Category: General Interest

The Cologne Cathedral is Germany’s most visited landmark, with an estimated 20,000 visitors each day of the year. It is a World Heritage Site and is a stunning example of Gothic architecture. 

What is most fascinating about this church building is the fact that it took 100s of years to build. The first part was constructed between 1248 and 1473. But then work was halted before eventually being resumed in the early 19th century finally to be completed in 1880, over 600 years later!

This is an amazing example of generations of people being commited to a vision much bigger than themselves – something that would outlive them. That's what the church is all about – not a physical building but a community of people following Jesus Christ and living out his mission in the world. Jesus started building his church over 2,000 years ago and generations of faithful men and women have been carrying the work forward as his humble servants, getting their hands dirty on the building site of human need.

Think about all of those that have gone before us … we stand on their shoulders and they deserve our applause and honour.

Think of those who will come after us … may the footsteps that we leave cause them to believe.

Think about today … right here, right now. That's all we have. This moment. Live it to the full and may every breath be an offering of praise to the God of all creation, of all human history, and of the amazing redemption story that continues to unfold. To Him be all praise, glory and honour. 

Here in Melbourne, Australia the season of Spring begins – today!

I love Spring. We start to move away from the cold, rainy and cloudy days of winter. The sun starts to become warmer. Birds are singing their little hearts out. Trees that have looked dead start to blossom with new life. Solomon described it well …

Look, the winter is past, and the rains are over and gone. The flowers are springing up, the season of singing birds has come. [Song of Songs 2:11-12. NLT]

God created the seasons …

Genesis 8:22. As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.

And God can change the seasons too.

Daniel 2:20-21. Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons …

Seasons can be symbolic of the various periods or phases of our life in which we grow (see BLOG posts on "Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life"). Seasons can also be prophetic of what God is up to in our lives. Maybe you have been through a winter season recently where life has been dark and cold for a long period of time. I pray for a shift of season for you. I pray for Spring in your life – for the sun to shine brighter, for a time of singing to break out, and for new life to burst into your world!

[Spring is nature's way of saying, 'Let's party!' Robin Williams]

A friend passed this on to me. Interesting reading …

Before you read to the end, do you know what the main ingredient of WD-40 is? 

Who knew? I had a neighbour who bought a new car. I got up very early one Sunday morning and saw that someone had spray painted red all around the sides of his car (for some unknown reason). I went over, woke him up, and told him the bad news. He was very upset and was trying to figure out what to do…. probably nothing until Monday morning, since nothing was open. Another neighbour came out and told him to get his WD-40 and clean it off. It removed the unwanted paint beautifully and did not harm his paint job on the car. I'm impressed!

WD-40 who knew? 'Water Displacement #40'. The product began from a search for a rust preventative solvent and de-greaser to protect missile parts. WD-40 was created in 1953 by three technicians at the San Diego Rocket Chemical Company. Its name comes from the project that was to find a 'water displacement' compound. They were successful with the fortieth formulation, thus WD-40. The Convair Company bought it in bulk to protect their atlas missile parts. Ken East (one of the original founders) says there is nothing in WD-40 that would hurt you… When you read the 'shower door' part, try it. It's the first thing that has ever cleaned that spotty shower door. If yours is plastic, it works just as well as glass. It's a miracle! Then try it on your stove top … Viola! It's now shinier than it's ever been. You'll be amazed.

WD-40 uses:

Continue reading “Understanding WD40” →

Silent Night is one of the most popular carols sun across the world at this Christmas season. There are many romantic stories about how it was composed. Here is one of them that may contain an element of truth to it …

On Christmas Eve 1818 in Austria, the Vicar of a small church in Oberndorf had written a new song to be sung on Christmas Day. The organist, Franz Gruber had set the words to music but the organ broke and it looked like it was all going to be a disaster. In an attempt to rectify the situation, Frank grabbed a guitar and accompanied the Vicar on the first ever rendition of Silent Night.

When the organ repair man turned up to fix the organ, Gruber played him the new song to test that the organ had been fixed. The repairman loved it so much that he took it back to his own village. There, the four daughters of a local glovemaker began singing it in concerts all over Austria and, as the saying goes, the rest is history. Silent Night is one of the great carols of the world and it got its first big break because an organ broke.

There's a good message in that story. Sometimes when things go wrong, something good comes out of it. God has a way of working like that.

Merry Christmas!

Congratulations to Tony and Lisa Clark who were selected as the winners of the Australian Human Rights Commission – Community Organisation award at a ceremony in Sydney today.

Tony, who founded Swags for Homeless in 2007, started the non-profit homeless charity in Melbourne when he questioned what was given to street sleeping homeless turned away from shelters. Tony and Lisa Clark designed the emergency relief Backpack Bed, which received the worlds largest and most prestigious product design award the Red Dot ‘Best of the Best’ in Germany this year. Backpack Beds are provided to homeless and are distributed through 139 charities around Australia.

“As well as warmth and protection, the Backpack Bed provides the homeless with dignity,” said Mr Clark.

This year the Backpack Bed also received an Australian International Design Award and the Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum Design Award for innovation and benefits to its users. 

Paul Moulds AM (Major) from The Salvation Army says the Backpack Bed has been invaluable to their organisation and used in many of their outreach programs for the homeless.

Continue reading “Australian Human Rights Award goes to Tony and Lisa Clark” →

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"

The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one."

This story has appeared all over the web in various forms, usually with no credit given to Mr. Eiseley. Loren Eiseley was an anthropologist who wrote extensively. He was the 'wise man' in the story, and he was walking along a beach after a storm and encountered the fellow throwing the starfish back. Sometimes it is a little girl throwing the starfish into the ocean, sometimes a young man, once even an elder.

