I've been thinking, and yeah it's been hurting. What I've been thinking about has been a direct stem from the blog I posted about a week ago which was talking about why I do what I do. What it got me thinking about is the stuff that we do as humans. Not so much the day to day things like eating or sleeping but the significant things in our lives like getting married and having families. The other part of this is that a friend of mine is getting married in October.
He's not a christian bloke and has been with his, now, fiance for quite some time. Actually it's been ever since I met him so well over two years now. Thing is he's been with her for two years living in a de-facto relationship. I don't mean to knock him for making the decision, in fact totally the opposite! I think it's a fantastic thing that they've made the decision to commit to each other publicly.
So the question that's got me thinking is what's the point? If you've been taking advantage of the things that are traditionally reserved for the union of marriage prior to it why bother getting married? If it's purely a human thing, then really why bother going through spending all the money on a ceremony? What appears to be a quaint tradition in this day and age with the steady erosion of values and morals, you've got to ask yourself what the point is when it's socially acceptable to go for it at the drop of a hat.
When God is taken out of the picture a whole lot of significant things become meaningless. The eternity factor makes a whole lot of things what they are. Marriage I guess is the example that has been at the forefront of my mind. It's not a human concept and I think we've proven it with the state of things at present. Problem with that is we tend to screw ourselves up when we do it our way. If we do things God's way then it all works out.
Not strange really, because after all he designed us, and gave us the instruction manual in the form of the bible. It's interesting to read proverbs and most people would think if you stuck some of them on a poster that they were just really good ideas and almost common sense. They just work! Not really suprising when you thing that the one who put them on paper is the one who designed us!
Monday, August 27, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
...made in the image of...
I've had some interesting discussions with people who don't believe the same things that I do about the scripture in Genesis that says we are made in the image of God. It's found in Genesis 9:6. The discussions have normally gone along the lines that God must have two arms, two legs a head, eyes nose and a mouth because look at us. It's what we've got and because we're made in his image he must have the same.
I think it's a little different and it's only been recently that I've actually thought of a cohesive response to the God has to physically be the same shape as us. It goes a little something like this.
Ever had someone walk up to you and tell you that you remind them of someone. You know who they're talking about and know that you look nothing like them. Not even remotely. But it's not the looks that remind them, it's the little thinks. Little flicks of the head, small mannerisms, little speech ticks and other characteristics that aren't physical but still are similar to the other person. I think it's the same with us and God. Once we start hanging around him we pick up the mannerisms and characteristics in our personalities. We start to be infused with love and an eternal focus.
I don't quite think I've done this justice really but it's not a physical thing. I guess as christians we are like looking in the dull mirror where we can't quite make out what's in it but we can see the general outline. we wont be able to see it properly until we stand face to face and can see it for ourselves.
I think it's a little different and it's only been recently that I've actually thought of a cohesive response to the God has to physically be the same shape as us. It goes a little something like this.
Ever had someone walk up to you and tell you that you remind them of someone. You know who they're talking about and know that you look nothing like them. Not even remotely. But it's not the looks that remind them, it's the little thinks. Little flicks of the head, small mannerisms, little speech ticks and other characteristics that aren't physical but still are similar to the other person. I think it's the same with us and God. Once we start hanging around him we pick up the mannerisms and characteristics in our personalities. We start to be infused with love and an eternal focus.
I don't quite think I've done this justice really but it's not a physical thing. I guess as christians we are like looking in the dull mirror where we can't quite make out what's in it but we can see the general outline. we wont be able to see it properly until we stand face to face and can see it for ourselves.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Why do you do what you do?
This blog has been a long time coming, mainly due to the fact that the topic is probably far larger than I could ever hope to cover but I'm going to try anyway because it's something that has been weighing on my mind for quite a while, need to get the pressure off so I can get on with writing more! gotta get the flow of blogs going again so you people will continue to complain that there are far too many posts going up and you can't keep up!
