Rise Up, Australia

Have you seen the news? Right now, in Sydney, hostages are being held in a cafe in the CBD. The news is sketchy, details vary depending on what article you read. We don't really know how is responsible, or what they want. 

My heart is heavy as I read about what is happening now in my country. I know that love is rarely the response to such violent acts, but as I am praying, the only thing that keeps coming to my mind is Matthew 5:43-47. 

I am praying for the safe return of all hostages to their families. 

But as I think and pray about all this, my foremost thought, after praying that there are no deaths, is that now, hopefully, finally Australia will rise up.

We are the lucky country. We are SO blessed, so rich in so many things. Australia is the land of opportunity. And I know that Australians rally when others are in need. We often give a lot of financial help when international crisis calls for it.

And yet... we are comfortable. We are isolated. It is easy to ignore the injustice in the world as we go through our daily lives.

My prayer is that NOW we, as a nation, will rise up. My dream is that my country will be on the forefront of international efforts to end violence, war and crimes. Now it has come to us, to our home. So how will we respond? Will be jump to judge, make blanket statements about this race or that religion? Or will we choose the radical way of Jesus, to respond first with love and grace and forgiveness?

Justice will be done, sooner or later, but how we respond now will shape who we are and become. Australia now has the opportunity to choose who we will be, what words we will speak over the perpetrators. 

In no way do I believe that violence is ok. I am not softening the hideousness of the crimes. But let us not match hatred with hatred, violence with violence. Let's move in the opposite direction, stay soft hearted, welcoming to the foreigner, the homeless, the destitute. 



"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
Matthew 5:43-47

Undeserving

Yesterday, my husband and I were watching an episode of Undercover Boss, the US version. 

The show's premise is that the head of a large company goes undercover for a week, working at the bottom levels of their own company, to see what life is like down there and to access the company from the inside out. 

At the end of the show, the boss usually does some major acts of generosity towards the various people he worked with during the week. 

It's a pretty captivating show, one that we thoroughly enjoy watching. 

This particular episode (Season 4, Episode 2) featured the company Tilted Kilt, a rather scanky chain of pubs, something like a Scottish version of Hooters. The President of the company, Ron Lynch, went undercover and for one of the days he worked with one of his employees, a family man who worked two jobs and a ridiculous amount of hours, in order to ensure that his family, especial his three children, were well provided for. 

At the end of the week, at the big unveiling, Ron gave this man some serious money, set up a college fund for the kids and sent them all on a holiday. 

The father of the family just sat there saying, 'Thank you, thank you' over and over, crying his eyes out. 

And right there, I had a revelation about grace. Because that's EXACTLY what Jeaus did for me. For us. 

He gave us a gift that we just couldn't repay and we could never work hard enough to earn it. Like the employee, there is no way we could pay the 'boss' back. 

It was a gift: and it's a gift that we can only be deeply grateful for. 

Do you remember the moment you were saved? For me, I grew up being a Christian, but it was only after wandering in my teen years, and then coming back, that the true value of what Jesus had done, and was doing for me, hit me. And like the family man above, I was a shattered mess, weeping on the floor 

If only we could keep that reality at the forefront of our minds. How eternally grateful we would stay, and how deeply in love we would remain. Our love would not grow cold. I guess that's the struggle; to not let the memory of this ridiculous gift of grace to fade. 

Thankful

As I lay here, my son sleeping beside me, occasionally nursing or snuggling into my side, my second inside me, beating a rhythm with little kicks and bumps, I have a moment of gratefulness sweep over me. 

I barely slept last night. My son decided playtime was going to happen in the middle of the night. I was so cranky and irritable when I woke and I wondered how I would get through the day ahead. And yet I always do. We always do...

I remember now that I am actually one of the lucky ones. I know of women who's hearts and arms ache for their own little one. They've tried for year on year with no success. 

I just read an article on prostitution in North Kolkata, India (http://www.upworthy.com/he-took-his-camera-to-a-village-where-prostitution-is-a-way-of-life-heres-what-he-found). These women live hell on earth, day in, day out. 

I think that gratefulness really is the key- to joy, happiness, contentment and to living the 'dream' life. There will always be more that we want and need. However, it's always a good idea to stop and recognise the 'so much' that we already have...

Devotions

Source: http://www.amazon.com/The-Jesus-Storybook-Bible-Whispers/dp/0310708257

I was reading to my son the other night, from 'The Jesus Storybook Bible'. We were reading the story when Jesus was in the boat with his friends, and he calmed the storm.

'The wind and the waves recognised Jesus' voice. (They had heard it before, of course - it was the same voice that made them, in the very beginning). They listened to Jesus and they did what he said... 

