You will need a bucket for this one...

I’m not usually a gushy sort of person… well not on this blog particularly. But I thought I’d take some time to talk about Christine in a serious way.

(This might be a time to either stop reading or grab some tissues.)

Christine means the world to me. She is one of the best things to have ever happened to me. I would gladly sell everything that I own to be with her. (And for a while it looked like I might have to). Although it might sometimes seem from this blog I don’t take things seriously this isn’t the case. I take matters of faith and relationships very seriously as people who know me personally can vouch.

I’ll be 26 this year and I’ve been in relationships before and been badly hurt. These experiences have taught me much and I know exactly what I’m doing and what I want out of life. I know my strengths and weaknesses and my many struggles and failings. I’ve made many mistakes in past relationships and I am determined not to repeat them.

Earlier this year I had reached the conclusion that never again would I meet a person who I would be prepared to give up all my hopes, dreams and aspirations for. Then I met Christine. She blew me away. Christine is very different to any other girls I have dated. I always from day one thought that she was a person I could marry. (Not trying to jump the gun here).

This is no boyish crush and I have a strong belief that chicks shouldn’t be stuffed around by guys. I know and have known exactly what I’m doing with this relationship all along. I’ve always been one to plan and think about the future and this was something that I carefully considered before I asked Christine out.

It may sound a little crazy but to be honest I didn’t consider the fact she lived so far away as particularly crucial in my thinking. To me it makes no difference if the girl I love lives on the other side of the world. The bottom line is that I love her and I’d move heaven and earth so we can be together.

Most important of all Christine has a caring and committed spirit to God and her savior Jesus. Her trust and belief in God and the salvation offered by Jesus have always been the thing that most attracted me to her. I still remember reading her blog for the first time and how impressed I was to find a girl who not only expressed a biblical view of human relationships but wasn’t afraid to proclaim them and challenge the dominant paradigm in society (such courage and strength). This was a girl who demanded my respect. This was a girl who I could lay down my life for.

Since then I have learned there is much more to Christine. I love her artiness. I love her annoying American accent. I even enjoy listening to her friends. She has been blessed with beautiful good looks (heck she can even look me in the eye). I like what she wears. I love her passion and drive to inspire people. I love her energy. I love the way she respects and loves her parents. I respect her intellect. I love that she loves me despite my faults. I love the way she helps me to think about things in a clear way. I love that she respects me and takes to the time to understand me. We’ve laughed together, we’ve cried together we’ve prayed together, we’ve read the Bible together and we’ve discussed most issues of doctrine.

All this and we still haven’t met in person. It’s my prayer that things continue to work out in our relationship for God’s glory in his good time. Please keep us both in your prayers.

supportMIKE loves Christine

Today's work video...

My first attempt at YouTube video. This is the view from a house at the very top of lower Sandy Bay. It's poor quality caseu it was taken with my phone.

Blogging explosion

There has been a recent flurry of blogs created in the circle of freinds that I move in down here in Tassie.

Here is a list that I'd like to take some credit for inspiring in one way of another. You might want to check them out.

Jerome the madman
Simon - the no longer single guy
Phil the ponderer
Jonny - A fictional person in cyberspace you need to be very careful of
Anthony the cynic
Josh n' Geo - "spaced equally distantly thus"
Mikey's reflections
CIM Felicity

The burning question is will or should my brother start a blog?

Authority of Scripture

(See here) My friend Ruth makes a very very good point.

My desk is also still up for grabs...

Note you don't have to take it if you win

How to get an internet girlfriend part 2

Ingredients

• A blog (see Part 1)
  
• 3 days off a week in which to blog and plot.
  
• The need for an expensive pair of shoes only obtainable only in foreign country.
• Lots of Prayer
• MSN
• Skype

Proceedure

1. Comment of her blog… A LOT.
2. Obtain email address (find sneaky way of doing so eg. Insulting her or calling her a feminazi).
3. Exchange emails until the number becomes great and then ask for MSN address.
4. At this point ask her to buy the shoes (this way you obtain her address and can write to her by hand deepening the relationship) . This will also function as a way of building trust in the relationship.
5. Meanwhile chat on MSN ALL the time when she is on. (Talk all night preferably)
6. Continue to blog (Blog about relationships, what women want. Talk about being SNAG or not a SNAG, your 5 year plan and then update it. Upload lots of pictures of yourself and engage in self promotion.)
7. Chat for so long on MSN that it becomes necessary to inform her to get Skype as you are wasting hours of time on MSN. (Nag a little if she isn’t pumped or show her how beneficial it will be to talk on the phone).
8. Now I haven’t put in prayer anywhere specific but I’m assuming that you have been doing it the whole time.
9. Finally Ask her out (Do this over the phone while talking NOT on MSN) (See here)

Ta Da one internet girlfriend.

