2 Minutes with God

Is compromise still a terrible sin?

2015-11-10T20:31:00.001-08:00

Once, compromise was a very bad sin.
In our church, back when cars were made of iron and records were bade of Bakelite and undies were baggy, I was a teenager and compromise was a terrible evil.

Any girl who wore a short skirt, lipstick or had a 'perm' was compromising with worldly standards. Any boy who wore black jeans, had a square cut or worse, a Beatles Hair Cut was also a compromised individual.

Godliness was all about not dancing, not going to the movies, not holding hands, not saying bad words, not hanging around in the burger joint or fish shop, not smoking, not kicking a football on Sunday and not wearing a suit to church. My mother preferred me not to walk past the pub on the way to Sunday School lest I be seen to be coming out of it drunk – even though it was closed and I was only 11!

Standards have changed.
Although it's still not OK for 11 year olds to be drunk on Sundays, times and standards have changed. Some would say they've changed for the worse and that's why the church has lost its power and place.

I'd rather suggest that thinking people have learned what's important and what's not important.

Renamed?

Yes, their original names were 'Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. All four names reflecting their heritage and religion. (Read a quick commentary here http://bit.ly/1RHtP1x ): The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.' They were forbidden to use their own birth names, all of which had their roots in their Hebrew religion and so they became known by the names of Babylonian gods. That was a big call.

Preview here before you buy. And then please leave a comment. The more comments the more popular you make the message and the music.

Daniel and his mates
In the first three chapters of the book of Daniel we see three young fellows who had mastered the art of compromise. They refused to have anything to do with idol worship, and in so doing, denied themselves food that had been offered to idols, refused to stop praying to God and refused to bow down to King Neduchadnezzar's image, yet had no problem with being re-named.

Choose your battles
They couldn't do anything about their names. They were dumped on them by the boss. My guess is that they would not have been comfortable being reminded day after day and hour after hour that their name meant the opposite of what they believed. It seems they didn't utter a squeak of protest. However when asked to do something against their consciences over which they had full control, they baulked and baulked big – even to the point of being thrown to the lions or put in a furnace heated seven times hotter than normal.

I don't think we have become very skilled in picking our points of compromise.

BUY, WHETHER YOU HAVE KIDS TO SHARE WITH OR JUST NEED TO CHEER YOURSELF UP.
Now anyone can get the original fun and songs in digital MP3 format in a few clicks to play on an iPhone or iPod or any MP3 player – devices we'd never dreamed of when we made the original. No postage. No delay. Just a few clicks and an online payment and they're yours to play. Yes, to answer the big question, that adorable pest Koala Ted is still there on the verandah interrupting and singing Suzy Had a Baby non-stop and the songs are as magical as they always were. They're as fresh as ever. I previewed them again and found myself singing along and laughing as if I were hearing the songs for the first time.Anyway, to infinity and beyond.Live long and prosper.
Love –

Colin

Contentment and the LAUNCH of Billabong Songs

2015-09-14T02:57:00.002-07:00

It's a BIG day.
My 'Billabong Songs' album goes digital today!!
As Koala Ted would say, 'Yay!!! Let's get down and Boogie!'
More below:

God our Father has mysterious ways.

Not that he is capricious or weird. His ways are His ways, not ours.
I suppose you knew that, didn't you?
Or are you one of those nitwits – excuse me, troubled souls and confused spirits – who constantly asks, 'Why?'
Why is God doing this to me?
Why did God let this happen?
How can a loving God justify himself when all this bad goes on? (Stephen Fry type question)
I wonder what God is trying to tell me through this?
If everything happens for a reason (which is doesn't usually) what is the reason behind this event/accident/illness /tragedy?
Why won't God speak to me?
How come God doesn't answer my prayers?
Blah-blah-whinge-whinge-whine-whine-keep-on-missing-the-point-blah-blah.

We all need to chill a bit and get some contentment going

Right on the button there's a song about it on Billabong Songs
When you look in the lilies in the field;
When you look at the grass: how green it grows;
When you see a small anemone,
a frond, a fern, a leaf,
you have to stop and tell yourself
and say, Yes, I believe ...
Chorus -
It's true that all the animals and the birds in all the trees
don't worry 'bout the things they have to do.
Taking life as it comes along
with a waggy tail or a little song.
If they can be content then why can't you?

I need to trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding and in all my ways acknowledge him and he will direct my paths (in His own mysterious way!)

ANYWAY. I AM PRETTY EXCITED!
I've been meaning to make my old favourite Billabong Songs available as a download for years, and finally I've got around to it. I get calls all the time from Mums who loved these songs when they were littlies thenselves who now want them for their own kids – and from grandparents whose kids wore out the original cassette 20 years ago who now want to give the songs to their grandies.

BUY, WHETHER YOU HAVE KIDS TO SHARE WITH OR JUST NEED TO CHEER YOURSELF UP.
Now anyone can get the original fun and songs in digital MP3 format in a few clicks to play on an iPhone or iPod or any MP3 player – devices we'd never dreamed of when we made the original. No postage. No delay. Just a few clicks and an online payment and they're yours to play. Yes, to answer the big question, that adorable pest Koala Ted is still there on the verandah interrupting and singing Suzy Had a Baby non-stop and the songs are as magical as they always were. They're as fresh as ever. I previewed them again and found myself singing along and laughing as if I were hearing the songs for the first time.

Preview here before you buy. And then please leave a comment. The more comments the more popular you make the message and the music.

Anyway, to infinity and beyond.

Live long and prosper.

How just are you? How merciful? As in how energetic are you about that?

2015-08-31T12:08:00.000-07:00



Tricky question.





Following up on the question I
asked last month ...


I asked, How converted are
you? One of the marks of being converted is to be stridently NOT on the Devil's
side any more or ever again.





Jesus' best friend, John says
(1 John 3:8 ) 'The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the Devil's
work.' Micah the old prophet from about 2700 years ago was fond of asking and
answering, 'What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.'





I find it hard enough to walk
humbly with God which is quiet and private thing, let alone do the hard and
public things. I suppose you do too. But 'too hard' has never been an
acceptable excuse has it?





The Devil's work seems to be
mostly about fostering injustice, destruction of love, and to negate mercy (not
to mention the invention of Facebook). So if we are not on the Devil's side and
support the work of Jesus, it leaves us one daily question: How energetic about
justice and mercy have I been so far today?





These are nasty days


It's a strategic time to ask
how energetic are you abouty justie and mercy





Anyway, to infinity and
beyond.





Live long and prosper.





Love –





Colin

How converted are you?

