What activities are you doing in your local community to participate in “Peace Day”?

For more information see International Day of Peace

For more information on World Alzheimers Day and dementia.

Have a read of Journey’s article on dementia.

“Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”

- Deuteronomy 1:29-31

-Jewish Proverb

Cherish your mother today. Show her how much you care and thank her for all the hard work she puts in to making your world a happier place.

We hope you have a safe and happy Easter!

- From the Journey Team

The fasts are done; the Aves said;
The moon has filled her horn
And in the solemn night I watch
Before the Easter morn.
So pure, so still the starry heaven,
So hushed the brooding air,
I could hear the sweep of an angel’s wings
If one should earthward fare.
~Edna Dean Proctor

-         Ralph Waldo Trine

Valentine’s Day facilitates an oppurtunity to celebrate the love between two people. May we express our love to those dearest to our hearts not just today, but every single day of the year. Hold onto them as you would your life, don’t let them slip through your fingers, for without them life is meaningless.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous;

love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly;

it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,

does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails…But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7,13

Celebrate Australia Day with a game of cricket, a swim in the pool, Triple J’s top ten countdown and of course a fair dinkum BBQ!  Don’t forget that if you can’t volunteer today you can still help those who have been affected by the floods by hosting a BBQ to raise money. For more information on the ‘mates helping mates’ campaign click here

Here is a great poem by Dorothea Mackellar! See ya later!

MY COUNTRY

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft dim skies,
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains;
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror-
The wide brown land for me!

The tragic ringbarked forests,
Stark white beneath the moon,
The sapphire misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree tops
And ferns the crimson soil.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful lavish land-
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand-
Though earth holds many splendours
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country,
My homing thoughts will fly.

1. Get friends.
2. Hold BBQ.
3. Pass round hat.
4. Donate to the flood relief fund.
5. Tweet Tweet

So come on Australia, lets have a BBQ on Australia Day and help our fellow aussies who have been affected by the floods. For more information on how you can hold a BBQ for floods click here

The effects of these floods will be felt for a long time, not just in the communities that have been washed away but in the national economy as stock and crops have been destroyed and mines temporarily closed.

You can help make a difference in these communities by donating to the Uniting Church’s Flood Appeal.

In association with Lifeline Community Care Queensland the Queensland Synod will use funds raised to assist flood effected communities in Queensland and around the country in the clean up efforts and with immediate resources needed to assist this. We will also provide on-going pastoral care to those communities that need our help.

 To donate online click here 

via phone at (07) 3250 1840 or post cheques to:

Uniting Church Flood Appeal
C/o- Lifeline Community Care Queensland
PO Box 491
Fortitude Valley
QLD 4006

They need your help.