Attraction

I was talking to my mate Mike recently. We have fairly candid discussions. The other day I found myself discussing with him what I found attractive in a Christian woman. He reckoned it was worth blogging about. So here it is I suppose. I hope you believe me! :-P

The biggest thing for me, and probably the first thing I notice about someone, is their servant attitude. And sometimes, this hits me for six.
I find that there is an inherent beauty in someone who has a servant heart. Someone that is willing to be the one that helps out preparing or cleaning up, someone who will go out of their way to give you a ride, someone that will always look for an opportunity to bring a bit of light into someone else's life.
Coupled with quiet humility and joy, and I just lose it. This is probably why:

Where someone humbly serves another, it's a beautiful example of following the two greatest commandments. The humility, avoiding glory for ones actions or intentions brings all the more glory to Christ. This is an example of loving God, and not seeking their own glory.
The act of service itself is a response to Christ's commandment that we love one another, and shows Christ's Lordship over their life, and to do it with Joy.
And if a girl shows that to be an important part of her life, I just can't go past it! I can't help it.. I guess God has granted me the appreciation of the work of this nature he does in his servants. Other considerations follow.. so no, don't worry, I don't fall for every girl on the planet.. :-D

But for all those people, male or female, who have shown me such love, I want to say thankyou, and I praise God for your gifts, and I encourage you to use them in every opportunity you get.. Thankyou for being a wonderful example to me.

Beach Soccer

It's coming up to the summer holiday season, and it's about the time when people start pulling out the BBQ, hitting the Gym, going to Music festivals and eating too much Icecream.

An initiative of Crossroads Presbyterian Church in Hobart is the 'Endless Summer of Love' (Their brochure is here and here)
This is an excellent encouragement to actively seek to use those summer months for the furthering of the Gospel.

Along independent but similar lines, I am looking to begin somewhat of a Beach Soccer mission or ministry.
I don't know how it's going to take form yet, there are many ideas going round in my head, but here are a few currently in focus:
- Provide regular (weekly) game/games of soccer on a Sandy bay beach. (local for most)
- Provide an opportunity for Christians and non-Christians to mix in fun, team based, but completely informal sport. Extending to potentially a few games running simultaneously.
- Potentially Christians can provide food or drinks weekly for those attending and spending time after playing sharing a meal together.
- Prayer time before and after our games, and seeking opportunity to invite our friends along to church, or where our model of church may not resonate with them, invite them to a different church!
- Actively initiate healthy discussion on issues of faith amongst those attending.

My difficulty is in knowing how far to go. This is essentially 'pre-evangelism' (not so much a fan of that concept, as pre-evangelism is still evangelism in my mind) and will depend on the individual to use the opportunity to expose their friends to the Christian community, and seek the support from fellow Christians to talk about topics of faith.

Any thoughts, suggestions, critiques? Feel free to pass on this blog if you feel others can contribute to the discussion, I'd appreciate the input!

Edit: I must give much credit to my friend Hannah, who got 'the ball rolling' and had all the enthusiasm!

I am going on a Blog fast..

I spend such a long time with my head in the blogsphere.
This isn't always a bad thing, but to a certain degree it distracts me.
I read I write I learn, but more often than not I just waste time, because I am reading opinions rather than hard facts.
So I am going on a blog fast, starting tomorrow, until November the 1st, and taking all that time I enjoy in the blogsphere, and making it extra time I spend in the bible.

The next challenge is to take on facebook. *gasp*
See you in a month.

Moving toward mission..

Hey There!
Welcome to my mission blog!

I guess this blog is a space for me to share some thoughts about mission and ministry in the lead up to my mission trip to Cambodia in 2009, and heading toward starting an MTS apprenticeship in 2010, plus some general thoughts on some general things.. Generally..

I'll be updating this with small and large updates, please keep returning to see how things are going!

Al