...Then Jesus turned to his wind-worn friends. "Why were you scared?" he asked. "Did you forget who I Am? Did you believe your fears, instead of me?" 

Jesus' friends were quiet. As quiet as the wind and the waves. And into their hearts came a different kind of storm. (pg: 242)

Wow. I read this to my son and started crying. I could hear the Spirit speaking so strongly to my heart, whispering of the dreams that He has placed there, and daring me to have the courage to trust Him.

Unity

Genesis 11:1 - 9
1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. ² And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. ³ And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” ⁵ And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” ⁸ So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.⁹ Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

I started reading through Genesis yesterday, 'In the beginning...' (Hahah, A Christianese joke). By today, I had reached Genesis 11, and this story about the tower of Babel that has so often fascinated me.

Two things stood out to me this morning. First of all, all mankind was seeking to make a name for themselves. I think that is where the trouble began. Mankind is designed and created to praise and lift up the name of the Lord. When we purpose to lift up anyone or anything other than Him, we are going against our original design. 

Secondly, I was struck again by the power of unity. When we humans come together in absolute unity, even if working against God's plan and design, we can achieve anything! There is a power here. And I think that is why we the church today are so powerless. We have gotten lost in the our internal arguments. We fight about doctrine, and who is greater (check out Matthew 18 for what Jesus thinks about that) and whether or not homosexuals are damned to hell. I think that there is a time and a place for doctrine, and we need to come to a place of just agreeing with God's Word and what He says, but that should never overtake our efforts at unity. After all, we are ONE body, ONE kingdom. And a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.

Imagine what earth would be like if we the church would only be united? Imagine if our sole focus and purpose was to love our neighbours and to love God the Father with all our hearts and souls and minds?? There is NOTHING that could stand in the way of such overwhelming love. I wonder how soon the whole world would hear the good news and then Jesus could return?

But as I think about these things, the challenge hits very close to home. Honestly, I do not love my fellow Christians like that, and I do not fight for unity within the Body of Christ. I find non-Christians, generally speaking, nicer to be with and easier to love and like. 

Oh God! I need You here. I need You in my heart and mind to give me Your love for us, this fallen bride of Yours.

Public vs. Private

I always have this inner struggle about my online presence. I have so much to say, so many thoughts, and sometimes it is nice to send them out into the world. I very rarely have any comments, or feedback, on what I share on here. And that is ok with me.

But then there is the flip side: I am super private. I like to keep my family to myself. And I specifically don't like to post many/any photos of my son online.

I was recently asked why, if it was intentional. Yes, of course it is. I used to be an over sharer. At one stage I was posting a new photo album daily (when I first moved to Singapore and I wanted to share my journey with my friends at home).

Even when Levi was first born, I happily posted photos willy nilly.

But then I began to think more deeply about the whole thing. I know that I would not like my online presence to be decided for me. I would not like to have a 'personality' assumed about me based on what people saw of me online. 

I feel a little bit sorry for kids these days. They will grow up 'famous' even if in just a smaller circle. All the adults in their lives will have an opinion about who they are, their character and personhood, sometimes without even having seen them in real life. 

I get the 'proud parent' thing. My word! I am so incredibly proud of my son. I would love to tell the world about his every little milestone, and I would expect you all to be as impressed and enthralled as I am. But at what cost? 

In addition to this, there is the very real risk of online predators. I don't think it is paranoid to be aware of this and to minimise as much potential risk as possible.

And then last of all, as I said in a previous post, I am mindful of what I am modeling to my son. Do I want to lead him to be as addicted as I am, as every adult in his life that he will ever know is? As much as I want to make healthy choices for him in terms of diet, I also want to choose well for him regarding technology.

Christian Business?

For those of you who don't know, I started a small business, Shiloh Handmade, towards the end of last year (2013). I started the business as I believed that God was leading me to do so. I still hold to that conviction, although my year, both personally and to do with my business, has been full of ups and downs. 

I have had few sales, all to supportive friends. I think that my products are more suited to the Australian taste, not so much for the Singaporean market in which I live. 

I feel that now, a year later, is a good time to reassess. I am thinking to change the whole look of Shiloh Handmade, but also to rethink what products to produce. 

In addition, I've been thinking through the question: am I a Christian who has a business, or is it a Christian business? Until now, I have been the former. I acknowledge that I am a Christian on my site, but I have not and do not emphasize it in any way. I am not ashamed of my faith. Not one bit. But it does change the market and tone of the whole thing. It is something to further think and pray on. 

For now I am thinking and praying and planning. Stay tuned for a new look and feel in the coming new year!

