Category: Quotable

‘I was born blind… because he love me so’

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Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu’s album, Gurrumul, is one of the most significant Australian recordings of recent times.

Blind since birth, he plays right-handed strung guitars left handed and sings with a clear, pure voice in Gälpu, Gumatj, Djambarrpuynu and English.

Also known as Gudjuk, he is from the Gumatj nation, his mother from the Gälpu nation, first nations peoples from North East Arnhemland.

Listening to the album again today, these words encouraged me from the song Gurrumul History:

‘I was born blind, and I don’t know why
God knows why, because he loves me so
as I grew up, my spirit knew…’

Gurrumul hopes that ‘Yolngu people enjoy and celebrate these songs forever, and Balanda (non-indigenous) not only enjoy but learn from them.’ PH

Escaping the ‘once I have time’ fairytale

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I read somewhere recently that for modern people, saying you’ll do something ‘once I have time’ is as much a fairytale as saying ‘once upon a time’.

The reality is that if we wait for ‘enough’ time to do that heartfelt, significant, deeply true thing, we’ll never do it. It will remain a fairytale of our existence, but not a true story.

Perhaps part of the problem is we are always busy pursuing our own unscrutinised opinion of what is important, or preparing endlessly for that great opportunity around the corner, or worrying what others might think, or even worse for us, worrying that they may not notice at all.

‘Readiness means a right relationship to God and a knowledge of where we are at present,’ says Oswald Chambers. ‘A ready person never needs to get ready.’ If we are trying to act without God’s reality in our life, not only will we struggle for time, we’ll struggle for identity, clarity and honesty.

Another problem is that we complicate action, losing sight of the simplicity of ‘obedience’. More wisdom from Oswald Chambers: ‘Our Lord must be repeatedly astounded at us – astounded at how unsimple we are. It is opinions of our own which make us stupid; when we are simple we are never stupid, we discern all the time.’

Oswald Chambers quotes taken from My Utmost for His Highest, April 18,21.

My hair like Jesus wore it, hallelujah I adore it

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God-spotting, yeah man.

I’ll admit I’ve never seen Hair, the musical. Too young for the sixties, too old for the remakes. So I’ve never come across these lyrics from the musical:

My hair like Jesus wore it,
Hallelujah, I adore it…
Hair, hair, hair, hair…
As God can grow it, my hair 

I do know that you wouldn’t usually describe Hair as a musical encouraging  belief in God so it is nice, all these years later, to notice that He made an appearance and did receive credit for growing hair. As I recall, His Son also said that he even knows the ever-changing numbers of hairs on our heads. A sign of His care for us.

This all started when I saw ‘my hair like Jesus wore it…’ as a link and heading to an article on body image in various newspapers. Oh, and it was spotting Jesus in such a context that got my attention, not the body image topic, as important as that is…

Anyway, I’ll quit while I’m ahead (or, more correctly, while I still have a head of hair…) PH

What would Jesus do about asylum seekers?

Peter Hallett1 Comment

A question to Tony Abbot on ‘what would Jesus do’ about asylum seekers has sparked a flurry of Jesus references in Australian media.

On the ABC’s Q & A program last night, Brenton Anthony from Canberra sent this question to Abbott: ‘When it comes to asylum seekers, what would Jesus do?’

Melissa Heris also asked: ‘How do you reconcile your strong faith with your harsh position on refugees, given that many asylum seekers are escaping religious persecution in their home country?

His answers included, ‘Don’t forget, Jesus drove the traders from the temple as well.’

Read More »

Living a life of action

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To some, living a life of action might suggest bungy jumping and skydiving. But according to dynamic-speaking-duo, Jeremy and Catherine Hallett (Eternity, March 28), it runs much deeper than extreme sports.

The ‘why’ of living a life of action is to glorify God and see his kingdom advance.

The ‘what’ is to move from apathy (going through the motions) to action to kingdom by identifying ourselves as followers of Christ and stepping into a new boldness.

The ‘who’ of a life of action is everyone, or more specifically, everyone who makes themselves available. The ‘when’ is now and forever, in season and out of season – providing we have taken time out to hear what God wants us to do.

The ‘where’ of living a life of action is to start at home – our relationships, family, daily lives – and allow God to grow it from there.

Finally, the ‘how’ will be different for everyone but starts with rejecting fear and embracing the truth that God gives us abundant life.

Hear anything good at church today? Add it as a comment! PH

Imagine beyond what we think we’ve learned

Peter Hallett2 Comments

When Jesus reiterated the command to love God  (Mark 12:30)with everything we have he included the mind in the sense of our faculty for deep thought or imagination.

The human capacity to see something first in our imagination before seeing it formed (by the work of our hands or words of our mouth) is drawn from the very image of Creator God who spoke into being what he held in his heart.

