Western Echo Newspaper Article

Alone : (

But within my safety there is loneliness and that hurts. So I reach out to people for comfort, for friendship and find that it takes effort with sometimes no reward. So I retreat again to my island. Relationships are messy, awkward, painful and necessary. I recognise a repeating cycle in my life where I reach out for relationship and then shrink back again. This explains why I might be warm, friendly and engaging, then cold, quiet and emotionally distant.

Just before Jesus was going to be betrayed and abandoned by his disciples to be tortured and killed he did something remarkable. After dinner he washed his disciple’s feet. Eeewww. That job was for slaves and yet Jesus, being God, in humility served his disciples. Despite the stress and tiredness Jesus must have felt, despite the disciple’s unworthiness he still washed their feet (John 13:1-20).

Relationships are a gift to me from God. They are an opportunity to humbly serve regardless of how sad or tired I feel or how messy, unworthy and unappreciative they may be. Jesus teaches that it is better to serve than be served. Wow, that is hard if you feel like living on an emotional island. I realise now that relationships are meant to be messy and difficult. They are meant to be emotionally draining for me. Why? So that I can’t rely on myself; so that I learn to live in the mess of relationships with God’s help.

With God I can tear myself away from the computer and cook dinner for the family and then wash the dishes while everyone disappears. I can catch my anger before it explodes when one of my kids has forgotten to bring something with them (again). I can reach out to my wife with emotional kindness whether she notices or not. I’m coming to realise that, with God, relationships are a mess worth making.

Listen to or watch my messages on this theme (Live the gospel) @ www.godsgap.net/relationships

Newspaper Article: Western Echo

Are you tired?

When I wake up in the morning I groan as my mind is flooded with all I didn’t get done yesterday which has now been added to this day. As my feet touch the carpet I already feel tired. I shuffle my reluctant body into the kitchen where my bright eyed bushy tailed children have learnt to give me emotional space. My dog is exploding with excitement as he anticipates our early morning jog. Why am I like this, why am I so tired and stressed?

In all that I own and all that I do there is one thing which is missing; contentment. Stopping to reflect on my life reveals that there is a lot that drives me. The need to provide and care for my wife, children and church family. But there are less honorable impulses within me; greed is certainly one of them. Not in terms of being filthy rich but greedy in terms of wanting to be successful in my work, really wanting times where I can have time to enjoy myself without having a demand/question or expectation thrown into my tranquility. It’s as though contentment is a ship that has be cut loose and is now drifting further away from me so that no matter how much I achieve I’m still dissatisfied.

Greed and discontent is not what God wants. He specifically tells us; “You shall not covet” (be greedy). He even gives me a list of what I shouldn’t be greedy or jealous of; you shall not covet your neighbour’s house, his wife, his donkey (car), his servants (employees or electrical appliances) nor anything that is your neighbour’s. In other words God would have me learn to be content, whether I have much or little. The challenge I think for me is to learn to be content with God and with what he has provided for me rather than always racing ahead, living always for tomorrow while missing out on the blessing of today. Like washing the dishes with one of my kids, going for a walk, enjoying the work I’ve been given to do.

So rather than fulfill the greed of my heart God has set to work to change me so that I learn to be content.

Listen to or watch my messages on this theme (Live the gospel) @ www.godsgap.net/content

Newspaper Article (Western Echo)

A change of heart

If God is real then why doesn’t he help me more? Work is hard, kids misbehave, marriage can be lonely, humiliating, frustrating and painful. If God can do anything, then why doesn’t he do something to make my life easier and happier? The focus of my questions is fixed upon the circumstances of my life that I don’t like, that I find hard or challenging. My thinking is that if my circumstances could be changed, then I would enjoy life a lot more. So a lot of my time, energy and life is about trying either to change my circumstances or prevent them from getting worse.

