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TRAVIS AND I ARE ENGAGED! :)

I ALMOST DIED!

well maybe that's a little exaggerated....

one quiet evening of last week i decided that a nice evening stroll was in order. Max, the crazy dog resident at my humble house in Huntly, looked keen so he joined me in this endeavour. off we go keeping to ourselves and calmly, or as calmly as Max can muster, walked along.

we didn't get too far before Max is telling all dogs on the block that he's the boss and making sure we all know it. there is a rather large red dog who didn't seem too keen on this idea on the corner. she was jumping up and down and barking for all she's worth. I'd seen her before and kept walking leaving her to it.

however, i hear something behind me and there she was, the red dog, much much bigger when she was that close, coming towards me rather fast. Max starts making noises like he's dieing, this dog was enthusiastic about being this close and jumping up and down and her face was right in front of mine!

as cleaver as i am i called out 'OWNER OF THE DOG!' this I'm not too proud of now but it was the first thing that came into my head. then i started praying 'God, HELP'. no one came. not a soul in sight and this dog was still too close for comfort nibbling on my elbow.
i did realise that i wasn't about to die at this point. the dog was still there but logic kicked in and it wasn't growling or biting. Max was though. he was making enough noise for all of us. i was trying to keep him quiet thinking the dog would eat him if he wasn't careful.

we proceed to continue about my walk seeing as i was half way and either was didn't matter. the dog was rather pleased at this and run around following me. i was not impressed.

we get to the corner near my house and the silly dog starts running laps around the house! how odd. around and around it goes. there are also dogs in this house and they start making noises like they're in excruciating pain. around and around it runs. strange.
i pounce on the opportunity and run home with Max, leave him in the back yard then head off to the dogs house.

with much relief i find the owner home, tell him in few words what happened and that the dog is now still running laps around the end house. to my surprise i watched him get in a car, drive down there, hang out the car window then drive back with the dog running along behind him!

the whole event was rather strange. i did resolve to never walk past that house again.
God did answer my prayer though. even though not in the way i thought was best with the dogs owner coming out and taking it away, i was much calmer after my cry of help and i didn't die!

i was out walking last week and as i went along i was looking into this paddock where there were some horses. this isn't unusual, i see horses and i watch them as i pass. normal for me. but this horse looked sorta familiar. as i continued this horse gaging i was more convinced that it was an old horse i had called Aquaba (Arki). i stopped and called out 'Arki' the horses head shot up, then they came forward and then gets excited and starts running around the paddock with the other horse in there.

well now i was kinda excited. i waltz into the house next door and ask the dude it they're his horses. nope, some one had asked him if they can put them there and his payment suggested was a box of beer every so often (!). he didn't know his name even!. but he gave me some other clues and i walked away convinced this was my old horse and determined to follow it up and find out.

my detective work was slowed down a bit cos i don't know anyone around huntly really. didn't know the people who the dude was talking about with his clues he gave me. so all i really did was walk down to the paddock a few times and see if i could see anyone and if the horse was still there.

on one of these said trips i decided to go into the paddock. on my way in i started wondering if it was a good idea cos they're not my horses and i'm probably trespassing to some degree..... never mind i wanted to know. the horse was nice and friendly and i start patting it and looking it over. the head was similar but a few things started to say that it's not familiar, i put these away to not seeing the horse for a while, some actions were out of character but i was still wanting it my way. but then one thing that couldn't be explained away, it's a girl. that horse is not Arki.

i was seeing what i wanted to rather then the truth until it couldn't be any other way.

God and Prayer

when praying, think of who you are talking to.
consider Revelation chapter 4

At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

now that is awesome.
but look at what the passage says next.

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."

what on earth would you do if you were faced with one of these strange creatures?
these creatures, covered with eyes, declare day and night, day and night how holy, how great the Lord is. it's like they're saying, not me Him, God, God is holy look at him not me! everyone in this part of the passage have all their attention on God and acknowledge how holy he is and give him all glory.

now when i sit back and think about how great, how holy how big how awesome God is, that changes the way i pray.

