the candy cane

I wrote my first tract in time for Christmas Carolling! We ended up giving these out with mini candy canes attached to them to people that we met when we went carolling. Thought I would share it here...

The Candy Cane

It is not known how the candy cane came to be a Christmas tradition, but we can view it as a reminder of the true meaning of Christmas.

Firstly, it’s shape. Turned upside down it is the letter ‘J’ for Jesus, turned the right way up, it is the shape of a shepherd’s staff to show that Jesus is the great Shepherd sent by God the Father to care for His sheep (us!). Secondly, it’s colours. A white background shows that Jesus lived His life on earth with purity – He never sinned. Unlike us, in His entire life Jesus never lied, stole, cheated, swore, envied, or did anything that broke God’s law (the Ten Commandments). The red stripes of the candy cane reflect the blood that Jesus shed on the cross – the three thin stripes remind us of His suffering, the one thick stripe shows that Jesus ultimately died on the cross to pay for the sins of all mankind.

Christmas is such a big deal because it celebrates the fact that God loved us so much that even though we did nothing to deserve it, He gave us the BEST GIFT we could ever hope for: eternal life through Jesus Christ – wrapped in the form of a baby in a manger!

If this is a gift that you would like to receive this Christmas, pray to God…

1. Admit that you are not perfect, that you have broken God’s law, and that you no longer want to live a life of sin
2. Believe that Jesus paid the debt of your sins on the cross, and accept the gift of being saved from the punishment of your sins (Hell)
3. Read the Bible and obey it. Find a good church that preaches the Bible to help you grow. And tell others the good news!

the year that was..

Can't believe Christmas is less than two weeks away! And the new year is about three weeks away... Where has this year gone? Doesn't seem like too long ago that twenty ten rolled round the corner and now it's rolling off into the distance again...

I found this little app on facebook that helped me reflect on the past 12 months. It's called My Year in Status Updates. Basically it grabs your status updates (or a selection thereof) and puts them together in a collage.

Mine came back like this...

Totally cool.

Year isn't over yet though. The next few weeks will be pretty busy but I'm totally looking forward to it!

Oh BTW - camp was GREAT! Will post some stuff up from there eventually :)

get ur tree on

It may be early, but the tree is officially up! Now for all the presents to go underneath yewww!

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cramming for camp

I decided last week that I will go to National Camp in Adelaide this year. Camp goes from 29 November to 3 December, and I booked my airfares on Friday (19 November) - kinda last minute, but I'm glad it's done.

The only thing I have left to do (other than pack) is to do my pre-camp reading of ALL the minor prophets! yowsers! So I have started cramming and doing big chunks of reading to try get through all 12 books. Praise the Lord that they are only minor prophets and some of the books are quite short!

It's funny that they are called minor prophets because what they have to say was pretty major - so far in my cramming, I have noticed common themes along the lines of 'watch out! God has been seeing what y'all been up to and He's not happy - y'all better watch out for the judgement, 'cos God is up-set and He gonna let y'all know about it really soon...'

It's not too often that you come across a solid section of the Bible devoted to God's judgement, so reading chapter after chapter about it has helped me to reflect on God's holiness and my own sinfulness.

It's a timely reminder.

Anyways, I still have heaps to go through so better not waste any more time blogging. Feels like I'm in school again haha!

am I lukewarm and lovin' it?

Watched this sermon on the weekend and it convicted me. Definitely a lot of things to think about here...

annual work conference

On the weekend, I was in Melbourne for my work's annual conference. We left on Thursday afternoon, arrived at midnight, and I headed back to Perth on Saturday night. It was a short trip, but it was just right if you ask me. The weather in Melbourne was pretty cold and wet so it was nice to come back to sunny Perth, sleep in my own bed and spend Sunday at church, and at home.

The hotel we stayed at was the Hilton in South Wharf, and it was pretty impressive. It's usually the small details that win me over with hotels, and for the Hilton, the attention to detail was definitely there: T2 teas, plunger coffee, Crabtree and Evelyn toiletries, bathtub, bathrobes, pillow menu, and an electric blind.

It was also Melbourne Cup weekend so the foyer had all these different horses - including one that paid homage to Elvis...

Breakfast was buffet-style with everything you could hope to eat during breakfast. Most importantly, they served some great coffee which helped pull me through the jetlag that came from losing three hours in transit. It was a nice mini getaway at work's expense so I lapped up every moment. I should also mention that I learnt lots at the conference part of it too!  

