Monthly Archives: January 2008

Inside Story

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For the last few months I have been following Cam’s blog

– where he describes his ongoing journey since being diagnosed with cancer in July.

As a young married, 30 something Christian bloke he could come the whole ‘why has this happened to me God?’ but what I like is that in the midst of the anxiety and struggle, there is a faith that takes the good with the bad, knowing that we as Christians aren’t exempt from our fair share of pain in a fallen world. Its so much more digestable (and believable) than the triumphalism we hear so often.

I have heard my fair share of ‘prophetic words’ over people with cancer – who simply died a short while later. Very dumb to give those sorts of messages I reckon.

A couple of days ago things took a pretty bad turn for Cam and he wrote:

“You know when your specialist looks at the report on the computer and says ’shit’ that the news ain’t great. We have been down this road before but this time the outcome seems definite. This is the third time we have had ‘the chat’.”

I don’t know Cam that well, but I have appreciated his honesty and humour in the midst of a very serious situation.

Beautiful Food.. Shame about the coffee

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I spoke this morning at Maida Vale Baptist church and then afterwards headed up the hill to have a quick coffee and cake at one of my favourite cafes…

Well, it was a favourite.

These guys are gold plate winners and create the most amazing cakes I have ever come across. Their food is up there with the best, so I was keen to make good use of the long drive out that way by tucking in to some of their stuff.

I chose a strawberry mango thingy, which was sensational, but the flat white it came with was probably a 2/10 at best.

Such a shame, because the cafe and everything about it oozes brilliance, but the coffee is of a totally different quality.

I won’t name them because the owner has been very good to us in the past and I wouldn’t want to harm her business. Truth be told its the case in 90% of places.

Great food… crap coffee…

Or maybe I’m just a fussy bugger.

Priorities

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Fernando posted this one. I have always liked Robert Frost and his understated way of saying things.

A Time to Talk

by: Robert Frost

When a friend calls to me from the road

And slows his horse to a meaning walk,

I don’t stand still and look around

On all the hills I haven’t hoed,

And shout from where I am, What is it?

No, not as there is a time to talk.

I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,

Blade-end up and five feet tall,

And plod: I go up to the stone wall

For a friendly visit.city of god divx download

Re-Imagining in 2008

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Over the last half of the year at Forge WA we have been promoting our stream for established churches called ‘Re-Imagine’ and next year it looks like we will have around 50 people involved from both city and country, with more in the country than the city!

We will be running a parallel program in both the city and Busselton and expect it to be really really valuable, both for those involved and for us as we sharpen our own focus and work with those still in the ‘system’.

We realise that for many people they don’t feel called to jump ship and pioneer, experiment or start from scratch. We also recognise (despite the strange things I continue to hear about us occasionally!) that God is at work in established churches and that they can also operate with a missional incarnational focus.

The ‘missional incarnational‘ is our distinctive and the primary flavour we will be shaping the year with. In essence we are talking about: mission: going out and incarnation: going deep – embedding in a particular context.

You can see what we are up to here.

I am very excited about the possibilities for mission and learning.

Please no…

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The lunatic fringe of faith have launched a new offensive…

T Shirts with ‘holy ghost’ inspired words on them.

You can choose from:

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“E-Kum-Me-A Shun-Da”

“A popular phrase with the ability to be a combination of “Neo/Fresh”! Inspired by the complexity of moods from the human spirit.”

Or…

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“E-Cal-A-Ma-She”

“Created by the moment of breakthrough as you aspire to reach Greater Dimensions in your life.”

(What would a pentecostal parody be without the word ‘breakthrough’?!)

There are many others also, but my favourite brain out to lunch T shirt is

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“Ro-Shum-Baa-Kaa-L-Le’-Lo-Cee”

“Inspired by the more advanced “talker” with a “C.O.G.ictilic” flair. This phrase is really hot when you roll the R’s with your tongue and flow the syllables effortlessly.”

Now don’t you buy that shirt if you aren’t an advanced talker!

The wonderful thing about these shirts is that they are available in a multitude of colours such as “Fresh Annointing Fuschia” or “Lord Annointing Lime”…

There’s nothing else to say really…

Oh yeah – they’re $37.00… bargain…

HT

Leviticus

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My memory of how the Bible was formed is that some big councils met and decided which books deserved to be in and which ought to be excluded. Is it possible there was human error in the process?…

All I can say is that they must have voted on Leviticus at end of a night on the grog!

I recently finished reading the Bible thru and have started over, but for the last few days I have been reading this book and genuinely wondering why do we need to have this today?…

I sometimes find myself wondering about the content of the Bible and why God (my assumption is that he was able to direct the councils) would allow some stuff to be ‘in’ and other stuff ‘out’.

I know a friend recently preached about 12 weeks in a row on this book and I’d love to hear what he has to say because right now I think I would be about as well off reading the phone book.

Anyway… a late night rant!

Justice?

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Seventeen years ago I was a youth pastor at Scarborough Baptist Church and many of the young people I was involved with attended Churchlands Senior High School – one of Perth’s ‘good’ public schools.

However it wasn’t all good and on one tragic day a young girl by the name of Vicki Groves was murdered. A young man took a large hunting knife to school strapped to his back and murdered her in broad daylight in the classroom.

Some of the kids we knew were actually in the classroom at the time so it impacted them significantly and I remember the event well.

Now that killer has done 17 years in prison and is due for parole… The question being asked on the news this evening was whether he should be granted that parole or whether Jim McGinty should over-rule and disallow it.

The murdered girl’s parent’s aren’t opposing parole, but the question has many facets.

What does justice look like in a situation like this?

Has he done his time and should be let out?

or should he be permanently locked up and kept away from people in case he does it again?

A part of me says that everyone needs a second chance… another part of me says that if he were to live next door to me I’d feel differently.

What would be a Jesus-like response?…

Here is an article related to the situation. I realise this is not a joyful subject, but its an important one for us to consider. How do we live as a society when there is so much brokenness all around us?