Help! We need your help!.

By this time next week, we won’t have access to our back car park. Please look at the alternatives being offered (including the new drive through pick up – our preferred option) and thank you for your patience and understanding as we work through these challenges.

Sometimes the little things can make a big difference. Profound, hey. It’s true though. I remember driving quite a sizable tractor one day and an alarm went off and I looked at the dash and the temperature gauge was very high. It was only a small split in a coolant hose, but it brought things to a grinding halt. On the other side of the coin, there are times when a small thing can also make a huge difference in a positive way. A smile, a gift, an sms, a patient reply to a grumpy situation. I am reminded of a story I read once.

“Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.

Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching.  As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea.  The boy came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning!  May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”

The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”

The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”” (Eiseley)

Let’s do our bit, however small it may seem, to make a difference for those around us this week. I love the way the apostle Paul put it in Colossians 3:12, “ . . . dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility . . .”

Have a great week with your kids,

Mark B

Hiding in Plain Sight

Last week, I had the privilege of attending our school system's national chaplains conference.  One of the team building activities was an 'Amazing Race' experience.  I didn’t know any of the other chaplains in the team, but we bundled into a car together, determined to be the first team to get the clue. The directions lead us to a grassy hill.  When we exited the car, the clue was not obvious.  We raced around looking high and low, but it was nowhere to be seen.  We got frustrated because we expected the clue to be clearly visible. After half an hour of frantic searching with no results, we slowed down and strategically started retracing our steps.  Then we spotted it!  Hiding in plain sight!  The clue was clearly laying on the path right where we had frantically rushed past earlier! We just hadn’t taken the time to carefully look.

This experience made me consider the similarities to God's clues that He has left us.   There are many truths and directions that are hiding in plain sight in the Bible, but we don’t always take the time to find them.  The great thing about God’s clues is that they are only hidden from us if we don’t take the time to open the Bible and read it!

I have been teaching the students at PPN a simple Discovery Bible Reading Plan to help them uncover God’s truths that are hiding in plain sight. 

It starts with a simple prayer, “Dear God, please guide us. Thank you.”

A good place to start is with the book of Mark in the New Testament.  Just read one story at a time.  Read the passage through twice. Then retell the story in your own words.

Discuss the story with a friend or record notes in a journal, using the following 5 questions:

1. What is new?
2. What surprises you?
3. What don’t you understand?
4. What can you obey or apply to your lives?
5. What is something you could share with someone this week?

These 5 simple steps can help us uncover some of the truths that are hiding in plain sight, revealing so many treasures for our lives.

If you don’t have a Bible but would like one, please send me an email or come and see me at school, as I have some great World Changer Bibles that I would love to give you.

Have a great week,

Chaplain Phil

Alternatives for Drop Off/Pick Up

Please complete the Form for Alternative Pick Up Arrangements for your child/ren

1. Use the New Drop Off and Pick up drive through Zone – This is our PREFERRED OPTION
2. Park in side streets away from the school and enjoy a walk and some exercise
3. Park in the Uniting Church Car Park over the Road (see diagram for where to park and obey traffic signs in the car park)
4. Use the express 3 pm (Mon – Thursday) 2.10 pm (Fridays) pick up – in and be gone by 3.10/2.20pm (park in side streets and walk onto campus)

Drive Through Pick Up Zone Detailed Instructions

Here are some special bits of info for those families who have chosen the Drive Through Pick Up Option for picking up children starting next Tuesday. If you read this while looking at a diagram of the drive through road, it will make more sense to you.

1. Please enter the new drive through road via the current church car park entrance off Nelson Road.
2. Make sure the Drive Through Label with your child’s name/names is up in the windscreen facing forwards, on the passenger’s side. (We will print these off for you when you let us know this is your preferred option for at least one day via the survey)
3. Drive down towards the bottom of the Nature Playground and pull in to the pick up spaces parallel with Wright Road
4. You may line up in the drive through road behind the cars parked diagonally off to the side on the Nelson Road side, as they are not to leave before the end of the pick up time.
5. Pick up starts when the children arrive from classes at approximately 3.25pm
6. As you pull into the pick up spaces, move forward slowly and stop at the last space and your child/ren will be brought to the car and put in by staff on duty. DO NOT GET OUT OF THE CAR as this will slow the process. We will know which child to bring to you from the label in your windscreen.
7. Once the child/ren are safely belted in, check carefully behind you and slowly pull out from the pick up spaces and drive towards the main school entrance.
8. Drive ALL THE WAY DOWN to the exit by the main school entrance and TURN LEFT on to Wright Road. This may be inconvenient, but it will lessen the back up getting out.
9. Pick up is planned to finish at 3.45 pm (3pm Fridays) currently and this may a little flexible until we have the process smoothed out

Thank you so much for your patience and understanding.