2015-07-06T12:19:00.000-07:00

A little boy fell out of bed night after night and woke the household with his frightened crying.
Exasperated his Dad finally scolded, 'Why did you fall out of bed again?'
The little boy, sniffled, 'I stayed too close to where i got in.'.

Conversions happen
Growing up I saw hundreds and hundreds of the then Baby Boomers get 'converted'. They went forward at Billy Graham Crusades, Baptist Youth Rallies, Youth For Christ Meetings, Easter camps, summer camps, May holiday camps, church services and what not.

Many were baptised. Many joined a church. Some became pastors, priests, leaders, missionaries, translators, medical workers, charity workers. Most became office workers, bank clerks, tax agents, plumbers, metal workers, teachers, singles, and nice mums and dads.

Like me, you might be one of them.

Conversions don't go very far
They stopped breaking the law. They stopped living immorally. They stopped dabbling in the occult. They stopped getting drunk. They didn't take drugs. Heck! Some of them even stopped going to dances! (Some even stopped saying Heck.)

The aim seems to have been to get us to become nice – middle class – polite, pleasant and perspicacious. That's a kind of conversion I suppose but is it the real deal? To stop being 'bad' is one thing but to be outrageously 'good' is quite different.

There's a level of conversion to which most 'converts' have never risen. It's in the realm of character and it reveals itself in attitudes, mind-sets, casual conversations, the shows we watch on TV, the comments we make on Facebook, the prides and prejudices we express about refugees, homosexuals, women, men, gun ownership, drug addicts, Muslims
, prostitutes, poor people, homeless people, the music we choose, the things we meditate on in the newspaper and the evening news, the junk we buy and the cars we drive and the homes we live in.

These are nasty days
It's a strategic time to ask how far in you've got

Anyway, to infinity and beyond.
Live long and prosper.

Love –

Colin

Do you believe nonsense?

2015-04-27T15:01:00.000-07:00

The Bible says ... (not!)
People do talk a lot of rubbish. Here are some quasi religious-sounding examples.
'God helps those who help themselves.'
'Cleanliness is next to Godliness.'
'To thine own self be true.'
'Neither a lender nor a borrower be.'
'Money is the root of all evil.'

These are attributed to the Bible but they are a collection from Shakespeare and your mother.

Fey spiritual religious people (even highly paid Christian pastors) are heard to say;
'The Lord told me ... '
'I heard God say ... '
'I wonder what God is trying to say to me.'

Makes me wonder too.

And then there is the ignoramus factor
'This bad thing has happened to you because your grandfather was a Free Mason.'
'You are cursed because your mother went to a seance when she was carrying you.'
'You need deliverance from your father's demons.'

Ignoramus factor?
Yep. Ignorance of the wisdom of Jeremiah and Ezekiel who tell us that the sayings, common in the day such as
'the sins of the fathers are visited on the children', and
'the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge', were and are rubbish.

Each of them tells us that the sinner who sins will be held responsible for his or her own sins and that is that. If he turns from his sinful ways he will be forgiven and that will be that. If he doesn't he won't and that will be that. If the person's child sins, the parent will not be held responsible for it by God and if the child repents, the child will be forgiven and that will also be that.

Ain't that a relief?

You can read it for yourself here:
http://bit.ly/1Kmhah9

Anyway, to infinity and beyond.

Live long and prosper.

Love –

Colin

For some people each day presents another panoply of misery. Yes a panoply—a delicious array of insults, dismay, heart break, set backs, pain, punishment, disappointments and despair.

2015-04-13T14:18:00.000-07:00

They have my sympathy

In just the last week I've heard of a dad being screamed at in a public car park by an adult daughter for an accidental slight he'd made against someone she knew. It was humiliating. Another had been cruelly dealt with for suggesting she'd babysat her friend's dog for long enough. That was unfair. Yet another had been slandered by a work colleague for incidents the slanderer had only imagined. That was heart breaking. A salesperson was cursed at by a desperate shopper for the company's not having stock on hand to match its advertising. That was embarrassing.

They're all in good company

I have been wading my way through the miserable swamp that is the book of Jeremiah. I've read it before. It hasn't struck me this hard before. It's horrible. For more than fifty years the poor bloke spoke his mind – the mind of God – and poured himself into it. Poured is hardly a good enough description. I mean he waterfalled, cascaded and sea spouted himself into it. Relentlessly.

God forbade him to marry so he was always alone. Colleagues lied about him and denounced his message and worse, his motives. Kings had him arrested and jailed. The most respectable people in town kidnapped him and dropped him in a cistern up to his neck in slime. He was laughed at, ignored and punished in every conceivable way – just for telling kings and citizens alike to act in mercy, fairness and in honour of God.

And whenever life got a little bit better for him for a day or two, it went down the drain again – only faster and deeper.

Wayne Jackson at The Christian Courier writes that the book of Jeremiah It is 'one of the most thrilling.' I didn't see it quite that way this time around. I just feel so sorry for the guy. Deeply deeply saddened. And although I'd like to think, my lot is nowhere as terrible as his so I should be happy about that I can only think how life is so hard, tough and gnarled sometimes. And that brings me down.

One thing comes through though. Jeremiah didn't give up. I reckon I would have. I am sad to say I need praise, effectiveness, the sense I have done something world-changing with my life, with my time and talent, not to mention a pathetic need for thanks, honours and perhaps a small statue. Jeremiah got none.

Jackson points out the big learning points from the book. I'm glad he did because on this reading, all I got was a bad case of depression and a good kick up the nether regions about how life isn't about me.

• God Empowers the Servant,

• Remember Your Vows

• God Hates the Superficial

• True Repentance

• The High Price of Sin

• God Will Be Victorious

• Jesus Is the Only Hope

• Expect Persecution

• Judgment Day Will Come

Anyhoodle. I hope this hasn't sent you into useless depression, and gives you a chance to say, Life looks terrible for a lot of people but God has a bigger view. I don't get it, but I'll go with it, come what may.

Anyway, to infinity and beyond.

Live long and prosper

Love

Colin

Just for a change, here's something The Lovely Christine wrote for the South Australian Baptist News. She writes for women so I changed a few bits to be more inclusive.

2015-02-10T15:40:00.000-08:00

FREE PDF OF TONGUE QUOTES

Hit this email address and I'll get around to sending you the PDF of my quote cards on the tongue in a few days.

(Don't want to over promise.)

You can import them to your iPhone, iPad or any other thingy and click through them while you're waiting to go into a meeting, go home, meet the boss, visit a difficult customer, where you might trip over your own tongue by not keeping it still.

