29/6 No longer a mere mortal

29 June

You’ve imbibed a special potion that makes you immortal. Now that you’ve got forever, what changes will you make in your life? How will you live life differently, knowing you’ll always be around to be accountable for your actions?

I needn't imbibe a special portion.  I have immortality.  This comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Such faith is not the byproduct of my upbringing.  Nor of my education.  Rather, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is faith that He authors.  In addition to its authorship, Jesus is committed to the perfection of that faith.

"...Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith..." (Hebrews 12:2)

Yet the same epistle promises death.  "...it is appointed for man to die once..." (Hebrews 9:27)

How does that  add up?  I have immortality.  I will die.  Surely that's a contradiction?

Lazarus was a man Jesus' loved.   So much so that Lazarus' death produced Jesus' tears.  Not only His, but tears of Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha.  In response to their tears, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die." (John 11:25-26)

In this sense, though I may experience physical death (just as Lazarus did, twice!), I will live.  My physical-ness is not the source of my life in it's truest sense.  Rather, though in the resurrection I will have a glorified, immortal body - even now, I have an immortal spirit.  That is because I am the recipient of the new birth.  This new birth is heavenly.  This new birth is a birth of the Spirit.  The Spirit is an eternal Spirit, who will give life to my now mortal body, and who gives life to my now immortal soul.  I am no longer a mere mortal.

The Already.  The Not Yet.

Redemptive-History is divided.  The division is drawn by the advent of Messiah.  Before the advent, history is categorised as "this present evil age" (Galatians 1:4).  On this side of the advent, history is defined as "the age to come" (Hebrews 6:5).  The former is passing away, having effectively been poisoned by the water of life.  The latter is shining brighter and brighter, and will be most fully, most gloriously manifest when Jesus returns again.   This final Day of the Lord will be a day in which the covers are pulled back and the glory of the immortal ones will reflect, in body AND soul, the light of the Immortal One.

This eschatological reality is not all future.  But nor is it all present.

Outwardly, physically, bodily - I experience the effects of the fall.  Pain, disease, sickness, fatigue.  As Paul wrote to the Corinthians "...our outer self is wasting away..." (2 Corinthians 4:16).

Inwardly, spiritually, at a heart level, my true self is being renewed day by day.  Again, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians "...our inner self is being renewed day by day" (2 Corinthians 4:16).

This day by day renewal is the sense in which the Lord Jesus Christ is actively perfecting and finishing our faith.  Added to this is the reassurance that there will be a full and final consummation where the redemption that has begun inwardly, will be manifest outwardly, that is, in the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23).

The Day of the Lord

Mortality will give way to full and final immortality.  The Day of the Lord will seal that reality.  In light of the cataclysmic events of that day, Peter asks "What kind of people ought you to be?" (2 Peter 3:11).  He campaigns for holiness that is innate to the immortality of those who have faith in Jesus Christ.  It's like he's saying, "In light of what's coming, and what will be forever, don't you go living as if your present experience of mortality will be perpetuated beyond the grave."

The challenge for me, and for every believer is to live in light of what is already, conscious that what is not yet is sufficient explanation for struggles, suffering, pain, and the difficulty of life where the aroma of death is an unignorable reality.



The Futility of Death

Activ8 Pro-Life Internship

I may go a bit quiet next week.  Access to the world wide web will be limited, which isn't an altogether bad thing, right?  I will be away from my normal environment and associated means of -communicating with the digital world.  I will be at the 5-day, residential Activ8 Pro-Life Internship hosted and sponsored by Focus on the Family New Zealand.

This is an annual, targeting training program for 18-35 year-olds (though this year the age range has been voluntarily extended).  The aim is to equip young(ish) people, enabling them to build the culture of life in a society where life seems somewhat disposable.  Abortion represents the main dumping ground.  Sadly, the euthanasia debate may prove to open other fronts.

Activ8 Pro-Life Internship

Though it has been through several incarnations over the 6 years it's been in existence, over 90 people have been armed and readied in what really is a culture war.   This represents young people on both sides of the Tasman Sea.  These young people are involved in a multiplicity of vocation and vocational training.  I myself attended in 2012.  I must say that it was the single most effective means of equipping me to fight for life with all its ages, stages, and challenges.

The Internship has been extremely well resourced, facilitated by some of New Zealand and Australia's leading voices for life.  This has included front-line workers in the fight against abortion.  Soldiers in this fight have been working both as the fence at the top of the cliff (Crisis-Pregnancy, etc) as well as the ambulance at the bottom (Post-Abortive care, etc).

Followers of this blog may be interested to know that following my own internship, I took to editing and publishing a monthly periodical known then as The Life Times.  Sadly, the busyness of my own life swallowed up what little time I did have to devote to it.  As a result, my voice has been somewhat hushed.  But though the volume of my voice has been turned back, the passion in my heart has never been affected.  Next week may prove to reignite passion and fire for this most worthy of fights.  A report of my own experience, as an intern, can be found here.

https://thelifetimesnz.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/pro-life-movement-alive-and-well

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/tourist/

 

Springs of Living Water

HE WILL GUIDE THEM TO SPRINGS OF LIVING WATER

“Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

prompts/water/ 

https://yoursuccessinspirer.com/2016/06/28/water-gives-life/

 

Living Waters

Living Waters (Live)

From the Album - Facing a Task Unfinished

Daily Prompt: Water

https://lanternwords.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/i-seek-water/

---

— WORDS AND MUSIC BY KRISTYN GETTY AND ED CASH©2016 GETTY MUSIC PUBLISHING (BMI) / ALLETROP MUSIC (BMI) (ADMIN BY MUSICSERVIES.ORG)

The Story

“The Lord Jesus came to give us life and life in all its fullness. This song is an invitation to us and to our children, to come and be filled and healed, and to walk in life and freedom. It is a privilege for us to sing with our families, as we pass our faith on to the next generation. Our primary mission field is our three daughters!”

Dihydrogen Monoxide Conspiracy

Dihydrogen Monoxide Conspiracy

Current allegations suggest that the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may be conspiring to cover up the whole DHMO issue. Attempts by DHMO researchers to elicit comment from the EPA regarding the possible cover-up were either ignored or dodged, leading researchers to infer the alleged cover-up. Incredibly, the EPA then attempted to divert attention from the real issue onto talk of the aesthetics and layout of the EAC's DMRD web site!

