The Kingdom (the movie)

I just watched a movie called "the kingdom",
My spirit was grieved by it....
The film is a good example why Volience is not an answer to volience, but only causes more volience, no matter what the cause.
At the end of the film it makes this clear, they reveal the words that the FBI team leader said to one of his team to get her to stop crying during a briefing in which it was announced that one of their colleoges and friends died.
These same words were spoken by an old Arabic man to his grandson....
And what were these words....

We will kill them all.

If that is everyone's response to volience, we are no better than each other, and the volience will continue. How many people do you know that repay volience for volience. That was the old covernment... and it doesn't work.
Jesus gave us a better way to over come volience.... and that is love and forgiveness. He tells us to bless those that perscute us, those that cause us harm... and also to forgive, love and pray for them. Jesus not only told us to do this, He also lived it... as He died on the cross, He prayed that God would forgive the people crucifying Him.
I have also seenm, in my own life, how powerful love, compassion, and forgiveness is, and that it is more powerful than volience, that love, compassion and forgiveness over come volience...

More good news

g'day
I have some more good news about my friend who i told you last week came to know Christ.
He has been doing well this week, studying the Word. On Sunday, he is getting baptised at his friends church.
This is the 2nd last week that we will see him tho... He is planning on going up to Brisbane and the Gold Coast, in a couple of weeks. However he is planning to get hooked up with a church up that way, and get involved in Outreach, telling people about Christ.
One thing that he said tonight was that if there are any Jews living in the Gold Coast, they will come to know who Jesus is..
I praise God for the work that He has done in this man's life, and pray that He will continue to reveal Himself and teach this friend of mine, and will speak through this friend to reach others.

Lux

A great night

Tonight was great.
I walked to the soup run, singing (this is holy ground)
At the soup run saw a couple of people i knew, so talked to them for a while, one friend i haven't talked to for ages. It was good to see that this friend was doing better than the last time i talked to him... he was drunk as usual, however this time it was on cheap wine and not metho, which means that he made a bit more sense. I praise God that he hasn't been drinking metho.
Then when pretty much all the food ran out, i saw another friend who i hadn't seen for ages, like about a year. I first met her nearly 2 years ago, in not really a nice way to met someone (she was the person involved in my most interesting soup run experience 2 nights before leaving for canada in 2006), the next time i saw her was a few weeks after i got back from Canada, and the first thing she did was come across and apologise for the incident. That was the last time i saw her til tonight. There was no food left at the soup run for her cause they arrived late (her and her partner). When i left i saw them in one of the squares, i went and got some food and gave it to them. I ended up sitting with them for about an hour, just talking, the conversation went around in circles, talk a little about Jesus which was cool. Any way this lady is an aboriginal, and she calls me her sister (which is an honour), part way through the night, she said that she wanted to give me her skin colour name.
So i am now Nabanangka.
Nabanangka is our skin colour.
As i sit with her and her partner, i felt God's love for her, i heard a little part of her story, some of it sad, some of it joyful. She said that she needed me, to get off booze, and i said Jesus can help her with that, she was like i know, but i need support.
Which has got me thinking a little....
She also said that she wanted to take me to her country (the outback), and take me camping, and hunting, and also wanted me to meet her Godmother, a white Christian lady in Darwin.... these things also got me thinking... Cause i have never been either of those parts of this country, and i have wanted to go to the Aboriginal communities in the outback... and i have a love for aboriginals... and the communities up there need so much help....
I think i need to do more praying about it....

Lux

Jesus is good,

last week, i told you about an old friend who turned up at our cell group, after not seeing for ages. Well he came back tonight, this time he was here for the whole of cell, fully participating. A part of cell is telling our highs and lows, now, all he said for his high was that he had a very good week, a great week.
After cell, when the others weren't around, he told me: That on Sunday he had found Christ.
Praise Jesus...
He is good,
At the end of last week, there was nothing left for us to say, no more we could do.
Thanks to Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit through out the week, answered pray. There is a new Child in the family.

Praise the Lord, for He is worthy of all Praise.


