Cairns Holiday 2009

Lily's World

Lily was doing some drawing....

Lily: Look Daddy! It's a sun!
Me: Wow! It looks like a bird.
Lily: No, it's a sun.... It's a different kind of sun.
Me: Is it a bird-shaped-sun?
Lily: Yeah, it's a bird-sun.

Lily's World

I was getting Lily and Isla's breakfast ready....

Lily: Daddy, I'm just holding the milk for you.
Me: OK honey.
Lily: Did you say "ok" or "no-k"?

Daniel's Prayer

"O our God, hear your servant's prayer! Listen as I plead. For your sake, Lord, smile again on your desolate sanctuary.
"O my God, lean down and listen to me. Open your eyes and see our despair. See how your city - the city that bears your name - lies in ruins. We make this plea, not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy.
"O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen and act! For your own sake, do not delay, O my God, for your people and your city bear your name."
Daniel 9:17-19.

I was praying that for the Church.

Lily's World

I just thought this was cute...

Me: Lily, can you see any trees that have no leaves on them?
Lily: No, I can see trees have got YES leaves on them.

How to Worship Together (and Stay Friends)

Here's a talk I did at church yesterday, on how to worship together well. Feel free to have a listen! If it's easier to download it, here's the link (just right-click and save).

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Life

And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

Colossians 3:4

Wow, what a verse! How have I missed this one before? Meditate on that a little.

More Than Mere Mortals

I found this pretty encouraging. From Lifestyle Discipleship, by Jim Peterson...

"It is true that many Christians live lives that seem to be unmarked by Christ's presence. It is possible to belong to Christ but remain a spiritual infant. Paul asked the Corinthians, "Are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?" Mere men! This seems to imply that a mature believer is something more than a mere mortal.

"But it is also true that many Christians who consider themselves unfit and feel they have nothing to offer have, in fact, great potential for ministering to others. True, they are still in the thick of it with their personal battles. They can't refer to their struggles in the past tense because they lost a round just yesterday. "How can I," they ask, "help others in areas where I am still fighting losing battles?"

"There is a big difference between these people and the others we described. The chronic infant has made peace with the enemy, while this second group is seeking to come to grips with their problems and to be delivered from them. They are looking to the Spirit of God for help and are trying to live by biblical truth. They pray their way through their struggles. They don't have many answers to their prayers to show others, and there aren't many final victories to talk about. But the significant thing about these people is that they are battling. They are fighting the very same battles that their "mere men" brothers and sisters have written off as unwinnable. More significant, they are fighting against the same issues that are victimizing their unbelieving family and friends. People can identify with them."

Jesus vs The Therapist

From Lifestyle Discipleship, by Jim Peterson....

"In our attempts to cope with this despair, we have created the therapist as our secular priest. His job is to alleviate pain. But he too tells us lies and will leave us broken still. His message is that it's all there inside us. He asserts that the individual must find and assert his or her true self because this self is the only source of genuine relationships with other people. One must know and accept one's self, he insists, in order to enter into valid relationships with others. One must become independent of others to come to where one doesn't need another's love to feel complete. People need self-validation, says the therapist. They need to be able to say, "I'm okay," independent of what others might think or say about them."

"In contrast, Jesus calls our attention to the cross, not to make us feel good about ourselves, but to make us realize that in spite of ourselves, all is forgiven. Rather than instructing us to shift the blame to our deprived childhood or abusive parents, He takes is all upon Himself, making it vanish forever. He holds us responsible for our own behavior because we are really the only ones who can do anything about it. He assures us that if we are willing, He will help us get started and also empower us to keep going.

"Then He calls us into a set of interdependent relationships, with Him and with our brothers and sisters. We are in these relationships, He says, not just for what we can get out of them, but also for what we can bring to them. Self-fulfillment is the wrong pursuit.

"Healing, according to Jesus, is for those who are broken and admit it.

"The incompatibility of these two messages - of the secular therapist and of Jesus - is almost total. Both cannot be true."

On the Way to Queenstown, NZ

Wisdom

Ecclesiastes 9:7-10

"So go ahead. Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this! Wear fine clothes, with a splash of cologne! Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil.

"Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave, there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom."

I'm still reading through the Bible in a Year, and have just got to Ecclesiastes - one of my favourite books in the Bible. So much wisdom in there, and I love that it's not philosophy apart from God, like so much thinking these days. This is real wisdom, with God firmly in the picture.

