psalmthing to chew on: psalm 26

and i move on to psalm 26, and another psalm of david clearly set before the little bathsheba incident [2 samuel 11] where he starts by proclaiming how good and righteous he has been and inviting God to ‘examine my heart and my mind’ [vs. 2] which is a great practice to take from this psalm [altho maybe without the assumption of being clean and pure and righteous, unless it's been a good week for you].

and then this next part is maybe not the bit that would jump out to most people – ‘I do not sit with the deceitful, nor do I associate with hypocrites. I abhor the assembly of evildoers and refuse to sit with the wicked.’ [vs. 4-5] and i imagine could be used by a lot of christians to promote just hanging out with other christians, but i don’t believe that is trying to say – flashbacks to psalm 1 and the ;don’t walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners’ which i think is encouraging us to not invite non Christ-following people to have the biggest influence and input in our lives – we are definitely called [and Jesus modeled this well and strongly] to be in the world, but to not let it affect us ['do not conform to the pattern of this world but be trasnformed by the renewal of your mind' - Romans 12.2] so perhaps it is talking about ‘sitting in agreement with’ or ‘being on the same page as’ which is not a good thing in the company that is mentioned.

the last bit i really liked about this psalm was the unashamed proclamation of Who God is: ‘I wash my hands in innocence, and go about
Your altar, Lord, proclaiming aloud Your praise and telling of all Your wonderful deeds.’ [vs. 6-7] and ‘My feet stand on level ground; in the great congregation I will praise the Lord.’ [vs. 12]

i don’t think this just means forwarding ‘pass this email to 30 of your friends or Jesus won’t like you any more’ emails or facebook statuses/stati – i do think it means using the networks we are a part of to boldly proclaim either directly or indirectly [just by who we are and how we relate to people and uplift rather than bring down - by a positive attitude rather than a whiny complainy one etc] who Jesus is, but also doing it live with real people in actual conversation – living it, speaking it, modeling it…

because, after all, we do have a great thing – ‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.’ [John 10.10]

what do you get for the man who has everything?

it is 29 minutes til my birthday…

well, for me anyways, my south african family and friends have been celebrating it for hours already, as have the few contacts i know in Australia and different friends across Europe… have not heard from so many UK friends yet, but they’ll be waking up soon and joining in… and then when i sleep and wake up, americaland will have caught on and i will finally be able to celebrate along with everyone else.

my wife, tbV, is busy flying towards south africa to celebrate the coming wedding of her sister Shana to Carl and it would be so nice to have her closer here with me, cos an empty bed beckons, which is less fun, but we did get to celebrate while she was here and it was good and apart from that i think i pretty much have everything i need.

what do you give to the guy who has everything? cos i really do. well pretty much… i mean i could enjoy trips to hawaii and a skiing trip for my wife and a free-to-use close proximity jacuzzi and a never-ending supply of bacon and an iphone and an ipad and a kindle and a spindle… or something… and 101 other things… you can always have more stuff, but i really don’t feel like i need or particularly want anything. i am truly loved by God and i know Who i am in Him and that is more than enough. i have passion and vision and life and energy and hunger-for-lifefullnessity and much, much more.

so what is the answer then? what do you give to the guy who has everything? you give him love. and hugs if you happen to be close. and it is pouring in already via facebook even before my birthday officially begins and i’m sure through other networks and means as the day progresses.

so much love, so many incredible people in my life, so much strong friendship, so many passionate, hungry-for-real-rich-fulfilling life people, so so much.

how could i possible want anything else? i already have everything.

Live to the full.

Yes, I said ‘Live’ not ‘life’ cos ‘Live’ is a verb. and cos it’s me.

my friend and former wedding photographer Bex Meissner sent me this link to a great article on the top five regrets people have before they die and it is well worth reading the whole article, but just to whet your appetite the top five regrets people mentioned are:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Really good time to give those some attention now and see if any of those areas are lacking in your life and make better choices and live differently if necessary… but to read the explanation of each point go and read the complete article here.

