I asked for a taste.....I got a 3 course meal

How do I say this succinctly? General Eva Burrows is one of my heroes, right up there with Jesus and Wonder Woman. I have admired her since she first came to my attention as General of the SA back in the day. On a number of occasions I have made plans to "happen to bump in to her", but every time something or someone spoiled my plan.

A number of weeks ago I was minding my own business when this random thought invaded my brain and said "I wonder who is speaking at ACC this year" so I followed that thought to the website and lo and behold "General Eva" was one of the highlighted speakers.

So very excitedly I rushed through an application to be able to attend the conference and before I knew it I was coming to aus. As much as I tried to find a friend to come with me, everyone had excuses....oh sorry I mean reasons!

I have been more and more excited as the days drew closer to finally getting to meet her and perhaps getting a picture with her.

On Tuesday at the end of the Officers day I waited in line to meet her, not a literal line, but there was a definate figurative line of ppl waiting.

My turn came and I said "Hi General Eva, I just wanted to come and introduce myself and meet you." When I said who I was she immediately recognised my name from some previous correspondence, grasped my hand in hers and said "lets have lunch tomorrow".

As you could perhaps imagine, I was pretty excited about this, and there was a flurry of texts going back and forth to NZ (I'm dreading the bill).

So condensing the story to a readers digest version. I had lunch on Wed, and spent the afternoon with her at her workshop, and then on Wed night she invited me to join her for lunch on Thursday to meet her friend Meg. We had a great time and I sat with her for the final night of ACC. I am going to 614 where we will "catch up" again.

I feel like I've been sitting at a banquet of wisdom, grace and holiness all week long. I was hoping she might remember my name and pose for a picture. I had prayed that God would give me an opportunity throughout the week to meet her.

God totally made that request look minute. He has blessed my socks off and I feel like I need to keep pinching myself.

General Eva is still my hero right next to Jesus and Wonder woman, but now I could perhaps dare to say she is my friend. She continues to inspire me, to encourage and challenge me, and those good thoughts I had about the kind of Godly woman she is, have been both confirmed and expanded.

Thank you Jesus for totally blessing me and spoiling me....keep it coming!

the power of the testimony

So getting back to manifest presence and what happened. On the last night Bill was talking about the power of the testimony of what God has done. Not only is there power in the written word of God (the bible) but also as we testify about what God has done. He gave examples of how someone was healed of a condition and as he shared with a congregation about what God had done, a person was healed listening to the testimony of how God had healed this other person. They have had 31 people be healed on bipolar and only 2 of those people have actually had people lay hands on them and pray. All of the rest of them were healed as they heard the testimony of God having healed someone else....mind blowing stuff.

So during the ministy time that night there was a word of knowledge given about a woman who was injured during childbirth and it was never healed. So during the testimony time a woman came up and shared about how she had been injured years ago giving birth and had not been able to sit on the floor and cross her legs. She then demonstrated God having healed her by sitting on the floor cross legged.

Pastor Bill then said "there is someone who God is healing you now of a childbirth injury as you have listened to this testimony. So check yourself out now."

So all the women who had childbirth injuries were checking themselves out and a lady stuck her hand up to say that God had healed her. It was awesome.

more to come.....

manifest presence 07

So I've just had 6 days holiday and chose to spend it at the manifest conference in Auckland. Bill Johnson and Ian Green were the 2 main speakers and it was awesome! The first night 74 people were healed and there were over 100 on the last night - everything from bipolar, deafness, short leg, cancer, sensitive teeth and so much more. One of the girls I was with had her cracked skull healed the first night we were there. The thing that impressed upon me the first night was how 'unflash' the whole thing was. Amanda's skull was healed after the people from her own church simply put their hands on her and prayed. It was simple, straightforward and without a whole lot of show.

There are just way too many 'healing' stories to list but lets just say that God blew my mind again and again and again!

It has made me more determined to seek after God at all cost. I want my christian faith to require faith on my part. I dont want to live a safe christianity but one that is going after the LIFE of Christ.

I will blog some more about this later....feeling a little tired right now, but wanted to begin the conversation while it was fresh in my spirit.

a resilient life

I've been reading a book over the last couple of days "A Resilient Life" by Gordon MacDonald. I've had to limit myself to reading only one chapter in bed, because its so good I'd be awake all night reading it and be shot for work the next day.

One of the reasons it has struck such a cord with me i think is because Gordon uses his career as a 'runner' as a framework for the book. Growing up I was a bit of a runner. I was senior athletics champion at both primary and secondary school and loved athletics and all things sporty. But unlike Gordon, I never applied myself beyond just turning up on the day and competing. I know I had potential but never applied myself to its possibility.

One of my dreams has always been to run the New York Marathon. I know I have the potential to do it.....but to date have never achieved it. Although in the last 6 months I've finally taken steps towards it by running the SBS 1/2 marathon in Christchurch over Queens birthday.

Since then, my training has slackened right off again....and reading this book helped me to realise something.

