a place for everything...

future. updated.

2008-10-10T03:57:00.001-07:00

to prep for marriedness i have been reading through sacred marriage with my friend kerri. i've flicked through numerous engagement/marriage books, and this the only one i would recommend.

“If you want to be free to serve Jesus, there’s no question — stay single. Marriage takes a lot of time. But if you want to become more like Jesus, I can’t imagine any better thing to do than to get married. Being married forces you to face some character issues you’d never have to face otherwise.”

The biggest thing I have struggled with recently is the whole change from dating to marriage. A lot of dating (even christian dating) advice is about looking for a partner that you are attracted to, get along with, have similar plans, they have nice traits, love God, etc... But when you're married it's completely flipped over and you're expected to serve the other person. At the start, it's about what can this person give me, and after that, it's about what can I give... It has been good to nut these issues out with somebody else.

If you're engaged, I would definitely recommend meeting with somebody to talk frankly about marriage. Even better if they don't go to the same church as you and have slightly different views on things. I have got so much out of meeting, sitting down with a cup of tea and scones, and talking about the ups and downs of life!

Slightly off topic, I was wondering if anyone has ever heard 1 Corinthians 7:1-7 as a wedding reading?

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: "It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman."

top notch journalism

2008-09-19T19:34:00.000-07:00

recently the place i work at was held up. i wasn't there at the time, and everyone is ok.

i had to laugh when i read the online coverage of the incident on the mercury website. they will do anything to link a story to 'our mary'!!

Don Miller

2008-09-15T17:44:00.000-07:00

Donald Miller, author of blue like jazz, has started a blog. You can read it here. i particularly liked his first post (an email exchange between him and obama).

future.

2008-07-23T05:46:00.000-07:00

venue? check.
food? check.
drink? check.
florist? check.
dress? almost check.
guest list? check (although this is painful).
bridesmaid? check.
hair? check.
still to do:
transport
decorations
bridesmaid dress
colour scheme... freakin colour schemes.

sigh... i feel like i'm planning a wedding and not preparing for a marriage.

we went and saw a photographer today. she showed us some pictures and told us which couples were divorced, which were having problems, which had gone on extended overseas trips without their husbands, etc. weird. sad.

coming out of the closet

2008-07-19T22:11:00.000-07:00

Following a rather successful swing dance exchange in Hobart, I was struck by how many Christians there are in swing communities around Australia. But also, by how hard it can be to find each other. It was only by 'coincidence' that one of the Christian visitors was staying with one of the Hobartian Christians. Had we all known each other at the start, perhaps we could have met and prayed for the event and drawn encouragement from each other.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to just find the other Christians and create our own holy bubble, but it is really encouraging to find other believers in your areas of interest. Particularly when it can seem like an uphill battle - forming friendships, serving the community, trying to share Jesus when there are only a few of you. It doesn't come as naturally to me as it does to others in the group, but I'm getting used to it.

In other news, Matt and I are engaged. I am preparing by reading cleo bride.

strategic uni choice

2008-07-11T05:42:00.000-07:00

i've just finished reading this article about a guy that chose an evolutionary biology major at his uni when he was a creationist.

it's a fascinating read, but i particularly like this bit

My first semester created a faith crisis due in large part to the fact that my identity as a Christian had often been supported with evidence and knowledge rather than a deep intimacy with Christ. When confronted with the thought that (gasp!) there might be evidence contrary to the Gospel, God challenged me through other believers to develop my the relationship with Christ on a level of faith — not facts. Nothing can shake me from my belief in God now because I know Him. Not because I know about Him.

seb and coffee

2008-06-09T18:11:00.000-07:00

my housemate emily arrived home yesterday. she'd been away in launceston for a week, home one night, and then in melbourne for the long weekend. it was really nice to have another girl in the house, finally. i think i was beginning to grow facial hair.

she came into my bedroom this morning, with a coffee for me, and we chatted about uni and work stress, friends at stuff. i am extremely jealous that jack gets that experience almost every day. there's nothing like a chat with a friend (and coffee) to wake you from the eternal snooze cycle.

seb (our neighbour's cat) is inside with me. mostly because em dumped him on the couch before she left and we have a warm heater that he likes snuggling up to. i'm pretty sure he hates me though. sad, because i have no idea why. he won't quite let himself fall asleep - his eye keeps peering at me like i'm up to no good.

ANYWAYS. study must happen. i have 3 exams left, starting thursday and finishing saturday. 3 exams in 3 days. bleurgh. and 2 of them are really hard to study for - i have no idea what to cover. but after that - full-time work! HA, sounds like freedom to me right now :)

mind you, then i couldn't spend the morning inside with a cat that doesn't trust me.

