Church Together 2013 the reluctant review
23 July 2013
There are two reasons if you’re a Christian why you won’t like this post. So I thought before I begin I’d try and address each of them.
Firstly I believe that discernment plays an important part in being a healthy Christian. As I reflected on my experience at Church Together and heard many people heap unqualified praise on the event, I couldn’t help but think there is lack of “biblical” discernment in many church circles. To be fair I think this is for good reason. Generally we don’t like to disagree with other Christians. People don’t like to rock the boat. People don’t like to look “judgmental” and harsh. The message that many Christians are taught about Jesus and the Bible is often an overly positive one which leaves little space for discernment, criticism, hell, and other less palatable doctrines.
The problem is that the Bible speaks of all these very things. Testing things (1 Thessalonians 5) holding on to what is good, encouraging others and refuting those who oppose (Titus 1). In 2 Timothy 4 church leaders are called to correct rebuke and encourage. Rebuking is mentioned in Titus 1 and 2. In 1 Tim 4 we are also encouraged to watch life and doctrine closely. Discernment is commended in Philippians 1:10.
It’s often lost on Christians just how many of Paul’s letters were written to correct false teaching. You can see this in 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians, Colossians. That’s before we get to the many serious warnings about false teaching that are also peppered through the Old Testament and biographies of Jesus.
It’s in this spirit and context that I want you to hear what I have to say. It’s ok to say a particular doctrine is wrong, it’s ok to disagree with other Christians, it’s ok to say something is false teaching, it’s ok to say something isn’t clear or unhelpful. It’s important to be open, honest and upfront about differences. As I have argued before this is what true tolerance is. I believe this can be done well and in the right spirit, thoughtfully and lovingly. It’s for this reason that I believe that criticism of Church Together is ok*.
The second thing you might not agree with me on, is how a “sermon” is defined. You can substitute the word “message” or “homily”` if you’re old school. I think generally in most church circles this is rarely defined and often an assumed definition. In the circles I move in usually a passage from the Bible is expounded and taught. The emphasis is on teaching people and helping them understand the text and seeing how to apply it to their lives. Locate, explain, illustrate, apply is a helpful summary. In other words the text itself drives the sermon. For brevity's sake I’ll leave the definition at that
The more Pentecostal understanding of a sermon is different. In my experience, focus is not on a particular verse or passage but usually a theme. Often these are themes that come up in the Bible. Almost all Pentecostal sermons I’ve heard don’t really seem to follow a set formula or structure and some are better with their use of the Bible than others. Now my point here is not to define what a sermon is, but for you to understand that what was “preached” at Church Together, would not fit either my, or a Pentecostal definition of a sermon. In fact I wouldn't even call it a good motivational talk but I’ll get to that later.
The Good
My purpose for visiting Church Together wasn’t to write a review. Those who know me personally, will know that I’m passionate about improving the music and the “church gathering” experience for our church on a Sunday. It was in this spirit that I went along, hoping to learn how to run tighter music and have MCing that rocked. Many of the non-Pentecostal churches I have attended are very sloppy with this kind of stuff. Conversely many of the Pentecostal churches I have visited do this very well. And boy, they delivered.
The music was excellent. All the music was live, no room for lip syncing here. I hadn’t heard most of the songs, but the lyrics were more thoughtful, dare I say theological, most unlike the Hillsong music of old. The tunes were catchy and musicians built up tension skillfully, pulling back quietly in other parts. It was very, very well done. The musicians were well dressed and the stage was free of mess and clutter. The musicians were confident and the music was loud, something I think in my circles we could certainly do with more of. There wasn’t too much clapping and jumping around, and the vibe was energetic rather than frenzied. While I’m sure this is not everyone's cup of tea, it was overall, very well done.
The Sermon
Just before 6pm the main speaker Lisa McInnes-Smith bounded on stage. “Shake hands with he person next to you!” she exclaimed. “Are you fun to live with?” “Interactions are important, smile! Treat people well! Smile look someone in the eye!”
