he did to Betsy,

but she knew she had to forgive him as a Christian.

She asked God to give her the power to take his hand.

She grasped his hand in forgiveness.

She said she felt a current of love run through from her head to her toes as she did this.

You can imagine what this meant to this contrite man.

I am going to pray now and ask God to help us, if we are harboring unforgiveness, to really forgive from the heart.

We will thank Him for our own forgiveness,

 that we don’t deserve,

that was bought for us on the cross.

 We will ask Jesus to heal our often damaged emotions that might be buried deep down.

Shall we pray?

Are you ignoring the warning signs?

Our world is in both moral and political upheaval at present.

It has been for some time.

It might not be of much interest to people who don't believe the Bible.

It was not of much interest when Noah built an ark.

Judgement came on an unrepentant world in the form of the great worldwide flood.

As a result of this God decreed He would never again destroy the world by flood.

He put the rainbow in the sky as a promise of this.

Genesis 9

⁸ And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
⁹ And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
¹⁰ And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
¹¹ And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
¹² And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
¹³ I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
¹⁴ And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
¹⁵ And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
¹⁶ And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
¹⁷ And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

Note now the symbol of the rainbow has been hijacked to mean something not even close to the covenant God has made with His people.

Ignoring God's warnings and twisting of His truth is really fore-shadowed in the following passages.

We ignore these warnings as nations and as individuals at our peril.

Matthew 24King James Version (KJV)

24 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.

² And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
³ And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
⁴ And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
⁵ For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
⁶ And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
⁷ For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows.
⁹ Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
¹⁰ And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
¹¹ And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
¹² And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
¹³ But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
¹⁵ When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
¹⁶ Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
¹⁷ Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
¹⁸ Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
¹⁹ And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
²⁰ But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
²¹ For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
²² And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
²³ Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
²⁴ For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
²⁵ Behold, I have told you before.
²⁶ Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
²⁷ For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
²⁸ For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
²⁹ Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
³⁰ And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
³¹ And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
³² Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
³³ So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
³⁴ Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
³⁵ Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
³⁶ But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
³⁷ But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
³⁸ For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
³⁹ And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
⁴⁰ Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
⁴¹ Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
⁴² Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
⁴³ But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
⁴⁴ Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
⁴⁵ Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
⁴⁶ Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
⁴⁷ Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
⁴⁸ But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
⁴⁹ And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
⁵⁰ The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
⁵¹ And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

King James Version (KJV) Public Domain

Retiring with a Camera

I have been retired from the paid work force for nearly 7 years now.

Many people when approaching retirement do so with some apprehension.

Will I be able to afford a reasonable lifestyle?

Will my health hold out?

How long will I live?

What will I do?

You often hear people say I don’t know how I had time to go to work as I am so busy now.

That can be the case for many who have  many interests outside of their jobs that make for an easy transition into retirement.

That can be many things such as gardening,woodworking,visiting ,coffee with friends,voluntary work,babysitting grandchildren, travel and the list is as long as you want it to be.

Some people though do not have a lot of outside interests and do struggle.

Their jobs have been all consuming and is where their identity has been focused.

On retirement though, what do people  say to someone when they meet you, and they ask what you do.

If you are retired they will ask you what you did but then move on to ”so how do you spend your time?”

I was fortunate that while in the workforce for many years I had other interests and avocations that sometimes complemented my real job but not always.

It can be frustrating when you might be put off or “let go” from a job.

If you are older some people presume you are in early retirement mode and can take advantage of that.

Not so when the bills are mounting up!

For me photography was going to be a natural for me to pursue in retirement as I have been doing it for years.

My life is pretty full in retirement with family, church activities,photography,blogging, meeting friends for coffee etc.

I don’t do anywhere enough around the house that I should so I still need to work on that “retirement life balance.”

For those who are getting near retirement or have and are struggling to find an interest I would like to suggest taking up photography.

I learnt years ago that photography can be used to complement almost any other interest you have.

It is a great tool for documenting things.

It is also a great creative outlet for those of us who are too impatient to create “real art” with a paint brush or sketch pad.

There has never been a better time “to get into photography”.

You can take photos on your phone for a start.

You can progress to a digital camera and even still use film cameras if you like.

If you want to have maximum fun you will probably need to learn a bit about computers if you are not computer literate but that is not a bad thing and will be helpful.

Notwithstanding that you can still have much fun with your pictures and cameras and let others process and print your photos.

You might say to me “well I am not able to get around much anymore” “I have some disabilities” .

Well this may be a problem but there are people in wheel chairs who do Photography, there are people who are blind who do photography, there are people with Parkinson’s Disease who do photography.

Slide form a camping weekend in the Northern Territory 1970

An over 65 class of photography students

Central Australia is a great place to holiday and do photography.The Breakaways near Coober Pedy.

The open road. You can take many such pics from the passenger seat.

Why not visit a Tram Museum

Sydney Harbour has images everywhere

The romance of the Kombi Wagon

Parkinsons Photography Group on an outing

Walking in the hills near Broken Hill,NSW.

You can even do photography while watching TV.

Such is the quality of television and digital cameras these days you can actually take photographs of what’s on your screen from your lounge chair.

I actually took pics of William and Kate’s wedding from my tv.

I sometimes suggest to people that they practise “capturing the action” while watching sports broadcasts.

So that is my suggestion.

Retire with a camera.

Even better if your life partner joins you in this.

If you live in Adelaide I am happy to train people one on one or in small groups.

I have done this for many years.

On the other hand you can learn much from the internet and your family members.

Happy snapping!

Flavours of the Riverland-The Home of Backyard Bread

This last weekend we were in "Granmark" as our Granddaughter calls Renmark.

We spent a few days there and went for a drive on Saturday afternoon.

We came across a fairly new business called "Backyard Bread" in Barmera.

The Riverland is renowned for it's produce both fruit and veggies, and wine, and many other attractions.

This business is owned and managed by a wonderful couple,Peter and Colleen, who started this up from scratch.

An idea that became real.

It is a cafe with great country atmosphere and hospitality.

Great produce to sample and take home.

I have enclosed some pics and a link to their website.

http://www.backyardbread.com.au/

If you are in the area call in for a very relaxing "cuppa" and see what catches your eye to take home.

Here is a link to their facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/Flavours-of-the-Riverland-Home-of-Backyard-Bread-1542021289359618/

Hostess Colleen