Beginnings

Every story has a beginning right? It doesn’t matter what it is, whether it’s history, fiction, science fiction, fantasy, romance and even a lie, they are all stories that have beginnings. There has to be a starting point, right? Well this story doesn’t have a beginning. You can’t pinpoint and exact starting point. It’s the greatest story ever told and it transcends time and space and a beginning.

The best place to start is with an entity. That’s already wrong, entity belittles him, she, it or whatever politically correct or incorrect term you want to use. I guess for this story we will call him, she, it, them, the Creator.
The Creator always was and is. That statement will and has confused many over the millennia, but its just one of the many things that cannot be explained away. Sure there are theories and legends but in the final analysis they all fall short. How can the Creator just have been? If you have the answer please, please let me know and together we will make millions!

Since we are human, I will use human terms to tell this story as best and as accurately as I can. There will be those who disagree with me and feel that this is way to flippant but hey I know the Creator to be merciful and I feel he is ok with this.

Since there isn’t an exact start, there is a need to start when the Creator decided to create this rock we lovingly call Earth.

So there he, she, it, them was/where. . . Again I have to stop at this point. You see the Creator is the ultimate power in all the universe and there are many things about him, she, it, them that we don’t understand. Where did he (I won’t go through it all again, I don’t want to run out of paper and kill all the rainforests in the Amazon! So please note that when I refer to the creator as him, I mean the politically correct collective terms of him, her, it, them.)
The Creator is one but three. Now I have you attention and your head spinning. No he isn’t schizophrenic! For thousands of years wise people have tried to explain this and have helped, but also confused us. One bright spark said that the creator was like an egg. An egg is made up of 3 parts (yolk, white and shell), all are different but at the same time all are egg. Well that might help you but it caused a stir among those who believe that the egg came before the chicken and lead to the Great Poaching Inquisition of 1538. The fact is that the Creator likes to keep us guessing about some stuff and this is one of them. He is one person but also three. Very confusing but fact. That isn’t a simple answer and I hope that you struggle with it but don’t leave the egg in the fridge just cause you don’t quite understand it, there will be stuff that you do get, I promise.

Now that we have the confusing stuff out of the way, let go on. . .

At the start of the universe (that’s as close to a start point as I will get), the Creator decided to create. And so that’s what he did. There was no one else around to see it yet except him.
How long he took to create we don’t know, it’s not really the point. What we do know thanks to the Creator showing a guy called Mo is that he created. No one else did and I sincerely hope that I wasn’t a germ, blob, fish, tortoise, frog, shrew, squirrel, bush-baby, chimpanzee, cave person, human. That’s not what the Creator showed Mo anyway.
That’s were our first mini story within this vast saga (I hope George Lucas hasn’t copy-written that word), starts.

Mo was a brave man for reasons that you will find out a little later. One day he was on a mountain talking to the Creator and the Creator said, “Mo I you need to write some stuff down, it may take a week to do so clear your calendar.” Now you don’t want to get the Creator mad, so Mo set the time aside and picked up his pen and paper (more like chisel and flat piece of rock).
The Creator with the aid of a system he called cinema, which he told Mo would become popular only in the 20th Century, showed Mo what he done.
Mo was dazzled by the images of the Creator just speaking and things being created out of nothing because there was nothing. He said light and Mo saw the sun explode into space, stars popping up all over the sky and a weird grey rock appear that men would later think going to was worth spending enough money on that could have prevented starvation in Africa for twenty years.
The creator said lion and a lion happened. And so on until Mo saw mountains, seas, fish, canyons, rivers, birds etc. He was so dazzled by it all that he didn’t realise how long they had been watching the screen.
“That’s amazing. I don’t have words,” he told the creator. The Creator just smiled, “You haven’t even seen the best bit yet.”
The Creator explained that for the next creation he had to get his hands dirty. He didn’t just speak he actually sculpted something. “Look here,” he showed Mo what looked like a lump of mud and how he shaped it. At first Mo didn’t quite get it but soon it became clear what the creator was making. It was a person, a male person to be exact. In is best narrator voice, the Creator echoed, “Now that the dude is shaped he needs to live so I will give him extreme CPR.” Soon the new person was taking huge gulps of air, getting up and looking around.
“This was the first person that I made.” Spoke the Creator, “People were my best works of art as I made the world. I made them a bit like me,” he continued, “you see Mo, unlike everything else that I made, people will live forever like I do. They will never cease to be, even when the world ends and let me tell you Mo that’s a spectacular finale.”
Mo found out that the Creator called the first man Adam and that he was put in charge of the everything else. When Adam came along everyone knew that the boss had put him in second in charge and they gave him the respect due. Wild animals were his friends, he was kind of like the ancient original Saint Francis of Assisi.