Lisa according to the bio on the event site boasts “Lisa is recognised among the top inspirational speakers in the church and in the corporate world.” and been inducted “International Speaker Hall of Fame, the first person living outside of North America to achieve this recognition”. The promise was of a “real and relevant message”.
Glancing over the page and half of typed notes I took, it is very hard to work out what her message actually was. I think the main point of her “sermon” was “words”. “Words have the ability to bring life but also cut people down... I have been a victim of those words my eye was born closed... people called me ugly, people teased me with words... Life's not fair”. “We need to use labels that lift people up... You're smart. I'm smart. Look at the words you speak over your life.” All of these things she spoke clearly and with passion and conviction.
She also spoke about bad words, that go out of you coming back around to hurt you “like a boomerang”. Someone beside me mentioned that sounded a lot more like Karma than Christianity. In passing she encouraged us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, I think alluding to Romans 12, but didn’t really apply or explain this verse properly. Many of the things she talked about were good and helpful in and of themselves... and while some of her ideas and concepts could be found in the Bible, she only ever really referred to it in passing. Many things she said would have been more at home in a psychology lecture.
Drawing on her background as a sports psychologist she said we ought remove all criticism from our speech. She told us how when she addressed sporting teams they weren’t permitted to be critical for a whole week. We should instead focus on what is good about people. I have some sympathy for this. At times I know I’m too critical (Don’t worry the irony of this critique is not lost on me). The impact and authority of this was then lost as she failed to tie the idea to any Biblical passage.
As she continued, my mind started going haywire trying to find categories to understand what she was talking about. I tried really hard to understand what she was saying and how it related to Jesus. Maybe this was just a motivational speech with words like Jesus, God and the Bible thrown in? Only I didn’t feel motivated. I just felt confused. Maybe she felt it too because she got everyone to their feet then asking them to squat till they felt pain in their thighs. I’m not sure how this fitted with message maybe something about pain and agony. I’m honestly not sure.
It would reactive to label what she said “false teaching”. To the best of my knowledge I don’t think she said anything that was blatantly “false”, but then I couldn’t say she explained the gospel either. It seemed ironic, that for all the talk of “words” she had little regard for clear communication and structure in her "sermon".
After around fifty minutes she stepped down. The MC, iPad in hand, then proceeded to read Romans 8 at length. He spoke of Jesus death and it’s role and function. At this point in the evening it was most welcome. It was the clearest explanation of the Christian message I heard all evening, however I wondered if the MC was tying to make for the lack of exposition and clear articulation of the Christian message in the sermon. The evening finally concluded with the inevitable alter-call to which fifty or so people responded.
Reflecting on the experience, by every measure I can think of her “message” failed. I’ve heard much better messages from other Pentecostal preachers here in Hobart. In fact I couldn’t even describe what I heard as a good motivational speech, I’ve heard better at local footy matches. If the gospel was there in her message, it wasn’t clear, at least not to me and one other person.
There were other minor things that I didn’t like about the evening, but I’ll leave them to one side for now as my original intent wasn’t to critique the event. I can’t help but think, if the preaching had been as clear, and engaging as the singing, my assessment wouldn’t have needed qualification... and my review turn into a critique.
*For the sake of brevity an eloquent and extended argument on why I agree public criticism is over here.
tags christian, review, thinking
5 Movies to see before you die
10 May 2013
Donnie Darko - This is a dark brooding hipster thriller movie. It was made in the days before being a hipster was cool and stars an misunderstood delinquent emo kid. Maybe that’s why I like it. It has elements of horror, surrealism and time travel. I love a film that warps your mind and challenges conventional thinking, and Donnie Darko does this well. I should add finally it has a pretty cool sound track. Watch twice for maximum awesomeness.
American Beauty - I love Kevin Spacey. He’s brilliant in this. The interactions between his and Annette Bening’s character are hilarious. He’s a rebel and he sticks it to the man, something I think we’d all like to do sometimes. The film also deservedly won 5 academy awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography.