Mark Youens, speaking this week in Port Macquarie, challenged the church to rediscover imagination. Just as Einstein’s creative approach to physics led to many of his great discoveries such as the theory of relativity, so too church leaders need to look afresh at the church to see what the real ‘constants’ are. Perhaps, Mark said, it is not Sunday services and church buildings but the making of disciples (Matthew 28:19-20).

Imagination is the ‘playground of the prophetic’ but there are also vain imaginations, such as the kind that led to the Tower of Babel. These imaginations are empty and profitless, manipulated as they are by human ambition.

Too often the church fails in imagination, Mark said, because its leaders have become institutionalised, begging the question, ‘Can we imagine beyond what we think we have learned?’ Another cause is that our imagination is manipulated by our own reason. We take what God has given creatively and make it less so we can hold it more easily in our hands. ‘Some things are never meant to be held in our hands,’ Mark said.

It is a season to re-imagine the kingdom of God as opposed to being preoccupied with the singular goal of building large churches.

Imagine if… PH

Recognise your enemy, especially if it’s a crocodile

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Christian speaker Lynn Tobin of Western Australia tells an amazing story from the rugged north of her state in which a work crew, camped out in the wilderness one night, suddenly hear some raucous singing in the distance.

Being miles from anywhere and anyone, they were stunned to hear any sounds of human origin and so quickly checked around their camp to see where it was coming from.

To their amazement, they saw a man, drunk out of his brain, walking through the marshy countryside, and attached to his leg was a crocodile! The man carried on singing, clearly unaware that the crocodile was trying to drag him off as a meal.

They rushed to their ute to grab tools with which to scare off the beast and had to beat it on the snout before eventually being able to pull the still singing and oblivious man free.

If that was not surprising enough, as soon as they had him free he quickly dashed off into the darkened landscape and out of sight.

The moral to this apparently true story – you can’t deal with an enemy you can’t recognise.

In life we encounter many enemies to our wellbeing, of spiritual or other origin, and too often we fail to let God help us see the true source of our affliction, or even that we are afflicted and could be rescued by his grace. We walk through life singing, with a crocodile on our leg.

As an aside, Lynn also mentioned that when people report having seen or been attacked by a crocodile, the average length is 30 feet when in fact the average size of crocodiles in 12-15 feet. Apparently, the opposite problem to the one above is just as likely – over-estimating our enemy. PH

Where we were once slaves

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‘I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: “The Voice of the Irish”. As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea – and they cried out, as with one voice: “We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us”.’ Patrick of Ireland from his letter, Declaration.

A great deal of history, legend, folklore and truth swirls around the great name of St Patrick, especially recalled today, St Patrick’s Day.

In his own words, we learn of a call, not unlike Paul’s to Macedonia, to go to Ireland, where he had previously been a slave, and ‘walk among us’.

The same God calls us today to walk in places where we were once slaves, and graciously and lovingly demonstrate the love of God.  The God of redemption takes the very prison that enslaved us and turns it into a field of salvation, if we choose to walk there. PH

Heavenly vision in practical issues

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I am a first time reader of Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest and so it was a special moment when I came across the phrase in a daily reading that lends itself to the title of the collection:

‘If we do not run our belief about God into practical issues, it is all up with the vision God has given. The only way to be obedient to the heavenly vision is to give our utmost for God’s highest, and this can only be done by continually and resolutely recalling the vision. The test is the sixty seconds of every minute, and the sixty minutes of every hour, not our times of prayer and devotional meetings.’ March 11

What is it that God has shown you and to what extent has this vision leaked? Take a moment to recall it and then do something, even tiny, to put it into action. PH

Possessed by our possesions

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‘Anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you. And in this materialistic age, a great many of us are possessed by our possessions’. Mildred Lisette Norman courtesy of Criminal Minds.

‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor…then come follow me.’ Jesus courtesy of Mark’s Gospel, Ch 10:vs 21

Chuck Norris turns 70 and needs Jesus

Peter Hallett4 Comments

Chuck Norris, who turns 70 today, is a world-wide phenomenon, less for his acting attributes in shows such as Walker, Texas Ranger, as for the humorous persona of invincibility that has grown up around him.

chucknorrisfacts.com is one site that carries on the great tradition of implausible Chuck Norris feats such as: ‘According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, Chuck Norris can actually roundhouse kick you yesterday’.

Just goes to show we really do want to have someone in our life who always gets the job done.

In fact, Norris has found that ‘Someone‘ for himself. He is a devout Christian and although, in typical American style, that has sometimes meant getting entangled in right-wing politics, he is a genuine man of faith.Read More »

The only way out is…

Peter Hallett5 Comments

See the long-haired, drug dealing/using skinny man with the bad teeth and flared jeans? That’s the one. With the plate of food covered in pepper. You have his measure and feel confident that your approach to life is superior.

