Magic V's Religion

Many, many, many years ago I wrote a paper at Bible College that dealt with the issue of syncretism and the western church. Syncretism, is that tendency of a people group that adopt Christianity to mesh their new found beliefs with those of their previous religious beliefs – resulting in a variety of Christian hybrid religions – some that you could say were essentially Christian, with a few errors – some you would have to say are so removed from any sort of Christian framework that they were no more Christian than the original peoples religion (Voodoo is probably a great example of this).

The question that I asked in my paper was; as western Christians, have we combined our Christianity with the beliefs of the west? & if so to what degree does it affect the salvational (I think I may have made that word up sorry) value of our religion? I kind of took the easy way out with my paper focusing primarily on the Word of Faith Movement (Kenneth Hagan, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, etc), saying that the Word of Faith Movement had lost the plot, and that their influence over the broader church was to its detriment. I still believe this, if there is a movement that can really get my blood boiling it is the WFM, Their teachings spring up all over the place in regular church circles, and millions of dollars are sent out of third world countries by well meaning but misguided poor Christians to help fund the ministry & lifestyle (and search for a more realistic toupee) of such people as Benny Hinn.

But as I think about it more, I start to feel that the WFM is not the cause but probably a symptom of a wider problem (surely it is a symptom that nurtures and feeds the disease but that is another story for another day). I think the key word here is magic. Magic means various things to us as westerners, from illusionists such as David Copperfield to the use of white or even black magic that seems to have become so in style over the last ten years or so. But taking it away from entertainment or the occult, on an anthropological level, magic could probably be defined as the manipulation of spirits through rights, rituals or offerings to the benefit of the practitioner. In contrast, religion probably could be defined as submission to the will of a higher being. Magic is about what self wants; Religion is about what God wants. As I think about it, Western Christianity is so much more about self than it is about God, and a good serious look at the shelves of any Christian bookshop would prove my point… We employ good Christian principles to get more wealth, health, dates, well behaved kids, etc. There are numerous self help books out there that somehow combine the secular pursuit of psychology with the Christian belief system. There are countless CD’s coming out where the importance seems to be more on how much they sound like the secular world or how cool they are rather than on actually worshiping God, or instilling Christian values.

Now I am not saying that self improvement is not a way of life for a Christian, because it is – the bible is clear on how we must live our lives and become more Christ like; God is very concerned about our lifestyles. But it seems to me that Jesus has become our little genie in a bottle, which we call on to answer our needs and see our wants met. We love the passages in the bible that speak about all things being possible, ask and it shall be given to you etc, etc, etc. We plaster them on our walls with cute pictures of kittens, or bunny wabbits. But we forget about (or trivialize) the passages that call us to forsake all for his sake – sell all, give it to the poor and follow me, pick up your cross and follow me, die to your self, those that wish to be the greatest amongst you must humble themselves and become as servants. Maybe it is because verses like these don’t go well with pictures of fluffy animals & eagles or maybe it is because this is not what we want to hear – it is too hard work – it cramps our lifestyles too much… it is submission of the will to Christ – it is religion…

What do you think? Have I gone too far again? Am I too cynical? Or do I have a point? – Please leave some feedback and let me know!

Peter

Oh and by the way, Merry Christmas!!

finally a second to blog

well, what a week it has been, it is annoying that at the busy times when there is so much to write about there is never enough time to actually sit down and blog... the MEC went well, poor Sammy was quite unwell, so we sort of had to tag team the whole experience.

The best part for me was pretending to be homeless in Danenong, trying to find accommodation and other things for the night. It was quite a desperate situation - finding only one place in the whole of the city of Dandenong that was willing to help with accommodation, and they were focused on helping youth only, I got to experience judgmental reactions by supposedly loving Christians, as well as true care by other truly loving Christians (we visited a lot of churches in our search for accommodation). We got a great feed at cornerstone - a mission established by three Dandenong churches, got to visit the needle exchange program (there was an experience!! - I had to organise rehab for myself as part of the project!), and generally walk around Dandenong, being directed from one place to another looking for help...

Naomi and I had out psyc assessment on Monday, that was an interesting experience too (a good one) - we got to find out that we were not nuts, so we are a bit worried that UNOH will not want us anymore, because you probably need to be nuts to join them... but seriously, the psyc assessment was the final hurdle that we needed to jump to get into UNOH - so i guess now we are officially in!!!

the apprenticeship starts in February...

Peter

send Jonny an e-card!!!

I was just visiting the make poverty history website and came across a great idea - sending jonny howard and your local member of parliament an e-card for christmas calling for more aid in the 2007 budget - its worth looking at and maybe sending one yourself - you never know, if enough of us do something.... well thats what MPH is all about isn't it!! - check it out here

Mission Exposure Course

Well, it has begun, the mission exposure course...

this is a 9 day course running here through UNOH to introduce people to the idea of working amongst the poor and marginalised. It is one of those pre-requisites to joining UNOH that I talked about earlier - so even though we already live and work in the community, we are required to do the course...

having said that, I believe it will be a benificial and enjoyable time, there are about 12 people doing the course, including ourselves, and the other 10 people are farmed out to different unoh workers homes for the 9 days (you are expected to live in the community during the 9 days) - we have been fortunate enough to be included in one of the houses that will be hosting the course attendees, so we will be having a young married couple and their 8 month old daughter living with us.

Anyway, that is about all I have to say at this stage, We have to get prepared for our first big MEC activity toomorrow - going to the beach with the kids!!! - ahh, mission life is tough, but someone has to do it.

Peter

Walking the Streets of Noble Park

Over the last few weeks, a change has happened to the way I view my work here in NP. Over the last 6 months of life here, my time has been about getting to know the community that revolves around the UNOH work and Rainbow church. It has been about getting to know the people, building relationships with those in the community, and seeing where I can help out... It has been a great time, a time of affirmation, a time of finding purpose in life.

But mission is not about maintenance, it is about going out (well strictly speaking being sent out - but I guess the important bit here is the word "OUT"). It is too easy to focus purely on maintenance, to get caught up on the busy work of keeping a church community running smoothly. It is so easy to continually look inward, and forget about looking out. This is the big error of the western church, in my opinion, it is the same error that the nation of Israel made, that in many ways resulted in the Kingdom being taken from them and given to others (I can't be bothered proving this right now - maybe some other time). But if the church is not looking out it is not doing its job. Likewise, if an individual Christian is not looking out he is not doing his job either. I could keep going on about this, discuss different models of church; centripetal verses centrifugal and really get stuck into the nitty gritty of it all - it actually is a topic I am very passionate about...

But the point is, that even with my passion, I got sucked into an inward focused mindset (centripetal - sucked in - its a pun! -get it? - geeze I'm a nerd!!). And God has begun doing a job on me, shifting my focus back outwards, back onto the wider community of Noble Park. I have begun to purposefully walk the streets of this community, firstly in the morning I go for a prayer walk, visit all of the major community centers within walking distance, praying and seeking God as I go along - there is not much ministry going on here, as there are not that many people out and about at 6am, but this is laying the ground work on a spiritual level, and allowing God to increase my passion for this neighborhood. I also intentionally walk places as much as possible to get to know the people out and about. Time permitting (and I feel I need to make a conscious effort to make more time for this) I will also go for a walk around the community at times that people are more likely to be around, becoming more familiar with the people and places of NP, and looking to build entry level relationships with the people I meet.

Judging books by their Covers

Well, this one is probably a bit more than judging a book by its cover, to me, my old mate Benny has always had a bit of a slimy reputation - I always thought it quite apropriate that Benny Hinn & Benny Hill only had one letter seperating their names (ok so it is 2 letters but they are the same letter)

Is it strange that every time I think of Benny Hinn that Hill's old theme music "yakety sax" plays in my mind???

Anyway... there is only really one thought that comes to mind when I see the cover of this book...

"I HOPE HE WASHED HIS HANDS AFTERWARDS!!!"

Interview Update

Hello everyone...

It has been a few days now since the interview - and I thought I should write a quick blog to say how it went.

The interview was really a catch up to see how we went with the past six months of our life here in Noble Park, more than an interview to prove that we have what it takes to join UNOH. I guess our participation in the community has already done that for us.

The official word is not out yet, there is still one more stage that we need to go through in the name of consistancy (everyone else has had to do it) - once that is done I can let you know offically - however, things are looking very posative.

