Short Break

I am having a week of prayer, reflection and fasting. I won’t be posting for a week or so. I pray God will bless you.

Gef

Western Education – Part Two

Being able to ‘find holes in most arguments’, being ‘critical’ and ‘having a very strong sense of wanting to learn things for yourself’ can be good attributes. Scientists, engineers and leaders in society need to have these attributes. Nothing would have been invented without the curiosity and drive that comes from wanting to learn and break new boundaries. Being critical and finding holes in arguments leads to a thorough analysis of concepts before they are put into practice.

The problem is that these attributes require wisdom. I was staunchly anti-Christianity throughout my youth (as most Australian youth are) due to the fact that it didn’t add up. When I analyzed the equation, I came out with the simple conclusion that it was paradoxical, illogical and (most significantly) flawed from the point of view that religion seemed to be the main cause of conflict throughout human history. The crusades alone were enough to close the case for me.

Without a role model for faith or exposure to ‘religion’ there was no reason for me to do anything but live a completely hedonistic lifestyle. When I did search for spirituality, it was Buddhism and yoga that caught my attention as they required no leaps of faith, just a ‘you be nice to me and I’ll be nice to you’ attitude that seemed to make perfect sense.

Western society is in a desperate situation. The people are lost and disillusioned with consumerism. Science is flawed ( read ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ by Bill Bryson to get a grasp on just how much science contradicts itself.) people are searching for a ‘spiritual’ experience but they are not turning to Christianity. Christianity has ‘done its dash’ with most people. Christians are seen as being hypocrites. The problem is, they just don’t see what a poor reflection of our God we are.They won’t listen to us.

‘If they don’t hear, how will they know?’

It might be time to say a prayer for us all. The west is charging toward the edge of destruction at an alarming rate and all the rest of the world seems to want to do is mimic it. The ratio of ‘hard soil, weeds and good soil’ has flipped and is getting worse all the time. So many don’t want to open their hearts to the truth. If only they knew.

Do what you can today. God bless you, Gef

Western Education – Part One

Growing up and being educated in Australia, I was a very independent and critical teen. I was gifted to have an education that prized student learning, independent of teachers, problem solving and being outspoken. I grew to have a very argumentative nature and enjoyed battling wits with all and sundry. I would often take a side of an argument, and use my critical thinking skills to drive the argument to victory or stalemate, even though I knew the case was weak or even down right wrong.

This ‘powerful mind’ and sense of ‘being righteous’, having the right to represent a point of view, irrespective of others point of view or the soundness of the view, is common in western society. People’s right to think, believe and act as they please is held in very high regard. We train our youth to analyze situations from many angles. This is good in the sense that it creates very powerful critical thinking and problem solving skills, as well as empathy.

The problem is: we end up with children who can find holes in most arguments, who are critical and have a very strong sense of ‘wanting to learn things for themselves’. These youths often grow up to rebel against their elders and society in general because they feel they have the ‘right’ to discover life for themselves. They can justify whatever they do with the reasoning that ‘It’s my life.’

The factor missing is the knowledge of right and wrong. We teach our youth that there are many possible choices in life BUT we fail to teach them that there is a definite right choice. Education without faith can only direct children to the view that they can anticipate an outcome but the best way is probably to ‘give it a go’ and see what happens. You can’t put an old head on young shoulders after all. Boys will be boys and so on.

Oh how I wish I knew God when I was young. Life was so lonely back then. Drinking, drugs, rebellion, looking for love in all the wrong places, it only led me to destruction. I know there are so many lost kids, teenagers and adults in my home country of Australia that are struggling to get through life on their own strength. I just wish they were taught the truth. Secular education doesn’t teach you the one thing you really need to know…God loves you ! God bless you, Gef

Eye Gate, Ear Gate and the Battlefield of the Mind

I wrote a post once called “No Fantasy in Sex”. The post has received 187 views and 13 comments. My next most popular post has about 30 views and one or two comments. So what is it that got everyone so keen to put their 2 cents worth in ? The controversy about if masturbation is a sin and if having a fantasy sex life is ok or not.

My view on it is like this; The devil is not the arch enemy of God. God has defeated the devil and has enough power to annihilate him without raising a sweat. The devil is our sparing partner. The devil does not attack God, he undermines God’s work in us. God hopes that we will run to Him for protection and so realize His worth.

The battle ground for this spiritual war is in our minds but the devil does not mount an all out frontal attack (although it may seem like it sometimes), he is crafty. The gates to the battle ground are our eyes and our ears. What goes through those gates determines the strength he has to fight the war.

