[00:00:12] Speaker A: Jesus said in Matthew 28, verse 19, go therefore and teach all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
Welcome to go teach all nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through Australian and international speakers. And here is today's presenter, pastor Robert Stankovich.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: I'm going to do a two part series I've done years ago, and I've upgraded tweaked it and made it relevant to where we are today. But I wanted to share this because in the last few months, I did a four part series in March and April of being strong in the strength of the Lord. Okay? Remember that that there are many things that help us to be strong. It's our trust in God, it's the joy of the Lord in our hearts, peace when sins are forgiven. All these things make us strong. But there are other things that help us with that strength, because we're not just strong in our minds and in our hearts, we need to be strong in our bodies, how that impacts us. So before we go on, I invite you to bow your heads and we pray. Heavenly Father, we just want to thank you.
That strength comes from you mentally, spiritually and physically. And Lord, as we look at the mental and physical aspects of our well being and wellness and health, I pray, Father, that you will impress upon our hearts to renew our decision to honor you with our bodies. And I just pray, Heavenly Father, that you will bless our time together this morning. In Jesus name, amen.
Now, I'm just going to run down and get my phone because I can't see that clock over there. And I'm going to try keep an eye on it so I don't go too long.
But if the clock runs too far ahead of me, I'm not going to obey it.
It's got to go exactly the speed I need it to go. All right, here we go.
All right, I want to read just quickly a couple of short verses about some key verses that I think is important, about why we need to take care of ourselves and why it's important. Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. God wants every dimension, physically, mentally, spiritually, financially, in every part of our life, socially, to prosper. Okay? Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a price. You must honor God with your body. Why is it important that what I do with my body and the health choices I make mentally and physically is important for God?
Because he owns us. He made us, and he wants us because we belong to Him. He bought us with a price. What price is that?
Now, what did he buy when he gave his cell on the cross?
Did he buy my thumb?
Did he buy the heart? Did he buy the brain?
What did he buy?
Did he just buy my spiritual soul? Did he just buy my relationship with God? Can you have a relationship with God and not take care of your health?
Yeah, you could, but you suffer for it. You will feel weakened. You will not have the capacity to honor God with your body, soul and mind. Okay, so let's keep reading.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. The whole body is a complex system.
If you look at it microscopically, it's an amazing system. Everything is so symmetrically, from the smallest atom and cell and DNA of our body to the design and purpose. It is amazing.
So why do we need to take care of ourselves? Your workmanship is marvelous. How well we know it. And then I love this one. Whether you eat or drink or exercise or don't exercise, that's my weakness. I have to push myself to exercise. I do do. It just not regular like. My wife, she reminds me often it's good to have a truth teller. It's important. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it to display yourself, how fit you are and stronger than other people. Is that what it says?
Or brag that you're better than others? No.
Do it all for the glory of God. Why do we want to glorify, God? Hey, God, look at me. He's not talking about self praise. He's not saying, hey, look at me, God. I've eaten the right food. I've exercised. I do all these good things.
Am I accepted now? No, that's not what God is saying. Glorify means treat yourself as super special in the way that God created you to be, not the opposite. Okay?
All right, so a few years ago, I started doing a course in lifestyle medicine from Avondale University. And I did first semester. Then I started a second. And then with COVID and everything, it just sort of drained me. And just trying to sort of navigate around with churches and minister and all that, I just sort of let it go. But I did a particular course unit with Dr. Darren Morton, which I think is in the next page.
He's one of the Australia's leading professionals in the area of lifestyle medicine. When I say lifestyle medicine, I'm talking about lifestyle choices. That is a medicine to our health.
What I eat, my exercise, all of the choices I do affects my mental well being and my physical, and I just really, really enjoyed doing that course.
I love your limbo is listening. Motion creates emotion. Together feels better.
Food feeds your mood. Rest to feel your best. All these I love poetic phrases. And if you haven't read a good book, live more happy. You want to read that book. Okay? And I'm hoping I can get everybody one sometime in the very near future.