Because I have been to Melbourne a few times now, I am pretty familiar with it, so Friday morning, Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon gave me ample time for me to get my Melbourne fix - and by that I mean shopping. I managed to pick up a purse, a bag, a cardigan, a necklace, and some hair clips.  Not a bad effort at all.

Encouragement: The Key to Caring

This book was written by Dr Larry Crabb and Dr Dan Allender.

I google image searched the book and google gave me this picture...

It's completely different to the copy I have which is a bright green book that looks like this...

The difference between the two is that my version was bought at a book sale for $1! I seriously cannot help bragging about the bargains I get...

Anyway...

The book was so good. I think for me, encouragement has always been one of those things that I had a vague idea about, but that I never really knew how to define. 'Oh yeah, it's just like being nice to someone especially when they are feeling down and stuff'

But it's so much more.

Crabb and Allender help unpack what exactly encouragement is. What it is, what it isn't, why it's important, what barriers there are to it, what an encourager is like, how encouragement works, how it can change others and how to do it. There was just so much in there! I read this book quite quickly because it was really easy to read, and it gave me a thirst to want to know more. A chapter would end talking about some other topic and that would be addressed in the following chapter.

I found the concepts of surface communities especially interesting as this is something I have often observed growing up in church where people have layers that keep other people from knowing their fears. This in effect has the result that people communicate by just talking from one layer to another and never really get to address the core fears of others. They end up thinking they have encouraged someone, but anything that they thought they did was shallow and ultimately ineffective. We are to be totally committed to being instruments used by God in other people's lives.

I also found it interesting that the wrong solution to a surface community was  total openness. Crabb and Allender explain that total openness is self-serving as you are really just presenting your true self and expecting other people to accept you 'just the way you are'. We are to depend on God for acceptance - not other people. Total openness as Crabb and Allender put it is 'falesely courageous self-centredness'. Ouch! But so true.

Encouragement: The Key to Caring is a very practical book and a helpful resource which is fantastic because it is something that we all need to know how to do as Christians.

it's been a while...

...since I've cleaned the windows at home. Today we did a bit of spring cleaning and I found this two cent piece in the window tracking. We haven't used two cent pieces in like 20 years!

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birthday blessings to a big brother

Today was my bro's birthday.

Though we have our differences at times, he's still a pretty good brother most of the time. I know I can count on him to give me a stern talking to when I need it (and even when I don't) - but that's cool, he's my gor gor and that's what gor gor's do. God has used him to shape me, teach me, encourage me, and toughen me up.

For that I am pretty grateful. Here's to my gorgsie!

accidental genius-ness

Problem: lack of desk space

My solution: get lid from plastic storage box and place on my lap in a makeshift stable-table kinda way

Accidental genius-ness: got distracted, placed lid on open draw to stand up, and realised I was an accidental genius...



problem soved



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the urban orchard

Perth is a cool city. We have beautiful weather, people are friendly, work-life is relaxed, we aren't too over-crowded, and we don't care too much about what other people think of us. We could comfortably walk down to the shopping mall (well at least the smaller ones) in our ugg boots and nobody would really care.

I remember a friend from Melbourne came over once and described people in Perth as 'not pretentious' and I really think she described Perth very well.

Don't you agree?

Where else would you be able to plop a vegetable garden in the middle of the 'cultural precinct' with a man-made swamp just a stone's throw away?

I'm serious!

We have a vegetable garden outside our Art Gallery and it's called the Urban Orchard - check it out!

If you forget your lunch one day, you can always go to the vegie patch, pick a few leaves, grab a tin of tuna from woolies - and hey presto - lunch in a jiffy!

I actually don't know if you're allowed to go picking stuff from there - so don't quote me please!

But the idea is quite original. I'm sure people from other states will think it's very backwards and weird, but I think it's original and I really believe that if they say anything like that, it's just out of jealousy because they can't get free salad. :)

A few weeks ago, when I was strolling by the vegie patch, there was something else quite original that caught my eye - lotuses made of recycled plastic floating on tyres in a wading pool!

