Category: FindingFaith

Red castanets and other amazing things

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Yesterday my father lay in intensive care having come through a long and delicate operation to remove a tumour on his spine and to repair the damaged vertebrae. With wires and tubes protruding everywhere, and a neck brace surrounding his head, he raised his eyes and in his post-surgery  voice said, “He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities… and by His stripes we are healed. Thank you, Father. You know its amazing that this God of ours is called Father.” And tears came to his eyes as he contemplated the love of God. Faith well in tact I’d say…

Today as I walked through Leichhardt I came across an old man, grey hair and beard, skinny legs protruding from crumpled shorts, walking with stilted step. He gazed around with a slightly bewildered look and with each step he shook a bright red castanet. As I continued down Leichhardt St, I could hear the regular shake of the castanet as he slowly followed my path. Strange? Perhaps. But give me a red castanet over the hammer and knife wielded on the same streets just days before.

On King St south Newtown we followed a golden Honda Jazz with its back windscreen covered by an intriguing web address – www.yumchaatyourplace.com.au Now there’s a thought….

And the most unbelievable thing of the week – I took my father’s car to the Kmart Auto in Annandale to investigate possible problems with the brakes and some strange noises. After a thorough inspection, Peter told me the car was perfectly safe and although some work was required in the future, “it would be a waste of money to do it now”. Bring it back in a couple of months was his suggestion, “And, there’ s no charge today. I hope your old man is ok.” A mechanic choosing not to do some work now but send you home with no charge. That’s mighty unusual… but beautiful! PH

Finding our way forward

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“Scars remind us of where we have been but do not have to determine where we are going.”
David Rossie (Joe Mantegna), Criminal Minds

“What lies before us and what lies behind us are small matters compared to what lies within us. And when we bring what is within us out into the world, miracles happen.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Leaders order their hearts and minds so as to acquire more than what they currently need, because they know they will need more than they now possess.”
Pastor Timothy Jack

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.”
Apostle Paul, Philippians 3:12

“My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
Jesus of Nazareth, Matthew 26:39

Ordinary miracles everywhere

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I stood in a hospital ward on Friday night and listened to my 76-year-old father give his medical history to a junior doctor at Prince of Wales Hospital.

This was after he had explained, slowly and deliberately, to the young doctor, that he was a man of faith, had been a minister most of his life and believed in the healing power of Jesus.

His medical history began with having his tonsils out when he was a boy. (I thought, “We could be here for a long time…” I was wrong.) He had them out twice in fact – they either grew back or they didn’t get them all the first time.

Also as a boy, he had an abscess behind his knee. He thought for a while and then recounted his next item – a hernia operation in his sixties. As an after thought he remembered dislocating his elbow.

“Dad”, I said incredulously, “that was when I was about seven – over 40 years ago… and I can’t believe you can remember an abscess on your leg as boy.”

The doctor asked if there was anything else, and there wasn’t. Not bad for someone a few years short of 80.

Then the doctor asked what medications he took. This list was even shorter. “A vitamin C tablet, a vitamin E tablet and a fish oil tablet.”

The doctors stared, wrote something down, and nodded. “That’s very good. You are very healthy.” 

Dad, by way of explanation, told him that he didn’t drink or smoke although he had drunk heavily until he became a Christian aged 32, when “God and I agreed I’d done my fair share of drinking.” He has not touched alcohol since.

Tomorrow my father will have a very delicate operation to strengthen a vertebrae in his neck largely destroyed by a tumour. Once they strengthen his neck, they’ll worry about the tumour. He has spent his time in hospital while waiting for the operation reading the Bible, a book called Faith Like Potatoes, and praying.

When doctors first saw the size of the tumour, its location and the damage it had caused, they could not believe the lack of pain and other symptoms dad had been experiencing.  They felt certain he should have had a range of neurological symptoms but all he has had is a bit of stiff neck.

Dad has said several times that God has told him he will be healed. Who could argue with a man who is already a walking miracle? Please pray for him tomorrow. PH

Does God forgive Tiger Woods?

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In a world where private moments are played out on a global stage, nothing is certain about Tiger Wood’s statement today.

Is it a carefully stage-managed step towards restoring his golfing career and endorsements, or the honest confession of broken but recovering man?

Hopefully it is the latter, and if so, the apology part of his statement contains two important parts of repentance.

Firstly, he takes full and complete responsibility for his actions and did not attempt to blame anyone else, especially his wife.

Secondly, he acknowledged that the truth of his apology can only be judged by his actions over time.

To the extent that someone, who has lived a double life for years, can be sincere, these sentiments are important first steps to recovery.