But I want to talk about, in my part one about a study that was done by a guy by the name of Dan Buttner. And he did this study called the Blue Zones. He's an American explorer, educator, researcher, et cetera. He's even done records in endurance cycling. He's? Actually I believe he's from South Africa.
Yeah. Who lives in America.
So during his cycling trips, in all the things that he was doing and all the stuff and fitness and all that, he was beginning to learn about the different cultures and people and how they lived. And he noticed that there were people living as centenarians. Do you know what's a centenarian?
People who actually like a batsman score 100 or more.
Okay. Not only one or two every now and then. Is there anyone here that's hit 100 yet?
Okay. Now, if I were to ask that in these five Blue Zones that we're going to look at, there would be probably two thirds of the church that would put their hand up.
And so we're going to discover and have a look at that and why he wanted to know what is it that was making these people live to 100? All of myself, but that's all right. 103. And she's digging in the garden, and the next thing is her heart fails and that's it. There's no aged care. There's no disability. There's none of these issues. Anyone want to know what is it that made all the difference to give not only longevity, but quality of life in that longevity?
I'd rather die at 60 if I know I'm going to suffer till 100. You know what I mean? If I had a disability or some illness that debilitated me, I'd rather die. But to live healthy and to be happy and to have energy at 103, to lift a hoe and dig without brittle bones.
Osteoporosis.
What's that?
So he came up with this research, and I didn't want to bring my books. They're my prized possessions. I've collected these. And I've been watching his research. And he has a website, but he's made a huge impact. He's been on Ted Talks, he's been on medical shows, and he's shared his discoveries to the point he personally motivated and impacted Oprah Winfrey in her health endeavors, and it's made an impact on her. And he's also been on various health projects. And in fact, the previous US President, Bill Clinton, was also heavily influenced to become a vegan and a fit guru to take care of himself.
So he's had a positive influence on people. And this is his website, if you want to write something down worth
[email protected]. All right. So type that in, and there's some amazing things in there that will give you a lot of his research and people groups that he's studied with and books he's written.
But we're just going to have a look at these blue zones. Now, why is it called blue zones? I'm not sure about the color, but he said it was just by accident. But zones in the sense of a particular district or area of specialty, why people are living long. And so he called it the blue zones. And we're going to have a look at five of these important blue zones. And the first one's in Italy. Now, Italy, for some reason, I'm still trying to figure out why Jasmine has an interest for Italy.
She says, Honey, we got to go there soon. I thought, Why not, you know, somewhere else? UK goes no Italy. Okay? I'm still trying to work that one out, but I have been to Italy, so I kind of rub it on her sometimes.
I went from Milano from the top all the way down to Rome at the bottom and everything in between. So I thought I'd just remind her again.
So anyway, Sardinia is one of these blue zones, a region, a mountainous highlands, where one of the secrets to their longevity is hard work. In and out of the house and relaxing. Hobbies.
So if you're too busy working and don't stop for a bit goes, yeah, I stopped to have dinner. He goes, yeah, but then you might keep working and your mind's on work all the time, even playing board games and card games and other social activities. And that is health to the mind and the body. And so an essential, it's an essential and integral part of their social lives. Community so important.
Okay?
Hard work. Unfortunately, in our day and age, in our youngest generation, hard work is something like what is that?
If they play basketball hard, that's hard work. And if they studied hard for a test, that's hard work. We're not talking about that kind of hard. We're talking about physical energy, physical fitness, digging in the garden and flexing those muscles and that. I used to do a lot of that in my younger days until the Internet came and technologies increased. And then as that increased, so did my physical activity, unfortunately.
So it does impact us. But these are people that they think, well, what is Internet?
They're busy outdoors, they're busy working, doing stuff, little hobbies, making some sheets or blankets or whatever they're making there.
So that's one number two in the island of Icharia in the background. This is where we went back between Greece and Patmos on the way to Turkey. And I didn't realize that I went on a boat past that very island and the whole region behind there in the island of Ikaria. What do we know about Icaria in Greece? An Aegean island with one of the world's lowest rates of middle age mortality and the lowest rates of dementia.
Unfortunately, my mum has dementia. Jasmine's mum has dementia. It comes to a lot of us in the first world country for various reasons. Hence the island where people forget to die. That's what they nicknamed that place, the island where people forget to die. I like that.
