The PASSION Blog

I am one of those strange people who loves TV adverts. I especially like the ones that are new in some way or particularly creative. One of my new favourites is the new Ryobi advert on TV.

It starts with a neighbour coming over to borrow some tools. His neighbour opens his garage to reveal a tool collection most real blokes would die for. He then loads his neighbour up with assorted power tools and then takes a photo of him with his mobile. This is for proof that he has borrowed them.

It cracked me up the first time I saw it. Both my wife and I loved it. We loved it so much that we decided to do the same thing when we lend out books from our home library. It might mean that we actually get some of them back!

Recently there have been a couple of high profile Christian ministers who have fallen and come out and confessed to their wrongdoing. One was even on the national current affairs show Today Tonight last night.

Does this news surprise me? No not really. Does this news disappoint me? Yes. Does this news destroy my faith? No way, because my faith is not in people.

When we discuss the issue of ministers falling I think there are a couple things to consider.

1. All Christians are human - Regardless if you are a minister or not, as Christians we are all frail human beings with our faults and failures. None of us are perfect and none of us can live up to the high standards we set in place. After all that is why Jesus came to die on the cross for our sin. He died because we all sin. We just can’t escape that fact and the Bible makes this clear in Romans 3:23 and 1 John 1:8-10.

2. We put people on a pedestal - I really belief that as Christians we place too much emphasis on peoples ministries and their public success. We often look at the impact people are making and place them on a pedestal. In reality if they are doing what God has called them to do, then they are no different to the person who faithfully does the flowers every Sunday morning for church or the person who visits someone who is sick. When we place people on a pedestal we set them up for failure. The only one who has ever walked on this earth who deserves to be put on a pedestal is Jesus!

I love the advert on TV where the old farmer goes out on to the veranda and yells with excitement, “Marge the rains are coming”. The camera then pans back and you see his kids eating corn on the roof and the corn is so juicy that the water hits the veranda roof and sounds like rain.

In the last 24 hours we have had that sound on the roof. Only for us it wasn’t corn juice. It was the sound of rain. We have had 17 mils of rain in our gauge in that time. That is awesome. Since we have been in Merredin I don’t think we have had that much in one day!

You might remember that several weeks ago in a post I asked people to pray for rain for the central WA wheatbelt. Well it seems like those prayers have been answered. Praise God and thanks to all those who prayed.

I am no expert in farming, but what I have learned so far is that if farmers get a decent rain of 10 to 20 mils and then another 10-20 mils a few weeks later, then they have a chance of starting a good crop. This is what has happened for us here in Merredin.

From driving down to Perth last week there a few places that looked a lot more greener than this time last year. So for those farmers at least things look promising.

Rain is an amazing blessing from God. It blesses and changes things so much when it comes. It brings hope, and hope is a very powerful thing.

God Bless,

Dave

PS. I just checked the official rain figures for Merredin. We had 20 mils. That calls for an even bigger praise God

It is amazing how rain can bring hope. Overnight we had 10mm of rain. That is more rain than we have had in one day all year. My wife went out to the local shops this morning and people were buzzing. One of my neighbours even called out across the road and said wasn’t the rain lovely.

It is amazing how much of a difference to people rain can make, especially in farming regions. When we lived in Perth rain was about the dams and keeping the garden green. In country areas it is about livelihoods, families and local businesses surviving. It certainly has changed my perspective on rain and the difference it makes.

Rain brings hope. Hope that crops will come, which means the banks can be paid, families stay on the land and local businesses survive. It really is a domino effect. One that I am only just starting to understand.

If you are a praying person, can you please pray for more rain in the Central Wheatbelt region of WA. Just like hope, many people need it.

God Bless,

Dave

I have been reading about some of the old time preachers lately. One person that I have a few books from in my bookshelf is Charles Spurgeon. This morning I thought I would find out a bit more about him.

Something I didn’t know was that he was saved in 1850 at the age of 15 when a snow storm forced him to take shelter in his local church. He said on that day “God opened his heart to the salvation message.”

One year later he preached his first sermon and with no formal education he was called to Pastor a small Baptist church at Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire. Just two years after that he was asked to take on the pastorate of London’s famed New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.

I don’t know about you, but the thought of being saved at the age of 15 and then being in charge of one of the biggest churches in town at the age of 20 is amazing!

One quote from Spurgeon shows me he understood the task of evangelism…

“If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies, and if they perish, let them perish with our arms around their knees imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let no one go there unwarned or unprayed for.”

