Wild Eden News

Latest news, articles and resources from Wild Eden on sustainable living, organics, permaculture, eco building, homeschooling and more
Wild Eden News

Wild Eden News

Who is Alive – Jesus or Jack?

JACK LIVES HERE: I had this sticker on my car, and in the bar. I loved Jack Daniels (like loved Jacks!) – but I didn’t know something that was of vital importance… He’s actually dead. One day he forgot the combo to his safe…he got angry, kicked the safe & died from gangrene! Seriously! Jack is not alive he is dead…and you will be too one day. If you keep drinking Jacks you will likely be sooner than you expect. Maybe you’re like me & don’t care that memory loss, anger & death will result. Maybe you think that it …

for thought   |

Look the other way

I saw today a post where someone had put the words:   “as a Christian I would never enforce my view on anyone”   I could hardly believe my eyes – is this why so many professing ‘Christians’ are unwilling to stand up and say no to abortion or the re-definition of marriage? If I were walking down the park and saw a group of boys throwing stones at a Magpie, using a stick to stab a cute kitten, throwing acid at a dog or using a crossbow to shoot a Kangaroo – should I walk or look away? What …

Culture | Marriage / Sig Other  

Bus – to be or not to be

With both vehicles off the road, we were stranded. What could be an intense and stressful time was far from that…In the past, we would have had at the very least a few hours, though more likely a number of days of stress in thsi situation. Sharmini had failed to tick a box on the change of address form leading to the car being unlicensed. This would either be the end of the road for this vehicle or it would be time and money to fix – both of which are in short supply. And I had failed to check …

Finances | for thought  

Protecting life, getting strife!

Part way through a hectic and problematic week, a trip to Perth turns ‘sour’ – but it is just the beginning…   The good in the ‘bad’… Scripture(s): Psalm 32, 51 A day of prep for a long drive to the pro-life rally yesterday, didn’t quite go as planned… If there is one event of the year that I believe all Christians of all denominations and theological backgrounds should attend or be part of – it would be on the theme of defending the lives of precious children and standing against their mass, legal, murder. To say I was excited …

Culture | for thought | Suffering   | |

JW Something the Jehovahs Witnesses are missing

Some brief notes on a conversation and some scripture verses that can help with evangelism… Notes: Below are a number of verses that I recently printed out for an (unsaved) family member who has had a slight JW indoctrination – they can be helpful when evangelising. There is also some notes that may be helpful… Description:This family member has had contact with the JW’s and therefore has some serious flaws in his thoughts about God & salvation. I recently went through a number of things in the scriptures with him about Who Jesus is, ‘Jehovah’ and salvation. When he was …

Fishing | for thought | Harvesting   |

Two Blokes walk in to a Church…which one are you?

One walks to the front, sits down…. Modern day Bible parables… Scripture(s): Luke 18:10-14 Description:Today for Jesus time I talked of two men, Timothy & Phillip. Tim was quite rich, looked nice, was polite & kind & helped people all the time. He was a ‘good christian’. He went to church & was very thankful for what God had done & who he was. Philip, the other guy, was rough & rude – and sometimes stole things. He went to church only occasionally & didn’t talk to anyone. I talked of the way they prayed and then asked the younger …

for thought | Jesus Time   |

Beer, Cones, Spirits

Sometime early in 1999… One day in my sisters community housing flat in Balga I had a group of friends over – drinking & smoking cones in my room – I never smoked any. I had become what some would call ‘paranoid’ when smoking dope… (Some names have been changed to protect identities.) I was a chronic user to start with, dealing and having cones / buckets at every stop when selling / picking up, joints along the way and then social sessions too. To put it in perspective I remember one night after standard sessions during the day and …

for thought | Suffering   | |

Strange ways the Joy of Following comes….

Sometimes following can be…The Joy of Following Yesterday we received a sales order through one of the sales websites we run. Attached to the order was a lovely note: “We have several of your Australian laminated posters, much love and thanks!!!” It is nice to get little personal notes – especially when they are as nice as this. However, within 5 minutes we received the below email from the same person:     Subject: YUCK!!! you twisted sickos Message: after processing a payment for an item I WAS TOLD yebus is alive go to hell!! mat devils swarm upon you …

Fishing | for thought | Suffering   |

Going through a hard time? Read This!

