trivial limerick

There once was a girl called Olivia,
Who was atrociously hopeless at trivia,
She said, "What a drag,
I do not know this flag,
Is it England, Iran or Bolivia?"

sar 2009

still hating trivia nights...

...even when I ask the questions.

Really hard to find questions that appeal to everyone.

The nights always go on for much longer than you think they will.

Wouldn't we rather just sit around and talk?

where you are reading from

blog commenters graph

Ben has graphs. I want to be cool like him.

trivia

Our church is having a trivia night tomorrow. Andrew and I are doing the questions - which is good because I'm bad at trivia and hate losing. A frustrating combination. I usually spend my time at such events trying not to look like a sore loser. Hey everyone, it's only a game isn't it! [Grrrrr.]

Much better that I get to ask the questions.

But my questions are good. I know all the answers. Andrew wrote the questions for the history/geography, sport and current events sections. I wrote questions about TV and the bible. There's also a creative section, just to freak everyone out.

For those who are coming, I recommend you brush up on your American drama, crime shows, reality tv, star wars and disney princess knowledge. And, read your bible. If you have time, also learn to write, sing and draw.

so chris is gone from masterchef

Think it's fairly clear who will win.

I am fit. I am co-ordinated. I am amazing.

I am... PE teacher.


















(Who am I kidding?)

(The trick is to size up the class before you begin and pick a kid or two who will be able to demonstrate for you.)

For Us

For us, our God became a man,
Eternal before time began,
He left his throne of grace,
Took feeble flesh in his embrace.
For us he walked upon the earth
For us as servant, labored, toiled
Cried bitter tears and prayed
'Forgive them' as his life he gave.

For us, for us
[something else...]

Behold his love, his bloodstained brow
The piercing spear, his life poured out
To wash away our shame
To pay our debt, to take our blame.
For us, the saviour bled and died
For us, he stands in vict'ry raised
And now this cursed cross
Becomes the tree of life for us

For us the fear of judgement's gone
We're sheltered, safe within his love
His welcome, open arms
Are branches keeping us from harm.
We bid the dragons of despair
depart, for sin and Satan's snares
no longer haunt our hearts.
All things are his and he's for us.

sar 2009

Two Questions.
1. Can I get away with 'dragons' in verse 3?
2. Would you sing it?

stupid names

From the SMH:

Boys growing up with popular names such as Michael, Joshua and Christopher have a good chance of leading law-abiding lives.

But young men named Kareem, Walter or Ivan could run afoul of the law.

That's according to a recent US study that claims the more unpopular, uncommon or feminine a boy's first name, the greater the chance he will end up behind bars.

So true! Going into a classroom I can tell who the trouble maker kids will be by running my eyes down the roll. Parent, take care! (Hm. We called our third son 'Micah'. Should we expect trouble?)

[thanks Nathan]

I don't have a problem...

...I can stop this whenever I like.

And now I have proof.

65%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?
I took this quiz.

Thought I'd come out more addicted than that. Think my score was lowered by the fact that I only really look at about 11 different blogs daily (12 was in the highest category) and don't use a reader. How do you score?

Cain and Abel Limerick

There once was a man named Cain
Who brought God an offering of grain
But his brother brought a herd
Which God clearly preferred
so by Cain, brother Abel was slain.

sar 2007

The Origins of the Moabites. A Limerick Cycle.

Micheal would like to see OT narratives finding their way into contemporary Christian music. I am way ahead of him in this. I wrote this cycle many years ago. Unfortunately, I've been unable to write a tune suitable for congregational use. Can anyone help?

A Limerick Cycle on Lot

There once was a man called Lot
Who shared the land that Abraham got
But then in the night
Their servants did fight
So Lot moved to a different spot.

Lot thought that the land of the heathen
Looked like the garden of Eden
So he moved to the plain
From where the Sodomites came
Cities of evil and treason!

The Sodomites, they were not right
They molested a man in the night
God poured fire down
From the sky to the ground
While Abraham watched - what a sight!

