The Ripple Effect of a Life of Influence

THE RIPPLE EFFECT - A Life of Influence

Last month Sue's cousin Jeanette Kruljac went home to be with the Lord. Jeanette had fought a good fight against Non-Hodgkins and over the years we had seen the Lord's hand in so many ways in her life. It was with disbelief that I received the call from Sue that she was now with Jesus. I first met Jeanette in 1978 when a friend and I toured western US for the first time. I have been her pen-pal since my pastor Richard Holland (Founding Pastor of CityLife Church in Melbourne) visited Jeanette's church and ministered to their youth group. Jeanette and I corresponded for some years before I got to visit. Her kids Greg and Lisa were about 8 and 2 at the time and we had a great week with them. It was during this visit that I first met Sue and her family and we too began to spasmodiacally correspond. The rest is history - my church brought Sue out to minister in 1990 and again in '91 and she and I began working together in '92. Through Jeanette - her encouragement, her prayers and continued support - we have touched the children of nations around the world. As I heard stories of Jeanette's life I realised that all with whom she came into contact were in some way impacted. Neighbours, work colleagues, church members - all were ministered to in some way. Jeanette's love of life and family, her spontaneous joy even when her body was under attack, her love and loyalty to Larry and her kids (all of them) and her honor and love for her parents Bud and Olive was inspirational. We will miss her laugh and sparkling eyes, her love of adventure (she wanted to visit Australia so much) and generous spirit. We mourn a loss.....but heaven rejoices as Jesus says "Well done".

Mountain Moments.....

In the month since I last blogged, I prepared to leave for the US summer camp program with Sue, met with SCKC board and personnel on several occasions, spoke at a couple of churches and hosted a friend from Brisbane. Flew out on June 13 for Seattle and after two days there headed down to Boise. On Sunday we drove to Idaho City - a small western town that was in its heyday in the 1800's when gold was discovered. Every year a non-profit organisation "Isaiah's Ranch" hold several camps and events for kids and teens in this mountain area. The week long day camp reached 38 needy kids, hungry for attention and love. On the last day of camp I invited kids to come out and share what they had enjoyed about camp. Usually this centres on the games, the crafts etc. but this year was different. Almost every child commented that the best thing about camp was the love they felt, the care of so many people, the fact that kids chose to be nice to other kids, that they made more friends than ever before and on it went. It is our privilege to be a part of this camp, headed up by Michelle and Tim and a great team for volunteers. If you want to know more, check out www.isaiahsranch.org