Thoughts and Amusings

Christians for some bizarre reason have a very annoying habit of turning up to events late and/ or handing important things in late. I really don’t know what this is about. I sure don’t know what the biblical principle behind it is. God help me I have tried to understand certain members of my Christian circle who think they have the right to waste an hour of my life while they turn up an hour late to events/ meetings/ gatherings. However I really don’t get it.

Sure I can understand 5 even 10 minutes, things happen, but the ‘I’ll-be-there-when-I-get-there-Jesus-Cruisin’ ‘attitude is not just bizarre it’s a very poor witness. The other night I was out with sister (not Christian) I had arranged dinner with 3 christian friends for 6pm. The first friend arrived at 6.50. My sister was not only annoyed, but also discussed with me that my friends obviously don’t respect me very much, she was quite looking forward to the dinner but spent the whole night worried as we had ordered too much food for people who never arrived.

There is no point in ‘evangelising’ if your whole life doesn’t show it, this means how you interact with other Christians impacts your interaction with non Christians and how you show you value others.

I had an interesting weekend away with a group of youth leaders from my church at a farm. Interesting, is the word I use when I can't be bothered explaining the mix of emotions, experiences and all that it encompassed. A brief summary:

• Marshmallow toasting
• Fantastic food
• Interpretive dance
• Settlers of Catan
• Charades (I had to act out Albertine by Brooke Fraser - can I just say that is a flippin' hard one to do)
• Me doing masses of study for BCNZ paper
• A nasty spiritual attack that left me in masses of pain for most of sunday morning
• Listening to Life Fm - we were very excited about this! (don't get that in wellington)
• A lot of discussion.
• Finding out the true lyrics to a 'Fray' song ..... turns out I have been singing something that wasn't there....... in my defence I wasn't the only one!
• Oooh and yes ...I got the leaders to Bongo themselves :P (highly entertaining)

Anyway one of the things we discussed was community. In fact the debate got quite heated at times. There was argument that Christian's rely far to much on online community and use it too much (which I disagree on) and there was argument that we needed to become more like the Acts 2 church.

So my questions for you are (you can pick one or both)

1. What would you define community as?
2. Do christians rely on online community too much?

Music and lyrics by Tim Hughes and Brooke Fraser - to have a listen to a snippet enter in 'Clinging to the Cross' on itunes.


I want you to see the richness of these lyrics and their fullness. DON'T SKIM THEM READ THEM! I like many people think words are a very powerful tool. My particular pondering point over the last few months has been 'Out of the same mouth comes praise and hate filled words'... ( Have a look at James 3). I find the following words so beautiful as they remind us that even when we fail misreably at something we can always cling on to Jesus.

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CLINGING TO THE CROSS
My soul is weak
My heart is numb
I cannot see
But still my hope is found in You
I’ll hold on tightly
You will never let me go
For Jesus, You will never fail
Jesus, You will never fail

Simply to the cross i cling
Letting go of all earthly things
Clinging to the cross
Mercy’s found a way for me
Hope is here as i am free
Jesus, You are all i need
Clinging to the cross

Even darkness is as light to You, my Lord
So light the way and lead me home
To that place where every tear is wiped away
For Jesus, You will never fail
Jesus, You will never fail

Simply to the cross i cling
Letting go of all earthly things
Clinging to the cross
Mercy’s found a way for me
Hope is here as i am free
Jesus, You are all i need
Clinging to the cross

What a Saviour, what a story
You were crucified but now You are alive
So amazing, such a mystery
You were crucified but now You are alive

Simply to the cross i cling
Letting go of all earthly things
Clinging to the cross
Mercy’s found a way for me
Hope is here as i am free
Jesus, You are all i need
Clinging to the cross