Lot ran and escaped from the flames
But his wife didn't fare the same
Lot ended up drunk
With his girls in his bunk
And from there the Moabites came.

sar 1997

see also Cain and Abel Limerick

why you should read my blog

from Internet Monk. Blogosphere Christianity: An Assessment

The Christian blogosphere is overwhelmingly male. It is not only male; it thrives on “maleness” in perspective and voice. For various reasons, some confessional, some not, many of us have a seriously limited exposure to the feminine mind, voice and experience of the Christian journey. In fact, our “maleness” is affirmed in the blogosphere in ways that are useful, and neutral and harmful.

I'm a girl. I'm a Christian. I blog.

Read me and get balanced (!).

broc

I cooked this broccoli for dinner. It was good. Andrew and I thought so anyway. The kids wanted to wash it.

why...

... is it the line I initially like best that turns out to be the dud?

there is a fine line...

...between writing and sleeping.

time pressure and creativity

While people believe they are more creative under deadline pressure, they are not.

This rings true.

I'm on twitter!

Come follow me!

Does anyone know if it costs heaps to tweet via a 3 mobile?

Friendship: The Remedy for Loneliness

More from Christopher Ash.

Lest I overstate my case, it is worth digressing for a moment to agree that human beings are deeply relational, that in the absence of relationships we do experience loneliness, and that the Bible fully recognizes this. My point is not to deny our need for companionship, but to deny that sexual intimacy is the only or the necessary way in which loneliness may be alleviated. The Bible has a great deal to say about the longings of the human heart, but it is very striking to see how very rarely sex has anything to do with these longings being met. Almost all the Bible passages that speak warmly about human love do so in contexts where sexual intimacy is absent. God’s remedy for human loneliness, according to the Bible, is not necessarily sexual intimacy, but friendship and fellowship.

better sex apologetic = second best

"Even if our happiness is likely to be increased by keeping sex within marriage, this is the wrong question to ask. A Christian apologetic for marriage is settling for second best if it says to people, “Join us and live our way because you’ll probably be happier that way (and have better sex into the bargain).” They may or may not be happier in the shallow sense of having better sex. They may have no sex at all: Jesus didn’t. Instead, what Christians say to people is, “Learn that the glory and honor of God is far more important than your personal satisfaction and the fulfilment of your longings and desires. And learn to center your life on his glory and purposes so that nothing so fills your heart with joy as seeing his purposes fulfilled. Then you will have the deepest personal satisfaction and joy in the world, as you rejoice in the glory of God.” This is the most radical de-centering of human beings imaginable. But we must do this if we are to make sense of sex. Christopher Ash.

From here. (A continuation of this discussion.)

I am now tea drinker

The peer pressure was way too much.

christian spam

It gets on my nerves. You think I want your inspiring devotional dvds? I don't. Market to someone who cares. And fix up your unsubscribe link (not that I ever subscribed in the first place!).

friday night is better...

...with ABC2.

Watched Torchwood tonight. Joel asked us to tape it for him (he's a Doctor Who fan) which we did, not knowing what it would be like. Andrew and I loved it but the kids will not be seeing it for many years.

to tweet or not to tweet...

Should I join twitter?

how accurate is site meter?

Looking at my stats this morning. Came across something interesting.

Time of Visit		Jul 10 2009 8:41:31 am
Last Page View		Jul 10 2009 8:43:17 am
Visit Length		1 minute 46 seconds
Page Views		67

I'm thinking it would be fairly tricky to view 67 different pages in under 2 minutes.

This visitor is more ADD than me!

(Don't worry, regular reader, it wasn't you!)

mothers of awesomeness

To prove to ourselves that we are indeed mothers of awesomeness (and not the angry cows we are sometimes mistaken for) my friend Megan and I did cooking with our kids today. With our seven kids. And not just pikelets or cornflake cookies. We did the messiest, most wonderful cake in the book. We did the pig-in-mud cake. Want to see?














































Non-parents out there should recognise this for the triumph that it is. We now have photographic evidence that we are good mothers.

restlessness

right now I'm clicking mindlessly around every blog I ever look at in the hope there will be something interesting then finding I don't care enough to read more than half a sentence and I'm bored with your layouts as well and think you should all change them or maybe I should just stop all this and go to bed.

songs are different

After last month's lengthy discussion about changing song lyrics I've been wondering (just a very little bit) if I'm a way-too-precious-selfish-and-greedy-control-freak for not letting people freely change the lyrics of my songs. Nathan argues that he's fine with people ripping off his sermons or bible studies to use however they want and that we should be the same with our songs.

