Flight to Heaven

I just had to blog about a book i read today.
A Flight to Heaven by Capt Dale Black.



I picked it up at about 10am this morning and just couldn't put it down. I finished it at about 2pm this afternoon.

The book begins as the Captain finds himself very low on fuel and about to land his 747 with no airport (or anything)  in sight.
When you read the blurb about what the book is about you know that Dale was in a horrific plane crash, so you begin to assume that this is the beginnings of the description of that crash, but suddenly at a crucial point, the author whips you away, and begins the story again, with Dale as a nineteen year old.

It is revealed that he, and two other experienced pilots were involved in a catastrophic crash that left him the soul survivor.
Even more compelling, is his story of getting his memory back and realising that whilst his body had been in a three day coma, his soul had travelled to heaven.
The trip to heaven was the reason i was interested in this book. The concept of heaven fascinates me, and i have spent a number of hours logged into you tube, scrolling through testimonies of people who believe they have been to heaven, yet returned.
Strangely, but not unreasonably, quite often the stories have striking similarities.
In fact '90 minutes in heaven' written by Don Piper, echoes the same heaven that Dale writes about.
Whatever happened to Dale during his coma, his life was dramatically changed, his entire world view and personality recieved a terrific makeover, and he dedicated his entire life to the service of Christ.
His accident, which involved hitting a solid object at 135mph, causing the plane to disintegrate in midair, killing one person right there, and then causing him to freefall for seven stories, left him with horrific injuries, and a battle to walk again, see again and even lift his arm. Early on, Dale dedicated his recovery to God, and his own doctor was left astounded at his supernatural healilng defying medical experience.
The stand out scripture revealed in this book for me is

He who loses his life for My sake will find it. Matt 16-25

It is what happened to Dale, and it was a process that he had to walk through himself, but oh, what blessings were in store for him when he did completely lay his own desires down.

The final chapters of the book, flick back to the scene on a seemingly doomed flight, that got us hooked in the first place. All hope is lost. Everything that could go wrong with their plane, and also the ground communication had gone wrong. But as Dale shows us, God came through for him. The plane has a miraculous landing. If i revealed too much about this part it would ruin the book for you.
I highly recommend this book. Its a rollercoaster ride, with a few tears spilt on the way. I love that its a true story, the final page has contact details for the author. Everything he claims is completely verifiable.
That scripture up there though, has really gotten under my skin. You might see another canvas appearing here very soon!!!




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Jesus is bigger than any mistake

Here's my latest canvas.

Its an idea thats been swirling round in my mind for a couple of weeks. Unbidden, and relentless.

Its the idea that Jesus is bigger than any mistake.

Which is an idea that could do with a little unpacking.

My three year old asked me what it said. I explained, and this is the conversation that followed:

'So, you know how you stole my tic tacs last night?'

'yeah.'

'that means that even though you did that. Jesus still loves you.'

'oh! yeah!'

About 5 mins later i revisited that conversation.

'Coby? What does my painting say?'

'It says Jesus loves it when you steal!'

I saw i had some more explaining to do.

God's blanket grace for people who turn their heart towards him, is something that takes alot of explaining. Human hearts feel the injustice when we realise that a baby-murderer is offered the same grace, and forgiveness that we ourselves have. Its an unconditional, all consuming love affair, from our Father directed at His creation.

Accepting this for ourselves is a harder ask, harder still, than understanding it. Often we hold on to our hurts, and our condemnation, allowing them to bloom and fester into all manner of ills. How much better to use the medicine of Grace to seep into our bones, and allow healing to occur.

I think this idea turned canvas that God gave me, was not perhaps just for me.

Recently, One of my sons arrived home in a police car, having been picked up for shoplifting. Its such a shocking event, having your child handled by the law, in such a public way, that at first, the incident rocked my whole world. I thought i'd failed as a parent, and perhaps in some ways, i had.

I wondered at the thought process of this the child, who thought that this was ok.

I ranted.

I raved.

I cried.

I prayed.

And slowly, i began to see that just maybe, this incident might not be a defining moment in our lives, it wasn't a line drawn, marked by 'before' and 'after.' It didn't need to fester and scar. It certainly had (and has) consequences. Far reaching ones for sure. But one thing kept coming back.

Jesus is bigger than any mistake.

Jesus is bigger than any mistake.

Stand before him with a repentant heart, and surely he'll turn any action as white as snow. Erased from His memory, free of judgement.

Not for us. Not for our sake, but for His. To elimanate any barrier that would get in the way of His love for Us.

Its an amazing concept, a powerful one. The feeling of freedom contained in it, has transforming power.

And because we have and can accept forgiveness for our sins. We can offer that same forgiveness to others.

You know that lady who cut you off?

Jesus is bigger than any mistake.

That teacher that never calls on your kid when they put their hand up in class?

Jesus is bigger than any mistake.

Your partner cheated on you

Jesus is bigger than any mistake

Your mother was killed in a road accident by a careless driver.

Yes, Jesus is bigger than that mistake too.

I'm not sitting here, saying its an easy road to take. The road from hatred to forgiveness, might be a twisty one with a couple of u-turns. But the final destination is a journey worth taking.

