Mateo: A Life Changed!

Mateo did an amazingly incredible and outstanding run this morning. He is a runner, and he has loved it. He came first in the marathon and was a fair way ahead. Well done, Mateo.

Tony, Mateo's younger brother, was also in the run, and he did well considering he was so much younger than all the other competitors. 

Mateo gave a smile and remembered all that happened....

Before all the above had happened, Mateo had quite the experience - he was shortlisted to be able to join one of the very popular soccer teams in a city far away from where he was brought up. After a lot of consideration, he decided it was best to go if that was what he wanted to achieve in his career. Tony, too, wasn't far behind his big brother, and between them both, they had lots of talent for the BIG game.

They both loved soccer so much, especially Mateo; he really felt that was going to be his main objective in life regardless of whatever or whoever came on the scene. 

So.....thinking about leaving home, giving up school in year 11, and then accepting pay from a pretty well-known soccer team so far away from home took a good deal of thinking about. Mateo was pretty much completely overawed by soccer. To him, soccer was the main objective in life. Nothing and nobody really came before soccer - it was his main objective in everything.

His coach encouraged him, and he tried hard and gained a lot of experience. His mum and dad found him a place to live in a two-bedroom unit far away from his hometown where he grew up, and his parents helped him a lot. He was around 200 to 300 kilometres, or 187 miles, away from where he grew up. He tried really hard not to feel homesick.

Mum and Dad gave him a car, and when he could, he made it back home, although between soccer practice (which started around 5am in the mornings) and actual games, there really wasn't a lot of time. He was pretty exhausted by the end of it all, and then he had to get supplies in and everything else; he was too tired to go home. Mateo really felt he was number one in life, and he was there!

Mum and Dad tried to get there as much as they could as well. All pretty hard, especially when they had other family at home.

All went well, I think! That was until the coach, who worked hard to bring him up there, along with 13 other young guys, to play for the team, was sacked and excluded from everything to do with soccer. Then SUDDENLY things changed for Mateo.

The new coach, although still paying Mateo and the other new recruits, excluded the fourteen new young fellows from all games but thoroughly expected them to come to 5am practice, and if they didn't, then they would get no pay at all. Mateo was so confused, disappointed, and completely disorganised.

So many people in the world today are going through confused times in their lives. Many are going through really horrible persecution as well. Mateo was totally and utterly confused about what was happening to him. What could he do? He fell into this world of confusion and disappointment.

My real heartfelt message to everyone, all of us, is to be ready - our lives seem to hang in the balance now more than ever before. None of us can know for sure how each day will pan out. Suddenly our lives could change forever, suddenly and without knowing.

Mateo was confused. He went to practice that morning and was on his way home when he hopped in the car, and there was this leaflet under his wiper blades. Oh, another ad. He jumped out, grabbed it, screwed it up, threw it in the car, and went home.

He got back to the units, parked in his garage, got all his gear out, picked up the screwed-up piece of paper and went upstairs, opened the front door, plonked everything down, made a coffee, sat down and planned on a shower. He saw the screwed-up bit of paper while he sipped his coffee and glanced at it! It changed his life!

It said, "Where are you with God? Where am I? If we don't believe in God and ask him to lead us,  then all of our lives really don't mean anything much at all. We need to be ready, looking to Jesus every day. We need to stand fast and leave the results to Him. We need to give our lives to him and make Him number one in everything we do. Your life will change dramatically if you do this."

Mateo read it again; there was also a phone number and an address where, if you wanted to, you could contact whoever was organising this. He re-read it yet again. he was aware of God and Jesus, and he sort of knew about them, yet he was far too busy to even think of them. He put it down. Went for a run, got home, had a shower, got changed, and then re-read it again.

We actually all need to know where our heart and love really lies. We need to ask God into our lives, and we really need to ask him to lead our lives. The Bible says in Acts 16:31, in part, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved..."

So what does it mean to "believe on Him?" To believe on Jesus means to accept that He is God and that he is worthy to be loved and obeyed. Believing in God is giving your heart and life over to him, to make him first in your life in every situation. Actually, it makes life fall into place. It puts everything in order regardless of what is going to happen to you as life goes on.

Mateo rang the number. He was sort of shocked when he did, but he did it anyway. The guy on the other end spoke well and explained to Mateo all about what Jesus actually did for him, and they made a time when they could speak to each other. Mateo felt odd but arranged to meet this guy.

Our hearts and lives can be cold and selfish so often, and we can so easily ignore the love that Jesus is offering; we so often choose not only to ignore but to reject his love and what he did for us and soon forget him. The Bible not only stresses faith to believe, but it also stresses love. We must give our hearts and lives to the Lord - our very being. Loving Jesus is not just having certain feelings; it is a definite choice of our will.

They met, and the young guy who Mateo spoke to was really down to earth in his chat and explained that coming to Jesus changes your life. 

He explained that it didn't make your life perfect, and it certainly didn't make you superior to everyone else. In fact, like what Jesus said and did while he was here on earth, you tend to put everyone ahead of you. God becomes your number one, and everyone else follows along. He also explained to Mateo that all you have to do is ask God to lead you, to forgive you of your past sins, and to become first in everything you do and say.

Mateo went home. He thought long and hard about what the guy had said. That night, when he climbed into bed, he asked God to come into his life, to lead him, to put others ahead of him, and to forgive him for his past mistakes and his sins. He went to sleep.

The next morning, he felt a change, not dramatically, but definitely a change. He rang his parents, went to footy practice, and put in his resignation. The manager and his coach were shocked and told him he was making a huge mistake. He said he wasn't. He left there, went back, organised a whole lot of things, and eventually went back home. His parents were glad he was back, and he told them exactly what had happened and how he had given his life to God.

He gave up soccer; he started running and doing marathons; he got a full-time job, organising people in wheelchairs and assisting them in all sorts of amazing and incredibly hard things; he went to tech College and achieved certificates. His life changed; his brother's life changed too, and so did his parents. 

Life still has its ups and downs for Mateo, just like all of our lives, but you know, what Jesus did for us and how he leads our lives is amazing and so incredible. Have you ever thought about giving your life to God?  Mateo's life changed, and so did mine. Your life will change too. 

All you have to do is ask God to lead you; ask him to forgive your past life. Make Him first in how you live and what you do. Your life will still move on, but God, in charge, will change you.

God bless you this week. Hope to see you soon.

A Struggle, A Wham!, A Shock and a Thought!

What can you say to someone trying their very best to do what you asked? 

Here was Christie, a young person with all sorts of problems in her life.

Her husband was diagnosed with cancer, which actually floored her completely and really knocked her off her feet. She was also diagnosed with a tumour around the same time, which, as she said, "Praise God that it is non-cancerous," and she had to get back to work to try to make ends meet.

It certainly was a struggle for Christie. Just like when Jesus came to earth as a baby - it must have been a struggle for him. As a baby, he wouldn't have known anything at all; as he grew, he knew why he was here and what was in store for him.

Jesus really was God in three persons, here on earth to do what was needed. He had to give his life for the world, taking upon himself the very sins of the whole universe and killing them there on the cross on Calvary. How does that work? Then let's think about it as we progress with our blog.

Christie had resigned from her work as a Dental Assistant when she had her family. She had three children, and the youngest was still quite small and in the infants class at the local school when her husband, Den, was diagnosed with severe and debilitating cancer, losing the ability to walk, and he had to give up his job.

