Four myths about extroverts.

Introverts often feel misunderstood. Every few weeks there's a new blog post or something up explaining introversion both to introverts who struggle to understand themselves, and to the extroverted world which seems to sits in judgement of them.

But I think there's at least as much misunderstanding of extroversion as introversion out there. I'm a thorough extrovert (according to the Myers Briggs tests) so people expect me to love small talk, think shallow thoughts (if any thoughts at all!), be the life of the party and in constant need of company.

Myths, baby. All of 'em. (Almost)

There's as much variance within extroversion as between an extrovert and an introvert.



Myth #1 - Extroverts like small talk.

The truth - Some do, some don't. Of the 8 Myers Briggs extrovert types, only 4 are into small talk. I have a friend who is a master of social chit chat. He delights in it. He can engage any random in a sparkling stream of nothing until, well, it's time to do something else! Good for him! Personally, I hate small talk. It's boring and we all know that there's nothing worse than being bored. I'd prefer to fast forward through the pleasantries and have a real discussion. Tell me what books you've been reading. Tell me what you've been thinking about!

Myth #2 - Extroverts don't think 'deep' thoughts.

The truth - Some do, some don't. Probably in much the same proportions as introverts. (Don't think an introvert is thinking deep just because he is quiet. His mind might be completely blank!) The difference is that extroverts will want to tell you about their 'deep' thoughts. And nothing makes deep thoughts seem not-so-deep, as saying them out loud. Try it! When you think you are thinking something 'deep', verbalise it. Record it on your phone and play it back to yourself the next day.

Myth #3 - Extroverts are the life of the party.

The truth - They can be. Not all will want to be. Some will try to be the life of the party and be the death of it instead. But without extroverts, there's probably not much of a party to start with so this myth is probably more than a myth.

Myth #4 - Extroverts aren't interested in time by themselves.

The truth - Some are, some aren't! Me, I need it and love it more than my introverted husband - but I take my cave time in places where I can see others (but they need to be strangers who won't talk to me!) and where there is a bit of noise and motion.

Okay misunderstood extroverts. What other myths can we bust?

kids talks on love

I'm helping out with kids talks in church this term.

The grown ups are looking at 1 Corinthians (up to the 2nd half) so we thought the kids could learn about love, which will kind of work in pretty well. We'll get up to the love is patient, love is kind bit around the same time they hit chapter 13.

But the framework we're taking isn't based around 1 Cor 13. It's based around 1 John 3:16. This is how we know what love is - Jesus Christ lay down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another.

For the first few weeks we're looking at God's love for us. After that, how we lay down our lives for one another. In the second bit we'll get to 1 Cor 13:4 etc. We lay down our lives by being patient, kind, not self seeking etc.

For the first 4 weeks our stories will be told using our puppet Lenny Cool.

Week 1 - Introduction. Jesus loves us. [Song - Jesus Loves Me This I Know]

Week 2 - Jesus doesn't love me because I'm good. [Song - He Overflows With Love.]

Week 3 - Jesus shows what love is by laying down his life for me. [Song - So Great Is Jesus' Love]

Week 4 - We copy Jesus and lay down our lives for one another. [Song - So Great Is Jesus' Love]

We've got heaps of ESL kids and so are trying to keep the talks really simple. Our kids feel like it's preschool stuff compared to what they've had before, but that's okay, it's not about them.

I thought I'd post up the talks in case anyone's interested. I know what it's like on a Saturday night to be cruising around the internet looking for inspiration... [Click here for talks 1 and 2. I've not written 3 and 4 yet!]

thoughts on organising your work?

Here.

Praying doubt

I spent a couple of hours today thinking about the issue of gay marriage and how we should pray about it. >95% of the time I'm absolutely convinced that God is against homosexuality. It's not what he intended for humanity and promoting it as a good option will be really bad for society. But there are other times when I doubt. Maybe homosexuality isn't that big a deal. Is the bible really that against it? It's hardly a major theme...