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels - Violence and black humour. If you don’t like or understand black humour you’ll hate this film. It’s a very cleverly told story, the acting is good and the protagonists thoughtfully sympathetic. There’s a fair whack of violence but the plot will keep you guessing to the end.
The Matrix - The action in this film for it’s time was amazing. I also really like the philosophical idea that you can be living inside a dream world or a world and not be aware of it. This film also illustrates well a number of Christian themes while not being a “Christian” film.
Seven - One of the harshest films I’ve ever seen. Acting is fantastic and storyline compelling. I particularly like Kevin Spacey’s contribution. He’s one of my favourite actors. There is also great skill with which the film shows that given the right circumstances any of us are capable of extreme misdeeds. I could say more but I don’t want to spoil it.
5 Albums I bought in the last 6 months...
04 April 2013
Lana Del Rey - Born to Die
I’m not really sure of the story here. Maybe I heard her voice on Triple J. I added a playlist of her album on Spotify and listened. Her husky tones bring to mind smoke filled men's clubs and Film Noir made the 30s 40s and 50s. The songs are poppy and catchy.
Owl City - The Midsummer Station
Total trash. I would never defend Owl City as good music. I bought this album because I have a couple of other Owl City Albums. I first listened to Owl City when Googling around about The Postal Service (another band I really like). From memory a number of critics mentioned that Owl City is similar to The Postal Service. I listened to and I liked it straight away. It’s very definitely pop and it’s great to dance and jump around to. Olivia and Ella like anything with the beat and some lyrics they can shout. They also picked up the tunes pretty easily.
Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
I like and own Kanye West’s album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I think he’s a very good producer... but you wouldn’t let your Mum listen to that album. Frank Ocean is Mum friendly. A more palatable, gentle version, abate with a sprinkling of bad words. His style is probably closest to R&B with electronic keyboard, samples and subdued rhythms. I not really sure how I came to hear of him. He’s also pretty relaxing to listen to.
Ellie Goulding - Bright Lights
I saw the beautiful above video advertising an Octocopter last year (watch the video if you don't know what an Octocopter is). The video uses a remix of the track "Lights". Olivia and Ella really liked the video and the music. Again I added a Spotify playlist of album and began. I managed to also catch a performance she did in London as part of the iTunes music festival. Watched it on my big TV at home. It was very impressive. I enjoyed listening to her youngish girly voice.
Air - Moon Safari
This is a strange one. When I checked I was very surprised I bought it less than six months ago. I had the feeling that bought this album a few years ago. This is possibly because this is the oldest album here (1998). I think this was on high rotation on Triple J back in the early 2000’s when I lived at the Castle with Bernie and Chris. I’ve liked it ever since and finally got round to buying it. I find it dreamy and relaxing to listen to. If you were harsh you might call it chilled, electronic, elevator music.
Clarkson on Aussie cars. File under C for cultural engagement
03 June 2009
You can learn much about our great country and the history of motor sport in this little review. Here's a taster...
At the Bathurst race from which this limited-edition Vauxhall takes its name, there are pitched battles between gangs of Ford and GM fans. Proper bike-chains-and-flamethrower, Hell’s Angel-type stuff. And the only time they ever came together was when a chap called Jim Richards won in a Nissan Skyline. Such was the torrent of catcalls as he climbed onto the podium, he leant into the microphone and called the entire crowd “a pack of arseholes”.
(more here)
tags cars, linkage, review, thinking
The rock concert... what happend to the drunk girl?
14 March 2009
It’s early on a Saturday night and I’m sitting on my prime-viewing ledge at the University Union bar. The gig starts. A guy in a crazy green suit wanders on stage (see below). His lyrics are garbled noise over a disco pop beat with a really heavy bass. He screams… a lot. From my position I watch as he wanders the room assaulting members of the audience and screaming in their faces. I’ve never experienced anything like it before. I want to hate and dismiss him as a crazy wanker but he’s just too keen.
I'm getting bored. On the other side of the room I spot a security guy with his fluro top on inside out. Classic. Next a guy walks past me wearing sunglasses on his head. No kidding. It’s night and we’re indoors. Evidently his girlfriend has the same disease of stupid cause she has her sunglasses on her head too. In front of me stands meat head man with a mullet that partially obscures his Opeth tee.
