Good Samaritan

As I was driving home from the beach earlier today I was a bit annoyed at myself for spending so much time enjoying the sun and the surf and I was having words with myself saying that ‘I should have been at home doing the washing’ or ‘I should have been organising my shopping list for tomorrow’... blah, blah, blah...

I was about to pull out across the highway towards home and I looked up to the right and ‘oh my goodness’... I saw a bicycle and a body go flying into the air and crash onto the side of the road. My heart started pounding and my first thought was... I have to help that person... but then I thought... but by the time I get up to the U-Turn section and turn around and come back... surely someone else would have stopped to help out. As it was I had already waited for about ten cars that had driven past the incident so that I could cross onto the other side of the road so surely someone else will stop.

I decided to turn around anyway, just to make sure that whoever it was, was ok. As I got closer I was surprised to see that there were no other cars pulled over and no one else had stopped to help. I mean, it is the main highway into town and probably about 30 cars had passed as I took the time to turn around and come back.

So, there she was, a hurt and shaking little girl on the side of the road without anyone except me stopping to help... I honestly couldn’t believe it. She was so shaken up that she hadn’t even thought to pull out her mobile to phone anyone until I suggested it! So I piled her now mangled bike into the back of my car along with my surfboard, which believe me was no easy task, and I drove her (shaken but relieved) back into town where she needed to go.

I am still in unbelief that no one else was considerate enough to stop and see if she was ok. But I guess that was why I just happened to be in the right place at the right time...

But I don’t believe in coincidences.... I believe that God knew I would spend too much time at the beach this morning and He knew this little girl was going to fall off her bike and that I would be the only one to stop and help.

In a world where people are too busy and so focussed on what they are doing, I believe we need to be ones who will be open to what God wants us to do and who will keep a listening ear out for what He is asking us to do.

I could have kept driving all the way home thinking that someone else would stop because I was on the other side of the road anyway... I shouldn’t have to be the one to turn around and go back. But I was the one and I am glad that I was the one who God used to help someone else today.

I don’t know this girls name and she doesn’t know mine... all she knows, in her words, is ‘a nice chick’ stopped to help and made her day a whole lot better than what it was at that particular moment.

Be the Change...

Whenever I return from a trip away from home, as I am preparing to go to bed that night, I am always completely amazed at how small this world has become because my previous nights sleep was spent in another city or in some cases an entirely different country… how cool is that I have been shopping in Sydney this morning and home for dinner with my husband tonight. And yes… my suitcase was slightly overflowing this afternoon!

But tonight my thoughts are also on those who are a lot less fortunate than I am… as I have been so aptly reminded over the past few days at Colour… even though our world seems so small when we can travel to the other side of it within 24 hours, the problems that exist in this world today, and probably have for hundreds of years, seem so very huge and almost impossible to overcome or to even make a small mark on…. issues like poverty, violence, famine, slavery, human trafficking, homelessness… and the list could go on.

However, I am also encouraged… even though in my mind these problems seem very difficult to solve… as we join together in unity and do our little bit… whatever that bit maybe…. whatever it is that God has asked us to do… or whatever you feel that you can do… we can in fact make an impact in this world… in our lifetime.

We are the answer that this world is crying out for… God is the answer that this world is crying out for. We just have to be the brave and courageous ones and step out to do our little bit… which will, because of the power of unity, make a huge difference.

I don’t know about you but I want to be able to make a difference in the lives of the people of this world who are less fortunate… I do not at all like to see children suffering or women being disfigured and I am willing to do something about it.

That is one of the reasons why over the weekend I welcomed another new addition to my family… a gorgeous little four year old Philippino girl named Kyla and even though she may only be a photo on my refrigerator… I will consistently pray for her and her family and I know that my support will make a difference in her life and she will have a better and brighter future because I was willing to do something about it.

Whatever it is that God asks me to do, I pray that I will always have the courage and determination to take the plunge and just do it… to be one who will BE THE CHANGE!!

Its whats on the inside that counts...

With a title like that you may have thought I was going to write about being beautiful not only on the outside but also on the inside… however… I have something different in mind.



As I am preparing to go to Colour tomorrow I am of course very conscious of what I will be wearing but not only that I am also very aware of my feelings of both excitement and apprehension at the same time.


Those of you who know me well will know me as someone who almost always looks very cool, calm and collected… even under difficult and challenging circumstances and I have recently been told that I am like the woman on the ‘Navman’… always sounding very cool, calm and collected… and I hope that was supposed to be a compliment!


However, underneath that oh so calm exterior, right now is a sea of knots created by thoughts like…


‘I have to fly alone… and in a prop plane… and its blowing a small gale… and its going to be rainy… and do I need another jumper… what if I forget something’ and the list goes on and on.


And so I ask myself… ‘Where is my faith?!’


I know that this is going to be an awesome and amazing conference and I truly am very excited and looking forward to going, especially considering that I have never been before… but what about these other feelings that keep getting in the way… how do I deal with them? I was thinking only a few months ago that I was really getting over this worrying thing that I have had a problem with for so many years but once again it has reared its ugly head!


And I know all of those Scriptures about ‘Do not worry… ‘Fear not… etc. so no need to remind me!


I know that I will be fine once I get on that plane and I am on my way and I can always buy something if I am cold or if I forget something… so really there is nothing to worry about at all.


My God is with me and that is all I need to know to have a good nights sleep.