As most of you have learned by now, we are pregnant. Just now heading into the fourth month. The first trimester flew by. Our delight for this anticipated season is peppered with a bit of nail biting as well! We really appreciate your prayers and love at this time! You can follow the baby journey on Kate’s personal blog.

In the last month we were throwing around the idea of switching me to a different visa so that I have the freedom to work part time. It would require that I am listed under Noah’s missionary visa as his dependent. I wasn’t sure if it was the best option at the moment and prayed, asking God to make it obvious what we should do and open any doors for potential work if He had anything for me.

A few days later I met with a friend and announced we were pregnant. The next day her husband, also a graphic designer, called to let me know he had previously given my name to a web company that needed a pregnant writer to be their new featured blogger. He didn’t know at the time of talking to them that I was pregnant… he just told them he knew I wrote and blogged. But when his wife went home and told him our news, he couldn’t believe it. I now fit the criteria for the freelance job.

He emailed the company and introduced us, letting them know I was pregnant. After some chatting and meeting face to face, they decided to hire me. I am excited to work on my writing, share my story with other women around New Zealand, have the opportunity to be an encouraging and positive voice to the women here and make a few extra dollars.

The company is national and every pregnant woman here is in contact with them on some level. I hope to help the company gain more traffic through the blog and am excited for the challenge! Most of all I am thankful and amazed at God’s perfect timing and open doors yet again. Thanks to our friend who thought of me for this job and to God for being the overseer of all our needs!

Right now I’m listening to a fantastic and highly inspirational talk from a guy called Wolfgang Simson. Wolfgang is a spiritual entrepreneur – a true “apostle” if I can be so generous – and a bit of an instigator. He was one of the earliest proponents of “house church” in the modern western world with his book “Houses That Change the World”.

During these 2 hours (yes, 2) he is unpacking the Kingdom in ways that I’ve not heard many people do. He is ripping the “gospel of the Kingdom” right out of the “nice comfy” church context that we have grown to depend on, and is instead painting a picture so big you need a universe to contain it.

Simply put – the Kingdom of God is too big for our Christianity. What does that mean? You’ll have to listen to Wolfgang’s stories and figure it our for yourself.

» LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE «

What inspires you about Wolfgang’s concept of the Kingdom?

Some Current Prayer Requests…

• Encouragement as we continue in the work God has for us here
• Health + Mental Stamina
• Prayers for favor with our visa renewal. We will be reapplying by the end of the year, we hope!

We enjoyed four days away at the YWAM Oxford base. It was a conference for all the YWAM staff of New Zealand from all the bases on the north and south islands. It was also known as a hui (social gathering in Maori)… our national leader is Maori and brought his cultural flavour to the gathering, teaching us Maori songs, folk tales and speaking in both Maori and English. Below is a link to us all singing a song he taught us. It is just a song version of Psalm 121:

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
Maori Song by KateCrem

So as Kate described in the previous post, there has been quite a “stirring” in Christchurch the last 2 months over several “prophecies” and dreams that have been circulating. It’s been a strange experience watching the hype build and participating in all of the discussion surrounding such bold and heavy “statements”. The threat of Tsunami has circulated to the point where you’d be hard-pressed to find ANYONE in the city who HASN’T heard about the “28th of September”.

I’ve waited until now to post anything online because I didn’t want to contribute to the hysteria – however I still wanted to make sure I got something up BEFORE the 28th just for good measure.

I thought many who follow our blog would find the following documents interesting as a “case study” – probably more interesting than listening to us talk about our personal take on the matter. So I’m going to post links to the various “prophecies”, dreams, rebuttals, and so-forth and let you wade through it as we did. (Most of you will read this after the 28th and will have the advantage of hindsight.)

First we have the original “prophetic word” – Third Christchurch Shaking

Next we were given a documented dream from another gentleman (whom I will not name here) – read below:

Several years ago I was given a dream in which I saw waves of the Holy Spirit coming out of Christchurch, and at the time I realized that the name Christchurch was significant as it had Christ’s name.
 
Early in this year I was given an inner knowledge that something big was going to happen on September 28th 2011. However upon sharing this I was told I was presumptuous to put a date on it.

In August 2011 when we had the big snow , I was not able to go to work and on the Tuesday of that week I had a dream given to me.
 
I saw myself first of all warning people, the first person I warned of the coming danger did not listen to me , then the second person listened and accepted the warning. I knew from this that my task is to warn people. The Lord said to me, ” Those who listen to this warning will be saved and those who do not listen will perish.”

Then in the dream I was standing on the North side of the  Waimakariri River mouth and I saw a big hole open up in the sea by Kairaki Beach, it was one km wide. It  was caused by an earthquake. Further out to sea,about six km out, I saw a pressure wave rising up from the water being displaced from the hole. The wave was huge and it eclipsed the horizon. Then the sand and shingle on the embankments from both sides of the river mouth began to fall into the hole, the trees also fell in sending up large sprays into the air.
 
Then the wave came rushing in on to the land destroying everything in its path, all of the beach settlements, Kairaki Beach, Pines Beach, Woodend Beach were wiped out, it flowed on up to the Woodend Camping Ground Lodge destroying it and continued up to the south outskirts of Tuahiwi.

