2010 Trip - 28th August

Well, today was the last day of the seminar and because of the long "short" talks, a long session regarding marriage and the new Kenyan constitution, we didn't get to do what we had planned. Oh well.
We had a great "sex" talk by a Kenyan bishop that made us laugh so much. And we were worried about talking on marital intimacy. Ha!
We had an amazing afternoon. Together with 2 bishops, we married 5 couples and prayed over every other couple present, about 75 couples all up. It was a humbling and at the same time an exciting experience.
It has been wonderful to see changes in marriages and attitudes towards marriages. Even though we have been with them for only 3 days we have seen some dramatic changes. We have been so blessed by the people. We have felt like celebrities (see the banner photo from yesterday) and everyone constantly wants to shake our hands and have photos taken with us. We have learnt so much! It has been beyond our expectations.
It was announced at the closing of the seminar that this will be an annual event and we have been officially invited to return each year.

2010 Trip - 27th August

Well, what a blessing today was!
Each morning has started late with few people but by the end of the day the place is full and jumping. We weren't sure on day one if they were on the same page as us about wanting their marriages to be different. We were so encouraged during today when both men and women were sharing and encouraging each other to be different to their culture (in East Africa the man is the authoritative boss) and be more biblical in their love for their partners. They spoke about wanting to be different but also acknowledged that change will be difficult. Today we saw and heard many breakthroughs!
These are pastors and church leaders and many are planning to return to their churches and challenge the men and women in their congregations about their relationships. We give the honour and glory to God for how he has broken down barriers and is working in the lives of these couples.

2010 Trip - 26th August

Well, what a challenge we faced today!
When we arrived at Dagoretti Corner it was 9am (which is when the seminar was planned to start) but no one was there. We had forgotten about "Kenyan timing"! We probably started about 10:30am but numbers were less than we had been told and many had come without their spouses. Agh!!! What do we do now? Most things planned needed to be done as couples. After all this is a Marriage Enrichment Seminar.
The program for the 3 days was different to what we expected so we had to change things "on the fly" and even cut some things because of time constraints.
By the end of the day there were about 50 people. Tomorrow there will be many more people as it is a holiday. Spouses that were absent today will be able to come and there will also be extra new couples.
Today, we also read in the program that Rob is conducting a wedding on Saturday!!!

2010 Trip - 25th August

We arrived safe and sound in Nairobi.
Our flights weren't too bad and we decide to get a room at Johannesburg airport hotel to try to get some hours sleep. We think we only got 1-2 hours. When we arrived in Nairobi Pete & Keama were there to meet us. We picked up our rental car from Europcar (Toyota Corolla) which is very nice. Then we followed Pete part of the way but had to continue by ourselves to our accommodation without any problems. We arrived at Kijiji about 9pm and Lynette showed us to our room. Lynette remembered us from our last stay at Kijiji in January 2009.
We had a good night's sleep but awoke at 5am.

2010 Trip - ready to go!

Linda and I leave Australia on Tuesday on our long awaited 2010 trip.

We will spend the first 2 weeks in Kenya. The first week we are running a Marriage Enrichment Conference for over 50 pastor couples from Kenya and Uganda. We will also catch up with many of our friends in Kenya and we have some work to do for Kenya Help. Please pray for us as we visit Kenya again and that God would use us to minister to these pastor couples.

After Kenya, we head off to Hungary to see where Linda's father grew up and also catch up with some family. Then we're cruising from Budapest to Amsterdam.

We will post updates here when we are able - internet access permitting.

New Song Jukebox

Listen to the latest releases on worshiptogether.com

Kenya 2009 - Book Info

Kenya 2009 by Kenya Help | BOOK INFO

Video from CMEA Conference

A video of the one of the keynote speakers at the CMEA NSW 2010 Marriage Enrichment Conference is now online on the CMEA web-site. Look under Resources/Videos.

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Bomaderry Anglican - sermons

Bomaderry Anglican

Age of the earth

Age of the earth
101 evidences for a young age of the earth and the universe

Dogmatic 6000 years

Dogmatic 6000 years
Can Christians believe “dogmatically” that the earth is 6,000 years old?

Darwin's arguments against God

Darwin's arguments against God
How Darwin rejected the doctrines of Christianity.

Is evolution compatible with religion and free will?

Is evolution compatible with religion and free will?

The Resurrection and Genesis

The Resurrection and Genesis

Genesis and evolution can’t both be true

Theistic evolutionists “bewitched”?

Genesis and evolution can’t both be true

This article is a must read!

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What Is Worship?

This series, written by a friend on his blog (The Christian Worldview), is well worth reading.

What Is Worship Pt1
What Is Worship? Pt2
What Is Worship? Pt3
What Is Worship? Pt4

Why Do We Get Angry?

Why is anger so pervasive? I want to suggest that the answer lies in the reality that we are made in the image of God, and God experiences anger. God’s anger is based on His holiness and His love. His holiness means that He is righteous in all of His thoughts and deeds, and His love means that He cares about the well-being of His creatures. When His creatures violate what He knows to be right, God experiences anger. This motivates Him to take constructive action. I believe our experience of anger is very similar.

More Than an Emotion
Anger is more than just an emotion. It involves the emotions, the body, the mind, and the will, all of which are stimulated by some event in the individual’s life. All people have some sense of fairness or rightness. When they encounter what they consider to be wrong, they experience anger. Anger is an indication that we are moral creatures. God made us, and we reflect His concern for righteousness. Anger is a friend, not an enemy.

Simply Being Human
Your spouse does something that you consider to be unkind or unfair, and you feel angry. Why? Because you are made in God’s image and when God encounters injustice, He too feels angry. You have a concern for right and when you encounter injustice, you feel angry. The purpose is to motivate you to take constructive action. The problem is that we often take destructive action and make things worse.

Another problem is that often our anger is distorted. That is, it is not based on actual wrong doing by our spouse, but rather some petty inconvenience. She forgot to take your shirts to the laundry. He showed up 30 minutes late for your dinner reservation. You are angry, but your spouse has committed no immoral act. They have simply been human. Forgetting is human. Your anger is real and needs to be shared, but it does not call for repentance on the part of your spouse. It calls for understanding.

Thankful for Anger?
Anger is not evil; anger is not sinful; anger is not a part of our fallen nature; anger is not Satan at work in our lives. Quite the contrary. Anger is evidence that we are made in God’s image, and He experiences anger because He is holy and loving. We should thank God for our capacity to experience anger. Thank God for anger, and then learn how to process it in a godly way.

Excerpt taken from Anger: Handling a Powerful Emotion in a Healthy Way by Gary Chapman. To find out more about Gary Chapman's resources, visit www.fivelovelanguages.com.

There are five love languages. What's yours? Take the 30-second quiz.

Couples for Marriage Enrichment Australia

Couples for Marriage Enrichment Australia is an organisation which exists to enhance and enrich the marital relationship between a man and a woman. Activities include weekend marriage enrichment retreats, shorter seminars and local support groups, training of marriage enrichment leader couples and the publication of regular newsletters. Some of these events are sponsored by community groups and churches.
For more information and to see how your marriage can be enriched, see their web-site www.bettermarriages.org.au