Joyful, wartime simplicity

This post marks the revival of my blog. No promises, but hopefully it doesn’t die again.

During the last days of my honeymoon, while staying in Bali with Rachelle’s friend Englyn, her husband Ben and their kids, I spent time flicking through a book we bought for Ben for his birthday last year. The book is titled “Brothers, We Are Not Professionals” by John Piper, and the following paragraph (and the chapter it was part of) really got my attention:

Very few of our people have said to themselves: we will live at a level of joyful, wartime simplicity and use the rest of what we earn to alleviate misery. But surely that is what Jesus wants. I do not see how we can read the New Testament, then look at two billion unevangelized people, and still build another barn for ourselves [a reference to Luke 12:13-21]. We can only justify the exorbitance of our lifestyle by ignoring the lostness of the unreached and the misery of the poor.

After being in Indonesia for five weeks, and almost daily seeing kids risk their lives as human traffic cones and barefoot senior citizens collecting rubbish, this got me thinking to say the least. But it raises a whole bunch of questions:

• Where do you draw the line between simplicity and luxury, between needs and wants?

• Similarly, but on a more personal level, at what point am I willing to sacrifice my personal comfort/amusement for the sake of another?

• And if you feel moved to give, is it better to meet the needs of others now or invest so that you can give more later?
  

That last one is probably the most relevant to most of us, because most people DO have a desire to help the less fortunate (if you have no social conscience you should probably spend some time mulling over the first two). If I had given away everything I earned as a 20 year-old (thousands of dollars), the 30 year-old me would not be in a position to even consider giving tens of thousands of dollars.

Hmmm... (universally accepted as signifying thinking while writing?)

Perhaps the right equation looks something like this:

Things that cost a lot just because of the brand = bad
Activities with relational benefit (e.g. dinner with friends) = good
Investing wisely so that I’m able to do more with each year that passes = good
Not starving, being homeless and needing charity myself = very good!
Giving as much as I can without compromising any of the good or very good things = best

What do you think?

Small, Grey and Dangerous

This post is for anyone who thinks koalas are cute. In other words, some Australians and all foreigners.

+++++

A cranky koala achieved what an angry croc couldn't - it beat off thieves.

The bizarre incident began when Rockhampton police in Queensland received a tip-off that someone had a crocodile in their possession.

"The police came to the zoo, checked out our exhibit and we were down a female freshwater crocodile,'' said Tom Wyatt at Rockhampton City Council.

The 1.2 metre crocodile - known simply as "the girl freshie" - was dragged by thieves over a 2.4 metre fence in the middle of the night.

"Can you imagine these people struggling over a 2.4 metre security fence with a writhing wild reptile?" he said.

"It's not a baby you are holding in your arms here. We are talking about 40 kilograms and 1.2 metres of absolute fury."

"They are not man-eaters [like salt water crocodiles]. But they can still give you a nasty bite."

The thieves originally planned to take one of the zoo's koalas and only changed tack after it proved too vicious, 21-year-old zookeeper Wil Kemp told smh.com.au.

He had been told by police that four people were involved in the wildlife heist, which allegedly involved stealing a koala and swapping it for drugs.

"The original plan was to steal a koala - that's what they were going to use to swap [for] the drugs,'' Mr Kemp said.

"[But] apparently [the koala] scratched the s**t out of them.''

"The blokes have quite a lot of scratches and lacerations caused by the koala.''

The thieves then decided to take a crocodile instead.

"I don't know what makes someone go, 'Oh we tried to steal a koala and that didn't work so let's go and steal a croc.'"

"The people who did it must have been quite stupid. It's the last thing I wound have thought a member of the general public would try to steal for drugs.''

Mr Kemp said the meat and skin of a freshwater crocodile was worthless, but the stolen reptile might be sold in the pet trade for about $600.

"I'm worried and angered. I spent the last three years looking after it. I hope at least [the person who has it is] looking after it OK.''

(Source: smh.com.au)

Not Thought-less, Just Time-less

I never imagined I would sink to such depths of blog neglect. Yet here I am, struggling with the decision of what to write about after nearly 3 months of blog barrenness. At least I know I'm in no danger of becoming Blog Nerd.

Given my silence, this post will cover a few events/observations...

At the time of my last post, it had been for several days since Pastor Eddy Yang drowned while fishing. Such was the faith of the Parramatta Chinese extension service, though, that I hesitated to blog about his passing in case he did a Lazarus on us! From all accounts, the congregation prayed around the clock for a week after his death. What faith!

To me, Pastor Eddy always made walking into the 6pm service at church interesting. On more than one occasion, his greeting at the western foyer door involved grabbing my arm (and not letting me go for a good 20 seconds)and telling every nearby female about my eligible status.

I appreciated your endorsements, Pastor Eddy. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have had any effect. Hope you're having a great time fishing with Jesus!

Then, a few weeks later, we lost Jeremy Wong in similar circumstances. It had been quite a few years since his family were involved in Asian Service (he was one of our drummers) and he had become a popular guy among the youth at the Hills campus, but still he always had time for a chat and a laugh.

The celebration service (AKA funeral) was very inspiring. I knew he was a good guy, but there was so much mettle beneath the surface.

Jeremy, you were gone too soon but you certainly left your mark. Thanks for keeping it real.