But unfortunately, we remember a lot of things that we don't need to that affects our health. And the enchanted island of Centenarians, two little names that says a lot for these islands. They make all these important things, and we're going to increase and provide more information as we go down. Third one is in Costa Rica, which is right next door to Panama. Is that the one, Janelle? Yes, that is the one. Okay. I was thinking another place. So Janelle somehow had a chance to go over the border when she was there last, just recently, where we didn't go because we had all these people saying to us, oh, that's very expensive there, and you can't afford to go there. And I thought, oh, I regret not going, at least over the border, and touch the dirt and say, I've been in Costa Rica even if I did nothing there. You know what I mean? I even regret that. But anyway, so Nicoyan, centenarians tend to live with their families, children or grandchildren, providing support and a sense of purpose and belonging. So community and family is essential in that part. When people feel neglected, when people feel alone and abandoned, their sense of well being diminishes and their length of life lifespan is shortened.
So all the mental health problems we have in this world today, it shortens our lifespan.
Can we manage it? Can we do things about it? Absolutely.
But if we're not caring for ourselves, our life is shortened, as is our quality of life as well. So family focus, community and tradition, that is important to have as a family. Family worship for us as Adventists, socially connecting with other people, fellowship as we have in our church, doing more of those kind of things, maybe small groups and things like that. Very essential for the health and development, not only physically, emotionally, but spiritually. A sense of purpose and hard work.
105 year old will get up in the morning with a purpose. I've got weeds to dig, I've got a garden to plant, I've got fruit to pick. They have a sense of purpose. Big or small, it's still hard work and purpose, very important.
Well, today in our first world country, it's a little bit different. Okay? There is a marriage and family breakdown. All kinds of things are happening domestic violence, mental health issues, marriage problems, you name it. The modern family. Today, unfortunately, modern technology is bombarding. Family is dividing families. Yes, we're together, but we're not together.
Okay, we're together, but we're not together. We're present, but we're not present.
Now, Albert Einstein is a bit of a smart person.
He says, I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction and the world will have a generation of idiots.
Now, has his prophecy come to pass?
All right, let's have a look. The day has finally arrived.
Having coffee with friends, a day at the beach, cheering on your team, having dinner out with your friends, out on an intimate date.
Having a meaningful conversation with your best friend forever.
A visit to the museum.
That's exciting, isn't it?
Enjoying the view?
I'm not encouraging texting while driving, by the way, but, yes, it does happen. Enjoying the view. Everyone's texting, including the driver. I would not want to be in that car.
Let's have a look at number four. Okinawa, Japan. Females over 70 are the longest lived population in the world. Okinawa's, Ushi. Okushima, that's her name. Gardening at the age of 109.
Now, if it was us, we'd probably be in the grave for 30, 40 years by that time, by the time we get to 109.
But unfortunately for her, she seems to be happy, content, doing her work, heart pumping, connected, engaging, eating well, exercising, maybe not at a gym, but using a hoe and a shovel.
Still a hard workout, isn't it?
And finally loma Linda. He found that in his research. In his study. 7th day Adventist highest concentration. This is now we're looking at a more first world country. Japan is also a first world country, but in the areas where they lived, it was more of a second world. But imagine in California, the highest concentration of Adventists is around Loma Linda, California. They live ten years longer than their North American counterparts.
Here she is on the bottom 103.
Now, the average old person doing that will probably snap their bones because they got osteoartis, maybe 103.
I mean, I tried physically to do that.
[00:21:03] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:21:05] Speaker B: Mind balance and physical stamina. She's got strength, aged 100, skiing on the back of a boat.
Just amazing.
What is their secret? Daily exercise? That guy swims every day and does about 25 laps.
Takes his time, a couple of hours.
Family meals, faith and purpose, rest and recreation.
These are some key things that are so important for our physical and mental health. Dr Ellsworth Wareham, 98 year old vegan Surgeon who would like a 98 year old be your cardiologist and surgeon to do open heart surgery.