It was very fast flowing water, angry water,and its speed was perhaps 180k. The town of Kaiapoi was covered by the wave. At this point I presumed that the bridges would be destroyed because of the speed and volume of water, although I did not see this. The water continued to flow through Belfast , taking out the Pub on the corner before the motorway. The water reached Northwood and flooded into the Northwood development of homes.

It continued on through Redwood, Burwood, with the trees just falling in its path. The noise of the trees falling was loud but the sound of the water was much worse.The water was flooding all the beach areas, Waimairi Beach, North Beach, New Brighton, South New Brighton and Sumner. From Sumner it traveled inland, but by now the speed and force of the water was slowing down. I saw it reach the Princess Margaret hospital. Some areas of ChCh were affected and others were missed.

God is a loving, caring, God who wants to save people so He is warning through this dream so people can be safe.

In addition to these, Ken Ring, affectionately known as “The Moon Man” here in NZ, has predicted an increase in seismic activity between the 23rd and 28th of September with the 28th being the date of “highest probability” due to a Earth-Sun-Mercury alignment (something to do with gravity funneling). You can read what he says HERE.

So, you have these 3 separate “sources” pointing to the 28th for likely seismic activity, but that’s not all.

Moving further into the realm of pseudo-science, you have the Comet Elenin trackers adding incoming celestial debris (a comet) to this already potent mix and claiming that it’s not just a “comet” but it’s actually “Planet X”. The comet/planet was meant to be part of the previously mentioned alignment but seems to have disintegrated within the last week, proving that it really was a comet, frustrating conspiracy theorists across the planet and relieving many others. (Google “Comet Elenin Earthquakes” if you have a few hours to kill)

Add to this various others around the city who have had random Tsunami dreams and physics saying they “see disaster ahead” and you’ve got a pretty powerful cocktail for fear and confusion.

Now, in the midst of all of this, you have those who are doing their best to help Christians (and others) make sense of these things. Below are 3 individuals who have written sensible rebuttals, specifically in regards to the initial “prophetic word”.

These first two are from two separate individuals but combined into one document that was sent around by a local pastor. You can read or download them HERE.

The third is a blog posted by a friend of ours who is living near the coast (meaning he has a very personal interest in understanding these things). You may enjoy reading a few other posts before and after this one as well – HERE.

And, just for good measure, here is an interesting (and a little condescending) video from a psychic who had apparently predicted the first two quakes.

And there you have it. Now you know what it’s been like in Christchurch the last couple of months. It’s amazing what the trauma of living through a deadly earthquake can do to people… Please pray not only for the healing of our city, but also for the healing of the hearts of the people in Christchurch.

We figured we should let you know that for the last few months almost everyone in Christchurch has been waiting for tomorrow (Sept 28) to pass by quietly. The reason being that there have been a few predictions/prophecies about an earthquake and subsequent tsunami hammering the northern shores of Christchurch. A various many people (non-Christians and Christians alike) have had dreams about such things as well. Some are choosing to believe, some are refuting it, most are uncertain. It’s been an “interesting” time to say the least.

Have a look at this bit from 3 NEWS (hopefully you can watch it outside of NZ) HERE.

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Two weeks ago we were having dinner with some friends who live by the beach. We got talking about all of the hype around these “predictions” and decided to spend part of the evening praying about it together. During prayer, it turned out that Noah and I received the same impression from the Lord. We basically had the same scripture and picture come to mind – something we’ve never had happen before.

He began by sharing that he felt the Lord lead him to the book of Job. I said, “Me too!”. Then he stated that the Lord specifically pointed out a particular verse in the last few chapters where God reminds Job of who He (God) is ( “were you there when I created this… and this..”), and I said, “Me too!”

Then Noah went on to say that he felt the Lord remind him of where He talks about creating the sea and says, “This far you may come and no farther; where you proud waves halt.?” and again, I was astonished and said, “Me too!!” Then he shared that he felt God say we should go down and speak that over the ocean in prayer. And again, I had the same thing, an image of us praying along the shore. We both felt the Lord was showing us that believers are meant to stand against this plan of destruction rather than sit back and wait for it to happen.

We all walked a block down to the beach, totally giddy that God just showed us that simultaneously. So we stood at the high tide line and prayed, speaking those words of the the ocean (feeling a bit silly yet feeling faithful and secure at the same time)… “you may come this far and no further” we said and prayed for awhile. (Reference: Job 38:8-11)

Then a few days later I was praying for confirmation to write a message to send out to people about praying against the prophecies… As soon as I asked for for confirmation, the Lord reminded me of a passage of scripture He has spoken to us throughout the last two years of our journey to NZ and the 18 months of living here. Jeremiah 29: 4-9. He has used this to parallel what my husband and I are going through as He called us here. Paraphrase: Settle, build a family, seek the peace of the city, pray for it, do not trust prophets/diviners who were not sent by God. He reminded me of the last part in particular. We really feel we must not embrace this negative word as something from the Lord but consider it as something from the enemy that we can intercede against.

