What beautiful weather we have been having lately. I have actually been swimming twice down at Mettam’s Pool. Perth is known as one of the windiest cities in the world and I know why. The wind really does spoil our lovely summer days. It might seem like a lovely hot summers day (we haven’t had many this year) but by the time you get to the beach the wind is whipping up the sand pummelling your body like sandpaper and the waves are too rough and choppy for swimming! I’ve never really been one for swimming especially when the weather is cold so when the wind comes up I rarely venture into the sea. I swam twice in Spring and now twice in Autumn. I’m praying we continue to have some lovely warm days so I can go again. Mind you in the middle of a scorching hot summers day we do very much appreciate a cool summer breeze coming off the ocean so I really can’t complain.
Having Mum with the early onset of Dementia has it challenges and often times of sadness as I see her struggling to understand her deteriorating memory. Some mornings she wakes up very disorientated and muddle headed. On one occasion she rang me to ask if I had stayed the night as she thought she saw the spare bedroom door closed and then open as if I had stayed. She was in tears asking where all the girls (my younger sisters) were and when were they coming back. I had to reassure her they would be visiting soon. I then rang them asking if they could call mum to cheer her up. Both Jen and Kath are very helpful and supportive to both Mum and me. I later picked Mum up to take her for a coffee at Scarborough. I think sometimes she is just lonely and needs to get out of the house. At the moment it’s not such a problem as she still has her driver’s licence but in the future it will be a challenge as her licence expires on the 21st of this month, April.
Earlier that week my elder sister had been quite unapproachable. I had tried contacting her via SMS and emails as she was not answering my calls. I had asked her if she could please contact me to assist with Mum. Trish is the only one who had been here to caring for Mum over the years with both Jen and Kath calling in occasionally during the year so I can fully understand her backing off now that I’m here. Still it would be nice to be able to have a little bit of support from her when needed. Praise the Lord, Jen and Kath understood and have been a great encouragement to me.
North Beach Baptist Church recently ran another seminar on dementia which I attended and found very helpful. Every bit of information helps me to understand and become better equipped for what is to ahead.
I have also been organising Mum’s 90th surprise birthday party which we are holding at church. While I was in Sydney, Jen had stayed with Mum and had, with Trisha, looked at a few venues settling on the North Beach Baptist Church. The church is not only close but also very reasonably priced mourn and with a lovely coffee area. After confirming the date and time, I was shown how to use the sound system. It was also my job to call all her friends far and wide to see who could come. I also arranged 165 photos from Mum’s childhood up to the present time which will be displayed on a screen in the coffee area. Kath, our professional chief, arrives on the 26th April and will help with the food preparations. Jen and her kids, Kate and Matt are also flying in from Melb and Broome. Trish and her family who are all in Perth will also be coming. Unfortunately Mum’s only remaining sister, in Scotland, is unable to come neither are many of her UK family or friends which is understandable. It’s going to be a big event.
I’m so grateful to the Lord for organising things as I can see with the loss of her drivers licence she will be needing a lot of distraction. Having her two youngest daughters and two grandchildren giving her lots of attention and being able to drive her around will certainly help. God willing after this she will quickly settle into her new life without her car. I will of course be able to take her places but she will definitely morn this next stage of her loss of independence.
Easter was also approaching. There were flyers from church to give out around the neighbourhood and neighbours to invite before the big event. Good Friday, I was rostered on the barista. I enjoy helping out with the barista coffees, it’s a great way to meet people although this day we were flat out. It had been announced during the service that today the coffees were free! We usually have a charge of $2.00 a cup or $2.50 for a double shot. There are usually four of us on, one taking orders, I’m usually pulling the shots, one making the milk and one pouring and calling out the orders. Our little yellow sticky labels with the orders ran right across our counter which meant at least a 10 min wait for coffees.
Then Easter Sunday, I was a reserve but was called in to fill in for someone before church. Being only a seven minute walk from the church it was easy for me to fill in. Both the Friday and Sunday message followed the theme ‘The Best Second Chance You’ll Ever Get’, finishing with John 21 Peters denial followed by the Lord’s forgiveness and reinstatement to minister.
