The Year 2010 That Was
December is always a month in a rush I think – anniversary, birthday, Christmas presentation for church, a variety of Christmas functions, Christmas itself, then for me each year, holidays. The year closes and there is something about the New Year that brings hope, anticipation and expectation.
Where did this year disappear? It seems that time has become slightly faster, yet at this time of the year I remember all that has taken place.
Time plays tricks on your memory sometimes – the worse doesn’t seem so bad and the great seems to be rather ordinary. Events come and go as I remember.
The engagement of one of my girls – the transformation of a household into a disciplined wedding planning centre – now just a few short weeks until I walk her down the aisle towards a new season of life.
I have enjoyed new friendships, seen some friends pass away far too young, celebrated milestones for precious people in my life, walked their disappointments, shared their tears, loved their intimacy and drank too much coffee listening and talking in safety. Old friends are never replaced by new ones – those early loves still burn so brightly in my soul. Yet new friends bring new life!
There have been attempts at new things – running my first race – combating the frustration of injury, training with people who are now more than running buddies but friends who understand the suffering of a hill but when done together somehow makes us even closer than before we started the run. Who would have thought that sweat and pain could bring new friends and new understanding?
My morning coffee tasted simultaneously with my devotions – journal open before me has brought me moments of manna from heaven. Transcending the tiny seat I occupy in the window of the same café I have frequented for years have been whispers to my soul from the unseen God who I dared to call Father more often this year than before.
Disappointment and joy are held in the palm of each of my hands – I try to let the disappointment pass through one yet hold the joy tightly for as long as I can in the other. My tears and laughter both giving me comfort in this year that was.
Married thirty years this year to the girl of my youth who continues to amaze, bewilder, surprise and tolerate me after all these years. The measure of my love for her now unable to be put into words for fear of dishonouring the duration of time. Four children still under our roof – each tender in my heart, each fills me with pride, each fiercely independent, each faith filled, each a genuine joy and each my friend.
Trust faith and hope still abide in me – my trust in God giving me peace to look around and hopefully with wisdom see things clearly not marred by hurt, pain, loss or insecure envy.
Even now as I write – memory comes, fades, magnifies and haunts me yet I look forward to 2011 as I have never looked forward to a new year before. Yet in the midst of what always seems to be a manic year may I be able to take time – yes take time to love extravagantly, explore further, enjoy longer, forgive easier, think deeply and run further and faster.
2010 the year that was – 2011 the year that is yet to be – honestly can’t wait!
Report Card Horror
I received quite a surprise in the mail this week when I arrived at my office. Obviously my father has been doing some ‘cleaning up’ around his home and he found my old school report cards from Grades 11 and 12 at Ipswich Grammar School.
The reports are rather decrepit, yellowing and slightly water damaged. At first I just couldn’t open them, as I knew what to expect. As the son of a politician at that time and with a fairly considerable chip on my shoulder, the comments from teachers would have been note worthy to say the least.
Finally I opened the first report card – teacher’s names suddenly made way for faces as memories of them came to me. Then the comments and I certainly was not surprised by what I read.
“Some of Mark’s subjects are still not up to expectation”
“Apart from better subjects Mark’s problem appears to be his own attitude. Only he can change this.”
“At times he finds it easier to move with the group rather than stand out as the strong determined individual he really is.”
“Lacks a serious approach.’
Those remarks were made 34 years ago – how time flies! I must have improved, albeit slightly, because I was admitted to QUT where I studied and completed a Bachelor of Laws. In fact out of a starting year of 120 only 18 of us finished our degree in the prescribed 4 years.
In hindsight the difference was a teacher – she was young and perhaps I was infatuated by her but she would not tolerate any of my rubbish. I remember her name Denise Frost – she taught me Ancient History. Most other teachers yelled at me when I misbehaved but Mrs Frost did something different. She gently took me aside and told me that I was better than the particular act of behaviour that I was in trouble for. I can recall to this day some of the phrases she used to encourage my potential. Yelling didn’t concern me as it only made me a hero in the eyes of the peer group. Somehow in watching me she discovered gentleness over a loud aggressive voice was the way to my potential.