Mo sat listening, watching and writing for 6 days, without sleeping or eating. Finally the Creator had a look at him and said, “You look shattered! Have something to eat and rest here for a day.”
The Creator liked that idea so much that he decided to make that the way that people function best, i.e. work 6 days and rest on the seventh.

And so creation had happened. Mo was flabbergasted by it all and struggled to take it in. “I can’t do this justice. Can’t you just show this to every new person? Perhaps have a ‘Welcome to the world: This is how it came to be!’ seminar when kids turn 18 or something?”
The Creator laughed so hard that the earth shook. “Mo I have always like your sense of humour! Just do your best and make sure that they get the point.”
Mo scratched his head, “. . . and that would be??”
Again that Creator burst into fits of laughter, rolling on the ground. The mountain shook so hard that the people waiting for Mo at the foot thought that it was going to crumble and moved a mile back.
“The point,” chuckled the Creator wiping tears from his eyes , “is that I created this all and that it belongs to me. And that I love people and my Creation.”
Mo gathered his notes and dragged them down the mountain. “I will do my best. Thank for the great show. I really wish you would reconsider letting people now experience this cinema effect?”
The creator went into fits of laugher once more.

Something new.

In the light of my last post I have been really challenged about using this blog more. So I am going to take a risk and start posting some stuff that I have written over the years. Among the usual bloggy (is that even a word?) sort of things I will post a series of short stories that I have written. I hope you find them entertaining and insightful. These stories inspired the name of this blog. Most are stories are from reading between the lines of the Bible. That means they are fiction and simply my attempt to understand the Bible better. Please read them that way. Theology is life, we are doing it all the time. While my stories reflect my understanding of God and the story that he has written in the Bible, I am all too aware of my imperfect understanding of it all. So here goes . . .

It lives!!!!!

Today I had a look at my blog. It’s been over 2 months since I posted a new blog! I can’t believe that! Now I am sure you just love hearing this kind of sob story from someone who writes a blog. Well this isn’t an apology for now updating my blog, I am sure that you are busy enough in your life to actually care.
But the reason I started writing this thing was more for me than anyone else. About a year ago read a book that changed my life. It’s a book by Donald Miller called “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.” Basically its a memoir about how Donald Miller learned to live a better story. Its not intended to be a self help book but the principles in it made sense to me and inspired me to try and tell a better story with my life, not just for me but for my family. Me sharing my thoughts via the blog media was one of the small outcomes of this. The reality is that I want to tell a better story but sometimes I get bogged down by other things. Its easy to allow the things I want to do to be overshadowed by the things I have to do or especially by the things I think I have to do!

Priorities is the bottom line. What is really important? Mmmmmm . . . lets hope I can do better in the future. The great thing is that a fresh start is always available.