Are you going through a hard time? A lot are right now and might not be what you think…Trials now or later? We will have them – but when and what will you embrace? Scripture(s): James 4, Hebrews 12 I am continually talking to people at the moment and hearing stories where it seems everything is going wrong. Very wrong. We ourselves seem to be just emerging (hopefully!) from such a time. If you are going through trials I want to encourage you – Embrace the One behind the Trials! Hard times can come from a lot of different places …

Faith | for thought | Suffering   |

Baby 5 Birth – too early is not too late

What an epic 24 hours! I know that we don’t live a ‘normal’ suburban life – but the last 24 hours has been more crazy than normal…   The last few weeks has really been amazing – and not what people would say in a good way. We have had drama after drama with some things happening that just seem ridiculous. Some of them have threatened the existence (forever) of our business, the completion of our house with literally more problems than could be imagines with what would seem to be simple things and sickness. But our reactions have not …

for thought | Marriage / Sig Other | Parenting  

Raising children, a house or income?

A reflection and note to self about the importance of time… Are we raising children, a house or an income? People who are depressed (and especially those who are suicidal) are so focussed on themselves, they simply can not see that they have any worth – that others would care or that they are valuable to others.  This can be seen in a common theme in suicide notes “I want you to get on with life and be happy” – but they have just killed themselves when you read it – they can not see the sad effect they have …

for thought | Homeschool | Parenting   | |

Fathers Day 2014

Today I got my favourite breakfast – Nasi Lemak – but it was nothing compared to what happened next! After reading my cards, the children lined up and sang the Growing Kids song ‘my daddy is so awesome’. They did the actions & had apparently been preparing for weeks. I was emotional listening and watching them. The words of that song go like this: “My Daddy is so awesomeHe leads our family, My dad loves my mummy and He loves me. He reminds me that we have a great familyAnd he shows love to mummy and he’s always hugging meHe …

Marriage / Sig Other | Parenting

What is bad for business, but good for customers?

Today we tidied a small part of the office – but a very vital one…In the small business we run, we often post items out all over Australia and the world. We have a variety of accounts with different freight companies and there are a large number variables in the method – but one thing is constant: Every single order gets a tract, message, book or gift as we feel is appropriate – what we feel God wants for that person. Sometimes, just sometimes, we put an item or gift in the package that is worth more than the total …

Business | Fishing | for thought   |

Falsely Accused – Pedophile Accusation

This guy recently shared something with me that many don’t understand… (PG)The other day I met a guy who made a passing comment about something abstract. I was genuinely interested so asked him questions until he shared the root. He had recently been accused of being a pedophile – photos of his car had been posted online with descriptions of his alleged ‘looking at children’. (He is a courier and was looking for a house number – but the reporters don’t seem to have this information). The police had made contact and then the day before i talked to him …

for thought  

Ever faced THIS at the hopsital?

Today we had another visit to the hospital…what would it be like THIS time? And what does that have to do with KFC? For those who don’t know our history with pregnancies & childbirth – let’s just say it has been a battle! The first few paragraphs give a quick overview if you want to skip to todays visit! As a husband over the years I have had to go to the hospital many, many times with my wife to literally shield and protect her from the negativity and pressure placed on her by doctors. The way she was treated …

Health   |

Jesus – Foundation for Life…and building!

Topic: What makes a good foundation? Scripture(s): Psalm 118:22, Psalm 127:1-2 Today we had our compaction test…after a huge week with many trials and joys, the results were not what we expected. Notes: The Bible verses are included below, but it is more beneficial to read any verses from an actual Bible – or better yet, have the children read from their own. We recommend the NLT (New Living Translation – Tyndale Publishers) which is easy to read but very accurate. If you don’t have one please let us know as we may be able to help. Description We have …

Building | Concrete / GFRC | Faith | Jesus Time  

Composting Toilet Base

Today we battled the rain to finish the base for the composting toilets. While we never planned to have a base under the toilets, a series of ‘coincidences’ led to a rather remarkable outcome… We have opted to use composting toilets in the building we are working on. They use no water, the by products are safer and better for the ground and the set up cost is exponentially lower than septics / sewerage. The problem for composting toilets often comes due to lack of planning. The cost effective units need a space under the slab to sit under where …

