Railway Tracks

I got an email this morning which was apparently excerpts of an interview with Rick Warren (author of the Purpose Driven Life franchise)

I must be honest - I'm not a big fan of the Purpose Driven Life. I am also a little suspicious of these 'interviews' when their source is not clear. I find they often spring up like urban myths. ‘Rick warren said . . . ‘ becomes a bit like ‘I knew this guy who got maggots growing out of his tongue because he licked an infected envelope . . . ‘

But for what it's worth here is a clip from the clip . . .

Rick on His Wife’s Cancer
“This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.

I add it here because it makes sense to me.

My life is certainly more railway tracks than hills and valleys.

And yours?

Scott

Lost for Words

There are always some parts of the bible that we find tricky.

Perhaps it's because the language is hard, or it's culturally removed, or we just don't want to do what it says.

But how about this scenario.

Imagine you are involved with a church running a ministry for deaf people. Each Sunday morning you sign the service, songs and sermon to those in the congregation who are hearing impaired. It's a great ministry and you have had a great start to the year. Until now.

Because this Sunday you had to sign the bible reading and the sermon - which both revolve around Galatians Ch 5:11-12

11Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

If the beginning of v11 was tricky, the end of v12 is a shocker!

This happened yesterday to my good friend Lisa Harvey, who is doing what I just described, having launched the ministry for the hearing impaired called 'Talking Hands'.

It would be a great work to pray for as the year continues.
I've got some prayer points for Talking Hands available on request.

But apart from that, you gotta love the story :)

Scott

You will get in that car now or so help me . . . .!

Here is a discussion that is doing the rounds in my backyard at the moment.

Should you force your kids to come to church (a.k.a Sunday school / youth group)?

The unsaid that brings you to this question could be something like:
'We don't want to mess our kids up'
We don't want our kids to hate us'
'It's tough because we don't know how to do it'
'We value Christian things and aren't sure how to help our kids to do the same'

I've heard views expressed across the spectrum.

And I have been quite surprised / upset by some of them as well.

For what it's worth - here are some of my thoughts:

Faith and churching should start in the home.
So if you don't go to church or bible study as a parent, your dead in the water.

It would seem odd to me however, if you do read the bible and pray with your kids to then say, 'This is as far as it has to go. Corporate fellowship outside of this family is optional.'
Communicating to your kids that their faith can be a personal and secret thing seems a strange counterpoint to trying to get them to engage with God in the first place (not to mention the messed up theology of church you would be teaching them)

One objection I heard was that faith is a choice of each individual and we can't make demands on someone else's conscience.
But that misses the point doesn't it?

You are not forcing them to become a Christian, but just insisting that they attend church once or twice a week. Big difference. Unless you think that they are one in the same, in which case may I suggest there are bigger issues here than just the question at the top of the page.

It's also worth noting that little kids and early teens do not yet have fully developed cognitive pathways for processing abstract and complex choice scenarios. Which is why as parents we make decisions for them all the time (You will hold my hand as we cross the road / You will brush your teeth / sharing is caring). It is grossly unfair to expect a kid to reason like an adult - to tease out all possible good and bad consequences from this choice and be mature enough to weigh these up. And on this issue the stakes are too high to not intervene.

Perhaps an unspoken anxiety is that I don't want my kids to hate me for making them do something they don't want to.
At which point I would ask you to consider what is your angle when it comes to drugs, sex and rock and roll (actually, when it comes to RnR, I ope you encourage it! But I digress . . . .)

We are willing to have our kids think we are 'old school' for the sake of their safety and well being in restricting them from dangerous substance and dangerous people. How about being willing to cop a bit of flak for getting them to say yes to something which is much more important. (Do you believe that it is more important?)

Hand in hand with this is that you don't want to turn them off Christian things
I get this one - and it is a good concern to have, obviously.

But will the approval of complete non engagement in Christian things be of any real difference at the end of the day from the worse case scenario of making them attend and having them not enjoy it?

And do we believe in the Spirit of God convicting their hearts? And the power of the Spirit working through his word? And the prayers of believing parents? And the commitment, giftedness and prayer of the sunday school teacher / youth leader?

Now sure, there are situational considerations to keep in mind.
'Is their reluctance to go because they are getting bullied?'
'Are they too young to be able to handle to group'
(EG: an infant overstimulated at a noisy sunday school)
But there are solutions to this - perhaps become a sunday school helper yourself to ensure the environment is a good one!

And rather than making this another classic parent kid tug of war - isn't it an opportunity to teach and train?

