Just one more!

One person is normal and acceptable, two people if you are willing to help someone out but beyond that seems over the top!  

 I am currently in the Philippines on a missions trip and yesterday I was taken for a ride on the local transport.  There were 5 of us on a small motorcycle with a large sidecar attached.

A Yamaha 125 was never designed to cope with that sort of abuse!   

It was amazing to listen to the straining of the motor as this bike worked well beyond its capacity to struggle up the rocky paths and then fly down the other side at amazing speeds of up to 40km/hr!  

The thought crossed my mind of all the work opportunities we could create if we abandoned our penchant for safety standards – imagine the growth industries of paramedics, health insurance clerks and funeral directors! 

As we drove along the road I was amazed that we actually stopped to pick up more passengers!  It seemed that there was always room for one more.  The reality was that at some point this poor little motorcycle was not going to be able to go on but you had to admire the faith of the driver! 

This little experience made me think about the power of the Gospel – the good news message of Jesus Christ. 

Literally millions of people have taken up the offer to be transported by its power and purpose, to be delivered to a better destination.   

The powerful truth is there is yet room for one more! 

The Gospel has not yet even approached its ‘maximum capacity’ so there is definitely room for you.   

So – jump aboard! 

Passport Photo

“Stand up straight, take off your hat and your glasses, step a little closer and please do not smile.” 

All hope of ever getting a decent looking passport photo has gone! 

It used to be that you would try really hard to look OK because you were ‘stuck’ with your photo for ten years but now you have no choice…you have to follow the rules as laid down.   

The department of Immigration has adopted a ‘face detection’ system.  This enables officers to instantly search through hundreds of thousands of individual photos to check your particular facial features against those on record.

To achieve this, each photo has to follow the same parameters; the size from the top of the head to the chin must be between 32-36mm; you have to have a ‘neutral’ expression (no smiling); no head coverings or glasses and; it must be printed on low gloss paper.   

It is comforting to know that security measures such as these are in place but it is a little bit disconcerting to just be one photo in the midst of such a huge crowd!  But if you had to find a face…this is the system to do it! 

There are many faces you desire to recognise and remember, even after many years you can see someone you used to know and it all comes flooding back.

But I want to remind you of the one face you must never forget, one face you should never stop searching for!  

“You said, “Seek My face” and My heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.” Psalms 27:8-9 

All hail the foot woose!

It was the first really hot day of the summer and I thought that I would be fine but the fact is…I am a ‘foot woose’!

You see, I don’t walk anywhere in bare feet and most of the time I am wearing shoes, so trying to walk across the road to Bondi Beach in the middle of the hottest day proved not only to be a challenge which gave me a ‘silly walk’ but it also left a lasting impression. 
I tried to tuff it out and pretend that nothing had happened but the two large blisters on the balls of my feet kept telling me otherwise! 

Blisters are a lasting reminder; every step you take reinforces the fact that something is wrong. Treating a blister takes time and you need to stop the cause and give your feet an opportunity to heal – if not, the problem will get worse and can even escalate into a major issue.  

My blisters will get better pretty quickly and I will be even more likely to avoid any ‘manly’ attempts to show off my ‘foot capacity’ – no one will ever know – except that I have told you!  But for the next couple of days I will remember, with every step, the fact that where I have walked has left a scar. 

Sometimes the places we have gone and the way we walked through them have left lasting impacts. 

Some of these heal pretty quickly but others last for a long time, if not for our whole lives.  

Hopefully you have met and are close to The One who knows the very hairs on your head and cares for every single step your feet will take.

Stiff Neck!

Usually I have no problems at all, if anything I find it easy, but today it was difficult and there was nothing I could do about it.  

You see, I live on a ‘battleaxe’ block at the end of a very long driveway (about 60m).   This driveway is narrow and has fences and plants all the way along and so you have to be careful when you are reversing. 

