Ten things I do that I shouldn't do.

1. Drink Coke.

2. Drive approximately 5 kilometres over the speed limit; almost all the time.

3. Go on Facebook while at work.

4. Say 'crap.'

5. Think I'm better than others.

6. Spend money on useless things.

7. Get annoyed at land-lords who probably mean well, but appear to be arrogant and brash.

8. Pretend I'm asleep so that I don't have to get up to the kids...

9. Get fired up at the referee when watching sport.

10. Do nice things for people for my own benefit ie so that they will do nice things for me.



Do I need to repent of these things? What are ten things you do that you shouldn't do?

Brendon Fevola

I'm a sports fan. Nut. Addict. Take your pick.

And so it embarrasses me, when things like this happen.

The Brisbane Lions is our cities Australian Football League team. They are a respectable bunch of guys; if you ignore the fact that they're predominantly an arrogant, muscular, womanizing group of young men, just like any football team in the world.

*After all, when you don't have to actually work for a living, and when you have muscles the size of Ayers Rock, and in places that don't even exist on a standard male, it's very difficult to walk into a bar that has just offered you free drinks and say, 'No thanks, I'm just a normal guy...'

However, in the main, they seem to be trying hard to be nice guys and do their subsequent community work and smile for the camera etc. The one thing missing from this team over the last few years though is the only thing that seems to count in our secular society; a premiership ring. They got close this year - but everyone knew deep down inside that they weren't going to get the bikkies. They'll get close next year...

And then they go and sign the President of the Drunk and Disorderly Club; Brendan Fevola.

Like any red-blooded fan, my intial reaction was *GASP SHOCK* on the outside and *YEAH BABY* on the inside. Now, we can win the premiership. We have the two best goalscorers in the country, playing on the same team. If they stay fit, we win.

And so I start to justify my thoughts.

Surely he deserves a second chance, I think.

Surely he can't be all that bad, I think.

The media has made a mountain out of a mole hill, I think.

And slowly, but surely I begin to feel better about myself, and about Fev.

But like any self-respecting Bible-reading, Church-attending Christian I have my doubts and the guilt starts to kick in.

And so I start to unjustify my thoughts.

He's a disgrace, I think.

He's a terrible role-model, I think.

We've sacrificed integrity for a premiership, I think.


And so I turn to that one place anyone might turn when faced with a dilemma as to whether or not I should accept the controversial signing of a big name football player as ugly as a muppet and as foolish as a jester; the Bible.

For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God, I read.

We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us turned to his own way, I read.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him, shall not die but have eternal life, I read.

And so I think.

Brendan Fevola is a sinner like me. I am a sinner like he. The difference is, (if you go by the actions of the football champ), I believe in Jesus, and have eternal life. He doesn't, and so therefore, he doesn't.

So the solution.

Dear God - please transform the life of Brendan Fevola. Make him see that his actions are inappropriate, but more importantly, make him see that without you there is no life. Amen.


And so we can still cheer for the Lions.

And if they win or lose, we should keep praying for Fev.


Right?

Thinking about Suffering

My first book is now being proofread and edited and will hopefully get to a point where I can say that it is now completed. That's cool.

But I'm starting to think about what to write next.

I'm starting to think about suffering.



In the last year I have been privy to a wonderful secret. I have always been a Christian and had a foundational understanding of faith and what it means to be a follower, but in the last year, I feel that God has let me in on a secret.

It's a suffering secret.

I don't know whether I should say it. On one hand, I should of course, because it's a glorious secret that has opened my eyes to the purpose of suffering. On the other hand, if i blurt it out then you will have received the knowledge without having to go through the same process I had to. The process is primary to understanding the secret and allowing it to transform your life.

But I've never been really good at keeping secrets.

The Bible talks a lot about suffering. We all know that right. But here's what I've discovered.

When we are happy and healthy, and our loved ones are happy and healthy, we take God for granted. I feel at my furtherest away from God and my flattest in my relationship with Him, when everything is going swimmingly.

When we are struggling and suffering, and our loved ones are struggling and suffering, we rely on God for help and endurance and. I feel the closest to God and the most complete in Christ, when everything is going terribly.

When Tom was born three months prematurely, I spent three months resting in the shelter of the Almighty's shadow. I journalled, prayed, struggled, battled, read scripture, memorized scripture...

The day he came home from hospital was the day I put away my journal. I was so happy that I thanked God for what he had done for us, and then let me relationship with him drop.

But here is where the penny dropped. I've been counselling a 15-year-old girl (with the help of our FEMALE chaplain) over the past 8 weeks. She was very much a non-Christian girl. She got sick and while she was sick, she started to think about what her purpose in life was and got to a point where she decided to become a Christian. Her wide-eyed wonder of God made me realise that if it wasn't for her suffering she would not be a Christian. The beauty is, that she understands this secret too. She is now non-plussed about her illness because she knows that in heaven there will be no pain and suffering.

What's more important, 60 years of suffering on this planet, or infinity years of glorious worship in heaven? Well duh.

Anyway. This has started me thinking about suffering. Ultimately my question is going to be; 'Should we be praying to God, to give us more suffering?'

Hmmm. I think I might write a book on suffering.

I'll call it, 'The Secret to Suffering'.

But not just yet.