I wonder what amazing wisdom Solomon might have come up with if he'd had a little more of a concept of heaven? He's certainly one person I'd love to chat to sometime. Or more likely: sit at his feet and listen quietly while my mind is blown!

The Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tekapo, NZ

Lily's World

Lily: I love you, Mummy.

Tam: I love you, sweetie.

Lily: I love you, Daddy.

Me: I love you too, honey.

Lily: Yay! We all love us!

Revival Town

Why did Jesus say we all need to become like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven? Here's a talk I did about young people, and what Jesus thinks of them.
If anyone'd like to download these, if that's easier for you, you can get them from www.thechapelyacc.com, on the resources page.

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Cool Video

Lily's World

I was having a beer with my mate Luke, and Lily was sitting between us.

Luke asked: Where's your beer, Lily?

Lily: Oh, I don't normally have beer....

Restoration

Here's part 2 of Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well. Feel free to have a listen!

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Cathedral Square, Christchurch

Girls' Germs

Here's a talk I gave at church about Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, John 4. If you can ignore the fact that my voice sounds like a chipmunk in this recording (microphone issues), feel free to have a listen!

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Giant Waterslide Jump

40hr Famine

Hi everyone,

I'm doing the 40hr famine this year (21-23 August), which is raising money to help people who've been hit by the global food crisis. There are currently more than 900 million chronically hungry people around the world, and approximately 1.4 billion in extreme poverty. That's awful.

Please sponsor me! I'm going without food for 40hrs, and our youth group is trying to raise $1000. Every $40 helps 5 children for 1 month. Please donate whatever you can! It's one little way we can make things a bit fairer in our world.

Click on the box on the right if you would like to give something. Anything is good - I think $2 is the minimum for online. Thanks!

Ben

The Sound of Music

Check this out! It's so cool.

Lily's World

Lily (after Isla sneezed on her): On no! Isla did bless on me!

Three Huts

A man was stranded on a deserted Pacific island for years. Finally one day a boat comes sailing into view, and the man frantically waves and draws the skipper’s attention. The boat comes near the island and the sailor gets out and greets the stranded man.

After a while the sailor asks, “What are those three huts you have here?”
“Well, that’s my house there.”
“What’s that next hut?” asks the sailor.
“I built that hut to be my church.”
“What about the other hut?”
“Oh, that’s where I used to go to church.”

---
Thanks to Geoff Snook for this one!

Roy's Blog

A retired friend of mine at church has just started up a blog on God and Creation. Check it out and make some comments if you get a chance!

http://www.creationistscorner.blogspot.com/

Isla

Isla's World

Isla has a more simple world than Lily's. The other day Tam was feeding her, and she looked up at Tam and said, "Boooooooooooob."

Lily's World

Lily (while playing with her doll's house the other day, and the TV was NOT on): We're watching ABC Kids!

Look Closely

That's right. I was following an Amazing Race team. How cool is that! This was coming into Southbank, a few weeks ago.

Hunger Bites - 40hr Famine

Women Pastors

The big-city denominational office had sent a female pastor to serve in an old country church - and the local elders were having a hard time accepting the new minister. But they wanted to be gracious, so the board invited the pastor to join them on a fishing trip.

Once at the lake, the group got into a boat and motored out some fifty yards from shore when the pastor announced, apologetically, "I'm so sorry - I've forgotten my fishing rod."

So she stepped out of the boat, walked across the water to the bank, and picked up her equipment, and walked on the water back to the boat.

"Just like a woman," one of the elders muttered. "Always forgetting something."

Lily's World

Tam got me an espresso coffee machine a few years back, and most mornings I'll make myself a coffee while Lily & I are having breakfast. There's usually extra milk froth, so I make Lily a babycino too (froth with chocolate on top), and she loves it.

The other morning, though, I asked if she'd like a cino, and she said no. I was a bit surprised. "Are you sure, honey?" I asked.

"I want a baby cino latte this time."

Pray in May

Last year I decided to focus on prayer in May. Mostly because pray rhymes with May, but a little because I knew prayer was something that my life generally needed more of.

This year I'm doing it again, because prayer is still something I'd like to get better at. Here's the list of ideas I wrote down at the start of the month. We're halfway through May already, and many of these haven't happened, but they're still good ideas I think, so I'll keep trying to do them.

