Remember last year's Shoebox mission? But guess what, we're doing it again. Yes indeede. Get a shoebox at Naringal church next week and fill it! Whatever for?
"The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way to needy children around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ."
Here's how to pack your box and here's the answers to some frequently asked questions about the shoebox ministry. It's just $7 bucks. Probably the best present a child will have ever received.
This week pastor Malcolm Ward finished a series on Joshua, you can listen to all of them here, and today's sermon was entitled "Joshua, a man who put God first". That got me thinking about priorities. When life's going well it is not beyond us to have some sort of list of priorities; the things that are important to us tend to be at the top of that list. But when the wheels fall off it's much harder to think straight and keep doing these things that are on our list of important stuff. Even worse, if you've never taken the time to take stock of your life to really think about what is important to you, then when life is tough it's a real challenge to see the difference between 'urgent' and 'important'.
Imagine, for a minute, that you knew exactly when your life was going to end, not in a morbid sort of way, but in a 'here's your life and btw, you've only got this long to enjoy it, make the most of it' sort of way. If you knew exactly how long your life was, you'd probably make an effort to want to 'do stuff'/ accomplish things before your time was up. You may have heard of the movie 'The Bucket list' and this related video-clip got me thinking about it.
Again, I don't mean to be morbid about it; just to say "make the most of your life, don't have any regrets about it" As a Christian I thoroughly recommend giving God the time of day in your life and let him be important in your life, not just 'urgent' when you're stuck in a moment. It's something to think about.
ps. I've tried to find out who the author of the vidclip is; if you are reading this and you want it removed please contact us.
Next week, May 23rd, we've got Wayne Morley from the Christian Surfers coming to speak to us. He's the Victorian and Tasmanian regional coordinator of this organisation who ministers to surfers, by surfers.
It's yet another exciting way that God's people have been inspired to get amongst it and reach out. Awesome! Here's an interesting blog about CSA. We're all looking forward to having Wayne at Naringal next week.
We've just had a sermon on 'grace', and that got me thinking on how oftern we see mercy and grace mentioned at the same time. But we know there's a difference between them. Here's an anonymous writer who expressed it well.
We're about to start a parenting course. 'Toolbox Parenting Group' for the Early Years (0-6 years).Be inspired and equipped to grow great kids!
It's based on program from New Zealand, called 'Toolbox'.
When: 6 sessions on Wednesday evenings May 19th to June 23rd 2010 Time: 7:00 - 9:00pm Location: Naringal Cost: $30/single or $40/couple (shared manual) Cost includes an extensive manual and supper.
Have a look at their website here. In the meantime here's a short video clip that'll give you some idea of what they're on about.
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Contact us if you would like more information or would like to take part in this short course.
But guess what, we're doing it again. Yes indeede. Get a shoebox at Naringal church next week and fill it! Whatever for?
