Friday, December 10, 2010

Christmas and UK Trip

It's been a crazy few days. We've had absolutely terrible weather here. Officially it's summer, but we've had days and days of torrential rain. It looks like the drought (which has been going on for 10+ years) is finally broken. The manner of its breaking is not good news for farmers. It was going to be a bumper harvest, but the rain will have destroyed a lot of crops.

One of our students, Janet, was in a bad car crash on Wednesday. Thankfully, she's OK but she's broken her elbow and her leg and it will take her a while to recover.

Weeks like this remind me of how vulnerable we really are. There are so many things that are outside our control. If you think about it too much, it might make you a little crazy - or terrified. Thankfully, needing to be in control is not compatible with a Christian worldview.

Christmas is on its way, but the lack of Christmasy weather coupled with the intensity of the past week has meant that it's going to sneak up on me again. In two weeks I'll be getting on a plane and coming over to the UK for a few weeks. That will probably consume my thoughts for the next fourteen days, meaning that I won't be in a Chritsmasy mood until I arrive in the UK on the 27th.

I'm looking forward to being back home for a while, and reminding myself why we came over here. To me, it's a pilgrimage.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

More Random Musings

While taking a walk this morning I was struck once again by how beautiful the scenery around Canowindra is. It helps that we're entering summer, and the early morning is one of the most glorious times of this season (i.e. before it hits 30 degrees).

The landscape is, of course, just a random collection of trees, grass and dirt so why do I use words like 'beautiful' and 'glorious'?

It's an old argument, but it still carries weight with me. If there is no God, why does such non-sense resonate with our souls? Why does an arbitrary collection of earth and grass please us?

Saturday, October 30, 2010

The Difference Between Being a Christian and Being 'In Christ'

I'm currently reading 'I Believe in the Holy Spirit' by Michael Green, and he makes an interesting (though only passing) point that in the New Testament the term 'Christian' is only found on the lips of pagans. The New Testament's favourite term - at least, Paul's favourite term - to describe followers of Jesus is to speak of us as being 'In Christ'.

What's the difference between understanding yourself as a 'Christian' and understanding yourself as being 'In Christ'. The former is a label which identifies an allegiance to a particular school of thought. It means as much as 'pacifist', 'conservative' or 'racist'. The latter instead refers to an actual state of being; an identity. Being a follower of Christ is not simply a matter of subscribing to a specific philosophy, but rather it's a matter of becoming a new creation. It's a matter of having a totally changed identity. It's a matter of a genuine and real transformation. If I am just a Christian then I can remove that label when I no longer believe what I used to believe, but if the real me has been changed in some way - if I am now 'In Christ' - then this leaves scars that can't simply be dropped and forgotten when I wake up in a bad mood.

Do not see yourself as being a 'Christian' - that's how the Pagans see you. Instead, see yourself as being 'In Christ'. It makes all the difference in the world.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Moving and Waiting

We've just moved to a different property in the community. At the moment Ruth is buzzing around doing a lot of little jobs to get everything the way that it should be in time for my parents' arrival next week.

We're looking forward to them coming, and so are the children.

Spring is here and summer is coming. I'm in shorts and T-shirt again (yay!), something I couldn't imagine happening after a very cold and wet couple of months. It's funny (or not) how my sense of spiritual well-being is also tied into the weather. When it's warm and I can go walking, sit in the countryside and spend time with God there I feel better about life, the universe and everything. This means, of course, that I'm generally much happier in Australia than I was in the UK, but it's strange.

Of course, the weather doesn't actually change anything for me spiritually - it just changes how I feel and my perspective. There is a related effect though, as I'm less likely to get quality time spent with God if I'm trapped inside. I suppose that, for me, I need to develop that discipline of not letting the weather control my spiritual priorities.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Accountability and Hypocrisy

The title of this post seems a little high falutin bearing in mind that I just want to acknowledge the difficulty of being in a position of responsibility (especially being involved in teaching) having having to live a blameless life for the sake of those we have responsibility for.