EPA Refuses to Confirm or Deny Cover-up

In spite of a direct query for information, the EPA refused to deny the existence of a cover-up. The researcher, who reported to us under conditions of anonymity, sent correspondence asking if the EPA knows more about Dihydrogen Monoxide than it is telling us.

Point Blank Questions Ignored

The researcher went on to ask, point blank, "Are you asking me to participate in some sort of cover-up?" And, "Do you deny that the EPA is purposely keeping quiet on the issue of Dihydrogen Monoxide?" For whatever reason, the EPA would not say, offering no comment on the questions at all.

EPA Saber Rattling

However, in a strongly worded reply, the EPA did seemingly go on the offensive with statements such as:

• "The Agency would like to ask you to remove [certain information].",


• "The point is, if your visitors are in any way led to the impression that EPA is endorsing your site, that is not good for either of us.",


• "I hope you see our point of view",


• "We take our mission of protecting the environment seriously", and


• "We consider this a serious matter and would appreciate your help."

Some may find these heavy handed statements shocking. The wording of the EPA's correspondence with the researcher are filled with these sorts of anachronisms; one would expect such talk from a movie gangster, but not from a taxpayer-funded agency of the United States government.

Draw Your Own Conclusions

There is certainly no doubt that the Dihydrogen Monoxide issue touched a nerve at the US EPA. And while sources at the EPA admit to the benefits of freely distributing information to the public on DHMO, they stop short of admitting to a cover-up. Perhaps there really is no cover-up. Or maybe the EPA's silence confirms its existence. It is clear that the EPA is putting no effort into educating the public about the dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide. It is also clear that the truth may forever be obscured, so for now the reader is left to reach his or her own conclusions regarding the possible conspiracy at the EPA to cover-up the DHMO issue.

Daily Prompt - Water

Cover Up

Daily Prompt: We Can Be Taught

We can be taught

Tell us a moment or an incident that you treasure — not necessarily because it brought you happiness, but because it taught you something about yourself.

I was 18.  She asked me what I wanted to do with my life.  I said I wanted to be a pastor.  I had no idea what that would involve, but I didn't think the time between when I first voiced the desire, and when the desire would come to fruition wouldn't be more than a couple of years.

I'm 31.  I'm due to finish my initial studies at Grace Theological College at the end of next year.  14 years, at least.

There is a sense in which I interact on a pastoral level.  But there's a huge gap between operating on a pastoral level, and living out a pastoral call.  The former is bound by concern.  The latter has a tonne of responsibility.

In the decade or so since I first voiced my aspiration, I have had many opportunities to hurt people.  It was said of me in the early days that my wielding the sword of the Spirit's sword carried with it the potential for destruction or at least aggression.  With the benefit of hindsight, I appreciate that had I been in a position of responsibility according to my timetable, the potential for harm would have been multiplied exponentially.

All this to say that in the intervening years there have been many opportunities to know that we can be taught.  Those situations where I have assumed pastoral concern (rather than responsibility) has allowed me to learn more about the hearts of God, of others, and even my own heart.  I have learned that there are ways of going about doing a thing that, despite the very best of intentions, have the capacity to backfire.

We Can Be Taught.

I have learned more and more of the spirit of the law, and that rather than.  I have learned that it's more important to love and be gracious than it is to be right.  My sense of justice has given way to a growing and teachable heart of compassion.

Totally Deprived

Today's daily prompt is: deprived

I have often said and thought that I, as a child, was deprived.  Deprived of stuff (both material and immaterial).  It's often emerged in jest as Ashley recounts childhood memories only to have me interject with some physical gesture to insinuate that her upbringing had snobbish overtones.

It's true that, when compared to others, there was a lot of stuff, things, experiences that I missed out on.  It is especially true post-parental-parting.  My parents split when I was 10 and mum went on welfare.  Added to this was my mild-kleptomania, stealing money from mum.  School uniforms were subject to payment plans.

I was a boy of small stature (most clearly seen on the sports field) and yet this was no reflection on my level of nutrition.   Our cupboards were never empty.  I had a bike.

Material deprivation is relative.

I had simple lunches, non-label clothes, simple experiences.  Emotionally, I was deprived.  I don't know why, but I'm not sure there was a whole-lotta-love.  This was most clearly seen (or not seen) in a lack of affection - physical, emotionally.

So, I guess the closest I came to deprivation was in the arena of affection.  Affectionately deprived.  That's about the extent of it.  Any other assessment of deprivation was merely relative to life in a material world where other people had more of what I wanted.


 

Daily Prompt: Artist’s Eye

The artist’s eye

Is there a painting or sculpture you’re drawn to? What does  it say to you? Describe the experience. (Or, if art doesn’t speak to you, tell us why.)

Once I went to a Guggenheim exhibition at an art gallery in Dunedin.

My motive had little to do with my love for or proficiency in what many would call "art".  I never did get the whole draw a bowl of fruit thing - or at least not in a way that would distinguish my art from that of a 3-year old.  My clay boot wouldn't have fit even the flattest of feet.

I remember the bus struggling in its lowest gear to get up a hill.  It's that hill I swear travellers must ascend before descending into the hole (literal) that is Dunedin.

I also remember doing some form of printing - the kind that involved a hard rubber roller.

Art is perhaps too broad a classification.  It is said of many things "It's more an art than a science".  I once started a Bachelor of the Arts.  The English paper in which I was required to interpret the film Once Were Warriors through the lens of the Treaty of Waitangi - that was a bit arty.  But political science and sociology?  One has science in the title.

English, as a subject to be studied, probably wouldn't be considered a visual art for which one would need eyes to produce or appreciate.  So in terms of my academic history, I have not exercised an artist's eye.

Poetry as art

Is there any irony in the fact that there are categories within this website dedicated to poetry?  Is poetry not an art?  That would be the extent to which I possess the artist's eye.  Beyond that, as far as it concerns the visual arts, I am blind.

I don't mind

Being blind

To what some call art

I've been left behind

What some call sublime

But that doesn't mean I don't have an arty heart.

True Love Always Chooses

https://youtu.be/VodxwazbwQE

www.covenantchurch.org.nz

 

God's Possession and The Fence

Today's daily prompt is Fence.

I thought I could combine my continued thinking about Colossians 3:12 with today's daily prompt.

