/karen/

The bits that wouldn’t fit anywhere else

Monday, 19 December, 2005

You are my favourite blog

TheTeak asked my mother-in-law to ask me whether he could link to my blog. He also said to her that my blog was his favourite blog to read! Okay, that could have just been diplomacy in the face of my mother-in-law but it made me feel all warm and fuzzy anyway. I suppose I ought to do something about my blogroll but I'm not sure what to do because I no longer use it check blogs anymore (unless they don't have RSS feeds, hence the *'s; nowadays I use BlogLines to keep up-to-date). My blogroll is also supposed to be my prayer list but that's not really working either because people keep vanishing off the face of cyberspace with little warning (If you're on there, I am praying for you. I wouldn't have put you on there if I wasn't prepared to keep the commitment). TheTeak has written an amusing post about his “forthcoming book”:

Immanual Soren Kickahume (1724—1804) who is mostly famous for the somewhat vexing remark: “I am tap-turning mule” continued to mutter something about Voltaire stealing his thoughts well after his own death in 1804. How that is possible is anybody's guess. “He's a cross dresser!” he continued (in 1905) before declaring that the current Pope had some “pretty bad halitosis.” This is an apparent untruth, the Pope's breath was fine, but he did have a bad credit rating at Bloomingdale's which may have impacted his thinking on soteriology and banking.

(Source.)

You-eh?-I

My sister-in-law, Lizz, got her UAI the other day and was so disappointed, she cried. Without being too specific, in terms of university grades, she got a Distinction which I think is pretty terrific, given what she went through to do those exams. Her actual exam results were pretty good but, because she didn't do any maths or science (all humanities subjects), she got scaled down. The fact that a girl who got a Distinction gets upset about it is proof that the system needs fixing and has needed fixing for more than ten years. Or maybe it's just the attitude of students and staff at St. George Girls High which needs fixing ...

I love my job

Today I went to work at MM. It was Guan's birthday and I had had his present all wrapped and sitting in my in-tray since going to Melbourne in July. I discovered it was fun to tease Guan; he was allowed to look at it but not touch it for six months. However, little did he know that I also got him something else (which I will promptly borrow off him when he's finished with it). I even made a pipe cleaner-feather-and-bead flower to decorate the top. If we are not all writing comics by the end of next year, we ought to be locked up in a room until we produce.

Today was the first day this month that I've made it into the office before 9 am. I spent the whole day editing and trimming articles, transforming one that was bitsy into a fairly readable piece. In addition, Tony got me to have a go at writing the “In this issue” bit for the February Briefing. He said he normally starts with something interesting, amusing and witty, and then segueways into introducing the rest of the issue. So I tried to be interesting, amusing and witty ... I wonder how much of it he'll keep.

Now that I'm spending more time in the office and Tony is foisting more work onto me and talking about the shape of next year, it's getting quite exciting. He's made me realise how much I actually enjoy editing—a task which most people think is really boring but I like the challenge of turning something half-way decent into something better-than-decent. This is so funny because I used to want to be an editor in a publishing house when I was a kid (as second fiddle to being a writer) and then I went and did work experience for McGraw Hill in Year 10, realised it was really quite tedious and pretty much gave up the idea. But it's different at MM because there's more of a point to it—I know that, through writing and editing, I'm serving the people of God's church—helping them to read their Bibles more, helping them to know God more, helping them to understand key doctrines better. Even if all I do is insert and remove commas, it's all for a purpose and that purpose has eternal implications. That is so awesome.

