have you voted yet?

Esther

We're reading Esther as a family at the moment. A good story for the kids - they are enjoying it. I wish it didn't use the word 'virgin' quite so often.

It was interesting to read about King Xerxes in chapter one. The kids had a very low opinion of him. He was a bragger (we're memorising 1 Cor 13 just now so the kids know that bragging is not good), treated his wife as a possession, and thought everyone should stop what they were doing to bow to his most unreasonable commands. I, however, having had a good dose of MD lately, found myself feeling for Xerxes. His wife did show him disrespect by not obeying him in public, I mused... It took the kid's most definite support for Xerxes' wife to make me see that my response was wrong. The text sees Xerxes' 'leadership' as pathetic bullying.

spy life, dyslexia, sherbet, bran loaf and firefly

Have not been posting much later. My mind has been fairly occupied with:

• Putting the final touches on my kid's club - which I did most of the work on back in July. Kids club starts in 3 weeks and 2 days. Put the first advertising out yesterday and have quite a bit of interest already.

• Reading about dyslexia. Trying to separate good quality research from pop-psychology and work out how to best help our boy #2. Trouble is, many experts want to blame parents for not reading enough with their kids in the pre-school years and not helping them with their homework once they are at school. Hurts a bit to read such stuff. In our case at least, it's completely untrue. Even now, I would spend half an hour most days reading to Joel and over an hour on homework. I'm currently reading this much more encouraging book. The dyslexia symptoms fit Joel perfectly - but isn't that the key to self-help books? Suck the reader in by sympathetically describing all their symptoms and then offer the magic solution. Anyone have any knowledge about this kind of stuff? Joel is a very bright boy in many ways, but reading is a struggle and his spelling is worse than bad.

• Working a bit. Today I had year 4's. The teacher left instructions for me to make sherbet with them at 9am this morning. Each kid was meant to make a bagful (containing 20 tsps of icing sugar). I managed to get them to do one between two and not eat it till second break, but even so... Was it some kind of joke the regular teacher was playing on me? Who would feed kids 20 teaspoons of sugar for morning tea and then expect them to function well for the rest of the day?

• I've also been baking. Trying to find joy in domesticity. Realised that there is no joy for me in following recipies. So I make it up. This week I've made a cornflake slice, a peanut butter, cornflake and apricot slice (was going to be biscuits but I couldn't be bothered), and Bran Loaf. Bran loaf is the healthiest. Here's how I made it. Mix together 1 cup of mixed fruit (sultanas, chopped apricots, whatever you've got), 1 cup of unproccessed bran, half a cup of sugar and 1 cup of milk. Soak for a few hours. Mix in 1 cup of SR flour, put it in a tin and bake it till you think it's ready (40 minutes?)

• Watching Firefly and wondering if it really is morally wrong to go around the universe stealing things and shooting people. Malcolm Reynolds makes it look so appealing!

big storm in brisbane

Our brother and sister-in-law had a big tree squash their house yesterday afternoon. Praise God they are all safe.

Two work calls this morning. I think many people have cleaning up to do.

Idol Review

What can I say? Wes is great and can sing anything. Mark is pretty good and will go far. Luke needs to go - but could probably sell cds despite his less than perfect voice.

bring on the end of the school year.

Had to go into school this morning to talk to a teacher about an unpleasant classroom issue which was a very big deal to one of our boys. I can normally hold myself okay in conflict situations. Not so those involving our kids. Was no fun, but had a good outcome, praise God.

worth a listen

I've had many exegetical issues with MD's current sermon series, but this talk is great. Okay use of bible and excellent pastoral stuff.

read better, preach better

Great! A new blog to read! Stimulating ideas from thoughtful people.

Looking forward to following Bruce's ideas on faith. The arguments about how to read pistis Christou have always interested me (is it faith IN Christ or the faith OF Christ?) Anyone else care? (I think you all should.)

alas for teale

my heart bleeds.

Idol Review

Things are wrapping up. Top two are pretty clear:

Wes - Reliable. Always good. Tonight he was fantastic. He warmed into his first song well and What a Wonderful World was lovely.

Mark - Tonight, as good as Wes and possibly more interesting. To see a man with scars all over his head singing 'Everybody Hurts' feels real.

Luke - His voice has character but he still doesn't do it for me (though I like him much more without the goatee). Tuning for the first song was well off, but they could fix that up in the studio.

Teale - Surely he'll go this week! He just doesn't cut through - either vocally or personally. A friend we had lunch with today likes him because he looks like David Beckham.































