Marsha's Blog

 Good Morning All… and for you folks in the Colonies (America), Happy Father’s Day! We don’t celebrate Father’s Day here in Australia until it’s spring, which is September. I think it has something to do with guys wanting power tools when the weather gets warm. Yes, it’s early winter here, and we’re definitely putting the layers on.  Yesterday I actually considered putting on a JACKET! I did have a wonderful birthday, thank you for all those wishes.  Tony suggested that we sneak off for a night into the nearby hinterland… We’re retired, after all, so we can exercise our autonomy.   It almost ended badly.  We arrived all flushed with excitement and anticipation at the B&B only to be told they’d never heard of us and we should go away as they were fully booked.  I claimed the high moral ground and proudly produced the verification………to be told it was for June 13, 2026!!  I’ll be calling the booking agent tomorrow…. We were torn between sneaking ...

 Good morning! I’m sure you already know this, but I came across this word, "Gaslighting" lately. I’ve heard it, but never had given it much thought. Now that I have, I think I may be a victim. When I asked Google, this is what she had to say (she tried to write this blog for me, but I told her gently and firmly to back off).  Anyway, determined to continue on my own, here's what I learned. Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse or manipulation in which the abuser attempts to sow self-doubt and confusion in the victim's mind. Typically, gaslighters are seeking to gain power and control over the other person, by distorting reality and forcing them to question their own judgment and intuition. Does that sound familiar? I was thinking to myself, "This is a new thing"…  but wait, wasn't maybe Eve the first victim of gaslighting when Satan said, or should I say 'suggested' that she might be missing out on a fuller life by being 'restricted...

 Thank you for all your kind comments about my blog last week.   Unfortunately, the 'boy' I wrote about had a bad seizure which resulted in a head injury and a trip to the hospital. But he is recovering and appreciating your prayers. Poor kid, but grateful for lots of loved ones.   And, if you've seen the news, you may have noticed that the volcano I was watching over my shoulder while we were there has finally blown up! No injuries reported, and so far, no major lava flows. Last week, I asked you to pray for the people in Hawaii who struggle with their ideas of Pele, the goddess of Hawaiian volcanos. There seems to be a strong reluctance to interfere with her, and especially with her lava flows.  However, I read yesterday that German geologists have discovered that most Hawaiian lava is rich in gold deposits. This may help them lay aside their superstitions! Stay tuned …. Because I'm still sore (WHEN is she going to stop whining about her ribs?), I had a '...

Good morning to all you faithful readers out there!   I'm happy to report that we are well and truly HOME now. I realized as we meet our friends here, that they don't trust us to stay put for long.  The common greeting is not, "Oh! Glad you're back!" but often includes a more cautious, "How long are you here this time?" I was getting chided by someone who means well this morning, when I heard myself rising in defence.  "It's what we do.  When Tony's teaching and preaching, in the words of Eric Liddel from the movie, ‘Chariots of Fire’, we ‘feel God’s pleasure’.  And sometimes we need to seek far and wide for those opportunities."  Another reason we enjoy traveling is that we get to meet so many interesting people with whom we might not otherwise have crossed paths.   Today I'd like to mention some folks we just met who really are making a difference.   First of all, you may remember when I wrote about our friend Abe san in Japan who...

I don’t remember a time when ‘home’ looked as good as it did a few days ago.  Maybe it was the 29 hr ‘cheap’ flight I’d found that took us from Hawaii thru Japan before we got home to Australia, I don’t know.   Last year, we made a 4-month doin’ our thang journey, which resulted in the decision that next time we’d pull it back a notch or two.  So when it came time to gear up for this year’s discipleship workshop in Hawaii, we managed to hone it down to 40 days, squeezing in a cruise, seven flights, two car rentals, and in a bold austerity move, made use of Honolulu’s trolley system in order to get around town (with only a few cries for help to our local friends who have a car.  Now we’re thinking we may go back to the 4-month idea, with scheduled times to stop and smell the pineapple and macadamia nuts.  I have to admit this trip was hard in some ways. Tony broke his little toe and then he got food poisoning.  Then I took that swan dive on the mountain...

 Well, in the words of the writing workshop that I just led yesterday, let me introduce you to the use of “the hook’. Borrowing from a famous author, I could describe this last week as “the best of times; the worst of times”. Makes you want to keep reading eh?   Last Sunday, as you were reading my blog, my sister and I were enjoying a sunny little hike to a lookout in Kauai, Hawaii.  She, husband and son joined us for a few days before we did Tony’s Discipleship (Anagaion) conference here, at the invitation of Puna Baptist Church on the Big Island of Hawaii this weekend. The trail was not difficult.  It was listed as having “roots and being occasionally muddy”…  no sweat for a 75 and 81 yr old.  After all, we grew up in Colorado, this was a walk in the park.  So being the always trailing behind younger sister, I ‘helped’ her by giving her a hand thru a steep and a bit roughish patch, and she carried on. Then I began then to wobble …… and weave……an...