Enough with the babble and on with what I came here to talk about. Why do you do what you do? It's a question that I had posed to me way back in the day when I was just getting into production. Doing sound and lighting is pretty cool. You get to play with awesome toys, make lots of noise and make buildings shake... or at least air conditioning ducts and ceilings rumble. The other side of it is that there's very often early mornings, late nights and not a whole lot of sleep involved. Some of the events I've done have resulted in a grand total of about 20 hours of sleep in an entire week, and one of the worst has been a full day from 7:30 am Saturday - 3:00 am Sunday for a Youth Alive in brisbane, to come home and have to front up for a church bump in at 5:00 am, barely enough time for an hours sleep in the middle. It's those moments when "why do you do what you do?" becomes key.
I was trying to think of the reasons why you could do something and mostly came up with things that enable you to do it.
1: Because I can. Well duh... why do you think the dog... never mind. because I can isn't enough to make you hang in there when the going gets tough. If it's as simple as "because I can" it'll be pretty simple for you to pull the pin when it seems like you can't.
2: Because it's what I do. Dangerous place to live if you tie your identity up in it. What happens then if you lose the physical ability to do it?
3: Because I love it. in this case I don't think love is being used in the context of it being a choice to love it for the good and the bad. It's a feeling of really enjoying it at the time, but if you're not enjoying it (because everything has a good and a bad side) then why keep going?
4: Because I have all these gifts and talents and I have to use them somehow. still not good enough to see you through the thick and the thin. Where's the motivation when the poo hits the fan? what's to stop you from bunking off and coming back when it's all (apparently) good again?
The only two that I could think of that really would keep you going through thick and thin to keep doing something even though it was tearing you to bits and hurting like hell were these. Theses are additions to the things that enable you to fulfil a function and keep you hanging in there when it gets tough.
1: It's my purpose to see people won into the kingdom of God.
go out into all the world and make disciples of man. I choose to endure and sacrifice the early mornings, heavy lifting, late nights and physical abuse because it's my way of contributing to church and making an environment that people can come into and hear the word of God without being distracted and so that they might be given an opportunity to come to know him.
2: to give glory to God
you're probably wondering how late nights and heavy lifting gives glory to God. Well it enables the musicians and singers to get up on stage and do their thing and praise God through music, it enables the congregation to praise him in the traditional manner. Sure I can't always lift my voice and hands to him in worship, but the attitude with which I push buttons and move faders is that I'll do the very best I can because I'm doing it for my Lord and Saviour! He gave everything for me, so the least I can do is give back of my time, my muscles and my gifts and talents... after all he gave them to me anyway!
With those two over-riding principles guiding me I'm guarded from having my purpose wrapped up in what I do. Sure I do what I do because of the purpose, but what I do doesn't determine the purpose, so if I lose my sight or my hearing I'll still be able to win people into the kingdom, and I'll still be able to give glory to God, I'll just have to come up with a new and creative way of doing it is all!
Enough with the babble and on with what I came here to talk about. Why do you do what you do? It's a question that I had posed to me way back in the day when I was just getting into production. Doing sound and lighting is pretty cool. You get to play with awesome toys, make lots of noise and make buildings shake... or at least air conditioning ducts and ceilings rumble. The other side of it is that there's very often early mornings, late nights and not a whole lot of sleep involved. Some of the events I've done have resulted in a grand total of about 20 hours of sleep in an entire week, and one of the worst has been a full day from 7:30 am Saturday - 3:00 am Sunday for a Youth Alive in brisbane, to come home and have to front up for a church bump in at 5:00 am, barely enough time for an hours sleep in the middle. It's those moments when "why do you do what you do?" becomes key.
I was trying to think of the reasons why you could do something and mostly came up with things that enable you to do it.
1: Because I can. Well duh... why do you think the dog... never mind. because I can isn't enough to make you hang in there when the going gets tough. If it's as simple as "because I can" it'll be pretty simple for you to pull the pin when it seems like you can't.
2: Because it's what I do. Dangerous place to live if you tie your identity up in it. What happens then if you lose the physical ability to do it?
3: Because I love it. in this case I don't think love is being used in the context of it being a choice to love it for the good and the bad. It's a feeling of really enjoying it at the time, but if you're not enjoying it (because everything has a good and a bad side) then why keep going?