In an hour I'll be teaching a session on 'Self-Control' and I know that it's an area where I am weak. I've been struggling with self-discipline recently, as my usually-quite-structed time with God has been all over the place in the last week. I'm feeling that, let me tell you.

So, I can throw in the towel or get up there and teach. Actually, there's a third option. I can teach the stuff I know to be true, whilst prefacing it with an acknowledgement of my own hypocrisy in this area. That's the option for me, and it's really the only option for any of us.

"Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, for we know that we who teach will be judged more severly" - James 3:1

Monday, August 30, 2010

Podcasts

I'd like to take this opportunity to recommend Pete Volkofsky's podcasts on the Cornerstone website - http://www.cornerstone.edu.au/podcast-ecd

They're really very good and the podcasts on sex and romance are a great resource for anyone who will, at some point, have to talk to teenagers about the opposite sex.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Election Update

There was an Australian General Election on Saturday. In a shocking repeat of what happened in the UK, it's going to be a hung parliament. I consider it a blessing that I don't have to vote, as I find neither Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott particularly inspiring.

Anyway, that's about as exciting as elections can get. I thought I should update with a few photos, as I haven't posted any recently.

Also, I'm planning to take a trip to the UK in the New Year. I should be back in Blighty from the 27th December to the 17th January. I look forward to the blistering chill of the deathly winter winds of Northern Europe.

Without further ado, here are the photos.

First up - it's been a while since you saw photos of the children, so here are a couple of the boys who had birthdays recently. Reid is now six, and Parker was one in May. See if you can spot who is who...



And we've had a lot of rain here. Lots and lots of rain. It's been the biggest rainfall for about seven years, or something like that. The creek in the paddock at the bottom of the garden has been dry since we arrived here one and a half years ago, but the recent rainfall filled it up.


But not content with being full, it actually kept taking on water and flooded, which made it a tourist attraction for sheep from all around NSW.


And finally, here's Calvin deep in theologically conversation with Johnson, a student from Papua New Guinea. Community is a good thing for our children (sponsored by Coca-Cola).

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Chicken and Egg

What comes first - faith or reason?

I was talking with one of the students here yesterday, and he got me thinking about this. What happens? Do we first reason ourselves into accepting the Lordship of Christ, and then faith follows, or do we take the step of faith first and then the logic comes after?

I can see arguments for both sides.

One of the best definitions of faith (as expressed Biblically) I have come across is the simple formula "Faith = belief + trust + action". If this is true then surely reason comes first, because we only trust and act on something if we have - taking the evidence into account - made the conscious decision that it can be trusted and should be acted upon. In other words, faith is expression of something that we have reasoned to be true.

On the other hand, I'm struck by the resurrection narratives making it clear that Jesus only bothered appearing to those who were already committed to Him. He didn't turn up in Pilate's chamber saying "Nyah, Nyah, Nyah, I told you so", instead he appeared only to those who were already His own. Yet they were demoralised and doubting - and as Matthew reminds us, even after the resurrection appearances some still doubted. It's as if here Jesus was providing confirmation after the act of faith. The reason to believe is given after the act of belief itself.

I suppose that I find myself concluding that faith and reason are actually too dependent on one another to decide which came first. Where you will find one, you will - by necessity - find the other. Even so-called 'blind faith' is the fruit of an individual's choice - which, in turn, is the result of some internal logical process, no matter how illogical it may seem to those around him.

Monday, July 26, 2010

"Changes..." continued

I thought it might be good to unpack my previous post with a concrete example of what I mean.

Let's take the common, everyday situation of conflict. Conflict stalks us every day, especially if we're honest about our interactions with our nearest and dearest. It might be as common as conflicting emotions or agendas, but maybe it's something like a thankfully-not-too-common-in-our-house argument.

When we get into this type of conflict with someone all sorts of goals push to the fore. It might be the goal of proving that you are in the right, and as a result your opponent is in the wrong. It might be the goal of resolving the conflict as peacefully as possible (this kind of response can sometimes be a jackel in bishop's clothing - presenting the aura of Christianity while actually masking what is really just fear). We allow these goals to control the way that we relate in the argument. If our goal is to prove our point, we may find ourselves reduced to bullying tactics. If our goal is peaceful resolution, we may find ourselves willingly taking the blame for something we didn't do or say, not because of noble intent but because of insecurity.