Australia Post and my letter

so during my time with world vision in the lead up to Christmas i had a few incidents. this is the story of one of them.

so i had been bored sitting in the one place having not much to do and hardly anyone to talk to for too many days that i had been writing people letters, and doing other random things that regularly on my way up to the marketplace in the morning i was posting letters. this said morning was nothing new and i posted a letter on my way. not just a random letter to anyone that i had written, but a rather important letter that was already supposed to be at its destination.

so there i was that morning just humbly sitting in my designated place, writing another letter and wondering if i had an envelop or stamp in order to post it later when it dawned on me, the rather important letter i had posted that morning did not have a stamp on it.... oops... what does one do when one makes such a silly mistake about such an important letter....

i realised at this point that there was nothing really that i could do about it as i had another few hours to sit and do nothing for, so i devised a plan. i finished at 3 and thought that the post was probably not going anywhere anyway until 6 when Mr. Post would pick it all up. therefore, i could go to that post box and call Australia Post and go from there before the mail went anywhere. good plan i thought.

i got to the post box as quickly as i could after i finished and call Australia Post i did. there are many options when you call them. they go something like this, if you are calling about international post press 3, if you are calling about postage within Australia press 2 and so on and so forth. there was however, no option about stamps and the like. i just pushed random buttons and got a rather unhelpful man who gave me information about the possible fate of my letter. 'i wouldn't worry about it, it will probably get there, you should have put a stamp on it, there is a chance it will get destroyed...' i was not impressed.

as i was talking to the unhelpful man, hope drove past me in the form of an Australia Post van. i quickly hung up on the Australia post dude and started waving frantically at the van and proceeded to chase them up the hill with some dude hanging out of the can yelling 'we don't have a key'. i didn't care, they were going to be more helpful then the dude on the phone in my mind.

these guys also proceeded to tell me about all the possibilities for my letter. one of them did call up some person who was supposed to be helpful though. everyone did say though, don't worry about it. so i went home.

the next day there i was again stationed at my post with my head in the clouds thinking about the world vision children and how i wasn't very good at this un-engaging job, when a random man walked past saying 'we got your letter' that woke me up, and i started thinking what on earth is this guy talking about? what letter? i continued to look at him with a blank face wondering what he was talking about.
'we found your letter, I'm the dude from the van, we found your letter, it's got a stamp on it'

the dude had found my letter and put a stamp on it to make sure it got to it's destination. what a nice man, and rather surprising.

so the moral of the story is, you don't need to put stamps on your letters they will probably get there anyway (i did try this, i posted a letter with and without a stamp and then contacted them the next day and they got both. i did this after Australia post people kept telling me it will get there anyway). and some people are willing to go out of there way to help you, even strangers.

it was a funny two days and it did keep me amused.

merry christmas

it's that time of year again. the time when things either slow down for some or go more crazy then normal for others.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

a story

i have spent the last week and a bit sitting at the World Vision stand encouraging people to sponsor children. it's been rather boring a lot of the time... so it inspired this story.


Boredom rained down on her. She couldn't think of anything worse to be doing.
"Oh Lord please me this stop" she mumbled.
Many people walked past but no one even noticed her. she didn't like not talking. she didn't like being alone. She didn't like being stuck with her own thoughts. all these combined was making time pass ever so slowly. the day seemed endless.

there are so many better things to be doing. no one could put a prince on this and pay me for it. she thought about her brother and their last conversation. it had been a long time since they had talked so freely.

as time dragged its feet she sunk lower in her seat. oh how she yearned to be outside. her surroundings had become familiar. she new much of what to expect. not much changed these days. she liked excitement and this was far from it.


it's not finished. just to clarify, it's inspired by my time in the marketplace, but not about it.