Marsha's Blog

I heard some interesting news this last week.  While they’re having unseasonal snow in New York, I hear that New Zealanders are having blizzards of their own (Global Warming, I guess). Anyway, a shepherd was herding his flock of sheep when a midsummer avalanche hit without warning and buried him.  It was only a little slide so no one really got too fussed, but at the end of the day when the shepherd didn’t come home, they got worried.  The search began.   48 hours later they found him, comatose and barely alive. Fortunately, he did survive, and made a full recovery Now here's the interesting part. They found him only because noticed his little flock of sheep were huddled together, standing in the slide area.  Now I think you can see the sermon coming. Sheep are well known, for, uh ......... not much, really.  They do tend to follow well, and since they have no defensive features to speak of, they make, uhm… really great prey. They don't have a 'rescue'...

This Sunday promises to be chock full of emotions for us.   Emotions of gratitude, mostly. Some of you know our dear friends Bob and Gail Gierhart.  We have travelled through life with them since we were in college.  They went to Japan, then we went to Japan.  They came to Australia, then we did the same.  I know it looks like we’ve been following them around, but it was purely a “God-thing”, honest!  They retired, so did we (A function of age, so couldn’t be helped).  Bob and Gail went directly BACK to full time work, whereas we didn't really, although sometimes it feels like it. Anyway, this weekend, as you're reading this, they're retiring again, from Nuuanu Baptist Church in Hawaii.  They're young at heart like us and together we enjoy wondering what we're going to do with the 'rest' of our lives, and the abilities we’ve picked up along the way. We tend to spur each other on and call each other to reasonable tasks, so stay tuned. Another ...

Tony preached a sermon the other day that got me remembering the last 5 years of our mission career.  We were working in the Tsunami zone, very close to where we invested 25 years of our lives and incredibly close to the epicentre of the 9.1 earthquake that happened there. The earthquake/tsunami happened on March 11, 2011.  Because of our history in the area, it was only natural that we started working right away with volunteer teams and surviving church members. One blustery cold day (it was still very early spring) we had been giving out food from our van when we ran out.  The Japanese were kind and appreciative, but they were also desperate for the supplies we were bringing. Under the circumstances, the now-empty van seemed pitifully small in face of so much need. Our hearts were heavy as we drove away, leaving a line of hungry people.  We only had a paltry few snacks left which we figured we could divide between us and call it lunch, so we decided to go up the hi...

Several weeks ago, we took a quick trip to Sydney that we won't forget soon. It's only an hour’s flight, practically in our back yard if you’re in an airplane.   Did you ever see that 1987 movie, " Planes, Trains and Automobiles"? It comes to mind as I write. After church on Sunda, we packed our things, said a heartfelt “Thank you” to our daughter, whose past employment for Qantas still gives us “standby” status to fly really cheaply. Now, "Standby" means exactly what it says. After the plane has boarded, after full-time employees have boarded and after they, at least to our imagination, comb the airport terminal to see if there be ANYONE else who might want to go to Sydney, then we’re given a ticket and allowed to get on. The problem is, Qantas (and just about every other airline these days) has gotten very efficient at loading a plane to capacity. Add to that a few cancelled flights for bad weather, and our chances for getting on dropped from “ain’t likely...

 Well Friends, This has been a busy week.  A lot of you were snowed in, and we here in Australia, were experiencing very uncomfortable heat!  Isn't it funny how the earth is round and all that, dictating the seasons with some predictably (as well as surprises) and all. Speaking of the planet, Tony's made another trip around the sun this week. How we ever got this old can only be attributed to God, that's for sure.  Two doctors’ appointments have announced that we're as 'fit and hale' as we should be at this age.  I have to admit life isn't as easy as it was in our 40's. We have to have more routines to get things working in the morning, stretching and groaning, and we keep a bottle of ibuprofen in the hall closet.......with the child lock lid OFF.   We also 'started school' (at least the grandkids did) for the new year.  My boys are now in grade 11, 9, 5 and preschool.  Fortunately, they all love school and we all yearned to get back to the r...

 Last week I wrote about an Angolan refugee boy named Jose.  As soon as I posted the blog, Tony and I began berating ourselves. "Why had we lost contact with Jose?"  I'm sure he was literate, had access to mail and all the other ways of communicating. What a blessing he was to us! And yet, why did we 'forget' about him? I think you can see where this is going.   Over time, how many people have you simply 'lost track of'? Why is that? The Japanese have a saying about people who don't lose touch, “Only the moles don't know who she is". At our age, it’s impossible to count the people who have crossed out path. Yeah, there are a few who are best forgotten, but those other thousands have slipped into the fog of time, completely beyond reach, barring some recollection miracle.  Trying to justify ourselves, Tony and I point to a whole litany of evil that seems bent on removing those potentially life-changing people from our consciousness. The one hel...