God hears little voices

You know what? God likes kids. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I never want to grow up. That, and being able to lick ice cream out of the bottom of my bowl with my tongue. I was rostered on for Sunday School this morning and sadly my partner Z and I were just slightly lacking in preparation and practice. Kids pick up on that pretty quickly. I managed to blunder through the Welcome, the roll and the singing while Z hyped the kids up with some games. I also made it a priority to review the RULES with the kids about how to behave and not behave during their time with us. Actually, some of the kids have made up their own rules: No idioticity, No Retardedness (I find that one slightly non-PC), No Violence...they've come a long way from the "I answer hands not voices" rule.  Come to think of it, I'd much prefer to think of the rules as "Behaviour Guidelines". It sounds so much more child-friendly, don't you think?

One of the most terrifying "guidelines" is that after one official WARNING, if a child continues to misbehave, he or she "might be" unceremoniously marched up to the church and sat with their parents in front of the entire congregation so that the rest of the kids can enjoy the morning. Oh the embarrassment! If this were to happen twice in a term (and thankfully it never has) then the child might find that they need to bring a parent or caregiver with them to the lesson. This could get awkward for one or two of the kids, since their dad is the Pastor. That could be interesting. If the Pastor had to escort his child to Sunday School, then the entire congregation would need to escort the Pastor so that they can listen to the sermon. I'm not sure how we'd go with finding enough room on the mat for them all and I doubt very much that my 84 year old Mum would be able to get back up off the mat. Come to think of it, we DO need a few more adults in our Sunday School programme...

Today wasn't going too badly considering Z and I were just stumbling our way through the lesson. We had one little terror in there this morning and I'm afraid I was pushed to the point of issuing an actual WARNING. It didn't seem to me that today's lesson was having much of an impact on our kids and in the back of my mind I was blaming the lack of preparation. The irony is that the lesson was about being prepared to do God's work. But wait...all was not lost. I HAD prepared! Before the lesson I'd asked Z to pray with me and we gave the morning over to our Majestical Bestie. When the kids arrived and started bouncing on the mat, I got them to fold their arms and close their eyes, and ask Jesus to come and visit with us. So maybe something special was about to happen after all.

It did.

We wrapped the lesson up far too early and, trying to fill in the gap, I decided to sit the kids down in a circle and talk with them about the devastating earthquake in Christchurch. Suddenly it seemed that gates were opening as kids talked about their family and friends and how thankful they were that they weren't hurt, how scared they were for them, how sad they were for the people who have died. They wanted...needed to talk. I suggested we talk to God about it, which we did. Then of all people, my little friend who had given me so much trouble earlier in the morning, asked if we could please have a two-minute silence for the people who had been affected by this major tragedy. I was gob-smacked. Our entire country is doing just this on Tuesday - one week after the event - but he was adamant that he wanted to do it there and then. All the kids agreed. Part of me was skeptical about expecting 7 - 11 year olds to sit in complete silence for so long but we did it. They did it. During that time they prayed quietly. They thought about their families. They thought about people who had lost homes, jobs and even their lives. They did it, not because their Sunday School teacher asked them to, but because they wanted to quietly tell God what they were feeling.

It was a special moment and a privilege to be part of it. God can teach us a lot through his little ones - even the slightly naughty ones :-)

Got beef with God?

There's been a lot of talk about natural disasters here in New Zealand and we've all been checking our emergency survival kits and water supplies. My daughter is in Christchurch and I don't appreciate that Mother Nature is still rattling my baby with her aftershocks. I really should get CYFs onto it because these days everyone should know that you should never, ever shake a baby - especially mine.

When it first happened our country was amazed that there were no fatalities. If the 7.1 upheaval had occurred just a few hours later, New Zealand would have been a nation in grief.  Although it later transpired that a woman had suffered a fatal heart attack during the initial quake, the fact that the loss of life is so minimal is phenomenal. Miraculous even.  I don't know about all the other mums and dads out there who were relieved that they still had their children to post presents to at Christmas time, but I got on my knees and gave a big thumbs up to my Majestic Bestie.

