Hungry People

Right now I’m pretty hungry. But I guess that’s not really anything compared with the way millions of people living in poverty feel. People in my city, people in the world. Right now there’s serious famine starving Africa in a destructive way.

 

It’s difficult to imagine what we could do to change that, but the truth is we can. People have already jumped onboard to make a difference to the needy. These great and inspiring people work for organisations that see and (try to) fill the needs of the world. No one joins an NGO or not-for-profit for their own gains, these people are paying a great cost so others may live/eat/marry/grow. Spare a thought and a prayer for those people. Maybe you’re one of them, maybe you could be.

So what do we lack? Well that’s where everyone comes in: people are acting to help those in trouble, but their financial resources are not up to the task. You could change the world for real people, make a difference in the lives of our human brothers and sisters. You could be a hero, and all you have to do is click your mouse a few times. Or you could think about how your lifestyle affects those on the other side of the world, think about how you could live your life to give others a better chance. You could be one of those people, living a call to help others.

Change is possible, but it always costs us. Then again, not changing costs us to. You don’t have to take a vow of poverty, but you can think before you buy “Do I need this? Or could I be a hero instead?”

If you want to make a difference right now, do it! I recommend TEAR Australia as a personal favourite. But there’s obviously World Vision, UNICEF and Oxfam and countless others. I thought I’d do a little for sharing what I thought with you, may be you can share it with others. The world is full of problems that you have the ability to solve, be empowered!

What to do…

I spent some time on this week’s comic. It’s supposed to be encouraging really. See, it’s about the ingenuity and achievement of people, who do amazing things, but are stumped when it comes to solving problems. We can use our creativity and smarts to solve the worlds issues, we just have to fight the fear and want it. i think that’s where faith comes in, at least for me, and where hope for something better is so important.

Technology will kill us all! …Probably

The most pain my computer can give me is if it doesn’t work. Based on this, I’d say the Robot Apocalypse is a long way off of it’s full realisation. Still, Jess and I have become more aware of the devastating impact our technology has.

I had heard a long time ago that for each mobile phone there’s 80 garbage bins worth of waste in the manufacturing process. That’s to say, a lot; I reckon I probably don’t produce 80 bin loads in a year!

It was one of those vague, ambiguous, possibly non-true type facts that you never really check up on to see if it’s accurate, but keep you scared none the less. Well the other night, Jess and I were looking into maybe getting a new phone for Jess. Her plan had expired so we thought we could get one for practically free, and besides that’s what you do right? Jess and I try to be conscious of the human and ethical implications of anything we buy, so she did some research into what brands were ‘ethical’. Forebode….

Passover Delight!

As I'm not a Jew, you may think it strange that I'm celebrating 'passover' this year. It came to my attention recently (through this article) that Passover was not just a ceremony with relevance to Jews, but to all of God's people. God said that his people should celebrate it for...well for ever, remembering his mighty acts to bring about freedom, justice and hope for his people.

It appealed to me for a number of reasons - 

1. Easter had always seemed a bit hollow to me. The whole holiday seemed distracted by the fertility symbols that it had inherited from it's historical 'pagan' counterpart. New life is meant to be the theme, but with no real ritual or structure, it sort of felt like we were just trying really hard to think of what had happened on the Cross and what Jesus had done. Don't get me wrong, those images, mesages and themes are strong, but i guess they lost their meaning for me in the consumer hype and repetition without structure.

2. Passover is so interactive, why wouldn't it be awesome to interact with our faith.

3. community is intrinsic to the process and is built by sharing and learning together.

4. There's stacks of food to eat. We eat because we're free!

So I loved it, and tried to interpret the ceremony and the symbols in the light of our new understanding of being God's people as Christians. There was plenty to work with, but I found it a bit difficult to find info on Christian Passover. I'm sad that so many people of God are missing out on this great and wonderful message, with an outstretched arm, God has save his people from bondage!

Don't miss out! Get involved!

Boxing

Bono feels like he still hasn’t found what he’s looking for. I think a lot of us can relate; a feeling like we’re not quite there yet, or there’s something more, a general dis-content. Maybe we are all coming short, or perhaps we’re just hoping for a brighter future. Either way we’d best know what we’re looking for, and then probably where to find it.

I don’t want to get stuck, I want to keep looking. I don’t want to avoid finding what I’m looking for. It may be hard to cope with, but I’d rather die in the right place than avoid it forever. Then I think we’;; have found what we’ve been looking for all along. Just a thought…

Queuing...

One of the conversations I keep having lately is about whether our big goals actually line up with what we want. For example, someone might say that they want to be a police officer, but what they really want is to protect people. These aren't mutually exclusive, but they're not the same thing either. They get so caught up on the idea of becoming a cop that they don't even realize that this isn't what they really want, and when they end up behind a desk they're unsure why they feel unsatisfied. I think we should assess our goals and be aware of what they are and mean, why we want them, and how we'll know when we've achieved them. 

There's plenty of goals placed on us by advertisers, social expectation, parents and peers, goals that we don't even really want; buy this, be the best, look sexy, impress your friends, get a good score, work harder, shut up, etc. 

Are we on track to achieving real and meaningful goals? The goals we want?

Pivotal Moment

I find that I say this to my self often, and then fail to free myself from my chains. I need a real change that will mean something real. Let’s hope this is it. This has to be it.

Being Right

I’ve hurt a lot of people by trying to be right all the time. I create a little space where I control the rules and make everything I do right and everything others do wrong. I think it’s all about acceptance and worth; trying to be right or righteous. I was told one that ‘Righteousness isn’t about being right, it’s about relationship.’ While there’s a few layers of meaning there, the intended one is this: relationship is more important than being right. So now I apologise to all those I pushed down so I could be on top, I was wrong.

Underutilised Hero

I’ve never really liked Super Heroes, which people tell me is pretty weird. I think the deal is that they inspire and impress people, but my natural reaction is “So what if you saved the world, you can leap a building in a single bound!” Anyone can save the world if they have superpowers, I’m more impressed when someone average saves the world, or sacrifices their dream for the sake of raising their kids, or gives blood, or donates to charity. The fact that someone as average as me, maybe even more so, could make a difference is what inspires and impresses me.

I'm pretty sure we’ve all got super powers of some sort. Probably not flying or mind-reading, but everyday superpowers like being a really good listener, or being able to make your brother feel good by letting him beat you at scrabble. And because we can’t fly or read minds we think we can’t change the world, that’s why superheroes let us down. One really good listener could change the world. One loving brother could heal a broken heart.

What’s your superpower?

Rescued

This is a really rough drawing (obviously) that I’d like to re do some time. I like this original though, as it feels true and raw.Its based on 2 Samuel 22:17 “He reached down from heaven and rescued me.He drew me out of deep waters”, and is about rescue. The caller isn’t inert, he’s not just waiting for me, he’s there when I need him most, else I’d never reach him in my own strength.