If you are watching porn and fantasizing about your co-workers, the devil has plenty to work with. If you consume God’s word and protect your eye and ear gate your defense will be good , the devil will probably pretty much leave you alone and head onto an easier target (and there are plenty out there).

A cornerstone of God’s work is the family unit. When a man and a woman get married they ‘become one’ in the eyes of God. The traits of God that were imparted to men and the traits of God that were imparted to women are joined. When a couple is blessed with children that is when the generational impartation of the very being of God begins. The relationship a husband and wife have with each other and their children is the most effective text book for a child to learn about God from.

For this very reason, the devil is there, testing the strength of people’s defenses. When he finds a hole or notices that someone is holding the door wide open for him, he goes to work.

I watched an Islamic talk show on TV the other day. A prominent Muslim personality was discussing with a live audience what was sinful. They were discussing the example of slipping someone money to get better service. Apparently, if you give money to get better service, and in the process don’t inconvenience someone else and are only paying for something that is your right, you are not sinning BUT the person who accepts the money is sinning and the money becomes Haram (forbidden).

To me Protestant or Catholic, Old Testament or New, Muslim, Jew or otherwise, there is no need to nit pick about this. Even from a secular point of view, look what pornography and infidelity is doing to our race. We are tearing our race apart because we can’t contain the animalistic urges that taunt us all.

A question I have asked a lot of teens I have ministered to is “ If your life was a DVD, every moment, every though, how would you feel if we played it for all of your friends and family ? ”. Nearly all of them dreaded the thought. My response is “ Put it on !! You will see that I have been down there with the lowest of the low and yet His love us plucked me from eternal damnation.”

I have a file on my computer addressed to my daughters. It tells them how much I love them and that if anything happens to me, I want them to have my computer. On it are all my devotions, correspondence, pictures and so on. I believe that they could really get to know me from what I write, read and watch. Could you do that ? What would they find on your computer ? Is that who you are ? Who you want to be ? You may think what you do in private or think about in your head is inconsequential but if you are losing the battle in your mind, you are losing the battle.

God loves you and he is with you 24/7. Don’t waste His Grace !

God Bless You

When Mother Teresa accepted her Nobel Peace prize, someone asked her “ What can we do to help with world peace ?” She responded “ Go home and love your family.”

A Reality Check

As I rushed to the hospital a couple of nights ago, my wife saying “ Wake up Kellie, wake up, don’t go to sleep honey.” And my one year old daughter with her eyes rolling back in her head and her body hot and convulsing, I was in a state of EXTREME fear. Just writing about it brings tears to my eyes and a pain in my chest.

Kellie had been sick for a few days. At first she had a temperature but no other symptoms and we thought that maybe it was brought on by her new teeth coming through. The second night she got very hot and we took her to the doctor the next morning. He gave her medicine and said to take her to the lab for blood tests if she was still hot in 24 hours. We gave her the medicine and her temperature went down, she sleep through the afternoon and awoke seeming much better.

That night, we gave her another dose of medicine and within 30 minutes she was shaking and looking seriously unwell. My first thought was that she had a reaction to the medication. We jumped in the car and sped to the hospital.

My mind was racing and I was praying desperately in my head. I started to think “ What have I done to cause this ? Please God, help us ! Help my baby ! I’ll do anything Lord, please, please, please !”

I know we are no longer under the consequences of our sins. I know that we do not suffer God’s wrath when we do wrong. I know my baby wasn’t sick because I was being punished. BUT, I took a very quick stock of my life that night and it gave me a new determination to rid my life of all that is not pleasing to God.

You don’t realize that the ‘weeds’ have crept in. Slowly, over time, you compromise your walk with God. Little things become ok. You justify them to yourself….I do right in so much of my life, a few little sins here and there are ok.

I want to get a tattoo “16/2/09” so I can remember the fear that I felt that night. So when I lose perspective, I can recall that all that matters to me is living right by God. Not because I am scared He will punish me if I don’t but because it is the only life worth living.

All my thanks and praise to God that Kellie seems to be getting better BUT I still pray “ Not my will but His” If something does happen to me or one of my family, I will be crushed but I want to be so close to God and so right with Him that there is no chance I will be ripped away or pull myself away from Him.

Don’t let sin create a buffer between you and God.

God Bless You, gef

Ephesians 5: 22-33
22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing[b] her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31″For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[c] 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Ephesians 6: 5-9
5Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.
9And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

It is funny that when people read these verses, they like to place conditions on them. Ok, if my wife submits to me, I will do such and such. Or, if my husband loved me like Christ loved the church, I would submit to him or if my slave (employee, child, whoever) respects, fears and obeys me, I will treat them accordingly.