Derreck Kayongo, from Uganda, is one of this year's Top 10 CNN Heroes nominees. Click here to read his amazing story. Through simple presence of mind, Derreck had an idea to collect used hotel soap, that usually ends up as landfill, and recycle it for use in impoverished nations such as Haiti, Uganda, Kenya and Swaziland.

Each year, more than 2 million children die from diarrhea. According to the World Health Organization, these deaths occur almost exclusively among toddlers living in low-income countries. The issue is not the availability of soap. The issue is cost. If you are living on $2 a day, paying 25 cents for soap is probably out of the question when there is food and medicine to buy. 

So far 300 hotels in the USA have joined in with the program generating 100 of tonnes of soap. Volunteers collect the soap and ship them to the Global Soap Project warehouse in Atlanta. Over 100,000 bars of soap have been distributed free to communities in nine countries.

Last summer, Derreck  personally delivered 5,000 bars of soap to Kenya Relief's Brittney's Home of Grace orphanage. "When we were distributing the soap, I could sense that there was a lot of excitement, joy, a lot of happiness," said Kayongo, whose work was recently recognized by the Atlanta City Council, which declared May 15 as Global Soap Project Day in Atlanta. "It's a reminder again of that sense of decency. They have (someone) who knows about their situation, and is willing to come and visit them … to come and say, 'We are sorry … We're here to help.' "

May we live with open ears, open eyes and open hearts today. Who knows who God may touch through you … or what idea he may give you to make our world a better place. That's good news!

Christopher Hitchens is one of the most outspoken atheists today and author of the best-selling book God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Francis Collins is a world re-known scientist with a strong Christian faith, noted for his leadership of the Human Genome Project and his best-selling book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Faith.

The Telegraph, a newspaper based in Great Britain, reported on an unlikely bond of friendship and trust between these two very different people. Even so, a March 2011 newspaper headline announced, "Atheist Christopher Hitchens could be 'saved' by evangelical Christian." The article went on to report, "The two had often met in the past as adversaries in the debate about whether God exists. Against the odds they [have] become friends." This improbable friendship started because Hitchens, a cancer patient, became part of an experimental treatment program that involves genome sequencing. Doctors plan to map Hitchens' genetic makeup so they can target and treat his damaged DNA. It just so happens that this experimental treatment is being pioneered by Dr. Francis Collins.

Hitchens has spent years blasting religious faith and religious believers. In his book There Is No God, he argues that "Organized religion is violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism, tribalism, and bigotry …." But when asked about his friendship with Dr. Collins, Hitchens spoke with only respect and admiration. "It's a rather wonderful relationship," he said, "I won't say he doesn't pray for me, because I think he probably does; but he doesn't discuss it with me."

What an interesting story … God does work in mysterious ways.

Sources: Matt Woodley, managing editor, PreachingToday.com and Richard Alleyne, "Atheist Christopher Hitchens could be 'saved' by evangelical Christian," The Telegraph (3-26-11).

"Most of what Jesus said and did took place in a secular workplace in a farmer's field, in a fishing boat, at a wedding feast, in a cemetery, at a public well asking a woman he didn't know for a drink of water, on a country hillside that he turned into a huge picnic, in a court room, having supper in homes with acquaintances or friends. In our Gospels, Jesus occasionally shows up in synagogue or temple, but for the most part he spends his time in the workplace. Twenty-seven times in John's Gospel Jesus is identified as a worker: 'My Father is still working, and I also am working' (Jn.5:17). Work doesn't take us away from God; it continues the work of God. God comes into view on the first page of our scriptures as a worker. Once we identify God in his workplace working, it isn't long before we find ourselves in our workplace working in the name of God."

[From Eugene Peterson's book The Pastor, p.281]

During January, our theme at CityLife is Faith, Hope and Love. This weekend our teaching team spoke about hope. Our Associate Pastor, Paul Molyneux, began his message by referring to a well-known painting by George Frederick Watts RA (1817-1904), entitled "Hope." 

Here is a description of the background of this painting from the book "Famous Paintings" printed in 1913 …

"This is one of the earliest of the great morality pictures by which Watts earned his fame. Describing these, he said, 'All my pictures in the Tate Gallery are symbolical and for all time. Their symbolism is, however, more suggestive than worked out in detail.' He goes on: 'I want to make people think. My intention has not been so much to paint pictures that will charm the eye as to suggest great thoughts that will appeal to the imagination and the heart, and kindle all that is best and noblest in humanity.' 

'Hope' illustrates the power of these pictures to make peole think. The blinded figure, seated on the sphere with her broken lyre, is bending her ear to catch what music she may from the last remaining string. She cannot see the star shining above her; one by one the sweet notes of music have been taken from her, but still she sits, bowed but not broken, plucking with tender fingers whatever melody she may from the last string of those that gave her the full harmonies of beauty. She has no vision either of the star above or of the world of darkness and gloom below. Her attitude of dejection almost rejects the conventional idea that there is happiness to be found when everything seems lost, but the picture suggests the larger hope of the world that there is peace and light above the turmoil and sorrow of the earth. 

Watts was something more than a painter. He painted for no gain save the reward of achievement when he felt he had a message to deliver through his pictures. To his purposes he deliberately sacrificed his natural dexterity and technique, holding that the artist should be lost in his picture. Nevertheless, the power of colour which is exhibited in 'Hope' is one of the most marked qualities of his work. The whole is a delicate harmony in blues and greens, and is suggestive of the Italian influence which so strongly affected the painter."  

Ultimately, hope is only as strong as the object or person we place our hope upon. Thankfully, as followers of Christ, we can anchor our hope in the certainty of God's presence, God's purpose, and God's promises. 

Whatever adversity or challenge you may be facing today, I join with the apostle Paul in praying for you …

"I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit." [Rom.15:13. NLT]