Thankyou for your prayers and thoughts over the last few weeks (and months)

Peter

More than a bottle of water

I popped into the bakery next to coles today to grab a pie for lunch, and noticed a group of maybe 5 Aboriginal guys/girls hanging around front of the supermarket entrance, these guys are usually around a bit.......sometimes asking people for money, and sometimes just hanging. While I was in the bakery paying for my pie, one of the girls came in with an empty coke bottle and asked the girls behind the counter if they could fill it with water for her, the bakery girls looked at each other and said "no, we don't do water" I kinda thought that sucked, so I raced home (we live very close by) grabbed the biggest empty bottle I had, filled it with water and went back to give it to them. As I gave it to them, I saw their faces.......it was just a bottle of water, no big deal.........but they looked at me, and I felt some tears begin to leak out as I realised I was encountering Jesus
If you don't beleive me, read Matthew 25 v 31-46.

You might be reading this and be thinking, easy for you, you live in a poor suburb filled with needy people, it's easy to find a need and respond to it. But, I could have just as easily walked right past without even noticing, just like we all have at times and all will in the future, it doesn't matter what suburb you live in, if you open yourself up to the idea allowing God to open your eyes, ears and hearts to what is happening where you are, then you too will have the opportunity to find Jesus in the face of a stranger.

Naomi

Quote of the Weak

OK, so it has been well over a week since my last quote - but look again at the title it does not say weEk it says weAk...

For everyone, there are certain verses in the bible that really speak to them, verses that encapsulate how they view or live their lives - or probably more accurately how they strive to view or live their lives...

This passage is one of those for me - I can relate to the thorn in my side analogy very well, and so strive to live out the attitude that Paul espouses...

7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

1 day to go - then we jump!!

Hi everyone.

Tomorrow is the big day, when we get to find out if we have made it into UNOH or not!!

at around 11.30 we will be in a meeting with 3 UNOH members and a board member, where we will discuss what we have learned and accomplished over the past 6 months after moving into Noble Park!!

We have had some good time to reflect this week, and we have been seeking feedback from members of the community here and UNOH workers, and it has been a good and uplifting process... so we go into the interview with a certain level of confidence.

Having said that we are still quite nervous, not that we won't make it through (though I guess there is a small amount of that), but more that tomorrow seals our fate as far as this chapter of our lives is concerned. Whatever happens, we have taken a huge, irreversable step into the unknown. Relying on God to see us through is always an exciting experience, but also always a nervous one - you lose all control, and just have to trust - I can imagine that the experience is probably similar to sky diving - where you jump off the relative security of a plane - freefall for a while relying on the parachute on your back to open and deliver you safely to the solid ground below. I imagine that if I was going to go skydiving tomorrow instead of going to an interview - my guts would probably feel the same as they do now anyway... heaps of excitement, a fair amount of fear, restless, happiness, faith... a whole bunch of emotions...

Can't Sleep......it's 12:44 AM

Hey all,
Naomi here for a change...........for some reason God always seems to knock on my door at the most inconvenient times.........like right now, it's nearly 1:00 am and I desperately need sleep, but God has just hit me with something and all I can do is think on it and the more I think, the more urgent it becomes!!!!!! I think he wants me to blog it, then he will let me get to sleep!!!!!!

So here goes,
Many of you know, and some of you don't that ten years ago Pete and I lost a baby, I was around 23 weeks pregnant and my waters broke early, I was rushed to hospital and after many painful hours of the doctors trying to stop the bleeding and all that stuff, they decided the only thing to save my live was an emergency cesarian which resulted in our little boy Caleb only surviving for 36 hours.

About 1 & 1/2 years ago when I thought I was totally over the pain of it all and had well and truly moved on with my life, God gave me an amazing vision of my three healthy boys in one hand, and my tiny fragile baby in the other......at this point I burst into tears and said why God Why?? God then put his hand on my shoulder and said "Naomi, you don't need to know why, you just need to trust me" this was one of those life changing moments where Gods presence in all of my life was so clear and undeniable that I could do nothing but worship his awesomeness!!!!!

Anyway, I guess I thought that was book closed, healing done, move on with life...........until today...............today my husband shared with me that an older gentleman in our community has shared with him the story of his first baby being still- born, in the same hospital we had Caleb (of course many, many years earlier) this man has shared with Pete the pain he still has, and when I heard that I burst into tears, I just feel so sad that this man still has pain after so long, when we have experienced healing. So when I tried to get to sleep about an hour ago, I couldn't get this man out of my head, I tried praying for him............and I am sure that's great, but I realised that God wants this broken, hurting man to experience the same healing that Pete and I have experienced.........This healing that God offers is for everyone, not just a select few. I don't know how, but Pete is becoming quite involved in this guys life and I am sure God knows where it is all going.

Anyway, last thought to do with this stuff...........I am so excited by the idea that God is the master of the slow reveal!!!! imagine if ten years ago I lost my baby, then God healed my hurt and it all happened fast................ instead, when I thought the book was totally closed on it, God showed me even more, and has given me even more compassion for those that are hurting and pained...............wow, he is a mighty God!!!!!!!

Anyway..........Peter wants to sleep (the computer is in the bedroom, and I woke him up)

Hopefully I can sleep now,

Thanks for reading

Naomi

Don't Judge a book by It's cover? - Yeah Right!!

I know that the saying Goes "Don't Judge a book by Its cover, but sometimes there really is no choice but to...

Take Australia's own Col Stringer, well actually he is a yank by birth he just loves trying to prove his Aussie-ness by writing books about Australia's Christian Heritage and stuff ...

His Yankee-ness really does come out in his newest book as he leans against his Humvee - in his classic king-gee pose - sunnies and all, suggesting that that is what it is to be a man!!??!!

Well as I said I will never read this book so I cannot judge it by its content - only by its cover - but I think I will never measure up to this sort of manhood - maybe I should change my name...

From Peter (Peta?)

Date Change

Hi, Just a quick one here...

The date of our interview has changed from friday morning to Saturday morning (2nd Dec) from 8.30ish to 12ish...

Please don't forget to pray!

Peter

Legalism, Freedom & Sobriety

Most of our regular readers will know when I do my prattle that I don't always make sense, and this post may be the same. I use this space as a place to get out thoughts that I have running around in my head & as such they are not always completely formed, or linear, so bear with me, humour me, and most important give me feedback to let me know how I am going...

Anyway, onto my post...

I want to preface my post with this scripture...

1 Corinthians 10:23-33
"Everything is permissible"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"—but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it."If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if anyone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience' sake— the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for? So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

When I mention to people that our joining UNOH will mean amongst other things a vow to sobriety, I get lots of strange looks. I find myself quickly adding the explanation "it is not a theological belief that Christians should not drink, it is just that we are working alongside many alcoholics & so it would not be appropriate..."

Even after saying that, many Christians say that they could not give up alcohol like that, (in fact from what I hear this issue is a real problem for many would be UNOH members, and causes them not to join!).
This whole issue really makes you think though doesn't it? I don't believe that the bible says it is wrong to drink. Obviously the proof texts of the water into wine miracle and the last supper proves that Jesus was not against it. Having said that, I do believe that the bible teaches that alcohol is dangerous (especially getting drunk) and that it probably is better that we steer clear of it. (the bible has a number of these issues - it could even easily be argued that bigamy falls into this category!!)

We in the church (probably particularly in Australia though I think the Poms are probably there with us too) have decided that that we don't want to be seen as sticks in the mud, so we have a drink or 2 with our mates to show that Christianity is not all about rules and regulations, but that we too can be cool... this sort of fits into the "If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience." part of the verse above. It's all about cultural relevance, not ostracising ourselves from community for the sake of the gospel.

The UNOH vow of sobriety probably fits into the next section of this passage, where it is all about not being a stumbling block & stuff like that. So both expressions really are valid and have their Justification in scripture.

It is all about what Christ has called you to; Right?

But the next question is do we only drink so that we don't look like prudes, or do we drink because we enjoy it? Do we drink when we are at a Christian part where there are no "heathens?" (I use that word to have a stab - I would never use that word in a serious context myself) - and lets face it most of our "Christian" parties are like that... do we over indulge at these parties? Do we have a quiet drink at home alone? How much do we drink? How often?...

