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One morning last week, Olivia and I were walking around my Gran’s garden when I stopped to admire the beautiful pink blossoms on the Ornamental Plum Tree (Prunus cerasifera). As we stood and admired the myriad of pale pink blooms, I was pointing out the hive of activity, to Livvy, as the many bees danced and pranced from blossom to blossom collecting pollen. It was such a pleasant experience to watch the bees at their work, it somehow heralded the hope of Spring in my heart. Bees are truly astounding creatures, not only do they play a vitally important role in our ecosystem – the Lord made bees for a very special purpose, more than just pollinating flowers, which helps us grow crops so we can have something to eat – we can also learn a lot from them about being better members not only in our own families and churches, but in the world. They offer us special insight into God’s nature and what He wants from us. Here’s an interesting fact about bees, thanks Google, I bow to your superior knowledge! Did you know that honeybees will fly as far as 13 kilometres in search of nectar? Apparently, it’s true. But here’s the more fascinating fact, whenever they find what they are looking for, no matter where they find it, they will turn right around and make a “beeline” back to their hive so that all the bees can join in the good news and go get some nectar. You see, bees like to share good news with each other. And they don’t like to waste time doing it. When they get back to the hive, they start doing an amazing little dance routine that tells all the other bees where they found the nectar. You’ll never find a honeybee saying, “I am not telling anyone else about this! I’m just going to keep it for myself.” And you know what? Christians shouldn’t say that about the good news either! The gospel of Jesus is something very sweet. And the natural, loving response to Jesus’ offer of grace isn’t to keep it all to ourselves. When we taste the goodness of the Lord, we should want to share it with the rest of our hive. Bees love to share the good news, and so should we! The prophet Isaiah put it like this: “1The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.” (Isaiah 61:1NLT) Here’s another amazing fact that I stumbled across as I was reading up about bees, that relates quite nicely. Most bees spend almost all of their time feeding other bees, rather than themselves. And not only will you find a bee always ready to feed another bee, they’ll even feed bees from another colony. This is why scientists call bees a social insect. They…

by Graham MolGod's timing is perfect. The older I get, the more times I see it happen, the more I realise this to be true. In the moment it can be difficult to see, it often feels like the Lord is taking forever to do something, but when you look back and reflect on what He has done you often see just how perfectly He planned and timed everything to work out. The one thing that I have come to see is that God often changes our heart before He changes our situation. Let me give you some examples of what I mean by this. Before bringing restoration to a broken relationship, the Lord often works in our own heart softening it towards the person. Before bringing about a financial breakthrough or blessing, He teaches us to trust in His provision. Before bringing healing and restoration, He helps us to see that in Christ we are already whole.I will always remember the time, about half a year into our marriage that Candice was longing to have a child. I wasn't in any rush to have kids so soon, in fact I was pretty opposed to it, even suggesting we wait a couple of years! Yet I could see how much this mattered to Candice and asked the Lord to change my heart about having kids at that point in time. Somehow, in a way that only God can do, He changed my heart and gave me that desire to have a child. I remember agreeing that we could start trying for a baby at the end of that year. Remember what I said about God's timing being perfect? Well not long after this change of heart Candice and I were both surprised to learn that she was already pregnant! I can only thank God that He had changed my heart otherwise my reaction to the news wouldn't have been so positive at the time.God often changes our heart before He changes our situation. Another way of looking at this is to see it as faith. It is trust in God, belief in Him and His promises that brings about that change of heart.14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him. (1 John 5:14-15)“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." (Mark 11:22-24)So often these statements get reduced to a formula, a name it claim it type of thinking. But what they are really about is having that trust that God hears our prayers, that He is already working…

