No letters after my name. Just me. Free to be me
This video comes courtesy of the Collide Magazine and their snazzy new website. I get a lot out of mulitmedia and appreciate really good work. And this is good:
As it was succintly put on the Collide website, the video would be even better if there was a point to it all. Fair comment. But great video nonetheless.
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If you’re at least half human, you’ll get this post. You will understand where I am coming from and will appreciate the honesty and the lack of cliche.
Sometimes God “feels” so distant.
Be it through your own actions, thoughts and world view or by being hurt by others, sometimes the whole notion of God as a loving and caring Father seems ridiculous. And when you are in sin, this is especially true.
To all you non-believers in Jesus who subscribe to this blog, this is “family talk” and you undoubtedly have no idea what I am on about so have the decency to understand that I am waffling about things as foreign to you as understanding the reasons why the Burmese Government won’t allow foreign aid to come into the country.
Although I am “sold out to God” (whatever that means) I still question the method and means of God’s reality and communication with us. The silence when you seek assurance and the no response when you desire to be embraced as a hurting child. And when you sit back and think about the “foolishness” of what is preached, you realise that the Gospel makes no sense whatsoever in the world of modern, Western society.
But that’s all cool. The NT says that what is preached is foolishness anyway and those wanting to poke and prod will find ample material. Let it go I say.
But I love this passage from Isaiah:
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made.
Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord, “and I will heal him.” Isa 57:15-19
I love my Father. I love the fact that although He dwells in brilliance, He is closest to those going through hell in their lives. The broken and outcast are the ones He walks with most closely - even though they don’t know this - and He understands that the course of their lives results from the sin inside of them.
Although he sees my ways, and pathetic ways they are, He says that “he will heal me”. I know that this passage of scripture has it’s context set in other ways, but it also reveals my Father’s heart to those who are broken. It shows His righteousness, His justice and His overwhelming compassion.
So if God is distant to you. Pursue Him nonetheless cause it’s at these moments, in the time of your brokenness that He is closer then you ever think. Pursue Him cause His heart is set on healing you - albeit after He allows you to be broken.
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With all the talk these days about Emergent/Missional and Seeker Sensitive Churches plus the discussion around liberal or fundamental Churches and whatever else, I ground myself in Scripture as to what to expect as a reaction to the Gospel being taught.
As Christians, lets not kid ourselves about the message we deliver. We preach Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and the reasons for it. This is the Gospel and this is the message we are asked to spread across the whole earth.
All the different streams of Christianity mentioned above attempt to get this message across in a meaningful way in the hope that people respond to it. But what gets in the way is when we deliver it in a way to maximize acceptance rather then focus on the substance of what we teach.
More and more I am shifting my opinion to focusing on the message instead of focusing on the acceptance of it. And in doing so, scripture says that we will always encounter 3 responses to what we believe:
As anyone following this blog would know, I am a fan of Mark Driscoll and the Church he pastors - Mars Hill Church. Mars Hill gets its name from an interesting passage of scriptures found in Acts 17 when Paul visits Athens. The entire story can be read here.
In a nutshell, Paul visits Athens and is moved by the idolatry found there. Being the center of civilised society, Athens is alive with culture, education and arts. But because of the idols found in the town, Paul is moved to reason with the Jews, devout people, anyone in the market place and philosophers about the Gospel.
Read the passage this way: Paul speaks to everybody and anybody about the Gospel. And in doing so, he comes across Epicurean & Stoic philosophers. The “epics” taught that the pursuit of pleasure, not knowledge, is the meaning of life. The “stoics” taught that wisdom is found in being free from intense emotion, unmoved by joy or grief and a belief that everything in nature is God - aka pantheism.
In many ways, what the “epics” and “stoics” stood for is what we in modern society also hold dear to our hearts. So perceived as a “babbler,” Paul is asked to address Mars Hill - where all these goonies get together and try to “out-philosophise” each other. There, Paul tells the Gospel in a relevant and missional way - a way their mindset is able to digest.
