Saturday 20 July turned out to be a lovely sunny winter's day, perfect for walking in Shakespear Regional Park. We parked at Waterfall Gull Car Park, proceeded through the pest proof fence gates to walk up the Heritage trail to the Lookout where we had morning tea. We the proceeded down the Tiritiri Track, admiring the views and magnificent rainbow to lunch at Te Haruhi Bay Beach. Linda shared devotions on Our Identity in God and Name Change. She spent much of her childhood enjoying summers on the Whangaparaoa Penninsula and often swam, snorkelled, fished, gathered cockles and explored this area. Locals knew Te Haruhi Bay as Shakespear Bay - named after the family who farmed this area and Okoromai Bay as Shipwreck Bay because of the ship wreck on the point. When the area became a regional park, 1972 there was a name change, back to the original Maori names; reflecting more truly the area’s Maori heritage. Some of the locals persisted in using the English names, causing some confusion when giving directions on where to meet up. And so it is with us who are Christians. Several Bible characters had a name change given by God, such as Abram to Abraham; Sarai to Sarah; Jacob to Israel; archangel Lucifer to Satan. Name represents identity, so name change means an identity change, and these characters had changed significantly especially in their relationship with God; their identity changed. As Christians, our identity has been changed back to the origin person who God had created us to be, use your new name change so that now there is no confusion as to who you are. We can claim to be loved sons and daughter of God; co heirs with Christ with an internal inheritance in God’s Kingdom. We then trekked over the hill on the Okoromai Track, across farmland then through another pest proof gate to walk along the beach, past the swamp and pond back to our cars. We enjoyed coffees at Manly Cafe before saying goodbye. COST: travel from Bracken Ave $11