Den had been a Plumber and ran his own business and had been doing that for years, and he and Christie were completely happy, albeit very busy. Christie did all the paperwork, and Den ran the plumbing business, including buying all the gear to complete all the jobs.

So, after the bad news and thinking about what she should do, Christie decided to start her own business. Together with her aunt, she opened up a cleaning business, and she bought a lot of cleaning gear, and started advertising. WHAM! What a success the business turned out to be! She was overwhelmed!

Jesus must have been overwhelmed as well, but he tried hard to keep a lot of it away from the public eye because he knew what was in store for him, and he really needed to get as much done as he could before the end came suddenly.

Christie had a lot of customers, and a new person contacted her for a viewing of the house to be cleaned. She went along and was totally in awe of the house; it was a total disaster! Obviously, there had been no one cleaning the home at all. It was in total disarray and filthy. There were toys actually thrown around the whole house. Christie was amazed when she found out that there was only one three-year-old child there, and he obviously was in charge of the toys and what he could do with them.

Jesus, like Christie, had a huge struggle while he was here on earth. 

He was constantly followed by the crowds, and he performed so many miracles and taught so many amazing messages and told a lot of parables. All because he really wanted to get the Word of God out to the many people who had gathered around him.

Christie accepted the challenge of the home, and the lady too was accepting but seemingly not that happy to have Christie cleaning her home. Christie went home and organised an appropriate time and contacted the lady, who seemed to be ok about the time and expense.

The day arrived, and she got to work and started cleaning and straightening up the new client's house. The client stayed for a while, then went off somewhere and left Christie to it. She was a bit shocked by the toys and things all scattered around the lounge room. Even the three lounge chair pillows were thrown off the lounge and were all over the floor. The kitchen looked like a bomb had gone off - not that it had; it just looked that way. The floor was a disaster, and so were the two bathrooms.

She worked hard, putting the lounge together, picking up toys, chalk, papers, toy tents, food, glittering stickers stuck to the carpet, empty cardboard boxes, etc. Then into the kitchen she went and was totally shocked, but washed up dishes and straightened up the benches. Then to the bathrooms. Soap and grime all over the tiles, hair and toothpaste all over the basin. Toys thrown into the bath and all the glass in the shower recesses caked with grime.

Then came cleaning the toilets in both bathrooms. Into the bedrooms, making the beds and dusting the windows and sills. Then all the vacuuming started after all the dusting was completed.

Well, things were different in Jesus' time. He went up to a mountain and sat down, and his disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. Read it in the Bible in Matthew chapter 5. "Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." What Jesus was saying here is not to let things get the better of you. Glorify God in everything we do, say, and practice. He taught us then and still is after all those years; the crowd was there, and he taught them also.

He was saying that you must be so willing to show the crowds just how important it is to give your life to God and make him the most important person in your life. Jesus wasn't a meek and mild person, not by any means. He was so willing to put others ahead of him, speak to the poor and needy, BUT he stood up to those who were also self-important and pushing and gauging themselves through life in whatever situation in which they found themselves.

That's what being a Christian means; we give ourselves to God, but it doesn't mean that you accept anything and everything, but also remembering that you do not put yourself ahead of them in any situation in which you find yourself.

That is how Christie happened to find herself after she left that house and came back the next time. The house was in a total disarray once again. The lady was there and immediately took Christie into one of the bathrooms and told her she was very disappointed that Christie hadn't cleaned behind the bathroom sink tap properly! Christie was shocked, especially after everything she had done.

Christie reacted quite differently. She was calm but not ready to be belittled. She asked the lady if she would prefer to employ another cleaner and also explained that the time required of her was always going to be a problem, considering the state of the home.

The lady was utterly gobsmacked to hear what Christie had to say and also that she was so calm about the whole thing; she was also so shocked that Christie was also prepared not to come back. Christie was so calm but also was quite firm in her reasoning.

The lady was immediately apologetic, and suddenly must have realised that the state of the home was disastrous, as well as being so unreasonable to clean, considering what a state it was in. She was the one who ended up apologizing to Christie, not the other way around.

It is amazing how the world often sees Christianity and Jesus as meek and mild, with no personality or reasonableness. As Christians, it is so important to put others ahead of ourselves but also not to sit back and accept everything, especially when the world puts God down. So many people these days use "Jesus" as a swear word, something I can't possibly accept, and I doubt I ever will. I would have to tell the person that I don't accept you saying that.

Jesus stood up to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law - you can read all about it in the Bible in Mark 12: 38-40 or Luke 11: 37-52 or again in Luke 20: 45-47, so you can see he wasn't afraid to stand up for what he believed at all. He was no meek and mild little person. He believed strongly in the right thing and the right time. Actually, the whole of Matthew 23 in the Bible is quite a great passage to read.

Jesus actually was persecuted by the Pharisees and the teachers of the law and was executed horribly on that cross, and again the question is: why? Well, Jesus died taking all of our sins and paying the price for us. 

All we have to do is accept what he did and ask him to come into our lives and lead us. His death killed our sins; he is the total ruler of our lives. Once we have given our lives to him after what he did for us on Calvary, then we can live our lives knowing that Jesus not only died for us but took our sins upon himself, and all we have to do is accept that and ask him to lead our lives in every situation.

How do you find yourself in all of this?

Hope to see you next time. God bless you.

The Beach, The Bike, The Boy, and the Seagull

Well, I think I've seen it all - there I was running along our beach once more over the weekend with my seagull friend - the one I mentioned on my blog on 30th August this year.

I'm sure it's the same seagull - he/she loves me and runs with me most Saturdays and Sundays now. I'm sure they wait for me and join up as soon as I arrive - it's uncanny! - Anyway, there we were, my seagull friend and me, running along the beach on an early Saturday morning only to be amazingly dodged by a lad on a bike!!

There was the beach, there was my friend the seagull, and there was me, and suddenly there was a bike and a young boy, which I'm sure must have been heading for either my seagull friend or me. Both my seagull best friend and I got a shock - they flew away, and I dodged "the bullet" and dived onto the sand. The lad laughed his head off and took off like a rocket.

My question is: How can a lad of around 14 to 15 years old manage to ride a motorised 2 wheel bike on the sand? He laughed so much, and I could still hear him laughing even as I neared the end of my run. It was pretty funny, I must admit. I just hope my friend and buddy Mr/Ms Seagull comes back to go running with me.

Made me wonder about all the different things that are happening in the world today and how many others are affected by what is happening. The other thing that I must think about is what brings a young boy to show a seagull, and another guy just who is more important. Did get home to me, I guess - even though I really did see the humour of it all.

I guess we could have collided. My seagull friend took off like a V2 rocket, but me nosediving in the sand. He thought it was hilariously funny. I guess it was, but it really made me think.

Unfortunately, a fair number of people really don't care what is happening around them. But then, fortunately, a lot of people do care; unfortunately, there are quite a few who couldn't care less what happens when things go haywire in their lives or other people's lives. When things can suddenly go off the planet, affecting our lives, where do we go and what do we do?

I'm sure my friend on the bike had the most amazing day, and he loved it. I must admit I still give a smile, just hoping he doesn't do it again, as my friend the seagull and I trundle along on our beach exploration each weekend. He obviously wanted desperately to be Number one regardless of everyone else. 

