"Happy Anniversary Baby, Got you on my mind!"

Our 26th Wedding Anniversary was spent on Saphire Beach at Coff's Harbour a couple of hours drive north from Laurieton. We enjoyed beatiful weather, magnificent scenery and walked along sparkling beaches collecting shells.

Halfway along the beach a couple had built a comfy wooden seat overlooking the sea with a plaque on it commemorating 45 years of marriage. Guess we have a long way to go and hopefully, health and God willing, we will continue to enjoy the years ahead together.

It sounds corny but we are best friends, enjoying similar things which we love to share and different things which keeps us connected to others beside each other.

As the moon came up we were treated to a full lunar eclipse. It was warm enough to sit out and watch it, though was hard to capture on our little camera. Quite an interesting event to observe as the full moonlight gradually faded and the moon took on an orange red glow. It looked like a large red-orange table tennis ball hanging in the sky.

As you can see the view was impressive, the sea mist and light cloud cleared enough to allow the full moon to shine brightly in the early part of the evening, but by 8:00 the moon was changing before our eyes. Makes you feel rather small and insignificant in the scheme of things when you see the amazing spectacles of the universe and nature, but at the same time thankful that the God who made all that we see and don't see, cares about each and every one of us who live for our short time on this planet.

This week we had the privilege of representing the mission at the Evangelical Alliance 50th Celebrations in Sydney. The guest speaker was Phillip Yancey and true to style he spoke, as he writes, sharing his observations and posing powerful and provocative questions. His style of speaking was gentle, philosophical, reflective and honest. A refreshing approach and vastly different from the growing trend of hyped, roam the stage, expressing emotive trite cliches, preaching with 'do it my way' style pep rants.

Mmmm, guess everyone is different eh?

Today was Father's Day and Phil has enjoyed catching up with his sons via phone and we both chatted to our dads as well. In a couple of weeks our son Scott will be staying with us and we''ll be catching up with our boys from Brisbane as well. Always a treat to have quality time together as a family.

The Week Ahead:

• I'll be conducting a Conflict Resolution seminar this week for some of the staff here. Looking forward to the interactive discussions. I always learn when I teach, which I find helpful and even better when I can consistently apply what I learn to my life.
• I'm also chairing a group called the Board of Studies, who are exploring the possibility of providing on site Bible Training to complement the Missionary Training program as well as offering in-service and professional development options for staff and overseas missionaries who seek further skilling for the future.
• Phil is preparing for Board Meetings and Department Coordinator Meetings. He enjoys putting together the packs for the meetings to help people better prepare and come to the meetings ready to contribute, work together and explore various ways forward on a range of issues.

We enjoy our 'ministries' or roles here very much. Thanks for your interest, prayers and support. Always appreciated, never taken for granted. People are too precious to be taken for granted.