The support band come out, Trial Kennedy. They rock hard in a way your Mum would hate. Their drummer doesn't have a shirt. They have strong harmonious vocals reminiscent of The Butterfly Effect. People look more drunk. It dawns on me that in order to dance up the front you need a lot of confidence or just be really pissed. I can’t see myself doing either maybe that’s why I don’t dance.
It’s about 11pm when Birds of Tokyo come on stage. The lead singer looks like my computer nerd friend Matt. He dances with a sort of jerky nerdy motions. His vocals are spot on. The crowd seems to pulsate in time to the music like a large bodily organ. It’s the middle of the concert and a slight framed (drunk) girl jumps up next to me and proceeds to fall asleep. I’m not sure how, the music is very loud. Jason leans in and asks me if she’s ok.
They pump through their songs and people seem to enjoy it. Light explodes all over the room, music washes over me. I tap along. It’s a nice night out and I feel young again.
Choosing a pram... controversy.
12 March 2009
I finally bought a pram. I looked at a number of different ones and finally narrowed it down to two. Phil and Teds and Mountain Buggy. The particular models I was looking at were the urban elite and the Phil and Teds dash and vibe (probably the natural competitor of the urban elite).
I had many strong recommendations for the phil and teds from closely trusted and valued friends and it did present a strong case. However my problems with the Phil and Teds were...
- It is a compromise pram. Bad for one child but good for two.
- The second seat needs to be removed before the pram is folded.
- It felt really clunky to drive especially with one child. I felt like I needed a longer handle.
- Having the capability for two seats upsets the balance of the pram when you have one child. I found it really difficult to maneuver around up and down curbs and bumps when I tried it out.
- The phil and teds (vibe) had very large footprint ruling it out.
- The hand brake while sounding good seemed fiddly to use in real life.
- Everyone has Phil and Teds (I'm not a follower of pram trends).
- All the Mountain Buggy prams felt beautifully balanced. Compared to the dash and vibe the urban elite wins on overall feel and drive-ability (all far superior).
- The urban elite and vibe cost about the same. The dash was slightly cheaper.
- The handle seemed to be slightly longer suiting the taller person.
- The Mountain Buggy is undoubtedly the better pram in terms of quality and make. The urban elite made from more durable fade resistant, water resistant canvas. The dash was just made from normal cordura (not as good).
- While it had a slightly larger footprint it still fitted easily in the small hatch of my car.
- When I thought about it I'd rather have a good one seat pram for a while then trade up later.
- The mountain buggy looks way way cooler.
* If you are wondering about Christine's opinion, she was happy with either pram. My feeling was that I should buy the best pram I could for her and the Mountain Buggy simply best met that requirement.
tags linkage, review, thinking
Twelve dollar icecream... a short story
27 January 2009
"I feel like an icecream" said Christine.
"So you want me to get some?" I said, "I reckon it would be melted by the time I get back."
"We could go together..." said Christine.
So we went for a wander down to the Salad Bowl on Australia Day to buy ice cream. Upon arrival we were confronted by a plethora of deep frozen choice. Straight away my eye was drawn to a very small (500ml) tub of ice cream.
"It's twelve bucks!" I said "I've got to see what a twelve dollar ice cream tastes like!" So I bought the Maggie Beer Vanilla Bean Elderflower Ice Cream for twelve dollars.
What did it taste like? My twelve dollar ice cream tasted crap. Vanilla Bean Elderflower Ice Cream what was I thinking? Note to self, keep it simple stupid.
tags linkage, pictures, review, shameless self promotion
supportMIKE blog statistics*
01 January 2009
2008 looks something like this;
Total hits for the 2008 year 30,640
Total hits since I installed the statistics counter in June 2006 101,700
Thanks for reading and Happy New Year.
*You of course can look at these for yourself anytime.
tags blog, linkage, review, shameless self promotion
2008 reviewed blog style
31 December 2008
Here's the year in review as seen through the eyes of my blog. Enjoy.