2008-06-07T03:08:00.000-07:00

i'm sitting at my desk, surrounded by coffee cups, scraps of paper with formula and graphs on them, at least 3 different highlighters, 2 calculators, a motivational study dog named toby, and 6 textbooks.

perfect time to blog.

actually, matt just told me that he's started a blog, and then i realised i haven't touched this one in years. oh the shame!

give a crap

2008-02-04T15:40:00.000-08:00

Morethan 2.6 billion people, including 980 million children, live
without proper sanitation; every 20 seconds on average a
child dies as a direct result. That’s 1.5 million preventable
child deaths a year.

apparently, this year is the international year of sanitation. at first i thought that was a weird thing to devote this year to. but the more i looked in to it the more it outraged me.

Proper sanitation and hygiene is a necessary and worthwhile
investment for governments at every level in every country. For every dollar spent improving sanitation and hygiene, between $3 and $34 is saved in health, education and social and economic development. In addition to countless school days lost to sanitation-related illness, the lack of adequate, separate sanitation facilities denies many girls an education and future economic potential;

providing sanitation is providing dignity. christ was the best example for providing dignity to those that are normally made fun of or, worse, forgotten about. consider buying a toilet for somebody this year. $70 will provide a toilet for a small community and prevent a whole bunch of deaths.

summer, fun.

2008-01-20T05:19:00.000-08:00

i just got back from a weekend as cook's help on summer fun, one of the anglican camping tasmania junior school camps.

des and kate were the wonderful cooks. kate was armed with her mother's tried and true catering recipes, and we set to work.

i've been a leader on camp before, but the vibe is very different in the kitchen. you kind of feel like you're there to support the leaders, or at least that was how i felt. our kitchen was a bit of a safe haven for leaders needing a break sometimes. not that it happened often - it was an amazingly talented group of leaders with stamina that i envy.

matt also bought heaps of red bull for the leaders to consume... this may have helped a bit.

anyway, the stove doesn't work as of this afternoon. we cooked awesome nachos, but when it came to starting the oven for dinner, the fuse just kept blowing. so we wound up spending an hour cutting chicken meat off drumsticks. then we cooked the chicken for 53 people on two electric frying pans, and des used the bbq to cook rice and veges. it was an exercise in creativity!

but enough meat was lost from cutting up the drumsticks that we didn't have enough for everyone, so the last 8 people had to have scrambled eggs for dinner (des's specialty- apparently the secret is to not add milk). the kids and leaders were really gracious though, which we truly appreciated.

please pray that the oven is fixed by tues, otherwise it's likely the camp will have to be cut short. this would really suck because the team has really clicked, both with each other and the kids, and i think it will be a great camp.

young preacher's worst nightmare

2008-01-12T03:58:00.000-08:00

a warning to budding young bible teachers... this could happen to you.

and be immortalized on the internet. priceless.

broken promises...

2007-12-23T05:36:00.000-08:00

i rambled something about a social justice and emergents post a few weeks ago, but it never eventuated. fear not! something will come along... sometime.

and jerome will get a muffin.

i got great news this week. i got a scholarship to work at the menzies centre as an undergrad on a molecular biology project next year. there are about 10 scholarships every year i think so i'm pretty stoked to get one. i hope to work there as a real researcher in the future so it's great to get my foot in the door as an undergrad.

it sounds like i'll be looking at leukaemia and specifically a transcription factor that may or may not affect a gene that is linked to leukaemia.

i don't know much about leukaemia but i do know about the lab techniques that we are going to be using so i'm feeling really good about it.

a quick revival... then silence

2007-12-23T05:26:00.000-08:00

the oven worked again... momentarily. so i baked some evil muffins. why evil?

well... it kinda involved the gruesome death of some freddos.

i think this one was beheaded by the koala.
in other baking news, here are some treats from the kitchen tea we had for heather:

ok, chocolate-dipped strawberries don't really count as baked goodies, but we also made lemon meringue pies, scones, and tangy lemon slice. the scones had lemonade in them!

when sharehouse livin ain't so grand

2007-12-19T14:14:00.000-08:00

my brilliant plan to cook a whole heap of christmas presents has been thwarted. turns out our oven has stopped working somewhere in the past couple of days.

maybe i can give everyone chocolate crackles instead?

just... wow

2007-11-27T05:12:00.000-08:00

bangladesh (and the obligatory post-election discussion)

2007-11-26T05:28:00.001-08:00

i'm yet to post about the bangladeshi floods (thanks to the commenter on the previous post - it reminded me!).

as i'm sure you read weeks ago, bangladesh was hit by a cyclone and flooding has followed. flooding happens pretty much every year, but this cyclone has brought the second bout of flooding to the region and this time is far more widespread.

anyway, it's off the news radars, but i'd just like to let you know it's obviously still a huge problem. people are still dying. farmers have lost their land, their crops, their livestock. once the initial aid relief stuff is done there's a whole lot of families that are going to need additional help to get back on their feet. i'd urge you to consider giving to TEAR Australia or other charities that have a specific option to give to the cyclone aid appeal. just yesterday TEAR announced where and how much money was going to their partner agencies in bangladesh. $25,000 is going to HEED (whom i visited), and it's going to both emergency aid and long-term stuff like building cyclone-resistance schoolhouses. you can read more here.

an interesting article i found in my interweb travels is this one. daily star is the bangladesh newspaper and this (long) article discusses the australian election (in a surprising amount of detail) and the implications for bangladesh, as well as the parallels between howard's government and the political parties in bangladesh.