Now imagine that your goal in all situations - including the argument - is 'to become more Christ-like'. Suddenly you are presented with a choice. Pursue one of the goals above, or attempt to respond to this as Christ would. If your goal is to win the argument then you become blind to your own incorrect behaviour. If you are trying to be like Christ then you may find that your view of who is right and who is wrong becomes alarmingly clear. If you are trying to win the argument then the primary focus is the other person's failings and unwillingness to be convinced. If you are trying to be like Christ then the primary focus becomes your own actions and motives. The reality is that, for Christians in conflict, who is right and who is wrong is rarely the biggest issue. It is all too easy to win the argument and lose your soul. So, what happens if the other person won't respond as Christ would to you? That's not the issue. The issue is how did you respond, and that's all that God will hold you responsible for. And growth will follow as sure as night follows day.

If, in every and any situation you face each day, the thought at the forefront of your mind is "How can I respond to this as Christ would" then you will find yourself becoming more and more like Him.

As an aside, if you wish to hear the talk that I gave at the Strathalbyn mini-muster then you can find it here - http://www.cornerstone.edu.au/mini-muster-talks. Some of the musings will not be new to regular readers of this blog, as I did some of my thinking outloud on these pages. I also strongly recommend Paul's talk on "Spirit Led Reckless Abandonment". Good stuff.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

"Turn and Face the Changes..."

As David Bowie sang.

One of the things that I reflect on are the changes that happen in my life. By 'changes' I don't just mean the environmental things but rather the changes in my character.

I've found it more and more helpful to think of God's will for my life being as simple as "become more Christ-like" and then taking advantage of the freedom that gives. The result of this is that I tend to review my life not in terms of where I am or what I am doing, but rather in terms of who I am. I think this is utterly consistent with the New Testament, as so much of what Peter, Paul et al call us to in terms of obedience to God is to do with character rather than what specific things we are doing.

This means that I like to take time every now and then to have an out-of-body experience and see how I have changed in the past few months. My hope is that I will have indeed "become more Christ-like" in the way that I relate and act. It's exciting because sometimes we link 'change' to our external circumstances so much that we think it is impossible to grow unless our environment changes. We think (and proclaim) that those wonderfully painful moments of growth come only when really cataclysmic things happen in our life - a lost job, a death in the family, depression etc. But we experience great growth in those moments not because God made things work that way, but simply because we've become so accustomed to stagnation that God has to shake things up to move us along. It doesn't have to be this way. Christ-likeness is to be pursued every moment of every day, so much so that when our circumstances change in a distressing way we should not be looking to them to provide our growth but rather our reaction to them should prove our growth.

Of course, looking for growth out of hard times is a good response, but I would rather that the pursuit of Christ-likeness be my norm rather than an unusual occurance. When it is seen through the lens of 'character' rather than 'achievement' then it can become the norm. There are a billion opportunities each day to grow, refine and shape our characters.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

World Cup 2

I should have just got an early night.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

World Cup

I just want to mention that World Cup. I've not been watching it, due to the fact that even the earliest matches start at midnight. This coupled with the screen fast has meant that I've been limited to gleaning information from news sites and listening to disappointed Australians.

When the groups were announced, I thought an England/Australia second round clash could be on. As it happens, England's usual underperformance in the group stages has set us up for having to sweep aside Germany and (possibly) Argentina before we even get a sniff of the trophy. This depresses me a little.

However, I do squeeze some pleasure from Italy's inability to progress. And if I was the Irish I would be a bit miffed by France's refusal to take the competition seriously after having bent the rules to get there in the first place.

However, I will be watching the game on Sunday. Hope is a thoroughly Christian characteristic.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Post Strath

Yesterday I returned from a trip to South Australia. The Cornerstone team in Strathalbyn were running one of the annual mini-musters (i.e. a Cornerstone convention run on a smaller scale), and had invited me to be one of the speakers. Following the weekend mini-muster, some of our students stayed down for the whole week to have the experience of being part of a mission team. I remained with them for the week and learnt some interesting things. For example, in Australia people don't seem to have heard of Banoffee pie but they do have banana caramel pie, which is Banoffee pie in everything but name.

