Chickafinty ~ A Life in the Laundry

"I'll pray for you"

I'm working my way through "Teach Me to Pray" by Andrew Murray.  It's hard going and slow going because there's lots to think about and time to be alone and contemplative is thin on the ground.

He talks extensively about intercessory prayer, and how important it is in the life of a believer.  This is an element of prayer that I have kind of taken for granted as that's what Christians do; they pray for others.  They pray during times of sickness and sadness.  They pray in praise.  They pray for guidance.  They pray for their families, their churches, their leaders, their politicians, their friends, their pets.  It's what Christians do.  They pray.  It's not a badge of honour, nor a sign that God cares more for the Christian, or that the Christian is in God's good books, it is simply what we do.  A lot of the time it is the only thing we can do.

Fully sick and totally random

Had the most amazing experience tonight.

We booked in for the Family Astronomy Night at the local university and saw a presentation on black holes, which was mostly incomprehensible, but nonetheless interesting.  (My notes from the lecture are even more interesting as they were written in the dark with a none too sharp pencil!  We heard about "spaghettification", which has to be the second best word I have learned this week after pandiculation.

Then, then! we got to look at the night sky through two of the telescopes.  Despite a lot of pollution in the air from fires - it was smoke so presumably it came from a fire somewhere?? the view was spectacular.

ALPHA CENTAURI

We saw Alpha Centauri through the first telescope.  It was hard to stand still enough to see a constant clear image, but the double star could be seen.  It was incredible to see with such clarity what the naked eye misses.  The chappie with the telescope assured us that there were actually three stars there, but I'll have to take his word for it.

BUTTERFLY NEBULA?

I think this was the second thing we viewed through the larger of the two telescopes, but I'm not sure.  It could have been a butterfly I suppose, but the thing that spun me out was this: looking at the sky with the naked eye, about 15 stars/objects were visible.  Look at the same place through the telescope however and thousands of stars instantly sprang into view.  It was (literally) breathtaking.

Then, the piece de resistance, and the one thing we booked in to see:

JUPITER

Oh.  My.  Goodness.

I was expecting to see a white blob in the sky.

I saw a planet, not white but slightly beige with darker brown stripes running through it.  I saw three of the 49-odd moons, the Galilean moons to be precise.  There are four Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Calisto, but I don't know which three we saw tonight. 

Mind blowing, indescribable wonder is the only way I can think of to describe what we saw tonight.  it was nothing short of incredible and worth every cent of the $35 it cost for a family ticket.

I want to go back and look again.

I want to say along with the Psalmist

The heavens declare the glory of God;
   the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

 Day after day they pour forth speech; 
  night after night they display knowledge.

 There is no speech or language
   where their voice is not heard.

 Their voice goes out into all the earth,
   their words to the ends of the world.

Psalm 19:1-4

The whole earth is full of His glory indeed.

Who knew?

Nine days ago I wrote this and under point #1 I had SERVE, with an open-ended 'if opportunity comes' attached.

Well, knock me over with a dead fish if two different opportunities didn't come my way yesterday, from out of a clear blue sky and an unexpected source.

I've got two projects on the "thinking and praying" pile right now.  They're not up to the point at which I could share, but as soon as I can I will.

One would involve a certain amount of honesty and punch-in-the-guts authenticity, not to mention tact, and from that point of view it scares me a bit, but my prayer is that God will make it clear whether to proceed or not.

Be careful what you pray for ;) 

On falling short

I am typing in the midst of a mess.  Piles of paper, empty jewel cases (the cd kind), a dvd spindle, about 148000 old business cards belonging to Mister Bear from his former job.

There's stuff on the floor, on the desk, on the window sill.

There's boxes of scrapping stuff not yet unpacked from the Girls Night In two weeks ago.

The dining room is not much better. We haven't done any dining in there for quite a while.

The sofa bed is piled with sheets and towels that have to be inspected before they can be folded and put away.  Chickabid had a huge play in the flooded poo pit last week (don't ask.  please, if you love me, don't ask) and some of the stuff on the line got fouled.  I am trying to screw up the courage to deal with it, but no success yet.

