Wait- Russell Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate...
And the Master so gently said, "Wait."

"Wait? You say wait?" my indignant reply.
"Lord I need answers, I need to know why!
Is Your hand shortened? Or have You not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming Your Word.

"My future and all to which I relate
Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait?
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,
Or even a 'no' to which I can resign.

"You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply."

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,
As my Master replied again, "Wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
And grumbled to God, "So I'm waiting for what?"

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine...
And He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

"I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.
You'd have what you want but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd know not the depth of my love for each saint.
You'd know not the power that I give to the faint.

"You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence are all you can see.

"You'd never experience the fullness of love
When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

"The glow of my comfort late into the night,
The fair that I give when you walk without sight..
The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask
From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I'm doing in you.

"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to truly know Me.
And though oft My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still... Wait.

REDC- 16 Feb

Okay, so last Thursday I decided I was going to blog every Thursday about REDC. Well, the thing is, I'm not really that tired, so I might just blog some stuff tonight. That means one less thing to do tomorrow... sounds like a plan. So here goes.

- The more we realise the seriousness of God's judgement... the more we should be serious about evangelism... the more we should be thankful that we have received grace... and the more we should be warning our neighbours.

- Love is to point to the one safe bridge across the river. Jesus Christ is The Way, The Truth and The Life.

- We live in the world, but let the world not live in us.

- We should not be afraid of God but afraid to grieve Him.

- Sometimes we must fight through pain... struggling should mean clinging to God, not fighting Him.

- When we cry, when we sigh, if we live or if we die, the God on high, is our Helper nigh, because we are the apple of His eye.

- Trust without obedience is empty. Obedience without trust is blind. Trust and obedience without love is dead.

- Prayer means to fight sinning.

- Don't pray with your mind on hold and your mouth on automatic.

- The Bible is a guide and a guard, a direction sign and a warning sign.

- Reformed Christian Studies: The written Word and the living Word (Christ). And there's heaps more I could write here but then you'll be reading all day. Ask Mr Breen for his awesome diagram next time you see him :)

- If you ask God for something good, He will not give you something bad.

- We must pray humbly (reverance) and boldly (like children).

- What a guarantee! Both Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are our advocates before the Father (see John 14 and Acts 2).

- The best time for prayer is any time and at all times.

The Alphabet

My week. In alphabet.......

ABC. Anything But Clothes. Awesome party last night! Great costumes and great company make for a fantastic night out! Happy Birthday Deanne (for Thursday...)!!!

DEF. Didn't Even Finish... A REDC assignment. So I'm behind on my targets. Oops.

GHI. Got Hired Instead. Twice. Yay! Money for fuel!!

JKL. Jumping, Kicking, Laps. Part of my daily swimming routine. Except it hasn't happened daily. Reminder to self: Must make more effort!

MNO. Must Never Open... something containing chocolate. It goes too fast.

PQR. Peace... Quiet... Rest. Happened rarely, but on occasion was well received.

STU. Swimming... Timing... Uhoh. I got sunburnt. Volunteered at Byford school on Thursday and timed poor children doing lots of laps in prep for their swimming carnival.

VWX. Vood (excuse my spelling. its very hard vinking ov vings beginning wiv v). Water. X. Kept me alive during the week. The X stands for anything else that helped. Or I might have missed. My memory doesn't serve me very well these days, so it's always good to put a miscellaneous in there somewhere. Xtremely good.

YZ. Ya-Zam!! Done. That was harder than I thought it would be! Oh well, nice way to summarise my week I think... :D

REDC- 9 Feb

I decided last night that I am going to blog a little bit about REDC each Thursday, just to consolidate and review my notes, keep on top of the unit content, and also just write down some of the fantastic sayings and ideas I get from these informative evenings. So here's some cool stuff from last night (oh and the topic is Ethics- specifically prayer)...

• Prayer is the window in the walls of life.
• Prerequisite for God's grace is knowing you need it.
• Teachers must Be The Light

Bible based- belief and behaviour belong (doctrine and life)

Teacher guided- guide covenant children as director, stimulator and shepherd

Learning focused- teaching content, learning outcomes, fair assessment

• Prayer simply defined: A believer's communication with God.
• God is purposeful, perfect, powerful and personal.
• Heart without words is better than words without heart.
• Pray privately before you pray in public. You can't pray too long in private. You can in public.
• We don't pray to a temple, but as temples.
• Praying for physical healing is not a goal, for then we will lose (we will die eventually). Instead it's a temporary means to live for God on earth, in thankfulness for Christ's redemption.

More Tragedy

It seems like everytime I post something on here, it's about another tragedy. And today is no different. This past week we have experienced the worst fires in WA in 50 years. Whilst the floods and cyclone rocked the eastern states, fire destroyed and damaged many homes in Roleystone/Kelmscott. How amazing that one country can face two extremes. And yet, once again, we can see God's almighty control, His power, His work in creation. The footsteps of Christ's return are evident. This is a wakeup call for all of us!!

Exercise

I am going to exercise. Because I'm waaayyyyy too unfit. And I'm not just saying that to make myself feel better, or to call myself fat... But I'm not feeling too healthy at the moment, and I think a bit of regular exercise will do me some good. Soooo... every morning (except Sundays) I am going to swim in our pool.

6 laps freestyle... 2 laps calm breastroke... 6 laps fast breastroke... 100 kicks... 6 laps jumping/butterfly kicks... 6 laps sidestroke... 6 laps running... 4 laps sculling without moving my feet... another 100 kicks... whatever else I feel like... 2 laps of freestyle to warm down.

Doesn't sound too hard but I've done it the last two days and I'm a bit sore and tired. We'll see how long this lasts.

Thoughts

I cannot help but post my thoughts for all the people in Queensland. Going through two tragedies just weeks apart is so devastating and humbling. We truly have an awesome God. I particularly reflect on the fact that at this point in time there have been no fatalities reported from Cyclone Yasi and we can only stand in thankfulness and awe at our great Creator.

Last night I continued to look up ABC News updates, hoping for more information, hoping to see some of the trauma and effects people were going through, hoping to catch a glimpse of the fierce winds. But why was I wanting to see devastation so to speak? It is strange when considering that I was hoping to read news, to see shocking vidoes and photos. Why? I don't know. But I do know that reflecting on that fact has made me see how prone we are to pride and selfishness. Maybe next time I can spare more than a thought for the people affected by these so called natural disasters.