Addicted

Yesterday, I was on the train into the city. In each of the sitting sections, there are 18 seats. In my particular one, 17 of those seats were filled. There were 5 men and 12 women. Of those 17, only TWO were NOT on their handphones or mobile devices; myself and an older lady who looked in her mid-60s and who seemed to be dozing. There were an additional 5 people standing in the section, all of whom were also using devices.

Get that? Total 22 people, 20 on devices.

Does that shock you?

I am now 30-years-old. I like to think that my teens were not that long ago. In my teens, this kind of thing wasn't seen. I remember getting my first mobile phone, a study Nokia, somewhere around when I was 17-years-old. It wasn't 'smart' and had only 4 pretty basic games on it. I didn't spend most of my time glued to it. 

How have these tiny pieces of technology become so vital to our existence? 

Looking around the train, I felt so convicted. What am I modeling to my son? What kind of a world will he grow up in? Will there come a day when we forget how to speak, how to relate and to interact to one another?

I wanted to scream, 'EVERYONE PUT DOWN THE DEVICES AND NO ONE WILL GET HURT.'

Obviously, I didn't do that. But I do intend to put down my device a whole lot more often. 

Culture Shock

My family on our wedding day (12 May 2012)

Joel's family on our wedding day 

Joel and my family's are incredibly different. Like... Reeeeaaaally different. Our cultures aren't the only difference; but the character and tone of the family units are poles apart. 

Sometimes I think it's amazing how well Joel and I go together, given the vast contrast between our backgrounds. 

In the past, I truly wondered if his family was from another planet. How on earth could people have a completely opposite way of thinking to what was 'normal' to me? 

Recently, we did the unthinkable. We actually moved into their house. Astounding really. We are in an interim period before our own rental is ready for us. 

For me at least, it has been and is still very tough. Not just learning to live with other people, but also learning how to be a family, within another family. Not as easy as it may sound. How do we keep 'us' and what is unique and special about our little family that I love so much, and yet live in and contribute to a greater family around us? 

I'm very sure culture plays a large role in how I am feeling. Perhaps (or perhaps not?) if we were a local couple moving in with their local inlaws, the challenge and change would not be so great. In Asia, there is a more significant emphasis placed on extended family. We have it in the West also, but there is more autonomy between the smaller family units. 

I'm not saying that either side is better, or 'right'. But I am experiencing the 'other side,' and it's been eye opening. 

I am amused to realise that I, and maybe we are all the same, somehow subconsciously expect that other people run their lives in the same manner as myself. I am very systematic in the way I do almost everything. For example, before I wash dishes, I put all the same items together. This means that when I am washing them and putting them on the drying rack, they stack more neatly and take up less space. Does it really matter? No. But it's still the 'best way' to my own mind and therefore is 'correct.'

My husband's family do things completely differently. Are they wrong? No. It's just different. 

So what I guess I am saying is, I am learning that it's ok. It's ok for some people to be one way, and others to be another. It's unlikely that I will suddenly stop being systematic. It's equally unlikely, that they will be more so. But in learning to appreciate the differences, perhaps I will see and know more of life, be less narrow minded, and may even discover ways of doing things that make more sense to me, ways that I would never have thought of alone. 

God is, Himself, so vast, and while he is constant and unchanging, His very enormity means that there is room for many different facets. Maybe I'll know Him better also after this? 

Free Will

My Nanna (my Mum's mother) passed away a couple of months ago. She was an amazing woman who meant so much to me. It was an honour to know her. 

What started the whole incident, was that my Nanna had a fall. In the fall, she broke her hip and had various other injuries, all of which was the beginning of the end. 

Afterwards, my strongly anti-God cousin made an interesting comment about it. He said: if God is real, He should have stopped her from falling. 

For some reason, this statement has stuck in my mind and caused me to think through the whole issue a lot. 

It seems so... silly, somehow, to think that THAT is the biggest thing to be blaming God for. Surely it would be more profitable to blame God for things like the crusades, child abuse, wars, murder, sex trafficking and other forms of slavery, etc. 

And then I was thinking, if God should step in and stop every wrong thing, that would include my cousin's actions of wrong doing. And I am very sure he wouldn't like that.

Or does God only have to stop certain wrong or bad happenings? And who gets to choose which ones? 

We want to choose for ourselves when it suits us, but blame God for not stopping bad when it doesn't. 

But the world just can't work like that. It has to be one way or the other, and for whatever reason, God chose this way, where we are allowed and able to choose bad things and where bad things happen to us. And it's really not God's fault. 

I have had to come to terms with this in my own life and history. So many of the 'bad things' that have happened to me, I would much rather that they didn't. But I don't blame God, at least, not anymore. I know that I live in a world full of humanity and that includes human error. 

I guess the trick is to learn to trust God through the troubles and to rest in the fact that one day, He is going to make all things right again.