Lux

Isaiah 58

I was reading Isaiah 58 yesterday. In the first 3 verses, it tells us of the Israelites, how they seem interested in hearing the Word of the Lord, as they go to meetings/church services, and fasting. The verses even say that people would think that they are a righteous nation, by what they saw. How ever they come to God and asked why aren’t you impressed or happy with us….
The Lord’s response, was you are living for yourselves as you fast…. You continue to quarrel with each other when you fast, you just go through the motions…

As I was reading those 3 verses, I realised that the Australia is a bit like that. So many people say that they are Christians, and they don’t live it, they still live for themselves. There are people in the Church in Australia who “just go through the motions” and think that is enough; I have been guilty of that in the past.
However Christ wants more…. He wants us to have a relationship with Him, this means finding out what He feels about the things going on in our town/city, country, and world. To know what breaks His heart, and what makes Him happy.
Isaiah 58 continues, telling us some of the things that God cares about, things that break His heart. These are things like people being oppressed, treated unfairly, the poor, the homeless, and the hungry.
Isaiah 58 also says that when these things are addressed, when we right injustices, help the poor, give food to the hungry and stuff… the nation will be healthy…
To be exact the verses say
Then your light will shine out form the darkness and the darkness around you will be as bright as day. The LORD will guide you continually, watering your life when you are dry and keeping you healthy too. You will be like a well-watered garden like an ever-flowing spring. Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.
Isaiah 58 : 9 – 12

I was thinking Australia has been in a state of drought throughout the country for several years…. The drought has only just started to be broken in a lot of Australia.
And at the start of the drought breaking rain, was prayer for rain, and also a promise from the Labor party during election campaign to apologise to the indigenous people of Australia, which the previous government declined to make, saying that it was unnecessary for 10 years. And also promise to address some of the injustices in Australia.
In the light of this chapter it makes sense…. What do you think….

check this out

I have just read a blog of a friend of mine, about the Australian Government saying sorry....
it is written really well (as his blogs usually are), and i would like to encourage you to check it out.
here is the link to his blog.
www.holywarpropaganda.blogspot.com

I had a dream back in December. It seemed to be a dream not from God, as I was scared in it and got hit/punched or something, however I still wrote it done….
It is now halfway through February and it makes a bit a sense…
You see in January, I spent quite a bit of time at home, by myself, and I got thinking a few negative thoughts, wondering if I was loved, at times even thinking that I wasn’t loved. Even felt trapped in some ways in the house… partially cause it was hot outside and I didn’t want to go out there, and couldn’t be bothered. Being stuck by oneself is not the best thing; you start believing the lies that run through your head … the result…. At times it felt like I had been suckered punched…. Not Good.This week I re reading this dream… and it made a little sense now, looking back… it seemed as if it was meant to be a bit of a warning of what was to come. I now wished I took more notice of the dream… maybe the summer break may not of been as unproductive and such a battle, if I did.

Australia says sorry

Well, i had the day off work today, however even tho i felt like sleeping in, i got up around 8am... I pulled my t.v. out (which hasn't been plugged since Nov last year). Now this is not a normal thing that i would do, but i wanted to join the rest of Australia to see and hear, the Prime Minister say sorry to the indigious people of Australia.

As i watch and listened to the apology, and see the reactions of the indigious people present in Canberra, and also throughout the country (the beauty of national tv), i was happy to witness and be a part of the long awaited apology. Just as i saw people's emotions run, i felt the my emotions run, as i saw tears run down from people's eyes, tears welled up in mine.

The opposition leader also made a speech after the Prime Minister, the opposition's (Nelson)speech was not as well accepted around Australia as what the prime ministers sorry speach was.... this is because in Nelson's speach it sound as if he was trying to justify the apology, (which his party didn't make when they were in charge of the country). Now i think that Nelson was in a hard spot, i believe he thought that the apology was needed, however a number of his party didn't believe that.... (hence why a number of his party weren't in parilment today for the apology).... so in some respects, i see Nelson's speech as not trying to justify it to himself. However still present the apology and agree with the apology while trying to convince the people who disagreed with the apology within his party, however the disagreement to the apology didn't just lay in the cololition party, there are people Australia wide who don't understand the need to apologise for something that this generation wasn't apart of. That is what i sort of saw/heard when watching his speech. I pray that his speech will reach those who before today didn't agree with the government making this apology. However he is also taking a lot of crap for his speech, and "ruining" this Historical Day...

Overall, It has been a great day in Australian History.... however it is only the first step... there is so many issues that effect Indiginous people, that are injust, like indiginous people lifespan being 17 years shorter then the rest of Australia, poor health facilities, a highier child death rate, just to name a few.... More is needed... Which was reckonised by both parties.