The fact is, these are not conditional. The ‘ego’ creates a cold war situation, ‘I won’t do this until he does that’, ‘I yell at her because she nags me.’,’ I cheat because he doesn’t pay me attention.’ ’If he hits me, I’ll stab him.’ And so on. The truth is, we are to do what is right regardless of what others do. The system works by each participant simultaneously doing what they are supposed to do regardless of what they other does.

It is agape love. You do it because it is the right thing to do. Your reward is the knowledge that your father in heaven is pleased. If you do it and it doesn’t work and so you give up, you weren’t doing it for the right reasons. Love, be faithful, honest, diligent, patient, generous, kind, for no other reason that is a direct command of God. Let all else fall into place.

“Seek first the kingdom of God and all else will be added unto you.”

“Your character is what you do when no one else is looking.”

God Bless You

Preconceptions and Grace

Your preconceptions form your reality. If you are absolutely disgusted by pizza and I tell you I have a piece of pizza in my hand, you will feel revolted. If you absolutely love pizza and I do the same, your mouth will start to water. You won’t even know if it is the best slice of pizza, created by a team of world class pizza chefs and using the best ingredients known to man, or a slice I found I the rubbish bin, covered with flies and slime. Your preconception will get you geared up or down for what you expect. And usually you will get what you expect because your expectations are powerful.

Grace is the most powerful substance in the universe !! The blood of Jesus washes us clean and what was sinful becomes holy..

Isaiah 1:18 (New International Version)
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

When you woke up this morning, God had prepared a day of infinite possibility. The problem is, we wake up with a whole lot of preconceptions about what the day is going to be like. I’m fat and unhealthy, my wife is a nag, there isn’t enough money to pay the bills, Mondays are always the worst day at work and so on and on and on.

Wake up and realize, God’s grace has washed you clean ! Whatever you were like yesterday you don’t have to be like today. Whatever you thought about life yesterday doesn’t have to influence you today. If you were fat yesterday, yes you will be fat today but if you decide that “ Today is the first day of the rest of my life” and you pursue a better tomorrow, things will get better.

God’s image of things is always wonderful. Don’t shortchange yourself by settling with your own bent, twisted and disfigured perception of reality. Its not what you know that hurts you but what you know for sure that just ain’t so (to borrow from Al Gore)

Remember Gideon when the angel appeared to him and called him a mighty warrior. “ What me ? nah, sorry, wrong person. I am just an insignificant little kid.” Remember David when he went o fight Goliath. He wasn’t handicapped by everyone’s preconceptions about what he was or what he was capable of doing.

Believe God’s reality, smash your preconceptions today !!

“Many things effect your future, but none as much as you.”

God Bless You……. and You belss others, Gef

Grow or Go Stale

Surabaya is a pretty dull place. There are no parks, no beaches (clean enough to go to), no museums (worth visiting), and not a whole lot to keep you entertained. There is a zoo that is worth ONE visit in a lifetime, and there are malls, lots of malls.

I have been in Surabaya for over 8 years now. I have a friend who was living in Kalimantan and moved to Surabaya about 2 years ago. When he arrived, he was 137kgs. Since getting here he has started and left an online teaching degree (due to a major fee rise), started and nearly finished a personal training course, lost 23kg, built up a very popular web site ( WWW.disciplineorregret.com) and continued to raise his son and develop his relationship with his wife.

He has encouraged me a lot and recently I have joined a gym and revamped my eating habits. At one stage I started an online degree but gave it away in the face of the realization that I would have to devote a lot of time to it over a four (+) year period. I am keen to do some study or learning but at the same time I am quite content to devote my time to being the best father I can be to my two daughters and the best husband I can be.

I have been in a bit of a slump at work lately and have devoted a lot of time and prayer seeking God’s will for what I should do. I have always trusted God and my main prayer has been that it should be His will, not mine that takes precedence.

I travel over 45 minutes each way through very congested and polluted traffic to get to work and it seemed there would be an opportunity to move to a location that was literally 5 minutes from my house. Yet I still was very determined to do His will and not my own. I am very willing to suffer and do things that may seem to create a circumstance of disadvantage for myself and even my family because I know that if it is His will, it is the only thing worth doing.

Just recently I received an answer to my prayer. It wasn’t the answer I was expecting, it wasn’t even an answer I had anticipated. I am looking forward to a very challenging year ahead and I pray that I can ‘work hard at work worth doing’.

