Light of the World, a City on A Hill
…thinking out loud about living missionally in the city of Sydney so that the city will come to know Jesus…Archive for personal
Fatherhood and Faith
I am a father twice over, about to make that third time lucky in June.
My eldest is almost 5 and is my budsky, my little man.
I am convinced that God invented fatherhood as a way of helping us dopey blokes understand, in some small way, how he relates to us as a father, indeed the Heavenly Father.
Consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:
Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matt 7:9-11 [ESV]
Since becoming a dad, this verse has made so much more sense to me. I LOVEto give gifts to my kids, especially my son. Sharing their joy at receiving a toy or gift is wonderful and enough to make my heart almost explode at times. I actually have to restrain myself from buying them more gifts than I do, lest I foster an expectation and lack of appreciation.
Being the gift giver also helps you understand that giving kids everything they want, when they want it does not produce thankfullness and character. Of course you then realise God does the same for us - not indulging our every want so that our character will be shaped and formed in Christlikeness.
Amen to that.
Playground Connection
I had a good Easter weekend. My main challenge was to keep refocusing my kids on Jesus and away from Chocolate and the Easter Bunny. Cursed Secularism!
Got along to services (I’ve stopped calling them “Church”) on Friday (Rouse Hill) and Sunday (Stanhope) both of which were encouraging times of remembering Jesus’ work on the Cross.
Numbers seemed a little down in my estimation. Some people were holidaying no doubt. I heard someone say, though, that a bunch of people were up at KEC (Easter Convention up the Mountains). Now churching up there is all good, but does this leave the gatherings back down the mountain somewhat anaemic on one of the days of the year where visitors are likely to be joining? Something to think about.
I took the kids to the park across the road yesterday for a play. Before long another dad came along with his two kids to do the same. I pushed past my natural tendency to keep quiet and introduced myself with a handshake. My new acquaintance and I chatted for 15 minutes, getting to know a bit about each other. He and his wife live around the corner and as we were parting company he told me to give him a call if ever I needed help with anything.
Wow. Just like that.
Connection is sometimes easier than we think.
…who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Rom 1:18 [ESV]
This verse resonates with me. Especially today.
The day did not start particularly badly, but went downhill quickly.
On my usual 1 hour drive to work, I was nudged up the backside by the car behind me while stopped at a set of lights.
Top cut a long story short, despite being at fault (both in truth and under law) the other driver refused take responsibility and wanted us to just part company. Suppressing the truth in unrighteousness indeed.
So anyway, another verse came to mind:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. Matt 5:38-42 [ESV]
I deliberated whether to let it go (the damage seems minor) or to hold this person accountable for their actions.
In the end I have put a claim through insurance who will in turn claim on their insurance.
It seems like the right thing to do. Particularly as their car was a $130K+ Porsche.
A Tale of Two Cities
I’ve been to bible study/growth group/home group/community group twice this week…once in Sydney and once in Melbourne.
I am a Sydney-sider so my regular group was on Tuesday night. I was in Melbourne for work on Wed night and was invited to visit a home group of some Melbournian friends of mine.
It was great. It is wonderful to be able to meet with God’s people in all sorts of different places.
Jesus truly brings a unity that transcends location.
Don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought
I have worked for the last eleven odd years in the corporate world, the last 5 or so in management roles. After a very stressful year in 2006 my area was restructured and I was moved into a “project role”. Anyone who has been through this type of situation knows that this is the kiss of death, and less than a year after this, it was announced that my role was being made redundant.
Show me the money.
I have been pretty cool with that, though you always have the thinking that says you are being made redundant because you are not good enough.
A passage I have been meditating on in light of this is Romans 12:3 which says:
“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” [ESV].
Now Paul here is talking in the context of the various gifts that are given to God’s people in relation to serving and building up the body of Christ, but I have been relating Paul’s words to my own life in relation to my work.
There were many aspects of being a manager that I loved and was good at. I loved working with people and helping them to succeed. I loved thinking strategically and dreaming up new and better ways of doing things. But honestly I think the pressures involved in being in these types of roles did not sit comfortably with me. I wanted to protect my staff from being overworked, and in doing so sometimes took the workload on myself. Additionally from a relationship perspective, boss-subordinate relationships are always very different from peer to peer ones, and this effected how I related my faith to those I worked with day to day.
Anyway, I was supposed to finish up a couple of weeks ago, but in God’s providence I was afforded the opportunity to stay on for a bit longer to fill a staff gap. The truth is I have really loved being back in this type of role. It uses my skills, it doesn’t have the pressure of the management roles, and I can relate my faith naturally to my colleagues.
So I am trying to apply Romans 12:3 and not think of myself too highly, but to be sober in my judgement. I will be pursuing a staff level role rather than a management role. This will mean dropping salary levels significantly (circa 30%), but we can get by on the money. The upside is that I will not be completely stressed, and I will have more time and energy for things that are of greater importance like Jesus, family and relationships.
Reclaim your life…really?
**Begin Rant**
I inadvertantly switched onto Mix FM this morning while station surfing on my way to work.
What an unfortunate accident that was.
Morning radio is terrible at the best of times, but Mix have decided that Todd McKenny, of Dancing with the Stars fame, would make a good morning slot host.
Anyway, McKenny and co-host Sonia Kruger are discussing motherhood and McKenny asks listeners to call in and tell them when and how they “reclaimed” their life after motherhood.
What???? Huh?
Reclaim…like when you become a mother you suddenly don’t have a real life anymore and you have to some how get back to what you were before in order for it to be life again.
I may be swimming against the tide here, but that is just crap. I felt like ringing up just to let him know what I thought of his question (and him).
I mean what if I wanted to “reclaim” my old life pre-kids? I could take up a few sports with training a couple of nights a week and a game for half of Saturday. I could go out with the boys every Saturday night and come in sometime in the wee hours. I could hang around for Friday drinks with my work mates and get home late. Etc Etc.
But I’m not going to do that.
My life is changed, but it’s still my life to live now.
**End Rant**
Untitled
My Nanna died today.
I am sad about this, but I’m glad I got to sit with her and pray for her a few days ago. I’m just glad God is sovereign and saves who he pleases.
Life is certainly very fragile.
She doesn’t check my blog posts anymore
I’m sure it will never get to this…
(Image h/t Stephen Murray)
Just a mixed bag
This week has been a time of highs and lows.
First the highs…
We started our new small group for the year on Tuesday. This was a real change for us as we had been in a group with many of our closest friends for some years, but since we have changed churches we have a whole bunch of new brothers and sisters to build relationships with.
What’s especially cool (IMHO) is that we have a range of ages and life experiences in the group. I have decided of late that mono-generational community groups are definitely lacking in terms of the ability to provide mentorship and wisdom. So I’m looking forward to what the year brings.
Second high this week was our initial meeting with a well known franchising company. It is our ambition (and hopefully God’s plan) to take on our own franchise business. The meeting went really well and we remain excited about the opportunity.
So to the low…
As I got to work today, my wife called me to let me know she had been pulled over by the Police. Why, I hear you ask? Speeding? Reckless driving? DUI?
Nope…her car’s rego had expired over 6 months ago!!!
Needless to say we were shocked. We hadn’t received any rego papers in the mail at the time, so didn’t even think twice. We were very lucky we hadn’t had an accident of any sort as we would not have been covered. This is God’s mercy for sure.
So anyway, $1000 worth of fines and all sorts of running around and the car is almost legal again.
An Evening with Dream Theater
As a guitar player I already had an appreciation for John Petrucci who was awesome, but I came away with a huge appreciation for Bass player John Myung - his playing was nothing short of phenomenal.