I changed – what caused her to take the time to discover the very thing that would cause me to pay attention and release the discovery as to who I was and who I was meant to be?
There is a soft spot in my heart for those who hide their enormous potential beneath the scars of their past and current circumstances. When I am tempted to write them off I think of a young teacher who discovered a way to a rebellious wounded young man’s soul and as a result the potential within was revealed for all to see.
Where ever you are now Mrs Frost – thank you!
Sacred Places
Ken Burns is one of my favourite film and documentary makers – I have loved his work ever since he brought the American Civil War to life on SBS a few ago. Recently in Chautauqua N.Y. (reported by Nancy Gibbs in Time 30/8/10) Burns spoke about sacred places.
The concept of sacred places has always intrigued me. They are the places, which seem to hold some very deep meaning for people. In many cases it is a very personal spiritual encounter. The place has an experience attached to it – sometimes it is a personal incident, sometimes a conflict, a wonder of nature, a tragedy or loss or a momentous event.
It is a place where reality and divine meet. Always different for each person – one place can be just a place to one and for another it can be that place of hallowed ground.
I have known some of these places – almost stumbled across them. They sneak up on you often taking you by surprise. St Paul’s Church Manhattan New York directly across the road from Ground Zero, Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Wall in Washington and the spot where Martin Luther King Jnr gave his famous ‘I Have A Dream’ speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial are places that I have been deeply moved when I have stood there.
You sense something when you are at those places. Sometimes it is the sense of sacrifice as those who have visited Gallipoli have spoken of, sometimes a sense of God’s creation and beauty at a picturesque scenic place, sometimes it is a place of memory perhaps good perhaps not so good and sometimes it is just a special place where your spirit is alive.
I think everyone of us craves for that sacred place where revelation, healing, creativity, inspiration and imagination abound. We feel safe yet respectful, inspired yet frightened, creative yet overawed and worshipful yet insignificant.
I want to be constantly on the lookout for these sacred places because they seem to be places where God speaks to my heart and somehow I am prepared to listen more intently. Yes – my heart and my soul longs for those scared places. What about you?
Transcending Moments
Last weekend we as a church hosted Nancy Beach from Willow Creek Community Church Chicago USA. Nancy spoke at our weekend services. Yet that one sentence does not in any way do justice to the impact of Nancy Beach upon the church here in Ipswich.
I have often thought that as a speaker we actually are the message to some extent. One cannot speak with any degree of integrity on something that is not consistent with who we are. Nancy Beach spoke to us from the heart. Her grace and humility shone through in what she said and how she said it. I was able to spend time with her over the weekend – Nancy Beach is indeed the real deal – ‘fair dinkum’ as we Aussies would say.
Genuinely interested in you – she took the time to listen and respond with thoughtfulness and wisdom.
For me there were many highlights over the weekend but perhaps a memorable moment was when Nancy addressed the Pastors and Leaders of the local Australian Christian Churches district of which I am part and in fact lead.
She spoke on weekend church services and towards the end encouraged us as pastors and leaders to create transcending moments. Nancy then showed us on DVD one of the moments that she had experienced when she spoke in Chicago.
The theme was forgiveness – there was a beautiful song during which there was a very moving scene from the service being shown on DVD for us to see. Nancy told us how this moment had been part of a series of events which saw a family in the church restored, how a couple’s life was brought back together.
There was silence – no one moved – tears flowed – God smiled as a faithful servant being lead by the Holy Spirit allowed God to work through her. It was at that moment that I realized what had happened. This was a transcending moment – Nancy had practically demonstrated what a transcending moment actually looks like – a moment where all of us in that room were brought to a point of thinking about how a weekend service has the potential through these moments to transform lives.
