Wow! Anyone else just watch Tanya Levin on "Enough Rope"? I'm thinking there won't be so many happy people at Hillsong tomorrow...

The politics of being a Christian

Early Saturday morning I headed to Chatswood to join 15 others and have a breakfast with John Anderson on the topic of "Staying the Course as a Leader" - getting some of his thoughts on what it means to be a Christian man or woman with the conviction that Jesus must be the difference in our society.

For those overseas (or like myself and usually a little less politically aware) John Anderson is the former Deputy PM of Australia, and it was really interesting to hear some of his perspectives on the strengths and weakness of Gen Y - and where previous generations have failed them by not providing a clearer framework in which to make decisions about their lives (ie, everything is more temporary and lacking in visions beyond 5 years, always thinking that we/they will have 'the good life' or things that they want because most have never known what it means to go without). He also spoke about what it means to be a leader: to have a vision, to implement that vision and to have others want to support it and come along on the journey. His passion and enthusiasm to spend time talking and sharing one on one to find out what we were doing was somewhat impressive and showed a genuine humility that you couldn't help but want to respond to - and it's easy to see why he received so many accolades from his peers when he retired from Dep PM. I've started reading his biography (also with the sub agenda of giving it to my dad to give him the testimony of a respected Christian man) and, although I don't think it's the best written bio ever, it's definitely worth a read.

But since Saturday, and last week when reading one of Justin Moffats post's (sorry - still don't know how to link but if you go to his blog it's the one "What makes God look Glorious" or do a UTube search on John Piper + prosperity), I've been thinking more and more about what it is that we do, or don't, stand for as Christians. Do we really live as salt and light to each other let alone the rest of the world? Do we challenge, exhort and encourage each other in Holiness in a way that Scripture would encourage if not demand of us?

As I mentioned before, I've been reading Chronicles of Narnia while not being able to sleep. In "The Horse and His Boy" there is a section which is talking about the people of Narina and the fact that they have gotten so comfortable and used to peace in their world that they have become soft - and disconnected - with the purpose of being a Narnian. When trouble comes to them, they stand around and talk about possibilities, rather than stepping up and taking action until a leader (not Aslan) comes along to motivate them into doing something...

Where do you think we are 'softest' as Christians? How could change impact our society?

If you're not already - please pray

Daily news - London report:

"The Taliban kidnappers of 23 Korean hostages have today extended the deadline for the South Korean government to agree to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, after saying on Sunday it had just 24 hours.
A purported Taliban spokesman said today the hard-line militia has extended its deadline for the lives of 23 South Korean hostages until Tuesday evening.

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, said late today the militants extended the deadline another day after the Afghan government refused to release any of the 23 Taliban prisoners the insurgents want freed.

The militants have pushed back their ultimatum on the Koreans' fate at least three times. Afghan officials in Ghazni province have met the militants in person and are also negotiating over the phone, but little progress appears to have been made so far."


PLS NOTE - I'VE NOW EDITED WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY BELOW FOR THE BENEFIT OF THOSE WHO DON'T READ THE COMMENTS SECTION (but haven't edited the comments):

Last night, when I first put this post up, I was sure that the girl in the middle of the photo (with the hat) was some one that I went to SMBC with. Happily for my friend, I was very wrong - it was not her, but rather someone else's friend/daughter/sister.

Over the last few days at D'Arts getaway, we have been reading through Revelation and one passage has stood out in the last 24 hours, 6:9-11, and the saints who are waiting under the Lord's alter - waiting for Him to take just vengence against those who have persecuted and martyred them for the name of Jesus. Their cry is "How long O Lord?"

At the time of first reading it, the was a feeling of distance and abstraction, but with what is happening in Afghanistan right now... let alone other times of persecution that we haven't been aware of...

Don't you just want to cry out "How long O Lord?" too? How long until things will be made right and perfect?

Please keep praying for these brothers and sisters.

I think I can, I think I can...

Now I may be getting a little loopy from not enough sleep - but tonight has been a blast in my house... how often to you get to turn up the ipod speakers and dance around your apartment in trackies and ski-boots? I am determined to break these boots in before heading to the slopes in a couple of weekends time, and breaking them in while packing and dancing seems like a pretty good option to me (although if you ever do see anyone dancing in ski boots it just looks completely un-co, and I've just discovered that it scratches the floor).

