Year: 2010

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Jesus is Speaking. Are you Listening?

Who or what are you listening to? There are a stack of different voices competing for our attention. Some of those voices are positive, some are negative. Parents. Teachers. Television. Magazines. Friends. The internet. Billboards. Employer. Authors. Celebrities.

The Bible says that we are made by and for Jesus. That means we belong to him. Therefore, the most important voice we can listen to is the voice of Jesus.

In Luke 6:46-49 Jesus shows what it will be like for someone to truly listen to his voice.

Jesus says that not all who claim to be his followers are actually his followers. “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46) There are people who claim to be Christian, but don’t really follow through with what Jesus has said.

In verse 48-49, Jesus then compares 2 different types of builders. One of them “dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built”

Check out what Jesus says about the other builder: “But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

How do you show that you are listening to Jesus? By doing what he says.

As you get ready to kick on in to 2011, build your life upon Jesus. He is the Rock. Get dug down deep! Listen to THE voice and obey.

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DMDC – Best of 2010

Greetings earthlings. In 2009, I wrote 303 blog posts. This year, I have written significantly less. This is number 253. Yet readership has grown. So thanks for reading. I’m looking forward to reloading the blog in January, and will hopefully be more consistent in posting in 2011. If you didn’t know, I’m trying to raise $2000 to help provide clean water for 3 communities in India – would value your help (last year we manage $1741 for Rwanda). Below are 2 ‘best of 2010’ lists. Peaceout.

Top 10 posts according to clicks:

  1. Avatar is FernGully
  2. Free Music Friday 03 // Garage Hymnal – I Am
  3. Tribes of Sydney 2010 – Youth Subculture
  4. Plans for 2011 and beyond…
  5. I broke my toe wrestling a lion
  6. What Did You Expect?? by Paul Tripp
  7. CMS Camp MMM – Rego Opens 23 April
  8. KYCK 2010 #1 – Summary
  9. Help train a Pastor in India
  10. 15 hour, 4-Part Sermon Prep Outline – Justin Buzzard

My favourite 10 posts:

  1. I broke my toe wrestling a lion
  2. Cross Cultural Fail
  3. Today I drank an instant coffee
  4. 4 Vignettes of Tears in the Bible
  5. And then it dawned on me, I turn 30 this year!
  6. Australia: The Selfish Country
  7. Who are the Real Savages?
  8. Starbucks, Krispy Kreme and Church Growth
  9. “I AM” 8 part series
  10. 3photos: Outside Inside

It’s interesting to note that there is only overlap with one post on my list and the clicks list. It’s probably skewed a bit, some of the ones on the first list are aided by searches on google and have nothing to do with the quality (or lack thereof) of the blog post!

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Clean Water for 601 Children in India

I’m incredibly wealthy. I have 10+ access points to clean water in my house!! One of my responsibilities as a follower of Jesus is to be generous with the much that I have been given, because not everyone has access to the resources I have on tap.

Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease. But these deaths can be prevented by providing them with clean water. I’m partnering with Compassion Australia to help provide hundreds of children access to clean water through purification systems, rain water tanks and other water-harvesting systems.

Funds raised will be used to help fund water projects in 3 Indian towns:

  • Kehri Guan (215km NE of Dehli)
  • Rasha Farm, Gumaniwala (259km NE of Dehli)
  • Garhwali (450km N of Dehli)

Direct beneficiaries: 646 (601 children, 45 adults)

Last year $1741 was raised by readers of my blog for a project in Rwanda. I think it’s incredible to be able to use social media and a blog to raise money for something useful! This year I’m aiming for $2000. Any amount would be appreciated.

DONATE NOW. Aiming to reach $2000 by the end of January. Help spread the word…

CLICK HERE TO SHARE ON TWITTER | CLICK HERE TO SHARE ON FACEBOOK

DONATE NOW.

DONATE LATER.

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O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Merry Christmas!! On our road trip around NZ, we listened to an Advent/Christmas playlist (including these albums that don’t suck!). One that come up from 4 or 5 different artists was O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Emmanuel. It means ‘God with us’. This particular song, written 1000 years ago, reflects upon the Old Testament promises of God himself coming to save his people. In the New Testament, with the coming of Jesus, we see God with us. Jesus is the long awaited fulfilment of all of God’s promises.

At Christmas, we are reminded that God isn’t aloof, but that he has come near in the person and work of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Creator has entered into his creation. He is able to sympathise with us in our weakness and suffering. He experienced the full array of human emotion. This Christmas our church family is mourning the sudden loss of one of its young members. The fact that Jesus has come near brings great comfort. The fact that Jesus has come near means that we can draw near to God, and have a certain hope that will never perish, spoil or fade.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel lyrics are below:

Continue reading “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”

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What we tell our kids about Santa

We’ve got another year before we really need to have a definitive answer for our son regarding Santa. For the moment, Sam knows that the “pretty” Christmas decorations and the dude dressed up in red have got something to do with celebrating Jesus’ birthday. I think I like what Driscoll has to say in his recent Washington Post article.

Here’s a snippet:

When it comes to cultural issues like Santa, Christians have three options: (1) we can reject it, (2) we can receive it, or (3) we can redeem it.

Since Santa is so pervasive in our culture, it is nearly impossible to simply reject Santa as part of our annual cultural landscape. Still, as parents we don’t feel we can simply receive the entire story of Santa because there is a lot of myth built on top of a true story.

Redeeming Santa

So, as the parents of five children, Grace and I have taken the third position to redeem Santa. We tell our kids that he was a real person who did live a long time ago. We also explain how people dress up as Santa and pretend to be him for fun, kind of like how young children like to dress up as pirates, princesses, superheroes, and a host of other people, real and imaginary. We explain how, in addition to the actual story of Santa, a lot of other stories have been added (e.g., flying reindeer, living in the North Pole, delivering presents to every child in one night) so that Santa is a combination of true and make-believe stories.

We do not, however, demonize Santa. Dressing up, having fun, and using the imagination God gave can be an act of holy worship and is something that, frankly, a lot of adults need to learn from children.

What we are concerned about, though, is lying to our children. We teach them that they can always trust us because we will tell them the truth and not lie to them. Conversely, we ask that they be honest with us and never lie. Since we also teach our children that Jesus is a real person who did perform real miracles, our fear is that if we teach them fanciful, make-believe stories as truth, it could erode confidence in our truthfulness where it really matters. So, we distinguish between lies, secrets, surprises, and pretend for our kids. We ask them not to tell lies or keep secrets, but do teach them that some surprises (like gift-giving) and pretending (like dressing up) can be fun and should be encouraged. We tell them the truth and encourage them to have fun watching Christmas shows on television and even sitting on Santa’s lap for a holiday photo if they so desire. For parents of younger children wanting them to learn the real story of Santa Claus the Veggie Tales movie Saint Nicholas is a good choice.

Read the rest, including a history of Santa.

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The Good Shepherd + Humble Orthodoxy

We’re currently on holidays on the South Island of New Zealand. We’ve seen more sheep than people. Below are some local sheep posing for the camera. While on the subject of sheep, I recently spoke on the Youthworks YMC – Some to be Shepherds. I gave the opening and closing talks. The first one was on John 10 – I think it was a good place to kick off the conference reflecting on Jesus the Good Shepherd. The final talk was on Humble Orthodoxy – which is all about speaking the truth without being a jerk.

Here are the mp3s for both talks:

To get all 6 talks on Video, contact Youthworks (they have a swanky new website!!).