Have we just used "cultural relevance" and freedom in Christ as an excuse to indulge? - if we are not willing to give up the Christian "Right" to drink for the sake of reaching out and helping those who are drowning in their alcoholism, have we just negated the whole argument that it is ok to drink??? It could almost be argued that our freedom to drink has become a legalism in it's own right.

We are so caught up in showing the world that we are like them (in the name of being IN the world but not OF it), we are so caught up in being relevant and Cool, that our attempts at cultural relevance have gotten in the way of our obedience to Christ. I even feel like I need to justify the “Uncoolness” of a vow of sobriety to my Christian friends!!! This is where the first part of the above scripture comes in...

"Everything is permissible"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"—but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.

When it comes down to it we may have FREEDOM in Christ, but we don't really have any RIGHTS in Christ. We are called to obedience. We should not be looking for the loopholes that allow us to enjoy life, we should be looking for the opportunity to surrender our life:

...Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:38-39)

There probably are many other examples of this sort of behaviour in the church today - certainly the poverty V's riches argument is one of them, and the degradation of true worship for the sake of the seeker sensitive mega church could also be argued as another one... What do you think? - can you think of others - it probably is a very fine line, we can easily fall into either a legalism mindset or a rights mindset - but let me know what you think...

Christmas gift idea!!!

OMG ('G' stands for Goodness - I am a good Christian boy I am!)...

check out this link: http://www.armorofgodpjs.com/

dont forget to look at the product information page to see all the merchandise they have to offer.

And visit the salvation page to give your heart to the Lord (its as easy as A.B.C!!).

Peter

The Date is set...

Hi everyone,

The date is set for our interview with UNOH - it's December 1st.

This is the date when we find out if our six months here in Noble Park have paid off or not, we find out if we have proven that we have what it takes to be UNOH apprentices.

Pray for us - PLEEEAAASE!!!!

(P.S. You may have noticed that I have updated the look of the blog - I hope you enjoy!....)

Faith - Why all the confusion????

Maybe it is just the result of growing up in a Charis-pente church, but I have always struggled with the issue of faith. It seems, if I believe everything that I have been taught over the years, to be a very complex issue... what is faith??? If we believe the "Word of Faith" teachers (I use that term lightly) such as Hinn or Copeland then faith is a substance that you acquire, it can only be activated by your words, and if you don't have it, you are not a real Christian. The WofF guys even suggest that God has faith, and put that faith into action when He created the world.

I am not suggesting that the Charis-pente outlook on faith is quite so extreme, though I am sure in some churches it is, but there is still this real mysterious, ethereal quality to faith that no one can really quite explain. I can remember sitting through sermons and even courses on the subject, looking through the usual verses to try and get a handle on it all. On many occasion, I even went through my exhaustive concordance pulling out all the verses on faith, just to get a handle on it.

We are taught that we can heal & be healed by faith, that we can tell trees to uproot themselves, and move mountains and walk on water, and be bitten by poisonous snakes (well, you don't need faith for that, but you do need it to survive) and all sorts of stuff... yet Jesus says that you only need faith the size of a mustard seed to do it all!!!!

So what exactly is this stuff called faith & where do you get it? It must be pretty valuable, even more valuable than gold, or white truffles !!

well, when it comes down to it, the answer is quite simple...

lets turn to a dictionary for a definition - not a highfalutin theological dictionary, just a normal everyday English dictionary...

The Online Cambridge Dictionary says:
Faith (TRUST) noun [U]
great trust or confidence in something or someone:

Pretty complex huh?? Therefore, it could be said that in our context, faith is nothing more than trusting in the Lord.

Faith is trusting in the Lord!!!!
...... - Easy!!!
......... - I can do that!!!
.............- Mountain get up and move!!!
............... - Dang, didn't work!!!

Great trust or confidence... Hmmm, I guess that is what it comes down to; do I really have Great trust or confidence in the Lord??? Peter had great trust in the Lord when he stepped out of the boat onto the water - for a second or two - then the reality of what he was doing sunk in, and so did he...

The Apostles saw healings and miracles happen through their work, why? because they knew what Jesus required, he modeled it to them, they dropped everything they had to follow him, they put their security, future, and life on the line. They learnt to rely on the Lord to meet all their needs, they became like the lilies of the field. They trusted in the Lord for everything.

Maybe this is what we are missing, maybe we are controlling too much of our own lives, not trusting the Lord, watering down what Jesus taught to fit into how we want to live our lives, how every rational person would want to live their lives. Maybe we are more like the rich young ruler than we realise - living a good Christian life, following all the rules, doing the right things. But when Jesus challenges us, calls us out of our comfort zone into complete trust in him, we walk away. It is easy for us to do, we are not faced with the Son of God in the flesh asking us to give up our security, so we can rationalise it, spiritualize the 'sell everything & give it to the poor', and go on living our good Christian life.

Maybe if we could truly surrender ourselves to God, truly trust in him then we would see our faith grow from the infinitesimal little atom that it is now, slowly grow into a small little mustard seed, maybe by that time we would not be telling mountains to move to prove our power in the Lord, maybe by that time we would be praying and acting against spiritual and institutional mountains that are oppressing people to prove that we work for a God who cares for the downtrodden, the insignificant & the poor... makes you think doesn't it?

yay, a new monitor!!!!

Yay- Finally we have a new monitor - the other one was slowly giving out - the header to this blog (the on that says Dekker's Journey) looked the same colour as the background of the blog on our own monitor - hopefully now I can fix this us - if ever I get a few minutes spare... yeah like that will happen!!!!

Burmese Outing 2 - Electric Boogaloo

Well, there really were no flash dance related activities on our second Burmese outing, it just sounds like such a great title for a sequel I had to resurrect it...

Our outing this time around was to have a bit of a tour of the wonderful city of Me!bourne (the advertising is obviously getting to me!) . We had about 50 Burmese coming along on our trip with us again this time round - so obviously these guys enjoy our company, and we just toured around the city walking down southbank; seeing the buskers (with mixed reactions from our Burmese friends) hanging out by the crystal clear waters of the Yarra River, having a delicious lunch of Burmese curry, jam packed full of tripe and liver and other stuff I could not identify! (yum yum! - my missions training is really paying off!). We also took a tour around the city on the Melbourne circle tram to see all the sights.

It was a great day of building relationships with these people, Jacob made a bit of a friendship with a 12 year old boy named Cubby, and Sam as usual was adopted straight away and was being looked after and fed all day long (which did pose a bit of a problem when it came to the offal curry!).

People were quite eager to pose for photos with members of the team as well as getting group photos with the Melbourne skyline behind them. It was great when we arrived back at springvale station to have everyone thank us for a fun day out and shake our hands - I think we are really making inroads into this community.

Peter

Just an Observation

I was in a group of men the other day at a course I am attending through UNOH, when the facilitator of the group asked an interesting ice breaker question. It went something along the lines of this - what do you think of old people, and at what age is a person considered old ?

The responses to both these questions were pretty much the same. Fortunately there was no comments on geriatric driving skills, or whining about young people today. Everyone generally said they had respect for old people, that they had lessons they could teach us if only we listened etc.

The interesting part came when people answered how old old was - everyone answered "You are only as old as you feel" or something along those lines. I don't know if its just me, or do those 2 answers seem to contradict each other. Obviously if we have respect for old people then getting old must be an ok thing to do - but we don't want to admit we are getting old & that's where comments like "your only as old as you feel" come from. So we still have a fear of getting old or want to avoid it.

Is this fear due to our mortality, or do we truly see old people as a nuisance or having no value?

If its due to our mortality then, that is a fear that as Christians we need to get over - because our mortality is not really a problem in the greater scheme of things.

If it is because we see old people as having no value then no amount of trite P.C. answers is going to cover up how we really feel and we will never learn from our elders, the mistakes and successes of the past!!!

It makes you wonder about P.C attitudes... Are they just a way of covering up our true feelings, to make sure we fit in with the rest of society and don't offend anyone? Are we lying when we sprout all the various trite answers people expect of us? Does this sort of issue stop us, as Christians, being a voice in the wilderness? (obviously at this point I am thinking beyond the old age issue...)

There are some really great views on life that would be regarded as P.C. but there are some really damaging P.C. outlooks as well - in fact sometimes the same P.C issue can have a positive or negative aspect to it depending on what definition you give it (like religious tolerance)..

