Bruised, exposed and bleeding

How tragic when the animals in the zoo attack each other! We have learned to listen to our politicians squabbling daily, but this week there is blood on the floor. Where are the politicians with the intelligence, faith and courage to govern our country, their sole agenda being the long term good of our nation. 
Our recent political antics reminds me of the gladiator ring, where the players only way of survival was to kill, or to at least cripple, other fellow human beings. We tolerate the game when teams fight against teams, but when the fighters are attacking their fellow team members, as much or more than they attack each other, it is sickening. Yet the crowd still sits in the stands screaming obscenities, cheering on their current favourite player.
Circling the ring is the most destructive force in the battle. These players are presented as unbiased observers. They never get their hands dirty or enter hand to hand combat. They skulk around the perimeter of the ring, inciting the fighters to thrust another poison-tipped spear into an already wounded player. They scratch in the dirt of the arena, pulling up the most filth they can uncover, throwing it on our screens ad nauseum. They stir up trouble and strife. 
Each player in this disgusting game has the same goal, namely, popularity. They are driven by ambition. Some are struggling for the most votes, others for the best ratings. All want promotion and want to be seen, even though bleeding and exposed.
'A party divided against itself cannot stand.' 
'Those who use the sword will die by the sword'
'For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged.'
This wisdom of God still stands, whether the politicians believe it or not. So some time in the future, Julia's term of prime minister will come to a sudden nasty conclusion. It must for she will reap what she has sown. Will it be Monday or further down the track? It makes no difference. Who will replace her? Who knows!
Kevin Rudd's daughter asks us to own the spill, to be responsible citizens and contact our local members to tell them who we want to lead the party and hence the nation.(www.mamamia.com.au)  
But I can't see any person who has the grace, honour and wisdom to lead our wonderful nation. I'm hoping and praying God  has a strong, honest and courageous gladiator waiting in the wings.

It's not his fault. He was angry

‘You are coming to Dad’s this weekend, aren’t you?’

His sister shakes her head.  ‘I’ll come when he apologises.’

‘C’mon!’ He raises his voice in frustration. ‘Get over it, for goodness sake!’

‘Did you hear what he said to me? All the abuse, the swearing, the slurs and insults?’

‘Yea, I heard. But it’s not his fault. He was angry. Just forget it.’

Pardon? It’s not his fault! Since when is bad behaviour excused on the grounds of emotions being out of control? Who owns those emotions? Do our emotions serve us or do we obey our emotions.

Today one can be sued if the thief hurts himself while breaking into your house. We expect insurance companies or someone to cover our loss if we break something, lose it, or drop it the ocean. What happened to personal accountability?

Sometimes it seems most of our society believes–

• ·         Verbal anger is all right if one is angry or drunk
• ·         Belting your spouse is the victim’s fault because they caused the anger
• ·         Hitting a cyclist in your car should be excused cause you didn’t realise you were over the blood alcohol limit
• ·         Aborting a baby is okay because the mother has a life to lead. (As if the baby doesn’t)
• ·         Telling lies is acceptable, even in parliament, if you’re sure you won’t be caught.

Then we perpetuate the problem by over protecting our kids so they can’t get hurt. As a result, they never learn how to look after themselves. They don’t get an opportunity to practice personal responsibility.

The other basic drive of this generation is ‘if it feels good, do it!’ So our youth are addicted to drugs and trapped by alcohol and nicotine. Immorality is the accepted norm.

What will be the final outcome? Somewhere our society will experience the harvest of this folly.

 Go with me to 2020. Let’s peek into the life of Authur Average. Arthur is a good bloke. He finished school and has a steady job. He’s lived with a couple of girls but now he’s moved on and it sharing a unit with a couple of guys and girls. He’s stable. Recently he had a crash on his motorised skateboard on the way to work. He spent a day in hospital. They took blood tests as a precaution.

Arthur didn’t give it a thought at the time. Now he stands looking at the letter. His hand shakes. His eyes skim to the name on the top of the letter. Yes it’s him. The DNA police have caught him.

          Dear Mr Average

          Your recent blood test identified your DNA. Our computer cross                           references identify your children as listed below. It is your responsibility to financial support your children until they are sixteen years of age.

Oh, no! Arthur is being held accountable! The things done in secret are bought into the light. He is being forced to face the consequences of his behaviour.

I know another young man that won’t accept responsibility for his own bills. His says the world is going to end anyway, so why pay them now?