They have my sympathy
In just the last week I've heard of a dad being screamed at in a public car park by an adult daughter for an accidental slight he'd made against someone she knew. It was humiliating. Another had been cruelly dealt with for suggesting she'd babysat her friend's dog for long enough. That was unfair. Yet another had been slandered by a work colleague for incidents the slanderer had only imagined. That was heart breaking. A salesperson was cursed at by a desperate shopper for the company's not having stock on hand to match its advertising. That was embarrassing.

They're all in good company
I have been wading my way through the miserable swamp that is the book of Jeremiah. I've read it before. It hasn't struck me this hard before. It's horrible. For more than fifty years the poor bloke spoke his mind – the mind of God – and poured himself into it. Poured is hardly a good enough description. I mean he waterfalled, cascaded and sea spouted himself into it. Relentlessly.

God forbade him to marry so he was always alone. Colleagues lied about him and denounced his message and worse, his motives. Kings had him arrested and jailed. The most respectable people in town kidnapped him and dropped him in a cistern up to his neck in slime. He was laughed at, ignored and punished in every conceivable way – just for telling kings and citizens alike to act in mercy, fairness and in honour of God.

And whenever life got a little bit better for him for a day or two, it went down the drain again – only faster and deeper.

Wayne Jackson at The Christian Courier writes that the book of Jeremiah It is 'one of the most thrilling.' I didn't see it quite that way this time around. I just feel so sorry for the guy. Deeply deeply saddened. And although I'd like to think, my lot is nowhere as terrible as his so I should be happy about that I can only think how life is so hard, tough and gnarled sometimes. And that brings me down.

One thing comes through though. Jeremiah didn't give up. I reckon I would have. I am sad to say I need praise, effectiveness, the sense I have done something world-changing with my life, with my time and talent, not to mention a pathetic need for thanks, honours and perhaps a small statue. Jeremiah got none.

Jackson points out the big learning points from the book. I'm glad he did because on this reading, all I got was a bad case of depression and a good kick up the nether regions about how life isn't about me.

God Empowers the Servant,
Remember Your Vows
God Hates the Superficial
True Repentance
The High Price of Sin
God Will Be Victorious
Jesus Is the Only Hope
Expect Persecution
Judgment Day Will Come

Anyhoodle. I hope this hasn't sent you into useless depression, and gives you a chance to say, Life looks terrible for a lot of people but God has a bigger view. I don't get it, but I'll go with it, come what may.

Anyway, to infinity and beyond.

Live long and prosper

Love

Colin

I had a bit taken off my tongue

2014-06-16T16:48:00.000-07:00

Hit this email address and I'll get around to sending you the PDF of my quote cards on the tongue in a few days.

(Don't want to over promise.)

You can import them to your iPhone, iPad or other thingy and click through them while you're wising to go into a meeting, go home, meet the boss, visit a difficult customer, where you might trip over your own tongue by not keeping it still.

The surgeon said ...

'You must have bitten your tongue at some time and a lump has formed. I'll take if off for you.'
'Will it hurt?', I asked, in my sad little whiny voice.
'It might be a bit sore for a couple of days.'
'OK, then.'
'I'll put you to sleep so you won't feel a thing.'

L I A R, L I A R P A N T S O N F I R E!

It hurt like all get out and I couldn't speak English for a week – or swallow, or spit or chew, and even drinking custard through a straw made me dribble down my shirt.

I told him he should change his bedside manner.
I said he should stop trying to be nice and say it how it really is. Mind you that has got me into all the trouble I've ever managed to create!

People are funny
I gave a prescription for pain killers to the woman at the pharmacy also handing her a note saying I couldn't speak because of a tongue operation.

She wrote me a note back! I was in too much pain to laugh.

it did make me think about 140 quotes about the tongue from a few years back.
Here are a few.

Proverbs 11:12 A man who lacks judgement derides his neighbour, but a man of understanding holds his tongue
Proverbs 12:14 From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things as surely as the work of his hands reward him.
Proverbs 12:18 Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Proverbs 10:8: The wise in heart accept commands, but a chattering fool comes to ruin.
Proverbs 12:23 A prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself, but the heart of a fool bursts out folly.

I recommend silence, if only for a week. It makes you feel wise, sen if you're not.

Anyway, to infinity and beyond.

Live long and prosper

Love

Colin

South Australian locals who work in sales should attend this seminar:

2014-04-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

It's next Tuesday 6th May, so get in on the Early Bird price before April 30 and save $100.

Here's what i will teach you.

Show up! You will ‘get’ a formula for success in sales so you win all the business you can: 3CA=CR.

Grow up! Understand what you are up against in this snappy online sales environment and win back your share of sales.

Shut up! 4 selling styles and how to sell without so much talk, talk, talk.

Listen up! 8 questions to find out what your prospect really wants.

Speak up! When it is your turn to speak, use language dripping with all 7 benefits for your prospect – yet without being smarmy.

Sell up! Get your attitude and language right about add-on sales and selling more.

Ask me about the date and the fee and the place. and I will send you the brochure

I gave up opinions for Lent.
I think I will keep it up

It's been quite a discipline, although a lot easier than giving up chocolate or coffee.
I don't imbibe in the demon drink so that wasn't hard to give up.
I don't do a lot of dairy or meat so it wouldn't have been hard to give those up.
I like coffee and chocolate and they have less affect on me than opinions so I have been glad to be done with them.

Having opinions upsets my stomach a lot more than coffee and chocolate.
My opinions wind me up, get me agitated, surly, make me sullen, grumpy, jumpy, argumentative and moody.

Giving opinions leaves a nastier taste in my mouth than coffee and chocolate.
When I give my opinion I have to live with the fact that I usually didn't know what I was talking about and have got a fact or a story half right and mostly wrong all at the same time. It's easier to recover from not having mouthed off about anything I wasn't sure was a fact, a joke or a self-confessed fiction.

Your opinions affect me even worse.
The other day someone decided to graffiti the fences of my feeble mind with their opinions about Israel, Jews, George(s) Bush, Sri Lanka, the US economy, Tony Abbott, asylum seekers, Collingwood, public spending, bike lanes, air fares, spies, retirement age, religion, private school education and three conspiracy theories about Flight 370, all in the space of about 30 minutes. The individual got away scot free. I remained bruised, battered and left with a mental clean up that lasted 72 hours.

Try it
I repeat form last time: Finally, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.(Philippians 4:8)

Anyway, to infinity and beyond.

Live long and prosper

Love

Colin

I gave up opinions for Lent.

2014-04-28T14:03:00.000-07:00

I think I will keep it up

It's been quite a discipline, although a lot easier than giving up chocolate or coffee.

I don't imbibe in the demon drink so that wasn't hard to give up.

I don't do a lot of dairy or meat so it wouldn't have been hard to give those up.

I like coffee and chocolate and they have less affect on me than opinions so I have been glad to be done with them.

