Sex Outside Marriage is OK - Isn't it?

You know what?
I'm tired of the constant assumption in movies that sex outside marriage is perfectly acceptable.
People do not seem to realise that what really happens (apart from a feel-good moment)is damage to the security and well-being of that future 'once-in-a-lifetime' relationship.
As well, it can mean there is a baby on the way...which is not always a welcome event. And therefore not such a great start for another human being's life.
Not to mention the risk of STDs - which would be completely eliminated if everyone chose to remain exclusive.

Miss-13, my youngest, is clamouring to watch a movie with her friends called Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2. She is having a sleepover tonight and really, really wants to watch it with them! (They loved the first in the series)
In contrast to its PG-rated predecessor, the sequel has an M-rating and therefore has been classified as suitable for 15 year olds and over.

Mmmm - that's the problem.
You know how some M-rated movies are very tame and others are completely out there? M-ratings are very broad (here in Australia anyway) so I wanted to see if it was an 'out there' movie and I checked it out last night...

Well, I wouldn't exactly call it 'out there'.
But the four girls featured in the movie are now College students (Aussies: read University students) and they face College-sized issues...
Including pre-marital sex - and pregnancy.
And the wisdom gained?
1. If you are going to use a condom make sure it isn't two years old
2. Thinking you might be pregnant is very, very stressful

I should mention this happens to only one of the four girls featured.
The romantic inclinations of the others do not get so far (although one boyfriend poses nude for the girl's life-drawing class)
However, the overall trend is there loud and clear: It's OK to have sex as long as you are 'in love' with the person and you are careful.

These are not values I want Miss-13 and her friends exposed to right now.
Perhaps when they are 15 and officially 'allowed' to watch M-rated movies, they will be old enough to talk through the issues then.
But right now it is a case of too much information too soon.

Have a look at this blog I read today: Enough is Enough
It will no doubt get you thinking about this a bit more...as it did me.

The Words We Speak

I heard an encouraging talk at the women's breakfast I attended this morning, which reminded me of the implications words can have on our lives.

Have you noticed how almost everyone can recall words spoken to them by parents, teachers or friends when they were young? For some, positive words are easily recalled, and for others it is the negative words which have remained.
I have one eternal memory seared in my brain when I was called 'a stupid girl' as a 9-year-old by someone in my family. Even now, it is amazing how often I call myself that! ("Oh Jenny you are so stupid!")
Those words are just not true, but I frequently have to battle against them. I consciously have to stop and tell myself not to reinforce that idea which springs up so easily whenever I have done something I feel is not quite good enough.
Today I have been reminded I must stop listening to that inner voice telling me those negative words. It is far better to speak the truth to myself, than listen to an untruth.

I must also watch my tongue, and speak truth and life to others.
Note to self: Be aware of the words I speak and tone of voice I use when speaking them!

I like this reminder written by David in Psalm 34:12, 13
Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.

Baby Bear in Trouble!

Have a look at this clip from the movie 'The Bear': The Cougar Scene

"Go Baby Bear go!" Isn't that what you feel like saying?
How amazing it is that when cornered, Baby Bear can actually scare the cougar away!

Well, not really.
Unbeknowns to him, Mother Bear stands a distance behind, rearing up on her hind paws, growling with all her might.
The cougar stops hassling Baby Bear, not because of Baby Bear's meagre growls (although I'm sure his stand helps), but because there is a much heftier and threatening menace to deal with in Mother Bear.

How like us when we cry out against all sorts of powers and principalities.
When we pray for protection for ourselves and others.
It is not our meagre pleas that defeat the enemy.
Our defiance is not what keeps us from attack.
It is the sight of the magnificent Son of Heaven, Jesus, who stands behind our every prayer.
His voice is loud and clear.
His is the one by which the enemy is swayed.
We are saved because of that mighty power – not our own.

All we have to do is be one of His.
And we are freed from the attacker.

Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

1 John 4:4
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

I'd Love to be Eight Again

Here is a story I got sent today ...
A man asked his wife what she'd like for her birthday. "I'd love to be eight again," she replied.

On the morning of her birthday, he arose early and made her a bowl of Coco Pops and jammy toasties! He took her to Alton Towers and put her on every ride in the park:
* The Death Slide
* The Wall of Fear
* The Screaming Monster Roller Coaster

Five hours later she staggered out of the theme park. Her head was reeling and her stomach felt upside down. Right away they journeyed to a McDonald's where her loving husband ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a refreshing chocolate milk shake. Then it was off to the movies: the latest Kiddies three hour epic cartoon, a hot dog, popcorn, all the Coke she could drink, her favourite lolly and M&Ms.
What a fabulous adventure!

