Spiritual Update 002

I recently finished reading ‘A new kind of Christian’ by Brian McLaren. The book made a lot of good points about things that I guess the author himself has experienced and been turned off by in Christian communities.

There were a whole heap of things that I identified with in the book which made it so readable and engaging for me. In it, the main character experiences doubts and differing views that get him into trouble with people who think more conservatively and express their faith in different ways.

I get frustrated by the church and how so many seem so far away from Jesus ideals. But...it took me reading this to figure this out....the church is full of individuals like me, who make mistakes. Therefore the more people there are in a church body the more mistakes will be made. It’s funny how I expect a church to be perfect when I know I myself am far from it.

I wonder what a church of Andrews would look like? Man, it would have its own set of problems!!

Here are some of the points in the book that stood out to me and got me thinking.

On sharing the good news about Jesus

· Instead of conquest, instead of a coercive rational argument or an emotionally intimidating sales pitch or an imposing crusade or an aggressive debating contest where we hope to ‘win’ them to Christ, I think of it like a dance. You know in a dance, nobody wins and nobody loses. Both parties listen to the music of the gospel and try to move to it. In this case, I hear the music of the gospel and my friend doesn’t, so I try to help them hear it and move with it. And like a dance, I have to ask if the other person wants to participate. There’s a term for pulling someone who doesn’t want to dance into a dance: assault…. “Of course sometimes the best of us get tripped up, and in doing so we trip others up too”

This winner loser mentality is true in the spiritual realm. We are in a battle with Satan and his forces and they do lose when someone decides to join Gods side and live lives that please him. But it seems I take this battle mentality into discussions about God where I either ‘win’ or ‘lose’. Leaving little room for questioning and seeking, and much room for pride and arrogance.

This book also stressed evangelism through actions and lifestyle. I hadn’t liked this quote for a while coz it seemed like everyone was using it but I think it is appropriate ‘Share the good news at all times… if necessary use words’

Jesus spent time with his disciples showing them what it means to be a follower of Christ and while He used words they were only effective because they were backed up with His life. I think to the most powerful examples of teaching in my life and they don’t generally come from people saying things but from people displaying things. I remember two people in particular with servant hearts whose humility inspired me, Josh Maskell and Steve. Their lives are far more profound to me than a year of quality sermons. It seems our life is the most powerful sermon we will ever preach. What’s yours saying?

· Getting to heaven is not the point of salvation. God purpose is for us to live redeemed lives right here and now by submitting to His will and letting his character, values and priorities take over our lives.

· The Bible isn’t the foundation of our faith. Maybe our faith is like a web where there are specific anchor points (church tradition, spiritual experience, scripture, community)

I think if anything is going to be the foundation it is Jesus. In many places He is called the rock, the stone the builders rejected, the capstone…etc. But we only know these things through relying on the Bible! Which, if isn’t true, Jesus may not be all these things He and the gospel writers claimed. I guess the Bible is the foundation of how we know about our faith but if the Bible is our only reason to believe in God then something is truly lacking in our Christian lives. What if it was found out some wrong books got put into the Bible? Would your faith survive? Interesting to think about.

· “We want it [the Bible] to be God’s encyclopaedia, God’s rule book, God’s answer book, God’s scientific text, God’s easy-steps instruction book, God’s little book of morals for all occasions……….I think that when you let go of the Bible as God’s answer book you get it back as something so much better.” I asked what that would be, and he said, “It becomes the family story. Look, you have kids. You must give them some idea of what the Poole family name means. You tell them stories and their great-grandparents and grandparents. You give them the idea that to be a Poole means something, right?” I nodded.

Well the Bible does the same thing. It tells the family story – the story of the people who have been called by the one true God to be his agents in the world, to be his servants to the rest of the world. It’s absolutely essential – to give the family a sense of identity, so we know who we are and why we’re here and where we’re going……..“What are you saying?” I asked. “That the Bible doesn’t have any answers?” “Sure it has answers, but I don’t think that’s the point. Think of a math book, Dan. Is it valuable because it has answers in the back? No, it’s valuable because by working through it, by doing the problems, by struggling with it, you become a wiser person, a person capable of solving problems.