Having opinions upsets my stomach a lot more than coffee and chocolate.

My opinions wind me up, get me agitated, surly, make me sullen, grumpy, jumpy, argumentative and moody.

Giving opinions leaves a nastier taste in my mouth than coffee and chocolate.

When I give my opinion I have to live with the fact that I usually didn't know what I was talking about and have got a fact or a story half right and mostly wrong all at the same time. It's easier to recover from not having mouthed off about anything I wasn't sure was a fact, a joke or a self-confessed fiction.

Your opinions affect me even worse.

The other day someone decided to graffiti the fences of my feeble mind with their opinions about Israel, Jews, George(s) Bush, Sri Lanka, the US economy, Tony Abbott, asylum seekers, Collingwood, public spending, bike lanes, air fares, spies, retirement age, religion, private school education and three conspiracy theories about Flight 370, all in the space of about 30 minutes. The individual got away scot free. I remained bruised, battered and left with a mental clean up that lasted 72 hours.

Try it

I repeat form last time: Finally, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.(Philippians 4:8)

Anyway, to infinity and beyond.

Live long and prosper

Love

Colin

I used to be dead

2014-03-17T17:19:00.000-07:00

Tahlia doesn't want to marry horrible old Ehud. He comes to her house to meet her parents.
Things don't go well.
Preview it here:

And if you buy it, Amazon doesn't tell me who you are so how about dropping me a note that you did it?

It's harder to raise money!

Donations for good causes have become harder to get. And getting people to the fete, garage sale, chocolate drive, door knock, sleep-a-thon or barbecue is exasperating organisations' treasurers everywhere.

I can tell you how to raise money for your charity, project, club, school (or self) without costing anyone anything!

Look this up:

Curious?

Of course you are.

Suspicious?

That would be natural. Not nice of you, but natural.

Look up the introduction. and call me or email me for a contact chat.

On owls and thoughts.

Here I go again

If you're a subscriber to The Kick in the Pants Newsletter, on Friday you read how I have a new disease (invented by me) calledopinionophobia. I'm allergic to opinions - mine as well as yours and everyone else's.

Here's one reason why:

Look up this page and you'll see whichever way you look at it, there is plenty to think and talk about apart from government intrigue, political argy-bargy, sound bites, TV news, talk-back radio, sports comments, the goss of the day, idle chit chat about the weather, the latest episode of current affairs or newspaper headlines, Facebook blah diddy blah blah blah, letters to the editor and amazing email offers.

Whichever way you read it, the advice comes up like this: Finally, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

That excludes just about anything else on offer.

Remember the wise old owl poem a kindly soul wrote in your childhood autograph book?

A wise old owl lived in an oak.
The more he saw, the less he spoke.
The less he spoke, the more he heard.
Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?

Surely a few weeks of that alternative wouldn't hurt any of us.

Anyway, to infinity and beyond.

Live long and prosper

Love

Colin

On owls and thoughts.

2014-03-17T14:01:00.000-07:00

Here I go again

If you're a subscriber to The Kick in the Pants Newsletter, on Friday you read how I have a new disease (invented by me) called opinionophobia. I'm allergic to opinions - mine as well as yours and everyone else's.

Here's one reason why:

Look up this page and you'll see whichever way you look at it, there is plenty to think and talk about apart from government intrigue, political argy-bargy, sound bites, TV news, talk-back radio, sports comments, the goss of the day, idle chit chat about the weather, the latest episode of current affairs or newspaper headlines, Facebook blah diddy blah blah blah, letters to the editor and amazing email offers.

Whichever way you read it, the advice comes up like this: Finally, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

That excludes just about anything else on offer.

Remember the wise old owl poem a kindly soul wrote in your childhood autograph book?

A wise old owl lived in an oak.

The more he saw, the less he spoke.

The less he spoke, the more he heard.

Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?

Surely a few weeks of that alternative wouldn't hurt any of us.

Anyway, to infinity and beyond.

Live long and prosper

Was your mother the tour leader on all your guilt trips?

2013-10-03T14:00:00.000-07:00

It has often been claimed but the truth is you were your own guilt trip tour leader and you still are. That's not quite right either. You are the tour leader on your shame trips. Let me explain.

Guilt is good and has a right purpose.

The facts about guilt.

1. It is not an emotion

2. It is a state.

When the judge says a criminal is guilty of a crime he or she is saying, 'You did this thing and it is now declared.' The convicted person is not required to feel anything. Their feelings have nothing to do with the legal state in which they find themselves. The criminals can feel remorse or continue to protest their innocence, their desire for revenge, their having been provoked or misled, but that doesn't change a thing about their guilt. They have been pronounced as having done the deed. Thus they are guilty.

It's the same for you. The police officer pulls you over and says your blood alcohol reading is over the limit, and that's it. You are guilty. You broke the law. No feeling required, but thank you very much for the offer. Ah, but you cry, 'I feel so guilty.' No. You feel annoyed, angry, embarrassed, humiliated, fearful of others finding out, apprehensive of losing your license and getting the fine. You can't feel guilt. You can only accept it or reject it but it doesn't change a thing. You done it! Hopefully the effect of the guilt pronouncement will induce you to act responsibly about alcohol.

Guilt's purpose is to rectify things

Your mother found you'd pinched 5¢ from her purse. She announced you were guilty of theft and reprimanded you. The idea was to make sure you didn't grow up as a bank robber. She intended you to correct your course, change your ways or in Biblical terms, 'repent' which is to say, change your mind and thus your behaviour.

Shame is bad even though it's comfortable

If your mother repeated the story to Aunty Molly in front of you to grind it into you, or introduced you to Grandpa as the naughty boy who wants to be a thief when he grows up, she opened the trapdoor to shame. She didn't think you would go through, but you were unskilled in dodging the trapdoor and fell in. After a few more falls, you began to see yourself as untrustworthy or even unworthy of even having such a wonderful upright mother. You fell through this trapdoor so many times you ended up building a cubby house there and to this day you slip in there for safety because that's where you know yourself best. You know you belong there because you failed at school, had no friends, bombed out at sport, got fat, couldn't control your temper, never got picked first for games, got dropped by a sweetheart, didn't win any awards at work and pretty much all because people like you don't have any luck.

Consequences

Your boss says your sales are down. That's a fact. That's guilt. They are supposed to be this and they are that instead. You are supposed to say, 'Yes I am guilty of that. I hear you. You've stated the facts as they are your honour, so I will pick up the phone or make one more business call today and go about my duties more earnestly'. Instead you pop through the trapdoor into your cubby house of shame and start your usual dopey conversation with yourself. 'That's because I am no good at my job or with people. And if I had any luck I wouldn't have ended up working for this jackass or with these clients. I try but no-one ever listens to me. My life sucks. If I was supposed to be rich or successful or happy I would have been by now. Pass me a tissue. No? A drink then. No? Ok, a pill. That's ironic. A pill for a pill like me.'

