Marsha's Blog

 This last week we said goodbye to a wonderful young German couple who have been renting our downstairs apartment.  They are strong Christians, well versed in the Bible, and they have been ‘stuck’ here in Australia for over a year because of COVID.  We believe that God sent them to us because the timing of their coming was such a blessing! Tony had been suffering from severe back pain (He’s only just now getting over it after five months of misery), and was unable to do even the simplest tasks, like mowing the lawn. Paul saw his predicament and said, "I would consider it a privilege if you would let me mow your lawn." Tony agreed, so from that day on, Paul handled the lawn while Tony and I looked on and thanked God for this answer to a prayer we hadn’t even put into words. Sadly, their time here has come to an end. They have decided to try and “escape” Australia. First up to Cairns, where they hope to enjoy the beach for awhile and then pick up an airplane ticket to some ...

 As we continue examining some of the “Heroes of the Faith” that I’ve come across either historically or personally, this week I want to focus on some long standing friends of ours, who are among those who would definitely qualify. A few weeks ago, their baby died.   He was actually almost forty, but because of a freak event where his mother revived him from SIDS and some pretty random genetic stuff (less than 25 known cases worldwide) he ‘grew up’ functioning at the level of a 6 month old. The reason we knew this family was because for many years we worked together with them on and off as missionaries to the Japanese.  Daniel, as well as their other two kids were a part of our lives and we have some great memories together. These always included Daniel, usually smiling and cooing from his backpack or stroller.    You cannot say Daniel was not an individual, with likes and dislikes, opinions and personality. If you’re a parent, I’m sure you can remember the...

 Good morning to all,  Hope you had a super BLESSED Easter. We really did! Today, I’d like to borrow again another “Heroes of the Faith” by J. John, the English Vicar. Some would call it blatant plagiarism, but first, I think since I’m attributing it, I’m okay, and second, I hope you’ll understand my desire to share these thoughts from someone more eloquent than myself.   I find this article interesting for a number or reasons. Who would think because you were impoverished by your father’s death, you’d have to give up the ministry and become a doctor?  Times have changed.   But what didn’t change is the persistence of using sound thinking and not giving up just because people find your reasoning contrary to theirs.  I think this story also carries a rather important message for us at this time as COVID drags on and on.  We seem to face daily yet somehow new ‘wonders’.  We wonder what is happening or we wonder about how our life is going ...

 So here we are on Easter Sunday. We’ll be sending it out a little early today because thru a set of unforeseen circumstances, Tony will be preaching 3 times today (once in Japanese) and that doesn’t include the dawn service or the evening celebration, which of course we’ll try to attend as well. I hope you’re looking forward to a wonderful day, hopefully COVID free.  This last week, we had only a five-hour notice before a surprise “Lock Down”, much like a pop quiz. It was imposed on anyone who’d been in the Brisbane area in the last week!  The self-imposed lockdown was only for three days, but we’d gone up to Brisbane (an hour away), last Sunday for the Japanese Church that meets there. For a moment, we considered just not fessing up, but then remembered that we had “logged in” as per government rules, so big brother was watching.  All this came about because of an unexplained CoVid outbreak, with four people testing positive. The authorities panicked and shut every...