I know after I have read the Bible I find myself thinking, “If I… then God will”. I also notice I have a habit of making the verse apply to just myself and not the rest of the world. Turning faith into a very individualistic thing which I don’t think it is supposed to be. God requires us to be a part of a community of believers for a reason.

· Our interpretations of the Bible reveal less about God or the Bible than they do ourselves.

· So when evangelicals say they’re arguing about the Bible’s absolute authority, too often they are arguing about the superiority of the traditional grid through which they read and interpret the Bible.

I also read another book at the suggestion of my minister “Truth and the new kind of Christian” by R. Scott Smith, which exposes some of the major flaws in taking up a post-modern version of the Christian faith.

In it the book shows how the author of ‘A new kind of Christian’ Brain McLaren and other post-modern thinkers believe that there is no objective truth. Which was already obviously wrong to me; but helped me understand better why I hate peoples loose interpretations of Scripture.

It seems a lot of it has to do with 1) A knee jerk reaction against Christians who turn people off by proclaiming they know the truth in an arrogant way. 2) It allows people to have control over what the Bible says. i.e. It means different things to different cultures, therefore in my culture doing such and such is fine. 3) A reaction against churches turning cultural or subjective things into objective truths.’ E.g. Raising your hands = worship, you cannot drink alcohol, certain “swear” words are unacceptable…

After reading that critique I am more cautious about swallowing certain things that are being taught by post-modern thinkers. I still feel there is a lot to be gained through reading both books with an honest and open mind.

Perscriptive vs Descriptive truth

I was talking to a mate a while back and he was telling me how prescriptive truth is stressed in church more than descriptive truth. Prescriptive truth tells you behaviours to engage in or refrain from, which is common to most of the sermons we hear. Descriptive truth is more along the lines of explaining what God has done for us, sharing his love and grace and letting that infect and shape us. Paul does the latter in his letter to the Romans and Jesus spent far more time with the disciples letting them discover who He was and how much He loved them than he did telling them what to do. I don’t know what an ideal ratio of prescriptive:descriptive truth would be or even if there is one, but it’s just something else I had thought about.

Maths analogy

I finally ‘got’ Logarithms for the first time the other day. Something just clicked and I finally understood why, Log x² = 2Log x

Now I feel this is a lot like the Christian message. Maybe it just takes time and/or God to step in and make it click. You can have it explained to you a lot of times, and even really well but if it doesn’t ‘click’ then you just don’t get it. We all know you can go through life doing the problems without really understanding what you are doing.

The Bible says “Seek and you will find”, so ‘clicking’ is a thing that naturally happens when you are seeking an answer, but I guess there are things that hinder people from clicking. Not really having a desire to understand, a hard heart, pride…I’m sure there are more.

Now about life…

I’ve been having some really good discussions with friends about God and the big questions in life. I can’t think of a better way to spend my time. Learning to listen to others and their struggles and having the privilege of sharing our experiences. I really genuinely love my friends too! I can remember a time in year 12 where I would see people only as potential converts but fail to enjoy them for the person God has made. As good as it would be for people to experience God, forgiveness, and join the rest of God’s family on the mission to restore this world to what He intended; it still isn’t right to view people like that. Now it’s great because I really enjoy their company regardless of their belief.

It is sooooo good to be living in a community where I can bang on my next door neighbours door at 2am in the morning to play video games. Where I can go kick a footy and have meals with my friends any time of the day.

This got me thinking back to Youth Ministry and circles of community…

Each circle represents something you are involved in with your life (Basketball, Bible study. The more circles you and another individual belong to the better friends you can potentially become. Of course there are exceptions; but I have a few relationships that cannot go any further because of the fact that all I have in common with this person is they cook me and omelette or swipe my zip card. We really have nothing much to talk about and then end of each conversation is fairly awkward. Up a level from that are people my age that serve food or work behind front desks and I can talk to them about University because we have that in common but it is still awkward coz we are not involved in each others lives. Then finally there are the boys on my floor that I...