• Pray with "Sacred Space" every day (www.sacredspace.ie)
• Read Bible every day, and journal any thoughts
  
• Pray with Tam every night before going to sleep
• Coffee with Tam once each week and write prayers in a notebook together
• Have mates over to pray and play wii (I know, sounds odd)
  
• Lead a prayer night at home group
• Organise PRAY12 with youth group (12 hours of prayer - June 19-20)
• Fast from something
• Write lyrics to express prayers, how I feel, to God. Even just 1 or 2 lines a day.
• Set aside 2 half-days, to spend time with God
• Picnic with family one day, somewhere in God's awesome creation
• Play worship songs on guitar at least once a week
• 1 hour of focussed prayer a week (e.g. use one of the 24-7 prayer guides)
• Pray for each youth person every week
• Go to a church prayer meeting
• Organise to get all married couples prayed for weekly
• Organise to get all youth prayed for weekly
• Email a short weekly prayer points email to people in the church
  
• Set up a prayer space at the church
• Get other people to pray in the church services (e.g. youth, children)
  

Lily's World

Me (after Lily gets on the bathroom scales): How much do you weigh, honey?
Lily: 62 months.

Crikey, she's getting big.

The Thief

Luke 23:42. "Jesus, please remember me when you come into your kingdom."

Was the thief on the cross the only one to still believe Jesus was the Messiah, even while they both were being crucified? That's a lot of faith.

Did the early disciples ever envy the thief, because he got to suffer just as Jesus did?

Will we envy him when we meet in heaven?

I'll want to talk with this man.

Energy

We've recently got an energy use monitor from the Government, which tells us how much energy we're using. It's so interesting I find myself looking at it probably 50 times a day.

Just looked up at it before and it said we were using energy at the rate of 1.2 cents an hour. Awesome! That's the lowest I've ever seen it (except for the one in the picture - how did they do that?).

But then I boiled the kettle for a cuppa and it jumped up to 63.5 cents an hour. Whoa.

Moral of the story? If you frequently get distracted by things when you're meant to be working, don't get an energy monitor.

Wordle

Here's a word cloud of everything on this blog! The most-used words are the biggest.

Lily's World

Me: Lily, who's your favourite in our family - Daddy, Mummy or Isla?

Lily: Umm.. Mummy and Isla.

Serves me right I guess.

I'm Not the Prodigal Son

Luke 15.

Most often, when I've read this story, I've seen myself in the position of the prodigal son. The younger one. The one running home, the one receiving the Father's amazing love and grace. It's a very uplifting story if you're the younger son.

And at times I have to say I definitely am this one - running back to God for his forgiveness again.

But in the actual context, Jesus is telling this story to illustrate God's love and acceptance for people who haven't grown up in the church. People who don't know all the right answers, who aren't comfortable in religious settings, who'd stand out like a sore thumb if they came to church. Unlike me. I've been in the church all my life - it's my home environment. I'm actually employed to do church work.

In this context, I'm the older brother, who's been at home working hard - but struggles to love and accept the "sinners" - drug dealers, prostitutes, pick pockets, criminals, drunks, cheaters... prodigals.

It's a bit more confronting from that angle. It turns out I'm the nasty one in the story. And it brings up some hard questions I need to ask of myself....

I serve God every week, a lot. But do I really care - like God does - for these "sinners"?

In the story, it was the younger son who got the happy ending. What will it be for me?

The older brother worked hard for "God" all his life, but ended up with no love and grace - somehow he missed the point along the way. Am I missing it too?

Maybe my life spent in church has made me more like a Pharisee than I'd ever realised. I talk about how important it is to show love and grace, but is it just talk? Jesus tells this story to criticize people just like me.

How many times have I heard this story? and yet have I been blind to the real point all this time? Too caught up in religion and church work?

He was talking to me.

God, help me hear it now.

Wednesday

 

Jesus is anointed with perfume. Ross Parsons talking about love and forgiveness in the Easter week.

I Live Here Too

Numbers 35:34.

"You must not defile the land where you live, for I live there myself. I am the Lord, who lives among the people of Israel."

An important reminder to care for our environment, because it's God's home too. I can't think why, but I've never really thought of it like that before. I guess God does live here, with us. So that would make it his home.