God’s focus and energy is spent in a completely different place. The problem that I have is the problem of what I want. Comfort, enjoyment, peace, success, power are all things that I want.  And I think that by being successful at work, having kids that behave and a wife that fulfills my needs and wants will give them to me . However God is more interested in helping me within the challenge, within the suffering and within the pain of my life rather than preventing bad stuff from happening.

God’s project is the changing of my heart, which means changing what I want. If I come home and find I’ve been elected as chief negotiator of yet another argument between the kids, how will I choose to respond? God would like me to ask for his help. God would like me to use this bad circumstance to grow in my patience, kindness and willingness to help my wife with the kids rather than getting angry, being unkind, and withdrawing into my man cave for some peace and quiet.

God wants me to learn to care less about myself; less about what suits me and how I would like things to be and instead to start caring more about my wife, kids and work. Caring involves getting to know people, which involves listening, encouraging and helping.  I’ve been too busy and as a result I’ve drifted away from my wife and kids. It is time to slow down and spend more time with them so that I can to enter into their world. More than giving me what I want, God is trying to give me something far more valuable - a change of heart.

Listen to or watch my messages on this theme (Live the gospel) @ www.godsgap.net

Newspaper article (Western Echo)

What do you treasure?

There are days I long to escape and just lie on the beach, without the knowledge that back home there are crises of life to return to. Why is life more bitter than sweet? Why are there more tears than laughs? Why does my life have to NOT work out so often? Why can’t I enjoy life more? The answer to these questions is a bewildering freedom that may scare you half to death, so hold on.

Jesus taught “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Luke 12:34. What he means by this is that what you worry about shows what is in control of your life. I worry that I’m going to fail at work, that my marriage is going to grow stale, that my kids are going to grow up delinquents, that people are going to reject me. So all of these are important to me, and I weigh up whether my day has been good or bad depending on whether I feel like I’ve done well at work, my wife loves me, my kids have behaved and people have been friendly to me.

Jesus came to free me from what I want. He wants me to worry about being patient when I feel like yelling at my kids. He wants me to be kind to my wife who may have hurt my feelings. He wants me to care about the people I work with rather than competing against them. He wants me to learn to measure my day not on whether “my will has been done” but rather whether I’m becoming more like him in the middle of the crises of my life. I don’t have to let my worries drive me anymore because Jesus has given me a bewildering freedom.

Feeling overwhelmed?

How many voices yell for your attention throughout the day? I’m talking about the voices of your desires. Things like wishing you could get married, wishing you weren’t married, wishing your kids would turn out right, wishing you had just a bit more money, wishing you could have a restful holiday, wishing work or school wasn’t so hard.

We live in a noisy world because our hearts are noisy. The Bible calls this noise and these wishes “the lust of the flesh.” A lust is a normal desire gone mad. For example you may want your kids to grow up right to be good persons. That is a normal desire given by God. However it can easily go mad and be transformed into a lust - something that you must have, something that you can’t do without.

When your child is naughty do you go way over the top? Are you like a KGB agent always on their case, exposing their every flaw, correcting their every wrong? Do you yell and rage at your child because they continue to disobey you? That is not God given; it is Lust - an out-of control desire for perfect kids who bring us praise.

Lust is deceptively common and we often expect God to fulfill it for us. We want health, a good job, to be popular, to be happy and not sad, to be able to retire, to have good friends. But all of these are voices which can yell at you for attention, that pour anxiety into your life, that fill your heart and mind with noise.

If your life is filled with noise then I hope you will find my message “Peace, Be Still” practical and helpful. May you learn to both calm and quiet your heart so that you can experience real peace within the chaos that each day brings. the Rev

Western Echo Newspaper Article

For Goodness Sake

Much of what I do and don’t do is based on what I functionally believe is good. For example I like things to be fast, slow = bad. I ride a motor bike, I like playing squash more than tennis and I like anything that is intense. But recently I’ve come to realise that fast is not always good. Sometimes missing the bus and having to wait can benefit me by forcing me to slow down (assuming I’m not calling fire down from heaven).

