Roller coaster of Life

Hi everyone

I have been laying low over the last week because it has taken all I have just to hold on for the ride.

Friday - Funeral
Last Wednesday I found out that a close friend of mine from theo college had died from a brain haemorage, she was 38 and 20 weeks pregnant with their baby girl. This absolutely rocked me. I cried on and off until the funeral on Friday morning which was a very healing service it was up near Gosford (2 hours north) and the Memorial Gardens were beautiful very much a Bev service, although I am still really mad at God. Still very sad and now crying while writing the blog almost a week later. Bev was an amazing woman and made and will continue to make a difference in the world simply by the person she was, I can't understand why God would allow this to happen. Or why you would have someone conceive only to have them die before the precious new life could be born. As you can tell I am still reeling form this. Bev and Makayla you will always be loved and missed.

Saturday - Wedding
From there I went back home only to get back in the car and drive to Orange (4 hours west for the rehearsal of a wedding I was involved in running on the Saturday. On the Friday night we ended up jumping the fence to have the rehearsal as the gates to the park were closed by the time we got there.

The wedding was beautiful, it was in Cook Park at Orange, the park was full of autumn trees, just magnificent. The wedding was a biker wedding for a member of one of the outlaw bike clubs, WM is a member of God's Squad a Christian Bike Club, which is the connection for those who were wondering how I ended up involved. The secretary of Squad performed the ceremony and I helped with the legal stuff and some of the behind the scenes stuff. It was great to see 2 people so in love with each other, they have been together for 14 years and decided they finally would get married. A joyous event, reception out on a property, spit roast, bonfire, fun and friends just the was a wedding should be.

Sunday - Church Meeting
We then left the reception at about 10 pm and got home by 2 am Sunday morning fell into bed in order to get up and be alert for a church meeting where the amount of days our church paid myself and the other pastor was to be discussed and decided.

We didn't make the morning service but got there by 11 am for the meeting. In a nutshell church has decided to cut the number of pastoral days for myself and the other pastor from 7.5 combined to 3.5, 2 from 5 for the other pastor and 1.5 from 2.5 for me. The decision was between 4, 3.5 or 3 days a week

The other pastor is ok with the decision in relation to his hours as he is wanting to move back into a bivocational role. For me on the other hand it is a bit more complicated and I am now looking for another job and/ or other options as 1.5 days isn't enough for me. Anyone know of a church looking for a female Australian Baptist minister?

I am upset by the outcome but not because I need to now look for work but because church took the logical, sensible, financially viable option which didn't require a overly large step of faith, although I recognize that for some even this outcome required them to take a step of faith.

So it's now Tuesday and I am still recovering from a week end which was like no other at any other time in my life, throw into the mix, house hunting and I'm just about at my limit.

Please pray for Bev's family, especially her husband and 2 year old son, for the couple who were married, for church as they continue to struggle with some difficult decisions and for myself and my family that we may continue to keep our head or at least our noses above the water.

Blessings

Emma