I found myself in that situation late yesterday afternoon / evening; I was doing my final delivery for the day and I had left the engine running obviously with the keys in the ignition, and when I came back to the car the exterior door handle just snapped of in my hand, I could not open the drivers door at all.

Unfortunately I had not long locked the passenger door either so that was no good either. With my mobile phone also sitting in it’s cradle inside the car, I managed to obtain use of a landline telephone and was able to call the office, who sent someone to help me, and after about an hour and a half of being locked out, we finally gained access and was able to move on.

It was a scary situation a first, not knowing what to do, but made me aware of a few things I need to do to avoid this happening again. Getting a spare key cut would be a good idea to start with, and then seriously consider joining the RAC roadside assistance program.

So have you ever been locked out of your car while out and about? Did you panic at first and how did you resolve the problem. Please feel free to join the conversation by leaving your thoughts below.

Are you wrestling with a personal problem, thinking, ‘If I can just overcome this I’ll be all right?’ Well, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that by God’s grace you can overcome it. The bad news is that when you’ve overcome this particular problem, another one is waiting to take its place. You’re always going to be working on something. Spiritual growth is a work-in-progress. And it doesn’t come through human effort, self-condemnation or the white-knuckling works of the flesh. It comes as a result of spending time in prayer and having your mind renewed daily by His Word. As you agree with God, believing what He says is true, change automatically happens. You start to think differently, talk differently, and act differently. Be patient with yourself; it’s a process that develops in stages. Would you think there was something wrong with your child because they couldn’t walk perfectly on the first few tries? No, you’re delighted each time they take a step. When they fall, you pick them up. When they mess up, you clean them up and encourage them to try again. You never stop working with them! And God does the same with us. He’s not angry because you haven’t ‘arrived’, He’s pleased that you’re pressing on, endeavouring to stay on the path. It’s God’s job to ‘…cause [you to] be…governed by the Holy Spirit…’ (2 Corinthians 3:8 AMP) If you could do it by yourself you wouldn’t need Him. So instead of driving yourself harder and harder, start leaning on God more and more and you’ll ‘…go from strength to strength…’ (Psalm 84:7 NIV)

The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright 2011

‘…be of one mind, united in thought and purpose…’ 1 Corinthians 1:10 NLT

Getting along with each other requires more than compliance, it calls for cooperation. So make sure you validate the other person’s feelings! Never try to talk someone out of how they ‘feel’. Listen without being defensive, and nod that you understand-even when you don’t agree. Feelings aren’t always true or logical, but until they’re validated you won’t get anywhere. David said, ‘When my…feelings were hurt, I was…stupid.’ (Psalm 73:21-22 GNT) We all act badly when we’re hurt. But Solomon says, ‘A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offence.’ (Proverbs 19:11 NIV) When you are willing to empathise with someone’s feelings it says, ‘I care about our relationship more than our differences; you matter to me.’ Yes, it’s a sacrifice to patiently absorb somebody’s anger, especially when it’s unfounded. But remember, that’s what Jesus does for you! Getting along with each other means that you must confess your part. Jesus said, ‘…First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.’ (Matthew 7:5 NLT) Since we all have blind spots, get a friend to help you evaluate your attitudes and actions before meeting with the other person. Ask God, ‘Am I part of the problem? Am I unrealistic, insensitive or too sensitive?’ Confession is a powerful tool! When you can admit your own flaws, it defuses the other person’s anger because they’re expecting you to be defensive. Don’t make excuses or shift blame, just acknowledge your part. You say, ‘That’s hard to do.’ Yes, but God ‘…has given us this ministry of restoring relationships.’ (2 Corinthians 5:18 GWT)

The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International www.ucbmedia.com Copyright © 2011

The fuelwatch website lists the daily fuel prices across the state, and therefore we are able to locate the cheapest prices closest to us, or not close to us.