Slowing down means that I’m more likely to have to face my fears and hurts which ‘fast’ helps me avoid. I know that some people choose to escape their fears by withdrawing, personally, emotionally and perhaps even physically. Why do I find it easier to play computer games, to hide in my man cave rather than make the effort to relate to my wife and kids? It’s because good = what makes me feel good. That varies a lot from person to person. Maybe romance, sex, alcohol, drugs, novels, movies, comfort food are what feels good to you.

Here is what I believe is always good. These are qualities that we should seek to develop; “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23).” These qualities are the very nature and character of Jesus Christ which explains why they are called the ‘Fruit of the Spirit.’ As we face 2010 lets be more thoughtful about what we will try to achieve, avoid and consume. Instead of seeking what makes us feel good the challenge is for us to do good for goodness sake.

Listen to or watch my messages on this theme @ www.godsgap.net/goodness

Is stress getting to you?

Christmas is a time where you have to spend time with people you don’t like; your family. There isn’t any family I’ve come across that has not been hurt by divorce and/or significant tension, arguments and even hatred. So each year we exercise the season of good will by being forced to spend time with people who remind us of the scars we have and have given.

Getting through the mine field of pride

Pride is the reason why we fight in the first place. Pride is the reason why we don’t forgive; pride is the reason why we get angry. We are like spoilt children throwing a tantrum when we don’t get what we want. Adults have their own ways of having hissy fits; they may not be as dramatic as thrashing around on the floor but they can be much more hurtful and cruel.

Western Echo Article

Don't let your memories hold a gun to your head

Unforgiveness is what you uncover when you look beneath the surface of anger. Every time you get annoyed, frustrated, resentful and angry you have the option of forgiving which pulls the plug on anger. I’ve found it amusing practicing forgiveness while driving my car. When I start to feel annoyed or angry at drivers who are ill mannered, I forgive them. Calm is restored.  You can try this one at home, work, and with your friends.

Can anything be done about things I’ve done which stubbornly force themselves into my thinking to be replayed in my mind? Stuff I’m angry that I did or didn’t stop when I had a chance. Some people have shared with me their innermost secrets and innermost struggles. In common with them all is a sense of being unable to forgive themselves for something that happened in their past. They can’t seem to forget their bad memory, so they carry it with them like an emotional injury which won’t heal. Bad memories hurt and sometimes they make us feel like we need to punish ourselves.

Western Echo Newspaper Article

Forgiving leads to reconciliation

To get my own back I’ve been preaching a sermon series in an area which I’ve already started to work on. I’ve made a remarkable discovery. For a long time I’ve been working hard to overcome my tendency to get angry - with my kids, with my wife, with my Church and with my God. As the intoxicating fumes of anger began to clear I suddenly saw that a lot of my anger was fuelled by unforgiveness.

Western Echo Newspaper Article

Let Christ be your Oasis

I still struggle with anger, loneliness and selfishness but, unlike before, I’m more than these things. Darkness still lurks in my heart but it no longer defines me. The void that once grew has shrunk so that it no longer fills me. Now I’m able to say that I am learning to love life.

Western Echo Newspaper Article

Funeral to Celebration

What happened when a widow who was burying her only son meets Jesus on the way to the grave? Christ had compassion on her, touched the coffin and raised her son from the dead. Her funeral was turned into celebration. But what does that mean for you?

Does your life feel like a funeral? Are you weeping on the inside not just because you’re hurting but because you are so afraid? I know that feeling. As a boy I hid under the blankets of my bed trying not to hear my mum and dad yelling at each other. I sat on my father’s knee as he told me he was leaving and was never coming back. Up until then I had lived within the ever escalating tension of a couple who had come to hate each other. But on my Dad’s knee God shattered my world completely. I stopped living, I stopped hoping.

Achievement is rarely easy

There is one answer to all these questions. Everyone wants to enjoy privilege without responsibility. Toys without packing up, home life without effort, freedom without consequence, sex without commitment, love without sacrifice, money without hard work, respect without patience and understanding.