It was a busy week, but it was excellent in terms of giving all of us who were there an example of what life was like in a mission team. It was a great experience, and I also had some mighty fine cheesecake. All in all, a great time.

It was hugely encouraging to see what some of the guys who were at Canowindra last year had been getting up to. They had been doing some really great stuff with the young people in the town, and it helped me to realise that I had - in some small way - played a role in that.

I think my mini-muster talk is supposed to go up on the internet at some point, so I'll post a link to it here when it appears. Much of the content will not be new to regular readers of this blog, as I've been thinking through some of the related issues on these very pages.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Screen Fast

I'm starting the screen fast today (just to recap - updating my blog is PRODUCTIVE screen time, and therefore it's OK). This means no more useless browsing of BoardGameGeek or looking up Transformers stuff on YouTube for a month. Nietzsche was right about several things, and one of them was "That which does not kill you makes you stronger."

Just for those of you who are not into alternative and underground music, my brother's band seem to be making a few waves. Going by the dubious moniker of 'Male Bonding', their first album release (on the prestigious Sub Pop label) seems to be doing very well. It's certainly a lot more listenable than some of his previous musical projects. He's worked hard and I'm proud of what him for it.

Because my blog is officially classified as PRODUCTIVE you might see more updates over the next month. But then again, you might not because I'll actually be away for three of the next five weeks anyway.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Today the holidays start for our students, which gives me a few days respite to catch up with some work and update the blog.

When they get back we'll be starting our screen fast. This is something that we try to do once a year here. We encourage people to fast from 'screens' for a month. We've discovered that things like movies, video games and Facebook can really be a distraction for people, so we try to introduce a period where we're fasting from those kind of things. It's optional, of course, but I think that most the of the students sign up for it.

I take part too. I don't play video games or watch TV much, and I use a computer for work a lot, so I pledge to fast from 'non-productive' screen time. This means no movies, games and so on - which is not a huge blow because my leisure time involves other things. What it does mean that I stop unconstructive use of the computer, which is fairly common for me. All that meaningless internet surfing I do goes out of the window. I will use the computer for work and for anything else that is productive - such as blog updates.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Wisdom, Patience and Grace

There's a final comment that I want to make following my last post. You see, because I am hoping to be an inspiration, there is always the challenge of how to respond when someone stubbornly refuses to be inspired. The easy thing to do is to believe that the problem is with them rather than me. That's a natural response pretty much every time anything goes wrong in a relationship with someone. Of course, the opposite defect is to believe that the problem is always with myself. Neither of these are the truth 100% of the time, and to think so goes against the Biblical injunction to think of ourselves with 'sober judgement'.

The reality is that often people will not be inspired by me, and sometimes it will be my fault and sometimes it will be theirs. The challenge is to be wise enough to tell the difference, and to have patience and grace with myself and - primarily, in my case - with others.

I've been helped by something that Neil Anderson mentions in the Freedom in Christ material. He points out that when Isaiah is called by God to be a prophet, his reponse is "Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips who lives among a people of unclean lips". Likewise, when Peter is confronted by Christ, his reponse is "Get away from me, for I am a sinful man". The point that is made that when we draw close to God, we cannot ever be conscious of another's sin without also being aware of our own. If we are more aware of the failings of another than we are of our own, then perhaps we are actually pushing away from God rather than being drawn closer to Him.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Education, Training and Inspiration

Wow, two blog updates in two days. I'm on fire!

(Not literally, of course. That's something that I would Tweet rather than blog).

Yesterday's blog was really me thinking out-loud, and thanks to the wonders of modern technology I can now inflict unedited internal musings on the whole world. In reading it back to myself I do feel that it's a bit 'all-over-the-place', but there's something precious in there that you can do with what you want.

Today I wanted to write about something else; another personal impression.

