MK forum

Oh dear, no worries, in the style of one Bemused from Downunder, a rematch has been organised. This time we will play it with sticks and call it hockey .

I see the Kiwis have just won another medal, a bronze in the cycling. So that confirms the Bemused theory of Kiwi Olympics, we only win medals when we sit down.
Wonder if one can play hockey sitting down ?

And now for an Olympics update:

The little country that most people have never heard of managed to get 13 medals, not bad for a population of 4 million. Now of course you want to know how all these medals were won.
Well we got a silver in the womens shotput, the rest we won sitting on our backsides (on top of a horse, a boat or a bike), which goes to prove that Kiwis (the affectionate name for a citizen of New Zealand) can accompish a lot while sitting down.

Of course we did actually help our good friends get medals too. Yes the coach of the U.S. mens volleyball team that won gold in the last olympics was a Kiwi and this olympics he coached the U.S. womens team (don't know how they placed, sorry). Which goes to prove that sport has no barriers .

And finally, I hear you asking, did Australia get more gold medals than New Zealand, yes they did. 2 more in fact. But do remember that there are 5 times more Australians than there are Kiwis on this planet (which I apologise for, even though it is not my fault ).

I will now get off my backside and do some work, no one ever accomplished anything by sitting on their backside did they?

Or DID they?

I couldn't possibly comment, being unbiased and completely neutral.

Even when the Olympics are done and dusted, it is still possible to win a gold. Yes our silver medalist female shotputter now has a gold due to steroids being found in the samples of the original gold medal winner.

Moral of the story, never give up hope, eventually those who don't play by the rules get caught out.

Thanks for that, Bemused.

I think you're right. No one ever thinks it will happen in their family. Or among the MKs from their field. A few weeks ago I found out it CAN happen in your close-knit mission family, to a boy just a few days younger than my own daughter, to a boy who appears in so many photos of class rooms, parties, flag raisings and field days.

Well, he wasn't a boy anymore. He was a man now. And I know almost nothing about what his life has been like in the many years since those photos in my albums were taken.

But I've heard all the descriptions, explanations and excuses before, applied to other MKs.

Black sheep. Prodigal. Rebel. Not walking with the Lord. Out of fellowship. Didn't come back into the work. Lost the vision. Lured away by the world.

Over and over, fingers pointed at the adult MK, conjecture about why they made the decisions they made which led them on a path away from the mission, and sometimes away from the church and even away from their family. The emphasis always being on the MK and what he did "wrong".

I don't hear parents asking in what way they might have contributed to the choices made by their children. Might it have started with the choices the parents themselves made? Choices in which their small children had absolutely NO SAY whatsoever?

I know this is a very scary, overwhelming thing to consider. But I hope that a few missionary parents will read your post, Bemused, and take a long, hard look in the mirror.

If your child is still alive, it is not too late. Not too late to ask yourself some hard questions. Face some tough truths.

God gave you your child. You never stop being their parent. No matter how many years go by or how much muddy water goes under the bridge.

It is not too late. Yet.

Very accurate.

And very sad.