The more overlap the deeper you can go

1) Eat with

2) Live with

3) Play sports with

4) Talk with

5) Play video games with

A relationship that shares all these things in common is far more likely to thrive. It gets me to thinking about the friendships that I am pursuing. It’s impossible to form deep relationships with everyone and I guess I could be focusing more of my attention on the people who I share more of my life with.

Church is going great guns, it all winds up in a few weeks and I am going to be sad to go. I have built some decent relationships at the youth group and over the past 4 weeks we had this guy come in and talk about creation + evolution stuff. He is really open minded, humble and wise. I really appreciated the fact that he said he is more interested in finding the truth than in holding to the Bible. That is, if the claims of the Bible don’t match up to how it really is he will throw them out. I also really love our minister. He has been so generous towards me and Kev in every way.

I really, really appreciate this. Especially from ministers who can easily become wrapped up in other things that are ‘more important’. I have been lucky to have two ministers who would take time out of their schedules to talk with me. If I ever became the pastor of a church I would like to be like that.

I haven’t really read the Bible for a while since I have been reading all this other stuff (A new kind of Christian, The story we find ourselves in and Disappointment with God, by Phillip Yancey) I think I like reading these other things so much because they are Bible based but they look at things from fresh angles and new ways very contrary to how I view and read the Bible. A lot of the time it is just a chore to read, so I don’t think it’s a matter of, ‘just keep reading it and the feelings will come’. But a matter of approaching the Bible with different attitudes and perspectives. I don’t know when the last time was that I read the Bible to enjoy it!

I need to be more patient on the girl front. I am just far to keen to get what I see as the next logical step in my life happening. (Marriage) Perhaps God in his wisdom has other ideas for me and maybe I won’t be happy with them at the time but I pray that I can submit to them. I can see a whole bunch of advantages to starting my teaching career single but why the heck did God have to make females so attractive!!

I’ve had one or two rough situations to deal with, but everything is turning out gold. “God works for the good of those who love him” seems really fitting for my life at this point.

Life sometimes still feels like I am wandering through with no apparent purpose except for self serving ones. That’s something that needs to stop, I need to get my eyes off myself and fix them on God and others. Probably on God first, then the focus on others will flow from that. At least the Bible suggests we ‘fix our eyes on Jesus’. (Hebrews 12:2)

That’s about it at the moment, sorry its been such a long time. I have been doing a lot of thinking but really I have no excuses, its not as if I am slogging away studying for anything!

Keep seeking to discover more

Andrew

003 Tardio = Slow in Spanish

This just in. Person who writes my headlines has just been fired.

I’m Tony Tardio and welcome to the late edition of the news.

Police reports

Three men from Woods 5 were arrested last night and caught by police, accused for shoplifting. However, once back at the station police were informed that the enormous pile of goods the men were carrying was infact won at a local ‘grocery bingo’ game. Embarrassed, the police sent them on their way with a much needed complimentary shopping trolley to cart around their honestly acquired supplies.

Lorimer heads to Mexico on a mission

Over Spring break our media followed both Lorimer and good friend Davies on their trip to Sombrette, Mexico. The 1600km, 20 hour bus trip was made easy due to the fact that Lorimer had spent the night before switching rooms with his next door neighbour and pulling an allmost-nighter with fellow Woods 5 resident Jeff Smith. In the wee hours of the morning ‘Guitar hero’ records fell at the feet of this newly formed combination. There is now talk of both parties dropping out of college to join the pro circuit.

The fact Lorimer had also recently purchased a book titled ‘A new kind of Christian’ by Brian McLaren also helped the trip fly by. This book posed challenges and made provocative statements that made Lorimer get angry, think, and process questions about what it means to be a Christian. Heres what others have said about the book.