What do you think?

disappointing holiday reads

Just back from holidays. Beach, friends, family - all great. Books - not so good. Mostly my own fault for not preparing well enough.

In my experience, accidental kisses don't happen all that often. There is usually a degree of intentionality on the part of at least one of the participants. But imagine this situation... You're getting on with life when suddenly a friend, acquaintance, or even a complete stranger falls in your path and what do you know... [xxx] A rare occurrence, I would think.

Not so in my holiday books. Three out of four heroines experienced the 'accidental' kiss. By the third, it was getting old.

Holiday Read #1 - Alexander McCall Smith - The Comfort Of Saturdays
My mum gave this to me for my birthday. I've enjoyed the rest of the series but this one took a nose dive. The Isobel-Jamie relationship is really starting to sound very much like the relationships in the other (trashier) books I read this week. Jamie is far too perfect. Talented, good looking, thoughtful, attentive father who can't get enough of his son, giver of perfect gifts... Charlie the baby is unbelievably 'good'. Never gets in the way. Never stops anyone doing anything they want to. Isobel's inner whine is very similar to those of her paperback sisters. 'I love him so much. Does he really love me?' I found it quite tedious. It had a few moments that I enjoyed - like the Dove saga which continued from the last book. But perhaps AMcS needs a new heroine. Anyone else read it?

Holiday Read #2 - Harlequin - The Marriage Solution
(I read this out of desperation. In our holiday unit it was a choice between romances and westerns. Perhaps I chose badly.) Think Mills and Boon, turn it down a couple of notches and you have this book. Very poor. Pure, thoughtful Katie marries sexy, rich Carlton in order to clear her father's debts. But accidently falls in love with him along the way. Oh no! How can she hide from him the fact that she loves him when he only wants her physically?

Holiday Read #3 - The Wedding Arbor - A heartwarming, inspirational CHRISTIAN romance
Not sure how this one found its way onto the holiday unit bookshelf, but surely a safer choice... Um no. Just need to get a couple of things off my chest at this point.
Miss Sara (heroine), I don't think that lapsed Xn Adam is your divinely appointed guardian, even if he is strong and sympathetic. And I don't think it's God that's leading you to stay in his one room log cabin for a fortnight. Sorry if this shatters your 'faith'.

Holiday Read #4 - Charmed - A Tale Of Two Pipers
About 30% as good as the tv show.

So the books were disappointing. But our dvds were a good choice: Firefly. Brilliant

Amos kids talks

A new family walked into church today just before I got up to do a fire and brimstone kids talk on Amos 3-5. I admit that I considered changing it on the spot. I've been giving a set of talks accompanying our sermon series on the book of Amos. Here's how it's looked so far:

Week 1 - Adults did Amos 1:1-2
I did a talk on King Solomon's bad choice (worshipping idols) and the consequences that it would bring - the split of the kingdom. My visual was a map of Israel which I cut with a stanley knife so the kids could see how the northern/southern thing worked.

Week 2 - Adults looked at Amos 1-2
I talked about bad king Jeroboam 1 and the decision he had to make about whether to worship God or keep on worshipping idols like Solomon did. He chose poorly. Had a visual of Jeroboam 1's head (with a frown and mean eyebrows) which folded out into 12 or 16 (I've forgotten) similar looking kings to show that all the kings continued like Jeroboam 1 until Jeroboam 2.

Week 3 - Adults did Amos 3-5 - so did we!
I talked about how God had had enough. He had put up with sinful Israel for a long time. By the time of Jeroboam 2, the whole country of Israel had gone bad - injustice etc (which is what happens when you stop worshipping God). God had given many warnings (famine, drought etc) now judgment is inevitable. The lion has roared. Israel should be afraid!

Hm. Where to go from here? The series is going well. The kids are remembering the story from week to week.

On Holidays!

We are off on holidays for a week! While you are slaving at home or at work, consider us, sitting on the beach at Caloundra (Sunshine Coast)! I'll consider you, for a brief moment! See you next week.

Idol Review

Micheal Jackson night. Here are my thoughts.

Teale - Billie Jean
Man! He can turn anything into soft rock. Billie Jean as a ballad. Wow! (I still don't like him.)

Mark - Bad
Verses were bad. Chorus good. At least there was no crotch clutching. (But he has nice shoulders.)

Chrislyn - Thriller
She needed an auto-tune plug-in but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Stupid song choice.

Luke - The Way You Make Me Feel
Limited vocal ability should be a problem in a singer, but if you chose the right song it doesn't matter. Great song choice.