4: Because I have all these gifts and talents and I have to use them somehow. still not good enough to see you through the thick and the thin. Where's the motivation when the poo hits the fan? what's to stop you from bunking off and coming back when it's all (apparently) good again?
The only two that I could think of that really would keep you going through thick and thin to keep doing something even though it was tearing you to bits and hurting like hell were these. Theses are additions to the things that enable you to fulfil a function and keep you hanging in there when it gets tough.
1: It's my purpose to see people won into the kingdom of God.
go out into all the world and make disciples of man. I choose to endure and sacrifice the early mornings, heavy lifting, late nights and physical abuse because it's my way of contributing to church and making an environment that people can come into and hear the word of God without being distracted and so that they might be given an opportunity to come to know him.
2: to give glory to God
you're probably wondering how late nights and heavy lifting gives glory to God. Well it enables the musicians and singers to get up on stage and do their thing and praise God through music, it enables the congregation to praise him in the traditional manner. Sure I can't always lift my voice and hands to him in worship, but the attitude with which I push buttons and move faders is that I'll do the very best I can because I'm doing it for my Lord and Saviour! He gave everything for me, so the least I can do is give back of my time, my muscles and my gifts and talents... after all he gave them to me anyway!
With those two over-riding principles guiding me I'm guarded from having my purpose wrapped up in what I do. Sure I do what I do because of the purpose, but what I do doesn't determine the purpose, so if I lose my sight or my hearing I'll still be able to win people into the kingdom, and I'll still be able to give glory to God, I'll just have to come up with a new and creative way of doing it is all!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Goats
Hi Guys
this is just to let those of you who had a dollar to give know that we've just bought a goat!
This will help to make a lasting difference in the life of a family on the african continent by giving them a supply of nutritious milk, and also opportunities to breed the animal and sell the offspring making an economic contribution to their village and community.
view the e card here
Thanks for making a difference
Mick
this is just to let those of you who had a dollar to give know that we've just bought a goat!
This will help to make a lasting difference in the life of a family on the african continent by giving them a supply of nutritious milk, and also opportunities to breed the animal and sell the offspring making an economic contribution to their village and community.
view the e card here
Thanks for making a difference
Mick
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
amplifiers
I heard an interesting one during a vox pop on 96.5 at the ecca yesterday. A young dad was being interviewed because he had probably the youngest child at the ecca with him. His daughter was two weeks old and he'd brought her out to get the ecca into her. Pretty sure it was his daughter, I could be wrong... but anyways he had three kids with him at the time.
Now 96.5 being the radio station that it is, the conversation largely revolved around the family and some question, I think it was "What's the best thing about having kids" or some other suitably pat question lead to the answer of "Kids are amplifiers", sure they're pretty loud at times but that wasn't what he meant. This bloke was actually really switched on when he said this... kids are relationship amplifiers, he explained, if you have a great relationship they'll make it even better and bring more joy, but if your relationship isn't the best at the time it'll show up all the cracks and the nasty side.
Guess it's like a comment I left on James Macpherson's blog where he was talking about character. Relationships are the same, it's not until they're under the pump that you really see what they're made of.
Now 96.5 being the radio station that it is, the conversation largely revolved around the family and some question, I think it was "What's the best thing about having kids" or some other suitably pat question lead to the answer of "Kids are amplifiers", sure they're pretty loud at times but that wasn't what he meant. This bloke was actually really switched on when he said this... kids are relationship amplifiers, he explained, if you have a great relationship they'll make it even better and bring more joy, but if your relationship isn't the best at the time it'll show up all the cracks and the nasty side.
Guess it's like a comment I left on James Macpherson's blog where he was talking about character. Relationships are the same, it's not until they're under the pump that you really see what they're made of.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
harder
I was at church last sunday night when we had one of our water baptism services. 12 people had come to the point in their lives where they wanted to make a public declaration that they are Christians, going under the water and coming back up a citizen of the kingdom of God. Part of the night involved videos of each person explaining why they had made the decision to get dunked. The one that grabbed me, not because I could identify with it but quite the opposite was a girl who made the statement that since she became a christian she was happier, like happy all the time.