*Warning you may have to spend lots of money going to visit her.

How to get an internet girlfriend Part 1*

*Please note picture above is not an accurate representation of my level of maturity or how live my life.

Ingredients

• One 50-meter long network cable. (**$50 bucks)
• 25 meters of poly pipe tubing ($10 bucks)
• 2 meters of electrical conduit ($5 bucks)
• 1 Network card ($25)
• 1 Computer (I already had this)
  
• A knowledge of Computers (and willingness to learn more)

Procedure

1. Install network cable from parents house to your home computer (50 meters away in a different house).
2. Run cable through electrical conduit wherever cable is under ground for safetly and legality.
3. Run though poly tube above ground wherever possible (and it’s cheaper).
4. Get really dusty and dirty crawling under the house in very confined space. (bonus for grey snot).
5. Connect up and your ready to…
6. Start Blog (promote blog wherever possible)
   

NB. if you already have a connection you have no excuse... skip this step move to Part 2


**All costings are approximate and in Austrlian dollars.

Win supportMIKE's old desk!

Over this weekend I bought a very nice big desk from the Salvos (Op-shop). This replaces my two desks and wooden mezzanine arrangement.

The burning question is how much did I pay? The closest guess will WIN one of my old desks*

*Postage and transport is responsibility of the winner.

Coffee "battle"

My brother Dave and his mate Scott “battled*" today making coffees. Dave has a Rancilio Silva and with a Rocky grinder. Scott has the cheaper but equally good Sunbeam also with matching grinder. Here are some of the pictures.







While they are still getting to know the art we are planning to have a coffee session soon and invite people. Well that's my plan anyway. I'll keep you posted.

supportMIKE is on a coffee high.


*In this context "battle" refers to something like a Hip Hop battle where the rappers try to outdo each other in mixing songs. NB. The word “battling” can also refer to an act of perseverance OR the activity of doing something. For example the act of being on MSN at 12am could be described as “Battling solidly on MSN”.

(I am dedicated to Josh and Feebs for this definition of battling.)

Review - Quarterly Essay

It’s morning 6am. I look in the mirror. I have sleep in my eyes and a face that resembles crinkled newspaper. I don’t like what I see.

This brings me to Amanda Lohrey’s article in the Quarterly Essay* entitled “Voting for Jesus - Christianity and Politics in Australia”. I enjoyed reading this essay. These sort of “intellectual” essays aren’t usually my thing however this one was particularly well written. I found the description of our very own David Jones as a “Charismatic preacher… a fundamentalist” quite amusing.

However what interested me most were the candid portrayals of two groups of students. Lowrey firstly interviewed three Hillsong “Cool girls”. The description of the Pentecostal movement through Lohrey’s eyes as she interviews the girls was particularly vivid.

“Yes it’s… like, it’s the relationship with Jesus that they offer you not the religion… like ultimately he died for me and I think that’s really awesome.” Says Skye.

While she doesn’t openly critisise the movement she gives such a strikingly accurate reflection of what this form of Pentecostalism looks like to the average Aussie.

What interested me more was her meeting with three AFES (Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students) students handing out Luke’s gospels. Their responses were generally quite good (I could see a great deal of myself a couple of years back). While I agreed with the sentiments the students expressed what most struck Lowery (and me) was their negative almost self righteous tone. Lohrey writes

“When I asked them about Hillsong they were wary of sounding negative but the looks between them said it all…”

“With the very mention of the word Muslim a chill comes into the room, and both quietly and economically it is made clear that nothing that is Muslim could possibly be of value.”

Why should you read this article let alone be interested in it I hear you ask?
Lohrey simply holds a mirror to how Christians (Evangelical and Pentecostal) often come across. When we look and see a reflection we don’t like we must look very carefully at ourselves. May we learn how to better reflect God’s love and grace as we spread his word to those in the world.

*(Issue 22 2006 $14.95 from your Newsagent)

(EDIT Or See Ben at Fullers Bookshop Hobart)

MacBook eats iBook

Today was a restful day (my day off). I tried to rest up and not do too much.
I have been using my ninja skills rebuilding my old computer for my brother... who knows when I'm done he might even use it to start a blog.

