Wisdom

But as I look back at my life, it is easy to see that the times when my wisdom and understanding grew to new levels; those times when I approached becoming the person I long to be; it was always the times that followed negative circumstances.

- Vic Johnson -

Cairns for a journey

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart…
Try to love the questions themselves…
Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given because you would not be able to live them…
Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answers

Jim Cotter, Prayer at Night

Safety Advice

Do NOT ride in automobiles: they cause 20% of all fatal accidents.
Do NOT stay home: 17% of all accidents do occur in the home.
Do NOT walk on the streets or sidewalks: 14% of all accidents happen to pedestrians.
Do NOT travel by air, rail, or water: 16% of all accidents happen on these.
Only .001% of all deaths occur in worship services in church, and these are related to previous physical disorders. Hence, the safest place for you to be at any time is church. [Bible study is safe, too. The percentage there is even less.]
Go to church! IT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE!

Resisting Violence

Faith becomes the one wholly inflexible ground for resistance to violence, precisely because it teaches us how to face death—not in excited expectation of reward, but in the sober letting-go of our fantasies in the sure hope that a faithful God holds us firmly in life and death alike. This is the hope that allows us to recognise power for what it is and isn't: As what is given us for the setting-free of each other, not as the satisfying of our passion for control.

- Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury -

Survivors (for those born before 1940…)

You are Survivors
You were born before television, before penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, video and the pill. We were before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and ballpoint pens, before dishwashers, tumble driers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothes… and before man walked on the moon.
You got married first and then lived together (how quaint can you be?). You thought ‘fast food’ was what you ate at Lent, a ‘Big Mac’ was an oversized raincoat and ‘crumpet’ we had for tea. You existed before house husbands, computer dating, and ‘sheltered accommodation’ was where you waited for a bus.
You were before day care centres, group homes and disposable nappies. You never heard of FM radio, tape decks, artificial hearts, word processors, or young men wearing earrings. For you ‘time sharing’ meant togetherness, a ‘chip’ was a piece of wood or fried potato, ‘hardware’ meant nuts and bolts, and ‘software’ wasn’t a word.
Before 1940s ‘made in Japan’ meant junk, the term ‘making out’ referred to how you did in your exams, ‘stud’ was something that fastened a collar to a shirt, and ‘going all the way’ meant staying on a double-decker bus to the terminus. In your day, cigarette smoking was ‘fashionable’, ‘grass’ was mown, ‘coke’ was kept in a coalhouse, a ‘joint’ was a piece of meat you ate on Sundays, and ‘pot’ was something you cooked in. ‘Rock music’ was a fond mother’s lullaby, ‘Eldorado’ was an ice-cream, a ‘gay person’ was the life and soul of the party, while ‘aids’ just meant beauty treatment or help for someone in trouble.
You who were born before 1940 must be a hardy bunch when you think of the way in which the world has changed and the adjustments you have had to make. No wonder there is a generation gap today… BUT by the grace of God you have survived!

Understanding Death

We understand death for the first time when he puts his hand upon one whom we love.

- Madame De Stael (1766-1817) -

The Power of Anger

I have learned through bitter experience the one supreme lesson to conserve my anger, and as heat conserved is transmuted into energy, even so our anger controlled can be transmuted into a power that can move the world.

- Mahatma Gandhi -

Organising Peace

Have you ever attempted to organise something like peace? The moment you do, you have power conflicts and group wars within the organisation. The only way to have peace is to let it grow wild.

Anthony de Mello, The Prayer of the Frog

On Religion

According to one story, when God created the world and glorified in its goodness, Satan shared his rapture, in his own way, of course, for as he contemplated marvel after marvel, he kept exclaiming, “How good it is! Let’s organise it!”
“And take all the fun out of it!”

Get the Message Right

A local priest and a pastor stood by the side of the road with signs that said, "The End is Near! Turn yourself around now before it's too late!" They waved the signs at the driver of a car as it approached.
"Leave us alone, you religious nuts!" yelled the driver as he sped by.
From around the curve they heard a big splash.
"It might be better," said ones clergy to the other, "If we just used a sign that says 'bridge out'!"

