I am starting to grasp that the good life is found in a life of dependence on God and interdependence on others. Joy is found in community where we depend on Jesus continually. When we partner with Jesus, our perspective changes. We see miracles happening, we begin each day with a joyful expectation waiting to see what will happen. This is the intimate adventure he offers us.
“I hear many whispering, ‘Terror on every side!’” (Psalm 31:13). In times of crisis we often find it easier to identify with the psalmist. We, too, keep hearing of the “terror on every side,” the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) now officially declared a pandemic. The millions of viruses scattered by coughs and sneezes are enemies “who pursue us,” stealing into our homes and lungs and making those they infect “objects of dread” to our closest friends: “Those who see us on the street flee from us.” But the psalmist would have us move past terror to say, “I trust in you, Lord … My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies.”
“I hear many whispering, ‘Terror on every side!’” (Psalm 31:13). In times of crisis we often find it easier to identify with the psalmist. We, too, keep hearing of the “terror on every side,” the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) now officially declared a pandemic. The millions of viruses scattered by coughs and sneezes are enemies “who pursue us,” stealing into our homes and lungs and making those they infect “objects of dread” to our closest friends: “Those who see us on the street flee from us.” But the psalmist would have us move past terror to say, “I trust in you, Lord … My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies.”
Working from home is awesome … right up until the cat throws up on your computer. And your neighbor, who you can only assume is building a time machine, starts firing up all sorts of power tools and noisy machinery across the street.
For many modern professionals, working from home every once in a while is a luxury that our respective companies afford us. But which environment actually allows us to be more productive: the home office or the office office?
Covid-19 is the topic of the moment and as a Consumed team we have been seeking out ways to help Christians respond to this pandemic in a way that is Christ-like.
But what about the kids?
Somewhere in our brains we carry a map of our relationships. It is our mother’s lap, our best friend’s holding hand, our lover’s embrace — all these we carry within ourselves when we are alone. Just knowing that these are there to hold us if we fall gives us a sense of peace. “Cradled,” “rooted,” “connected” are words we use to describe the feeling that comes of this knowledge; social psychologists call this sense embeddedness. The opposite is perhaps a more familiar term — we call it loneliness.
Somewhere in our brains we carry a map of our relationships. It is our mother’s lap, our best friend’s holding hand, our lover’s embrace — all these we carry within ourselves when we are alone. Just knowing that these are there to hold us if we fall gives us a sense of peace. “Cradled,” “rooted,” “connected” are words we use to describe the feeling that comes of this knowledge; social psychologists call this sense embeddedness. The opposite is perhaps a more familiar term — we call it loneliness.
hate putting my bathers on.
But anyway. I do. Occasionally. Put them on. And swim.
Public pools are weird. Like a big bath we all jump in and frolic around in the water, and because we know that we are all dirty, germy and prone to defecating in the water we make sure it is full of heart stoppingly strong chemicals. We don our bathers (swimsuits, trunks, swimmers, costumes, the things you wear when swimming because you can’t wear jeans in the pool), we make sure not to make eye contact with anyone, and we enjoy the buoyancy of chemically treated water. Bliss.
I still fart in India.
You know, in case you thought going to India meant I was the pure and holy type whose farts rise straight to the heavens like an offering of incense to God.
Nup.
All bodily functions remain intact… in fact, enhanced.
I was quite happily bundled up in my life of consumption until God rudely interrupted me. I thought I had taken my brush with poverty quite well. I’d rationalised my childish thoughts about “what would Jesus do” and all those annoying passages in the bible about the poor and decided that having a mortgage was what following Jesus was all about. I was #blessed I guess.
So anyway, there was that awkward moment when I was supposed to be all about Jesus and save the poor people but accidentally realised I was a bloated oppressor. Read on.
After praying a dangerous prayer asking God to help me to not be consumed with the things of this world and that I would know God’s heart and find freedom in him, I found myself walking into India’s largest red light district…