My big Matrix moment

A few years ago, and by a few years ago I really mean along time ago, but not in galaxy far far away. Let me start again. I attended the Baptist Theological college of Southern Africa (BTC) between 1994 and 1997, but I’m okay now! Seriously I studied at this esteemed place of spiritual learning in Randburg, South Africa. It’s a great place. The course is great, the lecturers were amazing and I learn some really great and sometimes tough lifelong lessons there. In all I would say I am a better person and closer to God for having studied at BTC.
Today I was taking a walk, listening to some music and thinking about old times, when I remembered an event that took place while at BTC that has taught me many lessons about life. I thought I would share it.

It was warm sunny Randburg morning. Our class happened to have a few free lectures. I believe it was because a lecturer was sick or something like that. The fact is we had the time to ourselves. Most of my classmates decided to do the mature thing and “hit the books.” Assignment deadlines were looming and it made good sense to to use the time productively. But that’s not what I did. My friend, Ed and I decided to head over to the Randburg Mall to have some coffee and a chat. The mall is about a 7min walk from BTC. So took the walk. We were enjoying the nice day and the chat as we approached a wide and busy road. As we approached I looked to my left and didn’t bother to look to my right because in a bizarre moment of real stupidity and ditziness I decided that this road, a road I had cross numerous times before, was a One Way road! I did not therefore expect a black Golf GTI with a driver who was wearing groovy Rayband’s to be coming at me from the right. So, looking left I looked and saw there was a gap to run across so I stepped in the road . . .

All I can say is that in that moment time slowed down, like it does in the Matrix, the only problem was that I did not have the skill of Keanu Reeves to avoid my inevitable fate. In the 1 or 2 seconds that it followed I took in all the information I needed to know. I heard the hooting. I noticed the colour and make of the car. I even had a quick envious though about the car. I noticed that the driver was male with short dark hair, that he was well dress and was wearing really trendy sunglasses. I also processed the consequences of my actions and remember thinking “Oh c . . . . . “ You get the picture. All in 1 or 2 seconds tops!
Next thing I remember was hitting the floor, my head bashing into the curb and my friend Ed shouting something like, “Phil! Phil!! Are you okay?!” I bounced up onto my feet in a state of shock and remember having a short conversation with the driver in which I apologized profusely for my act of random stupidity.

The fact is I came off easy. The car thankful had just pulled away for the traffic lights and so it wasn’t traveling fast yet (it was a Gold GTI, those drivers never stick to speed limits.) I didn’t damage the car and apart from having a huge bruise on my hip and very large headache, I was okay to drive home and see my doctor.

As I thought about that today it became clear to me that I learned some big lessons from that incident:

1. Always look left and right and left again. Never assume anything! This is something I have put into practice and sometimes I feel like an old man crossing roads. It helps too in real life though. Never assume anything and it never hurts to have another look or take some more time to think about a big decision.

2. Make sure that you are where you should be in the first place. We should have been at college working. That’s the harsh reality of it. Even though we would have had a very good and productive chat in terms of our friendship, our place was in the college library (sorry Ed). Life is about making sure you are in the right place. The place God wants you be in. And its not always geographical. A Place can be your relationship with God, or people or things. Be in the right place.

3. Our minds are amazing things. If I could process all that information in such a short moment, imagine how much more I could do if I “put my mind to it.” So often we limit and restrict ourselves but God has made us capable for amazing things. How we use that capability is what counts.

4. Good friends are important. They laugh with you and at you but in the end they are the ones who help you up and make sure you get to where you need to be.

What's your favourite scary movie??

