What we can learn from what we teaching our children.

[Scoot]

I thought I'd just share with you something that happened this weekend.

I decided to take my family out 4WDing in an area I haven't been for decades.

It was a remote place - very few places with a phone signal. It was a place I used to frequent - many decades ago when I was a kid on a dirt bike, that I wanted to share with my family.

Well, with no map (and going by fond memories of myself as a kid), and by ourselves... we headed off on an 'adventure'. (The typical "She'll be right" Aussie attitude. )

The plan was to enter from one side of the scrublands, go and find tracks through it, and exit the other side.

However, the exit from the area (the other side of the scrub-lands to what we entered) I was hoping to use was blocked off! (Seems like it had been many years ago - so things have changed in he last 2 or more decades ) - so we had to try and make our way back.

No problems - I thought I remembered a shortcut through - and seeming that it was getting late in the day, that seemed like the best plan...

Well, in the attempt, we ended up going down tracks that looked like they were little used, boggy, and with other challenges - and darkness was setting in with me having no idea where I was. At one point we were in a sticky spot I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get out of, and spending the night - unprepared - in the remote bush-land with no mobile pone service was becoming a real possibility.

It was a time where I admit - I was getting a little worried (as was my wife) - but we were trying to hide it because our 9 year old daughter was getting very anxious.

Then, to help calm her, a thought came to my mind - about a story we are reading for bedtime. (Part 2 of 'The pilgrims progress' - with Christiana and her kids). I was reminded that God never took them out of the situation - He is more interested in taking us through it, and having us learn from it, and regardless of what happens - God is in control.

I shared that with my daughter, and then quoted a couple of scriptures reminding her that even though we were in a situation we didn't want to be in - that all things work for the good to those who love God - and that God had allowed this to happen - so He was doing a work in our lives.

The situation for my daughter (and the rest of us) immediately changed from one of anxiety to one of peace. Don't get me wrong - we still didn't want to be there, and still wanted to be out... but there was something now special about what we were going through, and there was a peace in place of anxiety.

I'm not sure if I would have stopped to consider that thought if my daughter wasn't there in the first place needing assurance. I found by ministering to her (both with this situation, and by reading the Pilgrims Progress as a bedtime story) - I feel like I've been ministered to, and learned twice as much as her in that moment.

I've heard preachers say that the message they're preaching is speaking to them just as much as to anyone else. I guess that's the same when teaching our kids! :)

 

[theophilus]

I guess the fact that you are making this post proves that you did get out. :)

 

[Scoot]

I guess the fact that you are making this post proves that you did get out. :)

Oh we did in the end. And by being so late into the evening / night - the amount of wildlife we saw that we didn't see in the day was amazing. (And to be honest a bit concerning... Kangaroo's - hundreds of them like in plague proportion). No drop bears though thankfully. ;)

 

[Joseph77]

For those of us who are not down under, what is a "drop bear " ?

 

[Helen]

Glad Joseph asked about the drop-bears....also I was wondering why many kangaroo in a group was disconcerting ....do they attack when grouped?

Lovely post ...I hope all those here that are waiting for a rapture to get them out of this troubled world ....have “ears to hear “ God will guide us THROUGH ....not out ....

 

[Jay Ross]

@Helen, it is like the Sydney Harbour bridge is called a "coat hanger" by the yocals simply to confuse the tourists.

The "drop bears" come into the same category of folk lour.

Tourists are told that they will not necessarily see any Koala bears if they go into the bush because the are good at hiding themselves in the tree, but to be careful of the drop bears because that is when you will see them as they tend to drop onto unsuspecting people when the tourists are in their territory.

If Scoot was travelling is a remote part of Australia as he was suggesting, the likelihood of seeing drop bears was probably just as remote.

 

[Scoot]

For those of us who are not down under, what is a "drop bear " ?

Drop bears are a bit of a joke around Australian's as to a made up mythical creature, that's effectively a carnivorous koala that drops out of tree's onto it's unsuspecting prey. Basically part of our weird sense of humor.

