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RIP Louie

Oct 8

Posted by David in General | 1 Comment

I got a text today from Mum saying that their dog, Louie, had died. I can’t say it was unexpected, his health had been deteriorating for a over a year now, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still sad.

He had been a big part of our life for a long time now, and it is hard to remember a time when he wasn’t around. We got him the weekend of my 18th birthday party, and I can remember what a hit he was, a cute and cuddly ball of brown fur being passed around adoring arms.

He was no pedigree animal, but a mix of various breeds that had somehow combined to produce one of those dogs that demand to be petted, all soft fur and friendly eyes. He was fluffy, though in our hot Wimmera summers it was necessary to trim him. I remember a vet with a sense of humour shaving him down to short fur, with the exception of a mane and a ball of fur on the end of his tail. He found this an affront to his dignity and hid for hours. The gales of laughter that greeted his emergence probably didn’t help.

Everyone adored Louie, he was not one of those annoying yappy dogs, or a high maintenance type, he just loved being around people and people loved him being around him. Even people who didn’t like dogs as a rule, and talked about them in derogatory tones, somehow found him their lap with them scratching his ears.

It was a tough decision for Mum and Dad, I am sure, to take him to the vet. After the kids had moved out that had grown even closer to him, if such a thing were possible. But every day had become and ordeal for him, and as Mum said, owning a pet brings responsibilities, not just joys. It’s a cliché, but he did live a long and full life. When I get to the end of mine, if I can look back and say that I brought as much joy into the lives of others, and was loved so much and gave so much love in return, well I will consider myself to have achieved a great deal.

There is a poem written a long time ago, about another dog that seems timely.

Epitaph to a Dog

By Lord Byron

Near this Spot
are deposited the Remains of one
who possessed Beauty without Vanity,
Strength without Insolence,
Courage without Ferosity,
and all the virtues of Man without his Vices.

This praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery
if inscribed over human Ashes,
is but a just tribute to the Memory of
BOATSWAIN, a DOG,
who was born in Newfoundland May 1803
and died at Newstead Nov. 18, 1808.

When some proud Son of Man returns to Earth,
Unknown by Glory, but upheld by Birth,
The sculptor’s art exhausts the pomp of woe,
And storied urns record who rests below.
When all is done, upon the Tomb is seen,
Not what he was, but what he should have been.
But the poor Dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend,
Whose honest heart is still his Master’s own,
Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone,
Unhonoured falls, unnoticed all his worth,
Denied in heaven the Soul he held on earth –
While man, vain insect! hopes to be forgiven,
And claims himself a sole exclusive heaven.

Oh man! thou feeble tenant of an hour,
Debased by slavery, or corrupt by power –
Who knows thee well must quit thee with disgust,
Degraded mass of animated dust!
Thy love is lust, thy friendship all a cheat,
Thy tongue hypocrisy, thy heart deceit!
By nature vile, ennobled but by name,
Each kindred brute might bid thee blush for shame.
Ye, who perchance behold this simple urn,
Pass on – it honors none you wish to mourn.
To mark a friend’s remains these stones arise;
I never knew but one – and here he lies.

It could have been written about Louie. I have no way with words like Byron, this post will have to be good enough. But, that’s the thing, whatever I did was good enough for him, because he loved me, and I loved him. In his eyes I was something special, and I never fell short.

Louie went into that final sleep today, held in the arms of someone who loved him. There are people who say animals have no souls, but I cannot believe that. Deep theological thoughts aside, I offer one compelling argument for why I believe Louie is in a better place right now, and it is as simple as this.

Dogs must go to heaven, because a heaven with no dogs would be no heaven at all.

CHRISTIAN CARNIVAL CDI

Aug 11

Posted by David in Faith, General | 2 Comments

Welcome to the 401st (that’s right!) Christian Carnival! As usual, you will find a range of posts, on a range of subjects, but all united by the poster’s desire to share their experience of God. I hope you find something that helps you in your own walk with HIm.

I think at this point it would be more than appropriate to send a shout out to Parableman for his hard work over the years, and his contribution to towards making the Christian Carnival the great resource that it is. He is taking a well earned step back, but I am sure will continue to read his most excellent posts.

I have put people’s posts under the categories they assigned them. As always, if I have forgotten yours please let me know and note that I have posted this under the US timezone, where it is still August 10th, not the 11th as it says (so you know when to look for the next one!).

Narratives

To get this spiritual party started, Jennifer in OR presents a lovely reflection in Stormy, Yellow Thoughts of Thunder and Puddles posted at Diary of 1.

