Blog is up!
G’day! New blog is up – please see link on the side (Blogroll) to Dream God Dreams and come visit me right now…
Date for New Blog
Well for those who have been asking – I do have a date for release of my new blog – it will happen sometime on Sun 20th June (Australian time). It is called “Dream God Dreams” and will bring you Daily Prayers you can pray with me, Social commentary, Christian life posts and “Cover to Cover” online bookshop. It will be linked from this site as soon as it is released – hope to see you there – please leave me a comment to say “Hi”…
I’m moving…
This blog has been very unattended for various reasons… sorry!
I am in the process of creating a new blog on Christianity and I may take this blog in a slightly different direction (in time). I’m not sure when I will launch my new blog but as soon as I do I will link to it from this one.
What does prayer look like?
I have a regular prayer time – but what does that mean – what is it and what is it not…
Must Haves
There are only 3 ingredients needed for prayer – me, God and time. Prayer is really less about what is done (the mechanics) and more about who is there… basically it’s hanging with Jesus.
Things to avoid
In prayer these things become very difficult – continuous and/or major interruptions, sleep, hunger… kinda make sure the basics are covered first. When I hang with a friend I like coffee and food to be involved – so when I pray the first thing I do is make myself a cup of tea (God is responsible for his own!).
What do I do?
I sit on my comfy new lounge and as it is winter and I hang with Jesus early (6am) I also have my Nanna blankie (and cup of tea). There are lots of things I do (not all at once or in one sitting!!) – talk to God, pray for stuff I’m concerned about – personal stuff to global stuff, pray for my friends and church, read – the bible or other Christian books, listen to worship music, dance or pace around the lounge room…
What happens??
Most often I pray and then I get up and go about my day – sometimes God’s presence is more real, more “there”, sometimes I feel Him directing me, comforting me, speaking to me – but not always…
Doesn’t it feel weird talking to someone who’s not there?
Yeah – sometimes it does, but then I know that He’s always with me and I remember the times when His presence has been really “there” and so it doesn’t feel so weird after a while.
Why would I keep “praying” every day?
When I pray I meet with the God of all the universe, the God who saved me from all the yuk in my life and it is wow when you think about it in this way. I keep praying ’cause I never know what is going to happen… I keep praying ’cause as I meet with God every day I get to know Him better and He is so exciting and wonderful, He shows me Himself and His heart and I show Him mine. I keep praying every day ’cause He’s my very best friend and I would miss Him if I didn’t – and He’d miss me…
Wow what a week!
Just took my daughter to Adelaide for a week (and a surprise day in Sydney).
We had the best time – went to Edge conference, Hahndorf (Oldest German village in Aus), The Adelaide Show, Seadragon Farm, glorious Glenelg… had the best weather, and caught up with some cool friends…
Then Sydney – jet boating on the Harbour, icons in the background, markets at The Rocks, the city, monorail, Botany Bay – and that just in one day, awesome fun!
Australia is such a cool place to live 
Glenelg foreshore Adelaide
Sydney!
Watching eggs hatch…
Spent last night watching eggs – really wanted to see a chicken hatch out of one and the closest I got – well you can see – there was a sizable hole in the egg and occasionally a leg or beak poked out… pretty cool considering it started from something resembling what I made scrambled eggs with earlier in the day for brekky!! (The Scitech people threw us out at nine – in fact the kids were hassling us – something about them turning the lights out on us!!) Got me thinking about what would compel me to sit and watch a moving, very slowly cracking egg over the course of a couple of hours. I think we are captivated by things that are outside of our ability to control, to exert our will over, things that we experience as miracles – as they are things that only God can make happen. I can’t make a chicken hatch out of an egg, or a flower develop and grow, I can’t force the sun to shine (if only…) and I realised that even my faith has that element of can’t within it – there are things about faith that my head and my heart fail to comprehend – and I can only experience as miraculous. These are things which can be so frustrating, precisely because they are outside of my timing and control but they are things which are the most wondrous, most amazing things… they are the things which lead me to worship – that lead me to the one who can – that lead me to Jesus.
Religion vs. God
Religion
If humanity developed religion in order to explain our existence then God is the created and we are the creator. In that case we choose God and he in all rights should worship us – his creator. In this case our religion negates itself.
God
If on the other hand God created humanity then He is the creator and we are the created. It follows that He chooses us and we rightfully owe Him everything. In this scenario we were created to worship.
Something to think about…
Don’t turn…
Just picked up a book again called “Don’t turn, Let God turn it” by Andre Olivier.
I needed reminding… you know – when, to worship God, to obey God, to do what you know is the right thing to do, instead of having to muster up courage and be bold and step out and do something risky you have to do the opposite – HOLD ON…
There’s some stuff in my life that I need to get really tenacious about holding on with – mustering up courage, being bold, taking the risk, being brave, and doing nothing… that’s right doing nothing. Sometimes doing nothing (at least for me anyway) is so much harder than doing something. ”What do I do” is my prayer and catch cry – just let me do something, anything – and yet I know, and I hear, “do nothing”.
This book is such a great reminder that sometimes in life there are things that happen that we can’t fix with any amount of stomping, screaming, cajoling, pleading… Sometimes things need prayer (lots of prayer) and patience (lots of patience) and enough courage to do nothing – and let God do all the something’s that may or may not need to be done.
So if you’re like me and have things that you know you need to “do nothing” about then I pray that you have the strength, courage and then some more strength and some more courage to “do nothing” well and with grace. (And please pray that I do also)…
Strong vs. Weak
It all started with a fire I couldn’t light… (which later I found was because the wood was no good!) I had to ask for help – *gulp* – you see I pride myself on being able to do anything, self-sufficient, confidently capable… It got me thinking about the relative value we place on strength and weakness. You see in my mind, as in many of our minds, strength is an expectation – I don’t want to be seen as being weak or incapable. In our world weakness is not valued in any way and to feel weak is to feel vulnerable, open to abuse and/or exploitation. This is not without some justification – it is so true that throughout our world the weak are exploited and abused. On the flip side, the strong often sit isolated in their pride – you see my ability to do things for myself means that I don’t need to rely on or interact with anyone else. When I had to open myself to ask for help not only did I have to admit weakness but I had to engage in relationship (albeit a shallow one).
This left me wondering if there is something positive about our weakness? Lets face it – we all have some areas of our life in which we are weak (or weaker)… Can our weakness bring about unexpected wonder in our lives as we open ourselves to others and allow them to use their strength in the places we are weak. Is this perhaps what the apostolic writer in the bible, Paul, meant, when he wrote “For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2Corinthinans 12:10b). Perhaps Paul saw in his weakness an opportunity to allow others – not least of whom, Jesus, who had unlimited strength – to add their strength to his weakness and to engage in relationship also.
Perhaps there is no winner really in the war of strong vs. weak…