And going by this passage, it's not just about reducing our carbon footprint, or planting trees, etc. In this passage, God says that "murder pollutes the land" (v33).

What we do and how we live is polluting the land. It's no wonder our natural world has issues. We can't just reform our exploitation of natural resources (although we do need to do that), or just reform our spirituality (although we do need to do that). We must also reform the way we live - our relationships with others - because somehow this is affecting the environment. I can't explain how it affects the land, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's true, because our natural world is getting worse.

And there's no point saying, "I've never murdered anyone - I'm all good," because Jesus pointed out that hate towards a person is as bad as murder.

Our broken relationships are polluting our land.

We've got to start living better, with all our connections right.

With the environment,

With God,

and with the other people in our world - our friends, family, workmates, as well as all the people we don't know, but who our decisions still affect: like the poor cocoa farmer in Ghana, and the sweating factory worker in India.

God lives here too.

Ben Needs...

Thanks to Geoff for passing on this fun little game.

Type "Ben needs" (or your name) in Google and list the first 10 decent responses....

1. Ben needs money for art supplies.
2. What Ben needs right now more than anything is for the Boston Red Sox to win the World Series (I've "invested" a lot of money on that).
3. Ben needs a crutch (hurt my leg trying to steal art supplies at the baseball).
4. Ben needs body of steel (then I'd have no trouble pilfering stuff).
5. Ben needs our support now (for my sore leg, and I really need to quit stealing because it's bad for me).
6. Ben needs the beard back (kind of need to change my identity - no reason).
7. Ben needs 14 stitches to close cut on forearm (there's got to be an easier way to get art supplies).
8. Ben needs your vote to win composer of the year prize.
9. Ben needs a bigger helmet (being an artist, composer, baseball fan and unsuccessful thief is perilous).
10. Ben needs more orange and less finance (I've finally decided to just paint with fruit...).

Earthquakes

Numbers 16 | Mark 15

The contrast in these two passages is amazing. Numbers 16 tells the story of when God incinerated 250 men for sinning against Him, and made the ground open up to swallow their families and homes whole.... A powerful, unweilding, uncompromising God.

And then in Mark 15, this same God is about to be crucified, and he's allowing people to falsely accuse him, whip him, embarrass and mock him, beat him up, and finally nail him to a cross to die a horrible death.

What amazing humility and restraint Jesus showed. He doesn't call up an earthquake, or fire to incinerate these sinners, although they deserved it. He just accepts the beating, takes their sins on his own shoulders, and gives up his life for them. No more need for earthquakes, if only we trust him.

I struggle to comprehend this God.

A Bit Drastic

Numbers 15:32-36

A man is found gathering wood on the Sabbath day (when you're not allowed to work). The people didn't know what to do with him, so they brought him to Moses, Aaron and the rest of the community.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "The man must be put to death! The whole community must stone him outside the camp." And so they did.

This shocked me a little. Sounds pretty drastic. But I guess it showed the community that you can't mess with God. He has to be taken seriously.

I'm pretty glad we're under a more gracious arrangement now....

The last few months has been pretty busy for me, and there haven't been many rest days in there at all. Still, if there was the threat of stoning, I'd probably be a bit more intentional about it, and I'd probably have a healthier life....

Bible in a Year

I just bought myself a One Year Bible, so I can read the whole thing over the next year. I've been wanting to try and do this for ages. We'll see how we go. It says you only need to read about 15min a day. Sounds not too bad.

I'll post some things every now and then about what I'm reading.

Tick for Day 1.

:: Contrast ::

:: Contrast ::, originally uploaded by anthonyko.

Tam & I have booked tickets to go on holidays in New Zealand this year, so don't be surprised if I post some NZ photos every now and then. I'm a little excited about it all...

The Older Brother

Luke 15:28-32

The prodigal son humbly walks home, the whole village throws a huge party... and his older brother sulks. 

"Father, listen to me. I've been serving you faithfully, day in day out, for so many years - I can tell you the exact number too - but you've given me nothing. Aren't I more important? Haven't I proven myself much more? You should be celebrating me.

"But instead you're celebrating this worm that's crawled home. Do you know what he's done? He can't be trusted. I can't believe you're doing this -he's just going to do it again. He should be getting justice - what he deserves. I will not come to this 'party', because it's wrong. It's an insult to righteousness. He needs to know how bad he is."