Finally she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed onto the bed exhausted. He leaned over his precious wife with a big smile and lovingly asked "Well dear, what was it like being eight again?"
Her eyes slowly opened and her expression changed to one of total realisation ....... "I meant my dress size, you stupid idiot!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh the joys of miscommunication! Part One
It is true...sometimes communication errors cause friction and discord.

I am currently feeling awful due to one of my colleagues emailing me today saying I have 'discredited' her. I hate that feeling of making someone else feel awful.
Unfortunately, I have been misrepresented by another and the communication has been poor - it's not just the one who represented me who has erred - I too am at fault.
I have already apologised (via email) to my colleague, but am not sure yet what her response is.
This is what I intend to do from here:
1. Pray...That both my colleague and I will sort out the issue objectively and that our relationship will actually be better as a consequence of this
2. Have a chat to the person who misrepresented me to find out exactly what was said (I'll be praying about that conversation too)
3. Then talk to my colleague and tell her exactly what did ensue
4. Then pray some more!

I have also emailed a friend to ask her to pray for us during this process.
Here is her encouraging response: "Conflict is always difficult. You are a gorgeous woman. Wrap yourself in His peace as you await the outcome. If you need to take further action, you’ll get direction."

Yes, some direction would be good! I'll blog again when I know more - in the meantime if you're reading this, please pray for us!

Oh the joys of miscommunication! Part Two
OK. It is now three days since I wrote the above.
I have discovered there was more miscommunication happening than I realised. It was all a bit of a messy interaction which happened 'on the hop' between my colleague and the other.
So...they have gone back to my colleague to try and rectified the issue. And I am off the hook!

I still have some damage to repair...bridges to build and fences to mend.
Will blog and let you know how it all went!

Oh the joys of miscommunication! Part Three
So now, it is a couple of weeks later.
My colleague has decided to 'put it all behind', and we're moving forward. Seeing as we work in different cities it is all a bit hard to gauge how our relationship has been affected. I think I will not be sure until we are face-to-face, which could be some months in the future.
In the meantime, we will continue to work on projects together, and I am hoping things are basically redeemed. (And I'm still praying!)

Tim Costello on Poverty

I heard Tim Costello speak at a breakfast in Hobart last week. He is the CEO of World Vision Australia, and you couldn't hope to meet a more sincere, honest, educated, down-to-earth thinker than Tim.

When I was in Uni back in the 70s, Tim and his brother Peter (recent Treasurer of Australia) were studying at another more prestigious Melbourne institution. They were both very involved in the Christian Union there — as I was at my humble place of study — and there were a few opportunities for connection between the Christian groups.
I remember vivdly going for a daytrip to Philip Island (about 2 hours drive away) and having Peter Costello lead the Bible study at someone's holiday house. Was Tim there? Can't remember — everyone was in love with Peter, girls especially! Afterwards we played British Bulldog on the beach, and ended up staying to watch the fairy penguins arrive back at the beach after a day's fishing.

Anyway, memories aside...
Last week, I heard Tim Costello speak at a World Vision breakfast. He spoke for about 45 minutes, and everyone present hung on every word. No wonder he studied law and education, and no wonder he then studied theology. He, like his brother, is a gifted orator. During his talk he spoke about so many life-changing perspectives I lost count.

Here are a few of his ideas. Maybe they will change some of your thinking like they did mine...
**Being a Christian does not mean your primary task on earth is to make more Christians (it could be a secondary task though). We have been saved for a purpose, and that is to do what Jesus did: to care for the poor, marginalised and sick. In every situation during his life on earth, this is what Jesus was doing. And that is the primary task of those who have responded to Jesus.

**Jesus said: "The poor will always be with us" (Mat 26:11). This is the reason some Christians do NOT help the poverty stricken — because Jesus said they will always be around! Actually, Jesus meant something quite different. He meant that we will always have work to do looking after the poor, and we should not ever choose to disassociate with or choose not to help those less fortunate than ourselves — so the poor will always be with us.

**When much younger, Tim went to the Philippines to attend a Lausanne Conference. During the conference he had the opportunity to visit some locals, and he spoke at length to a woman who had two children. It turned out that there had once been three kids (he too had three small children), and when he asked further 'the whole story tumbled out'. One of her children had been sick, and she knew he needed antibiotics to get better. However she couldn't afford to buy them without the family going hungry for two weeks — that's how much the medicine cost. So she took a gamble and she decided to keep her other two alive by buying them food, and hoped that the sick one would get better of his own accord. But he did not. This was a life-changing converstaion for Tim. It wasn't just that she couldn't afford the medicine because she could. But it was a decision she had to make between the lives of her children.