Multitasking is handy

Strength to bear responsibility

Join together a male chauvinist, a feminist and some terrorists and you get an average family. Men and women are gifted differently on purpose so that they can work as a team to love each other and raise their children. The paradox of family is that there is unity and rivalry at the same time. Each member of a family is different which can be both helpful and annoying.

Are you like an elephant?

You may be more like an elephant than you think. Apparently circus elephants are chained to a stake in the ground. Having asked why the elephant doesn’t simply use it considerable weight and strength to rip the stake out of the ground the following explanation was given. When an elephant is still a baby it is chained to a stake and it does everything it can to escape; it pulls hard against the chain but cannot free itself. Eventually the elephant learns that it cannot escape and it remembers this for the rest of its life so that it becomes more a prisoner in its mind than in reality.

The unfolding of self

Bud opens to a flower

“We live in a culture that has become intoxicated with ‘self.’ We’ve turned so far in on ourselves that we are afraid to feel sad, bored, upset, frustrated… so we go numb or succumb to ‘the wall.’ People need to have a hope and motivation outside of ‘self.’ “

Christ can still your storm

We live in a world of noise. It is all around us, the sound of traffic, mowers, chain saws, mobile phones, iPods in our ears, movies— and the noise of our own minds. We face so many challenges at home, work and with friends that our minds become cluttered with many different thoughts and emotions. We sometimes use noise to hide from our own thoughts— especially when our thoughts may be trying to get through to us about something in our lives. Silence can be scary because it can force our minds to dwell on our pains, our failures, our guilt and our shame.

Love's Kiss

The most powerful thing in the world is your tongue. We achieve everything with words  — we think in words, we communicate with words and we impose ourselves on other people with words. Words can either be so uplifting or so hurtful. How many times have you started a fight without even trying? Have you ever wondered why your tongue gets you into so much trouble? Is there any hope for our tongues?

Christmas = more than presents

Christmas more than any other time of the year should be a time of hope. Life can become so hectic, busy, complicated, frustrating, disappointing, painful and at times hopeless. Sometimes our hopes either don’t come true or they don’t end up being what we expected. We are just like kids who love getting presents, particularly ones they have been hoping for, but like most toys the novelty wears off and they get replaced.

Captivity of addiction

An addiction seeks to fill and satisfy a felt need (a desire). These felt needs are common to all human beings. We all have a strong desire to be accepted and popular, to be powerful and in control of our lives, to be successful and important, to be satisfied and happy. These core desires govern our lives. We take care to wear and to look a certain way so that we will be accepted by our friends. Bullies at school or at the work gain a sense of power and control by intimidating those they consider weak. Some people become workaholics so that they can feel successful and powerful. Generally food, drugs/alcohol and sex are used to gain as sense of satisfaction, happiness, excitement and comfort.

Addictions are deceptive. They may give a person some sense of acceptance, power, success and happiness but it comes with a cost. It usually means you have to be and do something to get what you want. Sometimes this doesn’t work. Your friends may reject you even though you’re trying to fit in. You can lose your job. You can lose control of your life. Eventually food, alcohol and sex don’t give the sense of satisfaction and happiness that they once did. But sadly, this usually leads a person further into their addiction: by eating more, drinking or using more drugs or being led deeper into sexual perversion.

God willing I hope to write Part III to Facing Addiction next month. In the meantime watch or listen to the messages at www.godsgap.net/triumph. If you would like to speak with me send me an email so that we can organise a confidential time to talk.

 the Rev (Chris Perona)

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Mmmmm Chocolate

Where does this compulsion come from? Is it something that is internal or external, physical or spiritual? Those who struggle with an addiction often feel like they can’t help themselves—they feel as though giving in is inevitable—and so it can be hard to work out where this compulsion comes from and how it works. It would be simplistic to say that a drug addiction is just a physical dependency because a person is more than a biological bag of bones. Let me suggest that an addiction affects the whole person: physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Hit for a six

Hurts are too valuable to waste; they are opportunities to triumph. When things go wrong it often feels like circumstances have hit you over the boundary line for a six. Our sense of happiness feels like it hangs on a thread; it is too easily hijacked and held ransom by so many different daily trials. But hurts, trials and suffering no longer need to be your enemy; you don’t have to be afraid of them any more. In fact it is possible to consider their presence in your life with joy.