It was a great lesson for me. Although I could see the funny side of it, it could have resulted in an accident, and I guess the attitude of the young guy was completely wrong. He could have hit someone on the bike. I did notice him riding really fast along the promenade and lots of people dodging out of his way. He was virtually getting this message across: 'Get out of my way - I have got full right of way here."

Down the middle of the road he went and vanished from sight over the hill, and I must admit I was a bit flabbergasted. He certainly left not just me but a few others in a bit of a shock, including my seagull friend.

Back when Jesus' life here on earth was drawing to a close, there was this most powerful person in all of Jerusalem other than the Roman governor. It was Caiaphas; he was, by today's standards, a pretty powerful politician. He was right up there with the governor, and he was a vicious enemy of Jesus. He really felt that he, not Jesus or anyone else for that matter, was number one in the world.

Caiaphas didn't ride a bike on the beach, but like Caiaphas, my young friend really felt he was number one in the world. Pushing himself forward, like Caiaphas, making decisions that affected others to a pretty large degree. He really felt he ruled the world and was indeed in charge.

It all came about when Jesus was doing a lot of miracles, and the one that really impacted good old Caiaphas was when Jesus resurrected his very close friend Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha. Caiaphas saw that as someone taking over his popularity personally, and he really had to get rid of this Jesus guy.

Caiaphas also really felt that the whole population was astounded at the Jesus person, so putting Jesus to death publicly and humiliatingly might not only bring the glory back to Caiaphas himself but also stop the Romans from coming down upon them. How wrong could he have been?

Caiaphas was so full of himself that he has gone down in history for that reason, and also putting Jesus to death wasn't a solution at all but actually brought about the end of the Hebrew nation as it was then.

In the Bible, in Matthew chapter 26, Jesus was telling his disciples that after two days he was going to be betrayed, then he was going to be crucified. How ghastly was that! Jesus knew what was going to happen, and he also knew that Caiaphas was going to be the one organising the whole thing!

Caiaphas the High Priest would have been rubbing his hands together in delight as he assembled all the chief priests, the scribes, and all the elders of the people into his palace. No wonder he wanted the Jesus person out of the way - Caiaphas was living in a palace!

They all got together and shrewdly worked out how they could take this Jesus person by subtlety and then kill him. Two days later it was the Passover, so they realised that it had to be before that or after that. They all decided to get rid of Jesus before Passover - what an idea! 

That's exactly what they did, and good old Caiaphas got his own way and organised Jesus to be arrested, cruelly and horribly tortured, whipped until no skin was left on his back, made him carry a huge cross to Calvary, then nailed him to it and let him die in agony. Good old Caiaphas!

Actually, Jesus died for you and for me. When he was making his way up to Calvary that day, he was not only carrying that horrible and filthy old cross on his back that must have felt like it weighed a ton, considering it was a tree, but all the sins of the world as well, including yours and mine! Jesus rose again just three days after the crucifixion.

When we accept that He took our sins upon His shoulders and paid the price, all we have to do is ask Him to lead our lives and put Him first in every situation we find ourselves in.

Do that and pray for God to lead us, and our sins are over and done with, even the ones we commit so often. Jesus took the penalty for our sins and killed them there and then on that hillside so many years ago. 

Of course, we all have a choice: There is Heaven and there is hell; we can accept what Jesus did for us, or we can totally ignore it and pretend it never happened. The choice is yours to make:  It is entirely your choice.

God's huge blessing to you this week, and I certainly do intend to go back to Bar Beach, Dixon Park Beach, and Merewether Beach this coming weekend. Hopefully I will see my little seagull friend.

Corine, Harry and the Plane Disaster

Corine bundled up her little boy - here they were on this island, where they had supposedly gone to meet her separated husband, but did he show up? Where was he? He'd said he owned this place, or so everyone thought. No, of course he didn't show. Why? Oh, why did she agree to meet him here on this island so far away from the mainland?

There was no way she would normally have caught a plane over to meet him. Their boy, now aged twelve, desperately wanted to see his dad. Here he was, all excited. His dad had organised a flight over to this island that he supposedly owned, where he was going to meet him and let him stay there with his dad and dad's new family.

Mum was going to leave him there and then come back and get him after a week. But where was Dad? He had supposedly paid for it all, but of course that didn't happen either, and Corine had no choice but to get on the flight, pay for the whole trip, and keep going.

The plane was an island hopper - an old one, large enough for everyone and used to island hopping. It cost Corine the earth, money she really couldn't afford, but she couldn't disappoint Harry. He was so excited to meet his dad after all this time.

She didn't know what to do; she booked them into a funny old place for the night, something she hadn't even had in mind to do, and stayed the night. The island was long and deep and had lots of people. It was extraordinarily different. Why did she agree to come here?

Of course he didn't own it - in fact, Corine knew in her heart that he probably only came here occasionally, maybe. The next morning she tried desperately to find Troy, her ex-husband and Harry's dad, but to no avail- no one seemed to know him at all. They tried all day, then stayed yet another night in this frightening, old place.

Corine couldn't afford yet another place, and she talked it over with Harry as to what they should do. Harry was a tad upset and asked his mum if they could stay another night.

While Jesus was here on earth, he performed many miracles, which was totally amazing and truly did show that he was indeed here to show us the way to eternal life. When we go about life in general, we really need to always put God first in everything we do because if we don't, life can suddenly turn upside down in just a matter of seconds.

Jesus performed many miracles while he was here, which proved not only his amazing love for us all but also showed the world just who he was. In the Bible, in Luke chapter 5 and verses 17 to 26, Jesus performed an amazing miracle.

Here he was talking to a large crowd of people in this house - everyone was there, of course, including the Pharisees trying all ways to get him crucified and always trying to trip him up. Then all of a sudden the roof started to come away. People were taking tiles off. You can imagine the dust, the birds' nest, whatever was in the roof, all falling on the crowd.

Suddenly a stretcher was lowered from the ceiling, and a paralysed man was lying there in front of Jesus. His friends had tried to take him into the house, but there were so many people listening to Jesus that they just couldn't barge their way in. This man on the stretcher believed that Jesus could heal him, and he desperately wanted to see him and ask for his miraculous healing.

Corine and Harry really couldn't afford to stay another night; they really couldn't. It was far beyond what money they had. Corine was very upset with her ex-husband- what a thing to do. Harry was so keen to look for his dad. They had to leave and leave as soon as possible.

Corine and Harry talked a long time about what they would have to do, and Corine explained so much about how they really struggled with only the money they had left. They both agreed and were upset, as harry was they booked a flight on the old plane that was leaving at just 2 a.m. the next morning.

That night Corine and Harry just sat at the airport waiting for the flight. Corine really didn't have enough for more accommodation. She just managed to buy them some food for the night, and they rested at the lounge at the airport. As basic as it was.

Jesus was not one to rest. He was amazed at the faith the others had in lowering the paralysed man down from the roof. Jesus could tell that the man would have talked his friends into doing this because he truly believed in Jesus and the very fact that he could be healed by him.

Jesus immediately saw their faith and performed an amazing miracle, healing the paralyzed man and bringing him to a standing position. You can imagine the surprise on everyone's faces. Except the Pharisees, of course. They were aghast at Jesus and accused him of acting like God - when in fact he is God! They were then all aimed specifically at getting Jesus crucified.