Well, he did. He retired at 98. Do you know what was his reason for retirement? I need to spend more time with my great, great great.
I thought, bless your heart.
I thought, oh, my hands are a little bit shaky. No, he was like, he didn't need these microscopic, surgical things. He had his eyes. He didn't even wear glasses at the time.
What was his philosophy of life? Plant based diet, positive outlook, physically active, good night's rest, go to church.
Now, you can define that in different ways. Different people go to church for different reasons. Some are extreme religious rights. We're talking about spiritual faith, relationship with God, connection, connection with God, connection with one another, the fellowship, all of those things. Spiritual and physical health go hand in hand to accept christ is to be free, which reduces stress. That's what he said. So very important, what God wants to do. And of course, he's been interviewed on Oprah Winfrey's Show, on different medical shows. And there's a picture of him there on the left, bottom right doing surgery. Open heart.
Just amazing. And Loma Linda makes one of the best minestrone soups. It's very healthy for you. I just thought I'd add it because tomato is one of the most important ingredients. I love tomatoes, so that's good.
All right, so these are one of the things sardinia, Okinawa, Japan and Loma Linda have a very lot of common factors.
That is what made all the difference in their high beans and grains that they would eat. High plant based diet. You know, in our Western world, you go to Woolies, there's a whole section there's a whole section of vegetarian products.
If you're struggling with meat eating, there's so many variety today. Like, just in my own lifespan, 30 years ago, you wouldn't find none of these products. You wouldn't even find soy milk, where soy milk and rice milk has been around for 100 years in China, longer.
And no wonder why some of these places live longer, because they are more focused on their plant based diet, physical activity, community connections, first sense of belonging, moving naturally. It doesn't mean if you don't go to a gym that you can't move. You can move. Don't feel that you're locked up in life if you can't go to a gym. All right?
But it's about consistency, belonging in the right tribe. Don't hang out with people who pull you down. Hang out with people who lift you up and encourage you. Doesn't mean you don't help those who are down and out. But don't be pulled down by people. This is one of their secrets.
Purpose is important. If you have no purpose, it's amazing how that affects your life mentally and physically. You can eat the right food. You can do exercise. But if you have no purpose, it negatively impacts your mental and physical health. So move naturally. Have a sense of purpose. Downshift. That means if your life is so busy that you're stressed out, why do we work? Here's a simple question. I thought I'd ask it as a kid. Why do we work? Two main reasons. One is purpose, and the other is what?
Pay your bills.
But we do more than that. We ignore our families. We ignore our marriage relationships. We ignore the important things in life. And we just got to work. We get into this work, work, work. Busy, busy, busy. Like we're trying to prove something. Instead, it destroys us. Down shift.
Create routines where you have work, where you have playtime, where you have family time, you have recreation. And divide those things in the right way. Very important.
Okay, this is where .4 is speaking very strongly to me. And it might speak to you as well, okay, they have the 80 20% rule. They call it the harahachibu. It's a Japanese 2500 year old thing. It's called 80 20. It says when you're 80% full.
Now, sometimes my gauge about being full isn't always there. I eat about 110.
The 20% gap between not being hungry and feeling full could be the difference between losing weight or gaining it.
I need to be more resolved about those matters each day. And I'm working really hard on my fitness.
I'm always telling Jasmine that one, people in the Blue Zones eat their smallest last meal in the late afternoon or early evening and then no more meals for the rest of the day.
Yeah, I usually try not to avoid eating like night. It's just ridiculous. Digestion and all those things. It not just affects our digestion at night. It affects our moods and mental health. Oh, it's incredible.
Plant slant. I like that thing. The oldest living humans eat meals with mainly beans and vegetables, including fava beans, soy, lentils. And these are the cornerstone of these centenarian diets sense of belonging. All but five of the 263 centenarians we interviewed that this guy did, Dan, belong to some faith based community.
Okay? Research shows that attending faith based services four times per month will add four to 14 years of life expectancy. So our spiritual health is impacted by our mental and physical connections and health. Okay, very important.