Michael S. Pearl provides us with an excellent reflection and examination of the moive “The Tree of Life” when he presents The Tree of Life and The Way of Grace posted at The Kindly Ones.

It is not for nothing that Jesus used children as a positive example in many of his teachings, because we can learn a lot from them, as Ridge Burns shows us in the The God Story posted at Ridge’s Blog.

Envy  may be a sin, but I must confess I am little envious of seeing these pictures from Chris Price. As he presents his post  Jan Hus–Pictures of Bethlehem Chapel in Prague posted at American Church History it reminds us of the the vast history of our faith and those who have gone before.

Tonya Duncan presentsa fun little story that holds a deep spiritual truth in The Infamous You Owe Me Coupon posted at No Judging Allowed. I think we can all identify with this!

Social Justice is a an issue that lies hevay on my heart, and I believe that Christians have to be at the forefront of these battles. So, as michelle presents i didn?t know? posted at and she went out…. I say READ IT!!!

Apologetics

Snowball presents the delightfull titled Charles Finney is NOT a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing posted at Rick S. Bell. I have to admit that I hadn’t muck knowledge of Finney before this, so this comprehensive examination was fascinating.

Toni Styles takes a look at one of my favoruite books of the Bible when she presents I digress- Ordinary Life posted at Toni Elizabeth Styles.

Every day I thank God that in Australia we don’t have to worry about how the idea of separation of Church and State is interpreted, and legislated. Billy Hart presents Thomas Jefferson – A Wall of Separation Between Church and State posted at HistoricWords | American History | Founding Fathers | Politics | Faith | Quotes.

Gordan Smith presents a list of sites to avoid in 10 Examples of Cults Going Online posted at Internet Provider.

Deb examines the nature and purpose of apologetics, and their practical application as a way of reaching people rather than just proving them wrong, when she presents Brothers, Birthright and The Good News posted at All Things New.

Kaleb shows the comfort that can be taken in the Word, even in the face of a hostile world, in The World Says posted at W2W Soul.

Devotionals

Barry Wallace points us to a very useful sounding resource when he presents Not all marriage books are created equal posted at who am i?.

Joe Plemon goes to the heart of what prosperity should be about when he presents A Prosperity Theology Dilemma: What Does “Living Like a King’s Kid” Really Mean? posted at Personal Finance By The Book.

Russ White talks about the importance of managing expectations in The Power of Expectations « Thinking in Christ posted at Thinking in Christ.

Isabel Anders presents a lovely piece in How Soul Moments Begin | BlogHer posted at BlogHer. I love the J.M. Barrie quote!

Jason Price presents an extremely useful post about balancing generosity and following God’s will in Finding our Own Calling for Biblical Giving posted at One Money Design.

Theology

Jeremy Pierce always gives us real meat for the mind, and it is no exception when he presents When Avoiding Inclusive Language Becomes Mistranslation posted at Parableman. Words ARE important, and we need to think about the ones we use rather than taking them for granted.

Finally, I wanted to share some preaching tips here. I hope they will be of some use.

Thanks for popping by, and I pray that God will use all these posts to help us serve Him better! Look out for next weeks at The Bible Archive.

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Preaching Tips

Aug 9

Posted by David in Faith, General | 2 Comments

Over the past few years I have had the privilege of preaching at numerous venues, from small intimate crowds to larger, more intimidating masses. At the risk of sounding arrogant (after all false modesty is a sin, too!) I feel that it is one of my spiritual gifts, and that I am reasonably good at it. While I firmly believe that God equips us to do what He wants us to do, I also believe that we have a duty to try and develop our gifts through practice and not just expect God to do all the work. So, I thought it might be useful to share some of the techniques that I have found useful when it comes to preaching.

Finding your own method is important. I have seen preachers who stay rooted at the platform and those who roam the stage, some who work from a fully written out piece of paper to those who ad lib the majority, and I can think of examples of all these types who have been extremely effective. The points listed below are what work for me, and may not apply to you at all, but it might give you a starting point.

CONNECT

There is nothing worse than a public speaker who simply looks down at their pages and drones on for the whole of their sermon or speech. I struggle with eye contact at the best of times, but what I have found is the best way of connecting with the audience is to pick someone to look in the eye for a few minutes at a time, before you move on to someone else. This gives the congregation the feeling that you are, in fact, speaking to them. Just don’t stare at one person for the whole time, that is just creepy!

RELATE

People want to feel like the person up the front knows what they are going through, that they are speaking from the heart and that they struggle with the same things. Use examples from your own life to illustrate a point rather than only ones from theoretical situations. They carry far more weight that way.

