| What is a testimony? Often my story of my initial conversion. But testimonies are also about current experiences of our Lords help in our lives to do his will and to demonstrate his great work of love to bring us confidently and boldly into his presence in the every day stuff of life. This testimony shows our Lord’s love earthing in trusting lives. He could have done it differently but this was how it was! Jenni Sarlow serves in Macclesfield congregation with her husband Dr. Kevin Sarlow |
| Well, it seemed simple enough, a friend has passed away in Sydney. My husband and I can’t both go to the funeral as I have my mum living with us who needs someone with her. OK, so one of us should go. Oh, alright, I’ll go. I actually want to go to support my friend Friday funeral – August 2nd. “Father, we need help with finances to get me there and back.” Best if I do a turnaround flight so I can be back to finalise the details for worship on Sunday. (I do the data projection at church –a very important person) Booked in. $420 return flight + add car hire for a few hours- another couple of hundred + fuel. 6am to Sydney -7:20pm to Adelaide. Done. [We’ve had a recurring theme happening at Church in July from our lay preachers who come to minister to us. They don’t know each other. We don’t tell them what to preach on- God is in the details and often a theme occurs. So, it would appear God was saying to us “Don’t panic – trust. Don’t get frustrated – praise.” Good teaching. Thankyou Father.] Right, back to the 2nd of August. Up at 3am to leave for the airport at 3:45am. Normally Kev would come into the terminal with me till I boarded, but I told him not to worry this time. He should go home and get another few hours sleep. So, he dropped me off. I only had a carry-on bag, easy! I go to a kiosk with my boarding pass details handy. I type in my flight number. The screen says, “You’re flight has been cancelled, please go the service desk to be reallocated a flight.” The funeral is 11am. Due to arrive in Sydney 9am. I go to the service desk. 8 people in front of me. [“I’m not going to panic Father, I’m going to trust you to sort this out”] My turn: “Morning!. I have to be at a funeral in Baulkham Hills, Sydney by 11am” “Then I suggest your best option is to try Jetstar or QANTAS. If you can get a seat, bring your boarding pass back here and I’ll issue you with a refund” Over I go to the service desk at QANTAS. Three people standing there, only one will look at me. I explain I need to try and book a flight to Sydney that will get me to a funeral by 11am. “We don’t do bookings here you need to do that online” “Do you mean book on my phone?” “Yes” “I don’t know that I know how to do that, I don’t think” (Old lady syndrome) “Just download the QANTAS app and follow the prompts”. I’m going to need to sit down for this. [“Father, I’m not going to panic, I’m going to trust you to help me. I praise You and thank you.”] Well, I thought that prayer went unanswered, I couldn’t work the app out. [“Don’t panic – praise”] OK Go and ask for help from that QANTAS attendant in the kiosk area”. Over I go. I explain my need, she takes my phone and says “I’m not real good at this stuff either” but bless her, she manages to find me a few options. “OK the 6am flight is $389…”] “I really don’t think I can afford to do that” I said while hearing in my head [“I’m not going to panic, I’m going to praise and trust”.] “There’s a 9:30 flight that’s $329…” “What time does it get into Sydney?” I ask. “9:20am” “I’ll have to take it”. Thinking: “9:30 land. 11am to Baulkham Hills. I can still do it”. (I’ve got absolutely no idea if I can do it or not. That was God talking, I reckon.) Lovely attendant did all the necessary paperwork for me and handed me my new boarding pass. Back to Virgin to see about that refund. (The whole return flight with Virgin was $420.) All good. Everything sorted. Jenn, You’re on your way. Chill. Relax. Breathe. [“Thankyou Jesus”.] We’re in the air. The food service has been cleared away, not that I had anything. The captain comes over the intercom “We’re in a holding pattern over Goulburn as Sydney is a bit congested at the moment, landing will be delayed”. [“OK I’m not going to panic, I’m going to trust You Father to get me there. I’m not going to look at my watch. I’m not going to look at my watch.”] Landed. No time to waste. Get down to the shuttle busses to take me to Budget car hire place to pick up the car. Outside the terminal, the small A frames that were there on the footpath in May directing passengers to the car rental waiting bays for shuttle busses weren’t there. “OK so where do I go????” Back into the terminal to the Budget desk to ask. Three people in front of me. Waiting. Waiting. [“I’m not going to panic and I’m not going to look at my watch. Father, I trust you”.] I finally said to the man in front of me, “I only need to ask a question do you mind if I just pop in in front of you? “Go ahead” “Can you tell me where I need to go to meet the shuttle bus?” “Follow this lady, she’s heading out there now.” Outside at the bus stop. 17 or so people are lined up waiting for the bus. It could be any of them. Europcar, Avis, Budget… here comes the Budget bus… Oh, OK everyone here wants to get on this mini- bus for Budget. Will we all fit? [“I’m not going to panic. I’m trusting You