You see, the dancing around is a celebration of the fact that just like Thomas and my new late night friends on the tour - I am almost at the top of my mountain of camps/holiday ministry. Tomorrow morning I'll be heading south with some of the students from UTS to go on our D'Arts Fac Getaway - the last week in 6 that I will need to be away for. The theme this year is "Look Forward" and we're delving into the book of Revelation to see what God's word has to say to His church and how we are to live today in light of what will come Tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it - we're actually going to be covering the whole book in two and a half days so it's a good chance to really get into the text.

If you're reading this and you're a person who prays to Jesus, I would really appreciate prayer for good sleep and rest over the next few days in particular. God has been very good in sustaining me this far through a reasonably intense couple of months, so one more week would be great.

So tonight someone explained the tour de France to me.


And here I was thinking they just rode around in circles doing their own thing... I didn't know there were teams, and tactics and all those different coloured/meaning jerseys. All of a sudden it's so much more exciting!

But can someone tell me - do the teams slowly get eliminated or do they all have a chance to win in the end? The guys at the front (David Miller et al) do they get to head out earlier than the others or are they just really fast?

The one down side to this form of late night entertainment is I now want to book a ticket and head back to Europe for a month or so!

Am I Losing My Mind?

Well, at least that's what's been scrolling through my head the last few nights when insomnia has apparently decided to kick in and I can't get to sleep anywhere before 2.30... it is soooo annoying and inconvenient right now. No amount of gym/afternoon runs are seeming to wear me out, so I'm back into reading the Chronicles of Narnia (which is great but maybe over-stimulating my imagination as I head to bed?) and using the remaining late hours to do some more reflecting. Here's one stream of thought for you:

Going to church on Sunday night was a bit of a revelating experience. Having not been there for 5 weeks, I was really looking forward to seeing everyone and, as I was walking up to the building, I had the words and thoughts of Bonhoeffer running through my mind about what it means to fellowship and share with one another through everything.

That night we looked at Psalm 42 and 43 and it got me thinking... One thing that Andrew Graham kept coming back to, was what does it mean to be 'down' - to feel that urgent desire to come into God's presence and have Him lift us up out of the depths. Having loved and lived with people with a variety of mental illnesses over the years, I'm pretty familiar with people longing for feelings of wholeness, or to have a better grasp on reality. It's hard and there's often such a stigma with not quite 'having it all together'. Especially for Christians - after all, shouldn't they just be able to trust God? (or so the line of thinking goes).

The answer, as far as I can tell, is just never as simple as that. But what I do question is this; how is it that we support those (either in our immediate church communities or on the outskirts) who need it the most? What kind of perceptions or preconceived notions do we have and how does that reflect the ways in which we actively care for one another?

Many years ago, I lived in the country at 'Cornerstone' - a Christian community based in rural NSW. While there, I got a better understanding about what it means to live with illnesses such as depression or bipolar (to name just a couple). More than that though, I got a lesson in what it means to live with these things, and others, with transparency. What it meant to bear with each other and support each other through the good, the bad and the ugly in a way that, quite frankly, I don't see many of our Christian communities doing so well at the moment.

But what is that really about? Although it could easily be the case for some people, I don't actually think it's about our unwillingness to bear each others burdens. But rather, could it be about the vulnerability that comes when you open yourself up to asking someone how they are really going in life - because you have to be able to take a pretty hard look at your own?

Having just spent a few weeks reading through what an ideal "Life Together" could look like, I can't help but think that, as a Christian community, we're often overlooking living transparently with one another as a key aspect to our fellowship. Why do you think this is? What would you need to be in place in your own life or church community to be more transparent with people?

The two AJ's: pretending to be calling people to announce their engagement!!!


As you may be able to guess - it wasn't going to take anything to convince me to get out of my trackies and head to the Oaks to celebrate with them on Saturday night.

To the two of you - you are two extraordinary people whom I love so much. You are, and will be, in my prayers from now until... well, basically eternity. I feel blessed that God has brought you into my path - and thrilled that He has brought yours together. I can wait to see some more of what He has in store for you.

Where are the answers?

So I have some exciting news - but apparently I can't post about it until someone else puts it on their website first (you have 24hrs!). Let's just say that I love my friends and last night was wonderful to see and a be a part of.

In the meantime I'll content myself with doing some proper reflecting on study camp. Questions, questions, questions... that's what has characterised the week that has just been. Both being the one questioned about what it means to be a Christian and who Jesus is - along with questions that I have about what teens are being taught in their schools and how they see and understand themselves in the light of the rest of their world.
The questions that the girls of my discussion group had were fantastic. Many of them simply didn't know who Jesus is, what is the Gospel and how Christianity could be so much more than their preconceived notions of 'religion'. It was truly a blessing to be there and to be someone to help them work through some of those issues. My prayer for them though, is that they have a restlessness to keep asking their questions but to know that at some point, we have to do something with the knowledge that we wont always have the answers but that doesn't mean that we have to put making a decision about Christianity on hold.