To insist that you will discharge your parental responsibilities as best you know how, but to also explain (perhaps at a different time) why church is important, especially for believers. Why your happiness is not the most important thing.
Why turning up and putting a bum on a seat to fill a room can be a great encouragement to the kid who feels he is all alone in this 'Christian thing.'

Anyway, enough from me.

That was part post, part vent.

Did I miss anything?
Am I way off base?
Your thoughts?

Scott

How to make the good, great

A new year, a new look.

I'm not a big fan of new years resultions and the like, but I do like fresh starts.
I like new routines and the 'pause' and 'delete' button of life.

So I'll be using both those things to make the next few weeks groudbreaking.

Part of my excitement comes from the fact that I now have a youth minstry team!
Byron and Steph take a bow (photos to come)

They are both gifted, fresh and ready. They are ex GWC students (not expelled, just finished) who are putting the icing on their ministry cakes by spending the first 2 years out of college with me and the gang at St James. They are no strangers to the place, but I think their presence will blow our youth groups wide open. (In the good sense, not the Hiroshima sense).

I am now a 'boss' / overseerer / manager / trainer . . . of sorts.

So here is my question:

Who was the best person you ever worked under / for / with?

What made that experience so totally excellent?
(Or if you have a horror story, how could it have been different?)

Please comment - Byron and steph beg of you :)

Scott

Three Weeks is, like over, man!

We have waited all year for this three week window when Craig would arrive and ignite our holidays. Well, he came, he saw, and contrary to his recent blog post - he conquered.

He now has the 28 hr flight home.

It was very very good for us to have him here - however it also underlines how profoundly sucky it is that we have to plod on through the next 11 months without a face to face. And the house feels quite empty and incomplete. On the upside - we will save on tomato sauce.

But we prayed together last night that the memories will become fuel to drive us forward with great anticipation, not just till Christmas '08 but also to that great feast that will overshadow al of this.

But for me, tomorrow, it's back to work.

Uncle Craig - music teacher (aka School of rock)

Uncle and Jem

Flying high

Up the back as usual

Wow, it's been a longtime between drinks, so to speak.

Truth is I'm more than just a little bit sleepy, and although I do have some things of noe to post, a quick update will have to do for now.

In the last few weeks I have:

• Been sick
  
• Gotten better
  
• Picked up my brother from the airport
  
• Done some gardening with the boy (Ben that is not Craig)
  
• Finished my book on the Age of Empire 1850-1914
  
• Started one of Craig's books - Living with the Underworld by Peter Bolt
  
• Begun an addiction to Heroes with Hayley and Craig
  
• Had a pretty fine Christmas
• Seen Jemma start solids (for more click here)
  
• Enjoyed some classic Bing Crosby Christmas music
  
• Been for dinner at the beach - sunset style.
  

Come to think of it, holidays have been not too bad so far . . . more to come.

Scott

Ben with Hannah on Chistmas Day

The Fam on Christmas morning (Uncle Craig the photographer)

Uncle Craig and Bubble Boy

Confessions

Can anyone help me?

I am a bad Australain.

I have no clue about what the heck is happening in regards to the politcal landscape of my country. (or maybe that means I am a good Australian - not sure)

I know we have a new PM - and intentd to do what I can to get to know him as soon as I can - ie google him.

I'm not sure why he won, if he is any different to the old PM and what all the fuss is about.

Can someone help me, or show me where I can go to get some help?

Scott

Sunset last night at the Tubman place

Catch Up

We just had a few days off last week to catch our breath before the end of year run. We got way to Betty's Bay and a top little (big) holiday house. Some of the moments you'll see below.

In other news . . .

This morning after we all got up Ben went on stealth mode - I didn't hear him for quite a few minutes - which often spells trouble. I found him in the bathroom with my razor in hand having proudly started to shave like daddy . . . and with blood oozing out of the cut on his chin. Nothing too serious but he very quickly discovered that 'Daddy, its SORE!'

Hell yes my boy.

What's it all about

Book club

Tonight is the first meeting of 11 guys for a book club

But I know what you are thinking. Me too.

'Book club' sounds so girly, right?
So I emailed the lads and suggest we think of a better name.
Here are some of the suggestions

(The premise of the group is to meet once a month to pick up a new book, talk, and drink beer.)


Beer and Books

Lads, Liquor and Literature

Dead Prophets Soceity

Puff, buff and poetry (this gentlemen suggested we add cigars to the mix. I'm not sure about the 'buff' part though?)