Spurgeon really was an amazing man who brought many people to Christ. I pray that God will raise up modern day Spurgeon’s to continue His work.

I just read an interesting article (Obesity figures staggering: Roxon) on the ABC news website. It said that Australia is fast becoming the fattest nation on earth and we are close to overtaking the US as the top. For most of us this would be no surprise. As one comment said on the article that all we have to do is go outside and we can see it for ourselves.

Now I have to admit that exercise has always come naturally for me. Since I was a child I have been involved in some sort of sport or fitness routine, even with having Rheumatoid Arthritis. For the last 23 years I have regularly done weights three times per week to keep toned. I also walk and ride occasionally too. This combined with eating a healthy diet has helped to keep my weight in check. At 41 I still have a six pack!

Over the years I have trained others in weights and fitness too. The main message I have tried to get across is to find some type of exercise that you enjoy and do it. If you can find something you enjoy doing 8 times out of 10 you are well on your way to maintaining a healthy weight. If you do it three times a week for thirty minutes that will be enough for most people. Combine that with eating most of your food in the form God made it and you will be right on target.

Maintaining a healthy weight does take time, energy and discipline, but I believe it is well worth it. Not only will you look and feel better, but you will be healthier too. You will find a little bit of exercise can go along way to improving your overall quality of life.

My girls and I made a quick trip to Perth and Mandurah on Sunday and got back tonight. While love going back to Perth and seeing my family, I have to say there is no place like home. There is nothing like drinking out of your own coffee cup, sitting in your comfy recliner and watching Foxsports in your own place! And there is like sleeping in your own bed! After driving nearly 500km today…it sure does feels good

The Indian Premier League 20/20 Cricket Tournament finished up overnight. While I didn’t feel overly attached to any of the teams I did enjoy watching some of the games that had the Aussies playing in them. Of the 60 games I probably saw parts of about 20 of them (it helps to be a night owl!). Reflecting back on the tournament I can see a couple of positives came out of it.

The first is that players from all countries came together and played as teams. Boundaries were not set on international lines, where things had started to become a bit tribal and aggressive over the last couple of years. As the tournament progressed you could see players from India, South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand and Australia were building lasting friendships. You could see things slowly changing. This will be a very positive thing for Cricket in the years to come.

The second thing is that a lot of fringe players got a chance to play against the big names of world cricket. I always love to see someone who has had a dream to play in the big time finally get their chance. When that moment comes where they really believe they belong at this level it is like a light comes on inside them. Andrew Symmonds did this in the World Cup several years back and I think Shane Watson did it this time. He won the player of the tournament scoring nearly 500 runs and taking 17 wickets. This might see him really step up and take his place long term in the Aussie team.

So while the IPL didn’t really grab me at first I can see how it has been very positive overall. If it gave some young players a chance to step up and it helped players from different countries see that we are not all that different after all then it has served a purpose. These two things alone will help world cricket to be better in the years to come.

One of the things I have been really thankful for lately is water. It is such a simple thing for us in the western world and something that we can often take for granted. Just the other day I thought I would count how many water sources I have on my property. I walked around the house and around the yard. I counted nine places where I can go to a tap and turn on fresh clean running water. How blessed is that!

As a result of this thankfulness, one of the things I am trying to do is support organisations that help people to have access to clean drinking water. Here are a few that I know of personally.

• Compassion
• World Vision
• SIM (Serving in Mission)

As I type this I can’t help but remember the words of Jesus from Matthew 25:35. “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink“.

I was watching an interview with Sachin Tendulkar on the cricket coverage yesterday. It was interesting to hear what his life is like in India. He can hardly leave his home in India as he is so popular and people mob him wherever he goes. From the interview it sounded like he preferred to be away from home as he more of a chance to relax and have time alone.

This made me think about how at times we idolise our sports stars. It is to the point that in some cases we worship them. From a very young age many of them are mobbed by adoring fans, bucket loads of money is thrown at them and they are treated like royalty. Is it any wonder that some of them go off track?

Now I love my sport just as much as the next guy, probably more to be honest. But I think we need to keep our adulation in check. We can admire our sports heroes and respect their ability, but it has to fall a long way short of worship.

The Bible tells us that we should worship God and Him alone (Exodus 20:3). When we put our sports stars on a high pedistool and give them worship, it sets them up for a big fall as people were not ever intended to be worshipped. More importantly though, it robs God of what should belong to Him alone.