Happy Birthday Rachel's Little Shack!

Oh, what a wonderful year...

Quote of the day

Rachel: Hey, you can use my atlas if you want.

Mum: Has it got pictures in it?

Rachel: Well, duh...

Contradictions

If someone shot a pregnant woman and killed her unborn child, it would be called murder.

Yet if a doctor kills someone's baby, it's just called 'termination', and it's legal.

An abortion stops the heartbeat of a child every few minutes. How long will we let this continue?

P.S. I strongly believe that those of us who are against abortion should do something to support single mothers who decide to have their children to full-term. So let's think about how we can do that, too. Any ideas?

Healing for the colourblind

I came out of my bedroom one morning to see this beautiful rainbow... on my living room roof! The sun was shining on this beautiful warm morning, and the window had broken up the colours, splashing them onto the ceiling.



It got me thinking about this bit of the Bible:

"You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept." Matt. 5:14 MSG

I'm here to splash around God's colour in the world - to be a light, reflecting him just like a mirror. Of course, because I'm me the likeness is hardly even close to the breath-taking beauty of the God who created this universe. But I can do my best to shine bright for him, bringing colour and life to a black-and-white world.

What colours are you shining into your world? Flee from the greys of fear and the blackness of negativity. You were meant for something more - shining God's colourful rainbow of possibility, joy, and hope into a generation of wounded souls and crushed dreams.

Save me some H2O

For those of you who don't know, in Australia we're experiencing one of our worst droughts ever. For ten years our land has been starved of rain - our farmers are going broke and food prices look like they may be on the rise. Those of us who live in regional Australia are on heavy water restrictions.



Our local lake... only 3% of its water remains, as you can see.

There's a few things we do around the house to save water. We have to use grey water to water our plants, so I use my brother's bathwater or I stick a bucket in the shower. Although we are allowed to water our animals with tap water, we are trying different measures to use grey water - for example, my Mum's outside now rigging up a complex setup of pipes to run water from the roof of our house down to a bath in the duck pen. That way, they can have somewhere to swim without breaking water restrictions. Of course, we also have a rain water tank to catch runoff off the garage roof.

I think we all have a responsibility to preserve our water stores. So I'd like to know, what little tricks do you use around the home to save water? Perhaps we can share some ideas.

Switch on the radio... and play

For those Shackers who don't know, I play piano. Just a random fact - however I heard an analogy about musicianship yesterday from James Morrison that made me stop and think (an extraordinary achievement, I'm sure). It's to do with radios.

Although it seems like the music comes from within a radio, it is obvious that no-one could fit a band/piano/person inside such a tiny box. The music actually is in the radio waves present all around us, which we can't see, but if we use something like a radio to tune into them, we can hear and enjoy the music.

Musicians, James said, are like radios. When we play for God, the music doesn't come from within us, it comes from him; it is His song for that moment. All we need to do is switch on the radio, tune into His station, and play.

This brilliant analogy works for all aspects of life as well. If living life is like playing a song, are you playing God's song, or are you tuned into a different station? God has a wonderful song for each of us to play today. Why don't you ask Jesus today to teach you to play his beautiful melodies?

Rach breathes out - and makes history

Last Friday night I was driving home from church, and for the first time in nearly 7 years of driving, IT happened. That's right, I was breath tested for the very first time. The police set themselves up on a forked intersection with cars in every road, so there was no escape. Of course, I hadn't had a drink since Hugh's wedding, so I was fine.

Interesting... how a young person can go through their entire probationary period and never get breath tested. Heck, I was aiming to go my whole life without it, but it wasn't to be. I still haven't had a roadworthy yet (my car has nothing wrong with it anyway), I've never had a speeding fine or been pulled over by the police, and I've never been in gaol, so fingers crossed! I think a significant factor in me not getting pulled over is the fact that I drive a girly car with soft toys on the back ledge - many of my guy friends have been pulled over dozens of times, seemingly just for being male.

The seal of approval