It was in this moment that I thought about something else. How many times because of the busyness of life, the pace I do life at and the constant demands upon me do I miss those wonderful moments? Times when I stop, listen, respond and act. As a result I am transformed in some area of my life or someone else is changed.
Nancy Beach taught me a life lesson that morning – I hope that I don’t forget it!
Guest Blogger Romey Ritter – Got Culture?
As in cultured dextrose? What is cultured dextrose? And what is it doing in my hummus?
Recently I was enjoying some hummus, but as I was reading the ingredient list (chick peas, tahini, water, olive oil, cultured dextrose, garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper….) I choked a little. Hang on a minute, what did I just read? I wondered what that noxious sounding ingredient was doing in my otherwise very healthy hummus.
Apart from the cultured dextrose, the other ingredients are simple and healthy. So why put a manufactured chemical into the hummus? As it turns out this chemical preservative extends product shelf life. Really, who needs hummus to last for six months?
When did we as consumers get so complacent about the additives in our food? Did it start in the 60’s with the advent of the TV dinner? Maybe it was the 70’s with the popularity of that square meal (actually referring to the square box the meal came in). Was it the 80’s with the boom in chemical additives, especially of the sweet artificial kind? Remember Tab? I am amazed at the sheer number of chemicals that have flown under the radar and made their way into our food.
There are chemicals to preserve freshness and prevent bacterial or other pathogenic growth. There are chemicals to manipulate smell, flavour and colour, and even manipulate texture. Believe it or not, there are chemicals to manipulate the ‘mouth feel’ of a product; its crispiness, creaminess, or fluffiness. There are chemicals to control melting, to stop dehydration, or even to make sure that every baked cookie looks identical.
Have you stopped to consider how these chemicals may be damaging to your health? The rubber stamp of “SAFE” placed on these products is often based upon studies conducted by the food manufacturers themselves. Yet no one really seems to be looking at the long term effect of these chemicals in our bodies or at least publishing that information to make it known to the consumer.
So what can we do? The simplest way to avoid additives is to eat fresh foods that are minimally, if at all, processed. Take time to make food from scratch. You gain so much satisfaction and great health benefits and it just tastes better.
I value my health and my time and money reflect this. I’ll stick with making my own hummus. With three growing kids and a hungry husband, it will be gone before any pathogenic bacteria can affect it!
Balance
The look of the Physiotherapist’s face really did say it all – ‘You did what!’ she said and I noticed that at the same time her grip on my ankle somewhat tightened. I could tell what she was thinking – here is a seemingly intelligent individual – how on earth did he do this and not think there was going to be no consequences.
Well – let’s go back a little and I will make a full confession for the cause of my Physio’s disbelief. I was at the Physio for an ankle injury – strained tendons and ligaments which in the first diagnosis could have occurred through overuse and not enough rest periods between training runs. In other words I may have overdone the training a tad. Me overdo anything – highly doubtful I thought although it appeared that no one shared this view with me.
Then the Physio asked one more question – ‘Is there anything else that you could have been doing to cause the soreness?’ Her question prompted by the fact that the injury was in one ankle not both which is the norm for these injuries.
There was a moment where I hesitated but just enough for the Physio to sense I hadn’t quite told the full story. Then I confessed. A couple of months ago I had two orthotic’s put into my running shoes to help balance my running style. However I found that one of them really hurt so instead of taking them both out I just removed the one. Therefore for the past couple of months during the increased running schedule I had been doing I was running with one orthotic in and one out.
‘You did what! – do you realize that you have been running totally unbalanced for two months – it’s a wonder you have been able to run at all let alone the injury could have been so much more severe.’ Yes, the look did really say it all. It appears that I require two orthotics – one for each shoe. Novel concept really!
As I lay back listening to the lecture I was receiving and quite rightly I must say I thought about balance. How many of us seem to get our lives out of balance and then think there will be no consequence? I thought how many times have I got work, marriage, home, family, leisure, faith out of balance or body, soul and spirit so unbalanced that some aspect of my life has been injured?
