First Encounter With Western Suburbs Stereotype

Mention the western suburbs and certain associations spring to mind: graffiti on public property, drunk driving, hoons, gang bashings, alcohol abuse, poverty, mental illness and last week, the discovery of yet another marijuana factory in a residential home...

We've lived a pretty sheltered life in the 3 years we've been in the area. Until now.

Tonight, hubby came home distraught because someone had smashed the back window of our Holden Commodore, which had been parked at the Hoppers train station "overflow" carpark all day.

Now he's wondering how to patch up the window (and how much it will cost) before the next downpour.

It's the kind of antisocial act you wouldn't imagine happening in Sg. I mean, we lived there for 36 years and only once, when I was quite young, did we have to call in the police because my grandma discovered strange fingerprints on the wall of our balcony (we lived on the second floor of a block of units).

I can imagine some people saying, "Well, you chose to live in the western suburbs. What do you expect?"

I don't think that's fair to the 95% of decent, law-abiding locals who just want to live a peaceful life.

What will it take to transform the minds and hearts of those whose ways are bent to wickedness?

Or is this, as the media likes to put it, a problem caused by a lack of educational and employment opportunities for young people?

We need to return to basics.

"In the beginning, God..."

I think once we lose our fear of a God who is justice, righteousness and holiness, we're on a slippery slope.

I mean, why would you care about living a holy life if you do not know God and love Him?

What do evil, sin and punishment mean except in relation to a God who represents the opposite?

When God is absent, we are free to do whatever we like, as in the days of the Judges, when everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.

We need to understand that there is a God, that He is a God of righteousness and holiness, that He abhors sin, and that there are consequences for making the wrong choices.

We need to understand that we are all sinners doomed to be cut off from God, even those of us who think we have led fairly blameless lives.

And finally, we need to know that there is a Saviour who died for us, even those of us who appear to be beyond redemption, so that we could be made right with God. And this happened while we were yet sinners.

This Saviour continues to speak up for us when we stumble, to walk with us when we cannot see our way, and to model for us how a human fully trusting and obeying God should live.

Without a belief in and an acceptance of these spiritual truths, we cannot hope to break free of the mistakes of the past.

"Vengeance is mine. I will repay", saith the Lord.

"Determine on the noblest ways of dealing with all people."

"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse."

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

I wonder what I would do if I ever came face to face with someone who does me or my family a grave injustice.

Would I be able to remain obedient to God and trust that He will do what is right and just in His eyes (rather than mine)?

Results of Strengths Finder 2.0 Assessment

And the results are in.

Here are my Top 5 themes:

Learner
Connectedness
Intellection
Maximizer
Input

Now to find out what they mean....

Strengths Finder 2.0

I am about to take the online Strengths Finder 2.0 assessment to discover my top 5 strengths and what makes me unique.

The only way to access the test is to buy the book. Each book comes with an individual access code which you use to sign in and take the test.

What a brilliant way to get more books sold.

If this test is useful, I plan to spread the word so more friends can benefit from finding and using their strengths.

One of the most common comments I hear when I talk to people about their careers, interests and passions is that they don't know what they are good at. Maybe this test will help them get all the internal stuff "out there" where it can be objectively looked at by an independent third party. Then they can decide how (and if) they want to move on.

The Hobby That Could Turn Into A Part-Time Business

The careers site has hit the one-year mark.

For a site-building newbie, it's amazing how far I've come and how much I've achieved.

In my impatience for online success, it's easy to forget that I started completely from scratch. I still have to look up the Tips and Techniques page when I need to add a text link.

It's like how quickly parents forget that their babies came into the world knowing nothing and being unable to do all the wonderful things they now take for granted, like roll over, sit up, crawl, walk, feed themselves. We expect instant success and get annoyed by the "slow-and-steady" approach.

So even though this tortoise is a long way from the finish line, it's an appropriate moment to stop and say 'Well done" to myself, just for hanging on this far and for still loving what I do.

