MAY THE FEET OF GOD WALK WITH YOU (A CHRISTMAS BLESSING)

May the feet of God walk with you, and his hand hold you tight.

May the eye of God rest on you, and his ear hear your cry.

May the smile of God be for you, and his breath give you life.

May the Child of God grow in you, and his love bring you home.

1983. Aub Podlich, friend from way back and Lutheran pastor in Queensland, sent me A Christmas Blessing/May the feet of God walk with you together with a lot of other poems towards the end of 1982. It was a busy time, and it wasn't until January '83 that I sat down to put a tune to it. The words sang themselves — a two minute melody! Many people have obviously thought that the 8 lines don't say quite enough, and have added their own verses for weddings, funerals, anything! Though there may be occasions when some extra words seem desirable, Aub likes it as it is, and so do I (usually sung twice). Sometimes less equals more. As your servant Patrick prayed long ago, may you be behind and before me, above and below me. May your presence that we celebrate at Christmas stay with us through every day and night of the year.

ALWS 5/10/23

To say I've been inactive on my website is a serious understatement! I've written nothing here since early 2021. 

So, does this mean the world has stopped for us, that nothing is happening?
A major event for us in 2022 was moving house in October. We had been in Modbury Heights since July 1993.Now we're back in Klemzig.

In May we travelled to the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia, seeing work supported by Australian Lutheran World Service. Dorothy and I are Ambassadors for the ALWS programme, Lives You Touch. We are encouraging people to leave money in their will for the work of ALWS. We committed to leave a third of our will many years ago and hope many others can touch lives in this way.
Since then we have visited Box Hill & Loxton with Jonathan & Julie Krause as part of the Asante presentations, promoting the cause of ALWS. Still to come this year are Asante events in Toowoomba & Rochedale (Nov 26 & 27) and Perth (Dec 10)

Looking forward to seeing many people on these occasions.