So today I wrote two prayers (posted below). I wrote the second one first (the one for me 95% of the time!) but as I was writing it a nagging voice in my head kept asking me what I should pray when I'm doubting. So I wrote another prayer for me on my doubting days.

A couple of people have commented on it - expressing some unease. I used corporate language (us, we etc). Was this prayer intended for church use? (Not particularly - I just used that form to make it match the other one.) The prayer doesn't seem to say one way or another if gay marriage is right. If it is for corporate use, shouldn't we be more definite about what the bible does say?

These prayers are for myself, but I'm interested in working up a prayer that could be used in church. I'd like to include something in it for the doubters. Any ideas?

Two prayers about gay marriage

Dear Father

Many of us are troubled by the so called ‘marriage equality’ debate. We're confused about what we should think. It seems right that people should be able to marry whoever they like. Do you really forbid it? Father please help us to look carefully at your word. Give us the honesty to read what it actually says and the courage to obey it - whatever it might say. Please make us people who desire you ahead of all other things. Please help us to live for you so that Jesus may be honoured in all the world.

Amen

Father,

Many of us are troubled by the so called ‘marriage equality’ debate. We’re convinced that homosexual marriage isn’t your will and we can only imagine bad consequences for our society if it's allowed. As we see our world march further away from you, some of us feel threatened, some are frightened, and some are confused. Please help us not to be anxious. Let us be confident that Jesus is king and know that you are in control of all things.

Please guide us as we participate in the debate. Give us courage to speak when when we ought to speak and wisdom to know when we should stay quiet. Give us a good understanding of the issues and let us speak with compassion and graciousness, clarity and winsomeness. Father, it’s in our nature to be proud and self-righteous. Please dig this out of us. Make us always remember our own sin and be eager to speak about Jesus and the forgiveness he offers us.

Father, please be merciful to our world. Spare us from the worst consequences of our disobedience. Please provide stable, loving homes where children can grow up happy and secure. Please help men and women in the next generations to avoid actions that will cause them long term harm. Give us, your people, hearts that want to obey you and the self control we need to follow through on our convictions. We ask that in whatever the future holds, we will continue to preach your gospel with power and conviction so that Jesus’ name is honoured in all the world.

Amen

sign #13 that you might be a narcissistic pastor

13. You brag about your smokin' hot wife.

You do this to:
a.) show other men that you are better than them because you scored a more attractive woman.
b.) indicate to other men that you are having more/better/kinkier sex than they are (even if they don't find your wife all that hot) so they should respect and envy you.
c.) remind your wife what she owes you. She exists for you. She better deliver.
d.) make every other woman in the room wonder (even for a moment) if greater sexual fulfilment could  be found in your arms...

Signs 1-12 here.

rock choir

I've got the go ahead to run a boys rock choir for year 7s. I talked it up at school yesterday and have heaps of boys keen. Now I just have to make it work... I want to start with an achievable song that's charted well (probably top 10) in the last two years. It needs to have a melody, uncrass lyrics and work with an unplugged sound.

I had thought of this, but would need a girl.




Ideas?

my shoulders hurt

Andrew and I did swimming squad training this morning. 1.5 hours. 3km. I want to play piano, but holding my arms up is awfully hard...

Saving Eutychus - Review

I’ve just finished reading Phil Campbell and Gary Millar’s book Saving Eutychus. It’s an excellent book. Easy to read, engaging, and more useful than any book on preaching I’ve encountered before. I think it should be compulsory reading for, well, everyone.

The great strength of this book is that it’s realistic about the fact that most preachers aren’t naturally all that great. The default is to be boring. It’s hard to find the big idea of a passage. Then it’s hard to craft a sermon around that big idea. It’s hard to maintain a clear chain of logic. It’s hard to script your talk so that it sounds like normal spoken language rather than an essay. It’s hard to deliver a talk in an energetic and engaging way. And it’s hard to move people’s hearts. Gary and Phil admit that for them, preaching well is an ongoing struggle. They give other preachers permission to admit that their own current efforts might not be all that successful. And they show them how to improve.