HI MY NAME IS SHAR AND I AM A QUITTER!

I have the quitters gene. I dont complete the things I start and I start things I never finish. I've known this about myself for some time now, but before reading this book I wondered if there was ever going to be something I could do to break the cycle.

As a kiwi I'm not prone to talking myself up....but there's a little part of me that thinks that God has destined me for great things.......and what stands in the way from me fulfilling that destiny is ME! I am my own worst enemy.

So I'm reading this book with a heart that is crying out to God..."Yes Please Lord".

Anyway that's a little confession from me....back to that reading.

Ruth Norrish

No sooner had I published my previous blog, I received the word that Ruth has passed away. I just want to take the time to honour this amazing lady. She trained as a single officer for a season before marrying Graham and having 8 children. She has been such a delight to know, always encouraging me, and keeping Graham in line (a great sense of humour). It has been such a pleasure knowing her and I know that Graham will in one sense, be lost without her. Yet they both had such faith and trust in God, she is home with Jesus.

God Bless you Ruth

6 weeks in 6 sentances...or similar

OK, its been way too long since my last blog. I did the 1/2 marathon and felt fantastic and overwhelmed all at the same time. I went to Wellington for a block course for my 2nd semester uni paper and that was a great time....fell in love with Borders bookstore, just as well we dont have one in Hamilton. My friend Karen got engaged, very cool. My friend Helen had a baby girl. One of the most exciting things is that my roommate from summer camp 95 found me via the internet....I've been searching for her for years with no success. So stoked that we have reconnected, so now I've found 3 of my camp buddies. Happy times. Its chilly here, but not as chilly as Dunedin.

At the moment I am wishing that I was in Dunedin thought. Graham & Ruth Norrish ( a wonderful couple from Dunedin) came to visit me a few weeks ago when they did the massive roadtrip up here for field days. We had a great day together and then had lunch together after church on the sunday. It was so nice to be able to see them again, they've always been so supportive and encouraging.....Well Ruth is in hospital and the last word I had yesterday was they hadn't expected her to make it through Sat night but she had. It's awful being here and not being able to support them and others as she makes her journey home. They are the most delightful couple, in their 80's, still so in love, and playful with each other. So all I can do from here is pray, and pray and pray some more, for Ruth & for Graham as he says goodbye for now, to his sweetheart.

So a tingle of sadness invades my days at the moment.

So for now, I'll sign off and try and be back again soon.

A 1/2 Marathon awaits...

So I've been debating over recent weeks as to whether to blog about my attempt to complete a 1/2 marathon. I resisted, because that would make it just a little too real...well this morning there is no turning back. In just under 3 hours times the starting gun will go, and I will be off like a tortise (as opposed to a rabbit!)

My training started out great and then along came a calf muscle strain that caused a hiccup or two to my plans. So today is not about RUNNING a 1/2, its about COMPLETEING a 1/2....and I'm ok with that, because you have to start somewhere aye.

Can I confess I am somewhat nervous....actually I'm very nervous. 21.1 km doesnt sound like much, but suddenly it seems as though its a never before attempted distance that noone will survive.

If I finish the race, I get a medal...that's good enough for me, but more than that, I'm one step closer to my ultimate goal of completing a full marathon (and to take that 1 step further, I'd love to complete the New York marathon).

So watch this space for a picture or two and my report on how things went. That's if I can pluck up the courage to leave the house!

I'M A SURVIVOR

BOOTCAMP IS OVER.......AND I AM ALIVE TO TELL THE TALE!

It was much harder than I imagined. But it was soooo worth it. Each session was pushing me to my limit and so many times I wanted to give up & go home. But the more I stuck at it, the more I started to see changes. The first day I could hardly run up the set of stairs once let alone 6 or 7 times. By the end of it I was able to run up hills and hold my own :)

The biggest battle for me has always been the battle of the mind. I think I've made huge progress in terms of being able to push through my mind saying "no more"!

But I know that its just the beginning. So as of Monday I begin the boxing bootcamp! We'll see how that one goes.

I've found that the process of pushing through my mental blocks has been really helpful in terms of pushing through those times when I struggle with temptations, issues and giving in to the easy instead of taking that road less travelled.

So my muscles, both physical and spiritual have been having a real workout over these last weeks and so lets just see where these next 5 weeks takes me.

2 down, 8 to go

So every morning since monday my alarm has gone off at 5:20am and I've 'sprung' out of bed. Monday and Friday we have the group sessions for bootcamp, the other days I'm on my own in terms of what I do. After Monday's effort I knew I didnt want to arrive at Friday without having done some exercise in between. So Tues was weights. Wed came and it was meant to be a run day. Having always had a love hate relationship with treadmills I thought I'd give it a go. I decided that I couldnt face running for an hour but I could probably manage a 10 min run followed by a 5 min walk. So plugged in the headphones and off I set. I ended up being on the thing for an hour, repeating that same pattern. Thurs came, mean to be weights, but I needed to prove to myself that wed wasnt a one time thing. Today, Fri, we repeated the group activity we did on Monday. I found myself able to run just a little faster and push myself just a little further. It was a great feeling knowing that getting up at this ridicouls hour and committing myself to the discipline of exercise was paying off. On Monday I could hardly move for the rest of the day, today I'm going biking with my mate Becks after work. Romans is going great too. I'm really enjoying sitting on the porch after the gym with my bagel and bible and absorbing romans. It's good for me, I'm not so sure I can say the same about the bagel!