Jesus keeps mentioning these people who've "grown up" in the faith and are bitter, or are invited to the banquet but say no, or started out following Jesus but hadn't figured out the cost. It's been a kind of secondary motif running through these stories about the lost being found.

I guess what this says to us is that there will probably always be people who've grown up in the faith but can't get with the program - whoare bitter, unforgiving and jealous of the more rebellious, "not as mature as us", lost-who've-been-found people. There are probably some in every church. We've got some in ours.

I think what Jesus basically says to these people is,

"Hey, what's the problem? You're still my son [or daughter]. Get over your issues and get with the program. We're celebrating here. Look at the amazing things that are happening! Lost people are being found! Blind people can now see! My kingdom is being built. We're having a wedding FEAST and you're invited. Are you coming?

Get over it and celebrate with us. Christianity is about celebrating, not sulking.

Are you coming?

Stand Out

Matthew 23:11-12

"Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty." - Jesus

I used to think this was saying "Don't stand out. Good Christians don't draw attention."

But I think Jesus is actually making the point that if we humble ourselves and serve others, we will stand out, because this is different to normal.

Think of the surprise the disciples got when Jesus washed their feet. And accepted Judas' kiss. And walked to the cross.

Jesus stood out. And his kingdom does stand out on these points. And we will too, if we live like humble servants, care for our enemies (who else does that?), look to advance others instead of ourselves, pray hard, dream big for our world.... We'll stick out like a sore thumb.

Here's the paradox: it doesn't work when we try to stand out. That's just like the rest of the world. It only works when we try to live like Jesus, and don't care about being noticed.

There's no award for the best Christian in the world. We just love.

Lily playing cricket

 

Lily's World

Lily: What doing, Daddy?
Me: I'm flossing.
Lily: Why?
Me: Because when you're older, it helps to get stuff out of your teeth.
Lily: I want some foffs. I older now.

I could take 21 of em

Encouraging Article

Small-Church Youth Ministry

My youth group now? A big numbers night for us is...I shouldn’t tell you. What does it matter, really? Okay, just for the sake of comparison, a really big night for us is 10 kids, or whenever we have to pull up another couch when we’re hanging out in our Coffee Café. With everything else I have to do to serve my church, I have maybe five to eight hours a week to offer our youth group. And it’s just not enough time.

Crowds

Matt 5:1-12 - The Beatitudes

I found this little story interesting....

Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds. Imagine how the disciples would have been feeling. I think they would have been loving it....

"Wow, we are so successful! We've got bigger crowds than all the other Rabbis put together. We've made it! We're so blessed."

So Jesus takes them away, sits them down, and starts teaching....

"This is not blessing. This is not real success. These crowds are not the guage.

You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope.

   when you feel you've lost...

    when you're content with just how you are

    when you're hungry and thirsty for God

   when you care

   when your mind and heart are right

   when you help people get along

And when you're persecuted because of me."

Maybe the disciples were thinking, "What?! Persecution? Wake up and smell the adoration, J Dog! They LOVE us. You're a hero!"

But Jesus was right. The crowds are fickle. Numbers mean nothing. Those same crowds all deserted him. These same people crucified him.

He needed to tell his disciples all this, especially when things were going well.

And then he goes on...

"Let me tell you why you're here. It's bigger than this. Not just to build crowds, and grow a "successful" ministry. You're here to be salt, and light.

"Love. Shine. Give. Pray. This is the way to influence."

Psalm 4:6-8

"Why is everyone hungry for more?...

"I have God's more-than-enough,

more joy in one ordinary day

Than they get in all their shopping sprees.

At day's end I'm ready for sound sleep,

For you, God, have put my life back together."

- King David

iTunes Game

1. Put your ZUNE/iPod/iTunes/MP3 Player/etc. on shuffle.

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. You must write that song name down no matter how silly it sounds!
IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
"Goodbye Apathy" (OneRepublic)

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
"My Glorious" (Delirious?)... I have a healthy self-esteem

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
"Plan B" (Mute Math)... ha

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
"Sacrifice" (Tree63)... actually that's pretty true

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
"Beautiful" (Phil Wickham)... no surprise here

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
"Elevation" (U2)WHAT IS TWO PLUS TWO?
"Stars" (David Crowder Band)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
"Mixtape" (Butch Walker)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
"Befriended" (Matt Redman)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
"Seasons" (Susie Suh)... very philosophical

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
"Orphans" (Jack's Mannequin)... uh oh

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
"Politicians" (Switchfoot)... ha

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
"After Your Heart" (Phil Wickham)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
"Rapture" (iiO)... true, can't wait for heaven!