In Australia, Rudd has shown how young, fresh and new leadership can rejuvenate not only a political party but also an electorate and a country in its entirety. This should serve as an inspiration to the talented up and coming new leadership, not only within BNP and AL but also other emerging political platforms and parties. The old leadership have proven themselves to be irrelevant to our future aspirations. New leadership, whether in existing or new political platforms, can help carve a new future for our people and country. 1/11 has provided the "enabling" or "facilitating" environment required for energetic, visionary and forward-looking leadership to face our challenges.

our new prime minister
so most bloggers i subscribe to already talked about the election and did so intelligently. it's 1 in the morning so i won't manage that.

i'm feeling optimistic about this government, and i'm looking forward to this change. i've only ever really known howard as my prime minister, so it's kind of sad letting go of him.
mostly, i'm just looking forward to the torture that the chaser gang will unleash on our new leader :P

stay tuned for a post on emergents and social justice coming up in the next few days. should be fun!

i'm back!

2007-11-26T00:30:00.000-08:00

whew! i've been away for what has been the most intense experience of my dancing life.

i met amazing dancers, hung out with the tassie crowd, stayed with a kind, generous host, and saw melbourne through the eyes of a swing dancer.

it was cool to see some dancers that had been dancing for 7 years or more, who could pull these funky moves. it gave me something to aspire too. hopefully, we'll see some of them down at devil city swing next year.

for now, though, i'm really bored. both of my best friends are away in melbourne (i'm certain we could have co-ordinated this a little better!) so i'm stuck, typing away at the computer and deciding how i'll waste my time.

any ideas? i could bake something else i guess...

tip for sharehouse livin' #219

2007-11-22T04:58:00.000-08:00

you may think your ben folds tune on your phone is an awesome morning alarm, but your housemates may not feel the same way.

especially when you leave it in the living room set for 7 in the morning on a sunday... and you don't wake up the first time it goes, forcing light-sleeping housemates out of bed to switch it off.

i am a bad, bad person.

i could have danced all night...

2007-11-21T17:13:00.000-08:00

off to mlx tomorrow for a big weekend of dancing. for those that way inclined, i have a few prayer requests:

safety
for good conversations
for new friendships
for old friendships
that god would be at the centre of everything i do this weekend

it will be awesome. i have a heap of things to do before then though, but here's a quick update on what i've been up to

i made a record bowl. (don't click if you're offended by naughty words)
i made triple choc brownies with 400g of lindt chocolate... feeling sick now.
i've had several orange smoothies at island (highly recommended)

finally, check this out. a cat with two faces!!! eurgh...

it's the end of the world as we know it...

2007-11-10T06:36:00.000-08:00

but for some reason, i don't feel that bad ;-)

my exams finished on friday and i have been PARTYING SOOO HARD(!!!!!!) that i simply haven't had time to update.

actually, the appeal of blogging isn't there when i don't have much to procrastinate from.

the last exam was rubbish. i got sick and couldn't study for the 2 days i had to study for it, so i was considering deferring it. but as if you would. so i sat it, and now we'll just have to wait and see what happens. could be bad, but i hope not.

i have 2 shifts all through november! so it will be a fun few weeks of holidays for now!

another post... because i'm so popular

2007-11-05T04:03:00.000-08:00

I am causing controversy on my blog: check out below, 5 COMMENTS!! that's an improvement of 500% I believe.

(ok so 2 of those were from me. still, 3 comments from people that aren't me is a record!)

Well, last you heard I'd finished my 1st exam and made muffins. Since then

My housemates ate my muffins
I had another exam
I procrastinated... a LOT

My next exam is on wednesday, and then the last on friday. I am going to rectango in Salamanca that evening to celebrate, with some swing friends and whoever else wants to pop by.

My exam last week was human bio, and definitely the worst exam I've had in the history of my life. Mostly because I didn't put enough work in during the semester and it is a MASSIVE subject. I'm hoping I don't have to sit a sup!!

Life is getting interesting. I want to keep my mind stimulated with interesting dialogue but then have to put them on hold. At the moment my thoughts are on church, particularly the institutionalised church and what I do and don't like about it.

I was going to post some photos but the bluetooth is cranky, so have a virtual muffin instead

mmm... fresh from the oven.