Here are 5 thoughts I’ve had after finishing this book.

1. The preaching skills taught in Saving Eutychus are equally applicable to giving good kids talk. A strong big idea that captures what the passage is saying. Logical progression. Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Stories told in present tense. Varying pitch, pacing and volume to give ‘zing’ to the delivery... I’ll certainly be passing this book around to those involved in kids ministry.  Similarly to youth leaders and bible study group leaders and ...
2. I think women should be reading this book. Even if you only preach once a year, show kindness to your audiences and read this book.  A lot of us have trouble assessing our own scripts. Saving Eutychus gives a really useful talk analysis sheet. We should use it ourselves and then get friends to use it on our talks before we inflict them on crowds.
3. As a regular online sermon listener, I appreciated the warnings about being self indulgent and preaching your own ideas rather than what the passage is actually saying.
4. I like Phil and Gary’s line that if your congregation isn’t with you when you preach (because they are sleeping or counting the bricks) then it’s your preaching that’s at fault. No point blaming the congregation. It is hard to listen to boring stuff. Being a woman I usually give talks at craft evenings or events when the preaching isn’t the draw. It’s no use for me to feel cross if the women are more interested in their gingerbread house than the bible. My talk needs to distract them from their gingerbread house!
5. The magic of this book is that Phil and Gary manage to confront the preacher with his/her preaching inadequacies in a way that isn’t disabling. The reader isn’t confronted by a Big Preacher Man With His Stuff Together telling everyone else how to be as grand as him. It’s not like that.    Phil and Gary give practical tools that will make anyone a better preacher. The skills in this book will take many ministers from ‘not good enough’ to ‘good enough’, and many more from ‘good enough’ to ‘good’.

This book will be released in Australia really soon. We'll be buying 10 copies and giving them to everyone we know.

I'm writing a talk - help?

Talks to women need to conclude with a touching story about someone who has lived out the application point. Don't ask me why. It's just the genre.

I'm writing a talk about Mary and Martha (Luke 10) for a women's craft day next weekend. I've basically finished it but I'm all out of touching stories. I got nothing. The cupboards are bare.

Maybe you have one to spare?

Here's what I'm after: a story about a woman who is a modern day Mary - someone who puts listening to Jesus as her number one priority. Even better if she has to defy social norms to do it.

Ideas?

Do people listen to online sermons because their pastor's preaching sucks?

Stuart thinks so (see comment on Al's blog)

So I think it's right to make the effort each week to listen humbly (and to yearn/pray/work for a day when it's not such an effort) [to their pastor's preaching]. But I'm not convinced that all the blame lies with the listeners rather than the speakers (pace Christopher Ash) [for listening to big guys online].

So I hope that at some stage we can also have honest discussions about the quality of preaching in Australian evangelicalism — not just about our intention or our trying hard to deliver good sermons, but whether we actually achieve it. Sure, preaching elsewhere in the world has its problems (e.g. some preaching I've heard outside Australia has made only passing reference to the Bible). These are serious problems. But we're not responsible for those. I'd love for us to admit that we've got our own serious problems that we are responsible for. (That is, if my assessment's right. I'd be delighted to be shown that it's not!)

I'm not sure I agree. A few points.

1. Yes. Many sermons suck. Many preachers habitually write and deliver very poor sermons. The exegesis is not insightful or even thorough. The writing is illogical and wandery. The language is dull dull dull. The application is predictable and the overall effect is sleep inducing. 

2. Most pastors don't naturally have the personality to hold a congregation's attention for any length of time. With careful training, experience and continued hard hard hard work, many can learn to do it anyway. (I'm currently reading this book which I think should be required reading for everyone who ever stands up in a pulpit.) Some will always struggle.

3. Most of the big guy online preachers that the masses are drawn to are just natural communicators and inspirers. They could have been stand up comics or company directors or cult leaders or military dictators. They love the limelight. The come alive on stage. Some of them teach the bible as well. Bully for them, but don't imagine that is normal in any way.