But if we are running around covering up our true feelings in the name of political correctness, have we not become hypocrites or possibly impotent -

as Christians as we called to be sunshine & lollypops?

• never offending,
• never resisting,
• never standing up for what is right?

Is this a misguided view of God's love?

But having said that...

• When do we stand up?
• When do we turn over the tables?
• When can we be a voice?

The prophets of the Old Testament were regarded as nutters by the people of Israel - often hated and persecuted sometimes ever killed - have we missed the point in being able to fit into society, in being loved by society, in having a live and let live mentality???

We need your vote!!!!!!

Hi all,
This is just a quick post and I need everyones opinion on something........that's right you can't just read this time.............I need responses......

ok...........every Thursday night our church has a community dinner, in the past we have all brought a plate every week, but recently the church split into 4 cooking groups, so each group caters for everyone once a month (thus giving us three Thursdays off from cooking)

Peter and I are lucky enough to be hosting a cooking group at our place and we need a name...........we are now down to two choices

We are trying to decide between................

Cheap as chips

or

the dodgy dinners

Sp pleeeeeaaaase, if you have never left a comment before, now is the time to start...........you don't have to leave your name............just your opinion on this very important matter............

Love to you all

Naomi............

Little Miss Sunshine

We went and saw "Little Miss Sunshine" at the movies last night, this was the first chance I have got to go and see a movie in a Looooong time, and I thought "ah crap - a chick flick" (not that I am adverse to many movies classified by many as chick flicks - but with a title like that - come on!)...

How wrong I was!!! - this had to be one of the better movies I have seen in a long time - possibly not a top 5 entry, but definitely in the top 10 to 20. This movie rated 'R' in the U.S. but only 'M' here at home was a dark comedy about a very broken family taking a road trip to get the youngest member of the family "Olive" to the "little Miss Sunshine" beauty pageant... The family include a drug snorting grandfather, an unsuccessful motivational speaker father, a suicidal, homosexual uncle, a worn out - trying to keep everything together - mother, a Nietzsche reading brother who has taken a vow of silence, and Olive, a glasses wearing, slightly chubby 7 year old girl, who does not fit into the usual mould of a U.S beauty pageant kid...

Anyway, without getting into a complete write up of the movie, if you think that the above line up of characters sound a bit depressing for you, and you can't tolerate the most versatile word in the English language (F**K), then I recommend you DON'T see this movie. But if you like a movie that explores the darker side of the human existence (think American Beauty) and somehow has a great laugh at the same time I highly recommend this movie...

Welcome Sisi

Hi, this happend a while ago now, but we have invited my sister Sisi to live with us. It is a bit weird having a teenage girl living with us - considering that all our kids are boys, however I am adjusting to it, and Naomi is very happy to have someone around she can be girly with...

Anyway sisi is a very talented girl in many ways, particularly in writing poetry and photography - in fact this is one of her pics that just caught my imagination so I thought I would put it in our blog:

I will also add one or 2 of her poems at some stage, because some of them are really good once you get past the teenage angst & darkness...

Anyway, it is great to have her around and she is proving to be a great asset to stuff that is going on around here...

Learning lessons

I think sometimes we can be a bit elitist when we move into a ministry position, particularly missions based ones. We do have this mindset so caricatured by so many Hollywood movies of the all knowing Man of God, here to save the savage, uneducated heathens. I'm not suggesting that our view of things is this extreme, however, we can still come to our mission field thinking that we have the answers. No matter how much we loathe the idea of being typecast into this sort of missionary, I think that we still have that outlook buried deep in our psyche somewhere.

For myself, I struggle with the terms mission or missionary, when I apply them to myself (or many others who are doing the same sort of thing around the world), just like I struggle with the term Christian when applying it to myself. In a theoretical sense these terms are fine, but I don't like taking them on myself because of the stigma attached. The sigma suggests arrogance, it holds values of colonialism, brashness, stubbornness, pride, greed, arrogance etc. We have to admit that this caricature does not hold up well against what the bible calls a Christian to be (as opposed to the caricature of a Christian, which is another matter all together),certainly they are values that I do not hold to or are trying to eradicate from my life (stubbornness is a big problem for me).

But having said all of that I feel I probably did come to this new ministry with a sense of arrogance. Not blatant "I am the centre of the Universe" type arrogance, but I did have some element of arrogance, I thought that I would come in, I would befriend people, I would make a difference in their lives, I would be doing a good work!!

The reality has been quite different however - I should have remembered my days back in Sri-Lanka, when I was too wet behind the ears to have this sort of opinion of myself. The stuff that I learnt there was amazing. Above all, in Sri Lanka I learnt the truth behind a God who has a bias towards the poor and marginalised (though it took me quite a few years to be able to articulate this lesson), I learnt the glory of worship done in church through a cheap casio and beaten up old acoustic guitar, I saw the love in genuine community as people of humble standing in life supported and cared for one another. Coming to Noble Park however I didn't think that I would be learning such lessons. I don't know why I felt this way, it was probably because the move was not such a major cultural change, I kind of felt that these people were still aussies; even if they did come from different socio-economic backgrounds and in some cases different countries to me, I thought that we would still hold a similar world view.

But that is not the case, sure these people are a bit rough around the edges and have a long way to go in their own journeys with the Lord (as we all do), but the Lord has instilled in them some amazing truths, stuff that people from richer middle class backgrounds are missing, and often yearning for.

One of the most precious values that they have here, is the willingness to take people as they are. There is no need to keep up false appearances here. Sure there are arguments, gossip and people hurting each other just like in other Christian communities, (though they are more up front than in most other communities that I have been in - but that is probably a good thing too). All the people here have failed or are imperfect or broken in some way. They cannot hide this side of who they are, so they don't even try, I wont say there are no masks, because I know there are, however, the masks are different. These people are not trying to live up to some clonesque concept of what a perfect Christian living in victory should be. Nor are they expecting me to live up to this sort of value.

For me, I have become more comfortable in my disability in this community that I ever had in my life. For those of you who don't know me too well, I suffer from a mild form of cerebral palsy that affects the right side of my body. The Lord has done some amazing things in my life in regards to my disability, but the fact remains that he has not completely removed it from my life (I have seen improvement, I would say I am at least 90% better than when I was a child). This sort of disability is looked down on in the middle class church and society as a whole. For many Christians it is a sign of a lack of faith, or God's judgment, or sin in your life or some other horrible thing like that. As a result I can tell my testimony of the Lords healing in my life, and celebrate in the fact that He has helped me forgive those who teased me through my childhood, I can even say that I believe that the Lord has kept the disability in my life as a reminder of his authority & power as well as to keep me humble (and I strongly do believe these things), and everyone will be touched and praise the Lord with me.

But I still needed to hide the fact that I have a disability otherwise the illusion comes crashing down, all of a sudden it is not so worthy a story to praise the Lord for. So I have to hide, I don't dance, I don't play sports, because these things make it obvious that I am not quite right. But here, in this community I am surrounded by others that are not quite right, and in many ways some of them are less right that I am. Now, I find myself free to kick a ball around, I find myself free to dance with my wife. Friends in the community are calling me to play in a cricket competition with them, even though they know I am not the best sportsman in the world, in fact, I think they actually enjoy that fact. Unfortunately I cannot make it to the competition due to other commitments, but my friends rib me about it, and I enjoy it. I don't have to hide. I can be me.

Thanks Lord!

Peter

Throwing our kids in the bin...

This has been an interesting week for me, one of those weeks that you end up hearing those sorts of things that people only mean to be heard behind your back. We never thought that our decision to follow the path we have chosen would be popular, and in many ways we were surprised by some of the places we got support from, and equally surprised by where we got some of our negative feedback from.

One of the negative comments that I came across this week went something like "UNOH expects people to throw their kids in the bin!", suggesting that when we chose to follow this path, we did so without regard for our children, and that our children will suffer as a result of what we are doing.

When I first heard this I laughed, NOTHING could be further from the truth!!! Our Children have flourished in the environment that they are in.

When Naomi felt the call towards UNOH a little over a year ago, she denied the call due to her having children. Just as those thoughts where going through her head (it was during an altar call) the preacher mentioned that there was someone in the congregation struggling to come forward due to the fact that she had children and she felt that she could not drag her children onto the mission field. The preacher said that if God was calling us to the field He would have taken our children into consideration, and that we would be robbing our children of what God has in store if we did not follow him.