STIMULATE

It is a sad fact that people’s attention spans are not what they use to be. Think about the average person, they watch a TV show and they only have to concentrate for about 5min before there is an ad break. People are used to having a stop start focus. This may change as people download/record more TV (a discussion for another time), but for now, allow for it. I will try and say something funny, or controversial, every five minutes or so to grab people’s attention as it begins to wander away.

TEACH

I don’t know how many sermons I have sat through desperately fighting the urge to jump up and begin to rail against the tepidness of many of the messages we hear. Often they are simply feel good life style coaching, the sort of thing more at home on Oprah than on the platform. You could substitute the words “the power of you” for the Holy Spirit, “self actualisation” for prayer and “positive thinking” for Jesus and get about as much real teaching. Make sure that your sermon cannot stand if you take God away, and that you back up your opinions with Biblical truth.

CONFESS

Don’t put yourself up on a pedestal. You don’t have to be perfect, or have it all together. Yes, you need to be trying to follow Christ in your life, but if you are talking about something you struggle with, admit that. The congregation don’t need to be given a false idol to live up to, they need to know that they are not the only ones who struggle and fall short from time to time. I don’t know how many times I agonised and beat myself up because I couldn’t be perfect like my leaders seemed to be. When I realised that they too had their trials it made me realise that perhaps I wasn’t a lost case after all.

APPRECIATE

When you are listening to someone else preach, don’t just be passive, really listen. Think about what is working for you, and what isn’t. Learn from how they are doing it, whether good or bad.

RESEARCH

Make sure you know what you are talking about. One of my pet peeves is when people use and example or story and present it as a fact, when I know it is an urban legend and that five minutes searching on the internet would have revealed that. Make sure any facts you present are, in fact, correct. Read the history of a subject and what those who have gone before have preached on in regards to it. We truly do stand on the shoulders of giants, take advantage of that!

TARGET

Preach to your audience. Are they all people who have knowledge of the church and of the faith? Are they seekers? Are they completely unchurched? Tailor your message. And, make sure that every level of intellect and education and maturity will get something out of what you say.

PRACTICE

Practice your diction and projection at home. Give your message a read through first.

CONDUIT

The most important thing, though, is to listen to what God wants you to say and don’t rely on your own intellect or biases. Be a conduit for God’s Word, and let Him speak through you. I have heard the amateur of speakers give a sermon that has opened the gates to intense spiritual experiences, and the most polished of presenters give shallow, useless words. It is about God, not about the preacher.

I hope that these tips have been of some use to you. Please feel free to post tips of your own in the comments!

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Oh the Irony

Feb 8

Posted by David in General | No Comments

A man attending an illegal cockfight in California has died after being stabbed in the leg by a bird with a knife attached to its own limb.

I am certainly not insinuating a man’s life is worth less than a bird’s, but it is very hard to feel any sympathy whatsoever in a case like this!

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Life Imitates Art

Feb 7

Posted by David in General, Writing | No Comments

A Sicilian couple thought they had the perfect weapon to get rid of her ex-husband — a slab of butter which would melt after they asphyxiated him.

But a post-mortem found remains of the butter in the airways of Calogero Lo Cocco and the pair were unmasked, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reports.

I wonder if they got the idea from the Roald Dahl story?

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After the Rain

Jan 18

Posted by David in General | No Comments

No one in Australia could possibly be unaware of the terrible events in Queensland as flood waters have caused damage and destruction, and tragic loss of life. Over the past few days, we have also become aware of the fact that floods are occurring in Northern and Western Victoria, one of the towns affected being Horsham, were I spent most of my teenage years. I have been constantly in touch with my parents, who fortunately are in no immediate danger as they are well away from the swollen river, but it is a pretty nervous time. My wife’s parents are also currently cut off, they live in Murtoa.

It has been really lovely to have received so many questions and calls from friends inquiring about our families, and it reminds me of what a good hearted people Australians essentially are. In times like this you see the generosity, both of spirit and financially, that the people of this nation possess. Whether it was Black Saturday, or the Boxing Day Tsunami or the floods in Pakistan, Aussies are always willing to dig deep to help others.

If you want to support those struggling at this time, esepcially those in Queensland who from what I can see have it much worse than here in Victoria, there are numerous places you can give, but here are two that I think are reputable and worthwhile.

The Salvation Army

After the Rain Limited Edition Ebook

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The Year that Was, and the Year that Will Be.

Jan 4

Posted by David in Faith, General | No Comments

Hard to believe, but it is now 2011! I remember as a child watching a show called Beyond 2000 and I assumed that by now we would all be using jetpacks or living under the oceans. While this is not quite the case, it has been an exciting year for me in many ways and I thought I would run briefly through some of the highs and lows, and talk about my goals for the coming year.