The result of this?
Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. Acts 17:32-34
Here are our 3 responses:
What Paul did was address Mars Hill in a relevant, and yet confrontational way - not shying away from controversial issues and then he hit the topic of resurrection. And this is when “the *@!# hit the fan” at Mars Hill. Anything in regards to resurrection was a major issue at Mars Hill given their philosophical beliefs - and this is probably why Paul didn’t get to finish his spiel and get to his favorite topic - the resurrection of his Messiah. And Paul simply left Athens leaving a few members of Mars Hill as believers, some wanted to know more and probably most chasing him out of Athens in mockery.
Fast forward 2000 years and we find ourselves in the ridiculous cycle of which “conversation” or approach is better in getting people to accept the Gospel of Jesus. I hear and get every perspective:
Everyone likes a good slide show. But until recently, your typical slideshow websites offer a product that’s lame and glittered with all kinds of messy visual bombardment. The end result is a tacky looking slideshow.
So it’s with great pleasure I can say that animoto.com has signaled the death of the slide show. What’s animoto? I’m glad you asked. Here is a 60 second clip explaining what it’s all about:
Looks pretty cool huh? The guys behind animoto are from the movie industry and their talent is obvious in their product - especially the transitions between photo’s. I’ve been with animoto since last August 07 and I’ve seen new transition released all the time.
Animoto allows you to make short 30 second video’s for free. Which is a great service in itself. But the real power behind the service is the ability to make full length video’s incorporating hundreds of your photo’s in one cool video clip.
To subscribe to this service, it costs US$30 per year - and gives you unlimited access to making video slideshows of your pic’s. You can make 1 video or a 1000 videos during the year - it really doesn’t matter.
However, animoto has just released a referral program where if you sign up and join through this link (or any of the links on this post), you get a $5.00 discount off your All Access Pass. Plus, as your referrer, I get to subscribe to the service for a little longer for free. So we both win!
Here is a video I just made today using animoto. It’s a slideshow of 3 years worth of holiday snaps my little family takes to the Gold Coast as outlined here:
So go ahead and check out animoto.com - you won’t be disappointed! Even if you start mixing your free 30 second video’s this service is well worth it. You can download the video’s, email them and post them on blogs and social platforms such as facebook and myspace. And when you’re ready, be sure to buy the All Access Pass to unleash the creative beast that is inside you - powered by animoto!
I love my music. The feeling I have inside as I listen to a tune no matter what I do makes me feel good. Makes me remember one time I was on a flight and listening to my iPod. I was sitting on an aisle seat when an old guy about 2 rows up from me starts looking back at me with a frown.
Finally he turns around and waves at me to get my attention and asks me to turn down my iPod as the noise is bothering him! This, despite the fact that we are in a airliner with all the noise of multiple jet engines right outside from where he is sitting. But no, my simple iPod and the ear phones sticking out of it, override everything. Maybe I was listening too loud! Yeah, nah….
My taste is wide and varied - from Gospel ballads, to industrial metal. From classics to experimental electronica - you name it, and I’m in. Having said that, the genre’s I can’t stand are hip hop and country & western - seriously question these styles.
But you may or may not be aware of two music sites which kick some serious butt in terms of information and access to free mp3 downloads. Before you get all excited, usually the free mp3’s are by artists you haven’t heard of. Which isn’t necessary a bad thing if you appreciate variety but still expect quality.
The first site is ilike.com. And the 2nd site is last.fm. To make the most of these sites, make sure you download the software with each site which enables your music listening habits to be tracked and matched with other artists you may want to check out.
Then go nuts and explore these sites for free mp3 downloads or video’s or connect with people with similar tastes. One of my favourite functions is to find similar artists to a song I’m listening to. Using these sites has enabled me to discover great musicians.
So if you like your music, make sure you check these out!
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