I was talking to a friend about my work worries last week (MM have only given me three days next year; they would love to give me four but there's the $$ thing to consider) and he asked me why I didn't just go and work in private enterprise. I told him that I love what I do and I wouldn't give it up for anything, and then I realised how true it was. But it's not just the rush I get from feeling like I'm doing something useful and worthwhile—something I'm actually good at (instead of people ministry which I'm not good at); it's also being able to interact with the Bible every day. Even editing Bible studies is really beneficial for me. Last week I spent most of my time editing Bible studies—one on Exodus and one on Luke—and God spoke to me in my sadness through his word. I was worrying again about money—about the state of our assets and our bank account, now that we've bought Hush Puppy—about what we have given up to go to Bible college (think what we could have saved if both had been on full-time income for the past three years! I know, I know ... such a materialistic way of thinking ...)—about what our income is going to be next year—about whether or not we'll ever be able to start a family, etc. etc.—and here I was reading about Israel, delivered from her Egyptian chains by the most powerful being in the universe—the one who sent plagues of frogs, gnats and locusts upon Egypt—the one who led the Israelites through the Red Sea on dry land—the one who destroyed their enemies without them even having to draw a sword—the one who fed them (day by day so they had to really depend on him because he only gave enough for that day) and quenched their thirst in the middle of the desert and made sure their clothes and their sandals never wore out (Deut 29:5). Switch over to Luke where Jesus also brought down the bread (manna) from heaven, feeding five thousand people with five loaves and two fish (Luke 9), saying,

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

(Luke 9:23-26)

—who rebuked his followers for not believing in him (the one who healed the sick, cast out demons and raised the dead)—the one who taught his disciples to pray, “Give us each day our daily bread” and said,

Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him”; and he will answer from within, “Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything”? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

(Luke 11:5-13)

—who told the parable of the rich fool who decided to store up his riches in his barns so he could “relax, eat, drink, be merry” but dies that very night, and concluded the story by saying, “So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God,” (Luke 12:13-21)—the one who, after all of this, said,

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

(Luke 12:22-34)

—and I had to acknowledge that my great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, will always be able to look after our needs (for aren't we of more value than the birds?)—he will always be able to clothe us with splendour like the lilies and he will always be able to feed us and quench our thirst, like the ravens who don't sow or reap or keep storehouses or barns, “and yet God feeds them.” And so, I was able to say with the Psalmist,

O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Here is the sea, great and wide,
which teems with creatures innumerable,
living things both small and great.
There go the ships,
and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.

These all look to you,
to give them their food in due season.
When you give it to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.

(Psalm 104:24-30)

I love my job.

Keep that muzzle off the ox

So tonight I have, at last, finalised our giving for next year. It took a bit of reshuffling as some of my friends are finishing up MTS and some of my friends are starting MTS. (We try to make it a priority to sponsor our friends who are doing MTS because we know how hard it can be and also because we want them to support them in every way as they do it because the harvest field needs more harvesters [Matt 9:37-38]). For the first time ever we've now been able to divert some of our funds towards the Church Missionary Society—missionaries from which I have been praying for for the last three or four years but I never put my money where my prayers were. I felt bad not to be supporting overseas mission while supporting mission back at home so it feels good to be able to do it for once. As Mike Raiter said, if you can afford to do it, why not financially support the spread of the gospel at home and abroad, as well as the cause of social justice at the same time?

Educational testing

It is so strange filling in course surveys in a theological institution:

This unit of study benefited my relationship with God.

(Strongly Agree | Agree | Neutral | Disagree | Strongly Disagree)

This unit of study helped develop my ability to serve in God's name.

(Strongly Agree | Agree | Neutral | Disagree | Strongly Disagree)

Mostly quiet on the Centrelink front

After Friday's spate of job applications, I received this email back from Katoomba Christian Convention:

Thank you for your application for the Office Secretary position at KCC, and for outlining your situation. As you indicated, your employment situation means that there is no point in taking your application any further.

I don't think he sounds too annoyed, do you?

How could would it be if I could supplement MM work with CASE next year! How cool indeed ...

I'm not boring you, am I?

Over dinner this evening Panther told me how much she was enjoying my Canadian travelogue. She was surprised when I told her that other people find such things deadly dull. So it's good to get a balanced picture about what you blog readers out there are thinking. Remember you can always use the comment boxes to drop me a line; I don't always respond but I always read them.

A word a day

mogigraphia: Writer's cramp.

[From Greek mogis (with difficulty) + graph (writing).]

Tennis players have their elbows, athletes have their feet, so what do writers get? They get their cramps. Mogigraphia is a fancy name for a writer's cramp. Advanced writers go for a block. For the ultimate, we recommend carpal tunnel syndrome. A synonym of mogigraphia is graphospasm.

(Source.)

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