The lounge room is passable...so long as you ignore the filthy carpet overdue for a steam clean.  The bedrooms- over them we shall draw a veil.

The toy room is fine so long as the door stays shut.

I am a child of the King, but my life is so screwed and flawed how can His light possibly shine out.  I'm at the end of my ability to cope.  I'm writing over here about what's really going on, and where I think we're headed and why.  I am torn between this life which is commanding so much time and effort, and the life which is to come.  I guess the biggest encouragement is seeing for the first time that the "great ones" of the Bible weren't really all that great after all.  They were fallible, frail human beings just like me.  They made mistakes - huge ones some of them...Peter and Moses immediately spring to mind - but they didn't trust in themselves.  They put their trust in God.  They didn't try to be more than they were.  They certainly didn't hold themselves up as spiritual models "Look at how fabulously spiritual I am", rather they looked to Jesus - the author and finisher of their faith.  Now, going back and looking at their words and actions we can clearly see the light shining through.  But they themselves were oblivious to the light and were only aware of their shortcomings and how far short they fell.

My personal inclination is to throw in the towel and give up.  To stop even trying for that perfection, cos brother, it ain't gonna happen.  But then, some encouragement from Philippians.  We're studying Philippians on Tuesday nights at home group and this verse jumped out.  It's from Philippians chapter 1 and verse 6"...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

I don't get to throw in the towel.  There is still work for me to do. 

I'll be honest.  I am frightened.  I am frightened not about the end, for I know that is secure.  I am frightened about what lies between now and the end.  The Unknown.  At this time in history we're a mirror of Noah's time.  Noah knew that time was running out and he knew that he had a God appointed job to do.  Then, as now, there were those who mocked and scoffed and chose not to believe.  Noah had the strength and the courage to keep going in spite of the unbelief around him.  He chose to put his faith in God.  The rest of the people considered him a bit of a loony.  That was until the first raindrops fell.  Then they were forced to believe, but it was too late.

There will be more about this line of thinking at the climate change blog, but for the moment I'll say this.

We are nearing the end.  To continue the Noah metaphor, the storm clouds are gathering.  Opinion varies as to what they mean.  Some think it will pass over.  Some think that the clouds are empty.  Some refuse to see the clouds at all.  Some blame the clouds on God, or on his people.  George W is probably blamed for the clouds in some quarters.

Oh, yes.  The storm clouds are there and when they break, all hell will also break loose.  Pun completely and utterly intended.  But on those same clouds will come the Saviour, ready to gather His own.  The clouds that brought destruction to the world in Noah's day meant salvation to those resting in the safety of the ark.  It's worth thinking about and pondering on.

And while we wait, I have some housework to do ;)

Friendship and fellowship

We had an interesing discussion during home group last week in the context of a seminar that one of our members attended on chaplaincy.  Debate - of a friendly and searching kind - ensued about what constitutes fellowship and at what point can a Believer be "friends" with a person, but not enter into fellowship with that person.  At what point does fellowship not only become difficult, but impossible or questionable for the Believer.  Fellowship implies a oneness of mind, a common purpose, a joint understanding.  If those three elements are missing then there's a barrier which actively prevents fellowship.

As should be the case for any Believer, the point at which fellowship begins and ends is the Bible, or more specifically, the authority of the Bible.  As Christians the Bible is our final, ultimate and only authority.  It's not a popular view, even within the church, but it is true.  The Bible is God's final word on His creation and His marvellous work in salvation.  If agreement is not present over the truth and authority of God's word, then friendship is the only option.  Fellowship simply cannot be.  For fellowship to occur when there is inequity of undersanding about the Word of God, then someone or something has to compromise in order for fellowship to take place.  It's not acceptable to compromise on the Bible.

Perspective

Colin/Colette the abandoned humpback whale calf that ended up in Sydney Harbour this week just gone has had Sydney abuzz.  The city seems to have been polarised by debate over what should or shouldn't have been done for Colin.  No matter which side of the fence you were sitting, the news on Thursday that Colin was to be put down was deeply upsetting.  On Thursday night I sat on the lounge with a weeping child on each knee as we mourned the decision that had to be made.  Ladybaby in particular was moved by Colin's plight and she kept shouting "But it's not fair!  They shouldn't be killing him; they should be looking after him".