Having taken the plunge (and I know that I have mentioned this a number of times) I cannot deny that this is the truth... If all our plans to join UNOH fell apart today and we found ourselves stuck in Noble Park I would have to say that God's hand was in it, and His Blessing was upon us, the changes that living here have made in all our children through school, friendships and getting to spend more time with both their parents is amazing. But it goes beyond that, our children are part of our ministry, we really are a team. Our children open doors for us in this community that we would otherwise be struggling to open. Jacob has an understanding of this, and a real sense of adventure and excitement over it. Sam & Luke don't really get it yet, but their natural enthusiasm and friendliness are priceless.

Jesus said:
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters yes, even his own life he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26)

The word hate here was not meant to be taken literally - that would be too freaky and would be in direct opposition to our loving God's character - rather it is hyperbole to say that all else must come second to a true disciple of Jesus. If we let anything get in the way of God's purpose for our lives then we cannot say that Jesus is Lord of our lives, whatever it is that is stopping us is the real lord - and unfortunately with children there seems to be an unspoken acceptance in the church for that sort of idolatry - makes you wonder about the motivation behind such groups as Family First doesn't it? It sounds like an admirable value but is it really biblical when taken to its logical extent.

In fact, this concept of having anything in the way of you truly following Jesus (& truly having Him as Lord of your life), puts a whole new serious spin onto one of our most watered down scriptures too...

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

Well that's about all I really have to say on that topic, I think I need to ponder in a bit more...

Hmmmm... (the sound of me pondering)

Peter

Finally an Update

Forgive me bloggers for I have sinned... it has been over 2 weeks since my last blog entry..

We have just gotten to the end of the school holidays, and what a mad time it has been... Mad, but Fun! Between women's retreats, men's retreats, Family retreats, extra kids for the holidays, A Burmese outing to Phillip Island & a huge grand final party, we have not had much time to think, let alone blog...

We were privileged to get the use of a house in the middle of farmland in Pakenham over the school holidays, first off the women of Noble Park got a chance to get away for 3 days, there was lots of eating and girlie talk (which is about all women do when they get together) . After this our family got to go away for a couple of days with a couple of the boys from the neighbourhood. The boys kept themselves entertained quite well, and so Naomi & I got some real relaxation time and got to watch a few DVDs along the way!
Once that was done, The guys got a chance to go for a couple of days, We got to spend a bit of time in bible study, but mostly it was about kicking a footy (yes Steve even me!) playing basketball and fishing.

We also got to spend the day up there this past Saturday for the grand Final (yes Steve I even watched a lot of it!). There was a massive crowd of us and we had a BBQ and played on the Trilampoline (spelt this way on purpose - its a Simpsons thing) - well it was probably more like wrestling...



Then today we got the privilege of taking around 40 Burmese immigrants on a day trip to the giant worm and Phillip Island, this was a great opportunity for these people to have a day out and see a side of Australia that they have probably not seen yet, they got to feed some kangaroos, pat a wombat & koala, play on the beach (even try to drink some sea water) and see some awesome sights it was a great day and a great opportunity to connect even though they all had little or no English.

So, now we are exhausted, and are looking forward to the kids going back to school so that life can get back to the usual hectic rush (as opposed to the madder than ever hectic rush of the last 2 weeks)...

Peter

Kids, Kids everywhere

I sit here watching out my window, my front yard is filled with kids (ok so there's 7 of them) They are sitting on the front fence...........just hanging out. I am filled with absolute joy and excitement at this picture I see before me. There's something awesome going on here, and it's so unreal to see that our kids can be a part of the life we have chosen.
About a week ago someone from the community approached me about the idea of a few of us starting a kids club in the community (something I had already been thinking about anyway) so to see it happening naturally and organically is super cool.

I have this funny feeling, that when we think we should start a new project or ministry.......the best thing to do is wait for a bit and see if it's already starting to happen.........if it's supposed to fit, then the threads will already be there.

That's just my take on the whole thing anyway, you might think something different!!!!!!

Naomi

Slave to Porn...

Ah, Pornography, sometimes I think it is the only reason that the internet was created...

I do not know what the official figures are on men who use Porn, but I know that the figures are high... Knowing a thing or two about computers I am often asked to help people fix up their computers, in doing this it is not uncommon to come across computers that are full of those tell tale signs of frequent Porn usage. This is the sort of stuff that does not turn up on your computer through the inevitable porn spam that we all suffer from, or accidentally clicking onto a porn site, this is the sort of stuff that comes from a habitual user. Let me tell you without naming names, that the vast majority of computers that I have worked on have this stuff, and many of them cannot blame it on their teenage sons (because they don't have any!). There are those that I have worked on (too few unfortunately) that have no sign of Porn on them, and they belong to people that I really do hold in high regard, these people have real integrity throughout their lives.

There has even been a time or 2 when I have had to help out a minister too, and the tell tale signs are there as well - even those we see as holy or ordained suffer from this hidden & dangerously addictive problem.

And Yes, I struggle with porn too, I have the good fortune of having a wife (a forgiving wife) who caught me out. This brought the subject to a head for me & we were able to begin to deal with the situation... Too often this problem is hidden and not talked about - I'm not suggesting you need to go to your wives and fess up guys, trust me it will hurt them real bad, real, real bad. But maybe there is another guy who you can ask to hold you accountable, maybe if we stop hiding this stuff, we can start to deal with it, and become real men of integrity.

It is an addiction, a harmful, dreadful addiction, it may not see you dead in a gutter like drugs will, or kill your liver like alcohol, but it will destroy your life, destroy your family & destroy your sex life too (not to mention the harm it does to those caught in the industry - don't believe the lies that these women create to protect themselves, or the BS spun by groups like the Eros foundation). Although I had to deal with the up front consequences of porn through being sprung, it still had a hold on me, my head would still turn when I walked past THAT section of a newsagency. Though I would pull my gaze away from it straight away, I knew that the demon of lust still had a hold on me. But God has challenged me about it quite recently and I think that finally the demon's talons are released from me (I use the term 'demon' figuratively, though the Pentecostal in me still thinks there may be some deeper truth to this!). I came face to face with the destructive power of porn the other day when I visited a lonely old guy from the neighborhood - I will not go into any more details than that, but It shocked me into reality, then I came across this video clip (please guys share it around I think its message is very important...)

I came across it at a great site called www.xxxchurch.com* that deals with this whole issue of Christian guys and the problem of porn - it even has some great resources on it like an accountability program that allows you to select a friend to keep you accountable - every time you visit a bad site, this software sends an e-mail to your friend to let him know, talk about vulnerability, but to have the guts to use something like that...

Anyway guys, we need to face up to this problem, stop being ashamed and do something about it - it is harming us, our wives, our families, the poor girls stuck in the industry, and society as a whole - lets be men of integrity, lets be men who stand out from the lusts of our culture, lets stop harming the innocent and putting money into the hands of men who stand in direct opposition to the Kingdom of God!

*There was a guy who was wearing a t-shirt at the Surrender conference that said "Jesus loves porn stars" with the web address under it - this piqued my interest so I had to check it out... Here I was thinking it was about Jesus loving even sinners like Porn Stars. I thought maybe it would be a site dedicated to sticking it to the conservative self-righteous Christians out there , but it ended up pointing the finger back at me!!!

Irresistible Revolution

I have just finished reading Shane Claiborne's book "The Irresistible Revolution" and I must say the book blew me away. In a largely biographical fashion, Claiborne, goes about explaining the theology behind "Living as an Ordinary Radical." Shane reveals his story of being called to live with the poor and homeless in Philadelphia, his experiences working alongside Mother Teresa, and standing with Iraqi Christians in Iraq as his government bombed their home. Throughout these amazing and touching stories, Shane holds onto humility stressing that he has not done anything out of the ordinary, that he has simply taken Jesus' words seriously. Something that me all can do; unfortunately the Church has fallen asleep so those like Shane are seen as radicals. However he argues that they are, ordinary radicals, ordinary Christians with nothing more to offer than their lives, living out the radical, counter cultural teachings of our Saviour.

This book is essential reading for anyone who is looking for more out of their Christian walk than pew warming, and anyone who is starting to hear the cries of the poor, and see that the bible has an answer.

There are heaps of web links in this book, and I will be spending a bit of time surfing, I'll pass on any of the good links that I visit...