That kinda struck a chord with me, probably because if anything the opposite has been true. Since becoming a Christian and making the decision that God is my Lord and Jesus is my Saviour life has been anything but happy happy joy joy all the time. If anything, life has had more downs than ups, or at least the downs have been a whole lot more intense than I remember them being prior to that. I had to think about what tangible change (if any) has been made in my life since I decided to give my life to God.
If anything the change has been that my life has become harder. Not harder in the sense of more difficult, but harder as in steel in my bones harder. Like when I decided to become a christian God put me on the table, opened me up and grafted titanium into my bones, Wolverine style... unfortunately I don't have the blades that come out of my knuckles, those would be fun. Sure life has had some major ups and downs over the last few years, sometimes leaving me standing there wondering what the heck just happened and where the ground went because it wasn't under my feet when I checked last. The world that I live in hasn't stopped having it's nasty moments or chronically stressful times, but I now have a foundation that I can stand on and build from that is more sound and solid than the natural world that I see with my eyes.
I have a relationship with a God who's promises are always true, and the only thing he can't do is lie. His promises to me are found in Jeremiah 29:11,
Romans 8:28
Proverbs 3:5-6
It's very true that what is seen in the physical world is often echoed in the spiritual world. A tree planted on solid ground with a good, well developed root system will be able to stand through the toughest, roughest of storms. Sure it suffers bruises and beatings from the storm, but it's never enough to kill it or break it. It makes it through the storm and on to live through the next day. We're the same. If we plant ourselves in God, put our roots down through prayer and reading the bible we'll become stronger and more able to weather the storm and come out of it in one piece.
The other end to the picture is the fact that God will never let anything get to you that you can't deal with. I'm not going to go into detail with this one because James Macpherson has written an incredible series on that very topic, called "Your Trouble's in Trouble" which can be found by clicking the following links
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
While it's not the nicest thing to go through the trouble and the storms of life, I have the hope that God gives that says you'll make it through, I guarantee it!
That kinda struck a chord with me, probably because if anything the opposite has been true. Since becoming a Christian and making the decision that God is my Lord and Jesus is my Saviour life has been anything but happy happy joy joy all the time. If anything, life has had more downs than ups, or at least the downs have been a whole lot more intense than I remember them being prior to that. I had to think about what tangible change (if any) has been made in my life since I decided to give my life to God.
If anything the change has been that my life has become harder. Not harder in the sense of more difficult, but harder as in steel in my bones harder. Like when I decided to become a christian God put me on the table, opened me up and grafted titanium into my bones, Wolverine style... unfortunately I don't have the blades that come out of my knuckles, those would be fun. Sure life has had some major ups and downs over the last few years, sometimes leaving me standing there wondering what the heck just happened and where the ground went because it wasn't under my feet when I checked last. The world that I live in hasn't stopped having it's nasty moments or chronically stressful times, but I now have a foundation that I can stand on and build from that is more sound and solid than the natural world that I see with my eyes.
I have a relationship with a God who's promises are always true, and the only thing he can't do is lie. His promises to me are found in Jeremiah 29:11,
11I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. 12"When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen.
Romans 8:28
He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he's the one who will keep you on track.
It's very true that what is seen in the physical world is often echoed in the spiritual world. A tree planted on solid ground with a good, well developed root system will be able to stand through the toughest, roughest of storms. Sure it suffers bruises and beatings from the storm, but it's never enough to kill it or break it. It makes it through the storm and on to live through the next day. We're the same. If we plant ourselves in God, put our roots down through prayer and reading the bible we'll become stronger and more able to weather the storm and come out of it in one piece.
The other end to the picture is the fact that God will never let anything get to you that you can't deal with. I'm not going to go into detail with this one because James Macpherson has written an incredible series on that very topic, called "Your Trouble's in Trouble" which can be found by clicking the following links
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
While it's not the nicest thing to go through the trouble and the storms of life, I have the hope that God gives that says you'll make it through, I guarantee it!
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