Wes - Black or White
He is in a different class to the rest of them. And he can dance!

Order (best to worst) - Wes, Luke, Mark, Teale, Chrislyn.

Could we lose two?

guard your heart

Isn't it funny how our personalities determine the particular bend that our sin will take? Ali and Bec have written posts responding to the wrong idea that 'guarding your heart' means mounting a wall of self protection. I had never considered that it could mean such a thing. My sin takes me in another direction all together.

Just in case you tend towards wall building, here is a fantastic C.S. Lewis quote (from the DesiringGod blog):

Of all arguments against love none makes so strong an appeal to my nature as “Careful! This might lead you to suffering.”

To my nature, my temperament, yes. Not to my conscience. When I respond to that appeal I seem to myself to be a thousand miles away from Christ. If I am sure of anything I am sure that His teaching was never meant to confirm my congenital preference for safe investments and limited liabilities.…

There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell. (From The Four Loves, as found in The Inspirational Writings of C.S. Lewis, 278-279.)

interesting or annoying?

Despite my issues with his exegesis, Mark Driscoll has made many valid and insightful pastoral points in his current relationships series. Among his best, MD says:

"The difference between interesting and annoying is time"

speaking about the fact that we are often drawn to our opposite (extroverts marry introverts etc.)

What do you think?

two bonhoeffer quotes on singing

There are some destroyers of unison singing in the fellowship that must be rigorously eliminated. There is no place in the service of worship where vanity and bad taste can so intrude as in the singing. There is, first, the improvised second part which one hears almost everywhere. It attempts to give the necessary background, the missing fullness to the soaring unison tone, and thus kills both the words and the tone. There is the bass or the alto who must call everybody's attention to his astonishing range and therefore sings every hymn an octave lower. There is the solo voice that goes swaggering, swelling, blaring, and tremulant from a full chest and drowns out everything else to the glory of its own fine organ. There are the less dangerous foes of congregational singing, the "unmusical," who cannot sing, of whom there are far fewer than we are led to believe, and finally, there are often those also who because of some mood will not join in the singing and thus disturb the fellowship.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from LIFE TOGETHER, translated by John Doberstein, Harper and Row, 1954, p. 60.

"It is not you that sings, it is the Church that is singing, and you, as a member of the Church, may share in its song."

Bonhoeffer, p. 61.

What do you think? Is unison singing superior? Are you guilty of adding a harmony part?

horseriding in rockhampton

birthday dinner and flowers

From my friend Sylvia.















Andrew made this. Char grilled salmon with pumpkin, asparagus and parsley relish. 'Twas very good.

hey!

I've been blogging for 6 months! Haven't run out of things to write yet...

Idol Review

I'm over it. Bring on the end of the series. Rolling Stones week. Was mostly okay.

Wes - Jumping Jack Flash
Good as always

Rushani - Wild Horses
Didn't like the breathy tones in her voice. Ear rings, dress and song all cabaret.

Luke - Honky Tonk Woman
A 'moment' would have been nice, but okay. I felt like doing a line dance.

Teale - You Can't Always Get What You Want
More soft rock with a country twang. Better than last week, but still...

Chrislyn - Get Off Of My Cloud
She performs really well, but would she sell cds?

Mark - Angel
First time I've really liked him. I could have gone on listening.

Top two - Wes and Mark. Bottom two - Rushani and Teale.

Song of Songs 5

I've just written and scrapped a post criticising an online sermon I listened to this morning. In many ways it was a good talk. It said lots of useful and insightful things about the ways that wives deny their husbands. Problem was that it linked the ideas to Song of Songs 5.

For the record, I'd just like to state what I think S of S 5 is about. Here's the passage. It's accepted that it's the woman speaking, except for the words in italics, which are the man.

2 I slept but my heart was awake.
Listen! My lover is knocking:
"Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my flawless one.
My head is drenched with dew,
my hair with the dampness of the night."

3 I have taken off my robe—
must I put it on again?
I have washed my feet—
must I soil them again?

4 My lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
my heart began to pound for him.

5 I arose to open for my lover,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
on the handles of the lock.

6 I opened for my lover,
but my lover had left; he was gone.
My heart sank at his departure. ^[a]
I looked for him but did not find him.
I called him but he did not answer.

7 The watchmen found me
as they made their rounds in the city.
They beat me, they bruised me;
they took away my cloak,
those watchmen of the walls!