And then came along Carl.
Carl had the following suggestion which put a whole lot more grunt into the 'book club' label.
See below.


The first rule of book club is that you don't talk about book club.

And if it's your first night . . . you HAVE to read.

Scott

Having a baby can be kind of expensive. There are lots of bills and your medical aid never covers it all. So we also applied for 'gap cover' which, as the name implies covers the shortfall from your medical aid.

Well, we got some good news the other day.

Not only did Gap help us to break even, but they paid us out even more than that. It's kind of a long story, but at the end of the day we actually MADE money out of having Jemma!

I know back in Australia the government pays you to have kids, but here in SA that is like trying to describe snow to an Egyptian. So we were pretty stoked that Jemma starting pulling her weight in the family by simply being born.

Thanks Jem

Scott

All things

This weekend I'm taking a camp where we will be looking at the book of Titus in the New Testament. Had a read of it this morning to get myself ready. Here are somme things I discovered, which I hadn't cottoned onto before . . .(I'm a slow learner)

"To the pure, all thing are pure, but to those who are corruped and don't beleive, nothing is pure." Titus Ch :15

Paul is comparing those who hold firmly to the gospel message and those who talk religion, but are in reality far far from God.

Things to note

1. It is a very in your face way to talk about those who aren't Christians yet. Do you think it's fair?

2. I used to assume that when it said, 'to the pure all things are pure' that if you were a Christian, then everything was always gong well for you - you never made a mistake. But that's not true is it?

This morning I realised that if you have been made pure by the forgivenss offered by Jesus then all things will fall under that. There is no more sacred / secular divide - everything must be made to come into line with the forgiven life.

So for the beleiver he/she will insist on being pure with
* facebook
* how they drive
* who they talk to and and how they do it, before during and after church
* what they spend their money on

You get the idea.

Got me thinking, do I treat all things as part of my new life of purity in Christ?

Hmmmmmmmmm.

Scott

An almost B'day post

It's my birthday today.

Yes, thank you.

And I've got in mind a special birthday post, but for now, some pics from this morning with my little Jemma girl.

Unless you are a casual surfer who happened by this blog, (if that is you, welcome!) you will no doubt know that I am a youth minister. And before I was doing this as a vocation, I was doing it anyway. That means that I have sat through, spoken at, and lead over a decade worth of weekly youth group meetings.

This Sunday just past, however, was something special.

Senior Youth really moved me quite deeply.

I'm not 100% sure why, but here are some possible reasons.

1. We have a band made up of 90% youth group members and they ae dedicated, full of passion and growing in musical skill and Christian maturity. It's beautiful to see.

2. It struck me almost from the beginning that our times together on Sunday are profoundly Christian. In a meaningful real way, not a dorky forced and painful kinda way. (This is not a surprise mind you - it's what we work for each week but it's great when you see it so powerfully)

3. Kid's were praying. We are blessed to expect that almost every week, but I am hearing prayers that really make sense.

4. I was worried for one of our kids who was going through a bit of a tough time. I was wondering (as I sat there in the meeting) if we were doing enough to help her. Then 2 min. later she prays, 'God, thanks for our leaders who run the small groups. This whole fellowship vibe thing really works.' Enough said.

5. It was a heck of a lot of fun. We laughed a lot.

6. My leaders are really starting to nail it. They think it through and hit the bulls eye more times than not.

7. Catherine (another leader) gave the talk this past week and it was really good. I have yet to tell her that it helped me personally but I will tell her.

These may be some of the reasons, but it seems more than that. I guess you had to be there. But it is true that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. I'm guessing the other factor that I haven't accouted for is God working in our hearts by His Spirit, and I am eternally grateful for that.

Scott

Why Being a Librarian is a Radical Choice

Here is a little something I stumbled across this morning - worth a read . . .



It is from an article called: Why being a Librarian is a readical Choice



"Sharing is under siege.

It is the sworn enemy of the global market – which is why so much of international trade law is designed to criminalize sharing.

Forget Napster, and the crackdowns on pirated CDs and software.

In Cochabamba Bolivia, the uprising against Bechtel was sparked by the fact that under the contract, it became illegal to collect rainwater, since the company had bought all water rights.

In India, farmers are sued by Monsanto for engaging in the age old practice of saving their seeds and sharing them with their neighbours – they are supposed to buy them anew each year from Monsanto.

This is the essence of free trade: making sure that absolutely nothing – whether books or water or ideas – is offered for free.