Other states, eat your heart out...

gettin' grill'd

I was first exposed to grill'd in Melbourne. I tried some of their chips and was hooked - fried to a golden crisp and then sprinkled with herbs and sea salt... They were SOO good that I took a menu back home to drool over in Perth. Grill'd became a 'must-go' in Melbourne and whenever I went to Melbourne for work or whatever, I would go back to visit my dear friend - even if I dined alone...

Then grill'd opened in Perth.

It took over the old Cino to Go in Mt Lawley and though it was sad to see Cino's go, it was great to see grill'd in it's place - I can always get my Cino's hit elsewhere. 'Twas a happy day indeed, when I went to grill'd in Perth for the first time and feasted on a delicious burger and of course those delectable fries..

Needless to say I have been back a few more times.

the wild west burger

the BEST chips with herbed mayo

Mt Lawley grill'd

Now a second shop has opened in Subiaco! Funny, they also took over the old Cino to Go...It only opened this week, and a few of us went to check it out on Tuesday night.

Honestly, it was pretty disappointing - but not terrible. I was expecting my beef to be juicy, but it was a tad dry and quite average, and I think they were a bit too heavy-handed with the tomato sauce. Oh, and the chips were pale and soggy! Given, they are still learning - but hopefully they will learn quickly :)

they don't make teabags like they used to...

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I'm reading...

Esther: A Woman of Strength and Dignity by Charles Swindoll

Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes

The Book of Psalms :)

And I recently (today) acquired a few books from Koorong...

The Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot (a biography about Jim Elliot)

and Mornings with Tozer (a devotional by AW Tozer)

That should keep me occupied for a while.

I got mail!

I got mail yesterday. My order from Nicene Council arrived - a whole box full of DVDs! Yeeeow!

I don't often get stuff like this on the mail so it was a Kodak moment...

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God is so good!

He's so good to me....

I once was lost, but now am found...

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like sands in the hourglass of time...

...these are the days of my life.

Tomorrow I will turn twenty seven.

In the past year, I feel as though I have really learned more about myself. Most people may think that as a result of finding out more about yourself, you would have increased in confidence, but I don't believe that has been the case with me.

I think instead, the whole process of 'finding myself' has made me realise the sort of person I really am. And if I am truly honest with myself, that is nothing to be confident about.

In the past year, God has revealed a lot to me about my character, and a lot of it hasn't been easy to take. I fall short of what I should be ALL the time and I have so many flaws in my character that when I dwell on them, it can be really overwhelming... Sins that I struggle with seem to continuously knock me about and I am often tempted to just give up. It's so easy to just get discouraged and not feel worthy to do what you are called to do. SO easy.

But... God has also reminded me Who He is.

Yes, He is omniscient and He know exactly what I do, say and think. Yes, He is perfectly holy, and Him being omniscient, He knows that I am perfectly not holy. Yes, I fall short and constantly fail in my attempts to be better - to be more humble, to have more faith, to be more content, to be kinder, to say nicer things, to show more love, practice more self-control, embrace discipline and authority, be more gracious, be less sarcastic, flee from temptation, read my Bible more, have a better prayer life, to encourage others, evangelise, practice obedience, put away worldly things, be more diligent, and all the rest...

But what gives me joy unspeakable is knowing that though my Heavenly Father knows all that I have done, and all that I ever will do, and though He knows how much I will fail and keep failing to be all that He wants me to be, despite the constant revealing, reminding, convicting that He is gracious enough to give me through His Holy Spirit... He still chose to save me, and He still chooses to give me the chance to be used to bring glory back to Him. God is willing to use me.

This gives me GREAT confidence - not in myself, but in God and His love for me.

I don't know what the future will hold, let alone the next twelve months! But as long as I can look back every year and say that I have learned more from God, and have changed - even if just a little bit - I will be more than blessed.

a poem

From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From all that dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.

From subtle love of softening things
From easy choices, weakenings
(Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified)
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.

Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire -
Let me not sink to be a clod:
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.
 
Amy Carmichael

How Women Help Men Find God

Time for another book review.

How Women Help Men Find God - by David Murrow

I originally came across this book at Word bookstore in Vic Park when a few of us were browsing before we had dinner next door at Makan Makan. It caught my attention because of the title, and I picked it up to have a flick through. I read a few bits inside (I think the section was about worship) and I liked how it was written and that it made some good points that I never thought about before. It seemed to cover a lot of ground in one book, so I thought I would go buy it.

