a thousand blue fish

On Friday we became bicycle people and joined the masses of other bicycle people in Japan.  The bicycles were a gift from the mother of a child in my class.  She also goes to the church we go to.  She was so sweet about it and so used by God.  You see that morning as I'd walked to school I'd told my Daddy God that birthdays have away of making me sad.  I got a bit disappointed when I found out my birthday and Alexander's wasn't go to be going the way we'd planned. My last year behavior would have had me sulking and moaning and just generally a big old emotional wreck.  (I know why, and I'm working on it.) But on that Friday morning I told my Daddy God that I know He loves me and that He knows me and that I was going to sort my attitude out.  This was while I was rushing to school after waking up late.  I was also carrying Alexander who was cold and his leg was sore and he couldn't walk and I don't know what else that only happens when walking to o...

If God is love (which He is) and we believe that we are God's representatives then shouldn't our first response be to love?  For the longest time I have felt more and more strongly that God wants us to live simply.  He will continue to bring revelation and new words and heal and do miracles, but He will do it all out of love.  And His instructions are really clear:  "Jesus said, 'Love the LORD your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.'  This is the most important, the first on any list.  But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.'  These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them." Matthew 22: 37-40, The Message    This kind, beautiful, strong, gentle man, Jesus, loved people.  He lived among people and laughed with them.  He favored the company of "sinners" to that of the religious "right." Passing along, Jesus saw, a man at hi...

My kids are not good at waiting.  They look sweet here but in the real world if they had to sit or stand anywhere waiting for us they'd be moaning.  In the same way if anyone could tune into my frequency they may hear a bit of a moan.  Actually they'd hear a rumbling nausea.  Its not a panic, because I know as I know as I know that God is doing exactly what God does.  And I trust Him.  Its just something like: there is so much that I have no control over and so much that still needs to happen, how Lord?. And there have been a couple of low days and then amazing teaching.  A low day happened on Friday when the wheel on our beloved twin pram decided it just couldn't anymore.  And it happened in a busy shop and nobody helped me.  And that was after the lady in the Post Office determinedly avoided smiling at me.   But I had been reading something about that in Oswald Chambers.  I can't quite remember exactly what he said-I just know...

I am sitting in front of this laptop in my walking gear.  I am pretty tired and my feet are sore.  But we accomplished it!!!! God really blew us away today. Yesterday I was despondent.  Very few people had asked how our preparations were going and our sponsorship list wasn't increasing.  In the midst of all this self-stuff, I felt God just telling me to look to him and not to people.   I am not battling in trusting that God is going to do miracles and move mountains.  I guess I just thought it would be through people and well... through our efforts. I was already emotionally tender and then I felt physically sick.  I was in pain.  My children have both developed an allergic reaction to the stuff our blustering wind brings.  Alexander has been coughing and Beatrice leaking from the eyes and nose, Oh and she is teething!  This morning (we woke up at 4) Emiel had a spasm in his back.  He says it felt like someone punched him. ...

The light on the side of my face really is very hot. My eyes are itchy and I have a kink in the back of my neck. Without my glasses the blurred spot my eyes are attempting to fix on is not holding my concentration. I can feel my body beginning to slacken (is that the right word?) and my jaw beginning to droop. Come on Philippa, pull yourself together. I start tapping my toes inside my shoes. Music plays, ladies singing sultrily to men they don't want but need. It's not working and my eyelids are starting to slide over my eyeballs. I can't believe this, I'm battling to stay awake in front of a group of artists staring at my face... No, this isn't some freakish nightmare.  It's God's sense of humour and something that has made me smile.  When I did my first one-year stint at varsity (that is a whole other series of posts) the art school needed models.  For some strange reason I so desperately wanted to do it.  But my insecurity and body issue stopped ...

*before i share with you what is on my heart i just want to apologise for the small caps and possible typo's. I am not able to get as much internet use as i'd like. I can use my husbands phone to post stuff, but it not the most fun way to do things. (and after apologising for small caps the phone as decided to capitalize the beginning of the sentence letters.) anyways, blogging is my happy space and not blogging means i am less happy, so please forgive what looks boring and possible blurry pictures* my hubs and i are about to do yet another major clean of our home. Its kinda cluttered and full of unneccassary (must check spelling) stuff that may be a blessing to others. I've just sat and let my eye run over everything and i got stuck on our book shelves. We have loads of books, and they're mostly christian. A lot are text books for Emiel who is studying theology. I remember in the past how my heart would swell up with pride when people came over. It was like i...

I read some blogs that are just so beautiful.  They are laid out in ways that immediately draw your eye and colour your day.  Their authors (I think of blog in terms of words) or creators (each post is like a work of art), are people that write stuff that captivates and motivates.  I want to be able to do that.  No, more honestly would be to say I want to be able to write posts that don't need pictures for people to read them.   I have just read an amazing post about a man being freed from prison and the bloggers response to him.  She understands that loving this man, most others would ignore, will be the thing that changes him.   She gets that loving him tells him about Jesus.  Then I read all the comments and everyone is telling her how nice she is.  I want to comment and say she's not doing it to be nice, she's doing it because that's what people who say they love Jesus are supposed to do.  I was...

I am loving my year bible. I think I am managing consistency better because I understand how to do it. With all things in life read the instructions, they are there for a reason. One of the cool things about things about doing the bible this way is that you reading over things you have maybe read over a thousand times but you are required to read the section as they are laid out and there are no headings and subheadings to distract one from what is there. It is important to read things in there context. Anyway, what I want to share with you is this from Matthew 5 47”You have heard the law that says ‘Love your neighbour’ and hate your enemy.44 But I say love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors d...