The role of international trade law must be understood not only as taking down “barriers to trade” – as it claims – but as a legal process that systematically puts up new barriers — around knowledge, technology and the commons itself, through fiercely protective patent and trademark law.

There is absolutely nothing free about it.

Most of you probably didn’t think that helping people to share books was subversive when you decided to become librarians.

And it shouldn’t be: sharing, giving, saving and reusing are the most human of impulses and we are at our best and most human when we act on them. The desire to share, as you know, is immense.

Yet the fact is that you have chosen a profession that has become radical. "

How does this intersect with the Christian life?

Are we 'radicals sharers?'

Scott


PS: check out the article here

I've opened pandora's box.

On Facebook I discovered the group, 'Barker College Class of 1993'. Which is when I did year 12. (Or matriculated for my SA readers). There were 50 people from my year already in the group. I became number 51.

But scrolling through the faces and names I started to get all conflicted.

Some I didn't remember at all.

Some I remember fondly, a few of whom I am still in touch with. It has also helped me to re connect with others long forgotten which has been tops.

But there were a 3rd group of faces, those whom while at school I never spoke to and (or is it 'because'?) they never spoke to me. I never clicked with them then , and I am wondering if I should click on them now.

I hate phoneys. So I don't want to pretend that we are interested in each other now when we never where at school - and lets be honest, not much has changed since then.

But then I start thinking, was the problem with me? If I could be back in 1993 with the eyes I have now, would I still see them in the same light? Would I realise that it was just as much me as it was them and in the foolishness of youth I missed some good people?

Or where my inital impressions the right ones and it's best to let sleeping dogs lie?

And if you are reading this and are one of those 50 facebook contacts from the class of '93, what do you think of all this?

Little help?

Scott

I'm in

When I got to work today, I checked my mail.

This was how one of them began . . .


"All our wives meet once a month to share books, conversation, tea and biscuits.

I suggest that we, the husbands, meet once a month to share books, conversation, beer and chips."

How good is that! I beleive this is what they mean when they talk about a 'no brainer'?!

Scott

Don't mess with us

I actually really like South Africa. I do.

I like my house, my job and there are heaps of cool places to hang out (whether you're looking for funky, arty, rural, metro, beachy, or township).

But statistics tell us that this is one of the most violent places on earth. Which kind of sucks.

Hence the new addition to the Tubman house - now referred to as the Tubman fortress. Not exactly my security measure of choice, but when your boss is paying, you should be thankful, right?

But have you ever felt safe and scared at the same time?

Scott

In the beginning . . .was confusion

We are spending some time in Genesis with Junior and Senior Youth at the moment and I'm always looking for chances to sharpen my spontaneous answering skills. One question that gets chucked round a bit is, 'Is Genesis real? Like, I mean, should we read it literally or is it just figuraive - like poetry or something?'

So, as a test run, here is a shot at an answer

Please feel free to help me by leaving a comment? Ta

Scott.

Should we read Genesis as literal or just poetic? (And what difference does it make?)

The bible has different types of literature spread throughout its 66 books. Some read like history, others like letters. There are also some poems, songs and biographies. What makes Genesis a little tricky is that it combines some of these different styles in the one book. For instance the first 11 chapters seem to be written in a slightly different style than chapters 12-50 (which we would probably refer to as history). So yes, Genesis is poetic and it is literal and other parts of it are probably a bit of a mix!

But here’s the thing: just because something is described poetically doesn’t mean that it is not true. So it’s important to remember that we can’t just ‘explain away’ the bits of Genesis we find a hard to swallow by saying, ‘Oh, they are just the poetic bits’ as if by saying this we mean that this part of the story never really happened. If I told you that ‘I love Hayley (my wife) so much that my heart feels like it will burst’, it doesn’t mean I have coronary problems, it’s simply a way to try and describe something that is hard to grasp unless you are in my shoes. Since Genesis records events like the creation of the universe, how the first humans stabbed God in the back and how God still provides for those people under His judgment, is it any surprise that the author dips into poetry, symbolism and epic story telling from time to time?

The trick is not to get so caught up in the style of the story that you miss the point. A classic example is in Gen Ch 1 when we are told God created the world in seven days. Were they seven ‘literally’ days or is it just symbolically referring to seven ‘periods of time’? The bottom line is who cares, right? The point is that God is powerfully in control so that all He has to do is speak a word and things appear from nothing. He made people on day six as the highlight of His creation and on day seven He brought everything to rest as the goal of creation. Can you see how whether the days are literally or figurative doesn’t really matter in the end – at least it certainly doesn’t change the point of the story.