God is the Fence

I am thinking about the word fence in terms of it being a verb.  Speaking of Psalm 139:5, and speaking it back to the Father, I would say "You fence me in".  Popular English translations translate the word צַרְתָּ֑נִי as "hem" as follows:

"You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me." (Psalm 139:5, ESV, NIV)

I get the idea of a shepherd protecting his flock from wolves and raiders who would seek to drag the sheep away from the protection of the flock and its shepherd.

Because we, as Christians, belong to God, having been purchased by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we are His precious possession (Titus 2:14), He has a vested interest in keeping us from being snatched away.

The Apostle John records Jesus' teaching on the Father and Son's dual role in keeping/preserving us.

My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. John 10:27-30

 



The hemming in process (which is constant) comprises of a fence built by the hands of God - Father and Son.  This fence is ever in place, it is impenetrable, no one can scale it, no one can break through it.  If treasures in heaven cannot be affected by moth and rust, how much safer are treasures in the hands of heaven's Father?

He owns and possesses us as an ongoing act of His love.  He will not give up what He owns and possesses and so nothing in all creation will separate us from His love - that is, for those who are called by Him, according to His purpose, for His glory.

This is my son

 

Daily Prompt: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Planes, trains, and automobiles 

You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, or car? (Or something else entirely — bike? Hot air balloon?) The Editors, WordPress.com. 365 Days of Writing Prompts (Kindle Locations 456-457).

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Planes.

I've been asked a number of times whether I have been overseas.  I qualify my answer in the negative by saying that while I have not been overseas (plural), I have been over sea (singular).  The sea to which I refer is the Tasman Sea - a body of water that separates New Zealand from Australia.  I have made this return crossing more than once, but not this decade - each time by plane.



I have spent much more time on planes travelling domestic routes, that is, between New Zealand towns and cities. Invercargill, Dunedin, Queenstown, Christchurch, Wellington, Gisborne, Auckland - and combinations thereof.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Trains

I once took a return train trip - Invercargill <-> Bluff.  Just once, as part of a local cub scout gathering.  That was the one and only time I have been on a train journey departing from Invercargill.  In July 2007, I took a trip on the Taieri Gorge Train that departs out of Dunedin.  Since the late 90's, there have been no public passenger trains south of Christchurch (a location I have not trained to or from).

I lived in Wellington for a time and took trains regularly.  I once got on the wrong train and was being carried towards a location I had not intended on.  When I realised by error, I alighted at the next stop, and crossing the platform, waited for the next train to return along that track.

I worked in Ellerslie for about 9 months and chose to take the train to and from work each day.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Automobiles.

The first automobile that I owned was a 1994 Mazda 323.  I once executed a handbrake turn around a corner on a gravel road, ending up in a ditch with the front wheels suspended. A tractor was required to extrapolate the vehicle from the landscape.

Next, it was a Toyota Carib - my first of many station wagons.

A lowered Honda Civic was dubbed The Grader as I could be heard approaching houses in rural Southland/South Otago.  It did pretty good burnouts.

Three Subaru Legacy's (one white, two green).

The 2004 Nissan Ad began my Japanese car brand loyalty.

My current ride is a 2001 Nissan Primera with license plate "B WARD"

 

Prophecy [The Daily Prompt]

...knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:20-21

...does not belong to those who prophesy, neither does it's interpretation belong to either those who prophesy or those who interpret.

...does not belong to the prophets, and nor is it produced by the will of the prophets.

...belongs to God, and is the result of His will as He carries along, by the Holy Spirit, those who prophesy.

Daily Prompt

Thinking about God's choice

Continuing to think about the treasures contained in Colossians 3:12, hearing the Scriptures being read in church this morning gave additional fodder for thinking about God's choice.

As part of our service of worship this morning at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Manurewa the following scriptures were read.

Psalm 65:1-4 was read as a call to worship. Verse 4 I thought particularly pertinent to the theme that emerges from Colossians 3:12. Psalm 65:4 reads (ESV):

Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!

The reality in this verse is that there is none who God choses that He doesn't also bring near; and that there are none He brings near who He doesn't also cause to dwell in His courts; and that there is none who He causes to dwell in His courts who He doesn't also satisfy with the goodness of His house. The goodness of His house is the holiness of His temple. The holiness of His temple is the presence and power of His own Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ Jesus - the one in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.

This morning's sermon was preached from Romans 8:28-39. Verses 29-30 I thought particularly pertinent to the theme that emerges from Colossians 3:12. Romans 8:29-30 reads (ESV):

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

God's choice is God's predestining. Those He predestined are those He chooses. Those He chooses are foreknown by Him. For God to know, in this sense, is more than just an intellectual awareness - rather, it is an intimate acquaintance that is pre-historic, supra-historic. This pre and supra historic, intimate acquaintance proceeds His work of creation. All that to say that God's intimate acquaintance with those He has chosen goes before (and lays a foundation for) all that He subsequently made. God had us in mind before and as He executed His great creative acts as recorded in Genesis 1 and 2.

Whose We Are

God’s Chosen Ones

Indicative vs imperative

Depression is a Trip - The Train

katherine riegel

I’ve been on these trips before. It’s terribly embarrassing because people often believe you bought that train ticket yourself, or something that happened to you gained agency—A. Death, Job Loss, Another F. Rejection—and all you need to do is track down that entity and face it in order to get off the train. So you’re on the Depression Train, it’s speeding along through a concrete wilderness, and people are saying, “Hey, why don’t you get off the train?” Well, more often they’re saying, “You could try this or this to get off the train,” helpfully, really, but the thing is you just can’t get off the effing train. It’s going full steam and if you managed to pry open one of the doors you’d just find yourself bruised on the hard gray world anyway.

From: https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/60903404/posts/5023 read full post here.

DailyPrompt:Voyage

katherine riegel

http://brendonward.org/depression-trip-train/

http://brendonward.org/depression-trip-kayak/

http://brendonward.org/depression-trip-lsd/

http://brendonward.org/depression-is-a-trip-antarctica/

 

Depression is a Trip - Kayak

katherine riegel

You can’t actually stop traveling, slogging through muck, unable to find a place to sit down to rest that isn’t even more miserable than the continual push. Once I overturned my kayak and sank to my crotch in silty mud. When I tried pulling one foot up, up, to the surface of the mud and putting it down again, I sank just as far. Other people went by in their kayaks and said, “Are you okay?” and I said, “Yes, I’ll get back on in just a minute,” though I had no real idea how I would do so. Embarrassment, shame, helplessness. No choice but to engage the mud.