‘Definitely worth challenging yourself to read’ -New York Times-

‘This book gets back to some of the key aspects of living as a Christian that many people may have forgotten’ -Chicago Tribune-

‘An engaging story that I find myself relating to and wrapped up in’ -Readers Digest-

The trip to Mexico wasn’t without it’s patriotic last stops either. Stops were made at places such as Hardee’s, McDonalds, Braums’, Taco Bell, Jack in the Box and Arby’s to name a few.

Health advocate Sheila Eatright was outraged with the choice to allow the team access to Arby’s restaurants. Their infamous “Cheese sticks” remain on the menu despite the controversy surrounding them. “This heart stopping product consists only of deep fried cheese” Sheila remarked, going on to say, “the only other thing that is as unhealthy, the team members encounter at each toilet stop, urinal cakes” Lured in by the forbidden flavour Lorimer went against her advice and has now attempted to eat both. True story!

We now cross live to Manwell Gonzales to report on scenes in and around Mexico.

Yes, thanks Tony. Here I am just across the border inside of Mexico where Lorimer has seen and received his first genuine Mexican wave. The scenes were wild and Lorimer was overheard commenting. “The MCG doesn’t hold a candle to this!”

The border crossing proved no problem for the 100+ member, 11 van convoy, who avoided suspicions of involvement with the mafia by taping white crosses on each of their vans. Once over this border onlookers were stunned at such an immediate change in affluence, architecture and language. Those hailing from island countries seemed especially confused with the change in language.

Due to the lack of running water and poor septic systems all Mexican toilets have bins next to them that you must dump your used toilet paper in. Lorimer started off badly; throwing 2 sets of paper in on his first trip. Fortunately he was quick enough to fish them out before they completely submerged….umm, Tony are we breaching any privacy laws here? …not in Mexico…continue.

Lorimer enjoyed celebrity status on the trip which ended up irritating him a little. Post trip he commented, “I was asked the same questions so many times, asked to say ‘typical aussie phrases’ and surrounded by people I sometimes felt only cared about the country I was from. It did get frustrating after a while”

Girl situation: Lorimers flamboyant hairstyle and unusual accent has landed him in a few odd situations of late. While flattered and even proud of people requesting photos of him outside of Wal-Mart and a local Mexican restaurant, he is trying to stand on the truth that this makes him no better of a person. “Girls admiring me, for whatever reason, should be directed up. God is the one who made me like He did and if someone finds enjoyment in that then it is probably his fault. But this reality gets clouded, as does everything when females are involved” Lorimer lamented.

Contrary to his mothers belief it seems knotty, unwashed hair attracts females. What sort of females, researchers are yet to determine! Sources have also released this equation on the likelihood of Lorimer falling in love with certain individuals. (Expressed as a percentage)

Initial interest shown = I

No of times told, “I love your accent” = ACC

General Attractiveness = GA

Make up factor = MF

L = 100 + GA

------------- ------

( I x ACC ) MF

Lorimers short post trip sickness (more on this later) allowed reporters to gain access of his personal accounts of the events that took place in Mexico. Short snippets shown here have been taken out of his personal diary from the trip.

I’m pretty sure I learned more Spanish in 5 days than I did Japanese in 5 years! It’s amazing how much motivation and practice plays a part in learning. As a future educator I don’t think there is anything I can do for students who refuse attempts to learn. It is becoming more obvious that most of the responsibility does fall back on the student, contrary to what I have believed. However it is my responsibility to make their learning as relevant, useful and attractive as possible.

Faces lit up, both mine and the kids when they had understood something I’d said. The meaning having been transferred over thin air due to a lovely thing we call language. It really was special when I strung my first intelligible sentence together, it made me so happy to see a child responding with a nod and a smile. I guess we sort of take for granted the that we can know and understand what someone has meant with the words they have said.

The most commonly used word “Bien” or “Bueno” was followed closely by “el partedoo deh football” meaning lets play football, or something like that.

My favourite saying was “Piso majado”, Caution wet floor. I don’t know why! Mark and I just said it all the time.

