(Dedicated to those who struggle with homosexuality)

A man fell into a pit and couldn’t get himself out.

Respectable people came along and said:

“We don’t associate with pit-dwellers.”

An empathist came along and said:

“I really for you in that pit.”

A sociobiologist came along and said:

“You were born in your pit.”

A psychiatrist came along and said:

“It can be very destructive to remove people

from pits they were born in.”

A psychologist came along and said:

“Accept your pit, that way you’ll be happy.”

A gay activist came along and said:

“Fight for the right to stay in your pit.”

A politician came along and said:

“Discrimination against pits is illegal.”

A researcher came along and said:

“What an interesting pit.”

A religious fundamentalist came along and said:

“You deserve your pit.”

A religious liberal came along and said:

“Your pit is God’s beautiful gift to you.”

A charismatic came along and said:

“Just confess you’re not in that pit.”

His mother came along and said:

“It’s your father’s fault you’re in that pit.”

His father came along and said:

“It’s your mother’s fault you’re in that pit.”

His wife came along and said:

“It’s all my fault you’re in that pit.”

But Jesus, seeing the man, loved him,

and reaching into the pit

put his arms around him and pulled him out.

(from Briar Whitehead, Craving for Love, pp 87-88)

Talk about cultural exegesis, if you ask me this is spot on!

So, what do you want to know?

Currently I’m in Forest Hill, London, UK visiting my sister and her family for the entire month of December. This is my 3rd trip to the UK in a decade which is as surprising to me as it is to you, I honestly thought that after the visit for Mel’s wedding in 2006 I wouldn’t be back here until 2050, but parents spending your inheritance early has some perks!

We’ve more or less staying in England this time around with a weekend visit to Manchester for a Champion’s League match between Man City & Bayern Munich (2-0 BTW and it was excellent! Manchester is a surprisingly beautiful city even if it is bitterly cold), a week long visit to Norfolk staying at the Cranmer Cottages, and a 3 day visit to Berlin to see Michael & Sarah Isaak (which I know is not in England but I did say “more or less”) and we did go to Berlin Legoland which incredible! I could spend days there. I’ll put up some photos.

2011 has been a good year, we’ve successfully managed to not get cancer, lose any children, get divorced, or become destitute, “but for the grace of God go I”. Highlights have been moving Salt Youth Group to a different time and the much bigger church hall and managing growth to fill the space. Bazz is still a champion minister to work with. My friend’s are more gracious than ever. I continue to love & cherish the wonderful people of All Saints, and their generosity to me continues to highlight the generosity that God himself has displayed. On the flip side, we’ve had a number of close friends and acquaintances struggle with faith in Jesus, not a bad thing in itself but some look like they’re losing the struggle, some even giving up, and that always shakes me and Fi… I’ve had 3 valued friend’s and youth leaders move away, and that comes with mixture of joy and sadness in itself (joy for them that is).

2012 is unknown, which is a dumb thing to say because the future is always unknown… But what I mean is that 2012 is shaping up  as vastly different from the routine of life which I’ve become accustomed in the last few years. I’m heading off to Moore Theological College for 2 year to study a Bachelor of Theology. Depending on you’re opinion of Moore college (& I’m discovering people have very strong opinions), you may see that as a good or bad move. I’m obviously anticipating that it’ll be a good move in helping me further know God, his Word, his Son, his Spirit and how I can be a better minister of his gospel to his people.

In my favour, I have been given a credit for the entire first year of the course because of the Diploma in Theology I’ve already obtained through Youthworks College; I also know 3 Moore College staff personally from church and they’re really warm, wise and lovely people; All Saints is supporting me financially, I love the Bible and have 7 years of full-time ministry behind me. Not so advantageous is that I’ve never studied at degree level, I’m coming into the second year of a course that I last studied 3 years ago, and I feel mildly retarded.

You can pray for me about that.