As I said, this is usually fine but this morning was different because I had pulled a muscle in my neck.  It wasn’t a huge deal but it meant that I couldn’t turn my head fully and so I began to both ‘zig’ and ‘zag’ my way up the drive. 

 I am really glad that I didn’t have to drive very far with my stiff neck because I would have been hopeless and I would definitely have caused major problems.  

 This made me think about how small things, like a pulled muscle, can make a huge difference to the direction you are travelling in. 

If your heart is open to the Lord then you will be Ok but if not…then you’re headed for trouble.   

The Lord calls out to you today and asks you to “cut away the calluses from your heart and stop being stiff-necked”. (Deuteronomy 10:16)

Have a look behind you and check whether there are squashed plants or other indications that you are moving off the right path. 

If so I have found someone who is great at fixing spiritual stiff-necks, all you have to do is ask!

A sandwich of appreciation!

I am not sure whether she meant to do it or not…

It was half way through the day, I was at university, sitting with my friends and we were just at that moment when you pull out your lunch to compare menus.  One of my friends proudly presented their salad roll that they had made that morning and I, even more proudly, produced the cheese and vegemite sandwich that was in my lunch box.  The reason for my pride was not in the contents of the sandwich but in the fact that my mother was still making them for me in my third year of uni!

So we started our lunch and I took my first bite only to find that my mother had neglected to unwrap the cheese slice from its individual plastic wrap! 

I was left with a mouthful of plastic; this caught me completely by surprise and became a huge joke to everyone who was watching on.

As coups go, it was not a huge one but my mother was making a statement that I needed to hear.  It was time for me to step up and stop taking her for granted. From then on I had a greater level of appreciation for all the little things she did for me.

 Appreciation is important, without it relationships can sour and become difficult. It is every hard to work with or live with someone who is not appreciative of all that you do.

I am not advocating that you plan revenge with the ‘patented’ cheese slice move but I do challenge you to appreciate all that your family, friends, colleagues and the Lord does for you. 

Why don’t you show it today?

Peanut butter and….???

For many years it was peanut butter on Monday, peanut butter on Tuesday, and peanut butter on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

I was happy, I was content and I didn’t even know that I was in a rut. Almost every day of my primary school years I had a staple diet of peanut butter sandwiches waiting for me in my lunch box which I happily devoured.

 Long after primary school I was still eating peanut butter sandwiches but something profound happened.  I found that you could add other ingredients to add variety and, in fact, totally transform what can be a very boring existence.   In my quest for the ultimate sandwich I started with the American ‘peanut butter and jelly (jam)…unsatisfactory.  I then experimented: peanut butter and tomato;  peanut butter and sultanas; peanut butter and cheese; and peanut butter and apple… all adding little twists but none really requiring a second helping! 

But it was not until I stumbled upon ‘peanut butter and banana’ that I realised what I had been missing all my life!

 In many ways it is the ‘perfect sandwich’, offering 4 out of the 5 food groups with ingredients which synergise perfectly, totally revolutionising the choices at lunchtime.  I don’t recommend that you deep fry them (like Elvis did) but I do recommend that you try it.  It is often the case, you need someone to point out the benefits of something before you realise that you need it – That is how I see my major purpose in life – to point out that a life with Jesus is so much better than one without.  

Don’t remain in the peanut butter rut, give Jesus a go – He tastes great!

OPEC – You have an invitation as well!

21 nations spanning four continents, representing the most economically dynamic and diverse regions of the world, accounting for approximately 40 per cent of the world’s population, 56 per cent of world ‘Gross Domestic Product’ and 48 per cent of world trade. It is known as ‘Asia Pacific Economic Co-Operation’ (APEC) and it is meeting in Sydney this weekend.  I heard someone describe this event as “all the inconvenience of the Olympics with none of the fun!” I also heard of hundreds of demonstrations being planned to coincide with the conference, member delegations requesting permission to carry guns and an unhealthy level of excitement being generated regarding the shirt that all the world leaders will be given to commemorate the summit!   