Putting loved ones first is important. Keeping aging parents and grandparents nearby or in the home. Unfortunately, in those things, they don't know what an aged care is, a retirement village or whatever. They live in communities. I mean, I know me growing up, my grandparents, it's changed since then. My grandparents lived with my mum and dad and then they would sometime for a year or two and then they'd go with dad's brother and go there for a year or two. And that was their in home age care. We would care for them. And so that's what improved their quality and longevity of life and right tribe social circles that supported healthy behaviors. So Okinawas, they created what they call the moais groups of five friends that committed to each other for life. Research from the Framington study shows that smoking, obesity, happiness and even loneliness are contagious.
So the social networks of long lived people have favorably shaped their health behaviors. Okay? So part of that is socially connecting really well, not just with family, but church, family and people who inspire and motivate us with purpose in life. So food, fitness, family, faith, very, very important ingredients.
For those that lived in these five areas called the Blue Zones, food was essential. Plant based diet, fitness, being physically active. And they lived to over 100 still dig in the garden. Family, community, social connections, faith, being a sense of belonging in a group of people from marriage couples to family to church, community and outside of very, very important in two weeks time. When I next come to preach, I want to do part two on wellness, and it's called the China Study. And I'm not going to say anything more on that because they discovered some fascinating things in this China study that they did that these father and son team, their Adventists, in fact, they're professional medical people who did this. Long 30 year study in a particular region of China and what their lifestyle was, what their diet was, that made a huge impact that has impacted today's revolution towards a more healthier way. Now, some people won't eat meat because animal cruelty, right?
Others won't eat meat because they know it's going to do something to their health, or they're going to now do more exercise, or they're going to make all these lifestyle changes. They've been impacted by people like this study, like the Blue Zone Study, and a lot of other influences today. You go back 30 years, health was a what everyone was smoking.
Big change in no smoking. Now alcohol is slowly being attacked. They're trying to outlaw vape and all these other stuff and give it another 510 years. And smoking will be part of not smoking. Drinking alcohol will be part of the past as smoking.
So, yeah, interesting study.
Well, I asked the reason at the beginning, why do we do what we do? I don't want to eat healthy and exercise and do all those things because I want to be a healthy sinner.
I want to have a healthy relationship with my God and Savior.
I want to honor Him with my body and mind and spirit because I want to have the strongest capacity to serve and worship Him and prepare my mind, because my mind makes choices, not my body. Except my body reminds me that I'm making some bad choices.
But I want to go to heaven one day. Not because I ate well and exercised, that I'm there no we're there simply by the blood of Jesus, that's all. But because I love Jesus, he first loved me.
I want to honor Him with my body. And I hope you can make that choice as well, that you can affirm that decision to know Him better by giving your body and mind the fullest capacity to serve Him and glorify Him, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do.
Father in heaven, while we want to take care of the environment, may we also take care of that inner soul environment of our body, of our mind, of our soul. And, Lord, as we expand on some of those important, detailed things in the China study, Father, may that be a blessing for us in the next couple weeks, Father. In the meantime, Lord, we dedicate our body, we dedicate our hearts and our mind to You, Father, this morning. Help us to make better choices in our lifestyle. We ask it in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:34:39] Speaker A: This message was made available by the Bunbury 7th day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit their YouTube page bunbury. SDA.
[00:35:00] Speaker D: You.
[00:35:04] Speaker E: There is coming a day when no heartache shall come no more clouds in the sky no more tears to dim.
[00:35:19] Speaker D: The eye all is peace forever more.
[00:35:24] Speaker E: On that happy golden shore what a day, glorious day that will be what a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see and I look upon his face the one who saved me by his grace when he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land what a day, glorious day that will be there will be no sorrow there no more burdens.
[00:36:14] Speaker D: To bear no more sickness no pain.
[00:36:19] Speaker E: No more parting over there and forever I will be with the One who died for me what a day glorious day that will be what a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see and I look upon his face the One who saved me by his grace when he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land what a day, glorious day that will be what a day, glorious.
[00:37:11] Speaker D: Day that will be.
[00:37:19] Speaker A: That was the Sharon Bethel Quartet singing what a day that will be. Coming up next, the Clark family will sing live for you today.
