Hmm...

Today, inexplicably, the well has run dry.

I have nothing to share, no suedo-insights or pop psycology to deliver, no wisdom or learning to impart. I am empty.

So in light of this and with a hint of mild desparation I turn to you, my beloved readers, all three of you.  I am asking you to inspire, enlighten and generally provoke thought in one another and me.  It doesn't have to be smart or funny or deep and meaningful, just something - anything.

I look forward to contemplating your musings and replenishing my stores of inspiration over the coming weekend. 

Be blessed.

You're only young once

 At the window of my house
   I looked down through the lattice.
I saw among the simple,
   I noticed among the young men,
   a youth who had no sense.
He was going down the street near her corner,
   walking along in the direction of her house
at twilight, as the day was fading,
   as the dark of night set in.

Proverbs 7:6-9

As much as we hate to admit it some of us are growing up, some are growing old and some are even maturing.  When we think back over what we have done so far in our lives we see lots of mistakes.  They occasionally led to adventures but mostly they led to struggle and regret.

So if you could somehow send a message to your 16 year old self giving them some wise advise, what would you write? Would you change anything, would your younger self even listen?

If you can sum up what you would say in a couple of sentences then please share it with us in a comment. If you need to take longer feel free to share anyway.

And if you are still young, if you still have not reached the age of regret then listen to us fools who have went before you and try not to laugh too much.

The King and I

William and Kate are getting hitched, super.

The BBC reliably informs us that 'Royal engagement delights world' which is quite a statement, I don't know how big a survey they carried out but I'm sure they're right.

I love a good wedding so I'm waiting impatiently for my invite.  After all Kate Middleton is a commoner and so am I, we are kindred spirits, birds of a feather.

I am genuinely pleased for them that they are getting married. Being married really is a blessing or at least that is what I have found. It's great to partner with someone, to take care of them, to love and be loved.  (Of course it's not the path for everyone.)

Unfortunately this media love-in won't last for ever.  The poor girl will be turned on, ridiculed and ostracised just like every other celebrity out there.Even the Royal family of whose country Kate Middleton is a citizen may turn on the girl, they may not, but they have form.   

She can withstand it but she'll have to be strong and her husband will need to be steadfast and upright. 

If only there was a monarch who was just, benevolent, merciful, honest and forgiving.  If only we had a King who would do anything for the citizens of His Kingdom.  A King who would not find it beneath Himself to go and meet, talk to, live with the common man.  If only there as a King who loved his subjects so very much that even for the lowest, the jobless, the broken, the scum, even for these would give up everything, would die, for their good.

Where can such a King, a King of kings be found?

Live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:10-14

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Paul Baloche singing 'Glorious'.   It's a song about Jesus Christ who 'stands above the rulers of the earth'.

Wet wet wet



I put a screw through a water pipe last night.  It got very wet.



We had a bad leek in the bathroom

It was a pretty stupid thing to do, the kind of thing you do in an instant and regret for a long time.  I'm sure I'll be able to laugh about it someday...

Thankfully my father-in-law is a plumber, it wasn't the main reason I married my wife but it was one of them.  He got the pipe fixed and the water is, once again, running through the taps instead of down the walls which is much better believe me.

Now the clean up begins.  To be honest it's not that bad, a bit of drying out, some duct tape and a lick of paint and it'll all be right as rain - so to speak.

We make the wrong decision in haste and we regret it at our leisure, isn't that the truth.  We give into temptation just the once and all of a sudden things have changed, there are consequences, there is fall-out, there is destruction.  It is better by far to resist than to give in and regret.  If we knew the consequences to what the bible calls sin we wouldn't commit any would we?  The thing is though, we do know.

There are consequences to sin in this life and consequences in the next.  We have all sinned we all face the consequences.  There is only one way to escape a guilty verdict on the day of judgement.  Jesus offers to take the punishment for you, if you let Him do that you will be declared innocent.  This is the only option you have, take it.

