Voice, Part 2

"Be still", the Voice said.
What did I have to lose?
So I tried it and…

On the cooling of the weather…

Winter time draws near / Seasonal Affective Dis-/ Orders me about

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From Twitter, as I sat on a tram...

Voice, Part 1

"Be still," the Voice said.
"Be still? Are you kidding?" I thought.

I've got to get my
my views opined
doctrines aligned
vices maligned
sins disinclined

My style designed
life plan outlined
hobbies defined
a wife to find
that You've assigned somewhere, presumably

and bear in mind
I've got the daily grind
sucks out the zest, the lemon rind
of life that comes and perks the mind

and all of these combined
just serve to take my bind
and wind it up
so this is why like most mankind
I'm disinclined
to lie inclined
and listen to
Your still, small Voice.

Sin & its aftermath

I love it when one stumbles across a gem. I found the Tenth Leper blog through a friend because of the recent Rob Bell unpleasantness, but I've kept him in my feeds now that his reviews are done because I really like the stuff he has to say. Take this from today's post:

I think some of Satan’s biggest victories against us are not in his getting us to commit a particular sin, but in increasing our guilt over it. It’s like that old proverb: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Similarly, get a man to sin and you’ll separate him from God for a moment. But get a man to feel guilty, and you’ll separate him from God forever. Guilt causes us to believe that God doesn’t want us, that his arms aren’t open to us, that his attention can’t be grabbed except by maybe extreme effort. It causes us to believe that we’re damaged goods and that God couldn’t possibly still want us.

I don’t think it’s too bold to say that the moments after sin can be more dangerous than the moments before it. How you respond to sin is so important. Will you move further away from your only source of life and help as a result of it? Or will you move closer to him? We need to preach the Gospel to ourselves every day because we sin every day, and the more we sin, the more we’re reminded that on our own we have absolutely no right to speak with God. But we need to let that drive us to Jesus as our only right to be in the presence of God. Jesus killed sin’s guilt. And because there’s no longer any guilt or condemnation for God’s children, then sin’s power begins to diminish in their lives, because they’re confidently running to their Father for strength.

Where do you run?

Slice of Heaven

No, not the song!

I went for a bike ride on Friday night; no reason, I just felt like upping and heading onto the road. I turned off Wellington Parade into Yarra Park, cruising past the MCG when a bridge caught my eye. The bridge takes its pedestrian passengers over the Jolimont railway lines and across into Birrarung Marr. I imagine that it's a well-known route, but I'd never been over it, so I rode towards it and decided to stop at the top to enjoy the view.

While I was sitting there on a bench, I was treated to an amazing aural experience. There are speakers embedded in the walls of the bridge, and they were playing an intoxicating mix of folk music from all different cultures. I sat entranced at the sensory spectacle; the beautiful city lights of Melbourne in front of me, the glow of the 'G behind me, the yellow lights on the bridge giving an other-worldly light to my surroundings, and the music of different cultures blending in sweet cacophony over the rumble of the trains passing underneath.

It occurred to me that this was a little taste of what Heaven will be like - the music, rhythm, language and expression of every tribe, nation, culture, all gathered together in joyous expression of praise to God. And while I can't wait for that day to come (and come quick, Lord Jesus!) I'm really grateful for little sneak peaks like this :)