In other news, I bought Scala & Kolacny Bros off the UK iTunes (they did the version of Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ for the Social Network film) and it’s great! They cover Coldplay, U2, Alanis Morrisette, and Metallica among others. Hauntingly beautiful. And I’m listening to “Les Fleur” by 4hero on repeat as well.

For Christmas I got a remote control helicopter from Hamley’s Toy Store on Regent Street (after crashing the first one & getting a free replacement I’m getting quite pro), the Pearl Jam 20 DVD (YES!!!!!), special edition of Kick Ass on DVD, QI board game, a book, and loads of food and love.

Oh yeah and I just bought 2 motorbikes (back in Sydney from a friend of a friend), crazy! They’re both 1983 Honda CX500s. One is complete stock and registered, the other is a 95% complete cafe racer project which I’ll finish off and road register. I then plan to sell the stock one to dad and keep the cafe racer. C R A Z Y.

Thankyou, you’ve been a wonderful audience.

Need anything from the UK?

See you in the New Year!

“the treatments we prescribe in weight loss for fat people are the same unhealthy problems that we are diagnosing in thin (anorexic, bulimic) people…”

Quite profound me thinks, especially as I note the Biggest Loser finale on TV at the moment…

There’s sometime wrong…

So this is what I’m reading right now:
‘Batavia’ by Peter Fitzsimons
And ‘No Country For Old Men’ by Cormac McCarthy.

There you go.

This feeling about my birthday has been a fairly long standing emotion, at least since primary school, and each year as my birthday comes around I try to work out why I despise it so much… I’ve tried to articulate it to Fi but I find it hard to even articulate it to myself. It’s not that I don’t like getting older, I’m still in the age range where I quite look forward to getting older (& hopefully wiser), I’ve not reached the stage yet where all I want to do is be young again (mid-life crisis is hopefully still plenty of years away).

So what is it?

As I do my annual reflection again this year I know it’s got something to do with expectations. I try not to have any expectations of my birthday because experience tells me that I will be disappointed, so I try to treat it as just another day, nothing special, just a day like any other… But of course it’s not a day like any other… on this day you get presents, people send you special messages and well wishes for this day, people you haven’t spoken to for too long make the effort to contact you on this day, this is not a normal day. And so, as much as I try to pretend it’s a normal day with no expectations, I find myself drawn in to the “specialness” by all the attention… But this is not really the problem itself, it is just the fuel for the problem.

You see, if I’m honest, I’m a selfish person. I want the world focussed on me. I want the attention. Herein lies the problem. The attention of a birthday feeds my selfishness and now those simmering expectations I’ve tried to keep at bay start to bubble to the surface of my consciousness… on My birthday I want to be waited on hand and foot. I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it. I don’t want to have to anything I don’t feel like doing. I don’t want to be told what to do. I want uninhibited free reign because it’s MY BIRTHDAY! I, I, I, I, I, I… want, want, want… me, me, me…

Of course, it’s unreasonable to think that way, to behave that way, to be so selfish! And it’s just a stupid birthday! You haven’t invented the cure for cancer or brought peace to the world, you were just pushed out of your mothers womb, took a breath, screamed and then crapped out half a kilo of meconium… congratulations! Why do I feel like I should be at the centre of the earth on this day?

This is why I hate my birthday: because every selfish, sinful, & self-serving desire – those desires which wage war so forcefully and consistently with my identity in christ – on this day they are at their strongest. On this day their shouts for autonomy and worship are heard at their loudest. On this day the fruit of the forbidden tree is pressed up against your face the hardest. And I hate that.

There. I feel better.

Please don’t hear that I’m ungrateful for birthday wishes, presents, cards etc. This is me not you.

Ahhh, Apple… surely you will be the rise and downfall of our civilization..

This is Mike Dicker signing off from anywhere there’ mobile reception!

Woohoo!

What is hungry beast? You can check the video below but basically think of the 7pm project on channel Ten except the journalism is good, funny, engaging, funny, and insightful.