A Place Where Even Introverts Feel At Home

Every Sunday, I marvel at the uncountable opportunities to connect with people at church.

I am very blessed to have experienced both numbers and depth in relationships. A simple "hello" and self-introduction is often enough to add another person to the list of people I can greet by name when we meet in church. It gives me a sense of rootedness to know that these people I see week after week are people whose beliefs and values I share, and who, in their own unique way, reflect something of the glory of God.

In serving together or when meeting up at the coffee table, God brings individuals into my day and shows me how to make room for that special one-on-one conversation. Sometimes my words don't flow or I say something unintended. Sometimes I get an extra-special bonus, like when a young person comes and chats with me about career plans.

I particularly appreciate talking with the very young and the very old. The young carry with every step and gesture all the excitement and passion of dreams, ambitions and beliefs about how immortal they are and how they are going to change the world.

The old carry with them their life stories and a hard-earned collection of wisdom. When I talk with them, I can't help but fast forward to the future in my mind. At some point, I will be that elderly person, perhaps in a motorised scooter, coming to church and going home for a quiet Sunday afternoon and thinking wistful thoughts of when my home was noisy and full.

At monthly Family Luncheons, there is always a chance to meet a new person or new family.

Just yesterday, I was able to sit down with L and M and their children C and D, who live on our street. The boys had come to Sunday School for the first time that morning, so we were able to build on that initial contact and keep the momentum going. Sometimes, that can be hard when you're meeting someone new. But with L and family, it has been fairly easy, because they are so friendly and easygoing.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a sister recently. Commenting on what she likes about HXUCA, she observed that if a newcomer does not make the effort to plug into the community and just sits around moaning that "Nobody is talking to me", he or she could so easily miss out on a chance to be part of something wonderful and vital.

How true that is. What you sow is what you reap. The best antidote to loneliness and depression is to get out there, embrace the vulnerability of not knowing what might happen, and just make yourself available. You could be someone's new friend and answer to prayer.

UCA Leads The Way On "Sorry" Issue

From the Crosslight newsletter (a publication of the Uniting Church in Victoria and Tasmania)

The Uniting Church may become the first Christian denomination in the world to acknowledge Australia's traditional owners and their pre-existing relationship with God.

Meeting in Sydney last month the national Assembly of the Uniting Church of Australia adopted a preamble to its constitution that seeks to "tell the truth" of the church's encounter with and commitment to Aboriginal Australians.

The following is an extract from the new preamble:

As the Church believes God guided it into union so it believes that God is calling it to continually seek a renewal of its life as a community of First Peoples and of Second Peoples from many lands, and as part of that to

RECOGNISE THAT

1. When the churches that formed the Uniting Church arrived in Australia as part of the process of colonisation they entered a land that had been created and sustained by the Triune God they knew in Jesus Christ.
2. Through this land God had nurtured and sustained the First Peoples of this country, the Aboriginal and Islander peoples, who continue to understand themselves to be the traditional owners and custodians (meaning 'sovereign' in the languages of the First Peoples) of these lands and waters since time immemorial.
3. The First Peoples had already encountered the Creator God before the arrival of the colonisers; the Spirit was already in the land revealing God to the people through law, custom and ceremony. The same love and grace that was finally and fully revealed in Jesus Christ sustained the First Peoples and gave them particular insights into God's ways.
4. Some members of the uniting churches approached the First Peoples with good intentions, standing with them in the name of justice; considering their well being, culture and language as the churches proclaimed the reconciling purpose of the Triune God found in the good news about Jesus Christ.
5. Many in the uniting churches, however, shared the values and relationships of the emerging colonial society including paternalism and racism towards the First Peoples. They were complicit in the injustice that resulted in many of the First Peoples being dispossessed from their land, their language, their culture and spirituality, becoming strangers in their own land.

The full text of the preamble is available on the Crosslight website.