Does God forgive someone who has betrayed his marriage vows numerous times in the most wanton fashion? The answer is yes, if through faith in Christ, he turns from those things.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

The same scandalous grace we need in our more private lives is available to internationally acclaimed golfers. And everyone else…

However, given that Tiger’s mother claims he has re-embraced Buddhism, a religion in which God does not really feature, the question is not so much, ‘Does God forgive him?’ but ‘Does Tiger Woods know God and even comprehend his need for God’s forgiveness?’ PH

Hold on and look onward and upward

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Ever felt like you are just holding on? That life's on the edge? At times like this, looking up is better than looking down. In any case, just holding on is still holding on! Photo by PH, Mt Pilatus, Switzerland 2009

No knee caps

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“How are you going today, George?” I ask while standing in line for a meal at the Lambert St Lunch, Camperdown.

George is 60ish with long gray hair and unshaven face; is wearing a t-shirt, too-small shorts and joggers and carries his walking stick.

“Oh, not that good. I nearly fell over on the way here.”

“That’s no good,” I reply. “What happened?”

“Have you ever had your leg just slide out, like this, while your walking,” he says while demonstrating a strange sideward leg movement, precariously. A lunch volunteer, plate of food in hand, is watching as our conversation unfolds.

“Maybe George, but have you had that happen?”

“All the time,” he says seriously. “It’s probably because I’ve got no knee caps, so I’ve got to be careful.”Read More »

55 Days of Faith and Action

Peter Hallett3 Comments

I’m putting together a devotional book based on a daily email I did in 2006 covering every verse of the book of James. This was a pivotal time for our community as we rediscovered God’s love for the lost and the least. Hopefully early copies of the book will be available by early March when we at Eternity run a conference called ChangeMakers.

James in the New Testament is often regarded as a tough book as it gives little in the way of ‘nice’ promises and plenty in the way of straight down the line challenge.

Beneath the surface though is a simple call to reject the cult of celebrity and greed that can ensnare our thinking and live a life of gentle respect for the poor, the rich and one another.

If you are interested in 55 Days of Faith and Action leave a comment or email me.

Here’s a snippet I came across while editing today:Read More »

God playing tennis

Peter Hallett1 Comment

God-spotting:

“I was dreaming about God. He was playing tennis,” says the boy Jim Graham (Christian Bale) to his mother in Empire of the Sun (Spielberg, 1987). “Perhaps God is our dream, and we are God’s dream,” he continues.

Seen God in any other unexpected places lately? Feel free to share them via a comment. PH

Captain of my soul, but who is my God?

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Clint Eastwood’s film Invictus features Nelson Mandela passing on the poem of the same name that steeled him against 27 years of incarceration to Francois Pienaar, captain of the World Cup winning South African rugby team.

The final two lines: ‘I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul’ echo through the movie emphasising that regardless of our circumstances we are still in control of how we respond, how we behave, how we think.

Invictus – William Ernest Henley (1849–1903).

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

It is unclear if this is strictly historical as other sources claim Mandela actually gave Pienaar a copy of Theodore Roosevelt’s speech, The Man in the Arena. The speech is notable for the extended passage:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Eastwood lays a lengthy historical foundation for the film’s climax being South Africa’s unlikely World Cup win in 1995, a powerful moment of unity for a country seeking to move past decades of apartheid. For just a few moments, Eastwood descends into the schmaltz of Hollywood style sporting movies as he tries to build tension and excitement on the rugby field.

But such is the grandeur of Mandela’s life and vision that anoints the film that most patrons will easily overlook these moments and soak in the beauty of belief.

English poet Henley was unsure what God he thanked for his ‘unconquerable soul’, and perhaps Mandela shares this uncertainty. The only black footballer in the winning rugby team, Chester Williams, claimed not to think too much as it spoiled his rugby but seemed much more certain about his faith in God when called on to pray after the South African team’s great victory.

Thoughts?
PH

Beach and the blind in Bali

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Rebekah searches for shells at Turtle Beach, Bali, with some of the kids from Eternity Blessed Children's Home.
Take a few Aussies with faith and give them a chance to build relationships with people in another country and culture and God can do great things. Sharing our lives is as simple as searching for shells at the beach and as supernatural as praying for sight to be restored in a church service in a children’s home. We Sydneysiders have been here under three days and have experienced so much already, even blue Fanta… Maybe a post on that later.

Off to Bali with strings in tune

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Tomorrow I join a bunch of young people from our church community, and later from other churches, on a short trip to Bali where we partner with local people to run a very special children’s home.

We go with great humility to encourage, support, learn from and, hopefully, contribute to an awesome team of people – Indonesian and Australian – who make Eternity Blessed Children’s Home a reality.

