The Circuit

The circuit - a place of training, of sweating, of persistence. Step after step, your feet pound out the steady pace of getting the task done. Sweat drips in your eyes, the pain and accomplishment spurs you on - and then at the end, you arrive and realise - you have finished.

* today's writing exercise

Obedience

A long obedience in the same direction. Not an original phrase, but one I have turned over in my head many many times. Obedience. Laying down one's life. Serving the greatest cause and the most wonderful King of all times. And yet, a friend. It takes your breath away.

Kick-starting my blog again... perhaps

One month of holidays.....

One badly neglected blog.....

Perhaps one is a solution to the other?

In an attempt to kick-start this blog again, I shall be posting relatively random things. Don't read too much into them. They are merely a response to random words generated at a 'writing inspiration' site that my friend told me about. It gives you one word a day and you free-write for 60 seconds. Sounds like a good holiday project to me.

The greatest moral issue of our time?

Tim Costello was quoted in The Australian today, criticizing Tony Abbott’s stance on the ETS and was reported to have said from Copenhagen, "Tony Abbot is out on his own, there are 194 countries here and they all see it as the greatest moral issue of our time. Tony Abbott is singing solo". Full article here: http://tinyurl.com/yc5nxre

Greatest moral issue of our time.....really Mr Costello?

The greatest moral issue isn’t the thousands of children dying each day from preventable diseases?
It’s not the tens of thousands of children being aborted every day?
It’s not the internal displacement, civil war and humanitarian crisis’ in places like Sudan, the DR Congo or Zimbabwe?
It’s not the 2-4 million people who are victims of human trafficking every year?

I would have hoped that Mr Costello, as the CEO of an aid organisation, would have tempered his comments somewhat. Yes, the wanton waste and destruction of our environment, of which we have been charged with stewarding, is a serious issue. EQUALLY so however is the way we treat our fellow man.

Imagine if the same the time, energy, finance, political will and media exposure which is currently afforded the Copenhagen conference, was given to help stop human trafficking, or simply to provide clean drinking water to the world?

If 194 countries see the greatest moral issue of our time as cutting carbon emissions, then there is little wonder that human trafficking still exists today.
 

When words are not enough

I don’t know what to say having just read this.....

“Since legalised euthanasia was introduced in the Netherlands, initially by court decision (1973) and subsequently by statute (2002), there is no doubt that there has been a rapid expansion of the categories of people considered eligible for physician administered death.

Children aged 16 and over can request euthanasia without parental agreement.
Children aged 12 to 16 can be killed by euthanasia if they request it and a parent agrees.
Children up to the age of 12, including newborns, may be killed by lethal injection with parental consent.

Psychiatric conditions such as depression or anorexia have been accepted as sufficient justification for requesting euthanasia.”

(From the FamilyVoice briefing paper on the SA Voluntary Euthanasia Bill)

Praying for Christians in Iraq

CNN reported today about a wave of bombings in Christian churches in Iraq.

There have been 7 Christian churches bombed in the last 3 days. 35 people have been wounded and 4 killed.

Praying for the church in Iraq...

* Sent from my Blackberry

Good thought from Seth Godin's blog...

...."Sometimes we spend more time than we should defending the old thing, instead of working to take advantage of the new thing. I bet you can list a dozen "critical" industries that will be as relevant to life in 2020 as Singer is to our world today.

The key difference is that back then, managers and shareholders could stall and fumble and wait out the transition until after they retired. Now, it's almost an annual event. Hiding isn't working, and neither is whining. The best marketing strategy is to destroy your industry before your competition does."...

Remarkably

It is remarkably hard to find extension dining tables, and chocolate brown desks and returns.

It is remarkably difficult to find a suitable dark coloured carpet.

It is remarkably tiring to go from place to place trying to find things for insurance quotes.

However, it is remarkably easy to change a tired, annoyed perspective into a grateful and gracious one.

Thankfulness - a choice often overlooked but simple to do - remarkably so.
* Sent from my Blackberry