Jesus really knew in his heart what the Pharisees were planning, BUT Corine and Harry had no idea what lay ahead of them.

The old plane took off at 3. a.m. in the morning, and even while taxiing down the runway, Corine had a huge misgiving about the whole thing. They flew out of the airport, hardly anyone on board, all headed for the airport on the mainland, where Corine and Harry were to disembark and then get a further flight home.

They couldn't help themselves, and they both dozed off while the plane flew over the vast ocean. Suddenly it all happened. The explosion brought about an amazing noise and an exceptional crash so fast that they dived into the ocean way below them. There were screams on board, and Corine and Harry grabbed hold of each other and cried out as loudly as they could.

What a horrible end to a horrible experience. What did Harry's dad feel, and where had he been? We will never know. What I do know is that we should really make God first in our lives in all situations, just like Jesus did. He knew what the Pharisees were thinking and asked them, "Why do you think and plan these things?" He told the paralyzed man to get up and walk, which he did.

Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen in his life - he knew his life would be paid for the sins of the whole world, including yours and mine. 

He laid down his life for us, and all we have to do is accept his great love and ask him to lead us. We can do that because Jesus actually rose again after his horrible and excruciating death. He paid the price for our sins, and if we accept him and ask him to lead us, then after we leave this place of ours, we know we have everlasting life with him in Heaven. Of course, the alternative is that there is hell. If we don't come to the Lord and completely ignore him, then hell awaits us. It really doesn't even bear thinking about.

If, like Corine, you have nothing to do with God at all and you get all wound up in life here on earth, carried away in your day-to-day problems, and you have no time at all to even think about God, then unfortunately, just like what happened to Corine and Harry, life can be over suddenly and unexpectedly.

You can give your life to God simply by asking him to come into your life and lead you, putting him first in every situation in which you find yourself, regardless of what that situation may be, in really great times and also really hard times. Regardless of what that situation is, God loves you so much and really does want to lead you.

God bless you this week, and I hope to see you next time.

"THE WAGER" the harrowing story of the British Warship

The mid-eighteenth century was a remarkable time, and what happened to the British Warship "The Wager" is a truly interesting story that, as usual, leaves us thinking.

Jesus is also an interesting person. Here we have him entering Capernaum, just travelling along with his disciples, and none of them, excluding Jesus, knew what was going to happen.

Coming into Capernaum wasn't what a certain centurion had in mind when he woke up that morning. All was well with him and his family; well, that was what he thought. The day became interesting for him, his family, and, of course, his servant. You can read about it in Matthew 8:5-13

The day also started well for the crew and the captain of The Wager. All was going OK. The ship was great and interesting, and everyone loved it, except, of course, all those poor sailors that had been grabbed off the street and shoved in the ship's hold. Hard to imagine.

The beautiful ship The Wager had set sail during the war between Britain and Spain, and it got all caught up and had to join the huge struggle over the differing trading routes. These routes had allowed the best possible way into the markets of what was known at that time as the Americas.

The Wager ended up as part of a squadron commanded by the greatly admired Admiral George Anson. Anson had a top-secret mission to sneak down around Cape Horn and capture a Spanish Galleon which apparently was carrying heaps of riches that had been stolen from lots of people and pilgrims making their way across the 'new world.'

BUT.... It was not all smooth sailing for Captain Anson and the miserable crew who had been forced aboard the ship. It was apparently doomed!

The Centurion in the Bible had apparently woken that morning to see his servant desperately ill. Must have been a nice boss of the home, or the servant must have been so well-liked. Either way, the bloke took off and met Jesus and fell down at his feet and asked him to heal his servant. He said, "My servant lies at home paralysed and suffering terribly."

A lot of the crew on The Wager were struggling horribly, and many of them were dying of scurvy. To combat scurvy, all that was needed was some citrus, and when they stopped at St Catherine to gather supplies, there was an abundance of limes - the cure - which was an unforbidden fruit  

The poor, miserable crew of The Wager continued to suffer terribly. They were struck by what we would term a disastrous storm. Here were the sailors, pretty much all guys kidnapped and shoved into the ship's hold, and suddenly pretty much consumed by a monstrous storm. 

The Wager wasn't meant for huge and disastrous weather, and even though the lieutenant Robert Baynes warned the captain that they were headed in the wrong direction, the captain, David Cheap, told him to get below and not take over the captaincy of the ship, and to keep his big mouth shut.

The lieutenant was right, and even though he knew that, he went down below and did what he was told. The ship was struggling through the night in probably one of the more violent storms. It ran aground on a deserted island off Chile in the year 1741.

Poor old David Cheap, with his shoulder all out of joint after the ship was wrecked, insisted he retain command after the horrible mistake he made, and here the survivors found themselves starving and freezing cold.

Jesus told the Centurion he thought he was a very special person to bring him the bad news about his servant and told him to go home; and, believe it or not, the Centurion did just that. At that moment, Jesus said the Centurion's servant was healed. The Centurion didn't really feel his home was up to having the very Son of God enter into his abode. Quite the miracle had happened, and well worth the read.

It's an amazing miracle of Jesus, and you should give it a read. It really makes you think of just how powerful Jesus was and still is.

The miracle of Jesus made me think of the sailors on The Wager. They were in total awe of the weather, and at that stage they were in total awe of the captain. Things did change quite dramatically.

On the island off Chile, it was freezing cold, and many of the sick died during the night from the freezing temperatures. Some found a cave and survived, while others were left in the freezing cold and the pouring rain. The few that remained had nothing to eat and were still suffering from Scurvy. All they could possibly find on the island to eat was wild and sour lemons, which they had to eat. Amazingly, because of the vitamin C that had caused the scurvy, many found themselves feeling so well after everything they had been through.

The Gunner at that time, John Bulkeley, grabbed all of the crew and gave his thoughts about Captain Cheap. he told them he thought Cheap was tyrannical, and he believed that because he caused the ship's destruction, they should strip him of his authority, and so they did. Cheap ended up shooting a senior member of the crew because he suspected him of mutiny.

Very long story cut short - they made up a big boat out of planks they could find and anything else, and it took them a long time, but they sailed off and left David Cheap and his few followers there on the island.

David Cheap and his few followers did the same, and both made-up boats got to England so many years later - so many sailors died on the voyage, and many were so thin and sickly that a lot died after they reached England. 

There was a court-martial, and all the different accounts from all the survivors were presented to the court by those who finally made it home. There were very few who did. There was eventually an anticlimactic acquittal for everyone involved. Amazing really. You must read the book - it is mind-altering. Sadly, Captain David Cheap was promoted to lead other ships. Incredible!

Jesus himself was the master of miracles, and he still is. I know because he made a miracle out of my life. I was so far away from him, and I had really no intention of becoming one of his followers. Like the captain of the ship and those following him, he felt he was in charge of everything. Not just the lives of others but everything on earth.

Things change so dramatically if you give your life to Christ. If those poor seamen at that time had followed Jesus, they would be in Heaven right now. Sure, life would still have been horrific while on that dastardly voyage, but they would have known the end from the beginning of their lives.