Glad Joseph asked about the drop-bears....also I was wondering why many kangaroo in a group was disconcerting ....do they attack when grouped?

Basically in plague proportions from what I saw. Cause all sorts of problem for farmers especially, but even in the wild they can end up starving if they eat themselves out.

But yes - Kangaroo's can also attack as well (especially the larger males) in certain circumstances - but it's more the damage caused to fences, crops, if you hit them whilst driving (or if they jump on your car/ute (' aka: pick up truck) while you're driving through the farm) - I kid you not - there are video's on you-tube demonstrating this - although mute if you go searching - unfortunately down under, a lot of people only have one word to express surprise or anger - and it's not a polite one. The jumping on the car is rare - I don't think they intentionally do it as an attack - they're just dumb panicky animals that stand still when they should run, and run when they shouldn't move, etc.

For us in the regional areas, Kangaroo's are more pest than they are anything else, and we put them in the same class as rabbits and foxes, etc - even though for everyone else they're cute/funny/intriguing animals.

 

[Joseph77]

Drop bears are a bit of a joke around Australian's as to a made up mythical creature, that's effectively a carnivorous koala that drops out of tree's onto it's unsuspecting prey. Basically part of our weird sense of humor.

... ah....
so if a carnivorous koala drops out of a tree onto "unsuspecting prey", it is a big surprise, eh ?


:) haha, good joke !?

Maybe not... how are koala's actually? Friendly? Harmless ?

When a young boy was told at the zoo to be careful! The big tall giraffe might bite his head off if he got too close !
(as a joke?) .... it was reported that the boy believed it for decades before finding out it could never happen... it was a 'mean' trick more than a joke from the one who said it.... i.e. context and circumstances can make a big difference...

 

[Jay Ross]

Back in around 1968 a friend of mine killed three kangaroos with his mini cooper s. One hit the bonnet and died and the other two became impaled on the forward facing external door handles and were also killed. He drove the car another 200 km's to home and his car was off the road for two weeks being repaired.

Kangaroo meat is very healthy to eat, heart wise. If you over cook the meat it becomes very tough to eat. I have found the the best way to cook the kangaroo meat is to sear the outside of the meat in a very hot pan and then to put the meat in a microwave to finish cooking the mean to taste, particularly if people do not like their meat medium rare. The kangaroo meat if cooked only in the pan should be cooked, medium rare, and eaten as soon as possible as the meat will still cook while it is resting and can become tough to eat. A delicate touch is need in its cooking.

As for koalas being friendly and harmless, that depends on if they get cornered. Like every wild animal, they are best left alone. However people's dogs have been know to kill them and the Koala do have sharp claws for tree climbing purposes.

 

[mjrhealth]

Drop bears are a bit of a joke around Australian's as to a made up mythical creature, that's effectively a carnivorous koala that drops out of tree's onto it's unsuspecting prey. Basically part of our weird sense of humor.



Basically in plague proportions from what I saw. Cause all sorts of problem for farmers especially, but even in the wild they can end up starving if they eat themselves out.

But yes - Kangaroo's can also attack as well (especially the larger males) in certain circumstances - but it's more the damage caused to fences, crops, if you hit them whilst driving (or if they jump on your car/ute (' aka: pick up truck) while you're driving through the farm) - I kid you not - there are video's on you-tube demonstrating this - although mute if you go searching - unfortunately down under, a lot of people only have one word to express surprise or anger - and it's not a polite one. The jumping on the car is rare - I don't think they intentionally do it as an attack - they're just dumb panicky animals that stand still when they should run, and run when they shouldn't move, etc.

For us in the regional areas, Kangaroo's are more pest than they are anything else, and we put them in the same class as rabbits and foxes, etc - even though for everyone else they're cute/funny/intriguing animals.

Yes just dont hi a wombat, your cars underside will know all about it.

 

[Jay Ross]

Yes just dont hi a wombat, your cars underside will know all about it.

Are they not speed bumps when they are on the road?

 

[mjrhealth]

Drop bear