Hurts have a purpose and a process. God uses pain as a way of helping us to exercise faith in him. This exercise produces patience and perseverance. God allows faith in him to be challenged so that faith can be strengthened. This is a process that leads to spiritual maturity where a person can face trials with joy because they know that they have the ability to turn their trials into triumphs. Rather than being knocked for a six you can knock the trial over the boundary line. Regardless of the pain in your life—whether it’s a flat tire, missing the bus, an exam, marital difficulties, or overcoming an addiction—you can face these trials with joy if you know and accept what they are for: to make you spiritually mature.

Learn how to turn your trials into triumphs by listening or watching the messages at www.godsgap.net/triumph

the Rev (Chris Perona)

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How work can feel

The grind of work can really get you down, particularly if you can’t really afford to spend much on your days off. Throw in all the chores that need catching up on, family commitments, and you wonder where the weekend went. Have you ever wondered whether you have a life at all?

It’s not a bad thing to ask yourself ‘What is it I live for?’ Living for the weekend narrows your life too much. Working so that you can afford to consume products and services is too shallow. Working to make something of yourself is too self-centred and self-serving. So what is worth getting up for every morning of every day? Well not something that is temporary; like a car or a house, or a movie, or a massage or a nice meal out. What about getting up for something of real value -  something that reaches out beyond this life and into eternity?

We live in a finite material world but behind this world is an infinite spiritual realm. Wouldn’t it be great if you could tap into this realm in such a way that you could enjoy every part of your life, your work, your chores, even your difficult relationships? The first step is to consider Christ’s words in Mark 8:35-36 “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”

If you would like to explore your spirituality further then watch or listen to the messages at www.godsgap.net/kingdom

Natural selection teaches that the fittest characters are the best reproducers. They in turn pass on the successful changes/ingredients to their offspring who will out produce their peers. This is what is meant by “Survival of the fittest.” Evolution is a very appealing theory. We are attracted to it because it elevates the strong, the powerful, the beautiful, the famous and the athletic. We would all like to be at the top of the human food chain. We try to climb the social and careers ladder: we try to eat better; we try to be liked by important people; we try to be successful. But in reality we all struggle.  Even the best of the best get old and frail.

Anger is powerful. Those who use it explosively become addicted to the effect it has on those around them. It is dangerously unpredictable and most people respond to it by withdrawing to a safe distance.

Those who use it enjoy its intoxicating quality of making them feel right and everyone else wrong. It makes them feel strong and everyone else weak; it makes them feel in  control of their lives. However, anger is like a drug: it only masks reality for a short time. Very often it only makes things far worse than they were before.

Not everyone uses anger explosively. Anger can be cold, calculating and outwardly hidden—until it strikes. Often this anger works at revenge by a thousand paper cuts; the cold shoulder, sarcasm, pointed humour and gossip are a few favourites. Cold anger can become a way of life; it is often critical and discontented.

Every couple has arguments. What’s fundamentally more dangerous to a relationship is not arguments but what I call drift. Over time couples change so they find they are not living with the same person they once knew. Many relationships fall apart because couples no longer enjoy the same sense of love and passion they first enjoyed.

In addition they realise that their interests have changed so that there is very little keeping them together. Perhaps it feels like there is more pushing them apart than there is pulling them together. This does not mean ‘the writing is on the wall’ for your relationship.

Opposites attract but after time what was attractive can become annoying; spontaneity becomes disorganisation, determination becomes stubbornness, extroversion becomes attention seeking. Many couples give in at this point and decide that it is easier to start again. But this often only repeats the same process; drift is a part of every relationship. Let me suggest that however your partner is annoying you, and perhaps pushing you away there is hope.