Excellence

Excellence can be attained if you...
* Care more than others think is wise.
* Risk more than others think is safe.
* Dream more than others think is practical.
* Expect more than others think is possible.

- Jim Gentil

A Formation Prayer

O Lord, my God.
Form me more fully into your likeness. Use the circumstances and interactions of this day to form your will in me.
From the frustrations of this day form peace.
From the joys of this day form strength.
From the struggles of this day form courage.
From the beauties of this day form love.
In the name of Jesus Christ, who is all peace and strength and courage and love.
Amen.

Richard Foster, Prayers from the Heart

Makes Sense!

An white American (WASP) and a Chinese man were in the cemetery. The American put a bouquet of flowers on his friend's grave and the Chinese man put a bowl of rice on his friend's grave. The American man asked, "When will your friend come up to eat the rice?" The Chinese man answered, "The same time your friend comes up to smell the flowers."

The Changing Face of Church

In 1900 10% of all Christians lived in the Third World. Now 75% of all Christians live outside 'Northern Christendom', and they provide 50% of the world's Christian missionaries.
So the centre of gravity for Christianity is moving from North to South, From West to East.
It took 1000 years for Christendom to reach the 30 million mark. Africa reached it in just 15 years.
The are more Anglicans worshipping in Nigeria, than in the U.K., U.S.A., and Australia combined - even though they're not the largest denomination there.
There are more worshipping Christians in China than in Western Europe.
The largest (Protestant) missionary 'sending' country is still the U.S. (60,000). The next? India (40,000) followed by countries like Korea (10,000), and Brazil.
Only twenty of the 700 Baptist pastors in Uganda have had any kind of training for pastoral work at all.

Misunderstood Faith

A lady who called a radio pastor, a wise, grandfatherly gentleman who has that calm reassuring voice that can melt all fear. The lady, who was obviously crying, said, "Pastor, I was born blind, and I've been blind all my life. I don't mind being blind but I have some well-meaning friends who tell me that if I had more faith I could be healed." The pastor asked her, "Tell me, do you carry one of those white-tipped canes?"
"Yes I do," she replied. "Then the next time someone says that to you," He said "just hit them over the head with the cane. Then tell them 'If you had more faith, that wouldn't hurt!'"

Personnel Evaluation

Memorandum
To: Jesus, Son of Joseph, Carpenter's Shop, Nazareth
From: Jordan Management Consultants, Jerusalem
Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for management positions in your new organisation. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; we have not only run the results through the computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant.
It is our opinion that most of your nominees are lacking the background, educational and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.
Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel it our duty to tell you that Matthew has been black listed by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau. James, the son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus have radical leanings, and both registered high on the manic-depressive scale.
One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, has a keen business mind and possesses contacts in high places. He is highly motivated and ambitious. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All of the other profiles are self-explanatory.
We wish you every success in your new venture.

Sorry Day Prayer

Today the Australian Government makes an apology to the Stolen Generations. This prayer was written for Sorry Day, reflecting concern for the plight of Indigenous Australians.

Almighty and loving God, you who created ALL people in your image,
Lead us to seek your compassion as we listen to the stories of our past.
You gave your only Son, Jesus, who died and rose again so that sins will be forgiven.
We place before you the pain and anguish of dispossession of land, language, lore, culture and family kinship that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have experienced.
We live in faith that all people will rise from the depths of despair and hopelessness.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families have endured the pain and loss of loved ones, through the separation of children from their families.
We are sorry and ask God's forgiveness.
Touch the hearts of the broken, homeless and inflicted and heal their spirits.
In your mercy and compassion walk with us as we continue our journey of healing to create a future that is just and equitable.
Lord, you are our hope.
Amen.

Truth

In order to be truthful
We must do more than speak the truth.
We must also hear the truth.
We must also receive truth.
We must also act upon truth.
We must also search for truth.
The difficult truth.
Within us and around us.
We must devote ourselves to truth.
Otherwise we are dishonest
And our lives are mistaken.
God grant us the strength and the courage
To be truthful.
Amen.