From: https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/60903404/posts/5023 read full post here.

DailyPrompt:Voyage

katherine riegel

http://brendonward.org/depression-trip-train/

http://brendonward.org/depression-trip-kayak/

http://brendonward.org/depression-trip-lsd/

http://brendonward.org/depression-is-a-trip-antarctica/

Depression is a trip - LSD

katherine riegel

I don’t know much about drug trips from personal experience (unfortunately? I don’t know—I overheard some writers behind me at a reading recently talking about traveling the country on LSD when they were younger, and these were women in their 40s and 50s who were clearly oh so much more badass than they looked, and I confess I felt a bit envious, if also a bit ashamed at my own timidity), but it seems to me depression is like a drug trip for a lot of reasons. You don’t seem to have any control over how you perceive the world, or how you respond to it. You feel like you’re not your usual self, and you fear you may never get back to being your usual self, or that your “usual self” is in fact your “unusual self,” and the majority of who you are is actually A Depressed Person. Other people can tell you that your perceptions of reality are not accurate, but even when you accept that truth you still can’t make yourself perceive reality differently and react to it appropriately.

From: https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/60903404/posts/5023 read full post here.

DailyPrompt:Voyage

katherine riegel

http://brendonward.org/depression-trip-train/

http://brendonward.org/depression-trip-kayak/

http://brendonward.org/depression-trip-lsd/

http://brendonward.org/depression-is-a-trip-antarctica/

Daily Prompt: 21st Century Citizen

Do you belong in this day and age? Do you feel comfortable being a citizen of the 21st-century? If you do, explain why — and if you don’t, when in human history would you rather be?

Technology.

That's why I belong to the 21st Century.  I used to feel much more at home here because of my aversion to hard work by which I mean physical labour.  But things have changed in the last 2 years.  I've had the privilege of working in construction.  In order of priority as defined by my job description - administration, logistics, labouring.

It's the third of those priorities that has made me feel less comfortable as a citizen of this century - even though some of the tools represent cutting edge technology.

But the bulk of my job - I can't do without 21st century technology. I don't know how to get places without GPS technology and specially designed mobile apps.  I wouldn't know how to pay for most things related to my job without the internet or without a credit card built on 21st century banking software.

Part of my job involves managing the company website and associated social media.  I couldn't do that without 21st century technology.

Then I go home.  Facebook (not that I'm not using it at work); Netflix, youtube, Spotify.

I've went without internet once.  I felt quite lost.  I didn't know how to be a consumer in a world without the internet.

 

Depression is a Trip - Antarctica

katherine riegel

Depression is a wildly confusing, exhausting trip to someplace you didn’t actually ever intend to go. Let’s say you set out for Austria, had in mind a little singing on mountaintops like in The Sound of Music, and you end up getting on the wrong plane and find yourself in Antarctica. Did you know the average temperature during the coldest three months in Antarctica is MINUS 81 degrees Fahrenheit? So you are in this place, so bitterly cold that it’s hard to move, your limbs lock up and your face freezes if you try to uncover it. If you expose any of your tender self, even a little, it goes from cold to burning to numb so fast you just know you’ll be dead if you don’t cover up again. You didn’t intend to come here and you don’t quite know how you got here and you haven’t figured out how to leave. You don’t really want to see your loved ones here because you’re afraid they’ll freeze, too; sometimes you feel like you’re talking to them through a video link, and they’re far away, and you sort of wonder if they aren’t just better off staying far away from you and your inimical tendency to lose yourself in dark and dangerous places.

From: https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/60903404/posts/5023 read full post here.

DailyPrompt:Voyage

katherine riegel

 


http://brendonward.org/depression-trip-train/

http://brendonward.org/depression-trip-kayak/

http://brendonward.org/depression-trip-lsd/

http://brendonward.org/depression-is-a-trip-antarctica/

The Voyage

Daily Prompt: Voyage

Reposted from January 2016.

So on 19th December 2015, we AuckWards left Auckland, on the first leg of our journey. This first leg took us to Wanganui where we stayed with Peter, Ruth, Jonathan, Hannah, Davy, Daniel, and Amalia van den Brink.

The following day I preached at Wanganui Grace Presbyterian Church in the morning and later in the evening we assumed the second leg of our journey. This took us to Wellington where we crossed Cook Strait on Bluebridge Ferry at 2:30am, it now being Monday 21st December 2015. We had the luxury of a private cabin and the ability to sleep most of the way across.

This landed us in Picton from whence we travelled to Nelson for the day and then onto Blenheim for the night. We stayed locally thanks to Airbnb, a service we used in 2014 for our trip around the North Island. This was the day that NZ had record high temperatures, especially in the South Island.

Leg three was onto Christchurch along the east coast of the South Island via Kaikoura. We were booked to stay with another Airbnb host, but this fell through and we ended up staying at the City Centre Motel thanks to booking.com. This ended up being a far better set up to what we had previously booked so it wasn't too bad an ordeal. The weather, however, had packed in and so we went looking for warmer clothes, but were unable to find acclimatizing apparel at the Westfield Riccarton.

It was Wednesday 23rd when we finally arrived "there", our "destination" - Invercargill. This means Christchurch to Invercargill was the fourth leg of our journey. We continued down the east coast of the South Island. The highlight was probably Oamaru for reasons including the whisky taste testing at The New Zealand Whisky Company.

Our first day in Invercargill left us unable to maintain our defence that the place isn't nearly as cold as what the rest of the country thinks with heaters on and a fire lit.

Here is a picture of the getting there part of our holiday.  A huge credit is due to Ashley, my lovely, wife, who did all but a very small fraction of the driving from Papakura to Invercargill over the course of 4 days.  It wasn't long after arriving in Invercargill that the trip counter registered 2000km.

https://gnomzee.wordpress.com/2016/06/25/voyage-of-self-discovery/

https://wanderingheart2016.wordpress.com/2016/06/25/bad-luck-day/

https://karuchan90.wordpress.com/2016/06/25/i-will-go-down-with-this-ship/

https://alotfromlydia.wordpress.com/2016/06/24/dreams-without-traveling/

http://nananettie1969.com/2016/06/24/daily-promptvoyage6242016/



 

 

The Lord is Risen Indeed

Upon the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, our salvation hinges.  He who believes these truths aright hath believed the gospel; and believing the gospel, he shall without doubt find eternal salvation.