Life, from a different angle.

stumbled upon these video clips of spoken word from a guy called David Bowden which i thort were too powerful not to share…

this is the first one…

and this second one on scripture i think is even more powerful

Take ten minutes and enjoy and be inspired and challenged.

new year’s evolutions to consider part vii [dream and help others live theirs]

DREAM, AND HELP OTHERS REACH THEIRS

following on closely from helping others to laugh more and find their joy is to dream and be part of other people reaching theirs [especially those who maybe grew up thinking that they weren't even allowed to dream] – this makes me think immediately of people and things like brendan, val and many others and uThando leNkosi place of safety [http://www.uthandolenkosi.co.za] of my friend heather wonnacott and linawo children’s home as well as Vision afriKa [formerly vision K before it expanded - http://www.visionafrika.com] in Stellenbosch and even the simple way scholarship programme we are involved with.

i think one of the biggest problems in the world is that too many people exist and not enough truly live. [as much as that sounds too similar to a cheesy movie tagline i think it is true]

the tagline of this blog is “sucking the marrow out of life” and my friend jon pointed out to me the other day that it could also be seen as a play on words of the opposite idea of “sucking the life out of something” – as kids, most of us get to live life to the full and be fully enthusiastic and excited about everything, as teens and young adults we set out to change the world with all energy, enthusiasm and optimism and then BOOM, somewhere along the line we come into contact with disillusioned adults who gave up and settled or got hurt or burnt along the way and most of us [those who get tired fighting it] fall into line and do likewise.

we exist. but we stop living. well ‘we’ is not a good word there cos i certainly refuse to do that. and so should you – it is never too late to start living again.

if you are in a place of doing what you do where you are simply because that is all you’ve ever done or felt you could, then STOP!!!

take time to dream, to ask some “what ifs” [if i could be doing anything in the world right now, what would it be? if i was pursuing the passion God has put on my heart in a certain area, what would it look like? which of the 'least of these' is God wanting me to have greater interaction with?] and then take a chance, risk it, step out of the boat if Jesus has called you onto the waves [matthew 14.22-33]

you only live once, so make sure that you LIVE once… every day.

the beautiful val [tbV] and i are in a place and a context that is often difficult or overwhelming or challenging or frustrating for a whole variety of different reasons, but one thing we know for sure is that we are where God wants us to be at the moment [and it is also a place and context that is often incredible and uplifting and exciting and challenging too] and that in itself is enough to move us from existment to life… after all Jesus says in john 10.10 that it is the enemy who steals, kills and destroys [our dreams and passions and hope and adventure and risk and and and] and yet Jesus came to bring life and life to the full.

consider making this an evolution of your life in 2012 because… and really hear this… why not?

for the next powerful one on offence-taking click here.

new year’s evolutions to consider part iv [spending time, money, energy]

continuing with this series of new year’s evolutions – with the idea of moving beyond a dream list of ‘i wish this for next year’ to some specific steps and actions to put into place to help you transform yourself into a better person in 2012. and my next evolution suggestion is this:

SPEND YOUR MONEY [AND TIME AND ENERGY] WELL:

this one follows on from yesterday’s live in the present (with the future in mind) and it’s about being intentional with your resources…

hebrews 12.1 speaks about throwing off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and run with perseverance the race marked out for you. while it will be good to deal with any ongoing sin that is tripping you up, another area to look at in terms of having a more effective year, is those things in your life which hinder you from living well.

the three areas i’ve mentioned are the three foundations of resources you have available to you and it is worth taking some time to think about how you spend each one of these – your time, money and energy

# TIME – how much time do you waste in procrastionary activities, whether it be silly facebook games or vegging in front of the tv for hours or googling japanese game shows… things that are not necessarily bad in themselves can become bad if you take too much time on them [we've been on holiday for a week and so i've been playing a bunch of mindless facebook games to pass time and refresh, but last nite i did a big delete as we head back to work tomorrow and i need to cut out unnecessary distractions] and so it’s good to regularly take a look at how you spend time during the week and make sure you are using it well. how much of your time do you spend in acts of service to others? discipleship, ministry, reaching out to ‘the least of these’? is there a change you need to make in how you use your time in 2012?

# MONEY – saw this quote by Tim Keller [author of 'Generous Justice' which is a great read and also the marriage book that tbV and i are currently working through together] this morning – “Christians should be pressing to keep their costs as low as possible so they can give as much as possible.” – i find that if you are not aware of how you spend your money, then it can very quickly get away from you in terms of being wasted on unnecessary things [takeaway coffees, eating out too much, junk food] when you could be using it creatively on significant things. the concept of tithing is an important one where you take a percentage of your money and set it aside before you spend the rest on yourself and your needs and wants. how much of your money do you spend on others? if you got one less cup of coffee this week, ate out one time less, watched one less movie, bought one less game, how could you use that money to benefit someone else? is there a change you need to make in how you use your money in 2012?

