Maudlin' Monday.

Who, or why, or which, or what, is the Akhond of Swat? Edward Lear.

See it's been raining for a week, 10 days if you like, up here. Melbourne [down south] had a shower & got flooded out. Water, water everywhere & not a drop to drink....What this means in practical terms is the washing is piling up & the whole house feels damp. Ick. Or if your a Melbournite or somewhere out St George way you're scraping mud off the walls & throwing away the family heirlooms.

I was flicking through Sunday's paper, which is a waste of a good tree or two only Dearest feels deprived if he doesn't get Sunday's paper, & what grabbed my attention was not the golfball sized hail that hit Melbourne or the hoo~ha about who can or cannot march with the veterans on ANZAC Day or the media hyped housing crisis, critical as any or all of these things may be. Nope. Tucked away in an obscure corner was this choice little gem: a Korean couple let their 3 month old daughter starve to death while they raised a virtual daughter on~line! Their virtual child was named Anima & they cared for her at the local internet cafe for as long as 12 hours at a time while their real daughter languished un~named, unattended & malnourished in their apartment. How did we, as a people, get so screwy?! How does someone so lose their way between fantasy & reality? This shocks me far more than Haiti, or Chile or the numerous other natural disasters that are plaguing our world at present because this was a choice. This couple chose their virtual *daughter* over their real one. Is it only me that thinks that's more than a little scary?

And while I'm at it, who writes the manual for the parents of missionaries? After a week in Melbourne Liddy was gone all weekend ~ & this will be the case more & more as the missionary fueled wheels grind to the final departure but ~ no~one told us about this. No~one prepared us to lose Liddy before she actually left & I'm just a tad peeved. I'm the gal that needs to prepare emotionally. Don't hit me with unexpected emotional whammies because I don't cope too well & we all know I'm not the practical sort. The practicalities of getting Liddy to Chile never once crossed my mind but we are dealing with those realities now. [& this folks is why Liddy is going to Chile & I am not. Um, yes, it's been confirmed.]

You know I'm an Aussie & there's a little thing about Aussie native flora that gardeners learn real fast if they plan on dealing with Australian natives; you can transplant them but they will only survive if you get the entire tap~root, intact & undamaged. Break that & you will lose the plant! Often that is true for people too. We plan on getting Liddy to Chile intact & undamaged, her tap~root anchored securely in the love we all have for her. Finding ways that best support her is not going to be easy because our concern is for Liddy & all Liddy's thoughts are consumed by Chile & we are all trying to perform our God~ordained role in the process. Where is the manual when you need it?

And last but certainly not least: due to some confusion about who was doing what when on Sunday one of our families was taxied here by another friend & in the general chit~chat that tends to happen at such times some interesting data was shared. Interesting because I can't name you a church on the islands that isn't struggling. They are struggling to get the numbers or they are struggling to get finance or they are struggling to get a preacher or they are struggling with the music , or they are struggling to outreach ~ you name it one or more of our island churches is battling in that area. All of them are small, under 50 regular attendees. There are 3 main ones just on our island: the Catholics & Anglicans [by far the largest group & I'm not going to distinguish because the Anglicans are *high* & as any Anglican will admit that makes them far closer to popish practises than not]; the Pentecostalists & the non~denoms. For all the years I've been here those numbers have not fluctuated much, though the Pentecostal churches tend to start with a boom & end with a bang. We've grown leery of the pentecostalists who arrive here to *save* the island from itself. No staying power. Sad but true. At different times the church we did belong to grew so small it worshipped in believer's homes. What has come to pass, quietly & unobserved, is a whole underground movement of *cell groups*, most of whom know nothing about each other but who are quietly meeting together each Sunday to worship & encourage each other, just as we do. There may be as many as 200 hidden believers. That is phenomenal! Many are disenchanted with regular church but are very committed to Christ. I think that is very exciting. Someone has a vision for bringing all these diverse groups together once a month or so ~ though I suspect their very camouflage ensures their effectiveness.

A lot of people have been praying for revival for a long time but I am minded what a very wise & experienced minister once told his congregation: many of the very ones who have prayed most fervently for revival do not recognize it when it comes or the manner in which it manifests. I think I need to remind myself pretty often not to stand in God's way & let Him get on with it.