[00:37:28] Speaker F: I wish that I could roll the curtain back again rewind the hands of Father Time there's so much more that I would do and I would say but all I really have is today.
[00:37:57] Speaker D: Here I am use me. Lord give me words to sing and say let me love, let me live let me give myself away use my hands use my feet and all I have is yours complete let my life.
[00:38:22] Speaker F: Be a reflection of Your grace, I can't go back.
[00:38:30] Speaker D: But I can live for you today close.
[00:38:39] Speaker F: There are so many things I wish I could redo and Lord, I've even.
[00:38:50] Speaker D: Failed you too.
[00:38:55] Speaker F: If life were just a show I think I'd hit rewind but I can refill the hourglass time.
[00:39:08] Speaker D: So here I am. Use me, Lord give me words to sing say let me love let me live let me give myself away use my hands use my feet and all I have is Your complete let my life be a reflection of Your grace.
[00:39:40] Speaker F: I can't go back but I can.
[00:39:43] Speaker D: Live for you today.
[00:39:48] Speaker F: The dance of time are running fast the pendulum throwing down oh, Lord, I want to live.
[00:39:58] Speaker D: For you until that trumpet sound.
[00:40:04] Speaker F: Here I am here's me. Lord give me words to sing and.
[00:40:11] Speaker D: Say let me love, let me live let me give myself away use my hands, use my feet and all I have is Yours complete.
[00:40:28] Speaker F: Let my life.
[00:40:29] Speaker D: Be a reflection of your grace I can't go back but I can live for you today.
[00:40:43] Speaker F: I can't go back but I can.
[00:40:46] Speaker D: Live.
[00:40:48] Speaker F: For you today.
[00:40:50] Speaker D: Jenny souls have tested him.
[00:41:17] Speaker F: Throughout the course of time, so many still reach out to him with broken hearts and minds. And every one of them will say, without exception, that they find that Jesus never fail.
Even in the days of old he brought his people through and then he came to show his love and die for me and then he rose again to prove that every story had been true that Jesus never fail.
[00:42:10] Speaker D: Jesus never fail jesus never fail.
[00:42:23] Speaker F: You.
[00:42:23] Speaker D: Might as well get me behind me, Satan you cannot prevail because Jesus never.
[00:42:34] Speaker F: Fail.
[00:42:41] Speaker E: Sometimes this world brings trouble I find so hard to bear I know I could not make it without Jesus being there. It's so encouraging to know, however deeper in despair, that Jesus never fails.
[00:43:11] Speaker D: So what could I do to prove to you?
[00:43:14] Speaker F: Tell me how can you deny no one told facts no mysteries it's all.
[00:43:22] Speaker D: So cut and dry and all the witness men of your life I'll be the first to testify that Jesus never.
[00:43:35] Speaker E: Fail.
[00:43:38] Speaker D: Jesus never fail Jesus never fail.
[00:43:51] Speaker F: You might as well get thee behind.
[00:43:54] Speaker D: Me, Satan you cannot reveal because Jesus.
[00:44:01] Speaker F: Never fail you might as well get.
[00:44:07] Speaker D: Deep behind me, Satan you cannot prevail because Jesus never fail I know Jesus.
[00:44:22] Speaker F: Never.
[00:44:25] Speaker D: Fails.
[00:44:32] Speaker A: That was Jesus Never Fails by the Calvary Baptist College. Coming up next. Ben everson will sing great is thy faithfulness.
[00:44:43] Speaker G: Great is thy faithfulness o God, my father, there is no shadow of turning with thee thou changest not thy compassions they fail not as Thou hast been thou forever wilt me great is thy faithfulness great is thy faithfulness morning by morning numerous I see all I have needed thy hand hath provided great is thy faithfulness, lord unto me.
[00:45:47] Speaker E: And.
[00:45:48] Speaker G: Winter SP time and harvest sun, moon and stars in their courses above join with all nature in manifold witness to thy great faithfulness mercy and love.
Great is thy faithfulness great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning numerous I see all I have needed thy hand hath provided great is Thy faithfulness Lord, unto me.