My Kick in the Pants for you: Tear down the shame cubby house (it's not even a real house!), walk back up the steps, nail the trapdoor shut and when next confronted with a truth about your behaviour not quite measuring up, say, I am guilty of that and I won't do it again.

Wh - a - - t?

2013-07-22T15:40:00.000-07:00

I used to be Dead is on Amazon: My novel about the naughty and funny daughter of Jairus the Synagogue official in Capernaum is out now.
It hit No:1 and 2 in its categories in its first week and is getting nice reviews too.
You don't even need a Kindle device to read it.
You can open it in iPads and iPhones with the Kindle App which is free in the iTunes Store.
Get it and come back to the page to record your review.

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Stuff happens

Am I right about this?
The bottom drops out of our basket and we fall out.
Some of us have this debilitating tendency more than others but I think I am right in saying most of us have it.

When things don't work out, we have great difficulty in seeing the good in it.
I do.
I admit it.
I go down like a cast iron jet.

No-one plans for 'stuff'

Demand for our product wanes, a competitor comes into the market with lower prices, our business folds, we get laid off, we don't get the price we wanted for the home or car we sold, a child departs from the ways in which he or she was brought up, our child does something dreadful, our spouse does something dreadful, we emigrate and spend the next 30 years recovering, our parents become senile and dependent, our Pastor shacks up with the music leader, we run out of savings, Labor gets back in and Collingwood wins the 2013 Grand Final.

And these are only the external disappointments. There is an entire mountain range of personal mistakes to regret.

We didn't plan any of it. In fact, we had glorious hope for the exact opposite in every single case. We really did. We genuinely planned and hoped, believed and prayed for it.

Consider Moses

Yesterday in church we had a lesson about the end of Moses' life. It's pretty rough. For doing his lolly one day when God told him to speak to the rock in the desert to get it to give the Israelites water and whacking it instead, and giving everyone a mouthful of abuse in the process, God told him he would never enter the Land of Promise. Not only that, but (nothing to do with Moses) the people he had brought there would soon go off the rails and behave like pagans. So he died knowing that he had spent his life doing everything he could to get a homeland for himself and the Israelites and it was in effect, a fizzer.

How far down would your cast iron jet have taken you, if you'd had that news?

However ...

Here's what has happened since.
Moses has been known to three enormous religions as one of the Great Prohets
He's known to many nations as the ultimate law giver and leader.
His laws have become the basis of civilised living.
His miracles are astounding.
People have sung his praises for three thousand years for his courage, patience, wisdom, determination.
Moses got to stand on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus , the Son of God, right in the land of Canaan/Palestine/Israel.
From Moses's faith, billions have some to know God.

So?

So, it's never over, until it's over is it?
Did you think that just because you hoped for something it was your right to have it?
That's as silly and sad as a five year old wishing she'll grow fairly wings.
Persevere.
Wait until the end of time to read the last chapter, not just the end of your days.
Endure.
Plough on, one foot up and one foot down.
Who knows what the family, your friends, even the historians will say of your perseverance?

Anyway —

To infinity and beyond.
Live long and prosper.

Colin Pearce

Stuff happens

2013-07-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

Am I right about this?

The bottom drops out of our basket and we fall out.

Some of us have this debilitating tendency more than others but I think I am right in saying most of us have it.

When things don't work out, we have great difficulty in seeing the good in it.

I do.

I admit it.

I go down like a cast iron jet.

No-one plans for 'stuff'

And these are only the external disappointments. There is an entire mountain range of personal mistakes to regret.

We didn't plan any of it. In fact, we had glorious hope for the exact opposite in every single case. We really did. We genuinely planned and hoped, believed and prayed for it.

Consider Moses

How far down would your cast iron jet have taken you, if you'd had that news?

However ...

Here's what has happened since.

Moses has been known to three enormous religions as one of the Great Prohets

He's known to many nations as the ultimate law giver and leader.

His laws have become the basis of civilised living.

His miracles are astounding.

People have sung his praises for three thousand years for his courage, patience, wisdom, determination.

Moses got to stand on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus , the Son of God, right in the land of Canaan/Palestine/Israel.

From Moses's faith, billions have some to know God.

So?

So, it's never over, until it's over is it?

Did you think that just because you hoped for something it was your right to have it?

That's as silly and sad as a five year old wishing she'll grow fairly wings.

Persevere.

Wait until the end of time to read the last chapter, not just the end of your days.

Endure.

Plough on, one foot up and one foot down.

Who knows what the family, your friends, even the historians will say of your perseverance?

Anyway —

To infinity and beyond.

Live long and prosper.

Colin Pearce

What IS the Bible all about – really?

2013-03-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

• Is it a handbook for Jews and Christians?

• Is it a layout of God's plan for humankind?

• Is it a rule book?

I guess my answer will not make me popular.

Dr. Billy Graham writes in the forward to Dr Henrietta Mears' famous book, What the Bible is all about:

Millions of people today are searching for a reliable voice of authority. The Word of God is the only authority we have. It sheds light on human nature, , world problems and human suffering. But beyond that it clearly reveals the way to God through Jesus Christ.

I wouldn't want to argue with that. I just made a discovery of my own though.

I endeavour to read the Bible every year and last year I tried to do it in The Message. It's taking a lot longer than normal because there's a lot of in-text elaboration.

That aside, one thing has bothered me. Yes, the will of God is there. The authority is there. The wisdom and the worship are there, but something this last year has really stuck out.

Big discovery

It reads like someone tried to cram as many pompous jackasses as possible in between two leather covers. There are hundreds of them. Upstarts, social climbers, johnny-come-latelies, and arrivistes. Pompous to the max, one and all.

Pompous

(adjective) affectedly and irritatingly grand, solemn, or self-important: a pompous ass who pretends he knows everything.

It starts on page 2 and gets worse: Eve, Adam, Cain, Nimrod, Noah after the flood, Abraham lying about his 'sister', Lot and his wife as fools, Isaac as a goose, Jacob as a cheat, Joseph as a braggadocious little pain, his brothers as adults, Moses before his call out, Pharaoh, the Israelite leaders in the wilderness, the spies in Caanan, the settlers mixing with the Baalites, the false prophets, King Saul, King David, King Solomon, his son Rehoboam and his ex-captain Jereboam, Assyrian Kings, more stupid Israelite and Judaic kings, Nebuchanezzar ... I'm tired already and I haven't got to the Pharisees, the Saducees, the dumb disciples and the squabblers in the early churches.