 Here we are, still in Hawaii and with hearts full as we see and experience the generosity and commitment of all of the fellow labourers we work with here.   Tony read to me out of Oswald’s “My Utmost for His Highest” this morning, it touched a nerve in me.  Here’s what Oswald had to say:  “Some of us always want to be illuminated saints with golden haloes and the flush of inspiration, and to have the saints of God dealing with us all the time. A gilt-edged saint is no good, he is abnormal, unfit for daily life and altogether unlike God.”   Wow…   That was my reaction this morning. “Wow”; and “Oh yeah, I can relate to THAT, up close and personal”. I’ve told most of you this story before, but lest I still have some glitter that needs knocking off, let me share it with you again.  So we were working in a Japanese church in Sydney.  As with any church, there were some people in the congregation that, well, let’s just say we didn’t ‘res...

I think it’s appropriate this Sunday after Easter to talk about some nuances in different languages.  Perhaps you who are reading this have some other ones to share.   Jesus died on the Cross. Every year we remember that.  We also know and celebrated last week that He rose from the dead and calls all men to Himself, even as we read in Scripture. Now go with me back to Japan where my children were raised and obviously, (since I have the patience of a gnat) were not homeschooled but sent out every day to do their best in Japanese preschool and elementary schools. You know the drill. You take them, you hope they have a great day and aren’t too embarrassed by having a “gaijin” (foreigner) for a mother. My children had specific things I was NOT to include in their lunchboxes, such as placing a red umeboshi (pickled plum) in the centre of their white rice so it looks like a Japanese flag. When the other kids’ mothers did that, it was so meaningful and beautiful, but when I...

If the ship is on schedule, we should be docking in Moorea this morning, near Tahiti. It’s Easter Sunday, so we’ll be looking for a church to celebrate with. If that doesn’t pan out, we’re hoping at least that Tony can drum up some support for a sunrise service before we tie up to the dock. Thanks for your prayers, which in God’s sight are never belated! The thought that comes to mind as I write this takes me back to language school in Japan. Our (Baptist) mission decided to send us to a local Catholic school to see if they were doing any better at teaching what a 17th century Jesuit missionary once called “The Devil’s Language”. The challenge was obvious from the very start. Most of the students were priests and nuns who had just arrived from countries all over the world. For the life of us, we couldn’t come up with a common language to get us past “Good Morning”, so it was looking like we would have to get to know each other in Japanese or else. There was a cute group of Polish nuns,...

We heard from a friend the other night, before we left on this trip to Hawaii.  They are some of a few folks we really call 'friends' here in Australia, and being about our age, they've just joined a group loosely called the "Grey Nomads', those people who sell up, buy a 'caravan' (sans camels), and take off in something called a motorhome or trailer, fairly without a plan.  These folks headed west about 6 months ago, into the vast outback and surrounds of this huge continent.   When the call was over, I was lonely and got to thinking, "What really is a 'friend'? And then almost as soon as I had posed the question, my phone buzzed with the name of a friend from 50 years ago.  I was startled, of course, wondering if he’d called with purpose or had just pocket dialled.  Thanks to the wonder of technology, I was talking to them within minutes.  Sure enough, he had sorta ‘accidently’ called me, but we all agreed the event was fortuitous.   We tal...

So this morning I'd like to talk about some of those convoluted, “random” meetings that we all have  Several years ago, before we retired, we were helping at the Japanese church in Sydney Australia.  Because the church building has "National Heritage” status, it's quite a beautiful icon in the neighborhood.   One day, I happened to be standing at the back of the service, when a very distraught-looking woman came rushing into the church.   I looked around frantically; nope, everyone was looking the other way, completely engrossed in the worship service. I threw her a “Christian” body block and led her away to a quiet place away from the action.  "Is this a church?” she practically yelled the question, her hair askew and dark eyes blazing. I led her to a quiet place on the steps, and I explained that yes, it is indeed a church. In fact the service is going on right now … in Japanese.   Ignoring the explanation, she finally locked eyes on me and...

 Dear Friends, It’s always such fun to strike up a “blog-versation” with you each week.  Really. But I think I’ve been focusing lately more on the energy required to come up with something new, get it onto paper and from there onto a weekly blog site as well as to a mailing list. That thought crossed my mind this last week when I was having coffee with a friend. I may have been commiserating a little too much, because she put her cup down and asked, “Why do you do it?” Wow.  I didn’t see that one coming. I mumbled something about needing a job to do, and the joy of getting feedback from friends I might never touch base with otherwise. But it was a valid question and it made me stop and think.   "Why do I write at all?" First of all, don't mistake me for wanting affirmation, by sharing this conversation with you.  My Daddy, when I was a teen, told me to stop saying my cooking was no good because I was clearly fishing for compliments.  And besides, I get...