Charles Spurgeon

The Lord is Risen Indeed.

What makes the Church what it is? — Grace Theological College

What makes the Church what it is? Here is a principle to ponder: that which makes the Church a distinctive company in the world is the Word of God – or, putting it more concisely, the Word of God is the constitutive reality at the heart of the Church. It is what makes the Church…

via What makes the Church what it is? — Grace Theological College

Incarnation — Grace Theological College

[Jesus] relinquished divine privileges, existing in the eternal love with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and poured himself out, taking on the confinement of human incarnation, living truly as God and man. (p. 49) Hans Bayer The Theology of Mark Amazon.com offers the following synopsis of Hans’ book: Sincere Christians hold divergent ideas about…

via Incarnation — Grace Theological College

Gospel and Culture — Grace Theological College

[23/06/2016] Gospel and Culture The gospel…is always mysterious and even dangerous to cultures that want to maintain their uneasy bargains with sin – whether those bargains take the form of tribalism or individualism, collectivism or consumerism…Christendom is always purchased at the price of a reduced gospel that all too often reduces the cross to a […]

via Gospel and Culture — Grace Theological College

Adopted Sons and Daughters

Adopted Sons and Daughters

 

"...[as] adopted sons and daughters, believers benefit from - and are included in - the Father's love for the Son.  We indeed receive [a] profound affirmation from God.  We have been brought into a family in which every natural and adopted member receives that kind of love.  And that inclusion in divine love is based neither on where we come from nor on our performance.  Rather, it is based solely on adoption.  We have no other claim to boast, we have nothing to offer that qualifies us above others." p 50

Hans Bayer

The Theology of Mark

---

Amazon.com offers the following synopsis of Hans' book:

Sincere Christians hold divergent ideas about discipleship. Different approaches focus on steps to follow, mentoring, spiritual disciplines, or an intellectual approach, but do they draw their definitions from Scripture's big picture? Do they draw enough attention to Jesus' view of discipleship?

By exploring Jesus' approach to discipleship, Bayer shows how God-perception and self-perception, simultaneously shaped by the gospel, result in reconciled relationships and radical discipleship.

The Explorations in Biblical Theology series addresses the need for quality literature that attracts believing readers to good theology and builds them up in their faith. Each title in the series combines solid content with accessibility and readability--a valuable addition to the library of any college student, thoughtful lay reader, seminarian, or pastor.

Morality

365 Days of Writing Prompts: morality

[24 June]

Where do your morals come from — your family? Your faith? Your philosophical worldview? How do you deal with those who don’t share them, or derive them from a different source?

I am thinking revelation. Not the book. But in general, like the concept.

Man was to know according to God's revelation. That's what the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was about - it represented man's attempt to know independent of the one whose very nature is truth.

The question has been asked. If not from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, how was man to know good and/or evil? The reality is that they already knew. In relation to his knowledge of good, are we to assume that the divine words of Genesis 1 were kept a secret from the man in Genesis 3? I doubt it. In Genesis 1 God speaks of His creation as good (and very good). There's the good - it's declared by the revelation of God.

And evil? In the commission associated with God's making man in His image - is the prohibition - representing any and all forms of disobedience.

So, where do my morals come from? God. God and His revelation.

morality play

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/morality-play/

 

 

In looking at the indicative clauses of  Colossians 3:12-16 we are told that we are God's chosen ones.  There is much in that.  I feel somewhat like a Lloyd-Jones here, but I want to slow down and reflect on this - like... word... for word.   In slowing down, I want to think about whose we are.

Colossians 3:12 reflects the who of our identity, it is who we are in Christ.  But this short statement begins with a possessive.  So not only does it tell us who we are, but whose we are.  That's the focus of this post.

Whose We Are

We are God's.   We are His chosen. We belong to Him.

We are His possession.

And this in Christ and by Christ and for Christ.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.   Titus 2:11-14

Jesus Christ, our Great God and Savior, gave Himself:

• to redeem us


• to purify for Himself a people for His own possession

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.  1 Corinthians 6:19-20

We are the possession of another, namely God in/through/by/for Christ.   This passage is another example of the way the indicative precedes the imperative.  Whose are we?  Not our own.  Whose are we?  We are God's, having been bought at a price.



 

God's Chosen Ones

 

"God's chosen ones" - that's the first part of this passage in Colossians 3:12 and following.  This is the introduction of the indicative - it focuses in on who we are.  Below are some thoughts about the idea that those to whom and for whom Paul is writing need to lay hold of.

God's chosen ones.

Colossians 3:12

God's - His, belonging to, possessive
chosen - deliberate, intentional, decided upon, selected, elected, special
ones - more than one, individuals

"a. Therefore, as the elect of God: The new man is elect of God. This means that God has chosen the Christian, and chosen him to be something special in His plan. “Elect” is a word that frightens some, but it should be taken both as a comfort and as a destiny to fulfill."

Guzik (on Colossians 3:12)

"the elect of God — There is no “the” in the Greek, “God’s elect” (compare Rom_8:3; 1Th_1:4). The order of the words “elect, holy, beloved,” answers to the order of the things. Election from eternity precedes sanctification in time; the sanctified, feeling God’s love, imitate it [Bengel]."

Jamison, Fausset, and Brown (on Colossians 3:12)

Useless Knowledge

 



But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

2 Timothy 3:1-9

Bible Hub

Awe

Awe

I Stand in Awe
VERSE 1
You are beautiful beyond description
Too marvelous for words
Too wonderful for comprehension
Like nothing ever seen or heard
Who can grasp Your infinite wisdom?
Who can fathom the depth of Your love?
You are beautiful beyond description
Majesty, enthroned above

CHORUS
And I stand, I stand in awe of You
I stand, I stand in awe of You
Holy God, to whom all praise is due
I stand in awe of You

VERSE 2
You are beautiful beyond description
Yet God crushed You for my sin
In agony and deep affliction
Cut off that I might enter in
Who can grasp such tender compassion?
Who can fathom this mercy so free?
You are beautiful beyond description
Lamb of God who died for me

Mark Altrogge

https://bigdudemakingbigmoves.wordpress.com/2016/06/23/wrong-end-of-a-love-song/

https://lovehappily.wordpress.com/2016/06/23/daily-prompt-awe/

https://mysmallstillvoice.wordpress.com/2016/06/23/awe/

https://debooworks.wordpress.com/2014/08/24/city-of-joy/

https://debooworks.wordpress.com/2016/05/12/flight/

https://debooworks.wordpress.com/2016/06/21/in-the-rain/

http://eddaz.com/2016/06/23/lie-beneath-in-awe/

http://reginamartins.com/2016/06/23/awe/

http://onemoreshotplease.com/2016/06/22/review-colourpop-ultra-matte-liquid-lipsticks/

https://writealineblog.wordpress.com/2016/06/23/yellow-sun/

http://biblehub.com/topical/a/awe.htm

Psalms 22:23 You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

Psalms 33:8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!

