A favourite blog

Stuff Christians Like is one of my favourite blogs. It is one of the few things I read that can make me laugh out loud. 

And of all the posts on this blog, this one is my favourite!

A brilliant thought

Below is a statement I just heard - you can think on the following for days...

Whatever the season, what you do in the current season, positions you for the outcome of the next.
: Ps Gary Swenson

One of the less-quoted books...

Nahum!
1:7 The Lord is good, a strong refuge when trouble comes. He is close to those who trust in him.

Facebook status updates

When there isn't enough room for all the status updates you feel like putting.....

Ruth is... very excited for Dean and Vanessa's new house

Ruth is... loving her cute little puppies

Ruth is... needing to get back on writing track

Ruth is... so desperately sad for a friend's loss

Ruth is... going to Melbourne soon to get her award

Ruth is... pretty pumped for her ski trip

Ruth is... pretty nervous about her ski trip

Ruth is... looking forward to a friend's wedding

Ruth is... asking God to come through in a few things for a few people

Ruth is... trusting God

Ruth is... starting 21 days of exercise so she doesn't collapse on the slopes

Ruth is... loved and known by God

A change of view

I am sitting at my desk working on an assignment. I'm looking out over my pool, watching a bird in a tree, hopping around from branch to branch and enjoying the sunshine.

However, last week, I would have been looking at out a fence and shaded grass and dirt.

Why the change?

I moved my workspace to a different room in the house. Now, instead of looking out at a very uninspiring and slightly depressing view, and being in a cold room, I have a lovely view and it's much warmer.

We can bring significant changes in our life and how we feel simply by changing where we are looking.

'Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!'
Hebrews 12:2-3 (The Message)

To think on

"How you think when you lose determines how long it will be until you win."

— G.K. Chesterton

"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."
— President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Horizontal and vertical thinking

"Some people are unhappy about lateral [horizontal] thinking becausethey feel it threatens the validity of vertical thinking. This is notso at all. The two processes are complementary, not antagonistic.Lateral thinking enhances the effectiveness of vertical thinking byoffering it more to select from. Vertical thinking multiplies theeffectiveness of lateral thinking by making good use of the ideasgenerated."  - Edward DeBono, author of 62 books on creative thought.

When in crisis - thoughts from J John

I received an email today from J John and it was a reflection on crisis. It included this:
"Pastor Andrew Murray of South Africa once faced a particularly bad crisis. Taking himself off to his study, he sat quietly for a very long while; prayerfully and thoughtfully.
Then he wrote this in his journal:
1. I am here by God's appointment; in that fact I will rest.
2. He will keep me here in His love and give me grace to behave as His child.
3. He will teach me the lessons He intends me to learn.
4. In His good time He can bring me out again."

There are two ways to live

There are two ways to live.

The first is easy. It's staying connected to people to a certain level - attending parties, making small talk, staying in the safe zone. Don't ask too many questions. Let people live their lives and live yours. That's one way.

The second is harder. It's staying connected to people on a deeper level - opening your heart, living deeply, taking risks. Asking the questions. Being willing to live intertwined lives. That's another way.

The second takes a commitment, from each of us.
And it may be harder, but it's also a source of joy.

Isn't it interesting...

... that when faced with researching a uni assignment, I have a strong urge to blog.... or facebook... or look up travel websites?

Not really the answer.... but what is?

Euthanasia is back on the Australian political landscape.

I also spent a long time on the phone with a lady last week who has a chronic illness and was considering suicide.

Mix the latest news from Belgium - euthanasia for terminally ill children - in to the mix and we have a complicated, emotive situation.

From the linked article: In the words of the late Dutch euthanasia opponent Dr. Karl Gunning,'Once killing is seen as the answer to one problem, it soon becomes theanswer to 100.'

The problem with euthanasia being considered an answer is that it removes all incentive for better answers. Killing is cheaper than funding medical research into pain management, cures and certainly cheaper than palliative care.  But in a situation where parents will be able to have their sick children killed......... I do not think we are capable of understanding the complex emotional and mental consequences of such an action.