4. I suspect a lot of people listen to online sermons for a buzz. You want something to shake you out of your mid-life christian stupor. You want to recreate some definitive christian experience from your past - maybe a uni camp or something. There's nothing wrong with this, but the harder gig is obedience when there's no buzz.

5. I suspect a lot of people just listen to sermons because they like noise. It's not about any inadequacy in church preaching, it's just the christian equivalent to listening to the radio. I'm an extravert. I like to hear voices around me and hearing John Piper is more edifying than SeaFM. 

Profile of a narcissistic Christian leader

Thoughts on this?

"A narcissistic leader is a leader that perceive him or herself as central to a group or organization and directs or shapes the organization, often unconsciously, using its people and functions to meet personal ego/life/identity needs.  A narcissistic Christian leader (NCL) uses people and organizations in the same way– to fulfill their own emotional, relational, significance, and status needs– all wrapped up in the supreme purposes of God or under banners of Christian ministry or service to others.

It may look like what I do is for the greater good and I may even give God the glory, but at the end of the day, it’s all about me, my ministry, my good intentions, my legacy, my sphere of influence, my work for the kingdom, my life before God, and more often than not, my career." [worth reading the whole thing]

It is so hard not to be like that! 

Flying home this afternoon.

We've had an excellent 12 days back in the South East Corner. We've spent most of our time at my parents house, which I  find lovely and relaxing. We've seen old friends. The kids have had sleep overs. I've slept in the day time... It was probably too soon to be gone for this long. Cairns seems like a dream.

But now it's time to go home. There's work to be done. Heaps and heaps of it.

*Sigh*

But it will be nice to see Andrew again. And the dog.

12 signs that you might be a narcissistic pastor

1. You name drop. A lot. Everyone knows that your real friends are other celebrities. And maybe you have the president or mayor on speed dial too.

2. You know you are more important than other pastors. You read church history and think you are up there with Luther, Whitfield and Wesley. You read the bible and think you are like an apostle. If only everyone else would realise it!

3. You think you don't need the same training as everyone else. Heck! You should be teaching college courses, not sitting in them!

4. You think your church by-laws should be re-written so that you can do whatever you want to do.

5. You know that the only reason why your church is successful is because you are in charge. 

6. You don't do menial tasks. Ever. (Unless you are about to preach a sermon on humility and want to use your own humility as an example.)

7. You get (rightly!) angry when other people disagree with you.

8. You pay close attention to your appearance.

9. You talk (brag) quite a lot about the growth of your church.

10. You know that you could do everything your congregation members / staff do as well, if not better than them.

11. Your extensive reading has made you knowledgable in most areas. You understand a lot about a lot of things.

12. You get carried around and applauded in church on a Sunday morning.

The problem with celebrity preachers....

... is that they are prone to the same problems as any other celebrities:

1. Grandiosity of imagining that they are experts in things way outside their fields. Watch this clip of Tom Cruise speaking about how he understands the history of psychiatry. He's making huge claims about his knowledge. Celebrity preachers can do the same (though, thankfully, not to this extent!) MD, for example, is an expert in household management, children's nutrition, natural heath stuff, raising children, sex, personal finance and wealth creation, leadership,  Australian culture, Sydney anglicanism, the UK church scene, UK culture, theological education...

2. Thinking that they are truly exceptional and so believing they are entitled to special treatment from others - no criticism etc. This can make them awful to work with.

3. Obsession with with self - notice how much a celebrity/celebrity preacher talks about themselves. In anyone else we would think it obscene.

Humility is hard for us all. For the celebrity it's 100x harder.

shopkeeping vs shepherding

Anyone got any thoughts on this? From here.

 
“American pastors are abandoning their posts, left and right, and at an alarming rate. They are not leaving their churches and getting other jobs. Congregations still pay their salaries. Their names remain on the church stationary and they continue to appear in pulpits on Sundays. But they are abandoning their posts, their calling. They have gone whoring after other gods. What they do with their time under the guise of pastoral ministry hasn’t the remotest connection with what the church’s pastors have done for most of twenty centuries.