Psalms 65:8 so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

Psalms 119:161 Sin and Shin. Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words.

Isaiah 29:23 For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

 

Offerings — The Soaring Eagle

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17) Reflection: Thinking and praying about my sermon for a funeral service I was again reminded of the awesome privilege of being allowed into people lives, and […]

via Offerings — The Soaring Eagle

I am a Christian because

" I am a Christian because I believe the message of God’s extravagant love for all shown in the life of Jesus transforms lives."

Jeff Lukens

Calvinist

Matthew Collins is quick to identify me as a Calvinist.

According to this video, someone's making a documentary exploring the question: Who are these people?

Indicative vs imperative

I've been reading Colossians.  Last night I read Colossians 3:12-16.  In it, I found some instructions.  These are sometimes referred to as imperatives.  But before mention of something to do (imperative), there is a strong statement of identity.  These identity statements are sometimes referred to as indicative.  This passage contains both instruction and identity statement.    Sometimes there's a fight like it's imperative vs indicative.

I'm not sure it's a fight.  I think the Word of God contains instruction and identity statements in perfect harmony.   But what comes first?

This passage in Colossians answers that question by introducing the reader to what's going to be a list of imperatives, but then inserts a very profound statement of identity.  It's hard to assume what Paul was doing as he wrote these words - or to question the Holy Spirit who inspired him to do so, but it's almost like Paul leaves the starting blocks intent on instructing the Colossians on what they are to do (put on/put off), but is then reminded (prompted?) to remind the Colossians of who they are.

Is it not easy, especially when we have other people in our cross-hairs, to launch into what we ought to be doing as we walk with Jesus?  I am learning that it's not wrong to, standing on the authority of the Word of God, give directions to fellow followers.   We consider the important place the 10 Commandments hold in the canon of scripture and we're quick to point out what it is the Lord requires of us.  But done in isolation, I am not sure we really echo the Holy Spirit's intent.

Rather, it's like we're called to be before we are called to do and our doing is inseparably built on our being.

I think I am going to spend a few days thinking about how this is presented in the following passage.  That may or may not lead to further blog posts.  Spending time chewing over relatively small portions of Scripture never equates to an exercise in futility.

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:12-16 ESV)

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/2016/06/20/community-pool-171/

https://reevesrhetoric.com/2016/06/22/life-between-sundays-2/

the-new-reality-old-and-new-contrasted-in-colossians/ 

Curve

What shape is water?

Do we define what the shape of something is by the shape of the container from which we access it?

I am not sure I have ever consumed water from a square container - though I am sure that there are plenty of tanks that are square and held water.  What I mean is that I dont have a square cup, or a square bottle - and anything closely square has bevelled corners and is thus, by definition, not a square.

I had to google, "What shape is water?"  and was presented with lots of answers that answered a different question - namely "What color is water?"

But amidst the answers to wrong questions, was an answer to the question I asked.

What shape is water?

Spherical.  A water molecule is a perfect sphere.  Thus, like most life sustaining things, water has curves.  Water is curvy.  Water has a curve.

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/curve/ 



 

Empty - Hungry - I Run

Hungry, I come to you
For I know You satisfy
I am empty, but I know
Your love does not run dry

So I wait for you
So I wait for You
I'm falling on my knees
Offering all of me
Jesus, You're all this heart is living for

Broken, I run to You
For Your arms are open wide
I am weary, but I know
Your touch restores my life

So I wait for you
So I wait for You
I'm falling on my knees
Offering all of me
Jesus, You're all this heart is living for

Kathryn Scott

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/empty/ 

Empty Head

Empty Head

 

Cross posted from 9marks.  Bits that caught my attention are in quote-format.

Why Knowing Your Flock is Critical to Meaningful Preaching

Jared C. Wilson

The preacher paced the stage, staring earnestly out into the congregation. It was time for his weekly invitation. He asked for respondents to raise their hands. Not a single hand was raised. But he had no way of knowing this because he was on a video screen.

I found myself at the nearest campus of this multisite church on assignment from the pastor himself, a man who had recently hired me to do some freelance research work for him. Visiting one of his many remote services was supposed to help me get a “feel” for his ministry. It certainly did. But I couldn’t help but be struck with the feeling that this way of doing ministry couldn’t really help the preacher get a “feel” for his congregation.



I don’t know what you think about video venues or the multi-site model of church growth in general, but this experience and others has only affirmed some of the concerns I have about the disconnect between preacher and flock, a growing dilemma in all kinds of churches, big and small.

Indeed, this dilemma isn’t merely limited to multi-site, “video venue” churches. Pastors of growing churches of all sizes will continually struggle with staying familiar with their congregations. And the temptation to become more and more isolated becomes greater as more complexity is added to an increasing church.

And of course, it’s impossible for a preacher of even a small church to be best friends with everybody in his church, and it’s impossible for preachers of larger churches to know everybody well. But the preacher whose ministry is becoming more and more about preaching and less and less about shepherding, the preacher who is becoming less and less involved with his congregation, is actually undermining the task to which he is trying to devote more of his time! Good preaching requires up-close shepherding.

The ministry of preaching cannot be divorced from the ministry of soul care; in fact, preaching is actually an extension of soul care. There are a host of reasons why it is important for pastors who want to preach meaningfully to know their flocks as well as they can, but here are three of the most important.

1. Meaningful preaching has people’s idols in mind.

 As I travel to preach in church services and conferences, one of the first questions I usually ask the pastor who invited me is “What are your people’s idols?” I want to be able not to just drop in and “do my thing,” but to serve this pastor and his congregation by speaking as well as I can to any of the hopes and dreams he can identify within his church that are not devotionally attached to Christ as their greatest satisfaction. Sadly, some pastors don’t know how to answer the question.

