Above all else

Let me open with a story about Miss Fanny's hat. Last week, my 5-year-old daughter was rude to my mother. I told her to apologise and she refused. So I brought her into the room to reason with her. By this stage she was of course wailing. I explained to her that she had to apologise. I could see in her tear-filled eyes that she wanted to obey me, but something in her heart was preventing her, as she blubbered "I can't Daddy, I JUST CAN'T". This is called STUBBORNNESS. Then I remembered one of my daughter's favourite stories. It is called Miss Fanny's Hat. I highly recommend it to all parents. The story is about a very old granny who wears a different hat to church every Sunday. She really loves hats but there is one particular pink hat that she REALLY loves. One day the preacher asks her to donate one of her hats to the church auction to raise funds. She goes home, takes out all her hats and reminisces about each one. Finally she gets to her favourite hat....

Hi all! You won't believe it, but just yesterday my wife picked me up from work and we decided to drop by the library to read some home magazines (we're moving soon) before buying dinner. Then at 7.30 pm I got a call - "Is someone coming to pick up Natalie?"... AAAARRRGGHH *MAD SCRAMBLE* We had forgotten to pick up our daughter from her class which ends at 6.30 pm. Can you believe it? For the avoidance of doubt, this is a NEGATIVE example. Having an Easter party on Good Friday. We will have easter egg painting, a puppet show and who knows, maybe I'll get the chance to show off some magic tricks (I went for a class 2 years ago in order to be part of the Magic of Love show that went up to Japan - it's really entertaining for the kids and for impressing my aunties haha).

It's coming to the end of March 2007 - 1Q of 2007 is almost over! Let's look back at what we've been sharing: 1. Challenge ourselves to be Christians in the workplace. What does this mean? (a) basic level - at least survive so that you re-appear in church on Sunday (b) intermediate level - apply biblical principles in the way we work, so that we are honest, responsible and encouraging. (c) advanced level - specifically glorify God by being overtly Christian - by sharing the good news with, or praying for our colleagues or sharing credit with God (in front of our colleagues) for things that work well (d) super-duper level :) transformational Christianity - effect sea changes in the way work is done and in corporate philosophies to incorporate Christian principles 2. Let's take time to think about where we are on this scale. ... 3. Now that you've decided where you think you are, let's think about what we can do so that we can go further in the remaining months of...

Last week we spoke about taking action. Why is it important to take action? James says faith without works is dead (James 2:17). This means that when we say we believe, we also act on that belief. If you say you believe that the your lift is working, but still insist on walking 20+ floors up and down, either you don't really believe that the lift works or you're a fitness nut. Simply believing that there is a God, or even that Jesus is God, isn't faith either. Again, James says even the demons believe and they tremble! (James 2:19) Now, we know that salvation is by faith alone, so what does James mean? I believe what James is trying to say can be seen in James 2:14 "What good is it, my brothers, if a man CLAIMS to have faith but has no deeds". Notice how James says that the man merely claims to have faith, with no evidence that he actually does. I believe that one of the gravest dangers of failing to take action on our faith is that we end up deceiving ourselves ...

1. I am glad to announce we will be meeting for the 6th time this Thursday at 1 pm (2nd floor). I am even more glad that words have started to translate into action, in that for the upcoming Easter season, we will organise a screening of The Passion for our colleagues - probably in 3 instalments, on 2-4 March 2007 lunchtime. 2. As I was sharing with the group last week, for those of us who are in a "traditional" church, the 40 days leading up to Good Friday is Lent, a period of reflecting on Jesus' sacrifice. The period of "40" has a few parallels in the Bible, including the following: (a) the 40 days of the flood (b) the 40 years of wandering during the Exodus (c) the 40 days of Jonah's warning for Nineveh (d) the 40 days of Jesus' temptation 3. The first three examples have a recurring theme of judgment and mercy. The 40-day flood was the manifestation of God's judgment on an ungodly world. But at the same time, Noah and his family were shown mercy...