Coming to God in prayer is vitally important - it is definitely through the passages of prayer that Jesus comes into your life and changes you entirely. God will absolutely answer your prayer when you ask him to come into your life and lead you.

Sometimes when we come to God in prayer and ask him for all sorts of things, his answer to us could be no, and not the answer we may have been expecting. Probably not what we can envisage. Like our guys on board of THE WAGER, they certainly would have been expecting a big yes from God when those who believed in him prayed. God's answer could be a firm no.

It is so different when we first ask God to come into our lives and lead us to salvation. All of us can come and ask him to lead us, and he definitely will. As long as we come to him and truly, by faith, ask him to lead us and to be in charge of our lives. Making him and keeping him first in our life in every situation in which we find ourselves.

In the Bible, in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul describes how he asked God to heal him three times, and he felt that God answered his prayer in a much different way than what he imagined. God answered Paul when He said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness"

God's way of answering our prayers can be different from what we expect, but He will always answer our prayers.

Come to Christ and ask Him to lead you, putting Him first in everything you do and everywhere you go.

God bless you this week. Hope to see you next time.

Grace

The miracles of Jesus, which happened while he was here on earth, are like a big pointing sign for us to come to him and realise that Jesus, while he was here, is actually God in person - here he was in the flesh doing amazing miracles and amazing things, all to bring us to a realisation that he is indeed God - three in one - God the Father, Jesus the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

You just never know when things happen in this world, and they could immediately lead you to absolute stardom or utter disaster or both! I remember a fair while ago there was an actress called Grace Kelly. She was amazing and beautiful, and certainly a rising star.

She was a star in most of the movies years ago, and she was extremely popular - so popular that Prince Rainier of Monaco couldn't help but make a personal move over to Hollywood to meet her and eventually ask her to marry him.

Rainier was a prince in Monaco. He was born on 31st May 1923. He reigned there for 56 years after the death of his maternal grandfather, Prince Louis, on 9 May 1949.

Grace was born on 12th November, 1929. She was an amazing young Hollywood star with many admirers. Rainier came over to Hollywood especially to meet her, and they married on the 18th of April 1956. She retired from movies at the age of just 26 and became Princess Grace of Monaco.

Prince Rainier and Princess Grace were so popular, and they made headlines constantly right around the world. 

 

It was on 13th September, 1982, that Grace suffered a mild cerebral hemorrhage while driving back to Monaco. Princess Stephanie, her youngest daughter, was in the passenger seat at the time, and she tried to gain control of the car, but because the road was steep and winding, they lost control, and the car tumbled 30 metres, or around 100 feet, down the mountainside.

They were both rushed off to hospital, but Princess Grace was declared brain-dead, and she had no possible chance of survival. She died the following night around 11 pm. 

It was such a sad time. It seemed that everyone was in a state of shock and dismay as the word spread quickly throughout the whole world that Princess Grace of Monaco had died so suddenly.

Death is such a sad time. It can be a long time for family and friends, sadly watching loved ones slowly and quietly pass away, or it can be sudden and completely unexpected. Very similar to what happened to Princess Grace that day as the car careened off the winding road. Unexpected and unanticipated. It happened suddenly and was so unexpected.

The death of Jesus and the way he died was also completely unexpected. Well, it was for a lot of people living there in Jerusalem. In fact, so many people living there wanted him dead, so they were happy to see the end of him. I find that so hard to comprehend. This man was living in their city, healing the sick, talking constantly to the people, telling them about God, and bringing them face to face with the reality of God and of eternal life.

There were also many, many people who loved and admired him. Astounded at his miracles, listened so much to what he had to say and turned to God because of just that. While Jesus was here on earth, he was amazing and incredible.  

He performed many miracles, and one of them, as recorded in the Bible in Matthew chapter 8, verses 1-4, tells us how Jesus healed a guy with leprosy. It went like this: When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Jesus reached out with his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean." Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.

Jesus was an astounding and astonishing person while he was here on earth. As God, he could do stunning things, like the miracle above, even though Calvary was on the agenda and he knew it. 

Still, of course, he was so willing to die horribly on the cross for us and take away sins and kill them there, and then all we have to do is accept what he did for us all those years ago and ask him to lead our lives.

Dying like he did - and it was pretty ghastly - he so willingly gave up his life as he knew it here on earth and paid for each of our sins. How does that work?

Jesus's death on Calvary was the epitome of sacrifice. By dying, he paid the price for each of our sins, regardless of what those sins were or even what they are today. 

Heaven awaits those of us who decide in our hearts to come to Him, let Him lead us, and make Him first in our lives.

Hell also awaits, and Satan, on the other hand, will try to put as many obstacles in our paths to try to dissuade us that God is not real, and even if He were, you would have no part in His promises.

So, all we have to do is accept Jesus's sacrifice for us, which can abolish our sins and our past mistakes, which in my case are pretty horrendous, and ask him to lead us and be the very first in everything we do and everything we say.

God's huge blessings to you, and I hope to see you next time.

Stalag luft III

Stalag Luft 111 in German means Main Camp, Air, 111, SL 111. Still unsure of what all that means, but it was the most gruesome and cruel prisoner-of-war camp in the Second World War which had captured Western Allied air force personnel. 

It was set up by Germany in March 1942 near the town of Sagan, which is now in Poland. Amazingly, it was situated in sandy soil, which the authorities thought was a good idea because it would make tunnelling out of the place pretty impossible. Well, that's what they thought - they were completely wrong.

The prisoners of war were all Allied POWs. There were two amazingly effective escape plots. One was labelled as the Wooden Horse when it was to become a film made in 1950, and the other became the very famous film called The Great Escape.

1943 was the first attempt at escaping when the POWs constructed a gymnastic vaulting horse which they designed to carry and hide the men while the sounds of the vaulting horse hid them. Three men eventually escaped. Michael Codner, Eric Williams and Oliver Philpott. 

Then there was yet another famous escape by these amazing POW's. In March 1943, Roger Bushell, their Squadron Leader, conceived a plan for a mass escape. He concocted an escape committee, and they came up with the tunnel plan. It became pretty famous and was to be known as the Great Escape.

The tunnel was amazingly dug into the sandy soil and barricaded up with parts of bedding and anything that they could find. It took months, and finally the tunnel was finished, and on the night, many men were released.

Three tunnels were dug by these men, which was truly amazing. They named them Tom, Dick, and Harry, and each one was so secretive, and they had to be. 76 of the guys escaped, which to me was totally amazing considering exactly what they had to do: dig through that sand and make that amazing tunnel.

The truly sad time was that of the 76 escapees, 73 were captured, and Adolf Hitler was furious with them and wanted them all executed. He was advised by Goring and crew that if that happened, the Allied forces would bring about reprisals with huge effects on the war. Hitler hardly ever agreed to their suggestions, but this time he did, and he insisted that more than half of the escapees were shot and killed.

Extremely and extraordinarily bad, it's hard to find words to describe how you feel upon reading this horrible time for these so brave POWs. Old Hitler wasn't as brave as he thought he was. He spared a prisoner whose name was Bob Nelson because he believed that he was related to Admiral Nelson and another prisoner, Dick Churchill. After all, Hitler thought he was related to Winston Churchill, the English Prime Minister. 

Where do we take this? It is so horrible to think these guys went through this. The war was extremely bad. It affected most places in the world. Even here in Australia, we had Darwin bombed, and so many people were horribly killed.