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...

 I think I have a problem. This morning as I checked the news, I got an alert to urgently pray for the missionary staff of a hospital located in the Goma and Northern Kivu region.  If you google that on a map, it's located in the "democratic" Republic of the Congo, (DRC) on the far eastern side near Uganda and Rwanda.  They're having a war, and the hospital has been cut off from everything, in a very dangerous situation.   It's sorta complicated, but let me try to explain my feelings here.  Tony and I spent about 15 hours trapped in an airport in Kinshasa with a 2-yr-old back in 1977.  The officials had 'confiscated' our passports.  They'd also (just for fun) locked the toilets, so we were 'stuck' in several ways.  We had a lot of time to pray.  Tony had been in the Congo a few years before and due to corrupt border guards was forced to buy the entire group a beer to get his car (and who knows what else) back.  Suffice it to say, we...

I read something interesting this week, although I must admit it wasn't in the Bible. In fact, it was an excerpt from a Charles Dickens book, "Mugby Junction". If you’ve come across any of Dickens’ stories, you know they all pretty much mirror his famous classic, “A Christmas Carol.” But I liked what he said in this book about families. It goes like this: "Family not only needs to consist of merely those with whom we share blood, but also of those to whom we'd give blood". Think with me for a second, okay? Who do we feel that we could actually “give blood" for? And I’m not talking about going down to the local blood bank. Is there anyone for whom you would give your life? Some of you might say to me, "Well, technically you don't have any family you share blood with except your sister, since your children are adopted.” But you know, I look at my two beautiful children who in the words of a friend, were not “expected”; they were “selected”.  It’s...

 Good Morning,  Today is Australia day, which looks a lot like America’s 4th of July Weekend, in that it’s the middle of summer here, it’s a 3-day weekend, and there’s lots of sports and barbeques going on. To add to the fun, we’re in the middle of a scorching heatwave.   As I watch the kids enjoying the pool (I’ve heard that 75% of all Australians have pools ), I have to remind myself that we are so glad to live here, even though it’s true that we'll always be immigrants (legal, of course as swimming an ocean is a rather difficult way to get to a border)  There are many similarities to America, which we love, and some quite different things as well, which we also love.  As dual citizens (passports for both countries), we’re subject to the rules and regulations for both countries, such as taxes and the like. But I'm not here to talk about that today. As I mentioned the heat this last week, I'm sitting in my office in front of the air conditioner, trying to ...

 Hello All, While reading my Bible lately, I’ve come across some new (to me, at least) thoughts that I want to share with you this morning.  I’m pretty sure you’ve heard enough about our adventures and woes lately.  I do want to assure you that the Kathmandu bug we brought home has been sent packing … although Tony’s doctor has been home sick since the day after he went to see him. Do you think ……? Naw. The new insights I’ve been thinking about have triggered something I heard in Sunday School once. It went something like, “Everyone in life has a purpose, even if it’s to serve as a bad example.”  I’m not sure if my Sunday School teacher was aware of it, but she was actually quoting from a fellow by the name of Carroll Bryant. He’s had a pretty checkered career, and I’ll stop short of recommending him, except to say that he’s credited for lots and lots of quotes, some of which are pretty quotable.  For instance, “Slap stick comedy is really funny.  Unless yo...

 Hello All,  Some of you may remember my blog from last week. Or,judging from the lack of responses, you haven’t had a chance to read it. Fair enough; so many are still reeling from The Holidays, after all, and maybe need a little holiday from everything.  Or maybe you simply felt like I did last week.  As I mentioned, this time last week, Tony and I were “sheltering in place” at our friends’ “beach house” for a few days.  It was absolutely perfect: no phone signal, no WiFi, and except for our friends, no one knew yet that we were actually back in Australia, or for that matter, where, exactly, we were. If “serenity”could be put into a picture, that was it.  But when I said the place was “perfect”, that’s exactly what I meant. As we stepped off the plane onto Australian soil, a little bug started knocking on our insides who had apparently accompanied us from Kathmandu. It’s a good thing it didn’t manifest while we were still in the terminal, or else we might...

 Good Morning and Happy New Year. I’m writing this a little early.  I’ll explain our schedule in a bit, but what Oswald Chambers mentioned in our devotional reading today, January 2nd, really resonated with us (as he often does). He said that we often think that to do something for God requires a plan.  To some extent this is true, but there’s also a case for (Oswald says) simply trusting God and following His lead. When we first mentioned going to this far Asian destination that I’ve been alluding lately to for security reasons, (and please, if you respond, keep the language safe),  so that Tony could share his discipleship course, many of our friends shook their heads and clicked their tongues.  Only a few said, “We’ll pray with you”, and for that we were very very thankful.   This month-long trip has been full of wonder; but also wondering a time or two if we were going to survive. And then worrying that we would survive, but it would be awkward. An...