It may seem a little pointless as I think my reading audience is about one (including me) but I did learn a very important lesson this year. After talking about it for a long time I got serious about weight loss, and as of today I have lost 20kg. The only way I was able to do this was by putting my goals out there, committing them to paper (virtual or otherwise) and creating that accountability so I, and others, could see if I had met them or not. So, even for my own purposes I am going to externalise my goals so that I have something to look back on and measure myself against.

But first…the Highs and Lows.

HIGHS

Specialling at Traralgon

This year I had the privilige of filling in for a few Sundays at Traralgon Corps as they were between officers. Going back to a country Corps reminded me of my days at Horsham, which was lovely, and the welcome I received was truly heart warming. Their enthusiasm reminded me of the great responsibility that one has when one is speaking anywhere, and it was great to know that what I presented was appreciated.

Weight Loss

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love my food. I don’t drink, or smoke or chase fast women (or slow women, for that matter) but food has always been my main vice. After working at THQ, with the constant morning teas and excellent canteen, my weight had ballooned and I was feeling unhealthy and not fitting into many of my clothes. So, I went on a concerted weight loss program. It was tough, settling for smaller portions and doing exercise, but I managed to lose 20kg and I feel great! I will be writing about this further in a future post.

Meeting one of my writing heroes, George R.R. Martin.

You can read all about it here. This was an incredibly inspiring experience for me. To meet one of my writing heroes was great, to find that he was a great person as well as a writer was even better.

My First Convention

See the link above, but I will add that if you want inspiration to knuckle down and write, a convention is just the thing to get you fired up.

Founding of the MYCA

Last year I was involved in the founding of the Mid Year Cricket Association as Secretary. Being part of this process was an interesting learning curve, and watching it grow from an idea to reality was very satisfying. It looks like it will continue to go from strength to strength and it is great to feel like I had a hand in it. The most credit, though, needs to go to John Hammer, the President, for his vision and driving force made it all possible.

LOWS

To be honest, it has been a pretty good year and I can’t think of any major lows. Surgery, and the resulting complications, wan’t fun, but it could have been a lot worse.

GOALS FOR 2011

I have divided this into two categories, things I can control and things that are out of my control. The first are things I that I need to make sure I do, and the second are things that I am aiming for, but all I can do is ensure I make my best possible effort and see how it goes. In July I will look back and see how I went. If I haven’t achieved all the ones in the first category I will have no one to blame but myself.

PERSONAL GOALS

  • One blog post a week, minimum
  • 5000 or writing words a week, minimum
  • 1st draft of my novel ready for critting by end of July
  • Regular practice on guitar
  • Regular speaking engagements
  • Continued increase in health and fitness
  • Returning to study
  • Run a half marathon

OTHER OBJECTIVES

  • Sale of non fiction piece to recognised market
  • Win Christian Short Story Comp (Athanatos)
  • Start a band

Hopefully this post will give me something to measure my progress against, and when I look back I will be able to tick each off with a great degree of satisfaction.

CHRISTIAN CARNIVAL CCXLV

Sep 15

Posted by David in Faith, General | 12 Comments

Welcome to the latest edition of the Christian Carnival! For new visitors to this blog it is lovely to see you, and I hope you enjoy the spiritual smorgasboard laid out before you.

There are some great entries this week, and it is impossible to rank them. So, in order that i recieved them, it is time to begin the feast.

Widsith starts us off with a reminder of the fallen nature we all possess in his post Follow the Leader posted at Hurt by the Church?. But, it finishes with a reminder about how we can avoid falling into error.

FMF invites us to sit back and consider what we should be thankful to God for in Counting Your Blessings posted at Free Money Finance. I would encourage you to leave a comment on his blog giving thanks to God for the blessings in your life.

The other night I listened to one of the few audio clips surviving of William Booth. He spoke about how we don’t ask a drowning person for evidence of their virtue before throwing a life saver, or check to see whether someone is up to date with their rent before dragging them out of a burning building. I could not help but be reminded of this while I read an excellent article, Answering the Cry for Material Help, by Aoide-Melete-Mneme posted at à la mode de les Muses where she discusses how sometimes we seem to find excuses not to help others.

Jack Benny presents Top 50 Christian Scholar Blogs posted at Christian Colleges. This a great list of resources for any serious Christian scholar, but I have to make the disclaimer that in my opinion some of the links are to groups that don’t fit my definition of Christian. I say this in no way as an attack on Mr Benny, and this post is well worth checking out as an excellent resource for those wishing to increase their knowledge.

