golden moments

I actually really like playing trivia.
It helps if you're on a table with good friends, good food and have at least one member of the team who can answer a good chunk of the questions. That person is not me. But I do aim to have one golden moment each time I play. A golden moment is where a question is asked and a silence hangs over the table, you can feel the despair and franticness as people rack their brains for the answer and then rising up to save the day you give the answer that no one else knew.
It's a glorious and wonderful feeling - you should give it a go sometime.
I'm going to play trivia tonight with some people from Bible Study - here's hoping for one golden moment.

jesus gives me life

Today is my 3rd anniversary of having neurosurgery. I like acknowledging and remembering this anniversary as I tend to forget what it was like the 8 years previously when I had the tumour, mostly how physically weak I was. And if I forget the amazing transformation in my physical wellbeing, I also forget to be thankful to God for all he has done for me.

I have been reading Tim Chester's book 'You Can Change' and something that struck me when reflecting on my journey is that God uses everything that happens to us to make us like Jesus, both the good and bad. There are times when I feel sad at the life I feel I missed out in those 8 years; there was so much I didn't do, so many things I didn't go to, many friendships left on the outer and these days I catch myself saying yes to all social activities and adventures partly so I can feel like I can say I have a 'life'.

But if God's plan from the very beginning was to make me more like Jesus and everything that happens to me is part of that plan, how can I be sad or regret on what I've missed? I can't pinpoint how God has used the tumour to make me more like Jesus but I trust that He has and I'm thankful for that. And as Chester says, "...Jesus is the good life and the fountain of all joy." (p18)

Having a life doesn't equate to experiences or adventures or things that I have done but true life is found through Jesus.

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus..."
Ephesians 2:4-6

is god trying to tell me something?

I have on my computer a rather large folder packed full of music that I had acquired from a certain brother of mine. I love music, of a wide variety of styles and eras and it's absolute bliss for me to have so many songs at my fingertips. But I had been challenged about viewing it as stealing, rather than being a normal thing and 'everybody's doing it'. True to Heather style I made things somewhat complicated, going from a simple matter of selecting that folder and deleting it in one hit to inadvertently merging all of that folder, its many, many, many sub-folders and thousands of files with my legitimately paid for and owned files. So now I am faced with the task of going through each one to see if it's to be deleted. I started doing so last Friday, and that's where my sinful desires and temptation came to the fore and things got messy.

I deleted some... but kept the ones I liked.

The next day I was reading the paper while waiting for tyre-men to put new tyres on my car and I came across an article about a singer who is considering quitting the business due to illegal-file sharing robbing income from musicians, particularly at cash strapped points in new artists careers.

Is God trying to tell me something?

I was reminded of a sermon that Tim Blencowe gave a couple of years ago now from 1 Peter and the point I remember from it was - 'be annoyingly good' - not just good compared to the people around you but over the top, in your face good, make people uncomfortable good. I can't recall the exact passage but these verses challenged me on this point:

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
1 Peter 2:11-12

Thank you God for reminding me of this and I pray you keep reminding me as I delete my way through the files.

I was sick for a few days last week and a couple of very kind friends lent me DVDs of different TV shows. Nothing wrong with watching TV when you're sick and can do nothing else but lie in a semi comatose state.

But over the weekend another friend lent me 2 seasons of another TV show and I promptly watched 2 episodes this morning instead of doing more useful and productive things. Nothing too wrong with that...is there?

Tonight at Church, John introduced his sermon by sharing the statistic that the average Australian spends 22 hours a week watching TV (and that was from 1996 - it must be more now!). To be honest I didn't hear the rest of the sermon because I was dwelling on that point. I don't watch TV but I can get in phases where I watch a huge amount of DVDs in a week to get through a season, at the detriment of everything I should and could be doing, including sleeping. I lack the discipline of patience sometimes.

Is God trying to tell me something?

I don't think there is anything wrong with watching TV or DVDs but I do feel it is important to consider:
- time is a gift from God
- how I could be spending that time and,
- is what I'm viewing bringing glory to God or making me more like Jesus?

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:8

new beginnings

It is a bit of a long and complicated story as to why all my previous posts are deleted. I'm not even sure I quite understand myself but nonetheless they are gone and I have long since been debating whether to keep writing a blog. At first the delay was due to not knowing where to start (and to some degree that reason still holds) but more recently, I have been attempting to clarify good reasons of why I should write a blog.

I'm certainly not a great writer, nor do I profess to having an interesting life or to possess a deep understanding of theology or doctrine.
Would I be trying to be someone I'm not?
Do I write in the hope of developing a fan base to boost my ego?
Or to show off on how deep and insightful I can pretend to be?

I have finally come to a conclusion of sorts last night as I lay awake with a myriad of thoughts swirling around in my head - I need to write my thoughts down to help me think more clearly, to reflect more deeply, to learn more concretely and to sleep more soundly. And while I do not know who will read this blog or if it would indeed be of any encouragement or educationally useful but for me it is a way to think through my numerous thoughts, epiphanies and revelations as I learn more about God, his wonderful creation, including the blessings of family and friends, his amazing and divine gift of salvation and His will for me to become more like Jesus.