Marsha's Blog

So I'm happy to say we've just about completely recovered from Cyclone Alfred we had a few weeks ago.   Repairs are being made, roads are open and for the most part there is food on the shelves.  All the studies and events we enjoy are beginning to be happening again. Several of our friends went 9 days with no electricity.  Who knew that the Eucalyptus tree that Australia is famous for has a root system of about 11 inches deep?!  I could probably write a whole blog about that.  And, "Surfers Paradise", our world renowned beach, has no sand, but they say it'll come back. And on another positive note, I’ve had some 'extra' time when everything was still down, to do some 'study' out my back window........looking out over the flooded floodplain. What an interesting time that was.  I don't want the 'lake' to stay there, but it gave me something beautiful to look at while we waited.  Now it's gone again.  Our neighbours have been here 47 ...

 Good Morning Friends, This weekend we were treated to a concert of the (infamous) "Murphy's Pigs".  We had no idea what to expect, but were actually quite delighted with what we found. 12 men ranging from young to old, with a 60-year age gap, made up of many active or retired policemen. They played so many instruments we lost count.  And, just for fun, they threw in some pretty little dancing girls to do some flings.  They introduced themselves as "Celtic  (pronounced, we noted, as Keltic, not Seltic, as we've always called them), by nature … Pigs by Choice”. Another introduction they offered was this.  "Once in a lifetime a band emerges from nowhere....to redefine the world's perception of Celtic music........Murphy's Pigs is not that band.” We had some toe tapping fun, learned a bit of geography and came away with a new understanding of so many of our heritages, especially here in Australia, where they are a LOT of people of Irish descent. All of ...

Well, I hope you're having a good day.  IF you get this email, you’ll probably be surprised.  Please don’t change into your church clothes, it’s not Sunday.  The reason you’re getting this early is that we fully expect to be without all the amenities we call ‘living’ within a few hours, so I thought I better send it while we still have the internet. As I'm writing this, we're preparing for a "Once-in-50-year" tropical cyclone (In the States we’d call it a hurricane).  It's lurking just offshore today, but all predictions say that in about 16 hours it’s going to take a hard right and slam into Brisbane, then turn south and clobber us here in Gold Coast. The authorities are saying not to panic, but if you live near the ocean, you might want to consider retreating into the Outback! (Oh, too late, they’re now saying we need to ‘shelter in place’ and wait it out).  I think we’ll be fine here, since we’re a couple of miles inland. Of course we DO live next to a floo...

 I'll never forget standing around after my Mom's funeral several years ago. I was talking to my (much younger) niece, and just to be cheeky, I reached down with grand gesture into my neckline and tucked the tissue I was holding into my bra.  The look on her face was priceless .... but to shorten her despair, I laughed and was quick to point out by saying, "As near as I can tell, I am now in the TOP generation that's still living, and therefore I claim the right to do jolly well as I please".  As I promised last week, today I want to share a story about another one of those miraculous meetings with Jesus.  Like myself, Tony is now part of the 'top generation' of his family, with the passing of his only living Uncle. His eulogy included the account of his passing, and it’s a story that simply must be shared. It was written by one of his daughters and I couldn't have said it better. She writes:  “So, here’s my perspective on “the story” of Dad’s relation...

 Many years ago in Japan, Tony used to minister to a group of young men in what was called a "bed school".  He had about 10 guys who he met with every week.  They were young adults who loved talking to foreigners about so many things, including Christ.   This “bed school”, as it was called, was built for the sole purpose of housing and caring for people who had been diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy.  A little research will remind you that Muscular Dystrophy is mostly in the male population as well as being genetic and incurable even to this day.   Of course, they were wheelchair bound adults by the time Tony met them, but most of them had come into the facility when they were four or five years old.  Thankfully, now attitudes are changing in Japan, but in the last generation of so, any physical “abnormality” was not acceptable to society as a whole. To have just about any physical or mental defect meant that you were separated from public li...

 Good morning, Thanks for all your prayers and concerns from the last couple of weeks. I'm happy to announce that both Tony and I are MUCH recovered, both physically and emotionally. So today I want to talk about BLT sandwiches.  Yes, you heard right.  My son told us that his 15-yr-old came bounding in from school all excited. "Dad, I just discovered this amazing sandwich. It’s toast with slices of bacon, lettuce and tomato, and man, I think I could eat it 4 or 5 times a day!!" "Yes", my son said, "that's called a 'BLT' and it’s been around for generations."  Trying not to look too deflated that he hadn't 'discovered' it, he rolled his eyes and left the room. Now let me tell you what we've been doing in one of our Bible studies.  We have a new teacher (not Tony) and the other evening he had us all do a 'quiz' about the New Testament character known as “Barnabas". We've all heard about him, but how well did w...