Father”. The funeral is 11am. I’m not going to look at my watch”.] The man and his daughter in front of me must have been thinking the same thing because he asked the driver how long till the next bus? He was told 20 mins. I had to get on this shuttle. WE all fitted. [ “Praise You Jesus!”] At the Budget office, there are 3 people in front of me and two people serving only one is on the phone and quite frantic about something and so only one man is serving, chipping in on her conversation as he thought fit, which slowed his efficiency somewhat. [“I’m refusing to panic, Father and I refuse to look at my watch”.] My turn. All the details have been entered into his computer, he has returned my license and my credit card. He presses enter. His terminal has frozen. No amount of pounding on the enter key is causing the computer to unfreeze so he looks and me and says he is going to have to enter the details manually, can he have my license and credit card again please. “Sure” I am not going to panic. The funeral is at 11. [“I’m going to trust You Father, What else can I do?” Thankyou Jesus for keeping me still on the inside.”] OK, I’m seated in the car, looking around for the exit. I have loaded directions into my phone last night on Google maps. The screen says, preview. I don’t want preview, I want start. Where is start? My screen has frozen on a map of how to get where I’m going but I can’t see immediate directions that will even get me out of the airport. I can’t sit here, I’m going to have to get going. No idea which direction to take. Phone won’t respond no matter what I press…. while I’m driving. (I’m going to end up with huge fines for being on my phone while driving for sure!) There’s no response. There is also nowhere that I can pull over either, I have to drive. So I’m now talking out loud to myself in the car and I decide that I need to look for signs that say either Paramatta or Western Suburbs. I now have the Eastern Distributor on my right or City on the left. I know I don’t want to go to Newcastle, on the right, so into the city I have to go. I’m stopped at a set of traffic lights and what do you know I got Google maps working.] “Continue straight for 3kms” [“OK. Thankyou Jesus, we’ve got this. ON the way. No need to panic. Thankyou.”] That 3 kms leads into a tunnel. The lady on Google maps informs me I have lost GPS connection. It’s at that point I was on the verge of panic and I reached down and pressed something on the phone only to lose not just google maps but my phone was on a screen I hadn’t seen before. Suburbs were coming and going at exits out of the tunnel but they seemed vaguely familiar to me as being on the coast or on the harbour at least- not where I needed to be. It’s at this point, lost in a tunnel with no way of knowing where I was or what exit that I had to take or how to get where I was going that I said out loud in the car “You know what, I’m done. The funeral’s probably nearly over by now. I’m going to get out of the tunnel I’m going to turn around and head to my daughter’s place in the Sutherland Shire. I can probably work out how to get there and I’ll just fill in time there with the grandies till it’s time to go to the airport tonight. “NO!” Straight away I knew what that NO meant. [“You’re right Father, You provided a way for me to be here and to You intend for me to be at that funeral. I’ll get out of the tunnel, I’ll take the first exit and find a place to park up and I’ll sort the phone out.”] Which is what I did. I had to drive through a shopping centre to find a side street to park up outside some homes. Pressing buttons wasn’t working. The phone wasn’t responding at all. Even checked to see if I was still in flight mode. “Restart the phone” Of course. Why didn’t I think of that. It took some minutes as its tricky to turn my phone off as you have to press two buttons at once and I always forget which two to press but the restart had the desired effect. Google maps came up. So did my destination. Directions. Enter. Start. Enter. Hey presto. We’re up and running again. “In 300mtrs turn left….. In 400 mtrs turn right… In 300 mtrs at the roundabout take the second exit… Stay on this road for 16kms” A-MAZ-ZING!! Not only wasn’t I lost, God had put me on the right road all along. [“Jesus, I can’t thank you enough. Please forgive that little blip in the tunnel. I do trust You. I am going to this funeral. I’m still not going to look at my watch though.”]I got to the church. Cars everywhere. Not a park anywhere. I drove up this street and down that one. Finally. There’s a spot. Will I fit? Yes I will. Change the shoes and off I go jogging uphill to the church. I was buzzed in the security door. The church was packed. The minister was speaking. Not a spare seat anywhere in the church or the foyer. I was directed into the supper room. The last seat on the back wall. I passed a big screen as I made my way to the seat. Good! I sit and I look at my watch. 