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow blessings all mine with 10,000 beside great is Thy faithfulness great is Thy faithfulness morning by morning new mercies I see all I have needed thy hand hath provided great is.
[00:47:34] Speaker D: Thy faithfulness lord unto me.
[00:48:09] Speaker F: Welcome to Mission Stories for Kids with Uncle Gordon, where you will hear firsthand accounts of answers to prayer and miracles from God. Oh, by the way, I think adults will like this too.
[00:48:21] Speaker C: Hi, boys and girls. Uncle Gordon here. Lovely to be able to tell another story to you. I have told you about Hungary and the watch that floated. I had another experience on that same part of the Solomon Islands. I was there to run some meetings, and so every night and every morning, I would run some meetings and talk about God to a whole group of people who would come and meet together.
But before each of those meetings, I like to do a little bit of exercise. And the boat was tied that I was staying on that time, a little mission vessel called the Laue Henny, and it was tied to a wharf on one side of the great big bay. And so I thought it would be nice to swim right across the bay and back again before having breakfast and then taking meetings or going to visit some people, whatever was on each of those days. And I said to the couple of young men who were with me who would come with me to help to provide the song service and to do some special items, they were very talented music men. And I said, Would you like to swim across the bay with me for a bit of exercise? And they said, oh, no, you go ahead. We want to stay in bed a little bit longer, so you just go. And so I dived off the edge of the mission boat and began to swim right across the bay. I made it to the other side and stood on the bank for a little while and caught my breath and then turned around and swam all the way back. The second day, I said to these young men, do you want to come for a swim for a bit of exercise too? They said, oh, bed's pretty good. You go. We want to stay in bed a little bit longer.
And I couldn't help but think, well, that's like a lot of children, especially when it's not a school day. It's pretty hard to get out of bed, isn't it, when you're pretty cozy and comfy there. And if it's raining outside or dull outside, it's nice to just stay in.
Anyway, the third day, I thought, oh, it's a dull day today. Look at all those clouds. And I looked out on the water and it was all choppy. There was a wind that was blowing on the water and it didn't look good for swimming. And so I thought, no, I won't bother going today. And just as I thought that these two young men walked out with their bathers on, they said, we thought we'd like to go for a swim today.
And I didn't say I didn't want to go. I thought, well, I'd better go too. And so I went and put on my bathers and the three of us dived off the edge of the boat and began to swim across the bay. Now, it was quite a swim. We were just over halfway across the bay to the other side when one of the young men said, oh, no.
And I said, what do you mean, oh, no?
He said, There are sharks coming in. There are sharks coming towards us. And I said, oh, no. Well, what do we do now? What happens now? He said, well, they'll probably eat us.
And I said, that sounds really exciting. I really didn't want to get eaten. I didn't come here to get eaten. And then they said, as we're waiting and then the sharks got to us. And now I could see them, because with my poor eyesight, without having my glasses on while I was swimming, I couldn't see them from a distance. But now I could see them well and truly, and I could see that they were wanting to eat us.
And they said, but the good thing for you is that they'll probably eat you last because you're light, color, and as the sun reflects off you, it shines a little bit more, and it's a little bit more like something that doesn't belong in the sea. But we've got darker skin, and so we look more like the creatures of the ocean. So they'll eat us first, we think. I said, well, that's encouraging. They said, well, when the sharks get between us and the boat, there were the two of them swimming together.
When they get behind us, we'll say to you, Go, and you get out of here. Go to the other shore as fast as you can. And we think the sharks will stay around us and they'll eat us or try and eat us.
I said. Oh. You sure? They said, yeah. And then they said, look, they're nearly there. Go. Go for it. And so I took off.
Who do you reckon's the fastest swimmer in Australia? Who's the quickest? Well, I can tell you. That day I was the outboard motors. There must have been about four of them all came into play. And I don't think I even took a breath as I just swam as fast as I could the whole way till I crawled out amongst the coral and the rocks on the other side of the water and then began to breathe again. But for every stroke and every kick of my feet as I was swimming, I was waiting and wondering if I'd feel that cold steely grip of a shark grabbing me by the leg or grabbing me by the waist. And every moment I was waiting, wondering if they would grab me. But I crawled out safe and sound, and then from the distance, I could see vaguely what was going on.
