being tight has its advantages

I have a confession to make - well, two, actually. First, I love getting new clothes. For some reason, I really enjoy getting new clothes - whether they are jeans, shorts, t-shirts, shoes, whatever. I'm a big fan.

The second confession flies in the face of the first, though... I hate spending money on clothes. Part of the reason for that is that I've picked up too many bargains, particularly at DFOs and, more recently, Target clearance sales (yes, I shop at Target... and K-Mart. So?) I've often found I can pick up t-shirts for under $5, and have been known to get jeans for less than $10. The idea, then, of spending any more than $10 on a t-shirt, and any more than $20 on a pair of jeans seems odd to me, now, which can be frustrating.

However, Tuesday, I found a real bonus about point 2. My good friend Chris Folmsbee once told me that he and his family aim to clear out their clothes every so often - donating clothes that they are not wearing to charity, because, as we all know, it's real easy to accumulate a lot of clothing. So, I've been trying to do the same thing, and on Tuesday, I gave 2 big bags of clothes and about 5 pairs of shoes to Goodwill. I said to Ali while we were doing it that it's a lot easier to give clothes away when you know they only cost you $5 in the first place, rather than giving away clothes that cost $60 or whatever. Something to think about.

what josh is teaching me about God #7

This morning, we took the kids to a new playground around the corner from us - so much fun. One thing I'm not sure about yet, though, is that to get to their bumpy slide, you either had to scale a rubber rope, or climb a series of plastic tyres arranged near each other, but certainly not in an easy manner to climb.

Josh wasn't real keen on the idea - he desperately wanted to get to that slide, but freaked out climbing up the tyres. I helped him (eventually) get up there, using the usual tactics ("I've got you", "look at me, don't look down", etc), but he really didn't enjoy the process, only the end result. Of course, once he'd been down the slide, he had another few goes at getting up there, with varying levels of success (the fact Rachel scaled up there (with Ali's help) fearlessly seemed to have little effect on him...)

What I was thinking about, though, was whether God wants us to be completely dependent on him all the time. Now, I know God wants us to depend on him, not on ourselves, others, our career, etc, but let me explain. My purpose in helping Josh up to the slide was to teach him how to do it on his own. He really didn't need me to hold him there, balancing him (I was happy to do it, though), and it was actually holding him back from being able to do something I knew he could do. So, I started wondering about whether God's growth in us is about us learning to stand on our own, to do the things he's enabled us to do - not that we do it on our own, we have his Spirit empowering us, certainly, and Jesus promised he would be with us always - but that God wants us to grow in our security enough to be able to climb and slide, knowing he's with us.

I'm not sure - in some ways it seems like a negative thought, that we wouldn't need God, and I'm not trying to justify us depending on our own strength. I just wonder whether we go too far the other way sometimes, and because of that, miss out on doing some things God knows we can do.

where everybody knows your name...

Over the last week, I've spent quite a bit of time with some of my closest friends, as they and I begin the process of me moving from RBC to whatever is next.

At a number of times over the last week, the conversation has turned to "so... what would you like to do?" (as in what would you like to do - play golf, watch the cricket, or do something else - not the longer, more reflective "what would you like to do with your life?" question.)

Most times, I've struggled to have an answer, and it hit me yesterday that I think the reason for that is because I actually don't care too much. Before my friends who read this get offended, though, let me clarify. I haven't been able to give an answer, because what I want to do is be with my friends. What we do while we're together, doesn't really bother me - I just enjoy being in their company, and whatever happens, well, pretty much, I'll be happy!

How blessed we are to have great friends.

so...

Well, it's been a while - nearly a month, in fact. The main reason that I haven't been doing any blogging during that time has been that I've just finished up as one of the Pastors at Rostrevor Baptist Church. It's been quite a journey, I have to say, and I'm appropriately proud of the work that God has accomplished during my time there. The last month has been slightly odd, finishing up, cleaning out my office, etc, but I feel at peace.

Moving on has been a journey of trust - trusting that God was speaking, and trusting that God will provide. I currently don't have anything 100% definite that I will be going to, but there is an option which we are exploring which looks amazing - pretty much my dream job. More on that as info comes to hand.

In the meantime, it's great to have a bit of space - space to do some writing, space to spend with family, space to spend with friends, space to pray and listen. Hopefully, I might be able to find some space to think and reflect in there, too.