# ENERGY – this is closely linked to time so i will just leave you with the same questions and invite you to take some time to look at this area of your life as well. how much of your energy is devoted to kingdom things? is there a change you need to make in how you use your energy in 2012?

another great quote i was reminded of again recently goes something like this – “he who dies with the most toys is still dead.” if you want to evolutionise in 2012 then make sure that you invest in people more than you invest in things [whether it's job, toys, holiday houses, clothes...]. the currency of the kingdom of God is people and so it makes a lot more sense that we spend our energy, time and money on things related to people and not just on things…

spend your money [and time and energy] well in 2012.

to continue to the next evolution looking at community, head over here.

new year’s evolutions to consider part iii [the past, present, future]

continuing with this series of new year’s evolutions – with the idea of moving beyond a dream list of ‘i wish this for next year’ to some specific steps and actions to put into place to help you transform yourself into a better person in 2012. and my next evolution suggestion is this:

DEAL WITH THE PAST, BUT LIVE IN THE PRESENT, WITH THE FUTURE IN MIND

wo, that seems a little complicated, but really it’s just some more intentional living and this one requires a bit more work and effort and maybe even sweat and tears, but it is vital to having a life to the full 2012:

DEAL WITH THE PAST – one of the biggest aspects linked to this is forgiveness and this is such an important thing as holding onto unforgiveness and the bitterness/anger/resentment that goes with it, can be one of the most damaging things in life [physical, emotionally and even spiritually]

it has been said that holding on to unforgiveness is like drinking a cup of poison and hoping that the other person dies… because most of the stuff associated with unforgiveness hurts you and often the person it is directed at, is blissfully unaware that you are holding something against them. sometimes they may know and so it will affect both of you, but it is impossible to not forgive someone and live unaffected by that. what often happens is you build walls around yourself to protect you from being hurt again [by that person, or maybe by anyone] and while that can be incredibly affective, what it does is it also keeps out the potential love and support from both friends and God, which leads to loneliness and bitterness and increasing resentment and so on. the bible is clear that if someone has something against you [not even just you against them] you should interrupt your worship [leave your gift at the altar] and go and put things right with that person [as much as is possible for you, sometimes they won't be interested but you have to make the effort from your side] and then return when you can honestly and truly [and purely] be able to worship God properly [matthew 5.24]

so to create a base for great relationship with God and a platform for healthy, growing relationships with friends and family it is vital that you do not hold unforgiveness against anyone. there might be something that happened ten years ago [or when you were a young child] and yet every time you see the person or hear their name it sends shock waves through your body – you need to address it and bring forgiveness, or it will stick with you for the rest of your life. [and i am not suggesting this is an easy thing - when it heads towards areas of abuse, be it physical or even just verbal, and rape, then it can be incredibly difficult, almost impossible and will not be a one moment thing but rather a journey of choosing to forgive daily, but fortunately i am in relationship with a God who is great with the 'impossible' and so i know there is a hope and a future where He is involved]. taking this point seriously will revolutionise your life.

another aspect of dealing with the past is getting out of debt. living in debt is a crippling thing because it feeds itself and just continues to be an ever gaping’er hole. as much as it is up to you in life, live without debt because this affects relationships and opportunities and health and so much more. for some of you this will mean the tough decision to take a serious look at your lifestyle and making some changes so you can live according to your means and not beyond them – things like what you spend on entertainment, or even take-away coffee [i made a decision when i was in stellenbosch that as much as i love it, i can't really justify drinking at vida e cos the coffee is so expensive, but had specific times when drinking at Seattle was allowable] and even maybe where you live and what you drive. the distinction between need and greed can be a really helpful one in this area if we can be honest about it. and often choosing to spend less on yourself gives you resources to pour into others.

one other aspect i won’t go into in depth her, but which i think is key is to stop living off yesterday’s stories and miracles and accomplishments – be strengthened when you look back on them for sure, but always be looking forwards to the new thing God is going to do – if the stories you tell of God working in your life are ten years old, you need some new stories…