1^st day: Cleaned toilets and cooked (washed hands before starting the latter)

2^nd day: Dug a hole, it was hard work. Now I can see why Darryl Kerrigan was so proud of his son Dale.

3^rd day: painted at a church. The highlight of the day came at lunch when I yelled ‘allanyos’ to our Mexican hosts while pointing under the table. They jumped back from the table quickly, worried that a spider was crawling around, coming to get them. Hahaha. I also knew the word for joke which came in handy. They took it really well… or at least I couldn’t understand any of the loud Spanish abuse they were sending in my direction.

There was also a cute little kid at this worksite who I threw a ball around with. I faked him with a throw but then once he realised what I had done every one of his throws became a fake that I “fell for”. Infact he wouldn’t throw the ball until I had turned around wondering where it had gotten to. I soon found out, as it flew into the back of my head for the 97^th time. I’d then turn round and see a cheeky little grin that made it worth doing another 97 times.

4^th day: went shopping in town and found some cool Spanish CD’s. Once I got back on the bus and opened them I found they suffered from 3^rd degrees burns! I guess that’s why they were selling them for a dollar each.

Later that day we helped put a shower in the local kindergarten teachers house. She was 15 and lived by herself during the week. I hope that shower makes life easier for her. I’m glad we could help with that.

Now back to the news desk.

Border water declared unsafe.

In a bid to stop a ‘free flowing’ epidemic, health officials have warned travellers that not only is the water in Mexico undrinkable but also the water along the Texas border. Unfortunately some have already suffered the effects of not keeping up to date with current news. Sadly, Lorimer returned from Mexico with more runs than a Canadian ski resort. Ski season was soon cancelled as the sun they call ‘immodium’ shone brightly and melted the record snowfall.

Academic tragedy:

Another tragedy struck Lorimer upon his return to the U.S. Now fallen from the pinnacle of academia to the lowest of low. Lorimer has scored, wait for it. 64% on a True/False, Open book test…that’s right 64% These scars may take months to heal.

AMERICAN HEADLINES

Now onto what has become a regular feature in the news, “Stupid Americans”

Brick mobiles (the ones you could build houses with) have a commanding market share in Australia. Nokia hold conferences discussing whether their revolutionary new phones complete with, “Snake”, will sell in Australia.

In other unrelated news there are 25 letters in the Australian alphabet. The letter K has been scrapped. Being unable to resist, Lorimer has seen this tric worc on multiple occasions.

SPORT

Intramural Frisbee: The flying saucers are off to a start with their season winning their first two matches comfortably but not without controversy. International recruit Lorimer, was nearly was mobbed by angry fans after breaking his contract to play against his team for the opposition who were down on players. Rumours spread viciously throughout Flying Saucers headquarters and staff were considering releasing him from his 7 game contract with no pay. Fans responded with genuine concern and have convinced management to allow Lorimer to play out the remainder of the season.

Intramural soccer: After a dismal 5v2 loss to start their season Aston Sunvilla has also had to deal with the pressures of replacing two of it’s female superstars whose commitment to the team has come under fire from head coach Huss Hiddink. “These individuals need to weigh up their priorities; earning millions of dollars from professional golf or winning an intramural title, it’s that simple”

Aston Sunvilla’s recent performances indicate that Hiddink may be blowing things out of proportion. Hard fought, come from behind wins of 6 v 4 and 2 v 1 in their past two outings have seen memberships triple from 1 to 3. “That’s a good result for the club”, defensive stalwart Jackson remarked.

Tennis: Lorimer has recently be appointed to a position on the ‘Greewood High Tennis’ coaching staff as assistant coach. Head coach Don East commented “It’s good to have someone who knows a little bit about tennis”. Such knowledge has proven unfruitful as Greenwood High recently succumb to their fourth straight defeat of the season in what can only be understated as a ‘Whitewash’. The final scoreline is as follows.

