LivingRoom >> A space for Life

2003-02-22T13:56:00.000+10:00

Changes Loom No posting for the next 24 hours or so - Stay tuned for some changes roomies!

2003-02-21T16:50:00.000+10:00

Rain This morning V and I woke up to a very unusual sound. It was raining! After months...no years of very little rain today has been the first day that I can remember for quite some time where it has barely stopped raining! People all around our state are rejoicing because this is the first step towards ending one of the worst droughts this country has ever seen. It also is a step towards

2003-02-21T15:08:00.000+10:00

John 3:What? Rachel's latest post about a Christian Billboard with the reference to John 3:16 got me thinking about the whole John 3:16 phenomena. Yep - the verse that was drummed into all of us who went to church from year dot that we were told sums up the whole gospel in a nutshell. I can remember saying it over and over again before Sunday School one week in the hope that I'd be chosen to

2003-02-20T19:55:00.000+10:00

Phuture Update I've added two new articles to Phuture - one from Dave Fagg entitled Prayer, Movements and Belief II and another by Darren Altclass entitled Doing it. Darrens article takes a look at Mission and challenges us to stop just thinking about it and start doing it. There's also a new discussion forum asking why Phuture articles on worship and forms of Church are so popular and yet

2003-02-20T16:07:00.000+10:00

This stinks The response of some to France and Germany questioning the stance of the US call to arms against Iraq has been to set up these two websites. FranceStinks and GermanyStinks see themselves as "The All-American Answer To The 'Axis of Weasels'". They say "The MAIN THRUST of these two sister sites is that we give you, the loyal American patriot, a chance to comment on the perfidy of our

2003-02-20T14:00:00.000+10:00

Anti American Once again I've been accused of being Anti American in some of my postings below. Specifically 'Anon' who's email address and webpage are both 'Anon' writes: "I am sick of your Anit-American Comments Darren. You obviously have a problem with our nation and the direction we are headed. You look for every opportunity to knock us down even though we are one of the last chances our

2003-02-20T13:15:00.000+10:00

Observations....or should that be Blogservations Thanks for Jonny (check out his book on Alt Worship - looks great!) and Thomas for links to various recent posts. Check out Rachel's brand new design - it looks fantastic, very fresh, clean and simple yet also functional. I can only dream of having something like that for my blog and will have to enlist her brilliant design skills to manage it.

2003-02-20T07:53:00.000+10:00

The biggest threat to the Church? In class today Tom said something that struck me. He was talking about the challenges that the Church of today faces as we move into this new century. We got on to talking about the competitors of church. Some would say that the biggest threat is coming from Islam or other religions. He said he thought the biggest competitor was not another religion, but rather

2003-02-19T12:01:00.000+10:00

Comments are back Looking forward to your thoughts on the last couple of days posting.

2003-02-18T22:02:00.000+10:00

Intense - ive This week I'm participating in a 10 day intensive subject at college studying under guest lecturers from the US - Tom and Christine Sine. Tom is the writer of 'Mustard Seed vs McWorld' (and numerous other books) and he and Christine wrote 'Living On Purpose' (the title of the subject I'm studying). After two days I'm finding it pretty good. I have probably covered most of what we've

2003-02-17T16:28:00.000+10:00

disclaimer Just got this from my mate Yolly (ta mate)- its an email signature - but I think its probably pretty relevant for this blog too - perhaps I should attatch it to every post.... IMPORTANT: This email is intended for the use of the individual addressee(s) named above and may contain information that is confidential privileged or unsuitable for overly sensitive persons with low

2003-02-17T13:08:00.000+10:00

War Talks In surfing my regular blogs this morning I found a number that touched on the topic of war (and peace) that stimulated my thinking. Rachel painstakingly collated all the different Peace demonstrations around the world over the weekend. I was astonished by the mass of people that got out there on the streets to make their point! Wow. It gave me some hope. Signposts headed me in the