This argument didn't sit right then and still doesn't now. I'm convinced that there is something different about a song. Last night I gave away a kids club that I spent weeks and weeks writing. I'm happy for people to use it however they want. Change bits. Whatever. I don't care. (Though my fonting and layout is nice). In terms of work hours, this kids club probably cost me about $4000. No single song has cost me that much. It's not a time thing. I don't think it's a selfishness thing either. But there is an all-or-nothingness about songs that there's not about other things.

What do you think?

he's just not that into you

Andrew and I watched this last night.

Here's what we learnt:

• most relationships start in bars
• a girl will do just about anything to be in a relationship
• a single girl will make out with a different guy each weekend
  
• if a girl is into you, she will sleep with you. If she's not slept with you after a few weeks, it's not going to happen
  
• no man wants to be married
• all women want to be married
• if a guy stops making out with you when another girl calls, he's not that into you
• if a guy is into you, he will make it happen
  
• if the guy doesn't make it happen, he's not into you
• the bar man understands
• I am the rule, not the exception
  
• married guys are dicks
  
• the best couples are those not married
• adultery is exciting but in the end futile (best just get divorced)
• divorce is a good option
  
• a good marriage will only happen if you understand you don't need to be married
  

new room

Our house has three smallish bedrooms, one bathroom and one living area. Small by today's standards, but no smaller than most of the unrenovated houses in our area. When our suburb was established, our house would have been considered big enough for an average sized family. Have families grown bigger in the last 50-70 years or have we just grown greedy for more room?

We've lived happily in our little house for about 20 months now. Some things about it are annoying and it's fairly ugly. We bought it because it was what we could afford. Christians often talk about having a big house to make hospitality easier. Hospitality is not a particular gift of mine. We usually have people around 2-3 times a week (not nec. for meals). I ask myself if we'd do better than this if we had a bigger house. The answer is probably no. We are busy and having a bigger house would make no difference to that - I'd just have more cleaning to do!

But we are very pleased with the room that Andrew has just finished building under the house. It's about 5cm short of legal height so it doesn't officially count as a room, but it gives us an additional 19 square metres of living area. It looks good with fresh paint and carpet. We've put in a couple of lounges (hate the peachy pink colour and the style - they were my grandmother's) and we'll have a telly and computer down there soon. The room opens up onto a patio area (currently a concrete slab) before the (wreck of a) back yard. I'm hoping to get the outside looking presentable in the coming weeks.

I don't imagine this room will make us any more hospitable, but it will make the stuff we're already doing a little easier.

Want to see some pics?









Under the house - excuse the mess, but this is kind of the 'before' shot.













This is the 'after' shot.










Here's Andrew enjoying the fruit of his labours!

Don't say you weren't warned

I'm yelling at people today. So far I've limited it to family members, but if you turn up here, you may also be yelled at.

Just in case you need to come over, don't ask me:

• for clothes to wear
• for food
• for more food
• for something to do

Don't complain:

• that you've got no socks to wear (go look outside around the trampoline)
• that cleaning the lounge is boring (I didn't cover it with dirt and grass)

Don't ask why:

• the dog can't come inside
• Star Wars 2 and 3 are M rated
• why I don't let kids watch M rated movies
• we can't go to Laser Force

And do not even think of making:

• a magic potion
• a cubby house for the dog
• a bomb of any kind (flour etc)

on the brand new carpet.

Today I do not value creativity or conversation. I want everyone with their heads down, cleaning up in SILENCE. (I also want chocolate.)

computer upgrade?

from here.

hue test

I like this. I scored 11* which (I think) means that I have pretty good colour discrimination.

How about you?

(thanks Nathan)

* 4 on my second turn

sick of painting

I've spent much of the last 24 hours painting our new room downstairs. I just need to go over the skirting boards, window frame, door and door frame, then do a few bits and pieces and some tidying up. No more than a few hours work left. But my hands and back hurt and I'm tired. Hoping for a phone call or something to help me procrastinate!