Greenwood v Thomas Jefferson

#1 Singles 0 8

#2 Singles 0 8

#3 Singles 0 8

#4 Singles 0 8

#5 Singles 1 8

#6 Singles 0 8

#1 Doubles 0 8

#2 Doubles 0 8

#3 Doubles 0 8

Total (Sets/games) 0/1 9/72

Rumours abound that Lorimer would have forced the entire team to drop their pants to their ankles and cut a lap of the courts had it not been for hero and Greenwood #5 Warren House. His achievements are being widely praised within the Springfield community and his fame has spread throughout campus. In an extensive and enlightening post game conference Lorimer commented about the performance, “I have nothing to say”.

Injury news now, and Lorimer has spent two weeks on the sidelines before going against common sense and participating prematurely in physical activity after Hyper extending his right knee, which has been checked by both his doctor and athletic trainer. TAB are so sure this run of injuries will continue that they have put out some odds on his next injury.

TAB Injury odds (Payouts for $1 bet)

INJURY SITE

Lower extremity $1.75

Upper extremity $1.95

BODY PART INJURED

Wrist $5.40

Elbow $4.60

Ankle $2.75

Knee $3.25

Shoulder $6.50

Head $15

TYPE

Ligament damage $1.50

Broken bone $7.80

Muscle $4

Combo $17

MECHANISM

Rotation (internal and external) $2.40

Flexion $2.90

Extension $2.20

Too much Sport $1.02

School:

Once back from Spring break the load has been a little tougher on Lorimer who now has to attend school 5 days a week. His high school observations have revealed some telling things. Mainly, that most year 9 students can bench more than him!

Easter break:

Lorimer went up to KC (Kansas City) with his next door neighbours from Woods 5. Jeff Smith and Robert Williamson “I must say now, that I am so glad to have been put next door to these blokes. They are a heap of fun, I just love hanging out with them.” Lorimer commented in passing to our nosey reporter.

While in KC they played (for lack of a better word) some golf, wiffleball and basketball. Lorimer also had the opportunity along with his Aussie counterparts to watch his first major league baseball game. Kansas City Royals lost 6v5 but earned us all a ““free”” Sundae, large snickers and a large coffee. Lorimer was particularly impressed with baseballers throwing skills. “It is unlike cricket where players lob the ball in to the stumps, these guys rocket it in, hard and flat.

Miss Woods:

In a shocking turn of events Lorimer has finished dead last in the Annual Miss Woods pageant. Bookies had him as a rank outsider but nobody thought all that previous experience would land him in last place. His agents believe his refusal to raise lustful thoughts has cost him the coveted title. This could be the end of an il(lust)rious career that has spanned at least a decade. It may be time for Lorimer to hang up the heels.

WEATHER

There is currently no weather outside so this segment has been cancelled until further notice.

STOCKS

The stock report has also been cancelled because it feels bad for the weather.

So I guess that’s it.

God bless, Goodbye and goodnight.

Mexico, Mischief and Marvelous mates

Out and about with Jeff and Robby

Our grocery bingo winnings

(Robby left, Jeff right)


This is where Americans play pretend games of football

Australian for "sucked in"

"Steeeeeerike two"

KC Skyline

Now onto pictures from the Mexico trip

Cute kids

Dallas (halfway to Mexico)

Yep, we dug this with our bare hands

Beautful sunset in Mexico

Mexican Headquarters (Sombrette)

"Yes, I do go to Uni with Andrew"


Cool kids

Whatcha gunna do when they come for you?

Fun time's over kids!

Some of the work we helped with

Local cactus

More cute little mexicans

Impressive park job

Impressive tarantula (Mark picked it up)

Fang shot

Worlds largest (let-down) Maccas

Typical Mexican home

Just a cool photo

Change in affluence and architecture once over the border


Speaking of architecture

Miss Woods 2007:

Say G'day to the last placegetter

I look a little too much like my mum!

My fantastic friends who supported me

Speaking of support i hope my bra holds out!

And finally some photos from our Residential Advisors grandparents house

A chiles 'lake snake'

And another


At Chiles manor


Marky and Me still friends at the end of the trip