Both services were well attended with visitors from near and far. After church I mingled with friends and their families before Jan, who had just returned from visiting her daughter in Indonesia, and I check out the Thai New Year festival in Hyde Park. We headed straight to the food tents where typical Thai street food was being cooked the authentic way. It was good to get the real thing as many of the restaurants in Australia unfortunately cook to suit the western palate. I’m really not sure why they do this as so many Australians have been to Thailand and prefer authentic Thai food. It was an interesting day with a Thai beauty pageant, Thai singing and dancing.
That afternoon my neighbour Bob put on a BBQ for friends and unit dwellers. It was a fun evening with nine of us including Mum and Bob’s old tenant. It was lovely to see Mum enjoying herself, she is such a socialite. There was a range of ages from Mum the nonagenarian, then quite a few neighbours in their seventies, me in my sixties down to a unit owner in her forties whose daughter popped in for a quick visit before going to a twenty year old birthday party. The funny thing was, by the time it got to 8:30 pm most of us oldies were ready to call it a night!
This Easter I was also reading through a book that had been leant to me called ‘The Shack Revisited’ by C Baxter Kruger. Quite some years back I had read the very controversial book ‘The Shack’ by Paul Young. I didn’t go along with some of Young’s ideas but it did challenge me. I find the Lord often brings books my way to challenge or to enlarge my thinking about Him or the life He has given us. This book was no different. I have for some time challenged the idea that God the Father turned His back on His Son while on the cross. I can’t understand why a triune God is able to do this. I understand that it comes from when Jesus says “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me.” (Mark 15:34) which is a quote from Ps 22. Was Jesus bringing to the attention of His followers and those around Him the prophecy being fulfilled before their eyes? If you continue to read Psalm 22 you will see it also says in verse 24 “Nor has He hidden His face from Him; but when He cried to Him, He heard.” Had God forsaken His Son or was it humanity who had forsaken Him? Don’t we have a triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Are they not one, united even at this time? Jesus had previously said to His disciples, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father….. Do you not believe that I am in My Father, and the Father in Me?” John 14:9-10.
The plan of redemption had been there from the beginning of time. Jesus, who foreknew our weakness came to introduce us to the Father’s love, being fully God fully man He was willing to suffered rejection and death from those He loved to bring us home.
I love how Steve McVey puts it “When Adam sinned, God came looking for him. Adam must have reasoned he was in trouble, so he hid. God hadn’t told him, “In the day you eat from that Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, I will kill you.” No! He told him, “In the day you eat from it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17), but it was sin that caused Adam to die, not God. Our God doesn’t kill. He gives life because He is life and can do no other. Death is not in Him.
The secret to redefining God in your mind may set you free to enjoy Him like nothing else ever has. God poured out onto you the total forgiveness secured by Jesus at the cross. He doesn’t ration it out a little at a time. Just as Jesus died for the sins of your whole lifetime, God the Father has granted you forgiveness for all the sins of your lifetime. At this very moment, you stand before God in complete forgiveness. You may be surprised by your sins and expect God to become angry, but your sins don’t surprise Him. It has been dealt with in totality. It really is finished. You are forgiven.”
What an appropriate study for Easter weekend.
Photos: 1. Indian Ocean 2. Mum enjoying her Easter treats 3. Jan and I enjoying ours 4. Thai dancers 5. BBQ Easter Sunday 6. Our unit block
Prayer & Praise Points:
Praise the Lord for His willingness to accept our rejection and die in our place, for His resurrection and the Holy Spirit’s empowering to live this new life He has given us.
I give Him thanks for this wonderful autumn weather.
Please continue to pray for my sister Jenny as she applies for work. Both she and I missed out on the recent jobs we both applied for. Please also pray for Kath that she too will have work as her casual work as a FIFO is unpredictable.
Praise Him for my new business opportunity, Senior’s Benefits and Rewards. Pray for wisdom for all the challenges that go with it, for open doors and the right people and connections to make this new business venture successful.
Praise the Lord for mum’s continual good health. Please continue to pray for her during this new period of transition without her car.
Please continue to pray that I will know the Lord’s leading, strength and wisdom as I encounter the challenges that lie ahead.
Thank you to all my supportive friends and prayer partners. I really do appreciate you.