Peter

Surrender 06 cont'd...

Hi again.

Surrender 06 was an amazing time for us. It was at S05 that the final crunch came for Naomi and I in our decision to follow the Lord into the call he had on our lives. So in many ways S06 was an anniversary for us (even though it was a couple of weeks later than last year). S05 was a highly emotional time - particularly for Naomi who finally surrendered the battle she was waging against her call to Missions. The year that followed was mad, going through the discernment process with UNOH, visiting Bangkok, telling all our friends & work mates, moving into Noble Park , settling in etc.

For me, attending S06 was like the end of the first leg of our journey, a time to reflect on how our life has changed, and how much God has been with us and blessed us over this leg of the race. Sure there were great speakers and a lot to be thought about and pondered, but just being able to be a volunteer at the conference, working alongside all the UNOH & Rainbow guys, being a team, feeling welcome was what really stuck out to me.

We really have been accepted as part of the community by now, I was able to have a chat with a couple of people over the weekend who were paying me a compliment over a message I shared at Rainbow, and saying that I was obviously a great preacher. I was saying that I did not want to be a great preacher and am very nervous speaking in public like that, that I was much better at doing teaching on a one-on-one or small group basis. These friends then said to me that it was silly for me to be nervous talking in front of the Rainbow Church crowd, as they were all friends. That conversation has had a big impact on me, not that I am proud to be a great speaker or anything( because I am not!), but that I am accepted as a friend by these 2 and everyone else at Rainbow. Social situations are not my favorite things, and to think that despite my social retardation, I have fitted in and am accepted has really done a lot for me, and my confidence in my call to work in NP.

Surrender 06

We are in the middle of the anual UNOH conference - "Surrender 06". The name of the conference comes out of a conviction to take seriously "surrendering to Jesus" It has speakers like Tony Campolo, Ash barker, John Smith, Darryl Gardiner etc... great, inspiring, challenging stuff - but alas - naomi is angry at me for blogging right now - we don't have time, so any more reflections will have to wait for another day!!! - see ya

Quote of the Week:

Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.

Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, 'Who is the LORD ?'
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.

Proverbs 30:8-9

Lilies of the field

Recently, in my morning devotions I was reading Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). I think all of Jesus' teachings present a real challenge to us if we take them for what they really say, versus what we have reduced them to. However, if we were to take the Sermon on the Mount literally as a guide on how to live a Christian life, what an amazing challenge that would be! Suddenly Counter Cultural would mean a bit more than wearing Diesel brand t-shirts with Che Guevara's image on them, or sporting 'Make Poverty History' armbands.

Especially when we read Matt 6:19-34, This is the passage that covers storing up treasures on earth and then goes onto the passage about the Lilies on the field. We cannot reduce this passage down to simply having mastery over our money (cannot serve both God & Mammon v24) and then deliver a tithe message. Nor can we simply reduce it to a message about Faith, saying that if we trust the Lord he will look after us. If we are true to the message here (remember last weeks quote of the week?), then are called to so much more, this passage stands in direct contrast to the lives that we in the west are living!

The first part tells us not to store up treasures on Earth, but to store up treasures in Heaven. Yet we live in a society and church that promotes the building of our own little Kingdoms; our own homes, investments, 2 cars, plasma TV's, a wardrobe full of clothes, (dare I say, a Fancy, Flashy new church building?). Whilst all around us there are images of people starving to death - we cannot fain ignorance about it, it is forced in our face by organizations like World Vision every day (and rightly so!!). The Early Church Held that if a child starved to death, and a Christian has extra food, then that Christian is guilty of MURDER. My God, how many have I murdered!?! Yet we can calm this guilt, all we need to do is tithe to a church that does great work in the third world, and maybe sponsor a child through world vision for "less than a cup of coffee a day" - if we have done that, we have done our bit right? Not if we are to take Jesus' message seriously. We call this sort of thing sacrifice - giving to the needy, but if it does not hurt, how can it be sacrifice? Sacrifice is pain, sacrifice is death! - remember "The Passion of the Christ?"

If this is all we are called to do, then why would Jesus tell us not to worry about our food and clothing, if we are still living in our own little Kingdoms of luxury, we don't need to trust in the Lord to supply our needs! Clearly Jesus is calling for more than just a tokenistic response. The early church sold their possessions, shared out of their wealth, so that none would have need (Acts 4:32) If we take God's words seriously, if we give sacrificially, then we have to trust in the Lord, then we really do need to pray "give us today our daily bread". Suddenly that line of the Lord's prayer makes more sense... We cannot view it simply as asking God for more. In fact if you read the above quote of the week, you will see where this line out of the Lords Prayer actually originates...

In building our little kingdoms here on earth, I fear that we have missed the point of it all, we are no longer working for the kingdom of God, we are working for the kingdom of self. The kingdom of God is at hand, but we can't grab hold of it, because our hands are full of our own possessions...

Sorry about the delay

It has been well over a week since we have last updated our blog - if there are any regular readers out there? (I ask this question as besides Andy, we don't get any feedback, and we like to think that this space will become a conversation rather than a monologue!) - we apologize for the delay - there have been illnesses and other issues stopping us - hopefully however we will be connected to the net in 2 days and then we can keep updated more regularly (by e-mail as well!) - woo hoo!!!!

Quote for the Week...

The matter is quite simple. The bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obligated to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.

Soren Kierkegaard, Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard (2002)

The Gift of Coffee Making

I still remember growing up in a Pentecostal/charismatic type church the quest we went on to find our spiritual gifts - the gift of healing, the gift of prophecy (or is that the gift of manipulation? - I get those two confused sometimes!), the gift of speaking in tongues, etc. etc.

They were all great gifts to have and be proud of, I can still remember walking around with pride comparing the gift God gave me to others gifts:- "you've got the gift of speaking in tongues huh? - well I'VE got the gift of interpretation of tongues!!". And then there were those who just didn't seem to get it, who could not find their spiritual gift - these people were told that not all spiritual gifts were of the miraculous type, some had the gift of hospitality or something like that (Of course us truly sanctified & spiritual people knew that that was just a cop-out)

Many years on I have finally let go of trying to impress other Christians, by my spirituality - we really missed the point if that is all the gifts of the spirit are used for. I still believe in those miraculous gifts of the spirit and respect those who use them (not their cheap imitation). But one that I have learnt to respect above many of them of late is - the gift of HOSPITALITY.

Yesterday was an interesting day for me. As the guys here in the community get to know me and get to be more comfortable with me (I think it is easier and more natural for women) , I have begun to get visitors at our door, just after a coffee and a chat, many of the guys here are very lonely and just need somewhere to feel like they are valued. Yesterday I had a couple of such visitors. The first was a great old guy from a "home for the broken" around the corner from us. He just dropped in for a coffee and a biscuit, and to say 'hi' - we sat for a while and I tried to have a conversation with him, I asked him any questions I could think of (you can't ask this guy what he does for a living, or where he is planning his next holiday), and more often than not I would get an answer that had no connection to the question. However he did say along the way that he was feeling anxious, and when he left he thanked me for all my help and left.

The same night I had a visit from another neighbor, who was crying, drunk and reeked of both alcohol and B.O. This neighbor is a great guy, witty and always ready to crack a joke or laugh raucously about the smallest thing. He had just heard the news that a family member had died. We talked we prayed, we drank coffee, we sat in silence, we even laughed by the end of it, and again this friend left feeling at least somewhat better, and that he had someone to talk to, that he had value.

I am not mentioning these things to say - Look at all the really great things that I am doing, I'm mentioning them to ask the question - why do we look for the grand gestures that we can do for the Kingdom - the great healings - the great mission trips - the great amounts of money to do great works in His name, when all it takes is a $3 jar of Nescafe*, and a willingness to open your door to those who need to feel loved!

* Nescafe have not sponsored this blog entry in any way - in fact I'd prefer you did not buy Nescafe coffee - but rather another coffee brand - given Nestle's history in third world countries! - want to know more? Go to www.globalexchange.org

Some Praise & Prayer Points...

Hey Everyone,

Just a quick catch up from Naomi,
The big move on Saturday went extremely well, we are so grateful to all the wonderful people from Foothills who pitched in and helped us out............it was a great way to end our time in such an awesome community.

I thought some of you might like to hear some prayer & praise points........you don't have to pray for us..........but if you want to......

