Jubilee

I might be flogging a dead horse with this one.

Put simply, the rich are too rich, and the poor are too poor.

It boggles my mind that one can be on the treadmill at the gym watching one TV screen showing a world vision ad with hungry kids living in a disease-ridden cesspit and another TV screen is displaying advertorials for designer cat clothes or a holiday retreat for dogs where they can enjoy a spa or a dip in the pool.

DOGS DO NOT NEED SHIATSU MASSAGES!

I feel like I'm once again on crazy pills! (see earlier blog entry)

Back in the day, folks in Israel redistributed their wealth (and set slaves free etc.) every 7 years. That 7th year was called Jubilee. It's a great concept. It means nobody gets too rich or too poor, and ensures the weak aren't painted into a corner for life while the strong get all the choices.

An epiphany came to me the other day:
No monopoly game picks up where it finished. Everyone starts off with the same amount of money and there are no hotels on Mayfair. Imagine if one person started the game cashed up and owning half the board, and everyone else began with little more than their prize for 2nd place in the beauty contest! Would that be fair?

It turns out the great monopoly game of life isn't fair. And we're all in it, like it or not. It challenges me to use what I've been given wisely. I imagine what it would be like if Jubilee happened in our time. It would be a pretty crazy shake-up. But a lot more just. Bring it on, I say!

Next time you're tempted to get your guinea pig a pedicure, or your pony a guitar lesson, stop and consider Jubilee!

Darwin

Last weekend saw me and 4 others (Cath, Mike, Claire and Andy) headed to the northern end of our big, brown country for the Love4 conference. It was basically a get-together of all the corps in the NT region, like when we had Connections here last year.

In many ways the weekend was really tough:
- we had to sit on a plane for 4 hours to get there
- the weather was oppressive: it was warm and sunny, forcing us to change into shorts and t-shirt for the whole weekend
- the only escape from the heat was to subject ourselves to air-conditioning indoors or by getting wet in a swimming pool. It was even harder for myself as I was openly mocked for my method of entry into the pool (ask Mike or Andy about that one)
- if you think that was tough, consider also having all your meals paid and cooked for you, enduring tedious sunsets on the beach, and being forcibly driven around and billeted by nice people.
That's what we had to go through!

Of course, I'm being facetious. We actually had a great time, and the hospitality extended to us was first class.

The adults part of the love4 conference was based on 4 themes of love for life, love for God, love for others, and love for the army and mission. While this was going on, the five of us from Reservoir experienced a different perspective. We were in charge of looking after the youth and children's activities. The sessions included going on a trip to "Crocosaurus Cove" and learning all about all things reptilian. Then there was a God and Pizza night for the youth and kids church on the sunday morning. It concluded with an all-in session in the afternoon.

Despite a smaller turnout of youth than we had expected, we had a great time sharing God with them. There was a mix of cultures represented including aboriginals from Alice Springs, African kids (many of whom were born in detention centres after their parents arrived as asylum seekers from Liberia) and of course run-of-the-mill white Anglo/Aussie kids.

The aboriginal kids were a joy to be around - great smiles and full of energy. A couple of them had disablities, were in foster care or needed special attention, but their faces radiated a level of joy which you don't often experience among church folks.

The African kids were also great. A bit more challenging than the others though. Apparently Darwin corps has regular African morning services (fortnightly or monthly, I can't remember) and so when the African choir sings in the meeting, sunday school is inundated with their kids and struggles to function (there is only one leader there, we had 5+!). They had some really cool names, including Blessing, Peace, and Little Sista! Peace was a young lad whose name belied his behaviour! He was anything but peaceful - the first words to me were during a game of fruit salad where he said "I'm angry! I'm out and I'm angry!". Claire did a great job with them at kids church, inspiring me to become a better human being.

Our time with these people was short but intense. Having only a weekend with them only really allowed us to scratch the surface in terms of building relationships. However, talking with some of the local youth leaders revealed a lot about where the kids have come from and what they have gone through. There were many sad stories from their childhood, with many carrying the scars caused by exposure to war, broken relationships, rape and other injustices. I counted it a privelege to be able to share God with these people, and really felt blessed to be there.

God showed me a verse one night (1 Peter 1:24) which reads:

"People are like grass;
their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
But the word of the Lord remains forever."

On a personal level, my hope is that God will take our time and efforts and use them to bring some long-lasting impact into those kids lives, and ultimately God's kingdom. By encountering people who don't have a lot, I was once again reminded how easy it is to become materialistic and selfish in my own life. God challenged me to focus less on earthly things and more on eternal things that last, such as sharing Jesus with people and reflecting Him in how I live.

Booth Quote

Was reminded of this quote while reading On Fire mag recently:

"I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be:
- religion without the Holy Ghost
- Christianity without Christ
- Forgiveness without repentance
- Salvation without regeneration
- politics without God
and heaven without hell" - William Booth

Anyone been confronted by one of these dangers lately?!

Very prophetic!!!

Update

Hi, person who checks this daily hoping for an amazing new post despite my complete abscence from blogging for the past 3 months! Your dedication to my groundbreaking blog has not gone unnoticed.

How are you?

Since last time I have moved to a house devoid of free internet. As a consequence, I have been a tad slack with the posting. But, praise the Lord, I am on holidays and hope to get a few done before the week is over. But not until I watch some serious Alias...