And just one more recollection from that talk...
**Bono has made the reduction of global poverty an issue that many young people are passionate about. Is it just a 'young people's thing' though, with no particular gain on a global scale?
Although it is just awful to talk about how many children have died today of preventable causes (about 25,000) it is possible to say we are making some progress, because a decade ago, this number was far greater. And it was even higher two decades ago. So we ARE making a difference and it is not just some passing fad. But we still have away to go to eradicate world poverty. So let's keep on going with the pressure we are exerting, because we can change those statistics!

See www.worldvision.com.au

I Need to be Reminded of this Today

I woke up this morning, not even wanting to get out of bed . . .

The things I face today are not insurmountable, but I have to choose to face them well and without worrying/stressing before I get there.
Why is it that there are days like this?
Yesterday was fine, easy even!
But today seems to be filled with things to be tripped up on, or worked hard at, or require some effort to maintain my composure.

In the end I know today will work out well—but not because of my doing.
More because of the one I trust in to help me get there.
And that's why these verses following are ones I keep close by and read often:

Philippians 4:4-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I am praying that the peace of God (which I cannot even understand) will be evident in everything I do today.

I hope you can say that for your day today too.

Waiting Game

What's the deal with having to wait patiently for God to do things?
You know—waiting for that good job to come along, waiting for that manuscript to be accepted, waiting for someone to get back to you about that new opportunity or even waiting for your marriage partner to get their act together! I just interviewed John Waller for my radio show today, who wrote an amazing song about this very thing called While I'm Waiting. Click on the link to see the clip, or John photo to go to his website.

After 17 years WAITING for someone to notice his talent he had all but given up. But in one of those 'God-connections' he simply got a call from Alex Kendrick, the producer of the new movie Fireproof, which was still in production mode. Alex thought the song worked so well with the sentiments of the movie it was necessary to change some elements of the movie to make IT fit with the SONG! In fact, of all the songs on the movie, this is the ONLY one which is played in its entirety.
Now, after all this time waiting, John Waller has become an overnight international sensation. Wow.

I have had to do some waiting for God to move in the past and I'm even doing some waiting right now. Hopefully it won't be 17 years though! I have found it is really important to 'wait actively'.

To wait actively I have:

1. Chosen not to be frustrated
This is such a big thing. It is really easy to get impatient.
As John and I talked today, we agreed that waiting for God's timing is always the best option. Look what happened to Abe when he decided to hurry things up a bit for Sarah! He ended up with Ishmael, and the world continues to struggle with the consequences of that one. (See Genesis 5, 16, 18, 21)
Christine Caine once said: God is not a MICROWAVE God! He doesn't do things fast, he almost always does them slowly.

2. Chosen to be pro-active
Instead of resting on my laurels just waiting for the big thing to happen, I commit to being busy...I pray, I fast (I am fasting today), I spend time reading the Bible, I write my thoughts down, I expose myself to good teaching, I allow others to pray for me. I let God mature me, grow me and prepare me for the next phase ahead.
When this thing happens, I want to be the best 'me' I can be.

3. Chosen to believe
It is very easy to think perhaps the things you thought were going to happen will not happen after all. When I was 19 I applied for 12 different jobs hoping to be successful in just one to fill in a 6 month break in my Uni course. A close friend of mine was strongly impressed by God that one of those jobs in particular, at a major Melbourne hostpital, would be mine. When I was not successful in getting the position, I kept praying, knocking, asking, seeking. The job was re-advertised. I still kept faith. In fact I rang every Friday afternoon to see what the progress was.
Finally, about 6 weeks later, I was offered the position. I found out much later they had offered the job to someone else, who had knocked it down. So they had to go through the whole recruitment process again. In the end, my persisitence contributed to the outcome. I kept on believing that job would be mine.

So, the same lessons apply to me today.
I want to make every day count for something positive.
Even while I'm waiting.
What about you?

I plan to play the interview with John Waller next Sunday morning, May 10 at about 8:10 Aust EST. Why not listen in? www.ultra106five.com

ARE YOU CREATIVE?

Before I finished high school I came to a major, but false, conclusion about myself—I cannot paint or draw, therefore I am not creative. No one ever told me the obvious truth: even at that young age I could knit, cross-stitch, dress-make, cook, sing and write, therefore I was most definitely creative! It took me a long while to understand that creativity is far more than being able to accurately represent objects with pencil or paint on paper. After a while I learnt that as an inherent characteristic of God’s nature, creativity is something we all possess simply because we are made in His image.

So now I have come to another major, but true, conclusion—there are two categories of people:those who know they can create, and those who do not yet believe they can!
Different skills are required to encourage both groups—the ‘creative types’ can extend the Kingdom using their creative abilities; and the ‘don’t-believe-I-can types’ have yet to discover what happens when you step out and have a go.

Sometimes it is important to find a safe place and choose to step into unknown territory. In fact, it can be very exciting to do so!
By the way, after many tears and much angst, I did eventually learn to draw and paint a little.

So go on! Have a go!