Although it is unfortunate that death has reared its ugly head too often at the start of this year (a couple of other young guys passed away last week), I want to have a rant at something I heard said in response to these circumstances: it was something like "The devil has won the battle, but he won't win the war".

He most definitely won't win the war, but let's not even give him credit for winning a battle either! Besides the fact that the Apostle Paul said that "For to me, living is for Christ, and dying is even better", the fact remains that nothing occurs outside the sovereign will of God. I wouldn't be too fussed about a person's lack of sound theology if they kept it to themselves; but he is someone people look up to and he said it in front of a large group of people, many of whom are new Christians. If you're interested, have a look at this article for an excellent explanation of what God's will is.

Thursday 16 Feb will forever be known as Shaun's Independence Day, for it is the day I moved out from under my parents' roof.

I am now a Resident Tutor (RT) at the Herring Road Apartments, a collection of shabby-looking townhouses on the Macquarie University campus that have been on the "To Demolish" list for quite some time, apparently. Fortunately, the interiors are decent.

In return for paying no rent, I am one of two RTs responsible for letting students back into their rooms if they lock themselves out and generally making sure that students don't cause trouble. Despite the horror stories told by my fellow RT, Aurora, the worst thing that has happened was getting woken up at 4am by campus security... two local students who had gotten friendly with some female American exchange students were caught running around the complex in their underwear. More annoying than traumatic.

A good inexpensive transition into independent living. It's working out well so far.

Although I will admit I have only cooked once in the 6 weeks I've been there, most people don't believe me when I say I haven't been frequenting dining establishments that feature menus behind the counter. I haven't gotten around to keeping a meal diary (I should), but trust me on this: the vast majority of the meals I've eaten since moving out have taken longer than 30 seconds to arrive.

New Year's Recap

To my relatives making your first visit to my blog, welcome!

Bouyed by Krystle's comment that I have "lots of avid readers" and the possibility that these avid readers are actually interested in what I did to see in the New Year, I offer the following account.

Friday, 30 December
Worked and then headed to Manly Beach for a Powerhouse-organised gathering. Played some beach volleyball - always less fun when you have to include people who have little or no idea of how to play - and went for a swim with Paul and Josh. The water was the warmest I've experienced in Sydney. Nice. Unfortunately, our bodysurfing heroics were cut short by the fact that the tide was going out. ( No, my finely tuned sense of the ocean and its ways did not alert me to this fact; rather it was the increasing regularity of my head and upper body hitting sand.)

Saturday, 31 December
Having church services in a school hall has its drawbacks. The terrible acoustics (recently brought under control by a drum screen! Woohoo!), the necessity of having to set up and pack down (on the bright side, I save on gym membership), and a lack of air-conditioning. This last feature of the Oakhill Drive Primary School hall is best experienced on-stage, where there are no fans but plenty of stage lights that generate heat. Not good on a hot day like today. Suffice to say, Sweat has now been well and truly added to Tears on the list of things I've sacrificed for the sake of the Gospel. May Blood never join them!

This New Year's Eve was also the first in several years that I was not in a rural or semi-rural town somewhere in South East Asia. There was no way I would be celebrating anywhere other than near the Harbour (Bella Vista, watching the fireworks on TV... are you SEEERIOUS?!!). Steve Jenkins picked me up from church and we made our way to a harbourside park in Woolwich (pronounced Wool Itch, not Wool Witch) to join a bunch of Powerhousers.

Some of the group had been there since 11am and had staked out a nice spot. Still, I was expecting to watch the fireworks explode around the Harbour Bridge in the distance. Imagine my surprise when the first explosions near the bridge were followed by others only 200 metres in front of our location. Turns out that one of the six secondary barges located around the harbour was floating right next to us! A good night.

Sunday, 1 January
Played bass at the Burwood Extension Service. Unfortunately, their air-conditioning system was not functioning properly so again my sweat adorned the stage. Got home looking forward to a swim, and boy, did the pool look good! What came next was a most unique experience. There I was, baking in the 45 degree heat as I retrieved my towel and boardshorts from various parts of the house, but anticipating the sensation of being enveloped by the cool water.

Finally, I was ready. Launching myself off the waterfall feature as I normally do, I found myself landing in water that was hotter than the air!

I found out later that because my parents were having people over that afternoon, Dad had had the solar heating on for the past two days (not expecting today to be such a scorcher). A lesson learnt: don't commit to anything until you know what you're getting yourself into! (Well, except the stuff that God calls you to... see below.)

Looking Forward
I am seriously so excited about 2006! God had been giving me direction for much of 2005 and Pastor Amos' words and prayer confirmed so much of what I had already been sensing. Joanna, if you're reading this, please thank your Dad again for coming to Asian Service. I'm sure I speak for the whole congregation when I say we were very blessed!

Among other things, 2006 will be the year that my first business gets launched. I have hit 2006 with a lot of momentum and a determination not to procrastinate, so keep me in your prayers. More details to come so stay tuned!

I See That Paw!

OK, let's see...

Approximately 2 billion Christians in the world.

A fairly safe bet that at least 100 million of them have pets and internet access.

Even if 1% percent believe that it's worth shelling out 12 bucks so Fluffy or Rover can become a "Christian", this site suddenly becomes a nice little business venture.