How can we change the trend? The same way we eat an elephant – one mouthful at a time. Start with you and your household. Take responsibility for all your behaviour. Don't blame shift. Don't use excuses. No more denial. Once you take ownership of all your actions and accept responsibility for the outcomes, your life will be transformed. Its called freedom! You will be in control of your life!

I love babies! This week Nathaniel, a six month old little boy, stayed at my house. For the first few days he looked at me as though I had no right to invade his space. By the time he left this morning, he seemed to have accepted my presence and even enjoyed helping me hang the washing.
There is something about little people that make grown men soft and squishy. I watched his hands-on Dad prepare bottles, feed him sweet potato and put him to sleep. But most of all he stopped and played with him every time he walked past. I captured their relationship in this picture this morning.
The baby is overshadowed, encircled by his Daddy. Yet he is still free to move. He could roll if he wanted to of wriggle out of the way. But why would he? He lays looking at his fathers face, memorising every line, soaking up the obvious love that blazes from his father eyes.
Nathaniel is nearly a miniature clone of his old man, long and lanky, same colouring, same face, same eyes. He's made in his fathers image. He has the same DNA.
Likewise we are made in the image of God. We have His nature, His gifts, His character. We grow into His authority, His creativity. The bible tells us that unless we are born of the spirit and come as a little child we can't enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Nathaniel was born into his family. He will always belong. Even if he leaves home for a season, he will always be a part of that family. And he came as a little child. He costs his parents money, time, love and energy. They  are delighted to be able to lavish him with their devotion.
Just like God! I love to think of God overshadowing me, guarding me and protecting me just as Nathaniel's dad does. What security is mine! The God of the whole earth loves me and stops to spend time with me, just because I am His and He delights in me. He calls me by name and as I look up I can see the love in His eyes. Yes, it's good to be one of God's kids!

Happy Australia Day

    How did you celebrate our nations birthday? At the Ettomogarah pub on the sunshine coast they ran 'dunny' races. Elsewhere Aussies were backing racing cockroaches, throwing thongs (in other countries known as flip flops) and racing ride-on mowers. Others have eaten prawns, lamb roasts and fired up the 'barbie'.
Here in our home we've enjoyed a quiet slower day. We've watched the cricket and now the tennis as is our nations custom on this day. And we ate corned silverside! In my opinion there is nothing more australian. I'm old enough to remember the 'real' corned beef. Pickled in brine to preserve it so when the fresh meat is finished there is still meat for the family to eat.
When I was a kid we lived on a cattle property in Central Queensland. My dad killed and butchered a steer to provide our meat. He cleaned the beast by swinging it from a tree, pulling it up with a tractor. With our neighbours help, he chopped the beast in two and then cut each side into three. One half was thrown in the boot of the neighbours car and ended up on their table. Our half was hung in the farm shed, a structure that had neither walls or floor. Next morning Dad rose at 3am to 'butcher' our meat before the woke up! He cut it into chunks. To Mum's frustration, neither she or Dad knew which part of the beast made good steak, so all meat was stewed, casseroled, roasted or corned.
So here's to corned silverside-a real aussie meal. Even after my parents acquired a kerosene freezer, we still soaked some of our meat in brine. Mum would push her hand and arm to the bottom of a five gallon drum and pull out a greyish chunk of meat and drop it into boiling water. We ate corned beef the way others eat sliced ham. As a child, I didn't know anyother meat but beef existed. Why spend money on lamb and sausages when there was plenty of beef in the back yard? Christmas and Easter we lashed out and chased down a chook or two. Dad rung their necks and dunked them in boiling water to remove their feathers. But that's another story.
I count it a privelege to be an Aussie, born and bred. I'm grateful for my Australian bush childhood and so thankful to live in the best country in the world.

Cleaning the Windows of our Soul

    It's a novel experience at my house, but the windows are clean. Wow, what a difference it makes! It seems the whole house is smiling. It was all Miss Ten's fault. She wanted to earn some money and decided the windows needed work. Her mother arrived to take her home before the job was finished of course, but once started I was forced to continue.
    Early this morning I finished the last door. So I have a question for you. What is the difference between these two pictures. You guessed it! These are the before and after shots. What a difference a little spray and a bunched piece of newsprint can make.