*rectango happens every week in the salamanca courtyard from 5.30-7.30. It typically consists of good music, beer, wine, families, the after-work crowd, and hippies. Good times!

showstopper

2007-10-26T21:59:00.000-07:00

i just got back from my exam (it went ok), and decided to make muffins. (if you want one, let me kno :P)
so while i wait for them to get nice and fabulous in the oven, here's my recap of last night's AWESOME show.

(ok by now you may have picked up that this will be a positive review).

we got a call at 7 saying "do you want some free tickets?" and we gobbled them up.
we went to the theatre royal and our seats were in the middle.

i noticed 2 things about the crowd. 1 - by the time darren walked on the place was still 1/2 empty, and 2 - most of the people there were in their mid-40's.

matt called them the 'sunrise crowd' (sarah blasko has played a few times on morning tv)

darren started with a song i hadn't heard about the book of love. it was probably the most gooey song i heard from his set (and he has some REAL gooey ones). he played mostly songs from 'fingertips and mountaintops', his new album. by request, he sang 'punk's not dead' (probably his best-known) and a song about records. he also played a new song that he'd 'just finished today'.

what captured me about darren was his stage presence. it was undeniably australian. he was casual, a great storyteller. he looked both embarrassed to be on stage, yet like it was the most natural thing for him to be doing. he joked, he interacted with the audience, he explained where the songs came from. the songs weren't copied from the album, but adapted slightly for the live audience. it was a joy!

i was ready to go home after that - i was that happy. my life was pretty much complete.

sarah's set was a lot 'showier'. she had lighting effects, and a big band. she stuck to most of the hits from 'what the sea wants, the sea will have' (her latest album). she danced like nobody was watching. which was weird, because in between every song her voice was incredibly shy, and she also seemed embarrassed. it didn't put you off as an audience member though, but made you more at home with her.

to be honest, i was a bit disappointed. her music is music to experience... i wanted to be dancing alongside her, to close my eyes and let the music take over. the lighting was unnecessary - she is such an emotive performer that her expression conveyed far more than the effects around her.

yes, she was awesome, but she is so much better in republic-style gigs.

all her hits were played, and i think she finished with 'don't u eva' from her earlier album. at this point i was a bit disappointed they hadn't played 'woman by the well'. it's my favorite song from her latest album and shows another side to her music.

they finished and walked off. after ages of clapping, she came back on, alone. she picked up a guitar and unplugged it. she stepped away from the microphone, then she sang 'woman at the well'.
the audience was silent. it was one of those magical moments where you feel like you're part of something special, a one-off where god has decided to show you true beauty. at least, that's what it felt like for me.

consider the woman from john 4 when you read these lyrics.

Lately I find that you know me
Better than I know myself
Like a woman who's lost herself
By the water's edge
Her reflection was taken by the tide

I just want you around
I want you around

Seconds and hours pass slowly
I move them all by myself
I can feel that I’m aging
My hair is turning black
There's a rhythm behind it
That you can't know

Still, I want you around
'Cause I’m more lost than found

Shine a light on my misery
Wake the child from her sleep
Wipe the eyes of the dewy morning
The waters so deep

'seconds and hours pass slowly...'

2007-10-26T05:47:00.000-07:00

i was part of the audience at the theatre royal tonight that saw darren hanlon and sarah blasko perform. these two are my favorite artists, and they have accompanied me through exams, long car trips, pms, and even overseas. darren in particular was my escapism when the madness of bangladesh overwhelmed me.

originally i wasn't going to go, because i have an exam tomorrow. but when study went better than expected, and a friend offered two free tickets, i couldn't say no.

it was magical.

hopefully i get around to reviewing it, but wisdom says it's bedtime.

searching for god knows what

2007-10-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

procrastination... leadeth to a blog post.

matt and i were reading a bit of don miller's searching for god knows what (all of chapter 1 can be downloaded here.). i really like miller's work. he's think-outside-the-box without being emerging. he's on about relationship and community and narrative, but he's also on about salvation and people coming to know christ.

his website has some interesting articles. the most interesting to me was Thirteen Paradigm Shifts we encountered doing Christian ministry in a pagan environment. I encourage you to read it for yourself if you like this sort of stuff.
(and yes, i'm aware that paradigm shifts sounds awfully postmodern, wanky and emerging. get over it and have a look anyway!)

here's some of them that stood out to me..

4. Other people have morality and values: We came to understand that Christians do not own morality, that everybody lives by a moral code, not always informed by an ancient text, and yet it is there. Calling people or even thinking of them as immoral was, then, inappropriate. In fact, we often found that people who did not know Christ lived a morality close to his heart in many areas we had ignored, ie; community, tolerance, social justice, fairness and equality, freedom, beauty and so on and so on.

...