Boys to men

I was 'The Mandate' on Saturday.  It a men-only Christian conference, the speaker was Mark Driscoll with praise by Paul Balouche. 



Mark Driscoll



Mark Discoll is the Preaching and Theology Pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle.  A church which started as a house group in the mid-nineties and now has around 10,000 members.  He has plently to say.  He's a bible man, he's blunt and forthright, some may say arrogant as well.  Driscoll is what might be descibed as 'not everyone's cup of tea'.

He challenged me though and for that I thank him.  He challenged me to be a better worshipper, husband, and warrior, to fulfill my duties, to man-up.

When does a man become a man? Driscoll bemaons the attitude of young men which tells them they are still boys, lads out for a good time.  No sense of reaponsibility, no need to work, save money, plan for the future.  No need to treat the women in their lives with respect and love.  Able to place their social life above their family, to refuse to be a good example to younger brothers and sisiters in the Lord, to sleep with their girlfriends, to get drunk.   Christian men acting like worldly boys.  Christian men acting like they have never met Jesus.

Last week I posted about a little boy dressed-up like a little girl.  Maybe the greater concern is that so many men are 'dressed-up' like little boys.

If you are reading this as a single woman demand from the boys around you that they grow-up.  Do not accept irresponsibility from them, do not accept them touching you inappropriately or treating you disrespectfully.  You are worthy of the best - demand the best.

It's to late for me to change how I behaved when I was a single man, I can only try to be a better married man.  Many still have the opportunity to become men while they are young; don't waste it.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

1 Corinthians 13:11

Lost and found

Tears of the Saints from HistoryMaker on Vimeo.

Gordon Stewart from Asialink came to Rathcoole Presbyterian Church last night.  He was there to speak about the wok of that organisation in Iraq, some of which he had experienced first hand.

He told us about a people group in the north of that country called the Yaridi.  These people had not previously heard the good news of Jesus Christ.

They have their own religion where they worship the Black Snake - Satan.  They believe that as the Ark built by Noah (Genesis 6-8) was stilll afloat it sprang a leak.  They then believe that the black snake coiled itself into the hole, plugged it and saved the human race from extinction.  This is not recorded in the bible, this did not happen.

Each day after worship the Yaridi people kiss a carving of the black snake as they leave the temple.  They also believe the black Snake will only answer their requests if they are able to get their arms the entire way roung a 'hugging stone' found within the temple.  They no nothing of Grace, Love, Mercy, Forgiveness and heaven.  They are in darkness.

Iraqi christian pastors who where forced to leave Bagdad under threat of their lives have recently started to tell the Yaridi people about Jesus.  They have aquired a small shop as their base and they have had their first convert.  The light is penetrating the darkness.

Think about the love and grace and frogiveness that you have heard of.  If you have responded to it already and have accepted Christ then praise God, pray for these people and support them whatever way you can.  If you have not yet accepted Him, if you have seen His light, squinted, turned away and stayed in the darkness, what are you waiting for?  Accept His love, live in the light and be set free.

Matthew 4:16



"The people living in darkness
   have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
   a light has dawned.”

Man up

Boys wear blue, girls wear pink.

Boys like cars, girls like ponies.
Boys like Action Man, girls like Barbies.
Boys like building, girls like cooking.

Boys and girls are different, right?

One thing that seems to unite children of both genders is a love of Scooby-Doo. Who could blame them, it's great.  A little boy in America loves Scooby-Doo so much that he decided to go as one of the characters to a Halloween fancy-dress party. 

Little did he know that his desire to go as a Scooby-doo character was going to cause a huge ruckus resulting in his mother having to defend herself on the television.  The reason was that his favourite character was Daphne.

Was she right to let her son dress as a woman?  He was only five so what harm can it do?  Men these days are happy to wear pink shirts or ties or socks so surely it's not a huge leap to throw on a skirt of a morning.

It is undoubtedly strange to see a five year old boy dressed as a girl. The question is though - does it matter?

Discuss.