LIVE IN THE PRESENT WITH THE FUTURE IN MIND

again, there is a lot that can be said here – hopefully this blog works as a catalyst to spark off much greater thought and life change, but just a few thoughts… one area which i think differently to a lot of people, but similarly to how i read and understand the Bible, is the area of savings. while i think it is good to save specifically for something you have in mind and are working towards [i spent six months in the UK working to save up enough money so I could do a Youth With A Mission school in Holland in 2000] i don’t think savings for the sake of having a backup plan are a God idea. i believe for the most part we should be living and using the majority of our resources [time, money, energy] for what is happening now [although always keeping the future in mind, but not having the now determined by then then] and not just storing things up to enjoy later [see the parable of the rich fool in luke 12 as one example].

take a look at the early church in Acts 2.42 and 3 as well and see how the community aspect of how they lived affected their finances and how they looked after each other [community will be a future part of this series so watch out for it] because if we are a part of a community who really live in and around each others lives, then their will be mutual provision in all areas of life and cross-resourcing and it has the potential to create a really beautiful thing.

the problem with being stuck in the past [unforgiveness, regret, holding on to past failures and missed opportunities] or living in the future [being fully focused on the thing that it yet to come - "when I'm finished school", "when i'm married", "when i'm retired"] is that usually the now suffers very much and present relationships, opportunities, life and potential lose a lot of what they could be.

and so please put some time aside to think through these things and more – deal with the past and then live now, keeping the future in mind, but not being dictated by it…

to continue to the next one on how you spend your money, time and energy, click here.

new year’s evolutions to consider part ii [the wrong people]

so i have started a series of new year’s evolutions – with the idea of moving beyond a dream list of ‘i wish this for next year’ to some specific steps and actions to put into place to help you transform yourself into a better person in 2012. and my next evolution suggestion is this:

HANG OUT WITH THE WRONG PEOPLE!

wait, you mean ‘DON’T hang out with the wrong people’, right?

i meant “hang out with the wrong people”, altho to be more accurate there should probably be some ” ” around the wrong people.

so ja, i think the key to this new year’s evolution is the question ‘who is doing the influencing?’ – Jesus was constantly accused of hanging out with the “wrong people” – drunkards, prostitutes, children, women [who were "wrong" at the time to hang out with] and yet He was never influenced or shaped by those He spent time with as much as He influenced or shaped them. He was affected by His encounters with people for sure – He was moved with compassion for people on many occasions, but He was never negatively changed by those He spent time with.

so another key would be to be strong in who you are, in your identity. if hanging around with the “wrong people” continuously results in you being brought down and compromising and messing up, then you may need to regroup and hang with the right people for a bit until you are secure in who you are before setting out again.

but, as mentioned, Jesus often hung around with the “wrong people” and so if we call ourselves followers of Him [as i do] then it would make sense that we would do the same as well.

# Jesus didn’t care about his reputation – hanging around with the “wrong people” will make people question yours and that is okay, if you are living for an audience of One. as Dr Seuss put it [believe it or not], “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”

# The world is all about me, me, me. Jesus’ kingdom is about loving God and loving people and looking after the least of these [and if you are hanging out with the right people then as they live out God's kingdom they will take care of the 'me' for you, but it shouldn't be your focus]

# as much as we can assist and give and share with “the wrong people” so we can learn from them too – it starts by asking someone their name and taking some time to listen to their story – who knows what the so-called “wrong people” of the world have to teach us about life and love and our faith

and so this year, be intentional about hanging out with the wrong people – if you are a christian and you only ever hang out with other christians then you are not being a Christ-follower which is what we were called to be and do. who is one person or family that might be considered the “wrong people” to hang out with, that you are going to choose to get invested in their lives in 2012?

to continue to the next really important one, click here…

new year’s evolutions to consider part i [the right people]

so yesterday i posted about new year’s evolutions – with the idea of moving beyond a dream list of ‘i wish this for next year’ to some specific steps and actions to put into place to help you transform yourself into a better person in 2012. and my first evolution suggestion is this:

HANG OUT WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE

different people have different capacity for friendship and so everyone i imagine has different levels or degrees of friendship – not everyone can be our best friend and nor would we want them to be – but i believe it is important to have some significant people as close friends and to be intentional about building and growing relationship with them – so as you enter the new year, identify two to five people who can be these things for you [not necessarily one thing per person but between your close friends you should look to have this list covered]:

