In My Life

Quotable quote

“Your conscience is a gift from God; and its voice must be heard.”
Colin Smith

A song for these times

It’s an old hymn that’s been re-tuned by the *Indelible Grace team and you can find it on youtube. Look for Heal Us (feat. Blessed Offor). It’s got the feel and sound of an old spiritual. Once heard, it will play in your head continuously.

It was by written William Cowper, who often suffered from bouts of clinical and spiritual depression. Fortunately, he had a best friend and encourager named John Newton who wrote Amazing Grace. It begins with this chorus…

Heal us, Emmanuel, here we are
We long to feel Thy touch
Deep wounded souls to Thee we fly
O Saviour, hear our cry.

At the *Indelible Grace website you’ll find all the lyrics, samples, and sheet music that can be downloaded; and they have much more to share for free.

Last time I wrote about turning ears into eyes, then, to my surprise I read something in my daily Bible reading that suggests that eyes can be turned into ears. Take a look at this from King David…

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge. There is no speech; there are no words, their voice is not heard. Their message goes out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world. Psalm 19:1-4.

Do you see now how our eyes are turned to ears as we take time to watch and listen – wordless communication can be heard. Testimony is given, evidence is proclaimed and heard via our eyes.

This reminds of a quotable quote from Blaise Pascal the French mathematician and philosopher…

All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.

Or, we could step outside to observe the sky above on a clear night and listen to its wordless message with our eyes.

For years, when I used to read to my children every night, I had no idea that I was turning their ears into eyes. Occasionally, as I was reading aloud, I also pictured in my mind the scenes and actions described and formed images of the characters. To my surprise, when I saw The Lord of the Rings at the movies, there were scenes that almost exactly matched my imaginations.

But I forgot all that until last year when I began listening to audible books on my daily commutes. Now, as I’m driving, I am picturing places, incidents, and people in my head and marvelling at how the readers can muster up some many different voices of a plethora of characters. Currently I’m nearing the end of Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby read by a Ghanian named Kobna Holbrook-Smith who has at least 25 different English male and female voices and accents. He and Dickens have turned my ears into eyes.

So far I’ve listened to A Room with a View, Ben-Hur, Romeo & Juliet, Bitter Wash Road, The Rosie Project, Huckleberry Finn, Robinson Crusoe, A Passage to India, The Nickel Boys, David Copperfield, Machines Like Us, Crime & Punishment, and The Lost Man – classics and current bestsellers. I’m only in the car for an hour a day, but that’s a lot in just about 8 months!

Anyway, this experience has reminded me of how I have often prayed that, when I am preaching, the Holy Spirit will turn my listeners ears into eyes. Perhaps you could pray the same for your pastor now that you might be hearing him via a podcast or live streaming. Or you might catch up on all the classics you missed by becoming a listener of audible books.

Just testing once again – will start writing for real, soon.  Here is a link that looks interesting: Should you wait to have kids.

Here

One of the special things since we’ve come home from our trip has been the arrival of George, Dylan and Gillian’s newly adopted son from Taiwan, who is the blood-brother of Evie, their adopted daughter. It’s such a blessing that he fits into the family so well and it was great to see the two little ones playing together with big brother Max’s help.

We’re even more determined to move back to Brisbane now – to be closer to them and to Andrew, our third son, and his wife and kids. We have our eye on a little house at Fairfield with a great yard. Might need to renovate the bathroom and toilet, but otherwise it won’t take much to put our stamp on it.

It’s good to be back at work – this is my third day. I actually restarted a few days earlier because I was a little afraid of writing my first sermon. I think it turned OK in the end. It’s based on Psalm 84. There’s a mystery in knowing what to preach and why this or that passage. I wondered for weeks where to start, but as soon as I got back home I knew Psalms was as good a place as any. I’m going to do a few psalms before heading into Luke’s Gospel and Acts. For January, I’ve got ideas of studying the life of Francis Schaeffer and going back to Bonhoeffer’s love story.

Today we both decided and agreed that we will move back to Brisbane where our family and friends are. Being away and coming back has convinced us: that’s where we belong; even if we have to rent for the rest of our lives. Going back to church today and visiting family members was like coming home after a long absence. We didn’t feel that when we got back to Boonah.

Looking back over the last five weeks it’s strange what comes to mind. Muir woods was one highlights and so I mentioned that to a friend of ours named Annie. I told her about the fog and the dew that waters the giant redwoods in California and she reminded me of the mist that used to water the earth in the creation account (Genesis 2:4-6).

There was also something I heard in church in San Francisco last weekend that popped back into my mind. It wasn’t a wonderful or memorable sermon, but one thing the pastor said made perfect sense. We humans only have significance if we are made in the image of God, leave him out of the picture and we lose that significance. If there is no God, if we’re just here because of some random chemical reaction, then we are cosmic accidents going no where and of no more significance than a blade of grass.

Strange that those two things are what I remembered first when I started to look back. Of course, there were many scenic highlights that I would love to see again – like the Rockies, the autumn leaves at Tremblant, the architecture in Chicago, and the green fields of Maryland. And there were many memorable occasions and encounters that I’d love to relive, especially the time spent with Hannah, meeting Justin, visiting the Thomsens, and dinner with Bronwyn and Josie. But, strangely, out of all those beautiful places and people, what comes to mind first is our eternal significance, and the feasibility of creation.

You may think I’m crazy, but that’s the truth. I’m not pretending or trying to make a good impression; those are two truths that are even more dear to me now than before.

I’ve enjoyed writing this blog – it’s also been a good way to share our experiences with you and for us to remember where we’ve been and what we’ve done. Thanks for joining us on this journey.

P.S. I think I’m going to go on blogging. I’ll let you know when I get re-started.
It’s probably going to be called either: In My Life or ithappenedjusttheotherday. I’ll share my experiences, tell you what I’ve been reading, watching, and listening to, pass on recipes, and steer you to things that have enriched my life.

P.P.S. If I can work it out I’ll post some more photos of the journey.

Yes, we survived the sleepy driver on the 8 hour bus journey to L.A., endured the 15 hours on the Virgin flight to Sydney, struggled through the hour and a half flight to Brisbane, and the last hour drive to Boonah; and slept well last night.
It’s strange to be home. Sad to see how dry it has been while we’ve been away. I’ll write one more entry when my brain has settled down and I’ve had time to reflect on the things we will remember most.