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Sixteen people showed up to explore a new place for the Club - the southern foreshore of the Manukau
Harbour near Clarks Beach. We left The Bracken at 1:30pm and met up with more people outside the Four
Square shop at Waiau Pa. Two cars were taken on to tramp’s end at Clarks Beach, and once everyone was
back we went in convoy to a private access off Seagrove Rd.
We set out just before 3pm and walked
out across the mudflats towards some shellbanks to the northeast, but soon came across a small channel.
Some of us improvised a bridge of old car tyres that were lying nearby.
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These shellbanks often catch the eye of window-seat passengers flying in and out of Auckland airport,
but it was interesting to access them by foot.
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We then turned in the other direction to follow the coastline westwards towards Clarks Beach. Soon
after 4pm we stopped for a break beside a tree out of the strong cold wind.
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John read a poem about Rodney, a boy he knew from high school who on one wet winter’s night is invited
by a street witnessing team to pray the sinners’ prayer. He declines, having heard about hell and damnation
for the unsaved. After leaving school he goes to Europe and meets a girl whom he later marries. They
settle in Australia, and 20 years later they approach a church for help with personal problems. They
not only find a solution, but also Jesus Christ and salvation, and subsequently get involved in church
and Christian things. After John finished the poem he briefly cited other friends he originally knew
as unbelievers - a teenage boy whose only ambition in life was his model railway, is now a manager of
a food company and involved in a church; a fellow met on a railway trip in the 1970’s many years later
came to the Lord and got himself involved with a Christian ministry to disabled people; and a friend
whom a counsellor at an altar-call gave John a word of knowledge to pray for him, and he came to Christ
just weeks later. He also cited a Christian friend being encouraged to pray for his dying and comatose
dad, that God may give a call to salvation in the form of a vision, as He has been known to do with devout
Muslims in the DVD More Than Dreams. The lesson here is for each one to pray for salvation in their
personal "community" - family, friends, bosses, workmates, fellow members of clubs and social groups.
June concluded the devotions with a karakia.
We carried on along the foreshore as we watched
the sun gradually lower in the western sky.
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As the sun finally set at 5:10pm we came to the end of our walk at Clarks Beach, and the drivers
were taken back to the start point to collect their cars. Everyone was off home to cosy heaters and fireplaces,
to reflect on a wonderful afternoon at a very out-of-the-way location.
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THE GROUP: John McCarthy, June Sinclair (leaders), Andrew Lethbridge, Jennifer Blakely, Mary Little,
Ellen , Malcolm Birch, Barbara Birch, Michael Birch, Ted Calvert, Christine Calvert, Sonia Dryden,
Galina Miller, Rosalind Phillips, Lindy Simmons, Michael (?) Simmons.
COST: $7-50
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