A few of us are angry about it. We are angry because we have been deserted…. It is bitterly disappointing to enter a room full of people whom you have every reason to expect share the quest and commitments of pastoral work and find within ten minutes that they most definitely do not. They talk of images and statistics. They drop names. They discuss influence and status. Matters of God and the soul and Scripture are not grist for their mills.

The pastors of America have metamorphosed into a company of shopkeepers, and the shops they keep are churches. They are preoccupied with shopkeeper’s concerns–how to keep the customers happy, how to lure customers away from competitors down the street, how to package the goods so that the customers will lay out more money.

Some of them are very good shopkeepers. They attract a lot of customers, pull in great sums of money, develop splendid reputations. Yet it is still shopkeeping; religious shopkeeping, to be sure, but shopkeeping all the same. The marketing strategies of the fast-food franchise occupy the waking minds of these entrepreneurs; while asleep they dream of the kind of success that will get the attention of journalists.

The biblical fact is that there are no successful churches. There are, instead, communities of sinners, gathered before God week after week in towns and villages all over the world. The Holy Spirit gathers them and does his work in them. In these communities of sinners, one of the sinners is called pastor and given a designated responsibility in the community. The pastor’s responsibility is to keep the community attentive to God. It is this responsibility that is being abandoned in spades.”

-Eugene Peterson

Borgen

This show comes onto SBS in a couple of weeks. It is meant to be brilliant.

Prayer for the Christian at work

Father God,

In all that I do today, strengthen me to conduct myself in a manner worthy of you. May I be thankful for all of your blessings, diligent and focussed in my work, respectful of those over me and considerate of those under me.  

If I am overwhelmed by pressing demands, give me a calm heart that remembers your sovereignty. If I am criticised, let me be neither crushed nor angered. If I am treated unjustly, let me reply with kindness. If I am belittled or bullied, let me forgive as Jesus has forgiven me. If I receive praise and admiration, let it slide off me as I remember that I am like the grass of the field, here today and gone tomorrow. 

Guard my lips from gossip, my heart from bitterness, my hands from idleness and my mind from distraction. Give me grace that in all I do I will follow my Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen

davenport park

Today we buried my grandmother's ashes under an orange tree in a park near where she grew up. Nenor died a year ago. I've been given all of the family history stuff - various birth, marriage and death certificates, personal letters, family bible, newspaper articles of birth and death notices, family member's achievements etc. I also have some poems that Nenor's father wrote for her after she was married. He was apparently a quiet man and seems to have been very fond his daughter. He died when my father was little.

I am wearing Nenor's pearl necklace, her pearl ring and her gold watch. I also have her wedding ring and various things given to my grandfather (who I never knew) - ambulance medals, scouting badges etc. These things are not really of any value to anyone, but they make my grandfather real to me.

Mum and Dad's house is over-full of crockery and crystal and other things from Nenor's place. Cleaning out someone's house after they've gone makes you realise how much stuff we accumulate. None of us need her stuff because we all have our own useless stuff that we've accumulated. I think there should be some system whereby we aren't allowed to buy new things before visiting an elderly relative and seeing if they have anything they'd like to give away.

My current top 5 Sci-Fi TV series

In the last few years, I've developed a thing for Science Fiction. In TV series, it's become my genre of choice. Why would you bother watching something if there's no possibility of aliens or time travel or paranormal events or futuristic, dystopian worlds? IMHO, when most TV shows try to make you think they are just lame. Not so with Sci-Fi.

Anyway, here are 5 Sci-Fi shows I'm into. No particular order.

Doll House - I can't believe that more people aren't mad about this show. It's made by Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, the Avengers etc) and is brilliant. The premise is that there are these 'Doll Houses' full of people (called 'dolls' or 'actives') who have had their brains wiped. Actives are temporarily uploaded with particular skills and personalities and hired out to wealthy clients to do stuff (like rob a bank or fulfil some fantasy). I think you should all watch it. It raises issues of freedom and slavery and what it means to be a person. There's 26 episodes.

