My New Weekly Blog...

Welcome to my new weekly blog...

So the weekend was frantastic...that is a new word which means mindblowing busy but awesome all at the same time...

Saturday, I taught a full day course for a local church - it was a dumb thing to do - but I enjoyed the people and the nice cheque they gave me!

Sunday was week 2 of The Undivided Life - its going really well - this week's message seemed to connect - I'll never understand that dynamic - one week you give everything and it falls flat; the next week you do the same and it connects! We have some cool things going on within the community right now, with new people searching earnestly for God. Many of them are in our new cell groups, most of which are now full and already candidates for reproduction. Heaps of people showed up with their devotional journals and took notes. One non Christian seeker has given up smoking for Lent. Nice.

So, I preached on The Examined Life using James 1:22-25. I find James interesting because he didn't follow Jesus (his brother) prior to the resurrection. I get that. If my brother called in one day and asked me to "Follow him" I'd probably ask him whether he was still drunk from the night before! And who'd believe that someone who you consistently beat in backyard cricket for your whole life could be the son of God? But at the same time, if I, like James, saw my brother get killed and then come back to life? Well I might believe with the passion that James did and pen a book like the book of James with its uncompromising stance...and its call to look intently into the mirror and see who we really are.

Cool thing happened on the weekend - this guy Daniel who's been travelling with us for a while - well he's been reading everything he can lay his hands on including the Koran and so on. We did this small group thing together last year called Journeys and he seemed to gain quite a bit of insight into what following Jesus was all about. But he was really tossing up between Judaism and Christianity cos he couldn't quite get the need for Jesus. So anyway on Christmas Eve I preach on the Great Banquet, which is this story Jesus tells about people who get invited to a huge feast. And when the host sends out messengers on the day that everything is ready a bunch of people renege on their earlier invitations. There is a lot in the story but basically Jesus is comparing the Jews to these no-show guests - the invitations had gone out through the prophecies concerning the Messiah, but when Jesus actually shows up, they turn into party poopers. So Daniel is there that night and amazingly comes forward for communion in what was a pretty unequivocal statement by him (he's a way intelligent guy and my invitation left no room for confusion). Then he drops from sight over the Christmas vacation. I'm thinking. "He's not gone to the Jews after all?!" Then reappears at a party on Saturday night and asks if he can be baptised at Easter! Makes all those late Monday nights talking philosophy, theology and bollocks worth it...

Anyways, back into the day - feeling good after the gym - weight is down, nearly at the first goal - 2 more weeks I reckon. I'm trying to lose my sympathetic pregnancy weight by the time Kristen sheds 6-10 pounds (now in only 17 days, officially that is...we're not holding the baby to that timetable). Then I'm heading earnestly for my 2 year low. Thats still 20 pounds away however!

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