Christine has been a busy little chappy and posted some very helpful thoughts on her journey into womens ministry. It's long but a worthwhile read. (see here)


The burning issue at the moment is will my black MacBook eat Christine's little girly iBook when I visit in November?

Tim and the Slater collection

This is my friend Tim.

Tim is a top bloke. We used to flat together up at “The Castle” a famous Crossroads share house that I ran for about 5 years.

Our house had several famous infestations including scorpions, slugs and slaters. Tim and I were famous for starting a collection of live slaters in a small jar in my bedroom*. Here is what one looks like.


The problem was that as the slaters died and smelt really bad. We had to throw them out. It was a sad day we were hoping to give them to our landlord to convince him that our house needed some work to stop the infestations.

Slater collection and Tim H supportMIKE salutes you.

* Disclaimer This was mostly my idea.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I have been a very busy little cookie. I have been battling my new computer and leaning how to use a new operating system.

I spent the weekend away on the MTS Challenge Conference. It was awesome. Pete Woodcock spoke very well challenging us to take ministry up as lifetime of paid service. John Woodhouse similarly taught us from 1 Samuel.

These talks are available from the Crossroads Website as of tonight. I highly recommend all of them. However if you haven't heard Pete preach I'd recommend you listen to his first.

(Talks here)

supportMIKE will be back soon.

Working today

I found myself in the...


Oops. What embarassing situations have you found yourself in?

Oh men Lead... Please!

Often as Christian blokes we get caught up in arguments about what a Christian woman's role should be. I think most of these arguments miss the point. It's my belief that it is a man's duty to lead and teach and take initiative in male female interaction generally.*

Unfortunately we very often fail at this. Why is it that girls are the ones who are first to share and want to take initiative in a Bible study? Why is it that so often women eagerly pray in public and small group contexts while the men cower in silence? Why is it that women are always keen to preach while men we cringe in the corner? Why are we so often silent?

Here are some excuses I have heard

• "I can't” or “I don’t want to". This is an unacceptable excuse and amounts to laziness. We must repent. If we are men we lead.
• "I don't feel like it". This is a pathetic excuse; Don Carson rightly points out that our obligations as Christians to lead [my words] are never diminished by how we feel. "This is to assign what I feel or do… determine my obligations. This is in effect is to say I am my own God."
• "I can't do it or I'm not capable or gifted". While I personally have some sympathy with this view it really isn't a particularly good excuse. The fact that you are a bloke means that leading is in your blood so to speak. That's the way God made you.
• "It's not acceptable in our culture". Society has seemingly over-corrected against the patriarchal framework of yesteryear so that now men who lead are seen as egotistical and arrogant. The Bible's picture of leadership is never like this (See 1 Corinthians 11 Ephesians 5.)

Each time we fail to take initiative, we fail at our duty as men. We let down our sisters who desperately want us to lead them and be an example to them. As men we should be eager to speak, to lead in prayer, to preach, and to take initiative. By taking the lead not only do we encourage Godly women to fulfill their own role but we also show other men that it's our responsibility to take initiative and lead.

Most of all we let down God who in his created order ordained that men should take initiative and responsibility for leadership in his world. Being a bloke means being proactive in leading. We should be the first to put our hand up in church when someone is asked to pray. We should be the ones taking the initiative in leading small groups and
asking the questions. We should be the ones seeking to eagerly lead the church.**

supportMIKE wants you to lead!

* (I'm not going to outline or discuss Biblically what a woman's role should be here.)
** (One important caveat. I don't think we should do this because women are incapable leaders, are unable to take initiative or even lesser citizen in God's Kingdom. Rather I am convinced that in God's created order men should lead).

Asking Christine out 101

Context while talking on skype

"Before you go, I want you to think and pray about something."

"Sure, Mike ... what is it?"

"Christine ... (long pause) I like you."

More (here)

No internet... I get my knickers in a knot

My life ground to a halt as Telstra saw it fit to disconnect my ADSL connection for absolutely no reason. Two days with no internet… well the world didn’t quite end but I was surprised at how much I rely on it. My apologies for my disappearance without explanation.

Things coming up…

• Joel Knibbe moves in with the Jolly’s.
• We get a ADSL connection installed to our house.
• Get through the mountain of to do tasks in my inbox.
• Blogging lots
• Hanging with Mike S catching up talking premium audio and Chrsitine
  
• Hanging with Jonny and talking all things girly.
• Another conference (MTS Challenge)
• Talking to Christine