30 dropframe

Now this is something very cool. This guy called Micheal Lee (from Addison Road) is currently making a cd and is blogging "every note of every song from start to finish... from demos to masters." Check it out here.

Maranatha

O God, my God I seek you
In this weary land
My soul and body longs to find
Refreshment at your hand

This fallen world surrounds me
About me and within
Contentment seems so far away
When will new life begin?

Maranatha
Come Lord Jesus, come
Maranatha
Come Lord Jesus, take us home

The bride is dressed and ready
Spotless, stainless, healed
The church in all her beauty stands
Her glory now revealed

The patient saints have gathered
Round the throne to sing
Loud hallelujahs evermore
Praise to the King of Kings

Maranatha
Come Lord Jesus, come
Maranatha
Come Lord Jesus, take us home

There's trouble all around me
In everything I do
O Lord please still my restless heart
I will wait
I will wait
For you.

SAR

save the post office

If you've got broadband and a few minutes to waste, watch this.

BLAST NI

Does anyone else see the irony in a section for kids on the bbc goverment website called "BLAST NI"? (The NI stands for Northern Ireland, just in case you were wondering.) hmmm...

please don't judge me and please don't laugh

Dear friends,

Please don't judge me and please don't laugh. I have a problem. I've had it for as long as I can remember, but it's only just been diagnosed. It's debilitating, expensive and embarrassing.

I am a formophobe (form - o - phobe). Give me forms to fill in, paperwork to do, and I go to pieces. My heart starts racing, my palms go sweaty, in extreme cases I may hyperventilate. For most people, forms are a nuisance. For me, they're a nightmare. I mostly get through life by pretending that they don't exist. A thick package arrives from centrelink - I know what's inside it -- so I put it aside without even opening it up. Many of my friends are eager to fill in their tax returns so that they can get their $500 baby bonuses. Tax time holds few emotions for me because I don't earn enough to be required by law to fill in a return. Occasionally I feel a little sad that I won't get my $500. But it's the price of my fears.

I'm lucky because I have supportive family and friends to help me when things get too tough. But not all formophobes are as lucky as me. I've heard some of you say that no one in Australia needs to be homeless. And perhaps it's true. But you must understand that for a formophobe, sleeping outside at night is less scary than tackling a centrelink form. Homelessness is inevitable.

Things have come to a head at our place recently. Last week I got a letter from centrelink advising me that because I didn't fill in a form, my parenting payment has been cut. Not the best news, but we can probably get by without it. Then I got another letter saying that because my parenting payment has been cut, I now have to fill in another form or my family tax benefits will also be cut. Things will be very tight, but we'll manage. Then I got a letter saying that I haven't submitted a tax return for three years and unless I do so immediately, I'll have to pay back all of the centrelink payments I've received in that time. AAAAHHHHHH!!!!! [It's ALOT of money.]

So Andrew sat me down last night and made me do paperwork. Actually, I sat down and watched him do paperwork. Then I got too tense and so went out shopping instead.

But it's a start. And I am making some progress in other areas. School permission forms for example. I'm getting quite good at them.

something so beautiful

Lately I’ve been reliving my adolescence, listening to music that I used to obsess over. The Cure was my favourite group as a teenager. In their songs I would glimpse something so beautiful that my heart would ache. I’d put the cd on high rotation imagining that if I listened to it enough I’d be able to grasp that ‘something’.

And listening again as a grown-up (whatever that might be) I can still glimpse it. The Cure can make magic with a few guitars and some nice words. But I know they are just middle aged men who have no more grasped the meaning of life than I have.

Ben Myers from Faith and Theology pointed out C.S.Lewis’ wisdom on this:

"The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things ... are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of atune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited."

—C. S. Lewis, "The Weight of Glory," in Transposition: And Other Addresses (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1949), p. 24. [The whole essay is gold. Let me know if you'd like to read it.]

Congratulations...

to Rochelle and Simon on the birth of Amelie on Wednesday night. We look forward to meeting her...

In Praise of ...

Rory Shiner's blog Frankly, Mr Shankly is running an "In Praise of..." series where you can write short pieces in praise of fish and chips on the beach, fabulous ministers at your local church, your girl friend's ears or whatever. I contributed the following poem:

In Praise of Friends and Friendship

I have no wealth
Yet I am rich.
The treasure that I hold
Is worth more than precious stones
Or bars of solid gold.

I have no jewels
Yet round my neck
Are beads both rare and bright.
Memories of sunny days
And laughter in the night.

I own no house
Yet I am housed
Between the solid walls
Of friendship, faith and fellowship
With love to join them all.

I have no wealth
Yet all the world
Can’t buy what I possess.
Friendship solid, deep and true
From heaven I’ve been blessed.

SAR 2006

[I know it's sucky.]

apathetic charismatic

I've just discovered a cartoon blog.