We’ll take the kids to the beach; visit disadvantaged rural families; paint a wall; share in church; listen, laugh and cry with the workers and hopefully get a few moments to soak in the beauty of Bali. 

We are taking a guitar because music is a universal language and some of our team are gifted in this area. For years we’ve just tossed our acoustic in the back seat, no case, and never thought twice. Suddenly we realised this would not be good on a plane!Read More »

‘It just worked out that way’

Peter Hallett2 Comments

“I’ve had a bit of a tough life,” the old fellow said as he tried to straighten his back before shuffling on towards his government flat.

Skin and bone with a fluro short and greasy cap, I walked behind him, hand on his soft arm or bent back to steady him.

“How many times have you been hit by a car?” I ask, recalling previous stories.

Read More »

Unhasting and unresting

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Godspeed is fast enough
Godspeed is fast enough

We have a bit of a theme going in our community this month, Rest and Readiness. I for one am trying to get to March with something to spare for the rest of the year!

As part of that endeavour, I’m reading My Utmost for His Highest – it’s only taken me 40 odd years to take the plunge. On January 6, Oswald Chambers writes: ‘The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.’

But he debunks the idea that we have to separate worship, waiting and work. We are often told to put aside time forGod, as if putting aside time is an easy thing in our face paced world. Chambers recommends pitching the tents of our life ‘where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be’. We follow the example of Christ who was ‘unhasting and unresting. It is a discipline, we cannot get into it all at once.’

Mmm, sounds like our idea of rest and readiness… takes a bit of learning but worth the try.

Rain on Uluru

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I have been searching for video of the December 23, 2009 downpour that covered Uluru. Not easy to find, but…Click here  for a short video on zimbio.com, courtesy of Reuters.
God has refreshed the geographic heart of our nation, and it feels to me that something similar is occurring spiritually…

Learn to depend on me more

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The late Canon Jim Glenon went through a severe personal crisis earlier in his life during which he reported hearing the indelible voice of God say: ‘You are to learn to depend on me more’. A ‘transposition’ ocuured in his life: ‘Instead of the previous idea of God helping me with my difficulties, now my difficulties were helping me with God… This meant that, instead of homing in on my problems, my problems were enable me to home in on God. This is what I was to learn; this is what I had to do’. PH

What are you growing this year?

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We grow what we feed. We feed what we see. We see what we choose.

Rediscovered roseI have a miniature rose in a pot in the front courtyard of our home. I had paid it little attention in the past 12 months until late October when I decided to move my tomato planting efforts to this same courtyard (inner city vegetable growing is a ‘particular’ art).

Each day as I watered, fertilised and generally yearned over my tomatoes, I would give a similar treatment to the random plants that happened to be in the same location.

The tomatoes plants duly bore fruit but what really surprised me was the literal revival in the other plants, especially the long neglected rose. It grew bushy and is now covered in about a dozen flowers.

Which illustrates well: we grow what we feed; we feed what we see; we see what we choose.

What will you see in 2010? Your choice. You may have something in the courtyard of your life waiting to flourish, but unnoticed.

Having seen it, how will you feed it? Your words, your prayers, your faith, your time, your action.

Having fed it, there is no question – it will grow. So make sure what you focus on and feed is the very will of God.

Strangely, my rose is flowering because I focused on the fruitfulness of my tomatoes and there was enough focus and feeding left over for something beautiful.

Follow the fruitful callings of God in your life and something beautiful will spring up in the midst. PH

Check out my full message on this theme titled “12”.

Heaven is particular

Peter Hallett1 Comment

“There isn’t a soul in the world whom Heaven doesn’t regard in a particular fashion. There isn’t a sigh or a word that Heaven fails to hear.” The angel Malchiah speaking in Anne Rice’s novel, Angel Time.

We are personal beings despite relentless forces to de-personalise us. We are ‘particular’ and are known by God in a particular (unique, personal, individual) way.

This gives us hope that our particular life and this particular day are known to an infinite God, intimately. PH

Before a word…

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The world has never had so many words. When we consider how few words it took to create the universe, and how many words we produce to get much less done, the efficacy of our speaking becomes questionable. How rare is it in our emails, texts, letters, conversations, sermons, speeches, and dare I say, blogs, are we truly understood. What comfort then in these ancient words of Psalm 139: ‘Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, oh Lord’. There is Someone who always knows the full intent of our words, before we speak and better even than we know ourselves.

God himself did make us…

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“…and I have to speculate that God himself
did make us into corresponding shapes like
puzzle pieces from the clay”
The Postal Service – Such Great Heights

Faith, even tentative, is often hard to find in popular culture… celebrate when you do.