How carefully do you check important things?

 After our Phone Interviews yesterday, we went to the Centrelink  office inn Ringwood today to prove my Identity. Along with my ATM Card, I took my driver’s Licence as the second identity item, to make up the required 100 points needed, to prove my identity.

  For a while it didn’t look like she was going to accept my driver’s licence as it turns out it expired in the first week in February this year.

 As I was wondering to myself why I hadn’t received a renewal notice, I turned it over to make sure that I had our Currant address on it, when  it was pointed  out to me that when I had it changed about 14 months ago, a major mistake had been made with the address. Whilst they got the unit number and street number, and even the suburb and post code right, they had only put down half of the street name.  Thus they only had on my licences all the other information, but where the street name was required, all they had down was: “The”. Instead of; “The Pass”.

 So after finishing with Centrelink, I then had to go over to Burwood and get it both renewed and the address corrected. I know that a lot of people complain about the delays and service at Government offices etc these days, but I only have praise for Vic Roads on today’s experience.

 Although there were a lot of people there, I was served very quickly and pleasantly. The Lady also laughed when she saw the partial address, and upon checking her computer remarked that the Renewal notice had been returned, and laughing and with a grin "a mile wide" asked, “I wonder why?”  Anyway to cut a long story short, I paid my money, had my photo taken, and in around 10-days, will get my new driver’s Licence e for the next 10 years.

So all is right again and I am again driving legally, but it just made me wonder though how carefully we all check things, as I have had that Change of address sticker on my Licence for over a year now and never picked up the mistake till now. What important things do  you now need to check that all the details are correct?

What is your perspective?

Warmest greetings to you there for the New Year from Martha and myself. We trust and pray that you had a very blessed Christmas time with family and friends. 

Talking of Christmas, I was just reflecting on the difference between the Christmas seasons here in Australia and the one in the CIS countries where the  Slavic Gospel Association ministers. Here, we will have been complaining about the heat, but over there, many will have been struggling with the snow and intense cold. Something most of us here in Australia have no real understanding of the difficulties and dangers such extreme cold conditions can wreak, because we have never personally experienced it as an “insider”.

 This insider understanding reminded me a little of one occasion in South Africa, (whose climate was not that dissimilar to Australia’s), when we were in this remote rocky, hilly but otherwise very beautiful, valley, and I remarked to one of the locals on how beautiful it was, only to have him remark that it may be beautiful to visit, but it was not so beautiful if you had to live there and to try and grow crops and graze livestock for a living.

So here he was, seeing things as a resident and Insider, while I was seeing things as an outsider and visitor: Both of us were seeing the same thing, but from different perspectives. In truth, what we were both seeing, was only a part of the wider picture and neither of us saw, or even cared about, the perspective of anyone else. With both views being equally one-sided and incorrect!

What about you when you see this world in which we all live today? Do you see it as a resident and are simply trying to make a living and not worrying about anyone else?  Or perhaps, you see it just as a visitor and just seeing the beauty and ignoring the hardships of others? Again: Both ways of viewing things is not how God would have us as His Children behave. So, as we enter into this New Year, let us again be thankful for all that the Lord has given us and share our blessings with others, wherever and whenever God shows us how. 

 Practically, there are many ways that you can do that and only you can know how to do that best, so I will leave that decision with you, but one way all of us can do something worthy for God, is to Pray. So again I would like to humbly encourage you to again spend time in prayer for those less fortunate than yourself, whether in other countries, or just here in Australia and in your own community.

 Thank you and have a blessed New Year: Walter