Joe Plemon presents Your Financial Compass: Knowing Which Way is North posted at Personal Finance By The Book. For someone with no sense of geographical direction like myself, it is nice to know that the Bible offers such clear spiritual direction!

Continuing on the theme of spiritual finances, BWL presents 4 Ways to Handle Money God’s Way posted at Christian Personal Finance. I think he makes an excellent point about 100% of our money being God’s, not just the 10% we tithe.

New blogger Laurie Coombs presents Inspiration at In the Spirit of Courage. I hope that she continues to blog with such enthusiasm, because she has certainly started out on the right note.

In another finance related post, Khaleef @ KNS Financial presents Helping Those in Need is a Reflection of God’s Love! at Faithful With A Few. This is a timely reminder that God calls us to help those in need, and there is a challenge for all of us in this article.

Barry Wallace presents Humble Yourself (or God will do it for you) posted at who am i?. No pun intended, this is a humbling post and is worth reading for the Spurgeon quote alone. Great stuff, Barry.

This post was not submitted by the author, but by another blogger who thought it should be included. Reading On Burning Books posted at Evangel, I can see why. As a incorrigible bibliophile the burning of books distresses me, but this post deftly explains why the burning of books in Acts is completely different to that actions of fascists and fear mongers.

A truly inspiring post from NCSue, A special witness: Chiara Luce Badano posted at IN HIM WE LIVE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR BEING, challenges us count our blessings and shows the power of faith.

Philip Carlson presents Army-Navy “E” Award posted at Science and Theology in Apposition and reminds us that history is all around us.

Tom presents Don’t Get Caught Resting On Your Lees posted at Lord Have Mercy, giving us not only a spiritual lesson but a vocabulary one. I have to admit, I didn’t know what that word meant either. Great blog and domain name btw!

Rodney Olsen presents An Offensive Gospel posted at Beyond Belief, asking us for our thoughts on an “offensive Gospel’. Is it offensive? Why don’t you let him know.

Andrew presents Children and parents. posted at Andrew where he talks about the different ways children and adults see the world.

Scottyi offers us some food for thought (yes, that one was a pun) in The Evangelism Rift posted at Sacred Raisin Cakes. Evangelism is a subject near and dear to my heart, and I have seen the failings of both the approaches he discusses so I really enjoyed his take on it.

Diane R presents The Church Integrationists are Hypocrits on her blog, Crossroads: Where Faith and Inquiry Meet. This post will no doubt excite some heated debate, and I am sure that Diane would love to hear your thoughts.

In Self Centered Sorrow, posted at Thinking in Christ, Russ White talks about different approaches to injustice and hard times and gives us some Biblical advice.

As someone who plays cricket in a Christian outreach team I certainly could identify with Ridge Burns in Being Competitive posted at Ridge’s Blog. We have all been there!

A lovely story of witnessing from michelle is the subject of A Glimpse of Heaven posted at And She Went Out….

Jeremy Pierce talks shellfish and homosexuality as he takes issues with some of the arguments he has encountered regarding Old Testemant law. Check it out in Abominations posted at Parableman.

Perhaps one of the best quotes from this weeks carnival comes from Disciple’s Journal, and says:

There are lots of sad American Christians today. They’re sad because they don’t have enough and sad because they have too much they can’t give away.

I think you can remove the word “American” and it is just as true. For some great exegesis on the story of the rich young man, check out Lose the Thorns and find your Life.

Finally, last and probably least, check out my take on the debate about evolution in A Purpose Driven Life.

Hopefully I haven’t missed anybody, please contact me if you can’t see yours. There is some great reading, and I hope you get as much out of it as I did.

Thanks for visiting and don’t forget to submit to next week’s carnival!

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That’s just creepy…

Jul 21

Posted by David in General | No Comments

I’m not an arachnophobe but this is a little much…

HAGATNA, Guam — Authorities in the U.S. territory of Guam have turned away a ship after thousands of spiders overflowed from its cargo.

The Guam Department of Agriculture says hundreds of large spiders and thousands of smaller ones were seen when stevedores began offloading insulation and beams for housing units from the ship, the M.V. Altavia.

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Monkey business

Jul 9

Posted by David in General | No Comments

Mojo would be proud!

A plucky group of 15 monkeys have used bendy tree branches to slingshot themselves over a 5m-tall electric fence in Japan.

The primates launched themselves one by one off the 2m trees and over the fence to escape their enclosure at Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute (PRI).

The full story is here. Let’s hope they don’t figure out what else they can fling at people using catapults!

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