January (9 posts) - Tasmanian Leadership Convention, Yamba Maclean Mission and my bro lost his crappy job. Things were looking like pumping for 2008 FOCUS work.
February (12 posts) - I bought Mark Driscoll's book I still haven't finished reading it. We made the move to Jane, I crashed my bike and still have the scars. Most significantly I probably made the hardest decision in my life so far goodbye FOCUS.
March (5 posts) - Dark Times. I posted very little this month in fact a record low for this blog. Looking back there is very little substance to any of these posts. I was feeling really really crap. On a positive note I revived my ipod.
April (15 posts) - The month started poorly. I blogged about the problem of pornography not once but twice. I followed this topic all year. I began my series of posts on bad fashion now one of the most Googled set of posts on my blog. Christine and I also took a nice holiday up the east coast of Tassie.
May (16 posts) - I bought that car. Laura arrived from the US of A. I blogged about divorce (and offended a anonymous regular reader). I also blogged about porn again. This was the month I preached a fairly average sermon at Tuesday Crossroads and really began the battle to organise the the MTS Tasmania Conference.
June (18 posts) - We did some beer tasting with Laura before she departed. I posted a couple of rants one on hybrid cars (Which I still standby). For some reason I posted stacks of pictures some of them quite good. I should add my good friend Benny got hitched in poo paddock. I also think my friend Adam from Jane began reading my blog. He has become one of the people I hold in my mind as I write. Oh and in a very subtle way we announced we were having a baby.
July (14 posts) - I got sick. It was a bit of a ranty month and I got plenty of comments. The two most commented on posts were Pro Consistency where I argued that Christians should name their children before birth. (With hindsight I would have worded the post differently as it wasn't intended to cause offense. Provoke people, yes but not offend). On the other post I ranted;
I think often Christians already come across as bunch of right wing George Bush loving, Today Tonight watching latte sippers. You can be a Christian, believe in climate change, appreciate art, drink fairtrade coffee and vote left wing too.That post drew one of the harshest comments on my blog to date. Finally for July there was bad fashion number #1.
August (12 posts) - I smashed up my body not once but twice. I Got sick again but completed the mammoth MTS Challenge Conference which rocked even though I didn't go. I also began a new series of rants on how to use email properly.
September (22 posts) - With the completion of the MTS Conference it felt like the fog had lifted and I increased the number of posts to a high for the year. Christine crashed my hard worked on car. No one really read this post. This was contrasted with the 2nd highest read post in the history of my blog about Mark Dricoll and his 18 points in Sydney. Other topics covered included; How annoying Sydney people are, How to run a successful blog, more Driscoll, and still more Driscoll.
October (20 posts) - My email etiquette series continued . Christine voted in an historic election which saw her cop flack (mostly on facebook) for daring to suggest a vote for Obama. It really frustrated me but this made me laugh. Of course in a reoccurring theme for 2008 I got sick with the flu again. I wrote a review of one of the post powerful pieces of TV I've ever seen and in a popular post taught my mates how to clean a shower.
November (19 posts) - I swapped a friends lunch, took a weekend break, won some cash on the Melbourne Cup. Quite a few posts linked to other people's opinions rather than my own.
December (32 posts) - I've been going blog crazy this month. I've had long stretches of duty here at Jane in which to think, reflect and write. This has meant I've posted some of my most personal and juiciest stuff to date. I also posted one of my best bits of writing this year complete with a follow up. I've also written a some longer posts and introduced my 5 things posts an idea I thought of late one night while I was sick (again). December has been a good month.
Total posts for 2008 194 and counting...
tags blog, linkage, review, shameless self promotion, thinking, update
5 Movies I’ve seen and felt like I’d wasted my life
29 December 2008
tags linkage, review, shameless self promotion
5 actors you probably like... but I hate
24 December 2008
I should note that I don't hate every movie these guys have been in just most of them.
tags linkage, review, shameless self promotion
Don't throw the baby...