It was a bit more expensive than what I normally like to pay for a book ($17.95), but because I was interested, I bought it anyway. My rationale was that I spend more on dinner or a CD sometimes so why not spend on a Christian book?

Anyhoo.

Basically, Murrow writes about how the church has been feminised in recent years to the point where men have been gradually put more and more off from going. With more women in church, the church has changed to become more appealing to women (often unintentionally), and as a result, most men have just felt out of place and have ended up leaving the church. He writes about why this is a problem, how it has become like this, the common mistakes that churches make, what the church can do to fix the problem, and practical ways to evangelise to the men in your life.

Personally, I found the book very helpful and it made some excellent points that I had never thought about. It also helped to affirm the things that we do in our own church already which have helped to encourage the brothers to keep coming (e.g. men's fellowship).

However...

I found that there was quite a contemporary slant to what Murrow would write, and coming from a traditional church, I didn't quite agree with everything he wrote in the book. It seemed as though he favoured the idea of a big, slick, tech-savvy, modern church with all the bells and whistles - a view that I didn't necessarily agree with. Also, being from a predominantly Asian church, some stuff was less relevant - he presented an idea of having a group of mechanics at church providing free  repairs to the community, but I ain't seen no Asian mechanic in church recently.. Maybe there can be an accounting or engineering consultation? Maybe not.

It's not that I was being close-minded to the ideas in the book, it's more that I wasn't too convinced that these would achieve the ultimate goal for us as Christians - which is to glorify God. I felt that sometimes, what was written in the book tended to be more fearful of man than of God.

But that's just my opinion.

I would recommend that you have a read of the book, just to get an idea about the problem that the modern church is facing currently. It is definitely a very real problem and one that would jeopardise the future of the church, the family unit and the effectiveness of ministry. Read the book with an open-mind, but with discernment. But really, any book that we read written by man should be read in the same manner.

packed and productive weekend

Dinner at david jones * regeneration * maccas * home for sleep * brekky at coode st cafe, mt lawley * subi op-shopping * san churro, subi, for a caffeine n sugar fix * quick pit stop at home * garden city to buy some essentials * met juls at coles * church for a mini project and dinner * dropped off massive pile of clothes at good sammy bin * home for sleep * sunday service at church * lunch at happy star. myaree * pit stop at church * coffee at toast, east perth * hanging out with the Palms * dinner at anticco, east perth * caught up on x factor * sleep

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a story about Daniel

On Saturday I partook of a fellowship between young, old and in between as some people in my church gathered for a church picnic. Being in a smallish church is great cos you can do these kinds of things, but it can still be difficult to get to know everyone on a more-than-hi basis if you never get the opportunity to spend time with one another. So Saturday was a great opportunity to do just that.

After a bit of singing at the gazebo in King's Park, we all broke off into randomly assigned groups to complete a challenge. We were told that the Sunday School was the victim of budget cuts and we had to help put together a lesson for the children (this is of course fictional!). We were all given a story from the Bible, and in our groups, we had to recreate scenes from those stories. My group had Daniel and the Lions' Den.

Here's what we came up with.

Daniel and the Lions Den

After King Belshazzar died, Darius took over the kingdom of Babylon

Daniel was made into one of 120 governors, and was very good at his job. Even King Darius was very fond of Daniel, so fond in fact, that he wanted to put Daniel in charge of everyone else! But the other governors became very jealous and plotted against him.

They tried to find a problem with Daniel, but they couldn’t find anything wrong with him! They did notice, however, that Daniel prayed to God three times a day, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, without fail. The jealous governors devised a wicked plan.

They approached King Darius and suggested that a law be passed to make in illegal for anyone to pray or bow to anyone else other than the King – it was a law that would be punishable by being thrown to the lions! King Darius did not know this was a trap for Daniel, so he passed the law and signed it with his royal seal.

Daniel found out about the law, but that didn’t stop him from praying in the same way – three times a day, with his windows open toward Jerusalem. The governors found him praying to God and told King Darius.

King Darius was sad to hear this and disappointed that he had been tricked. He tried for the rest of the day to think of a way to save Daniel. But he couldn’t go back on the law that was made. Instead he spoke to Daniel and said ‘Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee’

Daniel was thrown into the den of lions. All night King Darius worried about what would happen to Daniel. As soon as it was morning, he went to check on Daniel. He called out to Daniel and Daniel responded – he was safe! God shut the lions’ mouths and Daniel didn’t even end up with a scratch!