What IS the Bible all about then?

Just for now, for this week while I think about it, it's about the folly of arrogance, it's about the daftness of opinions, it's about the pointlessness of being pompous. It's about submission to God in all humility and abandonment to our own importance (as we've assessed it to be in our own pomposity.)

There's something to chew on over Easter.

To infinity and beyond.

Live long and prosper.

Colin Pearce

Christmas – what a funny old mess.

2012-12-03T23:43:00.004-08:00

Christmas – what a funny old mess.
For example:

> I have a Jewish friend who celebrates Christmas because he likes presents, turkey and pudding. He doesn't have a clue that the true meaning of Christmas is Santa Claus.

> When I was about 20, I had a Pastor who abhorred Christmas as a being a Christian festival and wouldn't hold a Christmas church service because he was a Puritan and Christmas was 'draped in the rags of popery'. He did however like pudding and turkey and presents.

> I was in Bethlehem this year where the Greek and Armenian priests hold their annual Christmas punch-up about who gets first dibs on poking their head in the place of Christ's birth. The actual 'supposed' slab where the manger is said to have been placed is filled with candles and is encased in bird wire and looks like a ferret's cage. I must have missed something, because other people were crying in awe. I got the giggles.

> There is supposed to have been a woman who complained aloud in a card shop when she saw a nativity scene on a Christmas card, 'The (*&*&%^&$ church! They try to get religion into everything.'

It's a mess.
With Father Christmas, Santa Claus, Sinta Klaus, trees, baubles, tinsel, televised carols by candlelight shows, pudding, charity appeals, suicides, turkey, rampant alcohol abuse, rampant gluttony, rampant present abuse, rampant card abuse, superstition, emotional pap about it being Jesus birthday (spare us!) the invention of Winterval, Chrisukka, Happy Holidays, political appeasement and cultural sensitivity, deaths on the roads and it only being 11 months since last one, I don't know whether to take up arms and oppose the whole thing or just go back to watching the cricket on TV and have another fruit mince pie.

So what's Christmas all about?
Apparently Christmas is about whatever you like, and as long as you don't think your take on it is true, I'm OK with that. My reality is that as long as I get turkey, pudding and a present on Christmas day I'm happy because I celebrate the reality of Jesus everyday of the year and that he took action and conquered death and that he is not the reason for the season but he is in fact The Season and will remain so, day after punishing day, until the Great Day when we shall know him as he is.

Anyway, have a happy – (fill in your preference)

Christmas – what a funny old mess.

2012-12-02T22:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas – what a funny old mess.

For example:

> I have a Jewish friend who celebrates Christmas because he likes presents, turkey and pudding. He doesn't have a clue that the true meaning of Christmas is Santa Claus - or is it the Easter Bunny, or tinsel, or an angel up a tree?

> When I was about 20, I had a Pastor who abhorred Christmas as a being a Christian festival and wouldn't hold a Christmas church service because he was a Puritan and Christmas was 'draped in the rags of popery'. He did however like pudding and turkey and presents.

> I was in Bethlehem this year where the Greek and Armenian priests hold their annual Christmas punch-up about who gets first dibs on poking their head in the place of Christ's birth. The actual 'supposed' slab where the manger is said to have been placed is filled with candles and is encased in bird wire and looks like a ferret's cage. I must have missed something, because other people were crying in awe. I got the giggles.

> There is supposed to have been a woman who complained aloud in a card shop when she saw a nativity scene on a Christmas card, 'The (*&*&%^&$ church! They try to get religion into everything.'

It's a mess.

With Father Christmas, Santa Claus, Sinta Klaus, trees, baubles, tinsel, televised carols by candlelight shows, pudding, charity appeals, suicides, turkey, rampant alcohol abuse, rampant gluttony, rampant present abuse, rampant card abuse, superstition, emotional pap about it being Jesus birthday (spare us!) the invention of Winterval, Chrisukka, Happy Holidays, political appeasement and cultural sensitivity, deaths on the roads and it only being 11 months since last one, I don't know whether to take up arms and oppose the whole thing or just go back to watching the cricket on TV and have another fruit mince pie.

So what's Christmas all about?

Apparently Christmas is about whatever you like, and as long as you don't think your take on it is true, I'm OK with that. My reality is that as long as I get turkey, pudding and a present on Christmas day I'm happy because I celebrate the reality of Jesus everyday of the year and that he took action and conquered death and that he is not the reason for the season but he is in fact The Season and will remain so, day after punishing day, until the Great Day when we shall know him as he is.

Big Hearing-from-God incidents.

2012-10-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

Big Hearing-from-God incidents.

There is some confusion for people about whether God actually directs our paths, whether God speaks at all today or whether it's all up to us to use our God-given brains.

In most of the decisions I've made to take this or that path I didn't ever hear a 'Word from God' as it were, such as 'God told me to become a member of Franchise Association.' So I am today mostly a result of stumbling along from ditch to disaster with only the occasional meadow of flowers, and that wasn't how I thought it was supposed to be. So if you feel as though you have been ditched, I write this to say, it does work out in the wash.

I have had many astounding interventions but this one takes the cake.

The strongest leading or direction or intervention I've ever had was when we moved to Port Pirie in 1976 to work with Pastor Bill Wheatland. He and I met for prayer on the first morning and I asked God for a teaching job and Bill Asked for me to get a TV job. I was aghast that he could be so dumb because I had been firmly rejected 2 months before in an interview that lasted 2 minutes after I had driven for 3 hours in 110º heat in an un-airconditioned Ford Cortina

After prayers I went out job hunting and before morning tea scored a job at the Catholic High School. 'We were wondering how to fill that position for a Year 8 teacher,' said Father Pulis.

I was pretty chuffed.

Meanwhile the Manager of the TV Station (the one who had told me I was totally unsuitable for television) had fallen off his boat the Saturday before I arrived and had broken his arm and the Managing Director had driven in from Sydney to take over. On that Monday morning, his PA found my letter from 3 months before wedged between two files in the engineering filing cabinet and said, 'Jim. you might like to read this.'

It was within minutes of the time Bill was praying that I would get a job on the telly.

The rest is history. By 2:00 PM I had a job at the TV station presenting a children's show for 15 minutes a day. After a week he turned it into a 2 hour show and after two months made me Sales Manager for the network. After 2 years Channel 7 offered me a job in the Children's Production Unit in Adelaide. I've hardly been out of a TV or video production since. It was the single key that opened my life into selling, speaking all over Australia, New Zealand, 28 states of the USA, and 15 or more other countries. It paved the way for writing books, making training packages and best of all – meeting YOU.

