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Conquering Conformity: part 3 (Moses, Yahweh and the Egyptian gods)

Moses went on behalf of Yahweh, (the Jewish and Christian) God, to demand from Pharaoh that he let the Israelites be free from the oppression of the Egyptians. What we think is a simple abolitionist strategy, is actually the set up for a clash of the titans. As God Almighty goes head to head with the Egyptian gods. The Egyptian gods are represented in the ten plagues and we see God tear them apart piece by piece. If your wondering how this takes place, how the Egyptian gods are represented in the plagues, how the ten plagues align themselves with the Egyptian gods, and what on earth that has to say to us, then have a listen or read from the links below.

listen here: Conquering Conformity _ The Story of moses _ Wk3

Read the manuscript here: Download 0609 - 12two - Moses 3

 

Somalia Famine: The Restoration

Meet Minhaj Gedi Farah, at 7 months (top left) he weighed 3.2 kg and was incapacitated. Now at a little over a year old he is beaming, inquisitive and bright. He was the recipient of the International Rescue Committee, who poured resources, especially food into one of the many refugee camps in Somalia. He has now received back the gift of life, because people and Governments around the world have decided that enough is enough!

Please come down to Justin Park on Saturday 12 - 4 to share in a free BBQ, offered a few dollars to the cause which the government will match, and invite all of your Friends! The day will not only be festive, and fun but will help other children and babies, just like Minhaj, discover healthy and chubbiness in a land that is gripped by famine!

Check out the facebook event here.

The Somalia situation continues as we launch our $4$ response...

On Saturday 19th November, from 12 - 4 in Justin Park, Burleigh, we're going to set up tables, chairs, a BBQ, and a great time! Our the intent is to raise awareness for the Somalia situation and to enable the Government to match dollar for dollar (their latest scheme) everything that is contributed that day! At the heart of this event is empowering the Government to do good, and empowering the public to make it happen, as we cannot sit idly by while people live in such dire need. Below is an exert from a previous blog post I have wirtten. We would love it if you could spread the word and come along to this exciting event.

"Somalia and surrounding countries including Ethiopia and Kenya are currently suffering the worst drought in 60 years. This drought has pushed five (to date) regions of Somalia into famine. Famine is defined by the UN as 1 death per 5000 people per day from starvation. The current situation is the single greatest humanitarian crisis that the world has experienced in approximately 20 years and Africa's worst food security crisis since Somalia's 1991-92 famine. There are currently 12 million people at risk of starvation according to UN figures. That's almost half the population of Australia!

"Right now across Somalia and parts of Kenya and Ethiopia there are 3.2 million people on the brink of starvation, with 12.4 million in the region malnourished and at risk of starvation. The famine has been described as 'The Children’s famine' due to the number of children that are starving to death every day. More than 29,000 children under the age of 5 have starved to death in the last 90 days in southern Somalia alone. The roads leading south out of Somalia into Kenya have been described as 'roads of death' as parents are forced to abandon their dead or dying children along the road side as they flee their homes in search of food. The world however has refused to be deaf to the needs of these Africans and to date 1.3 $billion has been donated from across the globe. For this situation to be reversed a further 1.2 $billion is needed. That sounds like a lot of money right, but let’s put it into perspective for a second. Last year, Australia spent just under 1 $billion on weight loss. In 2010 the U.S. spent 61 $billion on weight loss! These figures are staggering and don't take into account the amount of extra money that was poured into the overeating that makes weight loss necessary.

"Currently in Somalia there are mothers who aren’t getting enough food for their bodies, the result of which means they are unable to produce breast milk, and so their own babies are starving to death in their arms. Families are having to up leave their homes to try to find something to eat meaning parents are left to watch their children starve to death as they head out in an attempt to find food. This is happening right now, at the same time that we’re battling obesity and overconsumption.

"Something is seriously wrong. The distribution of wealth in this world is so severely skewed in our western favour. We live the lives that we do here in Australia simply because this is where we entered the world. We were born into wealth and affluence. Had we have been born in Somalia, we would most likely find ourselves desperately searching for something to eat right now and trying to figure out how we might be able to keep our families alive.

"To respond to this tragedy doesn't require money. It requires love! It requires people to listen to these stories, research the facts, examine the photos and let them break your heart. We have to let this situation, or other situations of poverty, and death, and hopelessness break our hearts, because when it does then we will see change begin to occur.

"Throughout the New Testament Jesus repeatedly calls for us to give to the poor. But only according to a constant theme and consistency that always our response needs to be motivated by love, not fear or guilt or regret or obligation or even affluence. The key has always been love. Our attitude towards giving has to be an attitude of love or it’s meaningless. 1 Corinthians 13:3 says that if I give ALL I possess to the poor... but do not have love, I gain nothing, and neither does this world. But if we allow this situation to move us, to touch our heart's, then a movement is born and transformation can begin!