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
"Roll Right By You" (Powderfinger)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
"Only You" (David Crowder Band)... are you sure you won't tell anyone else?

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
"What If" (Coldplay)... what if they were as cool as me...

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
"Come On Back To Me" (Third Day)

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
"Reset" (Mute Math)... I'm really not a robot... I promise...

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
"101" (Tree63)... i have a lot of regrets

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
"Won't Stop" (OneRepublic)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
"Lift" (Audio Adrenaline)... well it does taste like rubbish

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
"Nothing But the Blood" (Phil Wickham)... especially when you can see the bone sticking out too

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
"*Fin" (Anberlin)... my swedish friend

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
"Anthem" (Tree63)

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
"Never Let You Go" (Evermore)... Ok Fin, but can you loosen your grip a little?Wow, that was informative. Obviously I'm more good-looking than I thought, I like politicians, but I've discovered that only my Swedish friend likes me (must have been the mixtape). Oh, and I think I'm going to be an orphan....

Don't Let the Meals Die!

"It is striking how much of Jesus' life is told in settings defined by meals." - Eugene Peterson.

I've been reading a great book lately, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, by Eugene Peterson, and it's had a long string of brilliant thoughts (where I say "Wow, I've never thought of that before"). The latest one was about hospitality, and how closely it's tied to evangelism.

He talks about how for Jesus and for the early Christians, evangelism and salvation was always very personal (not crowd-evangelism), and very often closely tied to meals. Much of Jesus' teaching was around a meal, and many of the illustrations he used were food-related as well.

There are some big advantages for this. It's very difficult to have a meal with someone and be uninvolved. It's always a relationship, and relationship is the richest soil for evangelism, isn't it? And serving meals to people gives us an opportunity to sacrifice ourselves for them, and that's what real living is all about. Or it's an opportunity to be blessed by other people's sacrifice.

But we've got a problem today, because meals are dying. Fast food has meant we can eat on the run, while doing other things (is multi-tasking really a good thing?). And if the TV or the laptop is on, that kills any conversation during meal times (and therefore kills relationship). I know I'm guilty of this one. And how many of us are working late and miss having dinner with friends altogether? not to mention our own family....

We're just not as good at hospitality these days as they were back then. But Eugene Peterson reckons it's not too late to fight back. As he points out, we've all got to eat. If we can only do it together, we'll be making a difference.

Have meals with the family. Invite friends over for a barbie. Enjoy the coffee breaks at work. These are the best places for evangelism, so we can't let them die!

Isla

Lily's World

Me: Lily, stop pulling Isla's head.

Australia Day

Lily

Temptation

I read Matthew 4 this morning, and I don't think I'd ever quite realised just how much of a temptation that last test must have been for Jesus.

The devil offered him everything - the whole world - and all Jesus had to do was just bend over and kiss the devil's feet. Such a simple offer. So easy. Could have been over in seconds. Done.

"Do this," the devil says, "And you can have the world right now. You won't have to go through any of the heartbreak later. No rejection. No persecution. No frustration of disciples who don't understand. No betrayal by your closest friends. No need to suffer the excrutiating pain of crucifixion. No abandonment by your Father.... I'm right here. It's easy. Just kiss my feet. Forget your Father's way. You don't have to do all that. This way's easier. I can give it all to you now."

And Jesus, even after 40 days without eating anything, as weak as he'd ever be, is still a solid rock of strength and character.

I want to be this strong. How much more quickly do I cave in to MY temptations! Pretty weak, really - and I eat every day and sleep on a comfy bed every night, let alone 40 hungry days in the desert.

Somehow, I need to figure out how to let Jesus' strength live in me more often, and more fully.

Love These Lyrics

They tell me to abandon you
To make my dreams come true.
But what am I supposed to do
If I only dream of you?

- Tree 63

Lily's World

Me: What are you doing, honey?

Lily: I'm licking the TV.