Carpet gets laid tomorrow.

light and momentary troubles

⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ... ¹⁶Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Cor 4

In just a little while, this moment will have passed. Glory will have replaced our troubles.

It will be worth the wait.

So we keep going.

home handy-(wo)man hints

I'm finishing off our room under the house. Andrew built it, but I do the glory jobs of painting and picking carpet. Andrew thinks it's best that I only do the end bits. Not sure why.

Here are some tips for beginner renovators.

• One thick and chunky coat is just as good as two or three thin coats. And faster.
• If something's not quite right, apply putty.
• Joint adhesive stuff is pretty cool and fun to use. Be creative in your use of it.
  
• Don't worry about lifting your house to legal height. It's easier to paint the ceiling if it's a bit lower.
• It's always worth buying a new painting gadget. They usually don't work any better than a standard brush and roller combo, but they create expectations of easy painting, filling you with enthusiasm to start the job.

Mt. Warning

Today we climbed Mt. Warning. After the initial whinges we had a great time. All the kids managed the entire climb. Micah (age 5) was pretty weary on the way down. He was energised by Andrew's enthusiastic rendition of 99 green bottles. Joel had a fairly significant stack half way back (he was running). He skinned his knee and hurt his hip. We counted stairs for the last 2kms to keep us going (792). Excellent day. The 50,000 people we met along the way all agree.

holidays

Sorry for the silence. It will continue for the next couple of days. We've been doing holiday stuff, painting the room Andrew's built, and today we're heading down the coast.

Have fun!

sex as the new apologetic

Anyone else over this?

Here's how the argument goes:

Many people don't want to become Christians because it would interrupt their sexual activities. Sex is the most important thing in life, so this is unthinkable.

So we argue back: Becoming a Christian will make your sex life even better. Look, Christians are all for sex, God made it, God knows best, he tells us how to have really good sex. See here? We've got a whole book of the bible about it. Song of Songs. Christian erotica. (And guys, it talks about things you only dream about...)

Now, I'm into sex as much as the next person. I enjoy it. I enjoy talking about it. I enjoy writing about it. But.

I think we come at the whole apologetic thing from the wrong direction. Why not help people to see that sex is not the goal of life? Life people's eyes up, away from themselves and towards something bigger. Is the good-sex gospel going to cause us as many problems long term as the much-money gospel?

A few points.

• sex outside marriage is fun because of the adrenaline rush it gives. It's fun because it's dangerous. If people (particularly christian people) are mucking around outside marriage chances are that when they get married sex will be worse. They will need to learn to get a kick out of sex alone, not out of the adrenaline rush.
• Sex can take ages to get good at. Women have to get over their hangups with their bodies, guys need to learn patience and control. They need to trust each other. This is probably going to take years and years. The true-love-waits stuff which promises perfect wedding night sex is going to lead to disappointment. Trouble is, couples (and particularly women) blame themselves for their fumbling and even link it to godliness. 'If I was a better wife I'd be more willing/able to....' Ideas about submission get thrown into the mix and pain and guilt and despair escalates.
• Pressure to have great sex is a passion killer for women. It makes great sex (or any sex) unlikely to happen.
• Have we stopped talking about patience and kindness and joy and self control in marriage? Perhaps these things matter too...
  
• Sex is not for everyone. Apart from being untrue, a good-sex gospel is unkind to singles.
  

Have I overstated? What do you think?

Home holiday

We are on holidays this week. At home.

Andrew, like the complete legend he is, is building a room under the house. It's almost finished. Last night he knocked out an asbestos wall (wearing all the saftey gear - then he wrapped it up and put it into a special bin) and today he's replaced it with a nice sliding glass door. The walls and ceiling are all plastered. Just a few bits and pieces to tidy up. I aim to paint it next week then think about tiles or something for the floor.

Today I went to the aa-cc conference. I listened to Richard Bauckham speak about eyewitness testimony in the gospels, and heard interesting papers on forgiveness and the imprecatory psalms, the challenges of teaching Australian church history, and preaching the Song of Songs. Micheal Jensen also spoke about the Man under trial. All good.

Especially nice to meet fellow bloggers in real life.