Fishing

We all had an enjoyable day on the water Saturday. It was a nice day and we went up to Mariner's Cove, which is next to Sea World, and onto the Broadwater. We drove the boat 40 mins north to Wavebreak Island, a popular spot for diving. It was pretty quiet and there were only a few boats parked there. People couldn't wait to start fishing, and you can see plenty swimming around and ready to be hooked up.

We had a bbq lunch on board and decided to change location for more variety of fish. So we headed south through the canals around Cronin and Chervon Islands in the direction of Surfers Paradise. It was there that someone who just learnt to use a fishing rod, very surprisingly caught the biggest fish of the day.

The funniest thing happened at the end of the day when one of the guys standing by the side of the boat accidentally let loosed his slipper on the water. So for the next 10 mins or so, it was a chasing game as we circle around, go forward and backward trying to get the slipper back. Eventually, it was fished back with a BBQ tongs.

On the way back, we saw the dark clouds and the coming of a storm as forecasted on the Southern end of the Coast. It was getting quite windy and looked like it could rain. But the storm didn't come till much later when we all got home. Praise God for holding the rain back so we didn't get soaking wet. ;-)

Movies on Bible Characters

I recently discovered a movie series on Bible characters and have since watched Jacob, Solomon and Jeremiah. Both Jacob and Solomon are a good 3-hour long, but are good quality movies. Unlike most Christian movies made today, they were big budget movies filmed on location, got good acting with famous actors and actresses and good quality.

What’s most impressive is the Biblical accuracy in these stories. It wasn’t just a contemporary interpretation of the Bible, but the characters in the stories are often quoting straight out of the Bible. Not only are they enjoyable to watch, but each one gave me new insights into these stories that I’ve read so many times in the Bible.

For example, it wasn’t until “Jacob” that I connected the prophecy of Abraham’s descendents to the biases of Rebecca. It made sense to me that because she heard the prophecy of the 2 nations and the young will rule the old that Rebecca decided to help fulfill that by encouraging Jacob to use deceitful means to get the birthright.

These are available from the public library, but only 3 out of the set of 12. I wonder why they aren’t in any of the major Christian bookstores here? At least I haven't seen or heard about this series before, although it looks like you can easily buy them online.

Boating and Fishing Trip

We are going boating and fishing again! It was a lot of fun when we did that last year. You can read about it and see some photos here.

So come with us this year and share a great day out together.

When: Saturday May 17th.
Cost: $30 (including meals and boat hires)
Space are limited so please RSVP by May 14th.

Jesus in China

Just finished watching the 2nd episode of Jesus in China. It’s a documentary about Christianity and the Christian church in China, mostly through testimonies of Chinese Christians there. Much has been heard about the rapid growth of Christianity in China in recent times, but despite that, persecution and suffering are still very real.

The documentary is full of ministers of house churches, missionaries and ordinary Christians who have endured and still continue to be under persecution. Getting arrested and going to jail more than once and for 10 or 20 years are common occurrences. Under the Communist government, Christians meeting outside the government approved Three Self Church is illegal. Those who were jailed were asked to denounce Jesus. Yet none of these persecution, suffering, jail or risk of dying seem to chip away their faith in God or convince them not to be followers of Christ.

What really moved me and stirred my spirit is to see Christians of such strong faith, conviction, devotion, boldness and gratitude in the face of imprisonment, suffering, hardships and ridicule. Their determination to carry the cross and follow Christ no matter what. Their hunger and thirst for God’s words. Their eagerness to meet with other Christians to pray and study God’s word everyday. Their sincere and authentic Christianity. Jesus is truly precious to them, and they show and demonstrate it in their daily life. They truly live like passers by rather than taking up permanent residency in this world. It is a picture of the early Christian church in the Bible.

How I wish our churches and Christians in the western world today to regain their focus and dedication to Jesus like these Christians do. We are blessed with freedom and abundance in this country, but that blessing could also become a curse. We simply become too comfortable and let our surroundings and busy lifestyle take our focus away from God.

It’s so wonderful to see Christians, like those in the documentary, to be so consumed and captured by God. Imagine if we and our churches are on fire like that, how much more God could use us in this sick and troubled world? How much more our testimony will mean to the world around us?

May we get back to our first love. May Christ capture our mind. May we hunger for God’s word and thirst for His righteousness. May we be people of conviction and fervour.

This documentary is available from the public library. You can also download or watch the 4-part documentary or read the scripts from their website at www.chinasoul.org.