7. Telling somebody about the gospel is about them, not us: We were careful not to try to “build our organization” and respected peoples freedom and space. Sharing the gospel became an exercise in friendship, rather than an attempt to grow a machine. Often, people feel used if they feel they are being recruited. The gospel, we learned, is really about them, their feelings about God and truth, about sin, about life.

what does that look like when sharing with friends? i think it means listening to people (and really listening, not just waiting for the 'hook' so you can slip in your 2 ways to live message) and validating their views. celebrating when you see that god has already been working in people, giving them perspectives that are consistent with his nature.

8. Don’t let spreading the gospel feel any different than telling somebody about a love in your life, about your children or a great memory: We realized that in telling somebody about Jesus, we were telling them about somebody we have come to love and need, and about something that had happened to us, an encounter. This keeps us from sounding preachy, and allows us to share part of ourselves in a friendship.

i suck at this stuff. telling my 'story' never came naturally. the whole formula ('my life before jesus, how i met jesus, my life after jesus') didn't fit with the truth of my experience with god. nor does it fit in with my experience of sharing my testimony - my god-conversations tend to have snippets of my relationship with god, rather than the entire testimony i edited, revised, and condensed when i was in high school. sharing god with people like i would share a close friend makes a lot more sense.

12. Pray for the Salvation of others: We discovered the need to pray for others. This would insure God was working in peoples lives, as we asked Him to. We discovered the work of evangelism is something God lets us watch, but very little of it is what we manipulate. We repented of not believing evangelism was a spiritual exchange between a lost person and God, rather than believing it was a series of ideas we were supposed to convince others of.

13. Ask people if they would like to know Christ: We decided to initiate, whenever the relationship called for it. We were not afraid to ask people if they would like to know God.

good stuff. back to studying. ick.

no thanks!

2007-10-17T06:13:00.000-07:00

tonight i was chatting with some non-christian friends and i mentioned that my boyfriend was moving house.
"oh, are you moving in together?" came the reply.

this question is a brilliant opportunity to show people you're walking to the beat of a different drum. IF you do it well. you don't want to come off judgmental, or make them think that christianity is all about not having sex.

so, back to the conversation:
"are you moving in together?"
"nope" was my response. pretty poor!

i did a quick probe of the christians around me that night. suggested responses ranged from the simple 'no' i gave, to a 'no, and i wouldn't do that', or a 'no, because i don't believe in sex before marriage'.

in the past, i've said 'no, we don't want to have sex before marriage, so moving in together would make that goal pretty tricky'. that was a lighthearted way to do it, and kept conversation flowing.

obviously this depends on who you're talking to, their gender, and how well you know them. you can't just have a pat answer, but i'd love to hear what people would suggest. i'm going to keep asking my friends this week to see what they say, so i'll post about that later!

like a sleeping bag but better

2007-10-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

our house was freeezing in winter. in fact, it's still pretty cold.
some chose to warm themselves with heaters.
others had socks and beanies.
but not jack... jack got a selk bag

they're pretty much the coolest thing ever.

tip for sharehouse livin' #114:

2007-10-16T05:12:00.000-07:00

if you want to be all cute and sing made-up songs at the top of your lungs to your significant other... be absolutely CERTAIN none of your housemates are home.

my stats are down

2007-10-14T00:44:00.000-07:00

except, unlike mike, they were never up in the first place.

astrid recently posted on how to attract more traffic to a blog.

here are a few i think are useful.
1. have a competition
like 'winner gets a post about them written by the blogger'. seriously i've seen this work (can't find the right link for it though). unfortunately, you have to actually have a readership for this to work. maybe next year.

2. use heavily used search terms. this should be easy...
boobs porn paris hilton sex girls.
ok done.
(apparently, google is one of the 3 most searched for terms. might explain why the internet is so wrong these days)

3. Get fired for what you write on your blog. You'll attract a crazy number of supporters. This infamously happened to a bunch of people, but my favorite is dooce. Who now makes a living for her family from the advertising on her blog. sheesh.

4. shamelessly advertise your blog.
you see, i don't like this one. i kind of like people secretly finding other's blogs and leaving a comment on it. i don't like the shameless advertising so i tried to do it the 'old-school' way. unfortunately, i've been on the blogs i go to for so long that it seems nobody curiously goes 'hmm kath...' *click* anymore...

5. write good quality articles that your readers actually want to hear about... i might just skip this one and crap on about swing dancing...

dancing... again!