I wonder whether you seek out where the cheapest fuel is when you need it, or whether you just go to your local servo because it’s close and convenient. Do you fill up your car at the beginning of the week when it’s cheaper, or only as you need it?

For me, I’m a courier, and I cover in excess of 300 km per day, so I’m always checking online for where the cheap fuel is, and I fill up every other day.

Let me know your thoughts by commenting using the link below.

I was studying part time with Open Universities Australia doing a course on Internet studies, but due to a number of circumstances, have withdrawn from these studies and have returned to full time work with Network Couriers.

Jo and I have also moved house, AGAIN. The owners wanted to renovate and sell the house, so we had to move out; but we have moved into another place in the next suburb down, where we’ll be for the next 12 months at least.

One of the problems that I’ve always had with blogging, has been finding things to write about. I listen to allot of talk-back radio, in particular the ABC Perth, which has many interesting conversations, and obviously deals with daily news and issues; so I’m going to try and talk about such things on my blog; I hope you, the reader will join the conversations as well.

My Facebook and Twitter pages are also linked to the blog, so you can join me there if you haven’t already.

I’ll talk to you again soon.

Like I did, you’d probably say “Tell me more”. All I can say is, this is really exciting and fantastic, and if you can spare just 20 minutes of time you’ll see exactly how this fantastic program can work for the children and for you. Just click on the child banner on the left, or click here.

Please be sure to email me or leave a comment on this blog post once you’ve had a look.

I was contacted my tutor several weeks ago about an assignment that I submitted. There were a few errors in it and she asked me to correct it and re-submit, otherwise i would fail the assignment. So I spent a couple of days correcting things and re-submitted it.

After a few weeks of feeling a bit low about how everything is going, I received an email this morning informing me that my assignment has been graded and ready for my viewing. Basically she was happy with the corrected assignment and graded me with a distinction.

So although things have not gone as well as i would have hoped for the opening stages of my 3 year study, I’ve had some encouraging feedback, which gives some motivation to keep going.

On the outskirts of a small town, there was a big, old pecan tree just inside the cemetery fence. One day, two boys filled up
a bucketful of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts. ‘One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me’ said one boy.. Several dropped and rolled down toward the fence.

Another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle. As he passed, he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery. He slowed down to investigate. Sure enough, he heard, ‘One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me..’ He just knew what it was.. He jumped back on his bike and rode off.

Just around the bend he met an old man with a cane, hobbling along. ‘Come here quick,’ said the Boy, ‘you won’t believe what I heard! Satan and the Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the souls.’ The man said, ‘Beat it kid, can’t you see it’s hard for me to walk.’ When the boy insisted though, the man hobbled slowly to the cemetery.

Standing by the fence they heard , ‘One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me.’ The old man whispered, ‘Boy, you’ve been tellin’ me the truth. Let’s see if we can see the Lord..’ Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence, yet were still unable to see anything.. The old man and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the fence tighter and tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of the Lord. At last they heard, ‘One for you, one for me.. That’s all…. Now let’s go get those nuts by the fence and we’ll be done..’ They say the old man made it back to town a full 5 minutes ahead of the kid on the bike.

I’m now 9 weeks into it and I am finding it allot more challenging than I was expecting. I’m doing two units at the same time in order to be the equivalent of a full time student, to satisfy the governments AUSTUDY requirements. On top of this I’m working part time which takes up allot of my day. I’m trying to put in the study time in the mornings before heading off to work just before noon. Then the weekends are usually taken up with catching up on weekly activities from these units.

I’ve already submitted two assignments which were a challenge to complete and hand in on time, and my time management probably could have been handled better, but I got there.

This weekend I’ve been trying to catch up on 3 weeks worth of activities, and then last night when I checked my assignment I realized that I have an assignment due in on Monday, so I’m scrambling to get it done. With God’s grace, I’m sure it’ll come together.

Have I bitten off more than I can chew; I’m really not sure, but it’s something that’s in my mind at the moment. I just continue to pray for God’s grace as that’s all I have.