How do you cope with that? It's so hard and ghastly for the guys to be executed like they were. The families, their wives, children, parents and siblings all had to be aware of what happened. The war was ghastly enough without something like that happening, and so many people are still coming to terms with what happened to the members of their families all those years ago.

There must have been so many horrible and bad things happening throughout the war. When we consider what is happening every single day throughout the world, it's staggering, and each one of us has to cope.

In the Bible, a man was losing his son. The lad was sick and dying. We have no idea what the boy had contracted, but I guess in those days it was more than common. His dad was a pretty well-known man in the confines of the military bases and who he had to report to, but THE most important person to him was his son, and that boy took precedence over everything and everyone else in his life.

Just like today, we have our importance in our lives and what they mean to us - just like in Stalag Luft. Those guys had their importance. They needed to get out of there; they had families and loved ones, and they knew what they needed to do. Their need to escape took precedence over everything that they were enduring. I've tried so hard to get my mind over what they were going through, and I find it so hard. They were heroes and certainly amazing heroes.

Jesus was a hero. In the Bible, in John chapter 4 and verses 43 to 54 in the Expanded Bible, we have the extraordinary story of the military man desperate to find Jesus to cure his dying son. In the Bible, you can read the following:-

 "Jesus left from Samaria and went to Galilee, the northern region of Israel. When he arrived there, the people welcomed him. They had seen all the things he did at the Passover festival.  Jesus went to where he had changed water into wine, and while he was there, one of the king's officials came to see him because his son was so sick.

He begged Jesus to come to Capernaum and heal his son, because his son was almost dead. Jesus said to him You people must see signs and miracles before you believe in me. The officer said, "Sir, please come before my child dies."

Jesus said to him, "Go. Your son will live." The man believed what Jesus told him and went home. On the way, the man's servants came and met him and told him, "Your son is alive." The man then asked the servants, "What time did my son begin to get well"? They answered Yesterday at one o'clock the fever left him.

The father knew that one o'clock was the exact time that Jesus had said, "Your son will live." So the man and all the people who lived in his house believed in Jesus.

This was the second miracle as recorded in the Bible. My mind tells me there must have been hundreds more, but these ones that we have here are fully amazingly incredible. Jesus was incredible - like the guys in Stalag Luft. They ended up giving their lives and paying the price for escaping from the POW Camp. Jesus also gave his life for you and me.

He paid for your sins and mine on that cross, and just like the saving of the young man's life in the above story, he so wants you to give your life over to him and asks you to let him lead you in everything you do. Even in the most ordinary days, Jesus Christ will be so willing to take your life and lead you in everything you do and even say.

Jesus saved that young man's life, and he definitely wants to save yours and mine also. I know I reckon I was the worst sinner around, but Jesus saved me and made me a new person in Him. That doesn't mean that I live a purely perfect and beautiful life now. Unfortunately, I still sin and make lots of mistakes, but Jesus is willing and ready to forgive me when I come back to him and ask Him to forgive me.

Those men in Stalag Luft had the most incredible story, and their bravery is unforgettable and awesome. The fact that they were executed for their bravery makes my skin crawl. They were so determined not to accept the harsh punishment dished out to them, and they were absolutely 100 percent devoted to their own countries. It is an amazing encounter and one where we can learn so distinctly.

Jesus had the same attitude. He knew that no matter what he did and what he said, the people in those times were absolutely ready to do him in. So very much like Hitler's answer to those brave guys who made an awesome attempt to get out of that horrible and disastrous situation. Hitler's answer was execution, exactly the same as the Pharisees' attitude about Jesus.

So where are you when it comes to taking a good, hard and long look at what Jesus did for you all those years ago? Are you just as happy to let the whole thing take a nose-dive and never come back up? Jesus gave his life for you, and all you have to do is to accept that and ask him to lead your life.

I know I have, and I can guarantee to you that Jesus will come into your life and change you entirely. He will become first in your life, and your whole attitude will change amazingly. God does not expect us to live perfect and faultless lives. Actually, we can't do that at all without his help and his amazing grace.

God loves you and loves me, and all we have to do is accept his great love for us, ask him to lead us and to become our Captain in everything we do and everywhere we go. 

God bless you this week, and I really do hope to see you again next time.

A huge chunk of a glacier detached and raced down the mountain

No one ever knows what could possibly happen in our lives. We can have enormously happy and busy lives, and then all of a sudden things can change dramatically.

In the Nepal landslide disaster, 1287 lives were lost in total, and 5000 remain unaccounted for, including 41 Australians; also, 12,000 people have been rescued by emergency response teams. The mountain is on the border between Nepal and Tibet. In Tibet, 21 of their people have been killed, and 540 more people are missing across the border. 

It was just past 8am on the morning of 26th August 2026 when a huge chunk of a glacier detached and raced down the mountain for at least 1 kilometer. As it raced down, it began to melt, and huge amounts of water accumulated, adding to the volume as it then raced down the mountainside for 168 kilometers.

The disaster occurred right on the Nepal-Tibet border. It's a small river, the Lend Cola, on the border that flows into a larger river, the Bote Koshi, at a place called Rasuagardi. There are only two road crossings between Nepal and China, so there are a lot of people there.

The border between the two countries is a really busy place: border security, trucks coming and going, people everywhere, police and Nepali soldiers at the checkpoint between the two places. We can only imagine what happened. It was a total disaster. As the water rushed down the huge mountainside, it accumulated tons and tons of mud, earth, vegetation, and as it neared the crossings and the cities, it just got faster and faster and hugely heavier.

In Nepal, there were hundreds of workers building hydroelectric dams up and down the entire place - huge jobs and hundreds of workers, and also so many people living and working there. There were hundreds of people there,  Chinese, Nepali, South Koreans, and many pilgrims as well. It is the overland route towards Mount Kyash, where lots of people worship Hinduism and Buddhism. Several hundred pilgrims were on the move.

As the huge water cascade streamed so fast down the mountainside, it collected everything: huge rocks and, of course, mud and what was left of the ice from the top of the mountain. With all of that mixture together, it formed something like concrete. That is exactly what hit the population, who were all so busy, the buildings, and, in fact, everything there. It was a huge mountain of water, rocks, and mud, forming like concrete, demolishing buildings and anything in its path.

Timur had more than one hundred houses, and after the disaster hit, only one or two were left standing. It went on and on, and by 4pm that afternoon, the mud, rocks, and the huge wave hit Devghat around 170 kilometres from the actual mountain. The whole mud and rocks, etc raised 9 metres up, approximately the same size as a three-story building.

No words can capture this devastation in Nepal.

It is incredibly devastating. None of us ever knows what can happen in just a "twinkling of an eye"; all of a sudden, our lives can be totally changed forever. I can't even imagine what those people are going through.

In the Bible, things changed so dramatically all of the time.

When Jesus was here physically on earth, he performed so many miracles; it was totally amazing. In the Bible, in Matthew chapter 8: 16-17, Jesus healed the sick and helped them so much. He wasn't a trained doctor as such, but he is God, and he was on earth to do just that: to heal the sick and get through to many just how important it is to give your life to him and let him lead you.