When Paul walked into Athens, he saw that the city was full of idols (Acts 17:16). That said, he didn’t simply regard this as a philosophical problem but as a spiritual problem that grieved him personally. And when he addressed it, he did so specifically, referencing their devotion to “the unknown god” (17:23). And whenever Paul addressed specific churches in his letters, you will see that the kinds of sins and falsehoods he addressed were very specific. He didn’t speak in generalizations. He knew what was going on in these churches.

This doesn’t mean, of course, that you begin embarrassing or exposing people from the pulpit. But it does mean that you are in the thick of congregational life enough to speak in familiar terms.

Until a pastor has spent quality time with people in his congregation, the idols his preaching must combat with the gospel will be merely theoretical. All human beings have a few universal idols in common. But communities where churches are located, congregations as a subculture themselves, and even specific cliques and demographics within congregations tend to traffic in more specific idols and patterns of sin.

Knowing firsthand your flock’s misguided financial, career, and familial hopes will help you know how to preach. It will help you pick the right texts and the right emphases in explicating those texts. This is what makes preaching a ministry, and not simply an exercise.

2. Meaningful preaching has people’s suffering in heart.

 I can tell you firsthand that my preaching changed after I’d begun holding people’s hands while they died and hearing people’s hearts while they cried. Until you’ve heard enough people share their sins and fears and worries and wounds, your preaching can be excellent and passionate, but it will not be all that it can be—resonant.

Many preachers carry the burden of God’s Word into the pulpit, and this is a good thing. Receiving the heavy mantle of preaching hot with Christ’s glory, being burdened to proclaim the Lord’s favor in the gospel is a noble, worthy, wonderful task. But the preacher must also feel the weight of his people in that pulpit. He must ascend to preach having been in the valley with them. His manuscript should be smudged with the tears of his people.

Knowing what sufferings afflict his people on a regular basis will keep a preacher from becoming tone-deaf to his congregation. He won’t be lighthearted in the wrong places. It will affect the kinds of illustrations he uses, the types of stories he tells, and—most importantly—the dispositions with which he handles theWord. I have seen preachers make jokes about things people in his congregation were actually struggling with. And I’ve been that preacher. We come to lift burdens, but with our careless words we end up adding to them.

Preacher, do you have a genuine heart for your people? I don’t mean “Are you a people person?” I mean, do you know what is going on in the lives of your congregation, and does it move you, grieve you? Have you wept with those who weep? If not, your preaching over time will show it.

Think of Moses’ grief over his people sins (Exodus 32:32). Or of Paul’s abundant tears (Acts 20:31, 2 Corinthians 2:4, Philippians 3:18, 2 Timothy 1:4). Think, also, of Christ’s compassion, seeing into the hearts of the people (Matthew 9:36). You may believe you can work these feelings up without really knowing your congregation, but it isn’t the same, especially not for them. It’s not the same for them in the same way that hearing a stirring word from a role model is not the same as hearing a stirring word from your dad. Preacher, don’t take to your text without carrying the real burdens of your people in your heart.

3. Meaningful preaching has people’s names in prayer.

Every faithful preacher prays over their sermon. They pray that God’s Word will not return void (Isaiah 55:11). They pray that people will be receptive. They pray that souls will be saved and lives will be changed. These are good prayers. Better still is the sermon prepped and composed with prayers of John Smith and Julie Thompson and the Cunningham family on the lips of the preacher. Better still is the sermon prayed over in pleadings for Tom Johnson’s salvation and Bill Lewis’s repentance and Mary Alice’s healing.

Paul repeatedly tells the people under his care that he is remembering them in his prayers (Ephesians 1:6, 2 Timothy 1:3, Philemon 1:4). And since he is frequently naming names, we know he doesn’t just mean generally. And while Paul did not have one congregation to shepherd up close but rather served largely as a missionary church planter, he nevertheless worked hard to know the people he ministered to from a distance and sought to visit them as often as he could. How much more should the local church pastor develop relationships with his people! He should know their names and he should carry their names to heaven in prayer.

It is important to know who you’re preaching to. It’s important to know that Sister So-and-So doesn’t like your preaching. It’s important to know that Brother Puff-You-Up likes it too much. It’s important to know that the man in the back with his arms folded and his brow furrowed isn’t actually mad at you—that’s just how he listens. It’s important to know that the smiling, nodding lady near the front has a tendency not to remember anything you’ve said. When you know these things, you can pray for your people in deeper, more personal, more pastoral ways. And your preaching will get better. It will be more real. It will come not just from your mind and mouth, but from your heart, your soul, your guts.

This all assumes, of course, that you are interested in this kind of preaching. If you see preaching as simply providing a “spiritual resource” for interested minds or a pep talk for the religiously inclined and not as bearing prophetic witness from the revealed Word of God to the hearts of people, then you can safely ignore all the points above.

 

http://jaredcwilson.com/

https://twitter.com/@jaredcwilson

Mothering Through Endometriosis

http://www.scarymommy.com/mothering-through-endometriosis/

Who and Why?

So this is day one of a week-long blogging fundamentals course.

The assignment for the day is to "publish a “who I am and why I’m here” post".

Who am I?

My name is Brendon Ward. According to a website, as at 13 June 2016 - I am 11467 days old.  That works out at about 31 years - though the calculation is from birth, rather than conception (which is a more accurate starting point).

I live, and have lived most of my life, in New Zealand.  I was born in Invercargill.  I now live in Auckland.  For a short time, I lived in Wellington.

I am married to Ashley.  We've been married since 2007.

Benjamin was born in 2012.  He is my son.  Ashley is his mum.

"we" had a miscarriage in 2013.  That was hard on us.

I follow Jesus.  To me and for me - Jesus is Savior, Redeemer, and Lord.

I am united to Him by faith in who He is and what He has done.  This faith is something that He has authored and is perfecting (and will perfect).  I am not my own - rather, having been bought at a price, I belong to Him and His express will ought to determine what I will and do.  Admittedly, I often fail to hear or heed His voice and so do my own thing.  This is what the Bible calls sin.  Part of His work as Savior and Redeemer, the work of Jesus on the cross pays for and atones for the sin that I commit in thought, word and deed.