Building | Composting Toilets / Grey Water | Concrete / GFRC   |

Head v’s Heart

Topic: Two different types of belief… Scripture(s): Romans 10:9-10 Getting to the heart of belief. Notes: The Bible verses are included below, but it is more beneficial to read any verses from an actual Bible – or better yet, have the children read from their own. We recommend the NLT (New Living Translation – Tyndale Publishers) which is easy to read but very accurate. If you don’t have one please let us know as we may be able to help. Description Sharmini has long had a love of art. She draws & creates things that reflect what she is feeling …

Faith | Jesus Time   |

The Self Control of Jesus

If you have children, you probably have discovered that self control is a topic that is vital – continually. It can be helpful for the children too… Topic: Self Control Scriptures: Proverbs 5:22-23, 1 Peter 1:13-14, Matt 26:36-46 (or Mark 14:32-42 or Luke 22:39-46) Notes: The Bible verses are included below, but it is more beneficial to read any verses from a Bible – or better yet, have the children read from their own. We recommend the New Living Translation (NLT) which is easy to read but very accurate. If you don’t have one please let us know as we …

Jesus Time  

Passover 2014 – the Meal

It’s Easter – a time where we often spend more time acting Jewish than Christian (sort of!). Today we had our 2nd ‘Cedar Meal’ or passover feast… Topic: Celebrating what God did and has done! Scripture(s): Exodus 1 – 14:4 Notes: The story of the Passover (and indeed all of Israel’s history) is incredible and riveting to adults and children. There is so much to learn about what they did (and how we do the same), the consequences they suffer (which we do too) and God’s character of love and forgiveness despite our constant bad choices. As there is a …

Jesus Time   | | |

April Fools – jokes on …?

Today I got to thinking about the activities and character traits we model to our kids… We take moral training seriously for our children -in fact good morals were one of the reasons we chose to homeschool. So when we look at the motives and results of April Fools day – it raises a few issues…

for thought | Parenting | Soul Food   |

When will it end?

  The Big M (4) – ‘dad will we have finished building the house by the time I’m the Jman’s age(9)? Doubling your age to the completion of a project is huge…5 years is a looong time to a 4 year old! I know how he feels – at the end of a long hard week with virtually no progress in building, health and financial issues and an ever approaching deadline it can seem impossible. At times it is hard to cling to hope through the sickness, pain and trials. But I’m finding more and more, despite the current circumstances …

Building | Soul Food   |

What does God want today?

Sometimes when you’re too busy, there is only one thing you can do… Today after teaching about letting God excite us as we do His work, the difference between the general will and specific will of God, and a session asking Him what He wanted – He answered. So we drove 15km to hand out a few tracts and talk to different people about God, sin, forgiveness like we thought He wanted us to… Little did we know that He had 3 specific people in mind!

Jesus Time  

The Slavery of Sugar

There is a lot of talk about sugar and it’s addictive qualities at the moment. While I agree that there are dangers of consuming too much refined sugar, the link between sugar and slavery has another, often overlooked, and possibly more powerful link… While many hold to a relative, social based (or humanistic) moral code, we don’t have to look far to see the results of this belief. When we base our morals on what we see around us, an ‘internal check’ or social norms, many terrible things can and do occur. Slavery is a obvious example. Only a couple …

for thought | Health | Soul Food   | | | |

A property in Sovereign Hill?

We had always loved the area around Guilderton. We regularly camped on the beach in the area and tried to whenever possible. So we looked at looked for properties in the area. From Woodridge to Guilderton to Redfield Park to Sovereign Hill to Seabird and further east – to Gingin, Beermullah are beyond. There was a big jump from large farm type properties to the smaller semi suburban lots.Woodridge was well established but we couldn’t afford it. Sovereign Hill was smaller lots (2.5 acres) and scrubby like bush, Guilderton was more holiday tpe housesout of our price range. Redfield Park …

Building   | | |

Jesus Time What it is & Why we do it…

Scripture(s): Proverbs 22:6, Luke 13:27, John 10:14, 17:3 Notes: ‘Jesus Time’ – whatever it looks like for your family – should never become a religious thing you do, before you get on with ‘real’ life. It is a foundational time from which all other parts of life are built on…

Homeschool | Jesus Time | Parenting   | |