2007-10-11T04:44:00.000-07:00

over at christine's blog there was a bit of a debate about whether it was appropriate to have friends of the opposite gender when you're married.

i wanted to chronicle my own thoughts on the matter without hijacking her blog, so here they are.

until recently most (all?) of my guy friends were also friends of matt. there was no problem there. i would hang out with his guy friends and he would hang out with my girlfriends. i have no issue with that and neither does he.

now, more and more of my male friends are ones that matt doesn't hang with. swing friends, for instance. most of my friends from swing are guys because they're the ones i dance with. matt's got no interest in swing dancing and is perfectly happy to let me dance with the guys there.

as the debate sprouted at christine's blog i began questioning myself. should i have these guy friends? would it be wrong if i got married? where do i draw my lines!?
i pondered and prayed, and realised that if i needed to give up swing, i could. if matt wanted me to give up swing, i would. it would be really really really hard for me to do, but i would do it.

it's a hard place to draw the line though. i know that it's not an "inherently evil" place for me to be - i know a lot of godly guys and girls that dance. but it's a hard mission field because you naturally form closer bonds with those of the opposite gender.

to top it off, endorphins are being released from dancing and your brain is being stimulated by the music and the movement, so there's a lot of emotion that can be tied up in the dance and i'm wary of that.

anyways, they're just my messy, incomplete thoughts. comments are welcome.

1 month till freedom!

2007-10-08T21:06:00.000-07:00

At this time next month, I will have finished exams.

which I don't really want to think about, so I thought as a supreme art of procrastination, I would compile a list of things-to-look-forward to...

Faker are coming to Hobart. I saw them at Falls festival and they were one of my favorites (alongside Cat Empire... oh yeah). The lead singer is really a fantastic performer. "This Heart Attack" is their latest and it's really catchy. You can listen to it for free on their website. Ah the republic... I can smell the sweat and beer on me already. It'll be hot.
MLX (Melbourne Lindy Exchange), where I get to go and stay with a fellow swing dancer in melbourne and do nothing but DANCE! This promises to be reallyreallyreallyreallyawesome.
Ruth and I are planning a road trip. Originally it was to Cambodia. Then it was gonna be to the North of Tas. Now it looks like it's gonna be Noosa. Might be the last time we get to hang out before med takes over her life, so I'm determined to have a fun time to solidify our friendship for years to come! Not sure how Noosa fits with challenging and growing our friendship, but we'll get to get Queensland tans and paddle kayaks.
Wedding season! 2 couples that are my dear friends are tying the knot, one at each end of the holidays (december and feb) so that should be exciting.
My big bro is coming down over summer with his wife. She's been sick lately, and he's off on a navy boat somewhere atm, so it'll be nice for them to be together and for our family to share in that. Even though my family aren't Christians (and so the whole Christmas season is a bit more of an Xmas season) I love the vibe I get when everyone comes down and celebrates it together.
Matt and I are going to see Kings of Leon in January. They are old PKs that have taken a turn for the worst! I can't say their lyrics are God glorifying, but he sings with a crazily strong accent so you can't tell what the words are anyway. Their riffs are so catchy, and they're a great band to dance to.

Are you a dreamer? Do you think/worry/get excited about your future?

old school swing dancing

2007-10-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

here's a video from the 40's. i can see a where 'save the last dance' and other movies stole the idea.

i am

2007-10-01T02:23:00.000-07:00

... tired and cranky and need to sleep.

i spent a significant amount of my day analysing my own pee. it was sooo boring. turns out i am fairly normal. hurrah!

i bought a lonely planet guide to laos today, because it was only 9 bucks. i sooo want to travel again! i'm thinking laos, cambodia, and thailand next year. have to start saving!!!

kath xox

Fashion victims?

2007-09-27T04:16:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed that clothes have a way shorter shelf life than a few years back? I remember the days of going in to town, and seeing a jacket I liked. It would be expensive, so I’d umm and ahh aboxut it for a few weeks, and come back. It would still be there. Full price. I’d go away again, think about it some more, and next week they would still be there, maybe 5 bucks off so I’d put it on layby.

These days, you go in to a shop and it has a week at the front of the store, a week up the back, and a few days in the clearance bin.

Does this disgust you? Bother you at all? The rate we are moving through clothes isn’t to be admired. Just because shops like Supre can come up with a new range of clothes every week isn’t a statement to how advanced our society has become. Or about the efficiency of our technology.

It’s testament to how our need for new has lead to us taking advantage of the poorest of the poor.

Recently I got up the front of my church and promoted an information evening about the garment girls of Bangladesh. Afterwards, several people came up to me and commented on how they liked the jacket I was wearing, and asked me where I got it.
I wish my reply had been this
‘Well, thanks! I got it from Jacqui-E, who imported it from China. It was an absolute bargain, which no doubt means the girl that put it together got paid bugger all. I hope she’s clothed and is eating alright though…’
I’m ashamed to say it was more of a
‘Thanks! Yeah, it was a bargain. I was stoked!’
Why do we take pride in nabbing bargains? Is it because we are so short of money? Is it because we have this idea of the companies ripping us off all the time?

