Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." (Gandhi)

Are we as Christians helping promote the message of Christ or are we defaming it? Does someone look at us and see Christ or do they see a hypocrite? Sadly, I feel it's more often than not they see someone they don't like. It's not Jesus they don't like, its us and our superiority complexes. They see someone who isn't any different from themselves apart from the occasional church service attendance.

I've got to be honest, if I wasn't a Christian, I probably would hate Christians. And its not because I think the theology is stupid or senseless. It's because more often then not, I don't see the faith that they profess acted out in their lives. Its because they are willing to judge and not love others.

As Christians we are called to imitate Christ. Which requires a fair bit of thought before action. Jesus was love. So we need to love unconditionally and without claim for reward. Jesus was moral compass of the time, so similarly we need to be the moral compass in our area. Jesus was action. He said things, then he backed them up with action. So we need to do likewise. We need to say things we mean, and we need to back up statements with action.(I'll talk about these in more detail in the next blog)

Simply, as Christians we need to be above reproach. We need to be shining examples in our community. People that others can look at and find no cause for dislike or mistrust. We need to change the perception in society of what it is to be a christian; and that can only start with us.

It's Not What You Think

Ever gone somewhere expecting it to be a certain way and been pleasantly surprised by what you found? I have.

My early church years were full of problems, mistrust, disunity and tradition. There is no way to sugar coat it. I hated going to church. I'd call myself a christian and stuff, do the right thing but I hated church and what it was.

When I started going to the church I now attend I had a certain idea about what it would be. All my life I had grown up with and gotten used to the idea that church was a conservative place. A place where you come to be serious, sing a few songs, listen to someone preach then go home. I thought it was a place where fun was never allowed.

And when I first went, that was what I expected. I was wrong. Very wrong. My expectations were shattered by a church that was the exact opposite of my old church and what I thought church should be. It was what I needed. I had hated church. So how would something the same as the old one help me in anyway? Can you imagine me being put off by church/es completely, as so many are, if all I found was another church exactly the way my old one was? I can.

In their minds, most people would imagine church as the boring, serious, stand up, sit down, show no emotion, don't clap and don't even contemplate dancing kind of church. Church is so much different than that. It is exciting and interesting. It can be emotional or light hearted. You can clap during the songs and not be frowned upon and you can dance if you want to.

What I want to say is, don't let what you expect from church be what makes your decision for you. Give it a chance, then make a decision. Experience it and make a judgement. We say don't judge a book by its cover; I say the same about churches. Don't judge this church based on your experiences at that church. Don't label all churches as the same, because they are not. There is one that's right for you and it'll probably be the one you walk into. It's not what you think or expect. I promise you. Please just give it a go.

Is This Justice?

A short story. Dedicated to all who have lost their lives on our roads at the hands of others.

He stood there. The rain tumbling down on him disguised the tears. The tears he cried did not fully replicate the pain he felt. Not physical pain, but emotional pain. He wasn't dead. Good for him. He hated it. He hated the thought of living now. Was this his lot? His consequence? He’d rather have died. He’d rather be the saviour. But he can’t, it’s too late. His future gone in one foul swoop.

People buzz around doing what they can. No one looks at him. No one says a word. No one wants to know him. They see his crime. Not again, they say. In their minds they have already prejudged him; a criminal. He feels it. But he’s not. I’m different surely, he reasons. But the result is the same. It’s criminal.

His desperation screams. Why! He sinks to the ground. Doesn't want to move; or breathe; or live. He glances upward as the paramedics remove the lifeless body from the car. Torn up, bloodied and mute. This is not how he remembered her. He turned away. He wished he hadn't seen. That picture, like a broken record, playing over and over in his tormented mind.

Oh, the contrast. Just yesterday it seemed as though they’d be together forever. Today is the beginning of an eternity of separation. Her life snuffed out by his stupidity, her beauty marred by his hand. He was mortified. He had done this? How is it possible? To see justice now. Him dead and her alive. Is it right that she should pay for his folly?

He felt dirty. Dirty to his very core. He’ll never be able to wash it away. He’ll never be able to wash her and what he did to her away. Or strike her from his memory. She would be there, in his memory. Her face battered. His crime visible. His condemnation eternal.

He didn't know it would hurt this much. He didn't know how bad it could go wrong. He didn't know he would lose control. He was a good driver, he thought. Evidence told its own story though. A conflicting one. A story of brash and brazen driving. Of carelessness and negligence. A story of irresponsibility; written as plainly as the death sentence he delivered.

He sat there in the church pew. Tears rolling down his cheek. Regret bouncing around his head. Her last words ringing in his ears. Stop it! You’re gonna kill someone! She had said. His fault? Couldn't be. He’d done it before; safely. But everyone in the church thought differently. They knew exactly whose fault it was. He could feel it. He wasn't welcome here.