BOOTCAMP

So today was day one of my 5 week bootcamp...let me explain. At the gym they were promoting this 5 week bootcamp that was going to start today. It was all about running, jumping,stairs, pushups and all those other things we might associate with an army style fitness thing. I have been terribly slack over recent years with my fitness so thought this could be the thing to kickstart me off. So I signed up....aware that it meant being at the gym by 5:55am!

Well on Saturday I was reading this book "SEXGOD" by Rob Bell (don't let the title freak you out - very good book) and was really challenged about how I relate to God and to others and so I decided that I would commit myself to an all over bootcamp for 5 weeks. In other words, while I put my body through a bootcamp at the gym, I'm putting my spirit and soul through one too.

So after waking up every once in a while during the night, thinking I might sleep through my alarm, I got to the gym in time (although forgot my banana for breakfast). OH MY GOODNESS. It was hard, at one point I was just waiting for Bob and Gillian to come running around the corner with red and blue tee-shirts for us to put on (biggest loser for those of you not up with the play). We ran, we sprinted up stairs and down them, we ran some more, found more stairs and then did these insane exercises. Jin one of the 2 instructors apparently used to train soldiers in the korean army!

As I plodded my way back to the gym there came a moment when I was out of sight of those in front and those still behind me. A little voice said "just walk, noone will know, you're almost there anyway, what difference will it make?" I reminded myself that this was a bootcamp and I would know, it would make a difference because I would be cheating myself of getting the most out of this experience. So I kept plodding along all the way back to the gym.

When I got home I took some time to read through Roman's chapter 1. I thought Romans would be a good starting point for my spiritual bootcamp.

So it's 10:45am and I'm feeling good, ask me at 3pm and I'll probably just grunt. I will try and keep the blog up to date with my bootcamp. Have a great day :) I know I will.

children's day 2007

What a brillant day! Hamilton turned on the weather, we set up some stuff and hundred's of families turned up at the park for a play. We had bouncy castles, a big slide, a chair-o-plane that made me feel dizzy just watching, sausages, candy floss (you had to be really in need of a sugar rush to endure the 1 hour wait in the queue...but so worth it), magnetic fishing, chocolate fish, singstar comp, balloon animals and a great area for under 5's. I must confess to being slightly nervous before the event as to whether I had remembered everything on my list.....and what would we do with all those sausages if noone showed up? I need not have worried. This community of West Hamilton is amazing. They were so supportive and it was fantastic to see whole families playing together. I enjoyed it so much I'm already excited about next year. Of course it was an awesome team of people who put it together and an equally awesome group of volunteers on the day that made the day run so smoothly.

BUSY BUSY BUSY

I am still around, its crazy busy here in Kirikiriroa. Hopefully I will make some time after this sunday to update my blog.. Its childrens day this sun and we've got a big event at the local park.....much fun is planned.

l8r

police...they're watching!

Ok so I know its been ages since I blogged....yet again. To briefly catch up to today. Dec - went to wellington for Commissioning, my brothers Queens award (boys brigade) and preachers boot camp with Rob Harley....all great.

Came home, had farewell sunday, finished packing....freaked out as movers came 2 days early...and left to head to chch. Had Christmas in chch and left boxing day to head to Wellington. Stopped for the night and then up at 5:30am to travel to Hamilton.

Got there, checked out the house, then stayed with Becks for a couple of nights due to unforseen circumstances.

Anyway a funny thing happened yesterday and I thought 'I really must blog that'...and unlike all the other times Ive thought that, Im actually doing it.

So the registration on my car had expired over the long weekend and the post office didnt open to today. Yesterday (when I realised it had expired) I was in a bit of a bind, you see I had some videos that needed to be dropped back but expired rego...so I thought I'd take side streets as far as I could before getting onto the main drag to get to the video shop. My theory was that I would be less likely to see cops on these side streets. BIG MISTAKE!

As I was driving down this quiet surburban street, not one, not two but three cop cars came down it one after the other all in a row. I thought "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME". You see it would be very easy to spot my expired sticker as it still said 2006 on it and as we hopefully all know its now 2007. So I turned onto the main drag only to have another cop car behind me, but they turned down the side street to follow the THREE other cop cars.

Then coming home I stopped at the lights and yes, there it was, another cop car sitting at the lights.

I dont know how many cops cars were on duty yesterday afternoon but I tell you what, I was feeling like somehow big brother had been watching me, and letting me know that!

So first thing this morning I went to the post office and registered my car and havent seen a cop car since!