Nevertheless I struggled for years and years over the fact that it was not a straight shady path with chocolate-crepe stands along the way and that if God had so clearly changed my direction how come it wasn't 'nice' all day and every day. There were personality clashes, role-confusions, financial struggles and deep misgivings about whether I was in the right place – even a life-long struggle with the slobbering three-headed black dog of depression.

That often made me wonder if I'd made it up as well as messed it up, too many times to count.

Looking back I can only say, God has been directing my path like a chess piece knight being moved at right angles, one square here, two squares there, two sideways, one back, waiting for the bishops, pawns and castles to move into my path or to be positioned for the taking. That one incident though was too God-like to be disputed.

In the middle of it I felt lost more often than not, but 36 years later I can see it all as clear as day.

God does direct our paths— pulls us out of ditches, saves us in disasters and when we realise it, often sits us in flowery meadows.

So trust in the Lord with all your heart and he will direct your path.

Anyway

To infinity and beyond.  Live long and prosper.  Colin Pearce  Address:

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Do you hear the voice of God?

2012-09-09T19:12:00.000-07:00

Do you hear the voice of God?

I have nearly finished my novel – part of my M.A. in Humanities (Creative Writing).

The characters – four bratty kids – live in Galilee at the time of Christ. At one stage, trying to work out whether the miracle-working rabbi is the real deal they ask their old Greek teacher Zoticus a question about their studies of Homer:

'What do you think about the way Homer's gods spoke to men, Master Z? Have you ever heard the voice of God.’

He looked away to the sky outside and sighed, ‘Only in the songs of birds, the wailing of foxes, the howling of wolves, the rumble of thunder, the singing of children, the pleas of beggars, the moans of the hungry, the whimpers of the sick, the whispers of a lover, the tears of a widow, the laughter of babies, the humming of bees,

Addy and Okky pretended to be enthralled by Master Z’s word pictures and said in a mocking tone,

'and the wind in the trees,
and waves in the seas,
and a flag in a breeze
and a donkey’s big sneeze,
and a grandfather’s knees
and a dog scratching fleas
and Master Z. eating cheese.'

At that Master Z pretended to be cross with us and sent us out to clear our heads and get some sunshine.

So I ask you: Are you waiting for the big announcement from the sky or are you in tune with God's voice in your day-to-day events and encounters? He's speaking but you have to listen.

Anyway

To infinity and beyond.

Live long and prosper.

A Lamborghini or an Antarctic Prison

2012-08-19T22:32:00.000-07:00

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Here's the question of the day:
If you could choose between eliminating world poverty and Bill Gates' fortune, what colour would your Lamborghini be?

Mine would be silver because I don't like to be ostentatious, so red and yellow are out and black gets too hot in summer. If it's silver I can park it at church and the other people will think it's just a fancy Nissan or Toyota and won't think that I'm in wastrel.

I am sure you would be different though. You would have world poverty eliminated by Friday wouldn't you? The sex-slave trade would be eliminated, child soldiers would be returned to their mothers, the refugees on the boats would be able to go home to their then-safe countries because all the bad people would be in the big jail you would build in Antarctica where if they escaped they could accidentally freeze to death or stab each other with icicles.

On second thoughts, that's what I would do to. Forgive me please.

However I hasten to say I would need to administer it all from a comfortable office with a nice view so I wouldn't get overstressed. I would need a quality entertainment suite because I would be entertaining so many dignitaries, celebrities and politicians and we'd need good coffee in fine china with Belgian shortbread at morning tea and my own kitchen for the staff to cook lunch and a chauffer, and oh yes, I nearly forgot – my own jet.

The whole thought makes me wonder how serious I am about eliminating world poverty. I struggle to keep my candle burning bright in my small corner let alone become a city set on a hill that can't be hidden, and never even think of being a cosmic conflagration that burns the landscape clean. Such were William Wilberforce (abolition of slavery), Lord Shaftesbury (abolition of child labour), Robert Raikes (schools for poor children on Sundays) and hundreds of other heroes of the past and the likes of Bill and Melinda Gates of today.

How serious, really, is the prayer, 'God please let me earn more so that I can give more.'? Why don't I start in tiny ways this morning by letting the kid in the coffee shop keep the change or by buying a copy of “The Big Issue" from the scary looking bloke with the one-eyed dog, or maybe put a bit more on the sponsorship form for the people doing the World Vision 40 hour famine? Maybe I could grow a gift I don't have and enlarge a heart that is too small with little homeopathic doses of goodness.

Or I could just lie down until this unpleasant feeling goes away. Nah. I did that yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that, and the...

Anyway

To infinity and beyond.

Live long and prosper.

Colin Pearce

A Lamborghini or an Antarctic Prison

2012-08-19T22:20:00.000-07:00

To be a Wind Whisperer

2012-08-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my pastor was speaking about recovery and perseverance and as an example he mentioned that a competition sailor has to read the wind and the currents.

He or she has to be what people are calling, Australian Laser Class yachtsman and Olympic gold medalist, Tom Slingsby – a Wind Whisperer.

A bit before and a lot after
I'm not bad at reading the wind. I am quite proficient at reading what it has just done but only sometimes I read what it is about to do. That's all very 'trendy' so to speak, but I confess to not being very good at taking advantage of what I've predicted will happen.

Some people are really good at it.

Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) was brilliant at it – probably the best there has ever been. He read the closing of the silk road by the Caliph in Istanbul, the rising of European nation states, the victory of the Spanish over the Moors and the birth of a new era of European power, the improvement in square-rig ship building, the development of large-span canvas sails, the maps of John the Navigator, the invention of the astrolobe, the stories of sailors venturing further into the Atlantic on newly charted currents. Amazingly he didn't just read one breeze. He read the whole lot. Putting them all together, he seized the the day and began the Golden Age of Discovery. Admittedly it took him 28 years to put it all together but I think clocks ran slower in those days.

Question:
Would you have been able to read those winds?

Answer:
It doesn't matter now. It's been done some 520 years. What matters today is whether you can read the wind that is coming your way – or not coming your way. It's a bit like predciting the future but not the slightest bit as spooky. Actually it's more about prediciting what you will do about the wind once you've observed it's likely behaviour. That makes a gold medal winning sailor.

Have you been able to read the developments of the last 50 years.

How about some from the last 5 years?

The emergence of China in everything

The emergence of India in technology

The smartphone

The tablet

The fragility of the world economy

The fractures in the EU

The unravelling of the human genome

The Arab ‘Spring’

The rise of the Green Movement

The dragged out wars against terrorism in primitive countries

Does it matter?