Although, as far as the Department of Immigration and Citizenship is concerned, I am here as an 'vocational educator', I'm not really an educator. I don't see my role here as 'to educate'. The world is full of Bible colleges that do a good job of 'educating'. I don't think Cornerstone is or should be attempting to add to that number. There are plenty of schools that would do a better job than we do.

Another label that has been applied to what we do is 'equipping' or 'training'. Now we're getting closer to the mark. It's one of the crimes of Western thought to assume that 'educating' is the same as 'training'. There are a lot of Christian places that 'educate', but fewer engage in 'training'. In Cornerstone we attempt to train and equip people to live as a follower of Jesus, regardless of where He sends them. I think we could do a better job at this, but at least we recognise the distinction between 'education' and 'training' and have a go. But I don't really want to be a 'trainer' either.

What I long to do, and what I pray for, and what I believe is the role of any Cornerstone staff member is to 'inspire'. In other words, it's not enough for me to educate someone about what it means to follow Christ. It's not even enough for me to bridge that gap and then go on to show them how to follow Christ. What I cannot afford to fail to do is stir in them a desire to want to follow Christ. There must be something about me that causes restlessness in others. People must sit in one of my lectures or work with me or eat with me or play boardgames with me and come away unable to sleep because they just can't get the stench of the Kingdom of God out of their nostrils. If people do not cross my path and walk away saying "I want to be like him..." then I don't deserve to be in a position of influence. I am unashamed in my desire to be the sort of person who arouses greatness in others.

Does this offend you? Does it jar against some carefully formulated doctrine of humilty that you hold to? It would have done so with me once, but I have come to believe that, when it comes to following Christ, if I can't honestly say "The world would be a better place if there were more people like me" then I'm not doing it properly. I long not just to teach, nor just to equip. I long to inspire.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Purpose and Happiness

So is the message of the gospel to find happiness by living out your God-given purpose, or to find happiness in denying your God-given purpose?

Or - I believe that God wants us to be happy, but is happiness caused by circumstances or character? When I put the question like that, the answer seems self-evident.

One of the reasons that we moved to Australia was because I believed that what Cornerstone was doing resonated with my God-fuelled desires in a way that church ministry did not. In what seems like an unapologetically selfish statement, we moved to Australia because we believed that it would make us happy. And it has, and I remain convinced that God was steering the whole ship.

However, if we are where God wants us to be, why do I still suffer from angst and discontentment? If I am living out my dream, why do I still occasionally long for something else? The answer is obvious to me - because there is something inside me (let's call it 'the Dead Man' ala Romans 6) that is not content when God is calling the shots. The Dead Man is oblivious to his own state of non-vitality, and needs me to constantly club him over the head with a shovel and drag his carcass back to its burial spot at the foot of the cross. The Dead Man fills my head with phantasms about how things would be better if I were in charge. The Dead Man lies, yet sometimes I'm a willing audience.

In other words, my lack of happiness is a character issue and not a circumstance issue. But, this leads me full-circle to what, for me, is the real question.

When do you stop and say "Enough is enough"? At what point do you step away from a job worth doing because it, ultimately, is making you unhappy and clashes with what you believe God has called you to? If happiness is a character issue then surely I should be able to devote myself to thankless tasks that need doing and remain joyful. Yet within me stirs something that balks at the idea of a lifetime spent pushing paper and ticking boxes. That is not what God made me for. Yet (if you'll forgive the torturous metaphor) if everyone is Indiana Jones then there are no stay-at-home curators who provide the museums for the archaeologist's findings.

If God has placed something within me that longs to be an adventurer, but what the world really needs is a curator, how do I live out the gospel? Do I pursue the adventure for the sake of my happiness and fulfilment, or do I find some kind of topsy-turvey kingdom happiness in rejecting my dreams and becoming what the world needs me to be. What is the real call of God?

Again, when I put it like that, the answer becomes self-evident. The key is to become what the world needs you to be. The world doesn't ask "How can I help you fulfil your dreams?" The world (being populated, as you would expect, by Dead Men and Women) asks "What can you do for me?", and the only answer a follower of Christ can give is "Well, I can die - and I can die well".