There are many books that give marriage advice but none on how to ruin your marriage. It would seem that couples struggle without ever trying.

Why does it become harder to maintain the passion and romance in a marriage? Of course we can blame it on the busyness of kids, family, friends and work. But there is a deeper cause to our marriage difficulties. The challenge comes from having too high an expectation of our spouse.

Guys: Like to feel needed and useful; they like to protect and provide for their wife and kids. Above all they want to know that their wife respects them. It’s really tough on guys if their wife starts to put him down. If he feels that nothing he does is good enough he will either blow up or retreat into silence. If his romantic advances are rejected it can really discourage him because he wants to feel irresistible to his wife. When she resists (probably because she’s tired) he feels hurt.

Worry

Despite our Aussie saying we do in fact worry.

Christmas is meant to be a celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth, a special time of peace and good will for everyone. Traditionally families get together at Christmas to enjoy a special meal and give presents. This reflects the gifts given to Jesus when he was a boy by the three wise men and God’s gift of his Son Jesus Christ to the world. Christ came to bring peace to a very troubled world.

Spiritual Surfing

The other day Guy had a whole stack of different black and white photos which he spread out on the floor. We each had to pick a photo that best represented where we were on our spiritual journey. One student chose a photo of a rail depot with hundreds of interconnecting tracks. This represented the spiritual opportunities he felt he had before him.

For me personally, I have grown a lot. It’s been great to explore important issues like how our values and beliefs affect the choices that we make. When was the last time you re-assessed your priorities? Is there more to life than work, family, friends and possessions? Perhaps there is a spiritual side to this world that you should look into?

If you would like to share in our spiritual journey then you can find a snapshot of each class at www.godsgap.net/gospiritual. The Rev (Chris Perona).

Depression

Depression makes you question the purpose of your life. Before it comes to stay you may have been happy to exist on very temporary goals and purposes, such as anticipating your next pay rise, buying a new pair of shoes or going out for dinner. However, if depression is your companion these things just aren’t good enough reasons to get out of bed. The power of depression is in its ability to strip you of being able to enjoy anything. So maybe it’s time to have a completely different reason to live.

Children grow up thinking that the universe revolves around what they want. Unfortunately, so do many adults. Life is about them, about what makes them happy, what they find satisfying, and so on. Depression takes all that away and leaves a choice. What will you live for? Living for yourself isn’t the right answer. You have to find a reason outside yourself to be able to face living a life with depression.

Even though we may never have met, I know something about you. At times, you experience a  heaviness in your heart that makes it hard to get out of bed in the morning. Despite having friends you sometimes feel a loneliness that’s like an ache in your chest. There are times when you become so afraid that it feels like butterflies in your stomach. The heaviness, the aching and the butterflies are all symptoms of being overwhelmed. 

When you’re not coping it’s easy to turn inward, to shut down your emotions and go numb. Unfortunately, this isolates you even further and makes it harder to deal with your crises. Having gone through significant stress in my life, I’ve learned that sometimes you’re not meant to cope. The problem is that you expect to be in control of your life. None of us likes the feeling that our lives are out of our control. But occasionally reality catches up with us and our feeling of control explodes like a burst balloon.

Here is a golden opportunity to do something different. Don’t reconstruct the illusion of being in control. Instead, turn to the one who is in control. You are both a physical and spiritual being. You have an embodied soul. That soul was made by God so that you could be connected to Him. Spiritual disconnection is sometimes evidenced by the following emotions; fear, anger, guilt, shame, loneliness. Perhaps you’re not coping because you need to turn to God for help. If you would like to learn how to cope when you’re not coping then listen to message found at www.godsgap.net/howtocope. The Rev (Chris Perona).