by Caryl Moll Picture the scene… I’m standing on an unspoiled tropical beach. Soft sand seeps between my toes. As I look out over the pristine bay, I notice the beautiful islets dotting the scene. Distant soft clouds are slowly turning a dusty pink as I take in the magnificent sunset. It’s all calm. Serene. In the distance, some fishing boats start to head for home. What is their catch, I wonder. I edge forward and allow the water to gently lap at my toes. I listen quietly to the ambience of evening:  there are sounds of imminent nightfall coming from the trees behind me. A flock of birds have gathered to roost. It’s a gaggle of mirth as they share avian stories. Loud and reaching.  A slight breeze touches my face as I gaze out across the mirrored water. What beauty! What Glory! As I marvel at the spectacle unfolding around me, I am drawn into the heart of God. What a privilege to experience this peace - perfect peace. And creative love – unbridled love! However, not everything is as it seems… Suddenly, there’s an unexpected rush in the water near me. I glance down in fright as a dark shape begins to form. There’s a ripple along the water surface, followed by another.  Within seconds the water surface is bubbling. I stand back in frozen fright. Then there’s a fast and furious explosion out of the water. The dark, dappled shape leaps up off the surface. It seems suspended in the air. Then it falls back into the water, loudly. I stand gasping and wondering what on earth is happening. But it’s gone as quickly as it arrived. Curiosity soon gets the better of me and I step closer to scout the water around my feet. What was it? Where is it? Will anyone believe me? Then I see it – swimming near me. It is “them”, not “it”. Thousands upon thousands of tiny fish are the culprits. While I have been meditating on the beach, they have been hiding silently. I didn’t even notice. For some reason they were prompted to explode out of their hiding places, together, out and above the surface. How had those tiny, fish gathered so fast yet remain unnoticed? Within minutes the setting around me settles again. I revert back to watching the glorious sunset, soaking in God’s glory. Fully aware that there’s more to what I see. I will never know what it was that disturbed the little fish. Either way, I was privy to a moment – suspended in time. A lesson well learned. There is much more going on around us that we don’t see. God is constantly working - in places we are often unaware of. I am just a simple child of His, but I am part of His collective people; part of His world and part of His Creation. I stand amazed…. (Please allow me to thank my daughter, once again, for the incredible holiday…

by Luke KincaidEverybody loves good service. The other night while I was waiting to collect some food a customer walked up to the counter and placed his order requesting that one of his meals come without chips because his daughter didn’t like the spice on them. The lady who was serving him replied that they could make the chips plain and the man commented that he didn’t know that was a possibility. The ladies answer really stood out to me. She said, “We can do whatever you like!” Now that’s some good quality service! While thinking about how accommodating this restaurant was I was challenged if I in anyway approach service to God like this. I wondered if I could be characterized as a child of God who boldly proclaims to my Father that I would do anything that He asked of me. And while thinking about these questions I came across the story of Isaiah when he is called to be one of God’s prophets in Isaiah 6. Upon seeing the glory of God we can read Isaiah’s response:5 Then I said: Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lipsand live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies. 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said: Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned for. 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking: Who will I send? Who will go for us? I said: Here I am. Send me. (Isaiah 6:5-8)“Here I am, send me”. This scripture is challenging for me because I don’t think that I am always this willing to serve God in the ways in which He has commissioned me to. While doing some reading on this Scripture I found the following commentary on Got Questions which really made this scripture come alive to me:“After Isaiah acknowledges his sin, a seraph takes a burning piece of coal from the altar, touches Isaiah’s lips with it, and says, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:7). Some details are important here: Isaiah could not remove his own guilt, the atonement is made possible by the altar—the place of sacrifice—and the purification is specifically applied to the point of Isaiah’s sin—his lips—making Isaiah acceptable as a minister of God’s words. It is only after Isaiah is cleansed of his sin that he says, “Here am I; send me.” Prior to that point, he saw himself as an unworthy messenger; once he was forgiven, he immediately desired to serve the Lord in whatever way possible. The Lord asks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”—He wants willing volunteers in His service—and a grateful and enthusiastic Isaiah doesn’t hesitate in taking the opportunity: “Here am…