The full apology can be read here
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23206077-5006301,00.html

And some of the oppositions response here
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/brendan-nelsons-sorry-speech/2008/02/13/1202760366050.html


Lux

Praise the Lord

Well tonight we had cell, and there was 5 of us there, for most of it.... 2 left towards the end to go to the soup run, and talk and share God's love with people. Cell was good.
At the end of cell there was a knock on the door, and an old friend was there. He had been to cell a couple of times at the beginging of last year, and we hadn't seen him for at least 8 months, he'd been out of town. So we invited him in and chatted with him for a while.
Now last year, i had talked a lot with him about Jesus and Jesus being the Messiah, and Christ has really kept this at the front of his mind, as when he arrived back in Adelaide, he remembered us here at Gen1 and wanted to come and see how we were and stuff.... However he came with more questions. Christ has been working in his life through this whole time that we didn't see him.
He arrived in town and rang a friend, and ended up staying with that friend.... that friend is a Christian. He has had deep conversations with the friend that he is living with, and then asked us some of the same questions and our response was the same as His friend, he was blown away.
This friend of ours is a Jew, so he belives that there is a God... however as for Jesus.... he is still working that out.... I believe that he can see that there is something real about Jesus, and Christians and their relationship with Jesus and he wants it.... However there is something holding him back from entering into that relationship with Christ.

So i thank the Lord for His continual and faithful work in this friend's life, and i pray that He will reveal Himself to our friend...

NT booze ban impacts on city

I was reading the local rag (newspaper), and one of the head lines stood out to me (well actually 2, this is the second one).
The article talks about the number of aboriginals that have come down to Adelaide from the Northern Territory, where bans on alcohol where imposed by the government at the time, in a reaction to a report that kids were being abused in the aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.
Now usually in summer there is a migration of indiginous people to Adelaide from the north, for medical checks, ceremonies and some other reasons, and then when the cooler months come they go back home.
However the Aboriginal Sobriety Group says that there is more than normal, and that is putting a strain on their services.
The local paper also talked to a few of the "campers" in the parklands, and they said that tension and fights have risen among the homeless community.

Now i know i am not on the streets all day, everyday, however i have noticed more indiginous people about, and a number of them from up north. I have also noticed that it is a little noisier around the streets at night, mainly cause some of the indiginous people from the bush don't know how to talk quietly, they also talk in their native tongue, sometimes it is hard to work out whether they are just chatting (loudly) or if there is a fight. Even when you see what looks like a fight sometimes they are just mucking about.
However a lot of the indiginous people that i know drink, they drink as much as what they can afford or get their hands on, some of them become abusive once they are drunk (the only time i have had trouble with indiginous people was when one of them was drunk, they appoligised the next time they saw me). I know that it is the same with all people, once drunk emotions fly highier, and fights can break out.
N0w i love the indiginous people of Aus, i always have.... as i was growing up an aboriginal guy taught me how to box, and play darts.... I have fond memories of him and his family and the time i spent there.
What are we to do with this information, how do we help, what help do they need.
They need Christ, They need His healing. Pretty much all aboriginals in Australia have heard and know about Jesus Christ. Many were raised at missions, or with the Stolen Generation were taken away and placed in White families, where they were forced to go to Sunday School. There are many aboriginal people who know the Bible very well, however they are not "alive", they don't seem to have the relationship with Christ, that makes them alive. (and i say seem, cause i don't fully know and it is not my place to judge). All i know is that so many need healing, i see the hurt in their eyes, and experience their distrust.

On Wednesday the Government is going to Apologise to the aboriginal people for the acts of the government a number of years ago, that resulted in the "stolen generation". I pray that this will be the beginning of the healing for the Aboriginal people. However i know that words along is not enough, so i pray for wisdom for the government in the steps after the apology.

Sorry this blog has been long (nearly as long as my mate Kurisu's blogs) and all over the place, i have just been typing what comes to my head about this article.

Lux

It's meant to be summer still....

At the moment it is meant to be still summer in Australia, at least til the end of the month... and usually we still have fairly warm weather, however today was only 20 degree C, last night was 10 degrees. Which is fairly cool for an Adelaide summer, where it would usually range between at least 25 and 43 degrees C during the day, and 15 to 30 degreees at night.

For us who have clothes in our wardrobes, and doonas or quilts stored away in the cupboards, it does bother us that much, we just put a long sleeve shirt on or a jumper, and pull out an the doona or an extra blanket. However the guys on the street don't have that luxury, they have either what they are wearing and maybe what they can carry... These guys aren't prepared for the cooler weather, especially this early in the year, they haven't thought about going to the different welfare groups to see if they can get a blanket, or some extra clothes during the day. So they come out to the soup run, wanting blankets, cause it has got cold, and at the soup run there is either only a small supply of clothes, maybe a couple of blankets (if they are lucky) or sometime nothing at all.