This post might be interpreted as rumblings of discontent with what we're doing in Cornerstone. Not at all. This is where we should be, and we're doing what we should be doing. But it is a question about whether or not I am willing to do what needs to be done even if it costs me a dream. There's never a bad time to ask yourself that question.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Let me whinge about how tired I am...

Last week was a very punishing week. We had two staff members away on holiday which had a knock-on effect for my workload. I already had a full week on, so this was not appreciated. It was such a tough one for me that I've decided to miss this week's Games Night so I can have an evening in. Let me repeat that. I'm choosing to miss an opportunity to play board games. That's how weary I am.

(Was going to say 'shattered' but you don't use it that way in Oz. It means 'distraught' rather than 'blooming tired'.)

It drives home again all those considerations and challenges about commitment and choosing to respond well to circumstances. At times like this I'm always reminded of that part in Matthew 13:13-14 where Jesus is trying to take a break and the crowds won't let him. John the Baptist has just been executed and he wants some time alone to grieve, but the people follow him. I'm humbled and broken (perhaps 'shattered') by what Matthew tells us - that Jesus saw them, had compassion on them and attended to their needs at the immediate expense of his own. I'm also reminded of the description of Jesus (by Bonhoeffer if I remember correctly) as 'The Man for Others'.

There's no such thing as 'me time', or at least if there is it's merely time spent selfishly, for which we can expect no honour from God. There's time spent wisely making sure that my ministry is sustainable, and there's time spent feeding my egotistical conviction that "My needs are the most important thing in the world". The problem is that I can rarely tell the difference between the two.

Can I ever be Son of God enough to selflessly respond to the needs of others even when all I want is an evening by myself? I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities to put it to the test, and maybe I will prove myself to be a Christian after all.

On a less introspective note, I think it's about time I put some family photos up so that you can see how well we're all looking.



Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Daylight Savings

Easter has come and gone again, and I missed the opportunity to post about it on my blog. Thankfully Easter continues to shine throughout the year, so there's no worries there.

I preached on Easter Sunday morning at Cowra Baptist church. This was my first pulpit appearance at the church, and as votes of confidence go, giving over Easter Sunday is a pretty big one. I am due to preach again in July, and as that has yet to be revoked I guess I did OK on Sunday. I spoke about the idea of God doing some of his best work in the darkness. I was taken by John's throwaway line in his ressurection account that when the women go to the tomb it is 'still dark'. The darkness holds all kinds of terrors for us, but God works in the darkness regardless. John throws up all these contrasts in his gospel - light and darkness, life and death, those who believe contrasted with those who don't - and yet by the end of the gospel we are left in no doubt who is Lord over both light and darkness, life and death, and those who believe and those who don't. Easter is God working with the lights out, and those of us who live in the light of the resurrection are called to follow our Lord and Master by serving in those dark places.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Posting Time.

I've been meaning to throw something up here recently, just for the discipline of keeping the blog alive. This morning seems as good a time as any to vent my spleen.

Things are ticking over nicely here. There's not much to report in terms of activity. We've started pumpkin season, which is something new for the guys here. I think that they prefer watermelons, but they wouldn't have said that a few weeks ago.

I feel like one of the things that I need to be aware of and fight is stagnation. I'm talking spiritually, of course. Once you get over the excitement and stress and change, it's so very easy to settle into routine and habit and begin to get by on autopilot. I need to make sure that I'm challenging myself to keeping growing. I'm still thinking about what that might look like.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Men's Convention

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm sitting here in my study writing this blog to the backdrop of another torrential rain shower. It seems like we've had a considerable amount of rain this summer, which the farmers appreciate but would prefer in the winter. I've had to move stuff around in my office to prevent losing things to water damage like I did a few weeks ago.

On Friday evening a few of us took the male students to Katoomba to attend the annual men's convention that runs there. It was a good weekend, though - as usual for me - not without its share of angst, frustration and challenges.