# people who build into your life – there are a lot of people who you can have fun with, but some people you leave them and feel like you have grown or benefited just from hanging with them – conversation will go beyond sport/food/movies and on to deeper things like life, love, God, changing the world – not always, there will be fun and crazy too, but a sense of realness and depth categorises this person and friendship – these people are so valuable…

#encourage – someone who cheers you on, whether it’s in relationships or work/school or just general life things – someone who, when the world is throwing tomato’s will come along side you, lift you up, put their arm around you and just love you…

#hold you accountable/wound you with love – proverbs 27.6 here ‘wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses’ – one thing to ensure before you invite this friend to speak into your life is that you can take the ‘wounds’ they might dish out – it is SO IMPORTANT to have someone in your life who is not a ‘yes person’ and will just thumb up everything you say or do – someone who when they notice you are in danger of messing up, will gently pull you aside and bring friendly caution and if necessary, gentle rebuke – you won’t always like this person and what they bring, but you will always appreciate it, because even if they get it wrong from time to time, you know the love it comes with. this person needs to be invited to speak into your life as it won’t happen naturally and once you give the invitation then you need to be prepared that they may just act on it… i honestly feel like my life is open to accountability to everyone, but some of the specific people i have invited to speak strongly into my life are my beautiful wife Valerie and then people like Rob Lloyd, Regan Didloff, Mandy Hunt, Bruce Collins, Chris Lindemann, Mike Strauss and others…

#listen to you/shoulder to cry on – you may need this person on call after the previous person is done with you… just kidding, but it is important to have someone or ones who will just listen to you when life has kicked you in the sore places – not feel the need to give you answers or solve your problems [so i may not be the best one for this, eek] but someone who will hear when you are struggling or angry or hurt or confused and just give you some love and a shoulder if you need to shed tears [which are a great thing and i wish i could do it more!]

#challenge/inspire/push you – i had this as two separate things but decided to combine them – someone who will help you to go further than you have been before – to try new things – to take risks [the good kind] – to pursue the life to the full that Jesus spoke about when He described His mission here on earth [John 10.10]

i am sure there are other things that could be added to this list and feel free to comment and do so below, but these are some of the important things that came to mind in terms of the right kind of people you should hang out with – not exclusively [see my next post] but make sure that you are intentional in terms of spending time with these kinds of people…

to continue to part ii click here…

grow up and become a child

on Christmas day, tbV and i went to visit a church called Epic that our friends Cody and Lyndsey go to and really had a great time – they meet in a cinema and we were greeted with good coffee and donuts, so pretty much everything i look for in a church [harr!] and then we found the one thing we had been missing in a bunch of churches we have visited since being in Philly which was a great message…

using clips from Elf [which we watched later that nite with some kids from the block cos we were so inspired, what a fun movie] and Charlie Brown Christmas [Linus the evangelist, who knew] Kent preached a simple yet powerful message on the need for us to learn from and be inspired by and emulate a lot of what kids, and specifically his kids, live.

from Psalm 118.24 “this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” he spoke about the unbridled passion and abandon that kids often have about life and used the example of a child opening a present [the real way] by just ripping it apart and trying to get to the gift [whereas the adult is being all mature and old and worrying about saving the paper and the ribbon and so on]

then in the Message, Matthew 6.34 reads “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”

the focus is on ‘what God is doing right now’ – often we have ideas of how and where God works and often He throws that on its head by working in different places and differently to how we might expect and part of our job is to take time to be still and observe and listen and watch to see where God is at work right now and where He is wanting us to get involved – it may not look like what we would expect, but by doing what we expect He would say, we may well be missing what He is actually calling us to – are we really being led by God. i would never have imagined that tbV and i would be living and working in the Simple Way, even after being so inspired by the book years ago, but we took time to wait on God and hear and none of us have a doubt now that this is where we are meant to be living and ministering…

lastly he mentioned the story in Acts 16. 22-26 which starts with Paul [and Silas] being stripped and beaten with rods and goes directly to him praying and singing hymns to God – how do we respond to adversity? one of the things children love to do is sing – with reckless abandon, any time any place. why don’t we sing any more?

and why do we sing songs to God in church? is it because He has forgotten how good He is? No! It is because we need to be reminded regularly how awesomely good our God is.

Grow up and become like a child. Your life [and living as opposed to existing] might depend on it.