All posts by Mark Edwards

Jeep Ad, One of the best

This is one of the best pieces of advertising around at the moment…

The feeling this ad gives you is of escape, mateship, fun…outdoors, adventure.

I particularly like the scene of the older guy with the rain pouring down on his face. Stirs such a sense in you of wanting to be there..in that moment.

Dockers….how you disapoint me!

The Dockers have had such a good start to the year.

Depleted with injuries during the pre-season, and with no expectations to do well, the first part of the year was very good. If not for some errant kicking against Geelong, Fremantle could be without loss, and entrenched in the top four.

Unfortunately we met our ‘bogey’ side this week….Richmond. For whatever reason, even when doing really well, and the Tigers not…they seem to match up well on the Dockers. And so it proved this week.

The disappointing part of the loss was the fact that for the first three quarters, the Dockers looked like taking a commanding lead. But we never capatilised on that. And to the Tigers credit, they kept coming. And when it mattered, they seemed to take their energy levels up a cog.

The way Freo capitulated towards the end of the fourth quarter was the most disappointing aspect of the game.

Christians and what they are known for

Christians should be known for what they are for, not what they are against. Love, compassion, care for the poor.

Unfortunately people like Jim Wallace give us a bad name.

This morning he put out this tweet,

“Jim Wallace: Just hope that as we remember Servicemen and women today we remember the Australia they fought for – wasn’t gay marriage and Islamic!”

This is more than unfortunate on many levels.

Jim Wallace is the public face of the ‘Australian Christian Lobby”. Reading through the twitter stream exploding at the moment, it is obvious that secular Australians think this person represents Christianity.

How would Jesus react to the Homosexual and the Islam?

My hunch is that He would react in the same way as He did to the prostitute, the woman caught in adultery, the Samaritan. These people were marginalized, discriminated against and unfairly treated in that society at that time.

Interestingly enough Jesus was called a ‘lover of sinners’. He was roundly criticized for accepting those the rest of society, at that time mainstream religious society, rejected.He went to their houses, he ate and drunk with them, he accepted them!

But who does Jesus reserve his harshest criticism for, going so far as to publicly call them ‘white washed walls, hypocrites’ and other such culturally offensive terms. He calls the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day these things. Because they were the ones oppressing the people, and instead of showing them love, showing them rejection.

Now I need to be frank, as a Christian I don’t believe that living a homosexual lifestyle is Gods best plan, but it is someones choice. God has standards, but it is our choice what we do with God. He gives us a choice, so should we Christians. We should not legislate morality.

I hope that I demonstrate love to all people. We are all made in God’s image, and are loved by God. We all deserve the right to live our lives as we decide. I don’t say that, God does. Ultimately I believe God will make us responsible for how we live our lives. I wont. And it is not my role to judge. Unfortunately that is what Jim Wallace is doing, and in the process alienating the very people he should be caring for and loving.

Adjustment

I have blogged before about how a leader of a growing church needs to adapt to the growing needs and style needed for differing size of the church.

As I look to the next big step for Inglewood Community Church, I am starting to clarify in my own mind what changes I need to put in place.

That is not to say I have clarity, I don’t yet. In fact the next steps are not clear at all.
But perhaps God is allowing me to go through some fog to help me see, and really understand, that I do need time to ‘be still and know that I am God’. Its one thing to know that. Its another think to know that.

Had an interesting chat to someone today about adrenaline and stress levels. A Pastors day can oscillate widely during the day. For instance….one phone call can be a terrible one…death, tragedy, depression. The next could be a financial stress, the next could be someone needing to know what songs are being used on Sunday. Then you could be doing something technical, updating your website. The variance in a day is not boring, but it can be taxing.

I am not complaining, I love my job, and am privileged to do it. But for whatever reason God is causing me to reflect further on it….I believe so I can adjust for the next season.