That's who I am.  I was born in a place in time, and I have lived in places at times.  I am a husband and a father.  I am a Christian.

Why am I here?

I'll limit my answer to my reason for blogging - so by "here" I mean "on this website, blogging".  My website exists as an ongoing testimony of God's grace in Jesus Christ.

Because I am who I am because of God's grace in Jesus Christ, every day is part of that ongoing testimony.

I have decided that this ongoing testimony would take the form of some poem's I write, sermons I preach, essays I write, and events that I take the time to write about.  I might also share the occasional book review.

I am not committed to writing a series of successive blogs on a given topic, so the output might seem somewhat random.  I'm okay with that, as long as the blog stays true to my intention.

I also look after a handful of other websites:

Grace Theological College

Making Much of Jesus

What is church?

The Auckwards

Empty Cradles

In 1986 Margaret Humphreys, a Nottingham social worker, investigated a woman's claim that, aged four, she had been put on a boat to Australia by the British government. At first incredulous, Margaret discovered that this was just the tip of an enormous iceberg. Up to 150,000 children, some as young as three years old, had been deported from children's homes in Britain and shipped off to a 'new life' in distant parts of the Empire, right up until as recently as 1970.

Many were told that their parents were dead, and parents were told that their children had been adopted. In fact, for many children it was to be a life of horrendous physical and sexual abuse far away from everything they knew. Margaret and her team reunited thousands of families before it was too late, brought authorities to account, and worldwide attention to an outrageous miscarriage of justice.

My Review:

Amidst reading for the blind Orphans of the Empire (Alan Gill) my curiosity was pipped and I went in search of video content. This lead me to the movie Oranges and Sunshine which is the movie adaptation of the book Empty Cradles by Margaret Humphreys.

With initial exposure to Orphans of the Empire, and in my subsequent reading of Empty Cradles opened my eyes to something which I since learned few New Zealanders are aware of. This is despite the fact that the British Child Migrant Scheme saw not a small number of children arrive on our doorstep.

Margarets story was honest and gave a transparent glimpse into her own inner turmoil. I got the sense that she really felt for those on whose behalf she had committed herself (and in fact made significant sacrifices). The writing style was far less journalistic than Orphans of the Empire and this made for a much more compelling read. The common refrain amongst book worms "Just one more chapter" was my own.

Her story was very personable, giving insight into those former child migrants whose story became wrapped up in her own. All the while she wrote with a degree of sensitivity that pointed the finger at the engineers of the schemes, rather than desperate parents whose children were exported instead of supported with a robust system of social charity.

I Will Find You

Joanna Connors was 30 years old when she was raped at knifepoint by a stranger. After this horrifying trauma, she became afraid of everything - flying, driving, travelling in a car while someone else drove. She had children, but hovered over them constantly, terrified about what might happen to them as well. Then, when her daughter was 16, Joanna began to confront the fear that had ruled her life ever since that day: in an act of breathtaking humanity, she went in search of the story of her own rapist, determined to find out who he was, where he came from, what his life was like - and what leads a person to do something as destructive as what he did to her.

I finished reading this book today and wrote the following review:

I heard the author being interviewed on National Radio (New Zealand) and found the brief insight into the book a powerful tale of forgiveness. I was interested in what that looked like for her in terms of her journey and was not disappointed by the detail and honesty with which the author recalled that journey.

If violent sexual exploits have at all be glamorised by 50 Shades of Grey, then I Will Find You takes all the glamour out of fan-fiction, and reports that the repercussions of sexual aggression are wide spread. Joanna Connors was haunted for decades by her rape, and this had a significant impact on the way she related to her mother, sisters; within her marriage; and with her own children. What happened in the darkness of an on-campus theatre followed her into the light of what ought to have been sources of joy (family, marriage).

A gripping read in which the explicit details of the violent acts were set in their context and stirred up in me a sense of compassion for those who have been victimised by those acts.

gold

Gold from iBré on Myspace.

drums

Drums from iBré on Myspace.

pastoral ministry aspirations [1]

I have pastoral ministry aspirations - like vocational ones - the quit your job and do it for life ones.

But what is that about?

I take my cue from Paul, an apostle - while confessing that I am not (nor will I ever be) and apostle in the Ephesians 4:11 sense of the word.

In his first letter to the church in Corinth, Paul gave them his ministry philosophy:

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

Taking this cue, what do my aspirations involve?

Essentially, proclaiming the testimony of God.  This testimony is to be found, not in the lofty speech of human/plausible wisdom - but in the exclusive reality of Jesus Christ - who He is and what He has done.  That's what is meant by "the person and work of Jesus Christ" - a phrase that has had (and rightly so) a lot of use; a phrase that I am happy to include in extensively and repetitively as I seek to minister God's grace to God's people for God's glory.  The tools of the trade?  The Word of God - the divine testimony of God, given by God, the primary resource that makes known - from beginning (Genesis) to end (Revelation) - the person and work of Jesus Christ.

How then, am I to go about fulfilling my aspirations?

First, by pursuing a dynamic, conprehensive, and ever increasing knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures.  In them, I may know for myself the testimony of God as seen in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Secondly, by pursuing that discipline amidst whatever community of God's people I am called to be joined to - both now, as a minister in training - and whatever congregation I end up being called to.

http://brendonward.org/the-aspiration/

 

study the bible

Study the Bible

covenant presbyterian church

Covenant Presbyterian Church

grace theological college

Grace Theological College

for pastors

 

For Pastors

 

making much of jesus

Making Much of Jesus

 

the auckwards

The Auckwards

 

what is the church?

What is the church?

 

what is church?

What is church?

 

Holiness is God's Crown

"God is often called in Scripture by such names as the Holy One, or the Holy One of Israel.  Holy, according to Stephen Charnock, is used more often as a prefix to His name than any other attribute.  Holiness is God's crown.  Imagine for a moment that God possessed omnipotence (infinite power), omniscience (perfect and complete knowledge), and omnipresence (everywhere present), but without perfect holiness.  Such a one would no longer be described as God.  Holiness is the perfection of all His other attributes:  His power is holy power, His mercy is holy mercy, His wisdom is holy wisdom.  It is His holiness more than any other attribute that makes Him worthy of our praise." - - Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness (p. 29)

Isaiah 57:15

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
(Isaiah 57:15)