Why do you believe ... ?

Fill in the blanks for yourself: that the sky is blue? It's good to brush your teeth? That you have value? In God? Jesus? Buddah? Islam?

Until today, I don't think that I ever fully realised how powerful asking that question can be. How powerful, and liberating, it can be to walk up to a stranger and asks what makes them tick. The change that occurred today is that I asked the question "Why are you a Muslim? What does it mean to you?" of three female students (it's Islamic awareness week at UTS as well as our own Christian mission - God's sense of humour or something bigger?) and now each of them want to meet next week for coffee. Similarly a non-Christian who came to the talk we held today (Andrew Katay - The Delusion of Atheism) wants to meet up to ask some questions about Christianity and specifically some things about Christian uni students... I'm thinking that I have just been a little blind to the evangelistic opportunities that I have on campus when 15 minutes can bring about 4 coffee dates with these girls...

As you can see the 'theme' is vote one God - in other words, make a choice; have the integrity to ask yourself the tough questions about why you believe whatever it is that you do and go from there. I guess like an election, asking yourself who do you want to be aligned with and then make a mark to show it. But at least make some sort of decision rather than faffing about with nothing-ness. Ok, I'm tired and that may have come out harsher than it's meant to but you get my drift.

Thanks for those who have come and told me that they're getting emails and have been praying for us. As you can tell from the snippets above - God is definitely answering those prayers and providing great opportunities for talking to people!

the little things of the day to day

So the sleeplessness is back. Annoying annoying, annoying. My solution to it last night was (in hopeful preparation for moving in December) to rip through my cupboards and throw out any clothes that haven't been worn in a while. I have three industrial size garbage bags ready to go to the salvo's. How can one person hang on to so much 'stuff'?

Tonight's solution? Putting the finishing touches on the last (of 3 in 10 days) sermon that I'm preaching tomorrow at Tara (girls school) while watching 'The Office - Christmas Specials". And...


...I'm trying to fulfil a little promise for monday morning - and while researching I came across this image - looks good huh?

A bit random, but does anyone happen to have a recipe for a dark chocolate tart?

More than myself would appreciate it.


Finally, mark this date in your diaries now. October 6th. I'm hosting a fundraising trivia night and YOU are invited! The cause? To raise financial support for a certain female staffworker at UTS...

"We didn't know him; the truth is we're a group of people who knew each other a long time ago..."

This is a line from a scene in one of my favourite movies "Big Chill". I think it's a brilliant, brilliant script (and acting, not to mention killer soundtrack): the way that it captures what happens to friendships when you've been separated from the people who have known all the ins and outs of your life - only to come back together under really crappy circumstances. There is something amazingly special about being with friends who have known you - really known you - for almost a lifetime (so as you can imagine, I'm looking forward to the fact that I get to hang out with 3 of them tomorrow night!). It's not that they have to know all of your baggage, but they know some, they still love you and they don't pretend to know more than they do.

After having lunch with a friend today, I've realised that I'm increasingly frustrated, and maybe even a little hurt, with people thinking that they know me based on a preconceived notion that they have. For better or worse, although relatively open with people, I'm not someone who wears my past on my sleeve for all to view. It's not healthy, helpful or necessary - and yet I recognise the tension that I am the one holding things back and thus not giving people the chance to 'know me'.

But what is it about being known? Why do we crave being known and understood - only to put barriers up in the way of certain people really knowing us because of the fear of what they will do with that knowledge? But maybe I'm still caught up in my thoughts on vulnerability from a couple of weeks ago.

I think it's also on my mind because I've been working on a sermon that I'll be giving at the Credo public meeting next week. It's Luke 9:18-37 - Jesus asking of Peter "who do you say I am?". Here's my question; why does He care? Is it that He wants to be known for more than what other people see or presume about Him (ie, those who follow Him into remote areas to get healed) or does He ask the question to propel those who would seek Him into doing something about what they discover?