Firefly - Joss Whedon again. This one is like a Western set in outer space. Or like the adventures of Hans Solo before he met Luke. I fell in love with Nathan Fillion watching it. (Who couldn't?) Watch Firefly - you'll love it - then come and debrief with me. We can rage together about how Fox cancelled the best show ever made after just one season...

Haven - This one is an American/Canadian production that deserves a lot more attention than it gets. It's set in a fictitious town called Haven whose inhabitants are inflicted with supernatural 'troubles'. It's beautiful and tense and sweet and edge-of-your-seat. Three seasons so far. Another out later this year.

Torchwood - A grown up Doctor Who spin off. The Torchwood team stay on earth and protect us from alien invasions. The series 'Children of Earth' was very good television.

Doctor Who. I put this one on because a new series starts tomorrow night. I'm not a huge fan of this particular doctor, but...


What have I missed? Are you into Sci-Fi?

My biggest swim ever

3km.

I'm doing some squad training.

Not very good at it yet. I thought I was going well then fatigued suddenly at 3km.

Others pushed on for the final 1000m.

Next time...

(Can't complain. I usually only swim 1500m.)

5 thoughts about work at the end of term 1

1. Despite the groundhog day thing (I repeat the same lesson twelve times every week!) I like my new job. I've picked up a third day of work which I'm enjoying as well. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays I teach preps and year 1s. On Thursdays I do a variety of things.
2. I like teaching a class twice a week. They learn so much more. Next term I'm trying to arrange things so that I see the preps three times a week - for 2 music lessons and a choir session. This is one step closer to the ideal... (ideal = music lessons every day!)
3. I love working in a place where there is a culture of not whinging. Everyone teaching in my school feels thankful to be there so no one complains.
4. Next term I'm hoping to start a boys choir. Repertoire suggestions? Maybe some Chisel?
5. I really really really want a piano in my classroom. I really really do. Really. Because I'm the second music teacher, working in a regular classroom (that I've made my own) there is no piano. But I want one. What can I do?

Who needs substance when you've got the easter bunny?

Easter bonnet parade at school tomorrow. 

Easter seems a time for all things vacuous. One of the prep classes is singing this song. Another is singing this. If you can't talk about Jesus at this time of the year, it seems that you need to descend into the completely inane. 

I've taught all 6 prep classes this little song I made up. It's not very good but at least it moves towards something. Feel free to use it if you are looking for something secular that suggests something more. (I have a rough recording. Email me or leave a comment with your email address if you want it. The recording is too awful to post online.)

What's inside the egg?


What’s inside the egg
hiding in its shell?
has it scales or has it wings?
Who can see? Who can tell?

What’s inside the egg
Scratching with its claw?
One thing we know for certain
One thing we know for sure:

New life! New life!
What’s inside the egg?
New life!
New life! New life!
What’s inside the egg?
New life!

a chicken or a dragon or a turtle or a flea
a lizard or a penguin or a little buzzing bee
a snake, a shark, a spider, perhaps a dinosaur
One thing we know for certain. One thing we know for sure:

New life! New life!
What’s inside the egg?
New life! 
New life! New life!
What’s inside the egg?
New life!

sar 2013

Dollhouse - review

This is what I'm watching at the moment. Love it.

Gingerbread men fail = ginger and passionfruit slice

I didn't have enough cocoa for chocolate slice so I thought I'd try making gingerbread men instead. I got a my standard recipe and left out the brown sugar and replaced the golden syrup with glucose syrup (and only used half as much.)  The mixture ended up far too crumbly to make gingerbread men from, so I pressed it into a tin and called it slice (slice is a great catch-all term.) I iced it with dextrose, butter and passionfruit icing and am pleased to report that it's fantastic. I'll be making it again.

