Bouncing

Mikey's funnies are not always the sort the knock you out of your chair, but you will normally raise a wry smile at the very least.

And they come with a "today'sTHOT" which can be quite stirring.

Like today:

Life is not about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how well you bounce.

Remember the old DOS game "The Incredible Machine" where you had to make things bounce, blow, spin and roll to achieve certain results?  

Well one of the physics defying features was that, even without fiddling with the gravity, objects dropped on a trampoline could be made to bounce higher than the point from which they were dropped.  A cool trick!

And like life.

Your height of bounce may be higher than the point from which you fall.

It has to be Grace

A New Leaf

He came to my desk with a quivering lip,
     the lesson was done.
“Have you a new sheet for me, dear teacher?
     I’ve spoiled this one.”
I took his sheet, all soiled and blotted
     and gave him a new one all unspotted.
And into his tired heart I cried,
     “Do better now, my child.”

I went came to the throne with a trembling heart;
     the day was done.
“Have you a new day for me, dear Master?
     I’ve spoiled this one.”
He took my day, all soiled and blotted
     and gave me a new one all unspotted.
And into my tired heart he cried,
     “Do better now, my child.”

Author anonymous, “A New Leaf,” James G. Lawson, compiler, The Best Loved Religious Poems (Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, 1961).

www.free-counters.co.uk

Still tinkering!

Now we have a Visitor Count thnks to www.free-counters.co.uk

All I need is some visitors to spin the turnstile..

Bonhoeffer, LoveZim and me

Earlier this year, Eric Metaxas published a remarkable book "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy".
(Dear Santa, I wouldn't mind a copy....!)
 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer's story is remarkable, and beyond the scope of this post.  His commitment to God and to his country led to a quite remarkable series of choices and to his involvement in events that would change the passage of world history.

To quote from Metaxas' website:

As Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seduced a nation, bullied a continent, and attempted to exterminate the Jews of Europe, a small number of dissidents and saboteurs worked to dismantle the Third Reich from the inside. One of these was Dietrich Bonhoeffer—a pastor and author, known as much for such spiritual classics as The Cost of Discipleship and Life Together, as for his 1945 execution in a concentration camp for his part in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

(Aside:  Valkyrie is an excellent movie dramatising the events of that fateful assassination attempt.)
(Dear Santa, I wouldn't mind a DVD of this either!)

LoveZim is "a network of churches and organisations, established with a vision to invite the diaspora and the global church to support Zimbabwe in prayer and practical action."

Next Sunday, 26 September, there is a worldwide call to "The International Prayer Day for Zimbabwe".

A full description of LoveZim's vision and activities is also beyond the scope of this post.  The commitment to our country and the move of God in it are wonderful, and challenging.

Now, let me be clear to say that my intention is not in any way to try and equate Adolf Hitler with Robert Mugabe.  Nor would I presume to say that the Holocaust in anyway parallels the fact that so many Zimbabweans are in dire straits when it comes to health and food security.
I'm not saying that!

But what if...?

When Bonhoeffer arrived in New York in June 1939, he knew he was in the wrong place.

He wrote to Reinhold Niebuhr: "I have come to the conclusion that I made a mistake in coming to America. I must live through this difficult period in our national history with the people of Germany. I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people... Christians in Germany will have to face the terrible alternative of either willing the defeat of their nation in order that Christian civilization may survive or willing the victory of their nation and thereby destroying civilization. I know which of these alternatives I must choose but I cannot make that choice from security."  He returned to Germany on the last scheduled steamer to cross the Atlantic.  (en.wikipedia.org)

Am I content to "just pray", or is God calling me to "share the trials of this time with my people"?

When will God call me to take treasonous activities to act against the Powers that He has placed in authority over me?
And when does "Thou shalt not kill" conflict with my ability to serve God?
I don't pretend to understand the immensity of the decision Bonhoeffer took.  But the attempt to assassinate Hitler was planned and executed, and this mighty man of God was part of it.

Now again, I am not saying that such action would be appropriate, necessary or justifiable in Zimbabwe in the 21st century.

But what if...?
Am I content to "just pray", or is God calling me to actions that mean I must be ready to be stripped naked and hung with thin wire?

Oh, I hope not.
Prayer is good.  There is no "just pray" when we realise that our prayers are direct petitions to Almighty God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth.
But forgive me if I start my prayers for Zimbabwe by asking that He accept my prayer and spare me the path He called Bonhoeffer to.

"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”  — DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

New Blogger Layout

If you are used to the old layout of this blog, I'm surprised.
Gratified, but surprised.
You really are a regular reader here?  Excellent.
Thanks
Spread the word.

Oh yeah.  Do you like the new layout?
Now I just have to figure out how to get things like "hit counts" back.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Rice/Lloyd-Webber - a fine choice for one's first musical.


We're currently four days into the run of Joseph at Reps and having fun.
The show, Directed by Teri Grimmell with Musical Direction by Paul Shephard has not been without its little quirks.  The 'flu bug that has got into the team is being valiantly fought off and, with the help of electronic amplification (Rob Hollands and team), even the dodgiest and most damaged voices can be made passable.

Joseph is an interesting show.
Modelled remarkably closely on the original Genesis account (chap 37 and 39 onwards), all sorts of fun little side lights have been lifted from the Scripture straight into the script.  Supplement these with a rock-n-roll Pharaoh, a French café symbolising the hardships of Canaan and a calypso Judah, and it's a rollicking good fun show.

But what does it say to Joe Public?

As written, there are two portrayals of the underlying philosophy Tim Rice wrote into the lyric.
In the show prologue the Narrator tells us:

We all dream a lot.
Some are lucky, some are not.
But if you think it, want it, dream it,
Then it's real.
You are what you feel.

But all that I say,
Can be told another way.
In the story of a boy who's dreams came true.
And he could be you.

In other words, you are what you dream - existential humanism for Everyman.

Then, after Joseph is elevated to "Pharaoh's number two", he tells us that "Anyone from anywhere can make it if he gets a lucky break! "

And it all seems so real.
Salvation by fate!  You are what you turn out to be.

And this is where I need to come back to the source.  It isn't just your dreams or your lucky breaks.  Who controls your life?  Who do you choose to serve with your life?
In Acts 7, Stephen tells us the story again.

And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.

(Emphasis mine)
Not luck.  Not dreams. God.
God was with him.

In his lifetime, Joseph was instrumental in saving many lives.  But that's all.  He was an instrument.  A willing tool in the Hands of the God who did not fail him in his time of horror.

To paraphrase

It's the story of a boy who's God is true.
And he could be you.

["Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" runs at Reps until Saturday 25th September.  Booking at the Spotlight] 

So, how does Mail2Blogger work?

I love the idea of being able to post to the blog from email.
You never know, I may even get round to posting more often!

Having recently been given a Smart Phone, email is now firmly "anywhere" - and so too therefore is blogging.
And, as this little beast (HTC Kaiser, re-badged as an AT&T Tilt) also has a camera, you never know, I may even start posting pictures.

Time will tell.