On the way down, a few of us were talking about what constituted acceptable humour (oh yes, we live life in the fast lane down here) and a fellow staff member, Phil, shared some thoughts from The Screwtape Letters. He was talking about how Lewis (in the persona of the demonic author of the letters) categorises humour according to how easily it can be used for evil purposes. The worst type, according to what Phil was saying, is the cynicism that turns everything into a joke; the humour that prevents people from sharing anything honest about themself for fear of ridicule and turns a cowardly act into a heroic one by making a joke of it. It was interesting to think about, as I can so easily use humour in such a destructive way.

At the convention they have a Q&A session. As it was a men's convention, there was talk of relationships with the family, women and sex. Many of the questions asked reflected the topics that we had been thinking about. One of the original panel members had to drop out due to ill health, so he was replaced at short notice by the MC of the weekend. Jokes were made about his understandable reluctance to sit in the hot seat at such short notice, and how the hard questions would be given to him. Sure enough, a tricky question came up; a question about a difficult situation concerning sexual relations with a wife. It touched on a variety of challenging and raw issues. Sure enough, the question was handed to the reluctant stand-in, to the greatest amusement of us in the crowd. It got one of the biggest laughs of the weekend.

A part of me died inside. This wasn't a hypothetical situation, this was real-life. Reading between the lines (which wasn't hard to do) this seemed to be a heart-breaking situation for the people involved and we turned it into a joke. I don't doubt that prayer had been said and tears shed in that relationship. If ever there was a cynical, twisted use of humour that illustrated Lewis' point exactly, that was it.

I don't even remember the answer given to the question. What is even the point of men's conventions if we can't bear the burdens of our weakest brothers and weep with them?

Friday, February 12, 2010

Eleven Months to Christmas...

Well, the end of 2010 is in sight and it's time to think about Christmas presents and what 2011 is going to bring.

Actually, there's plenty to do in 2010 first. We're coming to end of our orientation period, and the year is about to really get under way for us. We've got a great bunch of students this year. What really encourages me is how many of them are just so keen to learn and grow. The kind of training that we offer means that I value hunger for God higher than academic ability in our prospective disciples.

We've had a lot of rain here over the past couple of weeks. It's played a bit of havoc with our work schedule, as harvesting melons doesn't happen so well in the rain. If they get wet then they explode.

Monday, January 25, 2010

An Update.

I'm not doing too well with the updating of the blog, am I?

We've started the new year, which means that the old students have all said goodbye and gone (except for those that haven't) and some new ones have arrived. It's an interesting time of year because it involves change. Change can be good, but I'm the sort of person who finds it fairly stressful 99% of the time. Maybe that should be 100%? I'm trying to think of a time when I wasn't stressed out by something changing. When I last changed Parker's nappy that wasn't too stressful. Maybe I'll keep it at 99%.

I was talking to Dave (a fellow staff member) last year and he was telling me about a book he'd read by M Scott Peck (I think it was The Road Less Travelled). One of the things that he got from the book was the realisation that change and problems are an inevitable part of life. There is nothing that you can do to escape them. They are going to come your way. If you view change and problems as causes for stress; bad things that should be avoided, then you will spend a fair amount of your life depressed because you are destined to run headlong into them. Now, if you view change and problems as potential areas for growth and benefit then you can totally take the sting out of them, as well as increase your mental health.

Which of these two perspectives (fear vs. potential) best fits the message of the Christian gospel? Which of the two, for the child of God, is what God promises for us?

I'm becoming more and more convinced that most of the things that deny us joy in life are about internal matters - our perspective - rather than actual external modifications to our lifestyle. If this is true, then our biggest problem in life is the fact that we tend to listen to and believe the voices of others, the world, our experiences, the enemy and ourselves more than we listen to and trust the voice of the Holy Spirit whispering the promises of God to our soul.

In theory, that makes transformation a lot easier than we might fear it to be.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Back in Australia

Ah, back in the Land Down Under - where wind blows and then thunders, or something. I guess that, technically, New Zealand is also the Land Down Under but I don't think anyone has ever written a song about New Zealand. Have they?

Anyway, we're back and gearing up for the start of the new year. Back to watermelons and lots of meeting new people. Happy New Year to everyone out there!