Not everyone shared my gratitude. It wasn't long before comments began to appear on public internet pages, pointing the finger at God Himself.  Apparantly He was solely responsible for bringing about the destruction to one of our biggest cities, causing countless families to be homeless and penniless. He also caused starvation in India and the war in the Middle East.  Folk were pretty ticked off about it too and wanted to let the good Lord and all His believers know it. Some God of love He turned out to be.

Good for them I say! God's made a few comments in His memoirs about wanting people to be either hot or cold towards Him. He's a passionate Guy and doesn't go for any of this wishy-washy, tepid, new-agey stuff. He'd rather watch a dog eat its own vomit than have people pussy-foot around His feelings.

I've been mad with God before. I've been mad with my Beloved and my kids and even my dog. I have a real relationship with all these characters which is probably why it's such a roller coaster ride sometimes. I wear my heart on my sleeve, which means they know when I'm happy, scared, sad...the dog is slightly more aware than Beloved but he's getting there.

I reckon it's okay to let the ones who love you know how you're feeling. There's no point trying to hide it. So be angry with God if you need to be. To be honest, I have no idea why God "allows suffering" but one thing I do know is that He's neither delicate nor fragile so He can handle your anger.  Shake your fists at him, stamp your feet and have a tantie if you must, just be sure that you COMMUNICATE with Him.

But like any great relationship, just don't stay mad - He doesn't.

Shaken but not stirred

It’s been quite a week in this little country of ours. Firstly there were dramas on the home front. I can’t give too much away when other people could be at risk but let’s just say I’m going to have to retouch those grey roots on my Beloved’s head, and quite possibly my own.

Another thing that did set us off onto a bit of a tizz was an e-mail from our social worker explaining that “whanau” (meaning family) had come forward and will “care for the boys”. We’ve had our fosties with us for a year and the thought of sending them back into circumstances that had generated so much hurt in their lives was enough to rip my nighty. We got some prayer warriors onto immediate sentry duty while a few phone calls and e-mails were made. There were some who even prayed without even knowing exactly what they were praying for. Isn’t it cool when people are prepared to do that? And even more impressive considering that whole nail gun thing a couple of weeks ago.  I’m pleased to report that we’ve since heard that the situation has been downgraded to allowing their birth mother to have supervised access with the boys on a fortnightly basis. Watch this space...

Having settled our nerves after a worrisome week, we were able to cosy up for a peaceful night’s sleep. That plan worked well until I was woken by a text message at 5:15am yesterda: “Hiya, how r u? We had an earthquake and aftershocks”. When you’re half asleep a message like that doesn’t quite register so I snuggled back under the covers and closed my eyes while my brain attempted to unscramble what was happening as the worlds of slumber and reality collided.  Umm..better just check that again.  It was a message from my 22 y/o daughter in Christchurch who had been woken by the earth shaking when her drawers collapsed and smashed her TV. I woke up real quick!  When we spoke to her she sounded dazed - even more so than usual - the ground was still splitting around her but she was safe. 

I think God had a whole lot of ear bending sent His way yesterday. Not just from me this time, but from an entire nation. This quake was big and I’m delighted to say that He was paying attention. Mother Nature had let her kids out of control and South Canterbury was getting stomped all over. Yet not one person was killed. Only two serious injuries were reported and those guys seem to be pulling through. The structural damage has been phenomenal and my baby is now living in a disaster zone. It could have been the darkest day in New Zealand’s history but for today I’ll rejoice that my baby is alive and well and has enough bottled water to see her through for the next few days. Speaking of which, I’ve just refilled my own 24 litres with fresh water and a teensy bit of bleach - just in case.

It seems to me that somewhere along the line, shattering experiences can bring out the best in a few people. Like this guy who opened his corner shop really early so that he could give away supplies to needy people: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/christchurch-earthquake/news/article.cfm?c_id=1502981&objectid=10671208&ref=facebookheadlines

Anyway, today I’m giving a big thumbs up to my Majestic Bestie for keeping our loved ones safe, both locally and at the other end of our special little country. And also to John Key, our Prime Minister, who was on a flight to Christchurch the same day to walk around the city and see what needs to be done...and to our engineer friend who flew down yesterday to work voluntarily help assess the damage...”Shot Guys!”