2003-02-16T15:45:00.000+10:00

Lectio Divina Last week I mentioned a passage that God spoke to me through when I did a Lectio Divina on it. A few people emailed me asking what Lectio was or asking for information on how to do it. Personally I've always struggled a bit with my own personal prayer life - particularly with the idea of a quiet time - maybe its my personality type, maybe my temperament or maybe I just drink too

2003-02-16T14:59:00.000+10:00

Speaker stuff Spent an couple of hours with a group of young Chinese Australians (or is that Australian Chinese?) this afternoon in preparation for a camp of theirs which I'm speaking at the weekend before Easter. They are a great bunch and I'm looking forward to doings some studies with them. We're looking at the theme of 'getting real' which has alot of scope for some fun but also some

2003-02-15T15:40:00.000+10:00

Peace Rally Check out Signposts for a first hand report on the peace rally in Melbourne last night that attracted between 100000-200000 people and which made V late for our Valentines dinner! (I figure it was for a worthy cause that her tram was delayed)

2003-02-15T15:32:00.000+10:00

ibooked Well the day finally came yesterday in the midst of much craziness at work where I picked up my new ibook. I am really pleased so far with the little sucker - I went for the 12.1inch one with a combo drive - I think we'll get along fine - although I think it needs a name. Any suggestions? There will be a prize for the winning suggestion - don't get your hopes up though cause I still

2003-02-14T14:50:00.000+10:00

Comments on Comments Sorry to those who've had trouble with my comments today - Haloscan have been driving me nuts of late - time for a change soon.... Tried to post a comment two posts back in reaction to the conversation going on there. It wouldnt let me post a comment so I'll do it for all to see... Sorry that you seem to have been hurt in this conversation Laura - I suspect a number of

2003-02-14T08:48:00.000+10:00

Iraq's Children - Part II After logging on this morning to see the debate happening in the comments of the last post and to read Rachels latest post and the one Josh put up last night - I guess I feel saddened that the point in my last post was sort of missed by some. Josh writes in my comments "C'mon Darren, that suffering is at the hands of Saddam Hussein and you know that but refuse to

2003-02-13T20:24:00.000+10:00

Iraq's Children - Weighing up the Cost of War After chewing over another very stimulating post on Rachel’s Journal today (read it!) where she asks the confronting question - "I ask, will the war on Iraq relieve the suffering of the Iraqi people, or add to it?" and after following the link from Mike in her comments section to this page entitled War Child Canada I read the following findings from

2003-02-13T19:46:00.000+10:00

"Christian" Thinning? Fridaysixpm blogs on this Christian dieting program - First Place advertised in Melbourne Christian Bookstore's (Koorong) latest catalogue. First Place writes in its promotion - "First Place is a Christ-centered health program for men and women of all ages. Using a support system that incorporates Bible study, scripture memorization, prayer, and balanced eating and exercise

2003-02-13T16:53:00.000+10:00

Melbourne Wanderings This afternoon I went into the city of Melbourne to make a long awaited purchase of a new ibook computer. The wait was over - or so I thought - the time had come for my computing hardware to move into the new millenium. I have not been in the cbd much of late - I guess I've not had much need to go. I had lunch with V first which was a nice treat after a week where we've not

2003-02-13T16:25:00.000+10:00

Divine Encounter This morning I encountered the divine in a simple way. I met for the first time with the local baptist ministers here in the inner north of Melbourne. Just four of us. We talked about how things were going for each of us, planned a couple of things and then went in the chapel to pray. It was very different to what I'm used to in that the prayers were largely read - they were

2003-02-13T07:55:00.000+10:00

Letting Go Last night I was able to conclude another part of my work at DCCC. For the past 2.5 years I've been co-ordinating the Young Adults Ministry there. They are an amazing bunch of people (mainly girls for some reason). Many of them have become really good friends - I've seen alot of them grow heaps too. Great people. Last night we launched the new years small groups which was my final task

2003-02-12T21:23:00.000+10:00

Jesus the trial lawyer... A southwest Missouri man requested Jesus Christ as his trial attorney during a hearing Wednesday.He was told that he in fact can have Jesus Christ as his attorney, but only one licensed to practice Missouri law will be allowed to speak for him during trial on charges he tampered with a judge. Get the full story here