Given the choice between a bowl of vegetables and a bowl of hot, golden crispy chips which would you choose? It's a no brainer. Chips win over vegies every time; just try this experiment with kids. We choose chips over vegies because they taste soooo good. We don’t feel like eating the good things. Some foods like chips, chocolate and ice cream just make us feel good.

Spiritually, God is as attractive as a bowl of vegies.

Life for many people focuses nearly entirely on the material world: their work, their homes, their family, their friends, their wealth and their own happiness. These things are not wrong or bad but if that’s all there is, it points to a dangerous imbalance. We are both physical and spiritual creatures and we are designed to be connected to God spiritually (see www.godsgap.net/peoplearelikefish). Trying to satisfy your spiritual needs by consuming products, services and even people is like eating chips all the time.  It just won’t work.

Let me challenge you to consider eating spiritual vegies by looking into whether you might be better off living God’s way. This will involve time and effort but it will be worth it. I know many people who have overcome their addiction to junk food and swear that it’s worth giving vegies a decent go. If you would like to give going God’s way a try then check out www.godsgap.net/godsway  The Rev.

The other day I googled the word ‘spirituality’ and got 95,000,000 results for my effort. For a world that has supposedly been scientifically explained by the theory of evolution that is a big preoccupation with spirituality. I think most people would like to think that we are much more than a mammal who knows how to use a knife and fork, appreciate sunsets, and laugh at jokes. Perhaps we are spiritual beings as well? Well, let’s work through some broad options.

1. The safest option is to believe in a non-personal spirituality or force. So the spiritual part of you is connected in some way to a greater spirit or force. George Lucas portrayed something like this in Star Wars. Jedi’s were taught not to trust their ability to think but rather to feel the Force. Connecting to the Force gave them extra powers like seeing the future and using a light sabre (really cool). The problem with this option is that it cannot explain justice and it cannot account for love. A non-personal power is like a river. We may harness its power by damming it and making electricity but we cannot find out whether something is fair by consulting a river.

Ever wondered why happiness is so elusive. So much of our time and effort is spent trying to be happy. Sometimes we wonder what happiness is or we lose sight of it altogether.  We get caught up in the busyness of life, particularly if you have kids. Perhaps there isn’t a lot that is actually outwardly wrong with your life. You might have a good home to live in, a stable relationship, a reasonable job or study. And yet with all of this in place are you happy, are you satisfied with your life?

We are like fish. Take a fish out of water and it continues to be a fish though it doesn’t cope very well out of water. The most it can do is flop around and gasp for breath. Take a fish out of water and it begins to die because it can’t absorb oxygen from air, eventually it will die. Sometimes fish will jump out of a tank. We are like that; we choose to live independently of God. Outside of God we don’t do very well. Everything becomes self focused, life suddenly becomes all about ‘me’. That’s why we have a ‘MY’ store. We are the ‘me’ generation. And the more we focus on ourselves the less content we are.

The solution is to live as you have been designed. Like the fish on the carpet you need to be put back in the water where you can breath. It is impossible to replace God with your work, your relationships, your home, and your holidays. God is too important to be replaced by anything you might find in this world. You have been made with a particular gap that only God can fill. If you would like to know more about God then visit www. godsgap.net

Perona Family

Chris was officially inducted into the Ministry on 10 February 2006. Chris has a background in nursing, is a graphic artist and has spent the last five years ministering in a small parish in country Victoria.

Chris says that his primary ministry concern has to do with the way in which people relate to God and what this means in their everyday lives, such as their work, their marriages and their social relationships. Chris has pointed out that when people have problems in everyday life this can be because they are struggling in their relationship with God, whether they realise this or not.

Chris has also emphasised that one of his priorities is to remind people that there is a lot more to life than merely surviving or doing well. What we do with our lives here and now, he says, has a direct bearing on our eternal destiny.

Chris’s hobbies include spending time with his wife and four children, going for long walks with his Doberman, riding his motorbike and watching movies.

The Gap Presbyterian Church meets at 1195 Waterworks Road at 9am every Sunday. All members of our community are welcome to attend.