I would like to praise God for

The wonderful acceptance that we have been shown in our new community.........I was imagining sitting around and being bored for the first little while......boy was I wrong.

The fantastic way our kids have settled into our new way of life, new school e.t.c........in fact, they are not just settled, they are thriving!!!!!!!!

Teaching C.R.E in a new school is going very well, I have had extremely positive responses from various members of staff, and am beginning to become familiar with some children and families in the school.

Please Pray For

Me in particular to find some time for rest and to be able to fit more time with God into my crazy schedule..........It would be nice if people stopped commenting on the dark rings around my eyes

I am running Ladies group for the first time tomorrow (i'm a little nervous)

So few of the kids at Noble Park attend C.R.E, please pray that more kids would want to attend

Peter is beginning to form friendships with a few of the Men in the area, please pray that he would naturally form some meaningful friendships, many of the men around here are lonely and often have no where to go....it's good to be able to offer our place as a drop in for them.

We still don't have our names on the lease where we are living...........the Estate agent thinks it will be fine but is taking her time to sort it out with the owner, I am finding it hard to unpack boxes because in the back of my mind I am thinking "what if I have to repack soon" It would be really great to have that one sorted out.

That I would be able to follow God's leading with making some good connections in the school community

That's all I can think of now, Peter probably has more.......but he's not here so it's up to me.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read this.................

Love from Naomi

Quote for the Week...

Love without courage and wisdom is sentimentality, as with the ordinary church member. Courage without love and wisdom is foolhardiness, as with the ordinary soldier. Wisdom without love and courage is cowardice, as with the ordinary intellectual. But the one who has love, courage, and wisdom moves the world.

- Ammon Hennacy (Catholic Activist, 1893-1970)

Finally, we are moving in!!!

Well, 5 weeks in and we are finally getting to the stage where we can move our belongings to Nobel Park!!!! - yay!!! - that will mean that we will be able to sleep in our own beds, sit on our own couches get food out of our own fridge... Sorry it is all wearing a bit thin for me - it will be great to finally just relax and call a place home again.

Out side of that, things are going great and continue to get better. I know we go on about it a lot, but Sammy is just doing wonders, and we can not say anything other than it is a miracle and a real example of God rewarding the faithful actions of his followers.

Naomi was called in to the school by one of the aids to discuss sammys progress, going in with fear, she soon found out that the aid wanted nothing more than to assure Naomi over how well Sammy was doing. The aid showed her Sams work and the work that he is doing is not at all modified (something that we were asking the other school to do for ages) and he is doing extremely well at it too - his work is on display with the other kids work in his classroom (again something that didn't happen at the other school) he is participating in class discussions and being relevant to the topic. In fact they are implementing a number of strategies that we have been crying out for the other school to try for months in not over a year off the bat, and things could not be better - NP Primary got the reports from his other school and were preparing for an absolute monster to join their school - however they have had nothing but an angel for more than a month now!!! - this is not simply because Sammy has decided to change either (though he did try his best to start with) this is because this school seems to understand the ins & outs of Autism and they treat Sammy with dignity! - PRAISE THE LORD - is all I can say - it certainly does not fit into earthly logic or wisdom that a move from Ferntree gully to Noble Park would work so well for an Autistic child! Tomorrow night he even gets to be involved in the school production (again - surprise, surprise - not in he other school) - he is a cowboy in a dance revolving around the village peoples YMCA.

Luke is also in the production as a cat in a dance to "What's new Pussy Cat" and Jake gets the lead in Rocky Horror Picture Shows "Time Warp" - he assures me he is not wearing fishnets and stillettos though!!! - once I have my computer back on the net I'll try to post a picture.

On news about Naomi & I, it looks like I have been given the role of looking after the food distribution at the Food Bank here on a Tuesday morning as well as a number of other responsibilities that are just beginning to form around me at the moment. It is hard to describe what a day consists of here - though a lot of it has to do with relating to people, having visitors, making very lonely people feel loved etc, so it is very hard to put down our roles in neat boxes. Naomi is currently hosting a women's group back at home, so I have been kicked out and therefore am catching up with things here at Cafe Salvo - the new local hang out, where if you want to meet a local, have a great coffee or jump on the net its the place to be - a bit like cheers, without the alcohol or woody!

Anyway - I have run out of things to say as a general catch up - I'll post again soon, especially once I am on line again but until then - see you later.

Peter

Finally..........a word from Naomi

Hey everyone,
Sorry it has taken me so long to leave a post..........Peter has had to literally bring me to the computer to get it done!!!!!!!!

I just want to let everyone know that things are going really great here, I am really enjoying getting to know my new neighbourhood, and enjoying spending heaps of time with people here.

I taught my first C.R.E class at Noble Park Primary yesterday, it felt really good and natural to get back into teaching......I missed it for the few weeks that I wasn't doing it.

I would have to say that one of the nicest bits about moving is the brilliant way that Sammy has settled into his new school.....we are at week 4 now, and he has been brilliant. The school has assured me that they love having him there, he is doing all his school work and behaving the way he should be.........he is even going to be a cowboy in the school production next week!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess God really does know what he's doing!!!!!! Moving the kids, and particulary Sam, was a huge faith step for us, and one I struggled to trust God on.......so it has been an amazing experience to see it all work out so well.

Anyway..........I promise I will will make a bigger effort with getting on line in future......

Thanks for reading, and we'd love to hear back from you

Naomi

Orthodoxy/Orthopraxy

I have just finished reading an article by Brian McLaren on “truth” and the Christian faith. It brought out some interesting thoughts that I have been mulling over this morning. He used the illustration of Jane Goodall and the way she researched chimpanzees, comparing her work to the work of a standard research scientist, McLaren noted that Goodall attributed personal names and character traits to the chimps rather than giving them maybe serial numbers etc… (only humans have personality traits scientifically speaking). After a while Goodall developed some sort of an interpersonal relationship to her subject matter and her research was more than simple detached observation. Had Goodall had the correct scientific training she would have known that this sort of relationship with her subject matter would have been seen as against the rules of serious scientific study.

What has this got to do with the Christian faith? Simply this: Modernity has taught us that serious study of the scripture has to be done from a scientific stand point (exegesis, exposition, etc) we have our theologies aund understandings of the virgin birth, the trinity, the deity of Jesus, and unless we believe these things we cannot be a Christian. Whilst I agree that these scientific and formulaic aspects of the faith are needed. The problem is that if we believe that that is what Christianity is about then me don’t really have a relationship with the living God, we only really believe the right things – and lets face it, even Satan believes in God. We cannot boil Christianity down to a list of beliefs or truths; that leads to dryness or “Crusty Christianity”. Bible college dried me out, made it impossible for me to have a relationship with God. This is an experience faced by many, it is not that bible college is wrong or evil or anything, it is just that when you are faced with so many facts, truths, formulas and approaches, the relationship side of things starts to suffer (unless of course you consciously seek this relationship). We seem to put the value on our faith that says the more educated or enlightened we are the better our Christian walk will be. If our Orthodoxy (right belief) is correct then our Orthopraxy (right practice) will follow. But it seems to me that pursuing that Orthodoxy dries out our love for the Lord – makes it just facts, just beliefs, and kills off the relationship. There has to be a better way… maybe if discipleship focuses more on Orthopraxy, walking along side an established Christian, seeing what the Christian journey is about, then the Orthodoxy will be learnt along the way, in small, manageable, natural doses. Maybe if we train new Christians to hear from the Lord, to understand his heartbeat, to understand what the Kingdom is about, what the Gospel is about (here’s a hint guys, its not a bunch of beliefs – it’s good news to the poor). Maybe the rest will be picked up along the way.

The truth is that when we get to judgement day, we are not going to be given an exam, we aren’t going to be judged on our view of the Trinity or Eschatology, we are going to be judged on what we did, and didn’t do (Matthew 25:31-46). This is not about salvation through works, it is about salvation through a heart in tune with the heart of our saviour. Its about seeing what breaks the heart of God, and doing something about it, picking up your cross, dieing to self, surrendering all.

We do need to have orthodoxy behind all of this, but I believe that our orthodoxy will look quite different if we balance it with orthopraxy.