If you would like to contribute to the appeal you can do so through World Vision, among others here.

Check out sevenly.net

What Sevenly.net is doing is amazing! You have to take a look. To take a peak of the effective strategy they have to change the world go here.

The idea is they sell T-shirts, on behalf of charities, who design the shirt, in order to raise awareness, support and a following for the particular charity they are championing. The shirts cost $22 and $7 of that goes directly to the charity. Each week a new charity is supported and the idea is going off!

I just bought a T-shirt, for myself and Lyndal, shhh she doesn't know yet so it's a surprise, but the cause is one close to my heart, human sex trafficking in India. Among their other causes are: water; end hunger; give shoes; micro finance; end disease; medical and end poverty. What a brilliant idea, so if you're in the market for a new T-shirt, or looking to make a difference, head to www.sevenly.org!

Make Poverty Personal - Jon Owen

Have a listen in to Jon Owen from UNOH speak to our Young Adult community about what it means to make poverty personal! You can listen here.

If you're interesting in more of what Jon has to say have a look here.

The current famine situation in Somalia

A few weeks ago I went out to lunch with a friend, this was no surprise but the topic of conversation that day was to be! Across the table from me Ryan began to speak of this little mentioned country called Somalia. He shared with me a glimpse of the current state of affairs and how tragic and desperate the situation is.

Somalia and surrounding countries including Ethiopia and Kenya are currently suffering the worst drought in 60 years. This drought has pushed five (to date) regions of Somalia into famine. Famine is defined by the UN as 1 death per 5000 people per day from starvation. The current situation is the single greatest humanitarian crisis that the world has experienced in approximately 20 years and Africa's worst food security crisis since Somalia's 1991-92 famine. There are currently 12 million people at risk of starvation according to UN figures. That's almost half the population of Australia!

Right now across Somalia and parts of Kenya and Ethiopia there are 3.2 million people on the brink of starvation, with 12.4 million in the region malnourished and at risk of starvation. The famine has been described as 'The Children’s famine' due to the number of children that are starving to death every day. More than 29,000 children under the age of 5 have starved to death in the last 90 days in southern Somalia alone. The roads leading south out of Somalia into Kenya have been described as 'roads of death' as parents are forced to abandon their dead or dying children along the road side as they flee their homes in search of food.

The world however has refused to be deaf to the needs of these Africans and to date 1.3 $billion has been donated from across the globe. For this situation to be reversed a further 1.2 $billion is needed. That sounds like a lot of money right, but let’s put it into perspective for a second. Last year, Australia spent just under 1 $billion on weight loss. In 2010 the U.S. spent 61 $billion on weight loss! These figures are staggering and don't take into account the amount of extra money that was poured into the overeating that makes weight loss necessary.

Currently in Somalia there are mothers who aren’t getting enough food for their bodies, the result of which means they are unable to produce breast milk, and so their own babies are starving to death in their arms. Families are having to up leave their homes to try to find something to eat meaning parents are left to watch their children starve to death as they head out in an attempt to find food. This is happening right now, at the same time that we’re battling obesity and overconsumption.

Something is seriously wrong. The distribution of wealth in this world is so severely skewed in our western favour. We live the lives that we do here in Australia simply because this is where we entered the world. We were born into wealth and affluence. Had we have been born in Somalia, we would most likely find ourselves desperately searching for something to eat right now and trying to figure out how we might be able to keep our families alive.

To respond to this tragedy doesn't require money. It requires love! It requires people to listen to these stories, research the facts, examine the photos and let them break your heart. We have to let this situation, or other situations of poverty, and death, and hopelessness break our hearts, because when it does then we will see change begin to occur.

Throughout the New Testament Jesus repeatedly calls for us to give to the poor. But only according to a constant theme and consistency that always our response needs to be motivated by love, not fear or guilt or regret or obligation or even affluence. The key has always been love. Our attitude towards giving has to be an attitude of love or it’s meaningless. 1 Corinthians 13:3 says that if I give ALL I possess to the poor... but do not have love, I gain nothing, and neither does this world. But if we allow this situation to move us, to touch our heart's, then a movement is born and transformation can begin!

It was this knowledge that resonated not just in Ryan's spirit, but mine as he shared this situation over lunch, that demanded we do something. So we did! We called our mates, invited them over for a party, told them about the situation and invited them to give if they wanted. The result blew us away, as we tallied a total of more than $3000 from the 60 - 80 people who came, and friends they told. That money we gave directly to World Vision’s 'East Africa Emergency Appeal'. We decided to give to World Vision because they’re one of the few charities that are actually on the ground operating within the region.

