Category: life

Last week I spoke about saying sorry.  Here is a great example of an apology.  I appreciate his willingness to take responsibility and there are some helpful reflections on racism that apply to our context as well.  (We spoke about racism in Australia on The Poddy this week… with particular reference to the Cronulla riots.)  I'll repeat what I said last week: Sometimes we are slow to apologise. I need to be quick to apologise.  Maybe you do too…

Here is the latest episode of On the Poddy. Good times.

This blog post is being sent in from my email account.  It means that it's a lot quicker to update your blog.  I'm not planning on using it all the time – I don't think it will allow posting pictures – and I like having pictures.  So this is a bit of a test.  Some stuff:

• My brother has some reflections on infant baptism
• Dan is back on the blog for 2007
• Joshua Harris has a much better looking blog
• On the Poddy is making an assault on iTunes – click here to subscribe

Hope you've had a good weekend…

I’m not sure if you have followed this story in the last week. There have been stacks of great responses from Christians. Click here for a summary (h/t JT).

I just listened to John Piper give a brief blurb on his response. Listen here.

Eight Reasons Why I Believe That Jesus Rose from the Dead
By John Piper
A summary:

1. Jesus himself testified to his coming resurrection from the dead.
2. The tomb was empty on Easter.
3. The disciples were almost immediately transformed from men who were hopeless and fearful after the crucifixion (Luke 24:21, John 20:19) into men who were confident and bold witnesses of the resurrection (Acts 2:24, 3:15, 4:2).
4. Paul claimed that, not only had he seen the risen Christ, but that 500 others had seen him also, and many were still alive when he made this public claim.
5. The sheer existence of a thriving, empire-conquering early Christian church supports the truth of the resurrection claim.
6. The Apostle Paul’s conversion supports the truth of the resurrection.
7. The New Testament witnesses do not bear the stamp of dupes or deceivers.
8. There is a self-authenticating glory in the gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection as narrated by the biblical witnesses.

Read the full article here

Aaron “Plankton” Plunkett is back from his month long boot-camp with the army. It sounds like it was a good time for him… but it will be good to have him back. (He might be able to use his new skills to keep rowdy punks quiet at youth group!) I can’t believe he has a gun!! Guns don’t kill people – Aaron kills people! Go check out his site for some more pics.

Yesterday he posted on some thoughts on teamwork. He has some great reflections on teamwork in the army and for Christians. Here is a snippet:

It’s amazing how closely I bonded with the recruits of 16 platoon. We all had a common goal and learnt to work together on any given task and to rely on each other when times were tough… I reflected on this and how we as Christians have a common goal much more profound than that of the Australian Army. We are one in Christ with a common goal to glorify Him and further His kingdom. How much more should we as Christians be sticking together and working as a team!?!

Go read the rest here…

Over the last couple of months I have been spending time with a friend from university: Desmond. Desmond is not his real name, but it will be his name for the sake of this post. When changing names articles often use boring names – Desmond isn’t a boring name, a bit ol’ school perhaps, but not boring. Desmond didn’t ever finish uni – his life has become pretty messed up since I saw him last in AD2000.

Recently, I “just happened” (read: God in his providence) to cross paths again with Desmond. I was sitting down in a local cafe at the start of January doing some work in preparation for summerfest07. A man grabbed my attention out of the corner of my left eye as he offered to sell me a wetsuit. As our eyes made contact we both knew that we knew each other from somewhere. He looked different, but I could still tell that it was Desmond. I could tell by his appearance that he’d had a rough couple of years. He had. All sorts of different addictions to different drugs. He told me that he was trying to get his life back together – and without any prompting by me – he said how much he thought of me because I was a Christian. We were able to speak briefly about Jesus and I was able to answer some questions that he had. I needed to get home – but we arranged to catch up and talk more and read the Bible together in a week’s time.

During that week Desmond became homeless after being ripped-off by some tough nuts. He was in a bad way – life wasn’t going too well – and he had become more vulnerable now that he was living on the streets. I just sat and listened to him, found out what had gone on over the past couple of years and talked to him about Jesus. I went with him to Vinnies to get some clothes because he had none. It was a good time – so we arranged to do it again.

On the next visit I gave him a Bible with a photo laminated to the back of Desmond, 2 other class mates and me. He was in good Spirits but during that 1st week out on the streets he was exposed to the darker side of our town. As his anxieties increased so did his intake of random pills to get him high. As well as methadone he was popping a whole bunch of pills at once.

For a couple of weeks it became less and less possible to communicate with him – he was that stacked up on pills. Those weeks didn’t lead to super-fruitful conversations but it was good to be there and he has appreciated the time that I have spent with him. He has a lot of time for Christians. He knows they are different. He knows that they are the main people staffing the Soup Kitchen.

Desmond has lost the Bible that I gave him… but I’m going to give him another one next week. He’s keen to come to church as well.

I’ve had a bunch of friends praying for him – and would love you to as well. Praise God that Desmond recently received a Housing Commission house. Praise God for the time that Desmond spent in detox last week. Ask God to give Desmond strength to decrease his methadone. Ask God that Desmond would understand who Jesus is – and that he would put his trust in Jesus.

The last couple of months has been a helpful time for me to think through how it is that we as Christians are to care for those who are poor and helpless… and how the only hope for the world is found in the gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection. I believe that gospel – and believe that God can radically change people.

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This is my 200 post on eternal weight of glory!! Congratulations Dave!! You’re incredible!

PS – this post was written in the middle of the night – I was falling asleep at my computer – so the English isn’t the best! But you’ll get the idea…

(h/t to TooseHooseOnline)