King Darius was happy about Daniel’s deliverance, but angry at the jealous governors who tried to have Daniel killed . He ordered that they (and their families) be thrown to the lions’ den instead.

This time, the lions didn’t keep their mouths shut!

The lions ripped the jealous governors to pieces – even before they touched the ground!



vintagey goodness

Picked up this cute little bag at the op-shop this week. Total score.

Guess how much...

Go on, guess...

One dollar.

You can close your mouth now :)

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can you have too many bags in one colour?

You certainly can.

I seriously had no idea that there were so many...

My name is Rowena, and I am a shopaholic.

a glimpse of the past

I found this while spring cleaning today.

It's a random illustration that I drew when I was in primary school... I have no recollection of drawing this. But I know it was me, during my cartoonist phase.. It was the only thing in that booklet too. Weird.

I also found this...

I made this bag out of an old denim jacket when I was in High School (I think). Pretty cool huh? That's a breast pocket (which still functions as a pocket - totally rad), and the handle was what used to be the bottom bit of the jacket (the waist thingo??). You wish you had one huh?

Well it doesn't really fit my style any more, but I couldn't bear to give it to Good Sammy's so it's staying in storage... Along with my Perth Wildcats memorabilia (foam finger, inflated hand, hat, bag, autographed cap (yep, you can wipe the drool of your keyboard)) and a whole stack of other random stuff that is too good to throw away. Sentimental value man.

The clean continues.

Faith Beyond Reason

It's been a while since I have reviewed a book. Too long. I will definitely try to do this more often! In fact, I have been toying with the idea of starting a book club for a while now - but I don't know how interested people will be in doing one, and I also don't know if people would have the time. I guess I won't ever know unless I actually do it.

Anyway.

First off, I just want to say that AW Tozer is a great author. I have a read a few of his books now (I think this was my third?). And each one has been a blessing to me spiritually. I actually finished 'Faith Beyond Reason' a while ago now but I feel that I need to share how good it was - just to try encourage more people out there to read this and other AW Tozer books!

Like the majority of books I have in my growing collection, this was another acquirement from a book sale. Two bucks very well spent.

mine was a different cover
but ah well, you get the idea

Faith Beyond Reason is actually a collection of sermons preached by Tozer from the Gospel of John. In this book, Tozer covers a lot of ground - the book is about faith, but Tozer unpacks what faith means in light of conversion, the character of God, discipleship, conscience, hypocrisy, temptation/sin, holiness, and the truth. The great thing about this book (and a lot of Tozer's books) is that truths are simplified into digestable chunks. He can pack a lot (though not too much to overwhelm you) into one sentence, so it doesn't take him a lot of pages to get his point across.  

Because these were a collection of sermons from Tozer, I thought the book had a different style to previous books I had read by Tozer. Faith Beyond Reason had a lot more anecdotes and illustrations in it - though at times tangental, and often hilarious, they still helped to illustrate his point.

If you haven't treated yourself to a book by AW Tozer, get to it and maybe one day we can book club it up.

out of hibernation

Well it's been a while since I have last blogged. In fact, one whole season has passed and I guess it's fair to say that my little blog went into hibernation for the winter. However, much has happened since Spring has sprung..

I went on holidays!

my cousin, aom

my porpor

street vendor in ubon

mmm... best padthai ever

my cousin, nuey, and I

thai-laos border

universal studios (singapore) with my bros

I also did a bit of reading...

one of a few winter reads

I met a dog named Sunshine

she's cute and she knows it!

I got me some new shoes (well a few actually)

thought I would brogue about it :P

I fared a brother well

yorkie left for HK that night

I took a day off to hang with some lovely sisters

brekky

on-a solid rock we sat, all other rocks weren't as big as that - all other rocks weren't as big as that

great place for a coffee

blossoms

more blossoms

I witnessed God's mercy (and sense of humour)

what was left of the shrubbery

I witnessed God's beautiful creation

rain

I had a spanish latte

at next cafe

I hung outside at the Northbridge Piazza on a chilly night

beanbag cinema!

 I did some cooking to feed my bros

pre-bake pasta bake haha

I had a squiz at some local fashion

nice dresses

bottled prettiness

I discovered a magical instant noodle cave