From The Prayer Tree
by Michael Leunig

Worship

To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.
- William Temple -

What's for Sale?

One night in a dream, a man noticed a new shop in the High Street. He went in and saw an angel behind the counter. Nervously, he asked what the shop sold. “Everything your heart desires,” the angel said. “Then I want peace on earth,” cried the man. “An end to sorrow, famine and disease.”
“Just one moment,” said the angel, “You haven’t quite understood. We don’t sell fruit here... only seeds.”

If only...

Martin Luther once said,
“There are some of us who think to ourselves, ‘If I had only been there, how quick I would have been to help the baby — I would have washed his linen’. Yes, we would — we say that because we know how great Christ is, but if we had been there at that time, we would have done no better than the people of Bethlehem. The question is, why don’t we do it now? We have Christ in our neighbour.”

Garden and the Gardener

In First Things First, A. Roger Merrill tells of a business consultant who decided to landscape his grounds. He hired a woman with a doctorate in horticulture who was extremely knowledgeable.
Because the business consultant was very busy and traveled a lot, he kept emphasising to her the need to create his a garden in a way that would require little or no maintenance on his part. He insisted on automatic sprinklers and other labour-saving devices.
Finally she stopped and said, “There’s one thing you need to deal with before we go any further. If there’s no gardener, there’s no garden!”
There are no labour saving devices for growing a garden of spiritual value. Becoming a person of spiritual fruitfulness requires time, attention and care.

From Leadership Magazine

Reading Bible Improves Outlook

Tyndale House Publishers found evidence that reading the Bible promotes a positive outlook. According to a study they commissioned with the Barna Research Group:
82 percent of regular Bible readers described themselves as "at peace" compared to 58 percent of those who said they never read the Bible. 78 percent of regular Bible readers said they felt "happy" all or most of the time compared to 67 percent of nonreaders.
68 percent of regular Bible readers said they were "full of joy" compared to 44 percent who said they never read the Bible. From The Southeast Outlook (11-22-01); researchers interviewed 1,004 adults chosen to reflect the U.S.'s regional and ethnic makeup, with a sampling error of +/- 3 percent

Work History

My first job was working in an orange juice factory, but I got canned... couldn't concentrate.
Then I worked in the woods as a lumberjack, but I just couldn't hack it, so they gave me the axe.
After that I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn't suited for it ... mainly because it was a so-so job.

Difference

In matters of style swim with the current; in matters of principle stand like a rock.
- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) -

Being Appreciated

If you roll out the red carpet for a billionaire, they won't even notice it. If you roll out the red carpet for a millionaire, they expect it. If you roll out the red carpet for a thousandaire, they appreciate it. If you roll out the red carpet for a hundredaire, they tell everybody they know.

- Patricia Fripp -

Following in His Steps

Lee Strobel tells about a mother from Costa Mesa, California who told about the day her three-year old son was on her heels wherever she went. She was having trouble doing her routine chores.
"Whenever I stopped to do something and turned back around I would trip over him," she said. "Several times I suggested fun activities to keep him occupied, but he would just smile and say, 'That's alright Mummy I'd rather be in here with you.' He continued to follow me and after the fifth trip, my patience wore thin and I asked him why he was following me constantly."
He said, "My Sunday school teacher told me to walk in Jesus' footsteps but I can't see him so I'm walking in yours."
The greatest way we can teach and show anyone the love of Jesus is through the example of how we live, and how we model his love in our everyday life.
As another has said, "We raise not the children we want but the children that we the parents are."
"Dear God, please help me to so live that all people will see Jesus in me and will want to follow in my footsteps and have Jesus in their life too. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."

The place of Prayer

Prayer is for the religious life what original research is for science - by it we get direct contact with reality... We pray because we are made for prayer, and God draws us out by breathing Himself in.

- P.T. Forsyth -

Art of Progress

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change, and to preserve change amid order.
Life refuses to be embalmed alive.

- Alfred North Whitehead -