Those sharks attacked those young men, but they had a special technique of attack, and these young men knew the shark's methods of attack. They had grown up as children in the waters where these sharks had lived, and they had been attacked before, and they knew what to do.
You see the shark when you look at a picture of a shark. They've got a long, pointed nose, and their mouth is set well back underneath their head.
Those sharks were measuring where the men were, and then they would all of a sudden dive. And as they dived, they would pick up speed. Then they'd roll over at the bottom of their dive and come up upside down with their jaws open to grab and to tear apart the person they were attacking.
These young men watched. They were treating water while the sharks were going around. And as soon as they saw that first movement to dive, these young men didn't take a breath, they just dived too.
And when the sharks rolled, the young men were down where they were and the shark came rushing up to the surface to attack, and there was nobody there.
Then the young men drifted to the surface again and took their breath, went and then watched as they trod water there, watching the sharks and turning, not daring to take their eyes off them because they had to move at exactly the right second.
And then the sharks dived again. And that very moment the sharks dived, these two young men dived as well. With them, the sharks came up again because there was nobody there. And for nearly a half hour there was this game of cat and mouse where the sharks and the people were trying to get each other. The people weren't attacking the sharks, but they were diving with the sharks. And at last the men had been drifting nearer and nearer as they'd been dog paddling and just treading water there in the water, till they came amongst the reefs and the rocks near the edge where I was waiting, standing, watching. And the sharks then went out to sea and the two young men crawled out beside me. They were exhausted. I didn't say anything for quite a while because they just lay there on the ground on the coral, on the rocky coral edge, just painting, trying to get their breath back. And when at last they relaxed, I said, Fellas, I've got a commitment to see the boss over there fairly soon.
We've got to go back. They said, oh, we're not going in the water again, we've got to go around. I said, yes, but that would take us three or 4 hours because it's a long, long hike to follow the bay right around. It's a very big bay, it's a number of kilometers. We would never do it in time. It's quicker for us to go across the water. No, but if we go across the water, they've got sense of smell that's so strong they'll come back.
And maybe not just two, it maybe a dozen. And they'll come at every angle. And we had it. We would get eaten.
So we knelt together, said, God, we don't know what to do. There is a man wanting to know about you on the other side. And I feel compelled. I've got to get over there and meet him on time according to the commitment we have. But we're scared of the sharks because we know they'll come back and we can go around. But then I miss the man what do we do? God and I had a very strong impression I'll look after you. I'll look after you as I shut the lion's mouths for Daniel right back in Old Testament Bible times, I can look after the sharks.
And these young men got the same impression. And so we waded out into the water after praying and began to swim. And all the time we were praying, God, we're Yours. Put that barricade around us. Stop their noses from smelling us. Keep their mouths shut if they do smell us, keep us safe, block off this bay. All sorts of things we were saying to God all the way.
And when we came within just a few meters of the little dinghy at the back of the mission boat, we almost leapt out of the water and pulled the rope in to pull us up towards the dinghy and climbed into the back of boat, exhausted.
Then we knelt in prayer and said, what has happened today, God, we know is not normal. Those sharks would have heard us in the water. They would have smelt us back in the water, and they would have come back for another go and maybe brought all their cousins and brothers and everybody else. And we would have been minced meat. We would have would have been eaten. But thank you, God. We don't know what you did, but we know you saved us. Thank you.
Thank you, boys and girls, for listening so well. Sometimes we do get in some dramatic situations sometimes some pretty tough times. Sometimes God intervenes in some ways other than what we don't expect. Sometimes he intervenes in the way we want Him to. We ask him to. We didn't know that day how he was going to do it, but we know he did. And God can care for you if you keep your trust in Him. So, boys and girls, God loves you and he wants to be part of your life again today. Keep trusting him. God bless.
[00:58:29] Speaker F: You've been listening to Mission stories for kids with Uncle Gordon, a production of Three ABN, Australia Radio.
It's been a pleasure bringing you this program here on Three ABN Australia Radio.