I write this so that you too might be stirred, not just to respond financially but to point others to this information, to speak to your friends of the current state of affairs, to pray, to lobby governments, to go and see, but most importantly to love, people who are just like you and I, but do not have the privileges we do!

If you want to read some more on the situation check out the links below. I'd also like to say a huge thank you to Ryan Henry, who made not just the event happen, but helped me and consequently you become aware.

Article 1 Article 2 Article 3 Article 4 Articles 5

 

 

 

The Great Irony Presentation (by Cory Maxwell-Coghlan)

Below you will find the recording of a presentation cory brought to 12two that deals with the great irony of western culture’s pre-occupation with campaigning for social justice within a framework that paradoxically perpetuates the same problems they seek to alleviate. The presentation deals with the root causes of poverty and inequality, namely excessive consumerism, and how our buying habits drive global inequality and the slave trade. The call to action is centered on Romans 12:2 and invites Christians to a higher standard of justice. I trust you will be challenged as were we!

You can download the sermon audio here.

From 10,000 to 11 in 25 Hours (25 Campaign - Invisible Children)

The Mission: Stay silent for 25 hours, on the 25th April, to end 25 years of the Lord's Resistance Army's reign, who kidnap children and turn them into child soldiers.

Cause: Invisible Children is a movement seeking to end the conflict in uganda and stop the abduction of children for use as child soldiers.

The Rules: No speech, written communication or notes, texting, phone, Facebook or email.

The Result: $680 raised. 11 accidental words slipped out in the form of two phrases. A lot learnt.

Let me begin by saying it was not easy! I thought it would be, but of 10,000 words we speak each day, I succumbed to 11 of them. The first was while watching Scrubs and commentating on what the Janitor was to do next (I love the Janitor),that was 8 words. The second was a response to Lyndal when she habitually asked me if I could grab something for her off of the table.

I wasn't about to let the challenge be a walk in the park though. I figured it would be easy to simply refrain from spoken words, whilst still being free to communicate through other means, both written and electronic. In order to have the full experience I turned my phone off, only spoke to Lyndal through sign language, did not write anything down for others to read, or send any emails. The other thing I made sure I didn't do, was alter what the 25 hours would have looked liked if I was speaking. What follows is what I learnt!

The obvious person affected by this whole experiment was to be Lyndal, so we spoke about it beforehand. I asked her if she would be ok, going for a whole 25 hours without being the recipient of my sharp witty sense of humour. Strangely she told me she thought she would be ok, but this is probably just to mask the pain and loss she knew she was to feel. She did however make the most of my enforced 25 hours of silence with such phrases as: "Would you like to give me a massage every day for the next month, speak now or forever hold your peace." and "I have a proposal for you, can you make the bed for the next year without me asking? I'll take your silence as agreement." and "If you don't want to do the dishes make some noise!" She informed me afterwards that the one line she had planned to use but chose not to was "Why don't you talk to me anymore, it's like you're ignoring me, say something." Thankfully I could laugh and sign in response to what she said, but in all honesty, Lyndal was extremely tolerant and supportive, even saying afterwards, "it was fun trying to work out what you were trying to say". What was immensely affirming is that Lyndal knew what I was trying to say when no one else had a clue, I guess that's what ten years of being married does for you!

It surprised me the amount of people who upon hearing that I couldn't speak were really excited to hang out with me. I'm not sure if that was because they prefer it when I don't speak, or they enjoy the challenge of making life more difficult for me. Regardless, it is agony spending time with people over dinner (after 12two on Sunday and on Monday night) when I was forbidden to speak. I realised that I enjoy contributing a great deal to conversations, indicated by the number of times I had to bite my lip. Monday afternoon and evening was the worst though. We went out with some friends and one of them wasn't a Christian and they began a conversation about faith, God and all things spiritual. It nearly killed me not to be part of it. So much so that I was about to call a truce! I held my ground though and stayed true to the cause! There was a mixture of reactions, as already indicated but other included people thinking I was very shy and even rude, not speaking. When however, Lyndal explained the circumstance people's response was the same, they were encouraging but more so than this they were inspired!

Maybe what inspired people is that someone would undergo such a challenge, but I think what truly inspires is that there is a movement who will no longer tolerate children being made into soldiers and has decided to do something about it! Then through their efforts, creativity and passion, many others, like the 91,305 participants of the 25 Campaign, can sign up to a movement that will transform not only the country of Uganda, but the generations to come!