I am a sucker for scary movies. I have to be honest about that. I love the rush you feel when and after watching a scary movie. Not that I watch them very often. Having a toddler in your life means you don't really get to do what you want to do a lot of the time. If I'm not pretending to be the voice of Cinderella, then I am playing with plastersine or watching the
latest Disney movie or Dora the Explorer. Forget about a scary movie, I have a hard time keeping up with world news!!
Back to scary movies though. I recently found a gem of a scary movie. It's called The Hole and was directed by the guy who gave us the classic movie Gremlins. It's not the scariest movie in the world, although it does have the creepy moments and scares. Judging from how the discipleship group at my church called The Core reacted when watching it, it probably is a bit scarier and funnier than I thought but how I was I to know!?! Yes you did read that right. I did inflict a scary movie on a group of unsuspecting young people. Why you say? Because I am sick . . . No because this movie actually spoke to me.
You see I believe that truth can be found anywhere and that God can and does speak more often then we think and sometimes its in the most usual places.
So what did God say to me in The Hole? Well, I don't want to ruin it for you in case this inspires you to watch it but the basic message of the film is that we all have fears in our lives and that we tend to build them up into these huge overwhelming things that suffocate us and stop us from moving forward. The main characters in the movie have to face their fears in order to survive (there is this great scene with a clown puppet. Movie making genius) and move forward in their lives.
It made me examine my own fears, past and present. How much control over my life do I give to them? Am I running from them? How do I face up to them? The answer to the last question is, with God's help and in my experience that tends to me he uses other people to support.
So what is your greatest fear and are you facing up to it?

The Vultures are circling

It's not often that I feel able to think at 10:15pm but as I am on holiday and pretty much spent the day playing playstation, my brain is more active than usual at this time of night.
Anyway, so I have been playing this game called, "Red Dead Redemption." It is so big that you can get lost in it but my thought today hasn't been of how often we can create our own little world that we lock ourselves into and get lost in, no, my thought has been about vultures.
The vultures circle whenever someone is in trouble or has been shot in the game. You see vultures and you know that your path is about to become a bit more complicated and bit more "troublesome".
Mmmmmmm . . . ever notice how that happens in real life? I don't write this out of current experience but I have experienced it often. Just when you think you might be comfortable, or have something figured out or have made a big decision, the vultures circle and complicate it.
In the game its not always a bad thing, it usually means progress possible (that's if the vultures are not circling around your corpse). It might mean that but it is never nice or comfortable to have to deal with in real life. I guess that's the problem with life . . . it's messy and complicated and fuzzy. At the same time that's what makes it worth it.

Jesus said, "Do you finally believe? In fact, you're about to make a run for it—saving your own skins and abandoning me. But I'm not abandoned. The Father is with me. I've told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world." John 16

Vitamin String Quartet

I've been listening to the Vitamin String Quartet on Spotify this week. Yeah, I know, you are familiar with who they are! Well if you have fallen off the end of the world and have no idea who this fantastic string quartet are, let me explain. VSQ as they are known are a very talented string quartet whose main purpose in life is to rearrange modern pop, rock, metal and alternative music into really great string quartet type music. So for instance you can listen to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica or "Thriller" by Michael Jackson or "Mood Rings" by Relient K, and the list goes on. I reckon they churn out about a zillion albums a year judging from the pain in my right hand from all the scrolling down I had to do in Spotify. The thing is they are very good. The arrangements are well thought out, fun and nice to listen to. Good background sort of stuff. But I have been left wanting more if I am honest. I found myself wanting to listen to James Hetfield singing, and actually at some point I swapped to the REAL thing. I gave up on the "reworked" imitation because the real thing is far more inspiring and impacting on my life.
I know what you're thinking and yes its only music but it made me wonder about how often we settle in our lives for a "reworked" image of someone else's inspiration and creativity? How often are our desires, values, aspirations and actions simply are reaction to what we have seen in someone else's life? How often are our lives simply a re-imagining of what someone else has done or said?
I know why we do it. It because it's easier. The other way is much more work. It is much easier live in Mark Driscoll's thoughts and opinions on faith (by the way I love Mark Driscoll in case you think I am slamming him) than to actually experience what God has to say to me in his Word. And it isn't just about faith stuff, it applies to all of life.
It's a challenging thought. It seems to me those that make the most impact in their world are the one's who don't settle for someone else's life or someone else's thoughts on things.

"No one's ever seen or heard anything like this,
Never so much as imagined anything quite like it—
What God has arranged for those who love him."
1 Cor 2:9