11:07am. [“Thankyou Father. I’m here!”] The minister is just finishing speaking when I realise that there is no sound coming into the supper room. The sound isn’t working. Oh no! I didn’t come all this way not to hear anything. Malcolm’s son Cameron, (my son’s best mate from when we lived in Young) had started his eulogy to his dad. People are chuckling at what he said. I waited till he finished so as not to disturb people around me then I stood up and made my way into the foyer where I could see and hear what was happening. Standing in heels for that long was not ideal but at least I could see and hear everything. The rest was, believe it or not fairly uneventful. With so many there, I didn’t think I’d get to see the widow, my friend Robyn, but she saw me and was very excited to see me. “I didn’t invite you because it was such a long way for you to come.” “Are you kidding? I had to be here. I wasn’t not coming! One day, if you need a good laugh, ring me and I’ll fill you in on exactly how it was that I got here and only 7 mins late”. I was going to tell you about what happened when I was taking the car back to the rental place. I figured that if I did tell you that google maps took me straight back to where I had to be, only there was not one service station on the way where I could refuel the car. I had to drive out of the airport again looking for a service station. I knew there was one on the way to Wollongong so I headed there, taking a wrong turn again but was able to correct my mistake and was headed in the right direction. I had to drive past the servo for about 3 kms then do a right, left, left, left turn so I was on the right side of the road to enter and then be on the right side of the road to get back into the airport. First though, I had to pull into a side street to find where the fuel tank was. Found it but couldn’t find out how to get the gauge open. I had to find the service book in the glovebox. There was nowhere on the dash or under the dash to indicate where the lever was. My skirt had fallen over the lever which was on the door side of the driver’s seat on the floor. OK that sorted I head to the servo. I pop the fuel tank, put the pump in. Nothing. No fuel was coming out. I ask the lady who had been hosing outside what I was doing wrong. She tried. Nothing. Not one bowser in the whole servo was working. I thought if I told you that bit of the story you’d be well and truly convinced that I had made the whole thing up. On the plane home, I had a smile on my face when I asked God [ “Did I pass the test? I reckon I passed. Except for that blip in the tunnel, I reckon I did alright. You certainly did Your bit Father, holding me together, calm and OK with everything.”] I have learnt that when life goes wrong, and life will go wrong, don’t panic, trust. Don’t get anxious – praise. Trust me when I say, God is in the detail of our lives. He cares. He’s involved. He’ll get you through, if you just let Him show you the way to go. |
| Let the babies live |
| South Australian MP Ben Hood introduced into the parliament the Live Births Bill that protects the human rights of babies in the third trimester. The bill bans feticide: the brutal injection of potassium chloride into the baby’s heart prior to delivery. A historic, world-first bill, it facilitates the live delivery of the baby in a win/win for mother and child. Given that the process of late-term abortion requires a woman to go through the process of labour and give birth to a stillborn baby, the Live Births bill does not force a woman to give birth. All it does is ensure the baby is not killed prior to birth. |
| A Life of Pastoral Ministry founded in Scholarship: The Legacy of Robert Iles |
| Many South Australian readers will be familiar with Rev. Dr. Robert Iles and his teaching and pastoral ministry. Robert was a gifted preacher and teacher of the Word of God concluding his ministry at Golden Grove Uniting. Over the years several memorial lectures were held in his honour after his death. This year, a tribute to Robert is offered by publishing two volumes of selected lectures and sermons. A launch will be held at Walkerville Uniting Church,17 Smith St. Walkerville, on Sunday October 13 at 2pm. This will be a wonderful time of reunion and public support for the venture from Robert’s family, friends and colleagues. The two volumes are available from: ncandrew@bigpond.net.au or janisiles@bigpond.com Cost: $10 per volume, plus postage.Postage is $10 for up to 4 sets of the 2 volumes. |
| Conversion therapy bill passes. Here is the point: |
| This unnecessary and pointless but potentially dangerous bill passed on Tuesday 24th September, daringly tries to describe how and in what manner pastors and church teachers may expound and apply Scripture. See copy of bill here Several courageous politicians spoke up against it and tried to move amendments, one of them was Nicola Centofanti and pastoral leaders speaking up (including your HopenetSA editor). Read her speech here |
| Christian Worldview Summit”A World Restored”.Bold move, bold local Tea Tree Gully church |
| Along with a diverse array of leaders presenting on Worldview and Culture, Courage, History, Politics, Education, Workplace Engagement and Life. October 11 – 12, 2024 On Saturday Breakfast, Lunch and Afternoon Tea are included. For details, and to register visithttps://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1283453 |
| I hope these testimonies encourage your faith in our Lord God.If you would like to honour Him by sharing your testimony please send in to the email address below. It may be how you first were found by Jesus or a significant event whereby you learned more of His powerful gospel and goodness to you.Ian, Ed. |