20 December 2008
"Labor is like a journey from Hobart to Smithton," said hippy earth mother midwife.
"So how can we get there?" she continued. She took us through all the scenarios; car via East Coast and Launny, car via Midlands Highway, boat via East Coast, boat via West Coast, or car via Zeehan and Roseberry. Each form of journey corresponded to a particular experience and length of labor.
"Of course your labor could be just like flying direct, and take a couple of hours."
I don't think I'll think about travel in Tasmania in quite the same way again. The highlight was when about half way through she farted quite loudly. "Oooooo sorry that was me!"
About halfway though the third class we were taken out for a MAN talk. I wasn't enthusiastic. The bloke arrived. He had striped pants that were too small for him and a small sole patch. He looked kinda like a older man still holding to the idea that he can be cool. The bloke told us about his move going from being a hardened, tough coal miner to working as a counselor talking to men about their feelings. (Talk about extremes).
He took the four of us blokes to the hospital chapel. Not the wisest move. Now I'm not sure why but Chapels and churches tend to attract stacks of donated items. Consequently the furniture in chapel was all odd. There was also heaps of junk because no one wants to throw it out because, "It was donated!" and "You can 't do that!"
Picture four men (half of whom didn't want to be there) in a chapel, being asked about their feelings, surrounded by candles, flowers and Jesus' with an exploding hearts. Awkward. I thought about how much better the pub would be. This painful experience lasted for an hour. I watched the clock. I tried really hard to be a good participant, but the mish-mash of rubbish in the room and general air of awkwardness made it very hard.
The fourth and final class was last night, and it was by far the shortest and most useful. They brought in a live baby (less than 24 hours old) and showed us how to clean and bath it. A couple of the Mums were freaking out a bit thinking they'd break it. On the other hand the mid wife just chucked it around. It was pretty funny. The baby was returned to its Mother.
She then passed around a toy baby and asked what I'd do to help it settle it down. I rocked it gently in my arms and then put it on my shoulder and patted it's back. The midwife looked impressed.
"That's good Mike, now who's next?" she said, indicating I needed to pass the baby on. By this stage I wasn't really feeling like getting up off the floor and so I threw a perfectly weighted (netball) chest pass across the room to the next Mum.
"Oops I said," looking at the mid wife, with a naughty twinkle in my eye. The mid wife gave me a death stare. The other parents laughed. I felt good.
tags review, shameless self promotion
Baby class 101 (a review)
01 December 2008
Christine decided she wanted to have Olivia at the Birthing Centre. Basically the Birthing Centre is for mothers who wish to (or at least try to) give birth naturally without drugs and the like. Personally I'm not fussed either way. Part of this process involves a 3 hour class each week for 4 weeks. 3 hours!! Not even the University lectures last that long. What could possibly take 3 hours?
Christine and I arrived slightly late. People were all sitting on lemon coloured pillows with their shoes off. There was a strong wiff of smelly feet. For some reason the midwife taking the class (I'll get to her in a minute) was playing something which could only be described as really bad pan pipe flute music (the sort you'd find in the two dollar bin at Chickenfeed). I think it was meant to make me relax... it was bloody awful and put me further on edge.
The mid wife running the the class was an older friendly looking hippy earth mother. She was dressed in a long skirt and top that looked like it had been bought at the Salamanca market. She began by asking us how we'd been born. "My name is X and I was a vaginal birth" she began in a soft tone.
She told us about the cervix being hard "like your nose" but then softening during labor "to be soft like the corner of your mouth". She told us about the three (or was it four stages of Labor).
For some reason she kept talking about Poo. When she said it she really lent on the "oo" sound sorta like a middle aged person when they swear. "You know when to push the baby out because it's a bit like when you go to the toilet to do a poooo... Sometimes the when the waters break they come out green because the baby has done a poooo." But my favourite quote was "Labor is like 9 months worth of period pain rolled into one... only worse."
It was all very informtiave but went for way too long, frustratingly long. She had dolls and posters with smily faces on them (that looked about 25 years old). While she was a lovely approachable kind lady, she kept digressing with little stories, nearly all of which had nothing to do with the class. On and on it went.