Hosting this event is quite a big deal: it draws attention to the fact that Australia is part of a larger world; that we have the right to host the most influential and powerful leaders; and it enables us to set much of the agenda of what will be discussed.  But to many people, this is just an opportunity for a bonus long weekend and they will give no more thought to it than that.  But that doesn’t change its importance.  

The Lord has called a summit of His own.  All nations, tribes and people are invited.  Many fail to respond but that doesn’t change the importance or significance of the opportunity.

 “All nations whom You have made Shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And shall glorify Your name.” Psalms 86:9   You have your invitation…you have the weekend off…what are you waiting for?

Everest at a bargain price!

Have you got all your holidays planned for next year?  I found a great deal that you might be interested in.  

Authorities in Nepal are planning to slash the permit price for climbing Mount Everest by up to 75 per cent!

Normally it costs $87,600 for a permit for 10 people, but soon it could be as low as just $21,900. 

The only catch is that you have to climb in winter to get the discount!  

Sir Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to reach the summit of Everest on 29 May 1953. 

Last year saw over 500 people make the climb, bringing the total to 3017 individuals who have made it to the top of the 8,848 metre peak. 

The interesting thing is that 13 people died prior to the mountain being conquered and 241 have died since.  You have about a 1 in 10 chance of not making it down alive!   A blind man has climbed Everest; a double amputee has climbed Everest; a 70 year old has climbed Everest!  Why?  Because it is there, because it is difficult, because it takes them to the edge – a dangerous place to live! Your interests might not lead you to strap on crampons and grab an ice-axe but everything in life has an element of risk attached.  If we live our lives trying to avoid all risk, we will be compressed and limited in all that we do.  

I am attempting a great ascent – to live my life according to Christ’s example – the risks?  Criticism, ridicule and misunderstanding… but what a view!   

What are you climbing towards?

Things I hate!

There are not many things that I can say that I really hate but I know that I am going to have a challenging day when both of them happen before 6.00am!   

The first is waking up late and I am sure that every one of us has done this from time to time. 

That sinking feeling you get when you realise that the alarm has gone off but the only response you have offered is to lean over, turn it off and drift back to sleep. 

There is nothing like the overwhelming shock when you finally wake up 15, 30 or 60 minutes later!  

My second pet hate is when there is only enough deodorant left to spray under one arm! 

This might not bother you but it leaves me feeling lopsided all day.  I feel like my right side is a welcome friend and my left side is a slightly unkempt relative that I don’t really want to hug!  When one of these happens I can cope but on the rare occasion that they coincide I know that the day is going to be a challenge for me and anyone standing to my left! 

I don’t know how your day started today but I wanted to give you some encouragement that it can finish well! 

The Lord is with you even on the bad days and if you need someone to walk through whatever you are facing He is there.  He doesn’t mind how late you are or how much deodorant you happen to wear!

The first step is a doozy!

On the way up things were fine but the trip down was a whole lot quicker!  

My excuse (and I am sticking to it!) is that I usually work on a two sided ladder and I had borrowed one with rungs on one side and nothing on the other.  This was fine whilst I was on the way up but when I stepped over the ladder and started my journey down there was nothing left to do but head towards the floor quicker than I had planned! 

 Don’t worry, the ground broke my fall! 

It is amazing the things that rush through your head in a moment like that…first you think ‘Why am I falling?’ then… ‘This will probably hurt!’ finally… ‘I hope no-one is watching!’ 

The problem with a ladder is of course that if you miss one rung you are probably going to miss them all.  One stumble is enough to cause you a huge problem.   

The Bible says that the same is true when it comes to God’s Laws, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”   James 2:10   

If we have broken even one of God’s laws, even in the smallest way then it is like we are trying to climb down the wrong side of a ladder… but the good news is that hitting the floor is not the only option!   The Lord Jesus offers forgiveness and help when we find ourselves on the floor. 

All you have to do is allow Him to help you up!