The test

John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn't, the girl with the rose. His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner's name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he located her address. She lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. The next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II. During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A romance was budding. Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn't matter what she looked like. When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled their first meeting - 7:00 PM at the Grand Central Station in New York. "You'll recognize me," she wrote, "by the red rose I'll be wearing on my lapel." So at 7:00 he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he'd never seen. I'll let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened:

A young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As I moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips. "Going my way, sailor?" she murmured. Almost uncontrollably I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I was split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own. And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify me to her. This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful. I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment. "I'm Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me; may I take you to dinner?" The woman's face broadened into a tolerant smile. "I don't know what this is about, son," she answered, "but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!" It's not difficult to understand and admire Miss Maynell's wisdom. The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive.

Updates

Ok, so, for those of you who might sticky-beak here now and then, I'm sorry I've been so lazy. I kinda have a few excuses. :P

A.) We've got a place, finally, and have been moving in... converting two places into one isn't easy, believe me.

B.) We went camping!! :) Update on that soon...

C.) My boss has offered me a traineeship doing Cert II Hospitality - Food prep and customer relations - a fancy name for "waitress" :P But, it's a 1 year TAFE course, and it'll start me off in the hospitality industry if I choose to go onto Cert IV and become a chef... something I see very likely to happen. :)


So, camp!

We were blessed with messages from Pastor Bill Hughes again .... He's so lovely, and such a Godly man. :)



I was in charge of the youth class... though, not a whole lot went right. Maybe I was too tired? Or maybe they just find me too boring now .. lol..



Of course, we could always rely on our cameraman no.2 for both great video footage, and never-failing papparazzi work. ;)



The Giggles always provided us a smile ;)



And we had 5 beautiful baptisms (two below)





Ben always provided me perfect hilarious photo opportunities .... I don't know why ... he's just so good at it :P I never let the moment slip either ^_^



The beautiful item Gary and Ebony presented - How Deep the Father's Love for Us





Ooopp... there he is again :P (yes, I AM a papperazzi... mwahahahhaha)



Ok, so, the rare one I'll put on of me... we were all gathering around to watch the slideshow Tim had made of our wedding photos.. :)



Sorry dude, had to use this one :D



Laugh, Emily. I know you can't help yourself :P





Yay! A nice photo of us to finish on :) ... sorta... took a few attempts lol.



Maybe more soon... if I get the inclination ;P

Approved

Well it's official... after months of looking and applying, WE HAVE A HOUSE! It's a 4 bedroom place with two living areas, dogs are fine, there's a vegie garden in the backyard, and it even backs onto a nature reserve - where Glen and I happened to have our first date. ;) It's so amazing!!!

We're signing the lease tomorrow, and can start moving in any time from then, so I'll grab some shots of it to upload soon. :)

"God is faithful to you
in little things
in big things
in all things."
-Ray Lessin

Simply Beautiful

As a teenage woman in today's society, I, like anyone, find the pull to the world rather strong. Makeup, jewelry, fashion - it's like a magnet. And often times it makes me feel so left out, so different, so strange to be different. Sometimes it even makes me feel unattractive. But I'm reminded again and again that our adornment isn't to be outward, but inward. If our inward adornment comes first, then everyone will see something different about us. I hope for any of my sisters that struggle with these same problems this song will be an inspiration.

~Simply Beautiful~

Sittin’ in a crowd, the silence is so loud
The difference can’t be explained
The girls in their array keep on staring my way
And silently I sit in pain
But then I hear a voice calling me and say
You’re beautiful in every way

Chorus
You’re beautiful, simply beautiful
The twinkle in your eyes lights a million hearts each night
You’re beautiful, simply beautiful
Without the world’s array you live pure in God’s way
And that makes you beautiful

Sitting in a church the heart inside me hurts
With everything I’ve got I kneel and pray
“Lord You see in me, the sins that no one sees
How do I get through each day?”
But then I hear His voice calling me and say
I will strengthen you in every way

(Repeat Chorus)

And finally comes the day I’m dressed in my array
I’m waiting inside my room
Anticipation builds, the nervousness I feel
As I’m waiting for my groom
And as I walk down the aisle I hear him say
“You’re beautiful to me in every way”

(Repeat Chorus)

My lifesaver

I have to share this story... It happened to me yesterday while camping, and I'm not sure if I'll ever forget it... I hope you receive the same spiritual lesson from it as I did.