I really hope one day that we’ll stop being so proud of our shopping conquests, but proud that we can say the workers got a fair deal for the work they put in.
If you’re up for this culture change, here are some easy things to try…

Buy quality – not quantity. Shops like Supre are coming out with new stuff all the time, often of really bad quality and only the slightest bit different from the item beforehand.
Find yourself a few prize pieces – ones that make you look good, will last for ages, and you know it’s origin. www.tribesandnations.com.au has a great selection of handicrafts. Handicrafts are from skilled workers, often able to work in their own home instead of coming in to a garment factory.
If you go out for coffee, ask the staff if the coffee they sell is fairly traded. If their answer is no – walk out. Chances are if it’s not fairly traded, and they don’t know it’s origin, the coffee will be crap anyway.
Buy veggies and fruit from local growers (or grow your own!!)
Check out the markets
Remember that all your stuff isn’t going to be fairly traded – I’m yet to see a fairly traded pair of underwear. Unless you are gonna go commando, be aware that you’re far from perfect.

Poverty is a nasty issue. Fair trade is a difficult one. It is so far from perfect. There’s so many things that go along with these issues that can’t be simplified by a 12-step program. It’s one of the riddles the almighty has set up for us to struggle with it. But I encourage you to engage in this struggle, even though it is disheartening and a bit like swimming against the current.

cool dances

2007-09-24T04:01:00.000-07:00

I got to dance with these guys in July. Here they're doing a routine, so it's very polished and packed with cool moves.

And here's a blues dance from the brilliant Chris and Anna... It's not choreographed. Anna was an inspiring dancer to watch earlier this year. She is the most graceful dancer I've ever met!
*updated: Replaced with this steal jam which is pretty cool.*

I figure I should post a blues dance now before I actually have a readership that might get offended!

Just a thought

2007-09-24T03:20:00.000-07:00

Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.
G.K. Chesterton

oh no, they can't take that away from me...

2007-09-23T18:29:00.000-07:00

This week has been full of fantastic highs. And most of them from swing dancing. It really is awesome. I've got so far to go, but it is beautiful even just to watch the more experienced dancers have a go. I don't really care about embarrassing myself, so I have a dance with everybody and it's great. I wind up smelly, sweaty and really happy. Some of these guys you wouldn't pick to be dancers if you saw them on the street, but they're so graceful!

Swing is a lead-follow dance, so the guy is always leading the girl into this move or that. The girl follows, adding her own schmick moves when she goes along. But it all comes down to listening to the music and listening to your partner. A big part is confidence from the guy.

I think some parts of swing are like glimpses of what the kingdom of God is meant to be like. The way the genders are beautiful complements to each other. The masculinity of the guys is brought out, and the femininity of girls is enhanced. There's also such a positive vibe on the dancefloor - it's hard to be cranky when you're pumping out endorphins! I like the old-school manners ('Would you like this dance?') and the beautiful jazz music. I love the inclusive culture and friendly atmosphere.

There's also a bunch of Christians that dance, and it's great to have this support network and bunch of people to pray with. I don't go to the same church as a lot of them but we still get along well.

I was at the 'fruit and veg' night with some FOCUS girls and we discussed the topic of submission. I think submission is modelled beautifully in swing dancing. Girls follow not because they HAVE to - I've seen many dances where the girl does her own thing. But it doesn't have the fluidity and grace of a true lead-follow connection. It's not the way that the dance was made. When swing is done properly, the lead feels safe in his partner to try new moves, and the girl puts trust in the guy whilst still being completely strong in her own right.

Do they fumble? A lot! A lot more than you'll probably notice. But they pick themselves up and start again. Most of the fumbling happens when the guy isn't trying to lead properly or the girl doesn't follow.

I've often jokingly said that I won't marry a man that can't dance at our wedding (matt doesn't swing dance - yet!) I think swing is a great way for guys to practice their leadership - and appreciate the complement of genders. I am certain that the Christian dancers I know will make great leaders - on and off the dancefloor.

Take home message: Dancing is not for girly guys, it's for masculine, confident, firm yet gentle men.

just a ramble...

from analysing coffee to reading about jesus

2007-09-22T07:14:00.000-07:00

When I watch Matt drink coffee there are two main ways he does it. The first way happens when he's in coffee geek mode - it's all very solemn, serious, and analytical. He won't stay in conversation with you because he wants to pick every flavour his taste buds sense. And this is a good way to do it - he grows his knowledge of coffee and sharpens his ability to discern the layers of texture and flavour.

But Matt can also drink coffee in relaxed mode. He drinks it because he likes it. The flavours are still running over his tastebuds, and he still picks up a lot of the subtleties, but he's drinking that coffee because he likes coffee. There's enjoyment and growth in both modes.

I grow my faith like Matt drinks coffee. I have the 'bible study' mode, where I'm searching for subtleties and profound points in my study bible NIV. It's slow and arduous at times, but very rewarding. This way of bible reading is very important to my spiritual growth and knowledge as a Christian.

But equally important (i think) is reading about Jesus because I happen to like the guy. Because it is God's story and I dig that. I might even pull out the NLT or (gasp!) the message. I don't care so much what translation I'm using because the words jump out at me when I'm reading this way. I'm not trying to pick up on every point, but I still get a lot out of it.