When you find yourself in a rutt, ask yourself “ What am I doing ? Are you learning and growing ? Are you taking every opportunity you can to develop yourself ? What can you do to make your circumstances work for you ? If your do not grow, you will go stale !! If you are not learning and developing and facing new challenges and experiences, your very nature will cause you to become bored and unhappy. Rectify this, be aware of your situation. Too many people get depressed and malcontented because they don’t realize that they don’t have anything in their life except monotony.

Life is about seasons. There are hectic seasons and there are quiet seasons. Seek His will for your life in every season. Look for the advantages, the positives. What can you learn today ? A quite season is usually a time of preparation or reflection. If you are not getting ready or realising what it is you need to realise, you may end up in your quiet seson for a long time.

“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy”

GBU,Gef

Facebook Evangelism

It has been over 10 years since I was last in my home town of Hobart Tasmania. I recently began using facebook and have caught up with a lot of my old friends. It was very interesting to find out what they are all up to and how they have grown up and started families etc.

In the profile section I put ‘Cristian’ in the religion section but when I looked at my friend’s profiles I saw comments like ‘Religion : No thanks’ and ‘Religion: the reason most wars are fought’

It reminded me that when I knew most of these people I was also an atheist. As with a lot of people in the west I used logic more than faith and concluded that if religion was worth while, how could it have led to so much suffering. When I lived in Australia I smoked, drank, took drugs and lived life believing that I was responsible for me and that was that.

Now, being a born again Christian, I understand that life without faith is pointless (and depressing) the thing is : I want to be a positive influence on my old friends and I want to help to lead them to Christ BUT I am also aware that what I have experienced might come as a big shock to them.

I know that my friends must open the door of their hearts and let Jesus in and I want to be a part of helping them> The thing is it has to be God’s way and God’s time. Remember the analogy of the different types of soils used in Luke 8. Part of me wants to charge on in and tell them all the wonderful ways in which Jesus has changed my life. Another (small) part of me doesn’t want to mention it and just to relate to them as I always would of. The thing I have decided to do is keep it in prayer and take it as it comes, trusting that the spirit will lead me.

The stakes have been raised slightly as 2 of my friends are planning to come to Bali in 6 months. I will go and meet them and it is sure to be obvious that I have changed. I just pray that me being open about my religious life can lead them closer to God and not further away.

When I shared this with my grade 5 student’s today, they were amazed that so many people in Australia are openly atheist. The east is far more faith and spiritually based than the west but I believe that is largely an outcome of education. My fear is that as eastern society progresses, they too will forsake religion for consumerism.

Come what may, I know who my God is and I know my name is written in His book of life. I pray the same for you. God Bless You

Creatures of Habit

Human beings are very habitual. Being habitual is an instinctive trait. Memory builds a list of experiences that bring desired outcomes and we tend to stick to those experiences to fill our needs. Stepping into a new experience can bring rushes of adrenaline, anticipation and even stress. Don’t believe me? Just think about the extra sense of excitement when you a try a new exotic food (and then there’s sky diving!)

The thing about habits is that they can be bad or good. A golfer practices their golf swing to build muscle memory. After a while, your body can repeat your golf swing with very little conscious effort and it will be remarkably similar time after time. So why aren’t all golfers of Tiger Woods caliber? The problem is in the programming. When building the muscle memory people build in mistakes that they then repeat over and over again. It’s the golf coach that analyzes the swing and instructs about where correction is needed. The golfer must then make a lot of effort to re-program their swing as it is easier to build a new habit than renovate an old one.

In life we have also built in bad habits or had them programmed into us by people as we have grown up. We can however, change our bad habits. We can replace bad habits with good ones and fine tune our habits so that they become beneficial for ourselves and others.

A lot of smokers are successful in giving up because they replace smoking with drinking water. When they have a craving they drink a glass of water or eat candy. Instead of eating to relieve stress you can retrain yourself to go for a walk or go to the gym. Instead of waking up slowly and unhappily, depressed about the fact that you have to get up early, you can train yourself to get out of bed earlier than normal, eat your breakfast and go for a walk.

“ Many things effect your life but none as much as you.”

Take a good long look at yourself. Don’t try to change everything overnight. Choose one thing about yourself or one habit you have that is negative and work on replacing it with a habit that is positive.

Quote from ‘My name is Earl’ : “ We tried replacing cigarettes with carrot sticks but we couldn’t get em to light”

Don’t let life get you down, build yourself and others up. Amen