How to make it

melt 250g butter with
3 tablespoons glucose syrup

Cool briefly, then add
2 egg yolks

Mix in
4 cups plain flour
bicarb
6 teaspoons ginger

Press into tin
Bake in moderate oven

Ice with melted butter, dextrose and passionfruit.

Sugar Free Chocolate Slice

I'm still doing the no fructose thing. I haven't had anything with added sugar since November. It's just normal now. You probably don't believe me, but I don't miss sugar at all.

But I still like to bake.

I'm about to go and bake some chocolate slice. I really like it. It has icing made on dextrose but no other sugar.

Ingredients:
vita-brits
rolled oats
wholemeal SR Flour
cocoa
butter (melted)
milk
egg

Method:
Mix dry ingredients.
Mix wet ingredients.
Combine.
Press into lined tin.

Bake till done.

Icing
Butter
Dextrose
Water

I usually ice it when it's hot. (Mostly because I want it finished quickly.)

What is it with shows about hoarders?

There always seems to be one on.

Why do we watch them?

Finding pleasure in other people's misery is pretty warped.

Despite the Pain

Despite the pain, despite the price

God took flesh in Jesus Christ

Lived with us, eternal word

A light shone in the darkness of our world 

Despite the pain, Christ set his will

He turned his face to Calvary’s hill

Trusting in his father’s plans

he put his life in God’s eternal hands

Despite the taunts, the promised doom

Despite the nails, the spear, the tomb

Christ arose triumphantly

He trusted God, God gave him victory.

Despite the blackness of my soul

Despite the sin that still takes hold

Christ the Lord has giv’n me life

So I will follow my Lord Jesus Christ.

Despite the pain, despite the price

I will follow my Lord Jesus Christ.

sar 2013

My life of ease and leisure is over.

I've picked up an extra day of work a week. Starts tomorrow.

Care to comment?

Some fun over at the briefing. I had stuff to say on Monday. Anyone got an opinion

In my head.

Last week many of my preps told me that they have (had?) head lice.

Since then I've had a bad case of psychological nits.

I've done a thorough comb through and there is nothing there.

If it continues, tonight I'm going for some chemical.

For those unaware, the treatment protocol for psychological nits is the same as for ordinary nits. Sometimes harsh chemicals are the only thing to get those annoying little critters out of your head!

Sydney is a strange place.

So much fear.

Whoever made up the 'what one generation believes, the next generation assumes, and the next generation denies' thing? Is it even true? Or is it just a bat we use to belt the person who sits slightly to the left of us?

I know I'm decades behind the times...

... but I really like Covey's quadrants.

GTD annoys me. Following GTD seems like a recipe for writing a bad song. Clearing inboxes, putting things into buff coloured manilla folders... focussing on the 'next step' of projects... What is the 'next step' in writing a song anyway? Mostly it's going to be sitting down and pulling your hair out! There is no tidy way! I am going to have 50 tabs open on my computer when I write. I'm going to be reading 16 books/articles/blog posts at the same time and none of them may contribute anything. 

Covey is simple. Spend most of your time on quadrant 2 stuff. That is all.

Joel's pic

I like it.

Nothing so exciting as....

... a new idea!

Beyond Horizons (resurrected)

Today I've been looking through old lyrics that never made it anywhere. A couple of years later I can see why they never made it. But sometimes there's an idea that deserves another chance.

This song was always problematic. It's gone through a few re-writes already but it was too experimental, theologically. I was trying to define faith by Hebrews 12:2. I still like the idea, but it wasn't working. I did a re-write today toning that side of it down. Thoughts?

Beyond Horizons

1. Beyond horizons, we will see

Our home, our promised land

Across the oceans waits for me

My Lord upon the sand.

Looking past today

To a world away

Our eyes in faith can see

CHORUS:

Beyond horizons, across the oceans

Life awaits, a brand new day!

A flowing river, a shining city

Where our tears are wiped away!

So today we take our cross and bear

All things for joy will meet us there.

Beyond horizons.