    Its like life really. There are days when everything looks dreary and life doesn't seem clear. Days when depression is knocking on the door and there doesn't seem any good reason to hold the door shut against its persuasive push.
    Maybe its time to clean the windows of the soul. Start with sudsy water to remove the heavy dirt. Scrub off all the built up resentments and forgiveness, gossip and judgements. Remove all spider eggs and mess left by the geckos. It may take effort but all debris left behind by the enemy must be scrubbed from your mind. The blood of Jesus is a fail proof detergent for such cleaning efforts. 
    Then your soul looks a little like the first picture. You can see out but things are blurry. How do we polish up our soul so everything is bright and inviting? As I rubbed my windows with newspaper, it became obvious. It is the Word of God that brightens us and brings clarity to our lives. First, spray liberally with worship and adoration of our amazing God. Together they are a guaranteed transforming formula!
    One last piece of advice - clean your soul regularly. It brings clarity, brightness and pleasure!

Ouch! An iPhone injury!

I'm blaming my new iPhone! It is heavier than the old one, but I think the main problem is I discovered a Kindle app. Now I can buy books from Amazon and read them on my phone. Surprisingly,it is comfortable and easy. On Saturday, I read a good size novel that I couldn't source any other way. And I enjoyed it! 
Then I started to read my Bible on the phone, daily, about 8 or 9 chapters a day. I'm reading the Message, but with a click on a button and I can select another version for comparison. 
All of that is fantastic but I've fallen victim to an ailment of the technology age. RSI. Yes I have a repetitive strain injury in my left thumb, caused by the hours of holding the phone and flicking or scrolling pages. Ouch!
I didn't realise how much I rely on my left thumb. It is nearly impossible to rest it. My right hand is helping in any way it can and the fingers on the left hand are trying to shelter it to give it time to recover. Even the arm and shoulders are taking an increased load!
Which reminds me of Paul's teaching about the importance of every part of the body of Christ. Every person is important, no matter how insignificant that part of the body may appear! One part hurts, all parts are affected.
The rest of my body may not have noticed the problem in the thumb except for the pain which stopped the body working in its normal efficient way. If there is a need of ground pepper another part of the body will have to step up and help!
Similarly, I know a member of the body of Christ that is suffering from RSI. Too much service, even though enjoyable, has caused pain in this part of the body. For a while the member kept trying to do everything asked of her, but there was too much. The pain signified a problem: not just a pain in a person, but a discomfort that affects everyone in the body. The members close to the affected area are carrying extra load for a while until the problem is sorted and the pain eases.
And today I've talked to another part of the body that's had emotional RSI for years and years. The rest needed to recover hasn't been taken. The injury is now severe and the body of Christ is weaker because of it.
So today I'm wondering how often I've overlooked a part of the body that is pain? Have I helped to bring healing and wholeness, or have I judged that member of the family, and, in my ignorance, left the body, of which I'm a part, weaker and disabled.

Yes, it's a new year and I'm excited

Welcome Twenty Twelve! 

As is our tradition, this year Dawn, Steve and I watched the new year's first light creep over the ocean. We worshipped our Lord as the light started to colour the sky and we thanked Him for all this year will bring. And we waited to catch that first beam of sunlight. But the sun was shy. It hid behind a cloud as though reluctant to open this new era.

 As we watched it seemed the cloud bank lifted with the sun, protecting the sun, holding its direct light at bay. Clearly the sun was there. The whole world was awake, but in the shadow of that cloud. I started to pray that God would remove the blockages in me that stopped the full light of His love and passion to shine upon me and through me. I asked that any cloud that hindered His full work through me this year would be dissipated.
And we considered God's ways. The full light of God's plans will burst forth this year, in His good timing.

 As we waited we ate from the table prepared for us. We remembered that Jesus body was broken so that we may live in the light. Jesus blood was poured out so we could be free, free to live and walk as Jesus walked on the earth. Like the gentle breeze the presence of God flowed through us and around us.


We toasted Jesus. As our glasses clinked together I knew that this year is significant in His purposes.  Then my new year's resolution became clear. This year I will endeavour to keep all my reactions and responses in line with Jesus. I will trust God has all things in control. I will walk in the confidence of being His child. I will love constantly, be joyful always, pray without ceasing.
What will God do this year? I'm not sure but I do know I want to be in the midst of those circumstances.
So I've activated two bible reading plans on my iPhone. One will guide me through the whole Message Bible in a year. The other helps me explore the New Testament in three months. It is a lot of reading I know, but how can I hope to fulfil my new years resolution without the power of the Word to strengthen me and guide me.
This morning I found an amazing verse.

And here I am, 

your invited guest-it's incredible!

I enter your house;

Here I am prostrate in your inner sanctum,

waiting for directions 

to get me safely through enemy lines.

Ps 5:7&8

Yes, It's incredible! I'm His guest. And as the year progresses the shadows will disappear and His Sun will shine forth. And He'll tell me exactly what to do! Yes, it's a new year and I'm excited!