"God is amazing, He is full of surprises when you least expect them.'

Six or seven months ago, I would not have even imagined that today I would be the Chaplain of Springfield Lakes State School, but when God puts His plan into action, things just happen! I had come to the conclusion that I had a gift of mercy after going to a Pathways program at my church, Springfield Community Oasis. Not long after I heard that the government had just approved funding for 385 state schools to have employed chaplains. With Brett's encouragement, I applied for a Chaplaincy position through Scripture Union, withdrew it, and with further encouragement applied again.

I prayer that I would not get the job, if it wasn;t God's will, and if I went through withit, he was going to have to be beside me every day, teach me and give me the right words. I think I know how Moses felt. It is amazing how much more you rely on God when you feel completely out of your depth. I really believe now, that it's a healthy move to make, to take that step out of your comfort zone, no matter how big or small it may seem.

 Being involved with chaplaincy/Scripture Union has opened so many doors to listen and to talk with children and others and to share that love God gives. It has also given me opportunities to meet somany supportive people that are all working towards the same goal, to show the love of Jesus in our communities. It has been very encouraging to spend many training days together with the other chaplains and to hear their thoughts and ideas.

Being in such a healthy environment has helped me to get over some of my own insecurities, thinking back, I realise that it is not me making things work anyway, I just have to be willing to do it, God does the rest, and the opportune moments just keep coming.

Building relationships with the school has been the number one priority since starting my work in chaplaincy but looking back over the last school term for 2007some of the activities I was involved in were, running a cookie club, where about 6-10 children spent their lunch breaks baking, decorating and packaging their creations to be given to a local church on Sunday. This was a great opportunity to invite the childrenand families along to church, but also gave me a chance to start buildign relationships through spending time with the students. I've had a lot of interested children enquire about the club, so I plan to start it up again soon.

I was blessed to have  acouple of ladies attend a new prayer group at the school last year, and we will be starting again this week. We spent time on Wednesday mornings praying for the school, RE staff, students, staff and others.

Pancake Day 2008, has just come and gone, this is a fundraising event put on by Unitingcare to raise money for those in need in our community. The 650 or so childrenat SLSS really enjoyed the hot pancakes with maple syrup, but I don't think I'll be making pancakes again for a while, it was a great learning experience. One thing I have realised is that volunteers are a blessing and the work they do should never be under estimated.

Soon at SLSS an after school youth group for grades 4-7 will be running on every 2nd Friday afternoon. This will be put on by the Springfield Christian Family church. This is a great way to connect the school children and their families to the local community.

This year looks to be an exciting one full of new experiences, who knows what God will do! by Jill McIntosh (Chaplain SLSS)