I took the orthotic out and I will put another back in – in other words it does appear that only I can dictate the balance in my life! I am the one responsible!
In the meantime the injury due to the imbalance is now preventing me from doing what I really love to do! That’s what imbalance does I suppose.
Devotions
Let’s talk about REFRESHING YOURSELF SPIRITUALLY – spending time daily with God.
This is commonly called devotions – I define ‘devotions’ as a specific time and place where I can devote myself to God.
When is the best time to do devotions? The best time is when you are at your best. Are you an owl or a fowl – good in the mornings or good in the evenings? It appears that Jesus enjoyed the early part of the day. Mark 1:35(NKJV) records, “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.”
You need to have a good look at your lifestyle and find out what is best for you. The same time will not suit everyone. Once you find a time, it is important that you make a commitment to stick to it. I find that the discipline of a definite time is paramount to my doing devotions for such a lengthy and consistent time.
I also find that a wonderful cup of coffee really helps me, so I found a place where I can have a nice coffee and do my devotions. You may have a special place in your home where you can sit quietly to spend time in the Word, or you may prefer to find somewhere outside your home. The location is not important, as long as it is somewhere you will feel comfortable and be free of distractions.
Something else I have discovered that really helps is to choose a time, perhaps once a week, where you do devotions with a group of other people. The discipline of knowing that as a group you meet in the same place at the same time helps to keep momentum with devotions.
My next post will discuss the ‘how to’ of devotions!
Cycle Class
I am now into day 6 of my personal May Challenge – refreshing my body, soul and spirit. Yesterday at 5.30 am – yes that’s right – 5.30 am I went to the gym to participate in a ‘cycle class’. My young mate Jake came with me. Now you may well ask – ‘What is a cycle class?’ Good question 99 – it is a stationary bike experience where loud music pumps, an incredibly fit woman yells instructions at you and you pretend you are racing up hill and down dale.
45 minutes of sheer pain and sweat – to be honest I loved it. It was a great way to start the day.
Now why am I doing this May challenge? Why am I exercising? Well to be honest it is not to recapture my 20 year body – at 50 years of age that is long gone never to be recovered! Although I do admit to wanting to trim up a bit or as they say at the gym – ‘tone up’. Don’t you just love the language?
I want to do all that God has called me to do. That is the desire of my heart more than anything else. So I don’t want my health to prevent me from being available to be used by God.
There was an Australian Bureau of Statistics survey commissioned by Australian Financial Review reported 15 March 2008 that 80% of ministers of religion are overweight or obese and carry more weight than any of the other 50 professions surveyed.
I just want to be used by God and not limited by my unhealthy lifestyle.
So why not start some form of exercise TODAY – it is so worth is and you will fell so physically refreshed – keep posted for more ideas for our may Challenge.
May Challenge
Winter in Australia is only one month away – so I thought why not devote the month of May to enhancing body, soul and spirit. We tend to forget that we are made up of body, soul and spirit so I wonder if all of us could invest into each of those aspects during this month.
So how do you go about it?
Well it will take some discipline and planning but here are a few suggestions and over the next month I will add to those suggestions as together we enhance our state of health in these three areas.
Start with body – why not devote some time either each day or a certain number of times each week over May to exercise? Watch what you are eating over this period?
Now your soul – the source of your emotions and without doubt so important to your overall health. Ask yourself this question – What refreshes you? Actively pursue something that really refreshes your soul – develop a hobby.
What about your spirit? Can I ask you a question? How are your daily devotions with God going? Do you pursue a daily discipline of reading your bible and then journaling?
So over this month this is what I am going to do – I am going to actively think and plan way to enhance body, soul and spirit.
Will you join me?
Watch for new posts on this blog for really practical suggestions to help you participate in the May challenge of enhancing body, soul and spirit!
This is going to be great!
