Tassie Update February-March 2023

What do you see when you look at this? A beautiful sunrise? The majesty of God? His mercies new every morning?

Sitting on my back verandah, looking at this incredible sight and I thought of... nothing. Literally, absolutely nothing! Sometimes you can be that empty and weary, with nothing left in the spiritual tank that the silence on the inside can be deafening! I sat thereat 5.30am, staring blankly at the sunrise, holding my coffee and the only thought that vaguely wandered in from some where was “you need a holiday”.

Jesus did so incredibly much better for us than just a holiday (understatement of the year!) – Let’s be refreshed in this from Matthew 11-28Come tome, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.30Formy yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (ESV).

There definitely is some participation required from our end of things–firstly, an honest evaluation of where you and I are at (labour and are heavy laden)–both are ok for a short period but long periods, or a life of that, is unsustainable IF you want to hold onto any resemblance of joy and peace. Then, admit you need some ‘rest’ and then“come..., take..., learn...”. He’s made it very clear as to the direction we need to take and where we need to land–namely Jesus Himself. “Come to ME”–He didn’t say watch tv, read the newspaper or go for a run–even though there is a place for all of those things–maybe not the first two so much!

Our first reaction to being over worked, maybe stressed and heavy laden needs to be to go straight to Jesus–double up on prayer and reading of God’s Word. Put your headphones on and listen to the gospels being read if you are too tired to read and study yourself. (I know–I do both!).

At the same time do some “planning for a break” where you can actually plan several hours or even a few days away to really dig in and focus on His Word and spiritual things–even if it’s a day trip to your local park. Breaking the cycle of pressure and stress, even if its just a few hours sitting in the park praying and reading John’s Gospel–that in itself is a great start.

It’s also a great idea to see your doctor for a simple check-up–so what if it was only 6 months since your last one–hey, stress can do a lot of damage to our minds and bodies. Stay on top of your doctor check-ups–get your bloods done etc -these things are important as forewarned is forearmed. Plus,it’s a couple of hours away from “the office/your work” where the deep-down focus is some self-care. Nothing wrong with that.

At various times we have all laboured and borne the weight of sin, guilt and shame. Sin is easy–face it. Don’t hide; Jesus knows about it anyway and was there when you committed it. Have faith and trust in who He is and His post-cross ministry. That’s why we have 1 John 1:8,9. The guilt and shame we all suffer from at some point–I think the guilt reflects toward what we have done and the shame more toward who we are or where we have fallen from. Both of these are usually entangled-and its often complicated to see where one starts and stops.Yes, life can be very difficult and complex at times.

How do we get on top of all of this if we are possibly very run-down both mentally and spiritually? Isaiah chapters 53, 54 and 55 are very important chapters but remember the power of Isaiah 61, especially v:7, Romans 4:7, Hebrews 8:12, 10:17. Romans chapter 8. Take sometime now and read overall these scriptures, starting with the four chapters in Isaiah. Let’s break the cycle of “labour and are heavy laden”.

“May the Lord minister to you, the Holy Spirit lead you, guide you and refresh you now as you sit and commune with Him. May you exchange any heavy weight and burden with His easy and light yoke and burden.May you rest in Him as you cast your cares on Him because he cares for you

Send Us Your Prayer Requests

I’m taking my own advice (above) and have booked Lynda and I a full week in a cabin down in southern Tassie, literally to rest and get with the Lord. (The other incentive was its was really cheap - we had to go for the full week and we had to promise to go back–which I’m happy to agree to.)

But in all seriousness, its been a very long time, many years, since Lynda and I had a full week away together to seek the Lord. Life happens–business, work, children,church commitments–time is racing by and we do need to separate away, rest, pray and take stock. We will turn our phones off – if there is reception at all in this part of Tassie–and really seek God! Can’t wait, and only 2 weeks to go!

Please send us your prayer requests – pray@livingsuccess.org - it is an honour to reach out to the Lord on your behalf.

We Give Thanks

Is the title for the three Radio programs I just recorded to celebrate the 1000 weeks of radio broadcasts milestone that we have just reached. Congratulations to our Living Success Board and to you all. We’ve done it–1000weeks of radio.Certainly,these programs haven’t gone to air yet but they will in a few weeks’ time and praise the Lord, we will have achieved our first major programming/longevity milestone.

Deep appreciation must be extended to Peter and Rosalee Clark whose work, industry genius and guidance over more than a decade set us up for longevity.

Thanks indeed to Nick Oldham who has passed the“production baton” to Niven Vojkovic–Nick has been a tremendous friend indeed to LSCC / Helping You Become and a faithful audio engineer for several years in making up our programs. Niven has been doing tremendous work in this area for us since April of last year and brings an enormous wealth of experience to our program.We are so grateful to have Niven join our LSCC family.

It really is a powerful achievement for such a tiny ministry as our to have arrived at this ‘1000 weeks’ point. Lynda and I pray that you are able to join with us on Saturday July 8th in Sydney–Pastor Al and Annette’s Church – to celebrate this 1000 week milestone with a special Thanks giving Service to the Lord.

The Christian Library in Launceston

Last July I went across to Melbourne with my ute and bought back a full load of Christian books and library shelving from Ridley College. LSCC contributed towards that trip and in early March my friend Warren and I again took my trusty ole ute on another ‘library expedition’ – this time near the Hobart Airport.

The very kind gentleman that donated a ute load and half a trailer of theological books has/had one of the finest collections in Australia, certainly in Tassie that's for sure.

It was a great day out and a really good thing to be able to take a trip down south and secure such a valuable load,praise the Lord. I get the job of erecting all the shelving for this library too so it will be enjoyable to see it all come together.

Slashing at the Block

With all the rain, the scrub and long grass was really getting away–right where I want to start fencing. It was just getting too hard and the trusty old Husqvarna brushcutter that Mark so very kindly gave me finally shuffled off to brushcutter heaven.I certainly didn’t want to pay the slasher guy $550 each time so I bit the bullet and bought a middle of the road Stihl Brush-cutter–probably about as small (and low priced) as you could go,with this kind of job to do.

I turned this lot (about 1m-1.5m high)