As you share a few of your own struggles, though, he smiles, and kindly says: “The only way out is up.” And you realise that you don’t have a mortgage on faith and goodness.

See the neatly dressed older man who sits alone? The one who keeps to himself but is quick to lend a practical hand and quietly admits to you that he is a [reformed – that is, constantly battling] alcoholic.

Overhearing some of your challenges he too offers comfort: “I’ve learned over the years that whenever you attempt something for God, he looks after it.” And you wonder how you, with so much, have chosen to ignore this gracious truth.

“Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that  poor man.” Ecclesiastes 9:15

Jesus out-socialists the socialists

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Following on from yesterday’s blog post All you have to do is live your life comes this gem from Oswald Chambers:

“Jesus Christ out-socialists the socialists. He says that in His kingdom he that is greatest shall be the servant all. The real test of the saint is not preaching the gospel, but washing disciples’ feet, that is, doing the things that do not count in the actual estimate of men but count everything in the estimate of God.” (My Utmost for His Highest, February 25).

Both quotes question our definition of success. Is a good life that quietly leaves a wake of happiness rated below a great life that is noticed and acclaimed?

Is being visible and acclaimed as preacher (or celebrity) to be more highly valued than the simple humility of servanthood? Is it possible to be both good and great?

What of the partly reformed alcoholic standing next to me, singing his lungs out and often teary because of how much he feels loved at his little church? Is he a picture of success greater or lesser than a large auditorium of well-heeled, attractive young people with hands raised?

What “count[s] everything in the estimate of God” in your life? Can you esteem it highly too or are have you given away the high ground of goodness and servanthood to greatness and worldly success? PH

All you have to do is live your life

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“‘Oh Val,’ said Father. ‘All you have to do is live your life , and everyone around you will be happier.’
‘No greatness, then.’
‘Val,’ said Mother, ‘goodness trumps greatness any day.’
‘Not in the history books,’ said Valentine.
‘Then the wrong people are writing history, aren’t they?’ said Father.

From Ender in Exile, by Orson Scott Card.

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

Do Unto Others and to Yourself

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‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ This is a powerful call to kindness and mutual respect. By gaining insight into the value of others, relative to our own, we act more justly.

‘Do unto you what you have been expecting others to do for you.’ This is a powerful call to take responsibility for our own well-being rather than demanding others to fill our needs, which they never can. By choosing not to blame or bargain, we mature as people and allow others the freedom to give kindness, unhindered by demand.

Neither statement can be fulfilled by humankind without the grace of God abounding in our hearts, restoring true humanity. PH

Too close to the river to care

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Kenyan pastor Evans Mkala Mage, speaking at Eternity today,  had three points he believed God wanted Australian Christians to hear:

1. This land is a refuge ( he didn’t elaborate but the implications are profound when you consider our history and current issues.)

2. We have been given a great deal but need to live with balance.

3. God loves us so much and we need only to reach out and receive this love.

He told a Kenyan parable to highlight these points.

“In Kenya we have a saying: if you a visit a home near the river they will not have any water. This is because they know the river is near and say, ‘I can go and get water anytime’. If you visit a home a long way from the river, you will find they always have water to share with a stranger or those in need. This is because that know how difficult it is to get water, so they make sure they always have a supply.” We are a people living near the river of God’s goodness and abundance but are in danger of taking it for granted and failing to value our supply and share it with others. PH

Be exhausted for God

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The word exhaust literally means to empty or drain completely of resources. We use it to mean we are very tired but it goes deeper than weariness, and includes an emptying out of any capacity we have to give.

Sounds like something to avoid but Oswald Chambers has this to say today in My Utmost for His Highest:

“He saved and sanctified you in order to exhaust you. Be exhausted for God, but remember that your supply comes from Him.”

If we think of exhaustion as being tired, this doesn’t sound very useful. But if we consider that we have been gripped by God to be poured our for His purposes and filled endlessly by His grace, we find more hope.

This is why Chambers asks us to consider: “Where did you start the service from? From your own sympathy or from the basis of the Redemption of Jesus Christ.”

Sympathy is easily exhausted and rarely replenished. The Redemption of Christ is a high vantage from which to view and ceaseless well of refreshing. Live there and exhaustion or anything else will not beat you. PH

The marvel is not me

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“The marvel of the Redemptive Reality of God is that the worst and the vilest can never get to the bottom of His love. Paul [the Apostle] did not say that God separated him to show what a wonderful man He could make of him, but “to reveal His Son in me.”

Oswald Chambers
My Utmost for His Highest
February 3

This quote would seem to flow counter to the river of Christian books that  promote the idea of becoming all we can be. Is it the same thing? Or have we moved the mark some how? PH

God playing tennis

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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