We are kicking off a new series for August….sort of.
We are actually going to continue the series on David…moving from his pre king days, to his king days.
he is an awesome character, a hero, …..read Psalm 89

“9 Long ago you spoke in a vision to your faithful people.
You said, “I have raised up a warrior.
I have selected him from the common people to be king.
²⁰ I have found my servant David.
I have anointed him with my holy oil.
²¹ I will steady him with my hand;
with my powerful arm I will make him strong.
²² His enemies will not defeat him,
nor will the wicked overpower him.
²³ I will beat down his adversaries before him
and destroy those who hate him.
²⁴ My faithfulness and unfailing love will be with him,
and by my authority he will grow in power.
²⁵ I will extend his rule over the sea,
his dominion over the rivers.
²⁶ And he will call out to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’

Now this psalm does refer to David, but it is also what they call a ‘messianic psalm’, meaning it points in a fuller sense to Jesus. Jesus was the anscestor of David. What this means to me is that David displayed some characteristics in his life which were Christlike….thats amazing when you consider that he was a Warrior King. But look at the above picture, he fought and defeated the enemies when he needed to, but he also displayed meekness, great strength under control.

“The expulsion of a Year 11 boy, and the shunting of seven of his friends, from Winthrop Baptist College for allegedly smoking marijuana at a school camp has caused consternation among parents.” (Link)

I listened for an hour or so on 6PR this morning as the various viewpoints were expressed on this issue.
This is my take on it, for what its worth.

1. The parents knew the rules and results for breaking them, they are clearly stated. The boys broke the rules, and got what they deserved.
2. There was a definite sense from the parents that there should be forgiveness expressed, in the spirit of Christianity. Christianity does tell us to forgive, but there are still consequences. Forgiveness does not mean that there are not consequences for our actions. These boys need to, in my view, understand that their actions have consequences. For the parents to want for them to ‘get off’ with community service, means that the boys may risk growing up without realising a valuable lesson.
3. One of the key attractions of Winthrop College for parents is its values system. To allow these actions to occur without consequence is to basically deny that that value system has any merit. The school is built upon reputation. This unfortunate event has the capacity to destroy that reputation, something the school needs to protect.
4. I hope the boys get counselling and understand that while there are consequences for their actions, it is not a terrible offence, but something they can deal with, and move on from. It does not need to be something that defines them. It was a mistake, deal with the consequences, move on.

Great win yesterday, beating our ‘bunnies’ the West Coast Tankers

Great crowd in at Inglewood Church this week, a number of visitors, great to be part of a growing church

Still mulling over what Mark Sayers said, some good thinking and action material there

Someone very well qualified to administer our Artisan Markets volunteered today to run them, such a load off my mind! Thanks God!

Richmond got over Essendscum….great game, facsinating to see Cousins leading the side into half time, inspirational leader on the field, weagles missing him I reckon!

I am making some superb coffee at the moment, got the grind right I reckon, beautiful crema

Very busy week ahead…..

Spent a big chunk of today rearranging our church offices.
Needed to do it for some time, but eventually we have.
A major part of it was moving the craft storeroom to a different room.

What this means is that we have a ‘common room’ now, with all the printers, desks, wireless access and maybe soon a small fridge and coffee stuff.
I know it sounds like a bit of a dream, but I would like to have a spot in our church where people who work on their laptops could come and do some work at church. Internet access, a friendly office, air conditioned, and coffee!

It is something our community needs, third places. Our common room is not going to be able to do this in a big way, but at least we are heading in the right direction.

Why is it that churches attract all the nutbags?
Someone told me this blog attracts a lot of nutbags….they are probably right, you are reading this aren’t you???? 🙂 And I am at times the nuttiest of the lot!!!!

Maybe its because thats the job of the church, to attract all those that can’t find a home somewhere else. To attract those who others have labelled and written off.

Why?
I watched it, and enjoyed it.

Here are my reasons why I think it was so popular.

Ordinary people
Passionate people
It was not nasty, the judges, while at times brutal, where fair, and often genuinely encouraging.
In fact the judges displayed real emotion, amazing, could not contain their appreciation for the contestants.
We could all relate to it, the food was sometimes amazing, but at times it was also obtainable.
We all love a story of an underdog coming up and achieving.
It was honest, raw. Chris was the ‘baddie’ but this was really subtle.

There was no crudeness, bad swearing, nudity, or any embarassment in watching it.

I loved it!