I think this might have something to do with why some Christians find reading their bible too tiring - because they can only read their bible in "theology-acquisition" mode. It's madness! Musicians have concerts and gigs, but they also have jam sessions that let them enjoy their instruments and their music.

Anyway, they're my thoughts... I should be in bed.

lights in trees

2007-09-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

I wonder how long I can post here before I am discovered? Maybe I should give a prize for the first one to comment...

I saw Joel's group, lights in trees, perform tonight at the lark. They are probably my favorite of Joel's groups so far. His personality really shone through. If you know Joel, you know that he's a friendly, down-to-earth guy to whom living his faith comes quite naturally. The songs were full of emotion, but I really liked the way the band played with a lot of humour. They weren't too stressed about doing it 'right'. I've never seen a group with 3 band members but 7 instruments!

The other highlight of the night was Alex's 21st birthday present - a mini remote-controlled helicopter. I can't think of a cooler 21st birthday present!

Re.Imagine - epic

2007-09-18T06:27:00.001-07:00

Over the midyear break, I decided to go to Re.Imagine. Re.Imagine is a conference held by the Forge training network and TEAR Australia. It discusses the themes of mission and justice.

It was challenging for me to decide to go on this conference. It meant I was missing MYC (run by FOCUS every year), which meant I wouldn’t have a week of chewing through the bible, I wouldn’t spend time with a lovely group of Christians I rarely get to see, and I wouldn’t get to meet Christine and congratulate the new Jolly duo.

However, I don’t regret my decision one bit. Re.Imagine was fantastic – I chewed through the Bible, spent time with some Christians I wouldn’t otherwise meet, and met international speakers that will probably never come to Tas again.

Session 1: Spirituality
Darryn Altclass from Third Place communities discussed the idea that people aren’t ‘spiritual’ anymore. He argued that, in fact, people ARE still very spiritual people. If you ask people if they’ve had a spiritual experience they’ll often be able to tell you something. A major shift has been that the church is no longer the custodian of spirituality.

You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body. C.S. Lewis

We looked at the idea of spiritual intelligence (distinct from IQ or EQ – emotional intelligence). SQ is uniquely human (this is not evidence for God, only evidence for spirituality).

We discussed how people might define spirituality.
A BIBLICAL spirituality is a search for God. See James 1.27.
So…
How does this connect with Evangelism?
Spiritual yearnings are connection points for the gospel.

The Spirituality of Mission
Mark Sayers
This guy is really fantastic. I think any youth worker should have a look at his stuff. He’s a bit of a Christian youth sociologist. He discussed 2 major movements of churches today:
1.Some churches are growing
2.Bigger old churches (Anglican church in Tas?) are dropping
And many of the intakes are crossovers (from big old church to smaller church) or migrants.

Mark has interviewed ministers across Australia and revealed that leaders will often tell of their indecision and doubt of the Gospel’s work. He argued that this is a result of the ‘consumer culture’ grasping people and making them unsure about what they already have.

Mark also said that people were still intensely disciplined – but that this discipline had shifted from a spiritual discipline to a focus on image discipline. He compared monastries to gyms and saints to celebrities.

Problem: Theology is rooted in history
The concept of sin is foreign to people today.
Only 14% of young Christians say they’d come to church if it was “cooler”.
Youth ministry feels it has to be cooler than the world – but nonchristians just don’t care!!!
conclusions for youth ministry
- sometimes life’s boring
- we addict people to experiential stimulation

Mark also released a DVD study called Trouble with Paris. I used this with some friends about a month ago. I would recommend it for anybody running a high-school/young adults group that is in a bit of a rut.
Ignition is another resource of his that is in circulation at the moment. I’d love to know what people think of it.

One thing I got out of this weekend was that relationships shouldn’t be vehicles for evangelism. Meaningful conversations with non-Christians are valuable in themselves. We shouldn’t just be looking for the opening to slip in our evangelistic message. Our focus should be on how we can be sacrificing ourselves for this person and putting their needs above our own.

Just a ramble...

Why a new blog?

2007-08-03T06:44:00.000-07:00

Well, a few reasons
The last one was about my experiences overseas, and I kind of want to keep that separate.

I want somewhere to air a bit of everything going on in my life.

I think if people see my comments on other blogs and then come to my other site they'll get bored kinda quickly.

So that's it! I'm going to summarise my notes from re.imagine here in the next couple of days (hopefully!)

What else should you know to keep on track?

I like ginger beer
I do medical research
I am a Christian
(and my posts will assume you are too)
I moved into a share house this year with some lovely people
I'm interested in all things with buzz words like missional, emerging, incarnational, action, etc...
I love a guy called Matt
I swing dance
I also blues dance
I have started many blogs in my life and none have really lasted

No apologies if you find this blog boring, long, sporadic. Aren't all blogs like that sometimes?