I'll leave you with a Scripture worth thinking about.

If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].
1 John 1: 9

Oh! I found another scripture that really defines my canvas...

Romans 8:38-39

 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ironically, its been staring at me from my bedroom wall for a couple of months!

Sky Lantern

We have been having so much fun lately with a packet of sky lanterns we picked up on a discount website.
Personally, i had never encountered them before, and i was very nervous about how they would work.
Turns out, they are supremely easy to use, and such alot of fun, i totally recommend that you get some, and try them out yourself.


Here we are getting set up. Obviously, you have to do this at night, the darker and clearer the night, the better. You light a small fuel block on the bottom of the lantern.

Here it is after a minute filled with hot air and ready for take off. Everyone is excited!



Take off! There she goes...look carefully and you can see a house at the bottom.



Here's the kids in awe of how high its getting. Theres lots of excitement, and lots of conversation. We try to guess how high it will go. We were also nervous it would land on someones roof and cause a fire!

Here is it just before it burnt out. The packaging says it will reach 800m high, And the burn time is approx 5 mins.

The sky lanterns are fully biodegradable, so they arent a problem for the environment when they come back down, although imagine waking up to find one on your lawn! It would make for some puzzling conversations!





Faith VS Life

So here's my latest canvas. It's a scripture that ive had on my mind and my heart for awhile. It came up again while watching 'Courageous'. And i thought i'd paint it.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:14

But what does that actually mean? What does that look like played out in life. I mean: It sounds good, its poetic, heroic, & catchy. I wonder if it means abandoning home comforts for a foreign mission field, or can it possibly mean living a normal life.
I don't consider myself religious. Religion to me is a set of rituals you do over and over, losing the meaning or the emotion behind the actions. I have a relationship with God, and also Jesus, who is my Saviour, and who laid down his human life for me to have my life.
I attend church regulary. For teaching, inspiration, fellowship. But most of all, because its my favourite place to be in the whole world. I look forward to Sundays. I feel out of sorts when i don't attend. I acknowledge that God doesn't live in church. 'Church' isn't the building. Church is the people that go. People that have become my family.
If i didn't ever go to Sunday worship again, i fully believe God wouldn't disown me.
So church attendance isn't serving God.

I wonder if its all the little things that make up daily life, and if so, i know i have to pick up my game. There are great big grey areas that need some serious light shining into them, before they fall into line with serving God.
The children, were interested in what i was painting, and when explained...balked at the word SERVE. It is an 'outdated' word in a me-first society. Media will tell you, 'Do what you want to feel happy. Thats the most important thing. Your choices aren't mine, but they are equally valid.'
In that climate, servanthood has no place.
The bible calls us to lose our life, in order to gain it. To empty ourselves out in order to fill ourselves. To offer the other cheek to a person who just slapped our face. Its a shocking revelation. It was when Jesus announced it. It is now.
But, the truth of it is undeniable. In a culture where depression is the norm, Putting ourselves first is not working for us.
Solomon, the wisest man ever to have lived, on his death bed states' Vanities of vanities!' and then chastises himself for his obsession with material possession. Solomon claims to have never denied himself a single pleasure.

I tried to explain to my son, that perhaps serving God means not walking away from a teacher when they are talking to you, deferring to the biblical principal of honoring those in authority. For another son, it meant getting baptised, publicly taking your stand for God.

I think it may mean different things for different people at different times. And i hope my life reflects a servanthood for Christ. I know that when the race is done, i hope to hear my Father tell me, Well Done good and faithful servant, in whom i am well pleased. And i hope my family strives for that goal too.

More Cards

I'm pleased to announce that so far i have kept to my New Year Goal of making cards one month ahead for special birthdays. Here are my March birthdays, minus one, still in the works.







~*~Valentines Day Afternoon ~*~

I came up with the idea to have Catey host a Valentines Day afternoon tea for two reasons. One was that i wanted an opportunity to meet some of the kids she'll be hanging out with this year, and the other is that Caitlin was going into a class with children lots of kids she hadn't met and it was a good chance to make some inroads with some girls before that clicky thing that girls do kicked in.

I enjoyed collecting anything heart related, and trying to think of heart themed foods. Here are the results:
Heart Invites, each one was different, but made with the same elements.





We had heart biscuits, a heart cake, cupcakes with heart toppers and candycane hearts!!

I decorated the table with heart balloons too.

We also did a wee craft. Heart related, of course! We did handprints in the shape of a heart and footprints, which is a nice momento for parents.







Another Painting Idea

Although Coby's enthusiasm for painting has waned, I saw this on the net and it was such a good idea, i wanted to share it.
Basically, you get a muffin tray and spray shaving foam into each hole.

Then you add a few drop of food coloring to each one, and stir it in. It doesn't go watery and holds its consistancy really well.

Once you've made your 'paints', you can just paint it onto paper like a normal pot of paints, but i decided to put it into an empty bath and let Coby paint a wall. I needed him to take a shower anyway, so it was win-win!

And it washed off the wall as easy as pie when i switched the shower on. Totally recommend for a good bit of fun.