i think Johnny Cash had a point

went to see Walk The Line tonight, it is the story of Johnny Cash and his rise to fame and over coming of drugs. there was this one scene in the film that i thought was worth a mention. it is where Johnny Cash has just over come his drug addiction and gotten his life a bit more together, and he goes to his record company telling them that he wants to record a live album in a jail, Folsom Prison. the record company boys tell him it isn't a good idea and that his audience are christians and
"they don't want to hear you singing to a bunch of murderers and rapists, to cheer them up a bit."
and Johnny Cash says to them,
"if they don't want that then they're not Christians."
(in my words as close as i could remember)
i think Johnny Cash had a point
Jesus probably would have agreed i reckon

don't let the creator down

have these compelling thoughts about how God made us to live life and how he designed us and gave us different abilities as gifts, and how much joy those gifts can bring God, others and ourselves (purposeful order of there too) when we use those abilities. which is really cool, cause it means that when we do the things that we are good at, the things God made us able to do well, then how much Glory will we bring God when we do those things. so if God made you a musician then play, if to sing then sing, if to run then run, if to jump then jump, if to swim then swim, if to paint then paint, if to climb then climb, if to draw then draw, if to surf then surf, i don't know what God made you to do, but what ever it is, do it! don't let the creator down, bring Him joy each day.

how great He really is

this morning at the church service we sang this song together, and it goes like this
"how great is our God,
sing with me how great is our God,
and all will see how great,
how great is our God"
i like this song because it does two things, declares that our God is great, which he is, and has that whole we can't really describe in words how great He is to it, that's the first thing. the second is that it cuts deep and makes me go well how and when will all people see how great God is, probably when the Church (which includes me) gets to really loving all people especially each other.
i seem to not be able to sing that song and not be cut deeply realising that the words we sing need to be lived out, and the question asked do i live every day in my realisation of how great my God really is? or do i live as if my God really isn't that great and therefore not really important to tell people who don't know how great He is about Him and that i can live as if God isn't great and all the implications that go with how great He really is.

God's love and perfection

found this post and just thought i would link it here. it is an interesting story about God's love and perfection.

so check out her blog

well my mum now has a Blog!
it is at
http://faithnurse.blogspot.com/
she is doing a course in Faith Nursing and being one, she is a nurse of many years and now is incorporating that with her faith community, they hence call it Faith Community Nursing.
so check out her blog and comment to encourage her to post.

to make authentic disciples of Jesus

so now i am reading a new book, Promoting The Gospel, by John Dickson, a good Sydney Anglican guy who i have a lot of respect for as a follower of Jesus. so i read his mini-chapter introduction and pretty much agreed with what he had to say on most stuff. but as i lay along the two seater coach with my head on one end and my feet dangling off the end of the other, the one thing i could think was yeah but if i proclaim the gospel with someone and they respond to it wanting to follow Jesus, then i have this worry, and it is about the church community and that they would instead of ending up following Jesus, they will end up following the ways of that church community. if you don't get the distinction that i am trying to make here, it is that i think a lot of church communities are not doing what Jesus was or wanted. that when someone joins a church that they are told that they should come to the service on Sunday, the home group on Wednesday, the church social group on Friday night and hang out with your new christian friends on Saturday, oh and because your new to this stuff we will have "how to be a good christian classes" on Thursday afternoons, so you can forget anything you used to know, your now a christian, we don't do anything else that doesn't involve other christians, sport, hobbies, friends, you don't need them anymore you have us. no i am not joking i have seen it happen time and again, till i have either seen the person lose touch with the rest of the wordly and grown a christian bubble (oh i forgot to mention only listening to music that is about God and even on radio, and ditto if you can get "christian" TV too), or they get so bored with how not like the Jesus they first heard about and how much christians say and little that happens that they totally walk away from the faith that they began this journey with, after all it didn't seem any better than what the rest of religions reckon, it never lived up to what they said it was. now while this may sound like i am making an excuse for not sharing the gospel and that includes all what Jesus did from birth to ascention, i am making a good reason. but it will never stop me, and there never is an excuse. it has to be apart of me. and what i really want to say is, how can we get around all the imperfections of churches'? to make authentic disciples of Jesus.

so yeah let the dreams flow i say :)

i just finished reading this book moments ago and the miracle is that it was a pb for me, read the whole book in one month. anyways it's Rob Bell's (Pastor at Mars Hill) book Velvet Elvis - Repainting the Christian Faith. it is definantly one of the best books i've read.

in it Rob Bell urges readers that faith is something to be honestly wrestled with and rethought constantly. that it is our responsibility to challenege the thoughts on and interpretations of the bible, to seek out God together, discussing how we can be putting the teachings of Jesus into action today. he very well points out that there is no such thing as reading the bible as it is, that it is always interpreted as it is filltered through your own knowledge and circumstances. Bell often looking back to the jewish traditions and life to draw out his meaningful interpretations from the Gospels. he tells the story of the beginnings of the Mars Hill Church community. the stories of some of the people he has come accross and the sadness and frustration with their views of God and themselves as Christians. finishing with a plea for those see the faults of many churches and pastors, to think ofwhat church could be and not to give up, but to strive on and dream big together.

from the epilogue:
"I am also like you because I have a Choice. To become bitter, cynical, jaded, and hard. Anybody can do that. A lot have."

"I am not going to stop dreaming of a new kind of faith for the millions of us who need it. I am not going to stop dreaming of new kinds of communities that put the love of God and the brilliance of Jesus on display in honest, compelling ways. I am not going to stop dreaming of new ways to live lives of faith and creativity and meaning and signifcance."

so yeah let the dreams flow i say :)