No? Hunker down. Wait to go on the pension and hope not to take a long time to die. (Mind you, you are pretty much dead now with an attitude like that)

Yes? Of course it matters. You might be the Christopher Columbus they'll be writing about in 520 years from now – or your kids could be, or your grandies, or the people you meet and influence.

Anyway, to infinity and beyond.

Live long and prosper.

The Olympics: To win or compete with grace?

2012-08-05T21:19:00.002-07:00

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The Athlete

The Olympic Games are on again –
Four long years to train and strain
Hope dashed in a second by a fall or a sprain
or better opponents, in body or brain.

Crowds cheers, journalists' jeers –
Eliminated for dope or too many beers
Living with jitters and mind boggling fears
Both losing and winning inducing tears.

Discipline, effort, vain dedication.
'I'm sorry I lost. I'm in isolation.
My grief finds little or no consolation.
I feel as if I've shamed my whole nation.'

Please tell me my life is still on pace
That it's not defined by a stupid race
But by how I manage whatever I face
Come win or lose, with a load of grace.

I wonder if Jesus ever went to the hippodrome in Jerusalem? Did he walk or take a boat over to Jerash or Gadara to the hippodromes and amphitheatres there. Paul was imprisoned right next door to the hippodrome on the beach front in Caesarea Maritima. He wrote about running and winning, boxing and wrestling and keeping his own body in good nick. With a blood thirsty crowd of 30,000 screaming for their winner outside his window each week he couldn't have missed the Roman pre-occupation with games.

You would have had to walk around with your eyes shut not to have bumped into contestants on every street corner and village. With amphitheatres all across the Roman Empire as well as hippodromes and stadia there were chariot races, gladiatorial combats, games, races, wrestling bouts, object tossing and fisticuffs a-plenty.

Today it's the same. We worships the gods of victory, beauty, power, race and money. It's not easy to be in the arena without being taken up with the hype of success, winning, leading, dominating and smashing the opposition. You are either defined by the performance of your favourite team or the model of your car or the brands you wear. And it's all stupid.

As for you –

So what are you supposed to do? How are you meant to 'be' in today's arena?

To start with get this in your head: Your ultimate victory is already won for you. Christ has killed off the fear of death. He's won the ultimate human contest. Thankfully we don't have to beat anyone. It's done and dusted. It's the gold medal we wear all day every day – by faith.

Secondly, keep your eye on that tape at the finish line – the life to come. This world is not your home. You're just a-passin' through. That's the race you're running – to get to the end with grace and patience. The end.

As for the the game in progress, we have a comforter, a coach, an advocate. That's the Holy Spirit sent from the Father and we seem to enjoy avoiding him. How dumb is that?

You have team mates, sometimes on their game but like you, most often not. Nevertheless we're on the same team and we are all you've got. The Selector has put us in this team and He has done quite well with teams sillier than ours in the past so He can be relied on.

So run on. You're doing better than you think. Hey, you're reading this!

To infinity and beyond. Live long and prosper!

Jesus at the Bus Station in Jerusalem

2012-07-02T01:15:00.001-07:00

When we were in Jerusalem in June 2012 we were pretty nauseated by the 'holy' pilgrimage sites. I came across one though that really got to me. It was the understated English recreation of the Garden Tomb. I was taken with its tranquility and its take-it-or-leave-it explanations. I was particularly captured by the suggestion that the possible site of Jesus' crucifixion may have been just outside the fence at what is now a bus station in the Muslim Quarter. I wrote this little meditation about it.

Hello Jesus,

When Joan Osbourne asked in her song,

What if God was one of us,

just a slob like one of us,

just a stranger on a bus,

tryin' to make his way home?

I wondered if you’d think it was a rude question.

But Martin the enthusiastic Englishman in the Garden Tomb today said they crucified you at the Muslim Quarter bus station there at the cross roads in East Jerusalem just outside the Garden fence; not on a hill, not up high, but down low where everyone could see you, laugh at you, spit on you and blow smoke in your face as they went past with their donkeys loaded with olives and oil, onions and dates and falafel mix.

Then he said you were too heavy for two old men to carry all the way up the hill to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre so Nicodemus and Joseph of Aramathea carried you a hundred meters to the tomb Joseph's family was going to use for him. It's nice there. The birds must have woken you up three days later. I saw a little mother Laughing Dove on her nest she'd made on top of the Arlec floodlight where we had communion. Did you see her too?

Or did you help her make a home there? I suppose you did. That's what you're like, isn't it?

When the Maries came to embalm you properly on that first morning of the week you were up and about, waiting for the bus to Emmaus. Then you got a ticket to Galilee, cooked your friends breakfast and then caught the last bus back to Jerusalem. A bit later you caught the first bus home.

You've been on a lot of buses ever since.

Do you remember the day when I was 10? You caught the Number 17 to Kingswood and got off at Kyre Avenue and came to Mrs McPhee's after-school Bible group? Do you remember how you asked if you could catch the bus home with me afterwards and stay?

I do.

I was a bit unsure of you at first, but I am really glad we've been on the same bus ever since.

And then a month or two later you gave my Daddy a free ticket to Heaven. Kind really. He was tired and sick and I didn't really mind that much at the time. I thought it fair you paid his fare.

And to think I saw the place where you first got interested in buses.

You and buses.

I see why you're interested in slobs like us, and whenever you meet us and ask us on board, you really do find your way home.

2 Minutes with God

Is compromise still a terrible sin?

Contentment and the LAUNCH of Billabong Songs

How just are you? How merciful? As in how energetic are you about that?

How converted are you?

Do you believe nonsense?

For some people each day presents another panoply of misery. Yes a panoply—a delicious array of insults, dismay, heart break, set backs, pain, punishment, disappointments and despair.

Just for a change, here's something The Lovely Christine wrote for the South Australian Baptist News. She writes for women so I changed a few bits to be more inclusive.

I had a bit taken off my tongue

The surgeon said ...

South Australian locals who work in sales should attend this seminar:

I gave up opinions for Lent.I think I will keep it up

I gave up opinions for Lent.

I used to be dead

It's harder to raise money!

On owls and thoughts.

On owls and thoughts.

Was your mother the tour leader on all your guilt trips?

Wh - a - - t?

Stuff happens

No-one plans for 'stuff'

Consider Moses

However ...

So?

Anyway —

Stuff happens

What IS the Bible all about – really?

Christmas – what a funny old mess.

Christmas – what a funny old mess.

Big Hearing-from-God incidents.

Do you hear the voice of God?

A Lamborghini or an Antarctic Prison

A Lamborghini or an Antarctic Prison

To be a Wind Whisperer

The Olympics: To win or compete with grace?

Jesus at the Bus Station in Jerusalem

I gave up opinions for Lent.
I think I will keep it up