Are they perfect? Have they never made a mistake? It was an accident. As if I’d mean to kill her. I loved her. I never meant to hurt her. Why don’t they believe me? These questions tossed and turned in his mind while he sat. The bitterness grew.

He didn't know which was worse. His punishment of living, or her punishment of death. He wished he had died with her. That would be the easy way out. It was just one mistake…

Fun Is A Dirty Word

"It's only fun if it's still fun in the morning. It's only fun if it's still fun next week. It's only fun if you can laugh at it in church!" (an exert from Ps Judah Smith's message entitled Are We Having Fun Yet?)

Today we a part of a generation of people who have a blurred perspective of what fun is. It really is that simple. We have people all over the world living for their Saturday nights when they can go out and have 'fun.' Where they do things that are fun at the time, in their semi-conscious state of being. Invariably they'll wake up the next day cursing how their head now hurts after last nights fun. Am I the only one who thinks this is folly?


Is that same things going to be fun in a few months time? Or in a few years? What about in the future, when your past catches up with you? Will you still think its fun? Long after all the fun has gone and all you're left with is the broken pieces of your life, will you still think what you did was fun?

There are three things that something must be to be fun-

• Fulfilling- do you leave feeling empty and disheartened? Real fun satisfies.
• Freeing- do the consequences restrict you? (ie. health problems down the track) Real fun doesn't do that.
• Lasting- in your future will you look back on your life with regret or shame? Real fun lasts.

I encourage you then, to seek after the things that will provide real fun and not the hollow, short term pleasure that people perceive as fun. I challenge you, look for fun that'll profit you in the now and live a life that won't catch up with you in the future.

Burn Those Boats

At IRCC's youth camp in 2008 Pastor Nick Khiroya told a story about Alexander the Great, which I have mostly remembered to date. I'll share with you what I remember.

"Alexander the Great was a mighty warrior and one of the best kings in conquest. The mode of transport in these times was ship and this is how Alexander and his army got around. So when the fleet landed upon the shores of the nation they wanted to conquer, I guess they felt pretty safe knowing that if things went badly, they could turn and run back to their ships and sail off. As they faced the opposing army, they discovered that they were grossly outnumbered. As you can imagine, soldiers started to worry and doubt that they'll live to see tomorrow. Something that Alexander the Great was obviously keen to arrest. He needed all his soldiers completely committed to the task at hand.

He ordered that there ships be burnt. Yes, their only mode of transport now non-existent. It sent a clear message to his army. The only way off this island, is to win the battle. There was now no backup plan if things went badly, there was no get out clause. It was fight or die. Despite being outnumbered, Alexander the Great's army responded to his declaration of intent, winning the battle."

Now I will tell you about something I did. Ok, so I had made the decision to drop out of uni at the end of the semester and find a full time job. Until yesterday however, I hadn't actually officially quit yet. I hadn't filled in any paperwork or anything and I did have my timetable and was enrolled to go to classes. It was like, if finding a job got too hard for me, I'd just go back to uni and waste half the year. Uni is the boats in my story. As long as they are there the temptation is to run away from the fight. Yesterday I burnt my boats. I am no longer a uni student, and there is no other option for me now but to find a job.

I have decided that I'm not going to allow myself to do the easy thing, but I'm going to put all my eggs in one basket and count them before they hatch. In faith that God will provide for me. I would be lying to say I wasn't scared, worried or even doubtful about it. But I can't see any other way. For me to completely commit to this decision I needed to get rid of the easy way out and leave no escape plan. And for me the outcomes are equally as cut and dry as Alexander the Greats; find a full time job or leave home.

Do you think it was easy for me to do that? No way. The easy choice would be to stay in uni. There are hardly any jobs going at the moment. Despite this, I still know that my God is my provider. And when all seems to hard, that is what I'll cling to.

The Past-Present Dichotomy

Yesterday (Sunday 2/8) after church, I was having tribes with Obi when he said something that I loved very much. We were talking through forgiveness which is the topic for youth at the moment. He said, "You can't be in two places at one time."

And now I want to clarify why this is such a awesome pearl of wisdom.

To be unable to forgive someone of something means that your holding onto the past. Their past mess ups, failures and wrongdoing. Your also holding onto that past hurt. So harbouring unforgiveness is only living in the past.

So when God forgives, he forgets that past sin and that is what forgiving is all about. Forgiving and forgetting. Letting the past be exactly that; the past. Then moving into the present free of that past weight.

You can't be in two places at once. Meaning if your living in the past, holding onto those grudges and ill feeling then you can't be living completely in the now. Only by letting go completely of the past can we live in the present completely. Only by forgiving others can we move on into all that our now has for us. Only by letting go of the past.