An 'answer' it is not.

A thought around Easter

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark,Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. (John 20:1)

While it was still dark....

Her Christ had risen
The price had been paid
Death had lost it's sting
Yet Mary was unaware
For where she stood

it was still dark...

Explaining God

When an 8 year old boy was given an homework assignment to "Explain God" this is what he wrote!

"One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn't make grown-ups, just babies. I think that's because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn't have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers.

God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times besides bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because He hears everything there must be a terrible lot of noise in His ears, unless He has thought of a way to turn it off.

God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting His time by going over your mom and dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have.

Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in Chula Vista. At least there aren't any who come to our church.

Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of Him preaching to them and they crucified Him. But He was good and kind like His Father and He told His Father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said OK.

His Dad (God) appreciated everything that He had done and all His hard work on earth so He told Him He didn't have to go out on the road anymore - He could stay in heaven. So He did.

And now He helps His Dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones He can take care of himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important. You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to hear you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time.

You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God. Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong! And, besides, the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon anyway.

If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared in the dark or when you can't swim very good and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids.

But you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and He can take me back anytime He pleases.

And that's why I believe in God."

more to think on

Speaking at last week's National Pastors Convention in San Diego, John Ortberg related a conversation with Dallas Willard in which John posed the question: How do I determine how my spiritual life is doing?

Willard responded by saying you should ask yourself two questions:

Am I growing more or less irritated these days?

Am I growing more or less discouraged these days?

If your answer to those questions is "more," it may be that you have allowed your own ego to become the driving force in your sense of personal and ministry identity. Instead, our lives and ministries should be centered on a vision of God. As Willard observes, "Our life is not an object of deep concern" when we have abandoned ourselves to a vision of the Kingdom of God.

A lovely quote from "Googling God"

This was just sent to me by my sister and is lovely...

 

"God, for me, is like someone who's already up when you've come downstairs in the morning and you're stumbling to get that cup of coffee and he's already there with his. And you sit on the front porch in a rocking chair and the sun is just starting to rise over the horizon and he says, `It's a beautiful sunrise!' And I say, `Yeah.'"

A public health problem

Another report has come out today in The Australian about the state of the teenage drinking problems we have here in Australia. Levels of dangerous drinking are higher than previously thought. 1 in 5 16 and 17 year olds binge drink weekly.

It's a really interesting predicament with a complex and layered causal effect.
A link which is not discussed often, but which has been observed by paramedics and youth workers, is the changing nature of the 'alcohol environment'. In just the last 5 years, young people have moved away from drinking beer and wine and now drink spirits and mixers, particularly alcopops - premixed in bottles or cans. These are highly alcoholic yet don't taste like alcohol.

With the higher alcohol content in these products young people get drunk more quickly. They are also more likely to become violent as they end up highly intoxicated yet have consumed less overall liquid and so are not 'weighed down' by the quantity they have consumed.

One wonders - particularly with the marketing campaigns targeting youth drinkers - whether these products should be the subject of conversation.

Community

We have our young adults formal soon and It's got me thinking about the power of community.

There is something about the 'one another' that is almost indefinable yet infinitely important.
Simply put - we need each other.
And we really need each other as part of the community of faith.
While we like to think we'll be fine by ourselves, separation from fellow journeyers in the Kingsom leads to a slow death - almost imperceptible as it occurs, but occurring nonetheless.
Such interdependency is the ultimate antidote to pride and the greatest challenge to individualism.

Life is ultimately also way more fun when traveled in the company of others!

Tagged from James Mac

So James just tagged me - I have to get the nearest book, turn to page 123 and reprise the sixth, seventh and eighth sentence.

Here we go!

Bonhoeffer's consecrated life is a model for us all - a total giving of self to Christ. Most of us will not be tested in this way, but he has set the standard for us. Now, of course, this consecration doesn't happen all at once - "The Faith" Charles Colson

Brilliant stuff!

From lifechurch.tv