The evening finally finished with a DVD of women giving birth. I found it pretty confronting. This was mainly because the film was in German, filmed in the eighties, was filled with bad fashion and bad eighties german porno mustaches and had another filthy pan pipe number over the top. Pan pipes over women in labor!! It's not good people!
Now before people get stuck into me I learned plenty and the video was eyeopening to say the least. The session was most informative and useful. But 3 hours? Really?? Surely one an half to 2 at the most is enough. In fact if you'd cut out the stories it probably would have lasted 45 min.
tags review, shameless self promotion, thinking
The cleanest shower in Jane...
21 October 2008
This is what you'll need.
Sponge I buy thick cheap ones like Homebrand or similar. They seem to last about the same amount of time as the expensive ones and if they start to smell just chuck em out.
A good quality cream cleaner. Bathroom cleaning often goes wrong here because people skimp on a quality cleaner eg. Chickenfeed It's WRONG people... You'll use five times more of it and still get a poorer result. I love Jif it's strong but without harsh scratching. It's more expensive but you use a lot less for top notch finish. I use it on the base of my shower about once every few weeks or when it starts to look grimy.
Glass screens are tricky beasts to clean and fraught with danger for new players to the cleaning game. Using a harsh cleaner eg Jif will scratch and damage the glass (I know from sharehouse experience). I really like Shower Power. It has a strong odour which puts some off however it works better than anything else I've tried. I usually spray it on, leave for a minute or two, wipe off with a sponge, then rinse. Almost perfect, it just needs the secret weapon...
The Secret weapon. I should really be making you pay for this tip but my squeegee above is the most integral part of keeping the shower screen clean. A good squeegee isn't cheap but will pay for it's self in the long run. A real deal industrial strength window cleaning squeegee like mine will set you back about $60, but it's worth it. You can use it to clean large mirrors, windows and glass. I probably squeegee down the shower screen every second time I use the shower. Now that may sound like too much for you but if you're diligent the most often you'll need to use Shower Power is once a month.
Finally this doesn't have anything to do with keeping your shower clean. Limiting your showers to four minutes is great for saving water and your children's children will thankyou for saving the planet. Christine got this cool frog timer for seven dollars.
So there you have it the cleanest shower in Jane (click for full glory)... and I didn't even clean it before I took the photo.
tags ministry tips, pictures, review, shameless self promotion
The Bridge
06 October 2008
It’s a hauntingly beautiful to watch the time lapse photography as fingers of fog fold in and out of the long thin wisps of cable supporting The Bridge. The camera slows down and pulls back…there's a pause and then a splash.
I’ve never been to San Francisco* but I reckon that Golden Gate Bridge must be one of the most beautiful places to visit in the world. I watched a documentary DVD over the weekend called The Bridge. It details the stories of people who each year jump to their deaths from the bridge. It’s compelling viewing as you are drawn into the stories and events leading to each person’s death. We watch as people wander listlessly along the bridge in obvious distress but are ignored by passersby who seem unaffected by the events around them.
The film isn’t for the faint hearted with it’s enduring close up images of people plunging to their deaths. The Bridge also raises many interesting and deep ethical questions about the relationship between the film makers and the jumpers, (Some IMDB reviewers argue more could have been done more to prevent the deaths).
However I think this misses the point. In a world where so often it’s hard to understand why someone would want to kill themselves, I found it eye opening and powerful stuff. The film neither glorifies nor trivializes suicide but seeks to non judgmentally understand. In many cases we learn of jumpers, substance abuse, oppression, hurt, and depression that leads to their deaths. I found the film a reality check, a reminder that things in our world are not as they should be.
*Well that’s not quite true I’ve sat in the airport.
tags linkage, review, thinking
firefox 3
24 June 2008
is great except for...
- The new interface...
- it's too dark
- there's not enough colour
- it looks too much like safari.
- there is currently a lack of compatible add ons.
- the addons that are available are buggy
tags blog, linkage, review, stupid award
I've never understood...