8 O daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you—
if you find my lover,
what will you tell him?
Tell him I am faint with love.

To me, this is what is going on. The woman is in bed at night, flitting in and out of sleep waiting for her lover. Her lover arrives at the door and calls for her to let him in. She calls back teasingly that she can't get up because she's already undressed. He tries the lock. She gets up to open the door for him (with perfumed hands - she's been expecting him!), but he has fled for some reason - perhaps because of the watchmen who feature in the following verses. The woman, in desperation (perhaps dreaming) goes out to look for him and is beaten by the watchmen. Overall, I think, the verses picture the desperate intensity of sexual love. It's like a fever. A dangerous thing.

Do you have any thoughts?

my new commentary

Today is my birthday! Andrew got me this lovely book* that I've been wanting for a while. Can't wait to read it.












* husbands. I wouldn't recommend that you buy such a book for your wife unless she has expressed a definite interest.

student ministers

Off to a meeting tonight. A question to help me think through a few things beforehand...

What are the things a student minister should learn specifically from his church placement during his years at theological college?

just so you know...

... It takes 2-3 washes to remove 30+ sunscreen from your hair. Apply carefully.

WHAT?!?

Teale lives on.

Who is voting for this guy?

desire resisted

desire resisted
turns
over time
into a quieter longing
deeper
better directed

come lord jesus.

sar 2008

my beautiful picture

Joel made this for me for my birthday this week. I feel very loved.

Our dog is sitting on top of the second letter 'm'.

Idol Review

AI was on earlier tonight so I got to introduce the kids to all the wonders... Well, kind of. They've known about AI for many years and have watched it on the internet. It's 'mummy's show' and the reason why we all must chip in with the weekly house clean on Sunday afternoon/evening. Impossible to watch Idol when the house is dirty! Here's what we thought:

Pretty poor again. The first four should have been kicked off weeks ago.

Mark felt a bit flat - don't know why the judges were so positive. If Sophie can't make a 'moment' in that context, I don't think she'll be able to anywhere else. The limitations of Luke's voice are really becoming apparent. Weak. Teale is embarrassing. No more soft rock!

It was a relief when Chrislyn stepped on. She can sing and did.

Wes was by far and away the best. He sang 'If I were a carpenter'. Nice.

Roshani should have been great but it she wasn't. Off key and boring.

Top two - Wes and Chrislyn. Bottom two - Everyone else (Luke and Teale). Teale needs to go this week. Agree?

Joy is...

... getting paid $56 per hour to read The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe to a class of fascinated 9 year olds.

wow!

Vanilla slice has its own blog. If you're a fan, go and find out where the best slice is to be found!

Before The Music Dies

Want to know how to create a pop star? Watch this. Got to love auto tune.

Want more? Look here.

In a male teacher's classroom...

... it is very difficult to find a biro. Or a pencil. Or a timetable. Or a clean and flat piece of paper.

I have replaced 3 male teachers this last week. I'm sure they were all good teachers. The piles of stuff in each classroom showed that the kids had been doing some interesting things. But... female teachers (especially in primary schools) take pride in their beautifully decorated and ordered classrooms. Male teachers, it seems, don't. In one classroom the year 3/4 kids had exercise books they called their 'everything books'. They were for spelling, maths, art, science, whatever. The female teacher next door (who I've also replaced) would be horrified!

It takes all sorts!

MD on Song of Songs

I've been listening to MD's Song of Songs series, The Peasant Princess. Of course he has lots of good and interesting things to say, but I think he's cheated a bit.

If you see the Song as a manual for sexual ethics and practice, the main issue you need to address is that of whether the couple were actually married. The passages which speak about her brothers suggest to me that they weren't. eg...

Chapter 8

1 If only you were to me like a brother,
who was nursed at my mother's breasts!
Then, if I found you outside,
I would kiss you,
and no one would despise me.

2 I would lead you
and bring you to my mother's house—
she who has taught me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
the nectar of my pomegranates.

3 His left arm is under my head
and his right arm embraces me.

.......

8 We have a young sister,
and her breasts are not yet grown.
What shall we do for our sister
for the day she is spoken for?

9 If she is a wall,
we will build towers of silver on her.
If she is a door,
we will enclose her with panels of cedar.

Beloved

10 I am a wall
and my breasts are like towers.
Thus I have become in his eyes
like one bringing contentment.


MD says they were married and gets around the fact that the ceremony doesn't happen til mid way through by saying that it's not chronological. My concern is that they really don't sound married while they do sound like they are enjoying eachother! I don't think it's a dream sequence either.