There really is something about sharing an intense week of ministry with a team of people that can change, challenge and motivate you in ways that you hadn't previously expected. I was incredibly thankful to God as I was able to see some of the Credoites putting into practice things that we had talked about before camp about what they could expect - but even more so as I saw the effects that doing a week of ministry had on them and their own understanding of God and His role in their lives.

And for the whistler blowers/fun/picnic crew - you know who you are - thanks for another year. I feel blessed that we were able to do it again, to do it differently and to most of all to do it together because, in my book, you're four pretty remarkable people.

Little update - I can't sleep. So I've added photos and stories to the flickr.

There are too many conversations from the last 24hrs that have been swirling around in my head. Words like vulnerability, open-ness, clarity and communication have opened up an old can of worms and as I've been trying to process them all I've been listening to some of my favourite reminiscent songs. These are the words to one of them:

"Special Ones" - George
Isn't it funny how you never really screamed at my face,
but your anger so unspoken and unchannelled
permeates my essence to the point where I,
don't want to see you hear you, be anywhere near you,
You probably think I'm threatened by you
but your illusionary power doesn't threaten me,
Actually I think it's kind of funny that you create an illusion that is a mirror,
I don't appreciate you and I know that that surprises you
I suppose you see that those who follow their heart always win,
those with integrity have won the match before it's begun.

So rather than being kicked around, I'm going to kick you to the curb
So rather than being pushed around, I'm going to push you away first
So rather than trying to protect you, I'm going to cover my bases first
So rather than trying to open my heart, I'm going to lock it with a key
So that only the special ones, so that only the special ones, can ever get through to me

Some can see beyond the barrier of threshold whereas others can't see beyond their sculptured mould,
you could offer me nothing, you could offer me nothing that I need
Do you think I'm asking too much?
A kind of respect and trust that shouldn't even be questioned,
how can I open my heart with dishonesty sitting next to me?
I've honoured your honour to the point of embarrassment,
but innocence in the hands of the guilt-free is kicked to, is kicked to the curb
I was ashamed of my innocence,
I was ashamed of my innocence but now with clarity I see that your bullshit is just not worthy of me

I don't want to be angry...

This is not worthy of me
and now with clarity I see
that I can walk away,
I can walk away.

So rather than being kicked around, I'm going to kick you to the curb
So rather than being pushed around, I'm going to push you away first
So rather than trying to protect you, I'm going to cover my bases first
So rather than trying to open my heart, I'm going to lock it with a key
So that only the special ones, so that only the special ones, can ever get through to me.
---
Do you think that someone who writes those kinds of words will ever let barriers down? Can the rest of us?

Can you say "That's awkward"?

The best way to recover from a week of study camp? Hours of "The Office" curled up on my own couch. The BBC at it's biting best with all of the sarcasm, bitterness and pain that comes with the awkwardness of relationships (whatever form they may take) - getting to laugh at them as well as all of your own inadequacies and vulnerabilities at the same time...

Followed now of course, by the sentimentally classic "Pretty Woman". Talk about your vunerable people... who could say that dramatic romantic gestures are over-rated?

But actual reflections from the week will come later.

from one tour to another...

Im back. Sort of. For 12 more hours before the CRU HSC study camp. The tour with the AYWK's crew was good - tough at times, but worth every second for what I personally was able to be challenged by and learn through. Some stories wont be shared here, but I'll share a couple of highlights from our time at Fraser.

A major one was getting to do the 4WD'ing across Fraser in one of these 11 seater troupee's. I had a blast and only once got a little bogged at Indian Heads - but I figure it was when I came into parking, and only took me a few minutes to get out on on my own, so it doesn't really count...

For the first time I was all set up and cosy in a tent as we camped at Dunburra for 3 days and it was great - anyone looking to join on a camping adventure sometime let me know! The weather was gorgeous - shorts and t-shirts weather and it was beautiful swimming at Champagne Pools with tropical fish. But in the end - it really was an experience because of the people that I got to share it with. Through good and bad, they are brothers and sisters and it was a privileged to do it with two men, Graham and Andy, that I have so much respect for.

So here's one snapshot from the Maheno, more (with stories) will be added to flickr soon for those who want more details.
xxx. J.