Here's "A poem from Prison" - by Bonhoeffer

Who am I? They often tell me I would step from my cell's confinement calmly, cheerfully, firmly, like a squire from his country-house.
Who am I? They often tell me I would talk to my warden freely and friendly and clearly, as though it were mine to command.
Who am I? They also tell me I would bear the days of misfortune equably, smilingly, proudly, like one accustomed to win.
Am I then really all that which other men tell of, or am I only what I know of myself, restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage, struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing my throat, yearning for colours, for flowers, for the voices of birds, thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness, trembling with anger at despotisms and petty humiliation, tossing in expectation of great events, powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance, weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making, faint and ready to say farewell to it all.
Who am I? This or the other? Am I one person today, and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once?
A hypocrite before others, and before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling? Or is something within me still like a beaten army, fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?
Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine. Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am thine.

You gotta love this city...

Tonight was a lot of fun. I played tourist guide (well, a little) for a friend from Vancouver. First up was the Gallery of NSW, followed by dinner in Kirabilli and various strolls and photo shoots under the Harbour Bridge and Luna Park, and then, for no apparent reason, a fireworks display that we got to watch from under the bridge with only a handful of others. Beautiful.





Ben, if you ever decide to lower your standards of communication, and make it to this site - thanks for being the motivation to run around and play for the night. If nothing else, I'm banking on the fact that we made those people in the restaurant laugh at two 'luna-ntics' spinning around...

How many Christians can you know at the snow?

So, it wasn't exactly the weekend I had originally planned to have. Months ago, a friend from college called and suggested that we spend the weekend hanging out and catching up while skiing. Perfect right? Until Thursday that is, when she called and told me that she was unable to make it because of illness. You can imagine my dilemma having already forked out some cash and being keen to hit the slopes... so, I sucked up some courage and decided to still go and stay with her husband and his friends (ie pretty much not knowing anyone).

After 2 and a bit days I worked out that I had either met once before, or had connections with about 17 people down there (and not just from our group because I ran into more on the mountain). It was bizarre - like the two and a bit degrees of separation that most Christians seem to have. All in all, once I passed through my discomfort barriers, it was a fantastic weekend of hanging out with some really lovely people.

And the snow was good too. Ok, not as great as Whilster in Dec/Jan (I think I've been spoilt), but still good. And I've walked away with no broken bones - just a little whiplash and concussion. But it was worth it.

Kindle the flame

Mt 10 year school reunion is coming up in a couple of months. I'm looking forward to it actually - there are a number of people I'd really love to see and know how their lives have been changing over the years. When I left yr 12 I was a Christian, and had a number of Christian friends. Unfortunately, when some of them hit uni, the things of this world became more important and they decided to walk away from Jesus (actually that's one of the reasons why I am so passionate about uni ministry).

So you can imagine how encouraging it is when you hear about someone from school who has walked towards the Lord instead.

When I was about 5, I started at a new school in Melbourne. Unfortunately for me, that first day at school (always a traumatic one) ended up in me having two broken bones and a whole bunch of new friends who wanted to get in on the action. One of them, was a girl named Christine. Years after I did, C ended up moving to Sydney with her family and we became friends again at Ravenswood for a few years in high school before she left in year 10 - on a path to be, in her words "pretty much as far away from being a Christian as you could imagine".

Since '99 she has been living in London, and it was there that three years ago she became a Christian through the 'Alpha' ministries. Three weeks ago, she rocked up to CCSI, remembering that while we were at school there had been a number of younger people who went there. Although I hadn't seen her there that night, I heard how God had been working through her life and when I did I was just so excited that I had to call her straight away (feel a little bad now that it was after 10:30 but I was just compelled!). Since then we've had lunch, swapped testimonies and I've heard of her plans to go to China or Nepal as a missionary.


This is a picture of us taken from Monday night at the CCSI "women in ministry" night (crappy one taken from my phone camera but it's a great memory). It's so amazing to be able to look back and see the ways in which God has been working through peoples lives over 10 years and I can't help but be excited when thinking about what can happen over the next 10.

Can you imagine how excited we'll be when we get to heaven? Can you imagine how many cries of "I never thought you'd be here!" will be going up? So for those who were, or are, Christians at high school and wonder if it makes any difference - be encouraged because it does! (it just may take you ten years or more to know it).

Brownie points if anyone gets the what I'm referring to in the title...