After reading about the total disaster in Nepal and how many people must be suffering, it is just so important that we must be alert not only about things that can happen so dramatically, just like the disaster that hit Nepal and took so many lives, but also to be alert as to what is going to happen when Jesus comes back, which could be sooner than anyone thinks.

We must be ready. How do we become ready? By giving our lives over to the one who sacrificed his own life to pay for all of our sins. He did this so that when we finally have to face our Creator God, all of our sins are forgotten and forgiven, which to me is totally amazing and totally undeserved. 

Jesus paid for our sins on that cruel cross on Calvary all those years ago, and then he rose again to spend eternity in heaven, preparing a place in paradise for all who decide to give their lives entirely over to him. 

Do we all just naturally go to heaven when we die? Unfortunately, no, certainly not. If we live our lives just cruising along and having virtually nothing to do with God at all, then we will have to pay the price in hell. It is entirely up to us to make that decision. Give our hearts and lives to God and make him first place in our lives, or pay the price at the end.

Listening and looking at the total disaster of what happened in Nepal, it was devastating and so, so horrible. None of us will even know the time or place when our lives will be over, maybe cut short and completely unexpected, or dragged on at the end somehow. Ask God to lead you, leading your life in everything you do and everywhere you go.

Let God lead you and enter your life. Put God ahead of you in everything you do, everywhere you go, and in everyone you meet.

God bless you this week, and I hope to see you next time.

Heroes

Where would we be without heroes in our world? They are amazing and wonderful.

They remind me so much of Jesus and what he went through here on earth. He died so horribly, and yet he rose again and is now in heaven or paradise, depending on how you relate to heaven, and he is there to welcome you and me.

There are definitely heroes in our world, as this lady would completely agree. Here she was, walking down the street with her three children. She is a 46-year-old mother, and her children are aged 10, 11, and 16.

They really had no idea what was about to happen to them as a family. They obviously had a plan for the day, and little did they know that that plan was about to go in reverse. None of us can possibly know in advance what is going to happen to each of us day by day.

This family was visiting Melbourne from Phillip Island - such a beautiful place - and they had no idea at all that they would end up being taken to Melbourne hospital with severe but non-threatening injuries.

The family was just walking down Spencer Street in Melbourne, just outside the police headquarters, when a man approached them; he then very randomly punched the 10-year-old hard in the stomach and then seemed to keep on walking, but then he grabbed the lad's mother in a headlock and kept on stabbing her in the back with a pair of scissors. 

The guy seemingly kept on walking by after he had punched the boy, but then turned, grabbed the lady, and then continued to stab her. The poor lady has suffered horrible injuries. 

Jesus himself suffered inexplicable injuries when he was arrested by the Pharisees, and then the Roman soldiers continually beat him, punching him severely in the face, whipping him, and the crown of large and sharp thorns was jammed on his head. Half naked, blood pouring out of him, huge blood-soaked eyes, no skin on his back, and then dragging a huge, splintery cross on his naked back up to Calvary!

When the family in Melbourne was attacked, there was a hero bystander who saw the guy attack the family and then ran over and tackled the offending guy to the ground halfway through his violent attack on the lady. If that hero hadn't tackled the guy and wrestled him off the lady, I hate to think what the outcome would have been for that family.

More guys quickly jumped on the offender and held him down until the police got there and arrested the guy, handcuffed him, and whacked him in a prison cell, and he will be facing court soon. He was a 27-year-old man, obviously with loads of problems himself, but it really makes you wonder why these sorts of things happen.

When you see something like what happened to the family on Spencer Street, it just gives you a small taste of what is happening in the world today, and of what happened years ago when Jesus went through hell himself. It's certainly an eye-opener.

Melbourne Police superintendent Dunstan praised the guy who jumped on the offender and dragged him off the woman. So fortunate our hero did that; I hate to think what the outcome might have been if he hadn't. Supt. Dunstan said, "Without a doubt, and without their intervention, it could have been a lot worse, so we are so grateful for their assistance."

Others also helped the hero, and they all ended up being heroes. They held him down until the police arrived. Well done!

Jesus was a HERO; he gave his life. Why? Because that is exactly how he paid for all of our sins, every single one of them. But if we don't come to God and accept the very fact that our sins are paid for by the excruciating death that Jesus went through, then we will never see heaven and will pay for our sins in hell.

All we have to do while we are alive here on earth is to come to God and ask His forgiveness for all the sins we have committed, asking Him to lead our lives, and make Him our priority. 

I love this verse in the Bible, in Romans chapter twelve and verse two (in my words only); it says not to virtually jump into conformity to what the world's pattern for life may be. In J.B. Phillips translation of this verse, he says, "Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its mould."

In other words, don't get swayed by some earthly things happening in the world around us and falling into some sort of pattern and doing what everyone else does just to conform. Leaving God as some sort of whimsical feeling and a funny sort of mystic. 

God is real, and if you turn to him, he will change your life, giving you a true meaning and purpose.

Regardless of what is happening with each of us, even though things may go haywire when we are living in this very confusing place called Earth, giving our lives over to God and making him the very first in our lives will certainly get us to meet God in Heaven. 

That to me is incredibly marvelous and extraordinary. Jesus is definitely my HERO. Without him, life will just get worse, and we will get carried away, just living day to day, coping with this and that, solving life's problems as best we can.

With Jesus at the helm, he guides our thoughts and lives, and even when things go wrong, he is there, and we totally rely on him in everything we do, and everywhere we go, and whatever comes along.

God's huge blessings to you this week. Contact me through here if you have any questions at all.

The LANSA flight

Jesus was amazing - If you read all of the miracles he did while he was here with us, then it just reinforces the very fact that he is indeed the very Son of God.

In the bible in Matthew 8, here was Peter's Mother-In-Law lying in bed with a fever. Jesus must have come into the home and was told about the poor lady who was so ill. Jesus went in and touched her hand, and immediately the fever left her; she got up and began to wait on them. How amazing.

Throughout the Bible, we see many miracles. 

Often, we are absolutely amazed by the things that happen to us on our everyday walk through life. Some of the things leave us with a WOW! because they are absolutely spell-binding.

Juliane Koepcke's story is absolutely spell-binding, and it's about how she survived an enormous plane crash. Juliane fell approximately 3.05 kilometres, or around 10,000 feet, still strapped to her seat. It was Christmas Eve, and she was returning to Lima, Peru, where she had been born.

Both her parents were working at Lima's Museum of Natural History, and Julianne had been born there. Her parents set about to establish a research station in the Amazon Forest. It was during this time that she had to learn survival skills, which in turn proved to be the very things that saved her life.

It was Christmas Eve, and Julianne and her mother were returning from Panguana after Juliane had graduated from university. They were on a LANSA flight, which they had booked after all the other flights were completely booked out.

The LANSA flight was finally booked out, and the flight began. Mid-flight, the plane was struck by lightning, immediately disintegrated, and then plummeted to the ground. Juliane found herself falling. Now that would be totally horrible and yet amazing. She was still strapped to her row of seats and plunged into the Amazon Rainforest.

She was amazingly alive, there in the dense Peruvian jungle. The seat where she had been sitting had maybe saved her life. She was left in the jungle, seriously hurt but still alive. The crash left her with a broken collarbone and many deep gashes. She couldn't find her mother, and many other people were unconscious but still alive and very, very injured.