For anyone not familiar with recent weather patterns, it's been raining a rather large amount in our area lately, more than enough for the creek water to be up when we went camping this weekend. It was beauty to our eyes, and only one thing on our minds - white water rafting! The boys tested the smaller rapids on Thursday as I cooked up dinner - it was a little too cold for me this afternoon, and probably good, as the water was a little dangerous. But with the following morning came a foot or two less water. So, being a bit safer but still fun, I gladly followed the boys in the truck to our destination. Loads of fun, and well worth the chillingly cold water that made it impossible to feel any limbs upon return to land.

So, after so much fun two days previous, we decided to try again, and still further upstream - say a good two hours "float" from camp. As we make our decent from the bridge into water, we realise that just up ahead is a huge log across the water leaving little gap to float underneath. Wayne and Joe take the lead, with Ashlyn close behind, and Glen and myself taking the rear. Everyone gets under fine, then I reach the log. With a split second, I crash into it, flip backwards, struggle for a quick breath, and am pushed under. I emerge the other side of the log, a little shaken up, but nothing much to worry about. I jump back on, and we're off and racing again.

We continue on for another 20 minutes or so, until we reach another rapids - seemingly the same as the last few we've gone through. But as we enter it, Ashlyn is pushed to the right, slammed into a large branch, and flipped off her tube - still managing to continue down safely without it. However, without any time to stop, I too am slammed into the branch, flipped over, and pushed under water. Sadly, I'm not as lucky to continue without my tube safely. Having been pushed backwards and flipped over, I continue to do summersaults through the waist deep water, hitting each rock and branch as I go. Barely able to catch some breath, I scream for help, but what can they do? Even I can't get myself upright...

I honestly can't remember how I stopped myself - perhaps I didn't. After tumbling a few times, the next thing I remember is standing up and holding onto a huge log, Glen floating passed me. Thinking my help is gone, I start feeling terrified. But, with determination, he stands, turns, and _walks through the rapids back to me_. I can barely stand, and wonder how he can walk. He walks behind me, breaking the current for me to be able to slowly get to the bank. There I sit, shake, and cry. I'd never been so terrified. The feeling of being pushed through rushing water, with absolutely no control, and struggling to grab some breath - I just can't write it.

Wayne and Joe make their way back through the bush to find us still sitting on the bank. Convincing me that the quickest way back to camp is through the water, I slowly climb back in the tube, trusting that Glen has control of it. With Wayne leading the safe way down, I kick off and follow, hardly daring to look where I go. Glen follows close behind, while losing air from his own tube. It's not long before he has to share mine, as we hobble home through the water.

With fear of being pulled backwards, I nearly screamed as Glen tried to jump on the back of it. So for my safety, he simply held on to the back, which meant he exposed the lower half of his body to the dangerous rocks as we travelled through the rapids. It seemed he came out with more bruises and bumps than I did.

What seemed an eternity later, we came to another spot with a huge log, but no room to go under it. To get through, you would have to stop at the log, climb over, and keep going, all through terribly fast moving water. Too terrified to face it, I begged Glen to walk me around the bank through this spot, which he agreed to. However, we stopped and waited to watch the others go down. Wayne went down first, slammed into the log, and went under. I literally started crying as I saw him finally emerge, bleeding from his head. I felt like I was in a nightmare - though, I'm sure my fear made things feel a million times worse than it truly was. We made our way to the bank, and to what felt like peaceful safety.

Fastforwarding through more water, we eventually got off near camp, and walked home. I asked Glen to finish the trip with the guys, and I would walk home. Still he wouldn't leave my side, always walking in front of me to make sure of my safety. I'd never felt so terrified in my life as when I was in that water, but never so safe as when Glen was leading me. Walking back, I started thinking of the events that had happened, and the Spiritual significance...