2. Beyond horizons Christ prepared

A land of pure delight

He sought a bride to share it all

And bought her with his life

We stand redeemed

Washed pure and clean

And soon our eyes will see

3. With all the saints of ages past

We have glimpsed her shores

And long for her as for a home

That we have known before.

And though today 

be dark and grey

our eyes still strain to see

4. Beyond horizons we will see

That faith was not in vain

For every promise Christ will keep

And every glory claim.

Now his word’s our guide,

Our vision, light

Until our eyes will see

sar 2011, 2013

Why I believe the bible.

Andrew is preaching on 'Why trust the bible?' on Sunday night.

Here are my honest personal thoughts on why I trust the bible.

1. Because when I read the bible it feels true. This sounds lame, but I don't think it is. The bible correctly the diagnoses the problem I see in my heart and in the world around me. It's assessment of human nature matches my experience. The characters in the bible are real - the heroes are angular and odd at times. Jesus does things I wouldn't have him do if I wrote it. It story doesn't seem made up. The more I read it the more I am drawn into the narrative and to the God who reaches out to us.

2. Because historians who know how to test these things tell me that the New Testament documents are reliable.

3. Because I've decided to.

How about you?

5 more things about education

1. However good the teacher, kids won't learn school stuff if they're not at school. Absenteeism is an issue that has to be addressed.

2. The first hour of the school day is the most important for little kids. A lot of at-risk kids are chronically late for school. It takes some management skills to get the family out the door in the morning. If the parents don't have themselves together, they will not make the school bell. If a prep child is half an hour late each day, he or she will miss the majority of the literacy teaching.

3. If kids come to school without having had a proper breakfast, their learning will be compromised. The teacher has no control over this.

4. Some parents really want to do a good job, but have very little idea how to. If schools are to help these parents, they will need to be resourced for this.

5. There is no excuse ever for dropping music out of the curriculum to fund something else (however good.) Don't even think of it!

How to fix the education system in 5 easy steps!

1. Change the entry requirements for eduction courses at uni. Undergrad - High School leavers must get a minimum B+ for English and B for Maths B or A for Maths A. Postgrad - Minimum GPA of 5. Actually, don't accept anyone straight from school. We want teachers who have a thirst to learn - not people who are thirsty for qualification. Let them get a BA or BSc or something first.

2. For Professional Development, encourage teachers to do further study in anything they are interested in. If teachers are excited about learning themselves they will teach better.

3. Have educationalists start talking to psychologists. There is a whole lot of research out there about how kids learn that teachers never ever read.

4. Employ many more guidance officers (school based psychologists). They can do a swag of assessments on kids to help work out why they are having troubles with stuff. What usually happens is that if a kid can't read (or something) they are put on a particular program that the school has decided to use without asking whether or not it is appropriate for that child. You need to diagnose what is going wrong before you can fix the problem. GO's can help with that. (This one would be very expensive.)

5. Give teachers freedom to teach in the way they think is best for the kids. Specify outcomes not the method.

schloppy shpeaking

Okay. So child #3 speaks a little strangely. He was in speech therapy for not speaking at all early on, then he needed help forming pretty much all his sounds, then he developed a stutter. All of those issues resolved nicely, except for a schloppy 's' which is still alive and well and with us. I should have dealt with it, but I kind of ran out of steam with the whole speech therapy thing (child #1 also had issues and so did I). Apart from the 's' he sounds like a kid who has been in speech therapy. His sounds are made precisely. He sounds formal when he speaks.

Anyway, it seems that he's getting teased because he speaks with an 'accent'. I'm trying to work out what's going on. Is it:

1. He's being standoffish (quite possible) and so the kids are just looking for something to pick on him about and his 's' is as good as anything.
2. They've noticed the ex-therapy thing.
3. They have noticed that he doesn't sound like a FNQ kid because he isn't one (yet). He forms his words properly, doesn't mumble and speaks with correct(ish) grammar.

Speechie friends - should we go see someone?