Alone, totally scared and in huge amounts of pain and being near-sighted, she spent the next eleven days struggling through the dense undergrowth of the Amazon. Her dad had taught her to "follow the water," and struggling onward, she struggled into a small logging camp where the lumberjacks were shocked to see her but really helped her as much as they could.

They poured gasoline onto her wounds, which was the only thing they had, and canoed her for eleven hours to another remote area, and then she was able to be airlifted to a main hospital.

She was recovering slowly, but she helped the rescuers to locate the wreck, and many had died, including her mother, whom she located on 12th January 1972.

That was a fair while ago; Juliane is now 71 years of age.

What an amazing life Juliane has lived, and she is now working hard and married. She was the sole survivor of that horrible crash.

I related this miracle to the miracle Jesus did when he saved Peter's Mother-in-law that day; the lady was obviously dying there in the home just as Jesus and his disciples arrived. He miraculously saved her that day, just like Juliane was miraculously saved after that disastrous plane crash.

Jesus died pretty horribly on Calvary, and being the very Son of God, he knew exactly what was going to happen to him, and yet he went through with it just for you and just for me and just for anyone else in the vast world of ours who wants to enter the very kingdom of God.

Why did Jesus have to die? Jesus had to die to pay for your sins and my sins and all of the world's sins. All of our sins go way back to the very first couple on earth. Adam and Eve. Their sins created such a mess, and every single one of us since then has been born into sin, and if we don't do anything about that, then we are destined to spend eternity in the depths of hell.

Jesus came to earth as a baby and grew up knowing that he was to pay for the world's sins, which he did, and all we have to do is accept that and ask him into our lives. Making him first in every situation. That sometimes can be hard, but when we know that he is there with us, all we can do is ask him to lead us everywhere we go, and in everything we do,

Jesus actually was crucified on a cross and died; he was placed in a sepulcher but wondrously rose again in just three days from his crucifixion. He spent a few days here on earth with his disciples and friends, and is now in heaven waiting for us to come to him and asking him to lead us through life.

If we don't, then we are destined for hell. So where are you with Jesus? Do you know him at all, or is he just a story to tell others?

You can ask him into your life, and he will lead you in everything you do and everywhere you go. You will continue to make mistakes, but the amazing thing is that God is always there with you, and he will guide you if you put your trust in him in everything you do.

God bless you this week, and I hope to see you next time.

 

Shipwreck - The DUNBAR!

So many of us in today's world never even think about Jesus and what he did for us on the cross all those years ago. None of us ever knows when our lives will be cut short, and none of us ever knows what lies ahead of us.

WOW! Just reading about what happened on the night of Thursday, 20th August 1857.

After spending 81 days at sea, the beautiful ship THE DUNBAR arrived off Sydney Heads. I live in Newcastle, NSW, and we are just 168 kilometres, or around 103 miles, from Sydney Heads.

The DUNBAR, named after its owner, the wealthy Duncan Dunbar, was the largest ship ever built at that time at the Sunderland Shipyard in England. It was completed in 1854 and started off on its voyage to Sydney, Australia in 1856.

After 81 days at sea, she arrived off Sydney Heads, captained by James Green. It was a horrendous night, blowing a gale, and the waves and sea were treacherous. It was pitch black, with heavy rain squalls making all vision pretty impossible.

The cliffs around Sydney were obscure, and Captain Green believed he was approaching North Head; instead, he was kilometres/miles off and ordered the crew to straighten the ship and run for Sydney. He mistakenly drove the ship into what is known today as THE GAP, thinking it was the port's entrance.

There were 63 passengers on board as well as 59 crew members, including himself. The night was ghastly and cruel, with a wild storm in the pitch black. The ship crashed into the cliff face and the many rocks forming a reef around its base, known today as South Head. The ship immediately started to break up. The passengers and crew were all thrown into the water, the huge waves, and the rugged and jagged rocks surrounding the base of the mighty cliff face.

The gale was gigantic, and all but one on board were tragically and horribly killed on the fateful and disastrous night.

Those on board certainly wouldn't have been expecting that! Their whole lives would have been totally consumed by the huge effort of leaving their homes and starting a new life in the Australian colony.

Every bit of their lives was consumed with hope, love, and desire for their new start, which was to commence so soon in the vast colony, so far away from their homeland. Their hearts would be totally in awe of Australia and what it could offer them; they really had no idea, none of them at all, of what was about to happen.

Our lives can be so consumed by everyday living, making do with what we have, and just getting on with life in general. None of us, other than anything planned, will ever know the time or date when our life here on earth will be over, finished and done with. It's quite a remarkable eye-opener when you think about it. Life can be so so busy and full, and then suddenly it can be cut so short.

Jesus tells us that we should make sure that we give God first place in our lives and be prepared for whatever happens in our lives, and also to be prepared for Christ's eventual return as well. In the Bible, in John chapter three and verse sixteen, it says, "For God so loved the World (that's you and me) that he gave his only son, that whoever (that's you and me) believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life."

That certainly means that God is offering eternal life to anyone at all who trusts in him! Pretty straightforward. In the Bible, in John 5:24, Jesus said, and I quote: "Truly, truly, I say to you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death to life." Couldn't be any plainer than that.

Are you ready to ask Christ into your life? Maybe there would have been some board that had actually asked Christ to lead their lives, but I think many of them would have had no idea about what Jesus could be offering them. Unfortunately, just like so many today.

In the horrible accident of THE DUNBAR, the bodies and the wreckage actually filled the harbour - how horrible would that have been - and a huge funeral would have been held in Sydney. There were seven hearses and four other coaches and a long procession of carriages. The whole city closed down.

The only person surviving was found clinging to rocks as huge waves swept over him. How he did that is amazing and incredible. He managed to cling to a rock at the bottom of the huge cliff, being constantly pummelled and crashing into the cliff face by huge waves for 48 hours before he was finally rescued.

How James Johnson survived and ended up being a lighthouse keeper here in Newcastle many years later is beyond our minds.  He was an amazing man. He passed away in 1915. The whole episode is hard to imagine today.

James Johnson helped rescue Frederick Hedges, the only one to survive when the paddle steamer he was on foundered near Newcastle harbour in 1866.

Reading all of this and trying to take it in has been a real eye-opener for me. I knew about it, but I didn't realise just how it had such an impact on Newcastle and Sydney. All those people died so tragically.

We never know when our time comes to die - it is always there, no matter how we live, who we work for, how many in our family, and what we do with our lives. There it always is. Sooner or later we are all going to have to face the certainty of giving up our lives.

We certainly have to make sure about how we live and what is going to happen to us after death. Jesus Christ knew what was going to happen. He knew there was a heaven and there was a hell. Any of us coming to Christ and asking him to take over our lives, and making sure we put him first in everything, we can guarantee that when the time comes, we will live eternally with the one who guides our lives, Jesus, while we are here on earth.

Where are you with Jesus? That's a great question. Are you anywhere at all with Jesus? Do you even know him or even think about him?

You can give your life to him just by asking him to lead you in every situation in which you find yourself. Putting him first makes everything else fall into place. Of course, life will still throw you lots of curveballs, and yet knowing that Jesus is leading you in all situations certainly steers you in all the right places and definitely helps you cope with whatever comes your way.

Ask Him to come into your life to lead you in everything you do and everywhere you go.

God bless you this week - hoping to see you soon