So the last month we have been praying and asking God to prevent further earthquakes, tsunamis, or any other form of destruction.

As we try to discern the language and theology used throughout the “prophecies” we have been weighing what we know to be true of God and His plans for this city. We are praying tomorrow passes by beautifully with no drama whatsoever! Please join us in that prayer!

As with most natural disasters, the Christchurch Earthquake made world headlines as the drama unfolded. People all over the world saw the devastating effects on television and internet news, or heard about it on the radio. However, like all such events, the news lenses quickly move on to the next horrific event (in our case, the Japan Tsunami which was astronomically more devastating than what we experienced here) and we can easily forget that the aftermath of such a disaster can last for years upon years. Oddly enough, the real story of disaster isn’t the destructive event itself, but the human spirit that rises up to put things back together when it’s over.

Even now as Irene pounds the East Coast of the USA, Chili, Haiti, Samoa, Pakistan, Japan, New Orleans, Joplin, and many other disaster-ravaged locations are still fully consumed with recovery and rebuilding efforts and are as much as decades away from “life as usual”. Great stories of resilience and resolution typically go completely unnoticed by the world’s “watchful eye”. Christchurch is no exception.

Having lived in a veritable “war zone” the last 6 months has given us a much better understanding and appreciation for what others have gone through and are still going through.

And we’ve got it easy compared to most.

We still have a roof over our heads, running water, electricity, and as of 2 days ago, flushing toilets (finally!). Even from our own earthquake ravaged city, it’s still hard to imagine some of the difficulty those in Japan and other places are dealing with. It makes you think twice when a large-scale news event stops making headlines… makes you think about the long and arduous story people are still trudging out just to get back to that now elusive “normal”. It’s no easy process and it definitely doesn’t stop when the camera crews and journalists skip town chasing the next big story.

I want to be careful not to become a disaster voyeur. It’s something I can easily slip into these days – almost excitedly waiting for the next “crazy disaster” to entertain me. I wonder if we’ve all grown tired of the fictitious disasters of film and television and become overly intrigued with the far-too-real misfortune of others…

Something to consider as we watch Irene roll up the East Coast in all it’s fury.

We’re regularly asked by friends and family outside of NZ “Is life back to normal yet?” – and the answer, unfortunately, is “absolutely not”. Rather than going into much detail about the many ways in which life in Christchurch has become difficult and disheartening, I’d like to direct your attention to a recent photo gallery with revealing images from around the city – mostly from the “red zone” (the central city are which remains closed still, 6 months after the “big one” – and will likely remain closed another 4-6 months). At this point 500 of the just over 4,000 buildings in the central business district (CBD) are confirmed to be totally demolished – roughly 12% of the structural make-up of the city. This number is likely to increase as city rebuilding plans are introduced.

Have a look at the gallery here.

Thank you guys for keeping up with us and for putting up with our constant chatter about “earthquake this” and “aftershock that”. I’m sure it can get quite annoying… but I suppose if you DO get annoyed, just try to channel that feeling into imagining what it’s like living in a house with no flushing toilets for 6 months. Haha!

Sometimes we go through a season of open doors and obvious answers. Other times (those much more annoying times) we have to tread water and wait for rescue. And sometimes the wait is long, but we have to call to God for strength in the waiting .

We don’t know if it’s that we both got sick, if it’s hormones or the cold, dreary weather or that we are just sick of all the earthquake drama… (or all of the above!!) but we hit a wall this week and both felt like we were treading water and beginning to sink. We just couldn’t carry all the unknown questions with smiles on our faces and joy in our hearts! Before you worry, we are TOTALLY FINE! It’s just one of those short seasons of struggle. One of those “I can’t be upbeat and positive all the time!” seasons.

We are continually trusting God through each of these things and believing how He promises to carry our burdens if we let him. If we relinquish worries, stress, the unknown to Him, He is faithful to carry us through.

We’d appreciate your prayers as we have a lot on our minds:

—Our two year visa has 6 months left on it and we are starting to look into the renewal process

—We have several ministry ideas on the table and are waiting for direction/timing on each

—Still have a chemical toilet and waiting for sewer pipe repairs (house still not inspected either)

—Feeling a huge burden for the city and we can get discouraged when others are apathetic. But we have to remind ourselves that God told us before we moved here that there is a lot of apathy and that we will be used to ignite change and catalyze things… so we just need endurance in the journey of doing that! We can feel pressure that we should be on a certain timeline or seeing more progress but we have to remind ourselves that God said our time here will be a marathon not a sprint.. and that the first year would be settling in.

—Personally, I (Kate) have been in a season of re-evaluating what projects/volunteering things I plug into and am trying to manage my time according to what God wants.

—There is a prophecy floating around for something bad happening in late September here and it’s brought a heavy cloud over us as we try to discern if it’s accurate or false.

—And a few other personal things are on our minds as well…

—We keep thinking it would be great timing to go away for September but we keep feeling a “no” from God, so we wait it out, asking Him to help us push through this season.

Thank you for praying for us. Please send us any words you get from the Lord for us! MUCH appreciated!