Colin's plight and his eventual death has tugged at the heartstrings of people everywhere.  One lady whom I have never seen before bailed me up in the stationery aisle at Coles to tell me what b******* they are at the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Two things occurred to me in relation to Colin.

If we are, as the evolutionists believe, nothing more than the end product of a random biological process in which only the strongest and fittest survive, then we have no business grieving over Colin.  He is the result of a natural process; Darwin's theory in practice and nothing more nor less.  Colin's abandonment and demise should barely cause a ripple in our pointless, materialistic, live-for-now-cos-there's-nothing-after mentality.

But that clinical detachment was sorely lacking in the news, in the faces of those on Pittwater devising ever more schemes for saving Colin.  There was no "well that's just the way it is" in the actions of the guy who bought all the milk he could find and poured it into the harbour in the hopes that Colin would somehow derive nourishment from it.  Chickabid and Ladybaby, as young as they are, *knew* that what was happening was an abomination.

I put it forward that it is because we are NOT the end result of a random evolutionary process that Colin's plight so disturbed us.  We are human beings created in the image of God...the same God who made the whales.  We, as human beings, were given dominion over the animals by God (Genesis 1:20-31).  We were instructed to look after all that God had made, to use it wisely and well, and to be good stewards of all He gave us.  The reason that we all felt like we should do something about Colin is because God gave us the responsibility to care for the fish of the sea, the birds of the air and all the creatures who crawl along the ground.

In the perfect world that God created "Colin" could never have happened.  But when sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, God's perfect world was broken.  Colin's death is a consequence of that sin, of that broken world.  It wasn't fair.  It shouldn't have happened.  It is an abomination.  It is a reminder that rebelling against God has serious, far-reaching consequences and it should cause us to take pause and ponder our own mortality and our own attitude towards God.  

Some would blame God and berate Him for allowing it to happen.  Others would claim that it is evidence for there being no God at all because if there was He wouldn't allow this to happen.  I say that our very response to Colin points to the existence of God, the reality of sin and its far-reaching consequences.

The other thing that I wanted to say was brought home by a caller to 2GB and it put the whole Colin episode into stark perspective.

In the five days that Colin languished in the Harbour, over 1100 babies were aborted in Australia.  1100 babies who would have been willingly adopted into Australian families had they been brought to term.  We drive past an abortion clinic every time we go to church.  I wonder how many babies lost their lives on Friday in that clinic?  I wonder how much pain they suffered in being ripped from their mothers?  I wonder why *that* doesn't make the front page of the daily papers?  It is to our collective shame that it doesn't.

Irreconcilable Differences

I agreed to teach Sunday School this term and picked up the materials yesterday afternoon,

Ah, we have a problem.  The first lesson: Creation,

You would expect that in a church environment, with everyone holding the Bible open in front of them, that there would be consensus on the creation of the world. 

You would be wrong.

I feel so frustrated, angry, infuriated and plain disappointed.  The Bible could not be more clear on how long creation took.  It was 6 days.  Not 6 weeks, 6 months, 6 years, 6 thousand years, 6 million years or 6 indeterminate preiods of time,  It was 6 days.  If you look solely at the Bible and nothing else, believing that it is God's final, true, uncompromising word, then the only conclusion you can draw is that creation took six days,

Every word that is in the Bible is there for a reason,  Why is it that a whole chapter is devoted to creation?  Why is it that there is a pattern to the words, the phrases - in a way is it almost poetical - why is it spelled out so clearly?  The language is not confusing, it's not ambiguous, it's not difficult to comprehend.  It describes creation in a way that the smallest child can understand.  It has to be that simple.  And yet there are those, even in churches of all places, who deliberately confuse the issue and make something quite simple, difficult. 