02 April 2008
...box sets of DVDs till now.
Infact I've never even really watched boxed sets of DVDs until now. That brings me to a confession Christine and I have been watching Spooks. We've now watched the first and second series, the latter of which ended on a cliff hanger.
I think the first series was better than the second. It felt that the second series relied more on characters to drive it forward. I also found some of the episodes in the second series a little more far fetched. Aside from those minor gripes it's pretty good. Here's a picture of the three main dudes from series 1 & 2. Zoe on the left, Danny on the right and my favorite Tom in the middle.
Now I'm off to borrow series 3...
tags linkage, review, shameless self promotion
Christmas confessional
30 December 2007
Christine and I were very blessed to get many good wishes and presies over Christmas. We spent Christmas day with my parents having slept in (I worked Christmas Eve). A big thank you to all the people who sent cards, and presies etc.
On Boxing day I went and spent a JB Hi Fi voucher my brother gave me, on some CDs and DVDs. So now I have a couple of confessions to make...
I bought this which I really like. I watch it almost as soon as I got home because it's just so funny. It's easily a four star (note the four fingers) film.
I also bought this film. It has a similar concept to The Matrix but appeared back in 1998. Four stars (or fingers) from me for Dark City.
Most shamefully I bought this (it was cheap).
I'm Sorry to say but I actually like this. Later albums I found are rubbish, but this is my little pop indulgence and for that I'll give myself a stupid award. This isn't the worst CD I own by any means... but before I own up maybe you should...
tags pictures, review, shameless self promotion, stupid award
No computer... what to do Part 2
One of the other benefits of having no computer was that I spent more time reading and praying. In fact compared to through the year I've been reading heaps. Amazingly I've even been reading some books that relate to my hobbies (I hate that word) rather than my ministry and Christian life.
Anyway here's a few pickies... Also the facial expression helps to give the review.
Jeremy Clarkson what a crack up. If you haven't seen Top Gear (Coming to SBS 8th January) or more specifically him on it you haven't lived. It's the car show for non car people. In fact it's only the fun police and caravan owners who ever have a problem with this show. This book* is a collection of his ramblings in the Sunday Times. He's an opinionated, passionate and humourous and I like that. He's the kind of bloke who you'll either love or hate.
I've really enjoyed this book. Dickson is one of my favourite writers for his simple straight forward easy to understand style. My brother gave me two Dickson's books for my birthday.
I've read most of World Religions and I like it. Although Dickson is a Christian he gives a very balanced account of the big five major religions in the world (Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and Islam). He concludes the book with a broadside critique of pluralism rather than an Christian evangelistic pitch which was refreshing. This is an awesome book to give a non-Christian mate especially one who is sensitive to "bashing". Dickson is a very sensitive and careful evangelist just the bloke for sensitive situation.
This puppy on Jesus I haven't read as much of (Thus the shrug in the picture). I've heard stuff about Dickson's theology which has recently made me more cautious about what he writes. I stared by having a flick through the stuff on the atonement, judgment and hell and so far it look ok. I'll post about it in some more detail some time in the new year.
* You can grab a copy for ten bucks from Benny @ Fullers
tags christian, review, thinking, update
Music for in the Spaceship
30 October 2007
Reviewing a mates stuff will always be difficult to do. On the one hand if I'm too critical it might jeopardise the friendship, but then I might give a raving review because I'm biased. So what do I think of Anthony Rochester's new album Music for In the Spaceship?
Well I reckon this album is actually really good. The standout for me would be the opening song "I Love you Baby". With a nice happy tune with a catchy riff. "Lipscombe Larder" is catchy and filled with mentions of local places and things, and includes the line (that should be dedicated to his brother) "I don't know what the engine in my car is. I just press go."
I loved the old school album art drawn by Brandon (Ant's Nephew).
Overall the album represents more a move toward the pop genre but in a good way. I personally think that Anthony's music is better listened to on CD than live. Grab a CD now... except you can't cause he's on tour till January. In the mean time you can hear Ant's music here or on myspace.
tags friends, linkage, music, review
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