But if you're looking for a picture of happy monogamy, why would you expect it from Solomon?

goal achieved!

Regular readers might recall that I've been trying to lose weight. My original goal was to lose 7.5kg in 7.5 weeks. I lost the first 5kg pretty fast, but the last couple have been slower to shift. But I've now done it! It took me 10.5 weeks. I feel great.

Now the hard part. Not putting it back on again.

think, parents, think!

What hope is there for a boy called Hillary?

Idol Review

Rock night didn't really rock. Here's my summary.

Luke : Are you gonna go my way
Fun, but is it shallow that I want him shorter and leaner? He's trying to do the Shannon Noll thing, he just doesn't sing as well or look as good.

Thanh : Shadow of the day
Lose the piano! What's the point of sitting behind it if you're only playing sustained chords? We know that you can play... either play something impressive or just sing. I'm a little bored.

Sophie : Anna's Song
She's very pretty and knows what she can do well. Still bored...

Teale: Slide
Desperately bored. I wonder if they even bothered plugging in his guitar. I'm sure someone in the band could cover the four chords he's playing. If I could negative vote I would. I'd channel surf if I had a remote handy... This is not good.

Rushani : The Pretender
At last someone looks like they're putting in some effort. Not my cup of tea, but pretty good.

Wes : Desire
I love this guy. He alone makes the whole hour and a half worthwhile. He does U2 without looking try hard. He's got it all. [But what's with the stupid light show?]

Chrislyn : Don't Speak
Start wasn't so good, but it got better. I think this AI experience is going to kill Chrislyn. She is so young and so vulnerable. I think she's put on weight in the last few weeks which is a sign that she's not coping.

Mark : Sex on Fire
Not sure I like the song but he rocks. Impressed with the fire-transpire rhyme.

Overall, not such a great night. Top two: Wes and Mark. Bottom two: Teale and Chrislyn.

What did you think?

Where did I come from

Twas time to get us a 'where did I come from' book. So we went on down to Koorong. I had a title in mind that looked okay on the internet, so I went and found it in the store expecting to just grab it and go. I'm glad I looked inside first. The book (which was supposed to be aimed at 6-9 year old boys) recommended that when our kids ask 'where did I come from' we start by reframing the question.

Here's how the conversation is meant to go:

Boy: Mommy (yes, spelt that way), where did I come from?

Parent: Son, you mean you want to know how you grew inside me?

Boy: Yes, that's it.

Parent: Well you started small. See these pro-life photos here of a very tiny baby? Then you got bigger and bigger. See these pro-life photos? That's how it happened.

Boy: God sure made me special. Babies are special right from the very beginning. I'm so glad to be in your family, mom. And in God's family too!

Parent: Son, you're a credit to us. Come and ask any time you want to see more photos of babies before they are born.

End of conversation.

Now, of course I have nothing against teaching our kids to value life right from the very beginning. And I hope we've always done that. But I think that this book was kind of missing the point. Don't you think?

This is the book we ended up with. It just says things as they are.

Driscoll and church planting funding

Look, I love Mark Driscoll as much as the next person (and have probably listened to more MD sermons than most) but I think some of his advice is contradictory.

Craig (here) talks about how Driscoll is against giving hand outs to church planters. They should support themselves until they have a congregation who will pay them. Fair enough. But he also says:

• Church planters must prove themselves in their own homes first, by getting married and having kids

• Husbands should not send their wives out to work to feed the family. He said that in the early days of Mars Hill he did wrong by his wife in this.

• Husbands should be present in family life

Not sure how these all fit together. Perhaps church planters are a special breed of men who are able to work two full time jobs and still be good fathers and husbands.

I think I'd be more in favour of some kind of sliding scale outside funding. 100% year 1, 50% year 2, 10% year 3.

A theological question

Help me out.

Can you spot any problems with this verse?

The lion roars! Oh nations will you heed the warning
Before in judgement stubborn hearts are torn?
For every knee will bow and every tongue will worship
Flee to his side find shelter from the storm.

[from the lion roars (posted below)]

How about line 3? I'm thinking Philippians 2 "...every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." But can we say that everyone will worship Jesus? I think the line is okay* - since on that last day everyone will have to bow (some under compulsion). Is worship something that one can be forced to do?

I'd make it easier and just change the line to 'confess him', but 'confess' is an ugly word and 'worship' is beautiful...

What do you think? Appreciate ideas. Hoping to debut this song soon. It's already got a tune.

* well I wrote it!