Science tells us that the earth is billions of years old.  Science tells us that we came about through a long process of mutations in a molecules to man kind of way.  Science tells us that it takes billions of years for rivers, lakes, mountains to form and I could go on ad nauseam...literally to the point of sickness.

The Bible tells us that God created the world in 6 days approximately six to ten thousand years ago. 

For reasons that I cannot understand, a lot of Christians have a problem with this.  On any other point, they rely solely on the Bible as the final, infallible word of God.  But mention a six day creation and they immediately retreat behind an obfuscating "science" argument.

On many issues, science and the Bible are irreconcilable.  Scientifically speaking, water does not turn into wine, people cannot walk on water, seas do not divide in half, food does not drop from the sky, and thirty three year old men who have been put to death by crucifixion don't rise from the dead after three days and present themselves wholly healed to over 500 people.

Whilst there are very few mainstream Bible-beliving Christians who would deny the resurrection on the basis that it is scientifically impossible, there are a surprising number of Christians who deny a six day creation because science has proved it impossible.

Go figure.

The correct response should be "Then the science is wrong."

We don't change God to fit the science; we change the science to fit God.  If God and science are irreconcilable, we side with God.

You can't have it both ways and trying to only creates serious problems.  There are irreconcilable differences here and we should be acknowledging that, not kow-towing to it.

I fully expect to get untruths thrown at me in the classroom.  What I cannot accept is those self-same untruths being thrown at me in a church.

The church and me??  We have irreconcilable differences.

The world already thinks we're weird for believing in God at all.  We're already considered fools for preaching a risen Christ.  They couldn't think we were any weirder for believing in a six day creation,  But we should be very wary about compromising the book of Genesis.  Call the book of Genesis into question and you have at one stroke destroyed the whole foundation of the Gospel.  The Gospel doesn't have its origins in the New Testament, but in the earliest chapters of Genesis.  If God said (but didn't really mean) six days, then maybe He said (but didn't really mean) that sin entered the world through Adam.  maybe we're not all sinners because Adam sinned and maybe we don't need a Saviour at all cos no sin means no need for a Saviour.

BTW, that bit about "God said but he didn't really mean...", if it had a familiar ring about it, it should.  Those are pretty much the words that Satan used in the garden of Eden.  Want to cast doubt on God and make it really effective??  Use the oldest ruse in the history of the world,  It worked in 3500BC and it'll still work in 3500AD should God stay His hand that long.  You just ask "Did God really say..."  And then make His words mean something different to what is written on the page.

Nothing new under heaven

I asked for, and received, the Lion Handbook to the Bible for Mother's day.  I've been hanging out for it for a long while and I began reading last Sunday evening.

I am so disappointed.

With the turn of every page there seems to be an underlying message: The Bible says X, but that's not what God meant.  From Genesis 1:1 onwards there is an unspoken "Did God really say/do/mean..."

Here are just a few examples:

God didn't really create the world in 6 days.  Query: what did Bible believing Christians think about creation prior to the "theory" of evolution?  What did they believe when they read about the six day creation? 

The flood wasn't global...just incidentally, if the flood wasn't global and all consuming, then God breaks his promise to man every time there is a local flood.  He promised Noah that he would never again destroy the earth with a flood.  Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't local floods a common occurence?  Either God wasn't telling the truth when he promised, or the flood wasn't a local one.  My money is on the latter.  I've staked my life on it. 

The plagues sent upon the Egyptians didn't manifest themselves as something miraculous; they were merely logical consequences of the natural world.

I could go on and on but it's far too depressing.

There is nothing new under heaven.  That's the exact same lie that Satan used in the Garden and we fell for it.  He doesn't have to update his techniques at all...the same lie works today as worked 10000 years ago. 

I have never been so disappointed in all my life.