Life can be likened to the water. It has its calms and its rapids, its deeps and its shallows, its wides and its narrows. At some point in our lives, we come to a "rapid". This can hold temptation, trial, sorrow, or anything that tears us from God. We fight against it, but it's useless, the pull is too strong, and eventually it takes us with it in whatever direction it chooses. We fall off our raft of safety and into the cold dark waters. We stumble and tumble, we trip and we fall, and often will hit against the many rocks life throws on our path. These are our mistakes, our shortcomings. Somehow, we manage to stand for just enough time to call for help. Thinking our last hope has just floated away, we despair and think all is lost. But, Christ leaves His comfortable place in heaven, His safety, and comes to where we are. He walks the distance we can't, and breaks the tide for us so we can walk to safety. He walks the path before us, and bears the pain to lessen ours. We make it to the bank, and realise our weakness, and cry. We see the bruises in our flesh, and the pain in our hearts, and fear going any further. But He whispers "it's the only way to safety." Pulling together our broken pieces, and trying once again, we make it down slowly, limping home, back to where we should never have left. But this time, we're not alone. Every step of the way He's right there leading us. He's the One behind and before, taking all the bangs, all the pain, all the bruises. He bore the pain so we don't have to. He never leaves our side, not even for a moment, cause His first priority is our safety, no matter the cost. He doesn't let go until we're home safely, and even then, He still bears the marks that remind us both of what we've gone through together.

It seems like our hearts are broken, just as, right now, my body is bruised and sore. But what we never realise is how much Christ took for us, and the pain He bore to keep us safe and afloat. If only I realised more what both my earthly, and heavenly guardians bear for me - I'd probably complain much less.

It mightn't seem like much, but to me it felt like life and death - and a lesson I'll never forget.

Rope

Glen was watching a doco last night while I was on the computer... I wasn't paying much attention to it, but suddenly got a little interested when they tested different "ropes".

One girl made a rope purely from hair, braided together. She would interlock the next lot of hair with the previous, and thus made it long enough to climb down a building.

Another guy made a rope purely of toilet paper! Toilet paper, the weakest possible thing to create a "rope" from. He did the same process of braiding and interlocking.

Would this ever work? Well, they tested both ropes by climbing down this building with them, and both worked! They supported the weight of the person relying on them, and didn't break under the strain, even though all odds seemed against them.

I was thinking about the Spiritual lesson in this. Always thinking of a rope as our faith, I got to thinking how some of us have the least faith, the smallest hope, the weakest rope.. but as long as that rope is anchored in Christ, it doesn't matter how weak it appears to be, it won't break under the pressure. Some of us have true ropes, made from the strongest of materials - perhaps these of us are the ones who have faced trials and tribulations and come through the better. Others are made of 'hair', a fairly strong substance, but never imagined for such a task. These are those of us who have silent faith, never seen to anyone - a silent strength built for the task. And some of us have 'paper' ropes - the ones who have faced trial, and fallen. The ones who have backsliden, who seem to have nothing left. But yet, when faced with the challenge, meet it with every strength they have, and come through the victor.

Never judge a person by their faith. They may seem hopeless, lost, and wavering in their beliefs. They may be ready to throw everything in, and feel they've lost it all. But if they give it one last try, you might just be surprised. Perhaps, even, that person is you?

These walls won't hold much longer

Ok, so I'm feeling pretty low tonight ... so, here's a really positive poem - might make me feel a bit more confident? ^_^

These walls won't hold much longer

These walls won't hold much longer
For soon I will break free
No longer will you see my image
But you'll see Christ through me

These prison bars contain no threat
I have full con-fi-dence
For there is living fire inside
God's given another chance

The roof, its just not high enough
To contain me when I soar
For I have set my goal at heaven
And nothing less or more

The world, its just not big enough
To contain my joy inside
I've finally found a friend at last
A Rock in which to hide

The ocean's just not deep enough
To express the greatest worth
Of treasures God has given me
Far greater than that of earth

For now I wait in patience
Until my lesson's learnt
Until God says I'm ready
And my reward I've earnt

But soon I'll show the world
Of all He's given me
These walls won't hold much longer
For soon I will break free