If you feel that you are stuck in Crusty Christianity, here is a challenge for you; in your quiet times, study only the Gospels. for several months, read through them, get to know who Jesus was at grass roots, don’t try to analyse him through your belief systems or the rest of scripture, but just take him at his word (and his action). Once you have a real grip on who he is then go back to the rest of the scripture and see how differently your understanding of the writing of Paul and others will be.

How can we call ourselves Christians (followers of Christ) if we don’t have an intimate understanding of our founder and what he stood for?

I hope this all makes sense, I sometimes hesitate to put down in writing thoughts like this, they can be too embryonic, and sometimes not make sense, or come across the wrong way…

Peter

Goodbye Koorong - the next step taken!

Well, that’s it, another monumental step taken. On Friday I did my last shift as an “Assistant Customer Service Manager” at Koorong. Goodbye fulltime work! I am not sure how happy I am about that… There certainly was a large amount of sadness in saying goodbye to many friends who I have made over the years, I will still be working there as a casual for some time, but that will mean that for the most part I will be working at nights, so I wont get to see many of the full-time workers or many of the regular customers that I have made friendships with.

There is also a certain amount of fear accompanying a move like this – in one sense I have given up a lot of financial security, I no longer have a set income and will have to rely on casual shifts at Koorong, and any other casual work I can pick up to survive. Certainly, we are cutting back on our standard of living, getting rid of the second car – working hard to eliminate as much debt as possible, curbing impulse spending etc, but it will still be hard!

Then there is a great deal of excitement! – I have taken another step on our journey – we are progressing! I am now free to pursue getting involved in the work of UNOH & Rainbow Church, and familiarizing myself with the neighborhood that will be home for at least a year and a half!

Already, the sense of involvement and belonging is beginning to set in, just through involvement in Rainbow and the food bank on Tuesdays. Of course Naomi’s involvement over the last 2 weeks, getting to know people, has helped immensely too, her natural ability to attract people is a real advantage. And in many ways we already feel accepted.

We are now living in a 3 bedroom unit with 4 other adults and a baby. Last night was our first night, though most of them had moved out for the night. Mondays in general are used as a sort of Sabbath for the UNOH workers. As much as possible, they try and get out of the neighborhood, to rest and relax for the day. We are looking forward to getting to know those we are staying with, as we did with Ileana, Gavin, Mohammad & Tejaan (sorry, I don’t know how to spell his name), over the last 2 weeks.

People look on our current housing situation like it is a burden for us, but in truth, while it may not be ideal, there are many advantages to this situation, and as a result we are really enjoying it all, and using the opportunity to learn as much about UNOH and those we will be working beside as possible.

I have probably gone on enough for now – hopefully I will have time to post again soon, life is beginning to settle into some sort of a routine. Hopefully I’ll be able to get Naomi to post again soon too – it has been ages.

Peter.

P.S. Please post a comment, just to let us know that you are reading this, and that it is not a waste of time.

P.P.S. What do you think of the new header?

First 4 Days...

Hi,

Well, we are well and truly living in Noble Park now, if not settled into our own home. Staying with Gavin & Ileana is great, they are great hosts and have made us feel very welcome.

The boys have settled into school great, Jake said that people here are more friendly than they are in their old school, and Sam has done great so far, Naomi has not been called into the school for him, and the school is making a real effort to try not to fall into a pattern like that - we are really positive and hopeful. Sammy said to Naomi today that he was feeling very happy, that is the first time in his life that he has ever said anything like that. Luke seems to be cruising through as he does, he already has many friends, but still can't remember his teachers name!!

Naomi has been out and about meeting the people associated with UNOH and having coffees down at Cafe Salvo. She is loving it too and making me jealous that I am still at work. Only 5 more work days until I say goodbye to full-time employment! - Wow that's a weird feeling!!

I'll try to get Naomi to make an entry soon, it has been ages since she has done an entry and she probably has better reflections than me at this point in time as she is already starting to do the work.

Anyway, that is it for me for now...

Well, This is it!

Trivia Question: What are the first four words in the Blues Brothers Movie?
Hint: They are hidden in the title somewhere…

She caught the Katy, and left me a mule to ride
She caught the Katy, and left me a mule to ride
My baby caught the Katy, left me a mule to ride
The train pulled out, and I swung on behind
I'm crazy 'bout her, that hard headed woman of mine…

Ahhh – reminiscing….

Anyway, back to reality… We have done it!!! – we spent our first night in Noble Park!

As yet we have not got a place to live (though we were offered one) so to make sure the kids can start this term in their new school, we are staying at a couples house In NP. These guys have a lot to do with UNOH, though they are not actual members.
The 3 boys are sleeping in 1 room together and Naomi & I get to share the most uncomfortable fold out sofa bed I think I have ever slept on.

Anyway, that is for a week, after that we move to another place that will eventually become our home. At the moment there is a couple with a baby and a single lady living there. They are moving out to find places further out in NP, but they want us to live in this place as it is a great location to have a UNOH worker living in… it may take anywhere up to 5 or 6 weeks before the place is empty, but that’s fine. All this time living with people gives us a really great introduction to UNOH and how it all works!

Well, That’s about all I have to say for now, I am at work typing this out – I still have 2 weeks of Koorong before I go to casual employment, living off baked beans & trusting in the Lord! – Yay!! – (read Yay with the slight note of insecurity that went through my head as I typed it)

Anyway please pray for us as we settle in, as well as for my sister who got some pretty bad news the other day– but more on that when details become available.

Peter

"It's a Revolution Baby!"

Hi everyone,

I recently read a book by George Barna entitles ‘Revolution’. What an amazing book considering Barna’s history – from statistician writing books about church growth, to statistician writing a book about a movement that his statistics have missed – a book about a trend of Christians who have abandoned the church to seek a true spiritual walk – he calls this the revolution – a word that he himself sees as being overused and watered down over the last few years. Anyway the book is an interesting read although quite short and probably overpriced… anyway at the end of the book he writes “The Affirmation of a Revolutionary” which I found quite inspiring, so here it is:

I am a Revolutionary in the service of God Almighty. My life is not my own; I exist as a free person but have voluntarily become a slave to God. My role on earth is to live as a Revolutionary, committed to love, holiness, and advancing God’s Kingdom. My life is not about me and my natural desires; it is all about knowing, loving, and serving God with all my heart, mind, strength, and soul. Therefore, I acknowledge the following:

• I am a sinner, broken by my disobedience but restored by Jesus Christ in order to participate in good works that please God. I am not perfect; but Jesus Christ makes me righteous in God’s eyes, and the Holy Spirit leads me toward greater holiness.
  God created me for His purpose. My desire as a Revolutionary is to fulfill those ends, and those ends alone. When I get out of bed each day, I do so for one purpose: to love, obey, and serve God and His people.
• Every breath I take is a declaration of war against Satan and a commitment to opposing him.
• God does not need me to fight, but He invites me to allow Him to fight through me. It is my privilege to serve Him in that manner. I anticipate and will gladly endure various hardships as I serve God; for this is the price of participation in winning the spiritual war.
• I do not need to save the world; Jesus Christ has already done that. I cannot transform the world, but I can allow God to use me to transform some part of it.
• My commitment to the Revolution of faith is sealed by my complete surrender to God’s ways and His will. I will gratefully do what He asks of me simply because He loves me enough to ask. I gain my security, success, and significance through my surrender to Him.
• I am not called to attend or join a church, I am called to be the Church.
• Worship is not an event I attend or process I observe; it is the lifestyle I lead.
• I do not give away 10 percent of my resources. I surrender 100 percent.
• God has given me natural abilities and supernatural abilities, all intended to advance His Kingdom. I will deploy those abilities for that purpose.
• The proof of my status as a Revolutionary is the love I show to God and people.
• There is strength in relationships; I am bound at a heart and soul level to other Revolutionaries, and I will bless believers whenever I have the chance.
• To achieve victory in the spiritual war in which we are immersed, there is nothing I must accomplish; I must simply follow Christ with everything I have.
• There is no greater calling than to know and serve God.
• The world is desperately seeking meaning and purpose. I will respond to that need with the Good News and meaningful service.
• Absolute moral and spiritual truth exists, is knowable, and is intended for my life; it is accessible through the Bible.
• I want nothing more than to hear God say to me, “Well done, My good and faithful servant.”

Thank You, Lord God, for loving me, for saving me, for refining me, for blessing me, and for including me in the work of Your Kingdom. My life is Yours to use as You please. I Love you.