Heart Changes 2

Not sure that I am going to have the words to describe this really weird space I'm in at the moment.  A few weeks ago I shared the "Heart Changes" post.  It's hard to see heart changes and harder to describe them, but I have gone from a position of no assurance to a stance of complete assurance.  It's not even a feeling as such, more of a knowledge.  I haven't been prepared for what the heart changes have meant in practical terms.  I am worrying a lot less.  A lot less.  The depression is still there but it's manifesting itself more in physical symptoms than emotional ones, which has been an interesting change.  Another thing completely different is my attitude to speaking out about my faith.  A few times lately I've found myself in the middle of a conversation with someone and bringing up my faith and beliefs almost without knowing it; without being aware of it really.  I have a new and overwhelming thirst to know...who, what, where, when, why (in Biblical terms that is).  Stuff that made no sense before is suddenly finding a place where it makes complete sense.  I realised a few weeks ago (for the first time, sadly enough) that the Bible is not a set of books, but one single book with one single message, divided up into 66 parts.  The message of Genesis is the same as the message of Revelation and the same message as Isaiah, and Habbukuk and Haggai and Ephesians and everything else that you might care to name.

That was driven home on the Sunday morning when Mr G preached on Obadiah.  He was preaching about the message which the prophet Obadiah was giving to the people of Edom.  They were the descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother...Jacob who had his name changed to Israel.  In the middle of Mr G's sermon the penny dropped.  He was talking about relationships.  In the context of Obadiah he was discussing the pride and arrogance of the Edomites; their excessive view of their own importance; their lack of care for the Israelites who were being scooped up and carted off into slavery by the Babylonians.  Far from caring for the Israelites, who were after all their relatives, the Edomites stood by and watched them being taken away and assisted in the rounding up and capturing process. 

The whole point of the Bible is the relationship between God and His creation.  It describes a relationship broken and then a relationship restored.  The pattern of broken and restored relationships is repeated over and over and over again. 

God created the world and had a personal one-on-one relationship with Adam and Eve.  Adam and Eve sold their relationship with God for a lie and sowed the seed of sin in the human race.  The relationship between God and man was severed.  God made a way for his people to have a relationship with Him, but it was not the close and personal relationship that Adam and Eve had.  It was a relationship fraught with rules and regulations.  It required constant sacrifice and required a specific group of people being set aside for the ceremonies necessary for God to forgive his people.  With the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus came a restoration of that relationship.  No longer was there a need for an intermediary; no longer was there need to make atonement for sin.  Jesus' death was the final atonement for sin for all time.  No more sacrifice, no more offering of an animal's blood for the remission of sin - Jesus' death on the Cross accomplished complete pardon and restored the ultimate relationship...once again it was possible to be right with God.

A right relationship with God seems to be the necessary element for right relationships across the board.  It is the foundation on which all other relationships are modelled.  What is marriage?  It's a reflection of the relationship between Christ and the church. 

In our wedding service we chose a passage from Ecclesiastes:

    9 Two are better than one,
       because they have a good return for their work:

10 If one falls down,
       his friend can help him up.
       But pity the man who falls
       and has no one to help him up!

11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
       But how can one keep warm alone?

12 Though one may be overpowered,
       two can defend themselves.
       A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. 

(Ecclesiates 4: 9-12 from biblegateway.com)

At the time I was very disappointed with the way in which our minister used that passage in his message at the wedding.  He took the point of view that the three strands were husband, wife and the marriage itself, which I believe to be a mistranslation and probably explains why we stopped attending there.  The cord of three strands here refers to husband, wife and God.  When God is at the centre of the marriage, what can stand against it?  What can break that cord?  That ultimate relationship - the one that transcends life on earth and will continue into heaven, unlike marriage, is the most important one to get right.  I pray that we will continue to do so.

Our God is an awesome God

Tricia has come safely through surgery and is in the ICU.  Can't believe that something happening to someone from clean across the world has the ability to impact on me and my little corner of the planet.  I feel like running out into the street and shouting to anyone who'll listen...Our God is an awesome God.  Tricia is not out of the woods yet and the road to recovery will be long and hard, but just think, in twelve months she's gone from being a wife with life-limiting lungs, to a wife and mother with a new set of lungs and a new chance at an earthly future.  In their whole story you can see the hand of God in their lives.  What a testimony is her faith and what an example of a truly Godly husband.  I can think of at least one "husband" (not mine!) who could learn a thing or two from Nathan.