Abstract Thinking...

This white man has always prided himself on being a person who has the propensity to "think outside the box". I've always viewed narrow-mindedness as the curse of simpletons and, as a pastor always encouraged the youth of my fellowship to expand their thinking laterally and beyond. For this white man is convinced that our Creator's intention for His creations is to have a like-mind like Him. A creative mind...a limitless imagination...a soul that can embrace all life's mysteries and more...Too often I lament church fellowships that seem to have a drop-in box at their church entrances for members to dutifully place their brains inside before they can enter in to worship and engage intelligently with God's Word! The faith in Jesus we have as Christians is a precious thing...so is the intelligence He created us with to use wisely and judiciously.

Anyway, all that being said, this white man was suitably impressed tonight over dinner when his youngest offspring decided to prove the measure of his 7 year-old abstract mind. Like a "chip off the old block" young Luc demonstrated that perhaps the power of an open-mind may well be genetic. It started with a simple party pie that Luc complained was too hot to eat and too messy for his clean fingers. It ended with a straw stuck in his party pie as he syphoned out all of that 'healthy' meaty goodness through that plastic straw, leaving the empty husk of a pastry shell as testament to his creative genius. No mess...too easy! The party pie may have been left empty but Luc's glass of creativity is very much full!

I Am Not Forgotten...Anywhere!

No-one likes being forgotten. Your birthday missed or your invitation to a party overlooked... regardless of the lapse, being forgotten kicks you that touch harder than other knocks in life. Maybe it stings that little bit more because being forgotten makes one feel a bit insignificant and unworthy. Like you're unimportant and so obviously invisible enough to be disregarded.

Last Sunday night at church our young adults group, otherwise known as CONNECT convened for our fortnightly gathering. As is often our want, we decided as a group to eat out and the most convenient venue of choice was that well known pizza franchise La Porchetta. And so off we went with this white man salivating at the prospect of a good La Porchetta Original pizza. And we get to the restaurant and the pre-meal rituals of menu examination and gathering condiments such as chilli and tabasco sauce were carried out without much fuss. And then it happened...a dark realisation hit us hard...where was Anh? One of our young adults was unaccounted for. I asked the drivers, who did he travel with? None could confirm that he'd travelled with anyone. And the truth dawned with a heaviness in this white man's ample winter gut - he'd been left back at church. Probably in the toilet for that was the only explanation possible. And so I visualised this poor fellow sitting there in his cubicle minding his own business when the lights would have suddenly switched off, plunging him into pitch blackness. And after finishing his task, he would have stumbled out into our foyer only to be greeted by dark silence and definitely no pizza. He didn't have a car and he was locked in the church grounds as the front gate had been locked. This young man had been forgotten!

One of the group travelled back to church and found the young man walking home on the dark, bad streets of Footscray. Eventually he made it to La Porchetta and after profuse apologies and, this white man will admit some laughter, his pizza was paid for by us all. And my suspicion was confirmed - he was going about his business when all of a sudden his quiet moment of solitude literally turned very dark! Fortunately he had enough moonlight through a window in there to conclude his oblutions! Forgotten in the toilet...does it get any worse than that?

Besides the practical lesson this white man learnt the other night to always check the church toilets before locking up I was also reminded of a deeper truth. Regardless of where we find ourselves in life we are never forgotten by our God. Even when we're knee-deep in life's effluent and lost in the struggles that life brings, our God never forsakes or forgets us. We are never far from His mind and never disregarded as insignificant or worthless. A simple truth yes, and the reminder given in less than ideal circumstances, but isn't that God's way? So there it is - I am not forgotten, He know's my name! And there are no toilet doors in this entire universe that can obscure us from God's love!

Hung Up On An Election!

Another election was called for; another Saturday feverishly spent at the polling booth exercising one's democratic right as an Australian citizen. We all anticipated a close election result - many saying that Australia's choice between the Coalition's Tony Abbott and ALP's Julia Gillard was more accurately a choice of who appears less incompetent. But this white man wasn't sure Australians neither anticipated or were ready for the constitutional mess we find ourselves in now. For neither major party gained the necessary number of seats to claim a majority nor a clear mandate to claim government. And so it seems, at least for now that Australia has a hung parliament. The first time this has happened in Australia's political history since WW2, some 70 years ago. So what happens now this white man asks?

What happens now is shameless sycophantism...Now we see the flame-haired Judas, Julia Gillard and the human-Speedo, Tony Abbott charming and petitioning those 4-5 independent members who now hold the balance of power in the lower house of parliament. "Choose me!"..."No! choose me!" Well this white man says "choose what?" Choose a party that has governed for only one term and has clearly lost the confidence of the majority of Australians who elected them? Lost confidence for good reason I add - the ALP's litany of disasters over the past three years in office has been terrible. Or do you choose the Coalition, a party with heavy iron-fisted policies on just about everything from asylum seekers to workplace relations. And with a leader who admits to not always telling the truth (not that he's alone in Canberra's honesty stakes)?

For sure this white man understands why this election saw the highest amount of informal or 'donkey' votes recorded. Because when you've only got donkeys to choose from then where else is your vote going to go?! I say put the donkeys out to pasture...perhaps a GREEN pasture?!