The more i see these guys out there, on the street, with out much, the more i want to do, the more i don't want to be living in this 2 bedroom place by myself. i think it is unfair, but also i am here to live incarnationally, however at times i still feel as if i live above the people that God has called me to, and reaching down to them, instead of standing along side them, and being on equal ground.

I am yet to find the answer to this... I have a few thoughts floating in my head of what i could do... However it is what God wants, His will, that i want to do. So I want to spend some more time in prayer about this. I would appreciate your prayers as well

Blessings.

Lux

Tonight on my way home, i walked through Whitmore Square, and i saw a mate of mine, He was drunk per usual, i went over to say g'day. I then met the friend he was with... and heard a little of his story. He had got out of jail today, he was there for 7 months, cause he hit a bus driver and took some of the cash, cause the bus driver missed his stop by six stops and the bus driver tried to stab him. (not 100 % how true the story was) This guy handed himself in, the day before his birthday.
So he got out of jail today at 4pm, and was suppose to be set up in a house somewhere, but by the time he got into town it was too late, for the workers to get him set up... (What's with that, you think that it would be for the best interest of everyone for someone getting out of jail to be set up somewhere, off the streets, even if it is so that they have less of a opportunity to get back into old habits). So with it to late to get set up in a house, he has no where to stay at the moment, cause by the time that he found that out, it would of already to late to get a bed at St Vincent, they start accepting people in the afternoon. The only place left where he could stay is the sobering up unit, however you have to be "drunk" to get in
If this is the case, what incentive does someone getting out of jail have to start straight, that alone stay straight.
This is the first story that i have heard personally of this sort of thing happening, however i don't think it is an isolated case.
I came home, and think it is so unfair, that this sort of thing shouldn't happen here.
but i also think it is unfair, that i am living in this nice house, when the people that i want to reach for God, either don't have a place or it is at least a lot smaller. I would love to open the doors of this house to anyone that i met on the street, that have no place to stay, and let them stay here. Whether on a bed, or the floor, at least it is warm (especially now that the nights are getting a bit colder) and it is dry. However i have been taught that it is not safe in doing that, and the majority of people that i meet are males, which would make it not above reproach either.
I know that there is a bit of a safety issue in me opening up the house for people to stay, especially since i am now here by my self. But that doesn't stop me from feeling this way....
I don't want a house... with this place i feel as if i am still someone trying to reach these guys from the outside, from my comfortable life, doing my good turn for those less fortunate.
I would be more happy in a single unit or studio place (at the moment i would rather sleep on a matress on the floor, than one of beds here). I don't want to live a comfortable lifestyle (in the world's sense at least, i would probably find it actually uncomfortable). i want to live in Jesus' footsteps, and follow Him, and go where He would go and live where He would live.

Any way it is time to get some sleep... got work tomorrow.

Lux

Soup run

I went out to the soup run last night, and was talking to a guy.
He was under 26 yrs old, hasn't had a job. He told me a little bit of his story
He used to be on drugs, and has hep c to show for it.
He applied to join the military, he wanted to be a field medic, however that was when he found out he had hep c.
He was drunk, and drink a lot... from boredom according to him.
However he was thankful for the food at the soup run, cause otherwise he would drink and not eat,
He has already got charges against him for disorderly behaviour, which he says is cause he hadn't eaten before drinking, so the alcohol goes straight to his blood.
However he wants to change, the government is offering him to do a certificate at TAFE, and he now decided to be a mechanic, a motor bike mechanic.
So i pray that he will do this course, that he will then continue to work towards that job. and not continue to get drunk cause he is bored. That he will know the love of God. He once wanted to be a medic, i pray that he will find the best medic of all, Jesus Christ, and then he will become the medic that he wanted to be, not in the Military, as he had planned but in that Army of the Lord.

every person we met has a story... has a dream... do we take time to hear those dreams, to pray with them for those dreams, and also introduce them to the one person who makes the dreams possible, and some times has even bigger dreams for that person.

Night Visitor

It was 11.30pm i was about to go to bed, and there was a knock at the door.
An aboriginal man was there, thinking that his wife was inside and wanted to come in.
i confinced him that no one else lives here or staying here.
Then he asked if he could stay one night here. He said that he believes in God.
Being female, i had to say no. With it not being safe, and not above reproach.
I wanted to help him, but all i could do was give him a mat to sleep on, and a friendly smile.
It hurt so much that i couldn't do more, It hurt that i had to turn him away.
I wish i could of done more.
Occording to Matthew 25 when we invite a stranger in, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give drink to the thirsty, visit the sick or those in prison, we do it to Christ.
So if we turn someone away who wants help, does that mean that we turn Christ away.

Lux