Through being silent I realised that so much of the power we have is our voice. Negotiating relational problems, resolving conflict, speaking up for your rights, sharing your opinion, encouraging others, ordering a coffee, joining in conversation, making suggestions, debriefing 12two events, venting frustrations, all become infinitely more difficult when you can't speak. This got me thinking about the tens of thousands of children who have been taken from their homes, schools and lives, then forced to return to murder people from their families and villages, so that they can never return home again. They have no voice! They have no way to speak out against the horrific injustice they are subjected to, and no one to listen to them if they could! They are totally powerless to change their circumstance, break the cycle, find freedom and be children again, because of the evil that has reigned in Uganda. I struggled for 25 hours with what it meant to be silenced, but now my heart breaks for those children whose childhood has been mercilessly and permanently stolen from them for the benefit of evil men! If they cannot speak out, then we must speak out for them, and if that requires me forfeiting my power so that children who are soldiers, are empowered with love, joy and freedom, then it is the smallest price to pay!

So as I begin to wrap up some of you are wondering how it was to go without my phone or email or facebook for 25 hours. Here is the honest answer: It was very easy! I struggled not to talk but didn't miss those other devices at all... Could say more on this but will leave it there. As the 25 hours ran down on the clock, Lyndal asked me if I had my welcome back speech prepared. What surprised me, once I was allowed to speak, was how clenched my jaw had been. I'd clenched it shut to avoid words slipping out, and that is what fuelled my speech "thank goodness that's over!"

What totally blew me away was the $680 worth of donations people so generously committed to the cause through my efforts. Thank you to all of you who not only contributed, but read this, who encouraged me, and who dared to dip your toe in the waters of this issue. Thanks also to those who enjoyed trying to make me talk... It was fun winning! Thanks also to Tegan Martin, whose action caused me to act. She did amazingly well with her fundraising, you can check it out here.

If you want to contribute to the cause that finances orphanages, counselling and rehabilitation for the children who have been rescued, then please feel free to do so here. I think it's open for another little while yet.

What I Learnt On "My Day Without Shoes" (TOMS: One Day Without Shoes)

I woke up this morning and opening the curtains realized it was not the ideal day to go without shoes. Yet on this day, 5th April (TOMS: One Day Without Shoes), all around the world people were choosing to not wear shoes in order to bring attention to those children around the world, who were suffering because they did not have shoes.

My first thought was 'God, why couldn't the weather be nice like all the other days?' Such a selfish thought really, given that on this very day there would be hundreds of thousands of people who didn't have the luxury of wearing a pair of shoes, let alone being able to choose what pair to wear.

So from this platform of thought the day commenced, as I walked on grass, asphalt, sand, mud, stones and concrete, in shops, car parks, offices, shopping centers, church, a campsite, restaurant and apartment block... But no one asked, enquired or even really noticed. As I pondered this something dawned on me. It's almost a luxury for us on the Gold Coast to go without shoes, it's comfortable, safe, accepted and even cool. So was there any point to my day without shoes or did I just spend it being cool?

Well yes there was a point so here is what I learnt:

It's not really cool when you don't have the choice. Often our luxuries prevent us from seeing the difficulties others face on a daily basis! For a day it was cool not to wear shoes. For a week it would have been ok. For a month, not so cool!

Bare feet is cool in the summer on the beach. But not when you have to walk on rocks and through pools of water, wrecking your jeans, looking like a fool and having to flap-dry your feet before going inside!

Standing on rocks hurts after a while. The day was going so well... until I ventured onto the marble (like) lobby floor of an apartment block, I walked up to the elevator enjoying the smooth feeling underfoot and that's when it happened. I stood on the tiniest stone which found it's point of contact under my heel. Agony followed much to the delight of the person I was visiting. If only I had shoes (or things even) on!

I get to put shoes on tomorrow... If I choose that is. Which is the point. I have the freedom to choose, many kids around the world don't and as a result they grow lame from feet infections, are excluded from educational opportunities and degraded socially leading to issues of low self esteem and worth.

I have too many pairs of shoes, and don't even get me started on my wife's collection! That's why I love TOMS, you buy a pair for yourself and at the same time you buy a pair for someone who doesn't have any shoes at all.

On Sunday night our young adult community descends on the local's restaurant and coffee hub (Broadbeach) to walk through it with bare feet, placards, info cards and joy, to make sure our part of the world gets it! Thank you TOMS for allowing us to catch your dream of a world where every child gets to wear their own pair of shoes.

The ultimate display of justice

In a discussion the other night at small group, we came to speak about social justice, and the importance that we as Christians have a social conscience. That we care about the unloved and unlovely, the lost, lonely, last and least and strive to love them back to restoration with God. It was at this point that someone pointed out that the ultimate end of any effective social justice movement, isn't that someone will have food and warmth and security, but that they will have Christ, they will experience salvation!

It was at this point the title phrase of this blog occurred to me. The ultimate display of God's justice is salvation! So often we preach and think that the ultimate display of God's justice is wrath. But Jesus gave his life so that God's wrath would be replaced with grace, with love, with forgiveness, yes with total and complete salvation.

So if God's justice is salvation, then that speaks even more deeply of God's grace and mercy in the face of our sin! I found that to be profound!