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Sensational photo! Had to share it! As some of the more ‘long term readers’ of Micaiah Sells Out will know I am a big fan of Awkward family Photos
I have previously given my best 15 of all time, you can see the best 5 here
I dare to say however that the previous list is out of date! It is time for a new one! So, inspired by this photo, I will be bringing you some more Awkward family Photo goodness!
In other news, my sister ‘Bronwyn ‘the monster bronster’ Smith is coming back today! Will be good to see her! I wonder if I looked through out old photos if I could find a suitable one of our family… hmmm, now that is a thought that is gonna fester!
- raaaar
her return is also a good excuse for some cheeky awkward family photos
This one for example is the complete opposite of the photo at the start of the post!
These girls are simply scary!
And my personal favourite!
- feel the burn
So six months ago Liz and I got married. I remember lots of people, lots of bows, lots of photo flashes and Liz looking absolutely gorgeous!
Well we are six months (and two days) into this thing and in honour of this occassion I thought I would share with you all the five top reasons why I love my dear wife Elisabeth. This is hardly an exhaustive list, in fact I could say much much more, but seeing as its just a blog post this will have to suffice.
1. Last Thursday Liz had one of her wisdom teeth taken out. A horribly painful experience. As we were leaving the dentist’s place, cheeks all swelled up like a chipmunk, Liz says: “I feel sorry for the dentist, no one can ever say thank you to him because their mouth is so sore!” How nice is my wife! When most people have just had a tooth taken out they have nothing but hatred for the dentist, Liz has pity and appreciation!
2. She loves Jesus – and loves learning about Jesus. I love reading the bible with her and praying with her.
3. She is always the first to start cleaning up when we are out or when we have people over. She even chooses to spend her school holidays cleaning! She is very servant hearted. Moreover she works late into the night thinking of interesting ways to teach her kids what they need to know.
4. When she gets excited, she starts jumping around and her smile fills the room! It’s so infectious that I can’t help get excited too, even if its just about an IKEA sale. She get songs stuck in my head too.
5. She has an amazing voice! I get to stand next to her at church when she sings and I like just listening to her. She is also a hardcore coffee addict, suffering headache withdrawls if she doesn’t get her ‘hit’ of coffee.
Liz is kind, funny, bubbly, indecisive, gentle and beautiful!
Yep, I picked a good one!
At the church I go to my minister has been preaching a series on 1 John. 1 John is a lot about love, in fact, John just keeps repeating his point over and over again. But is it really possible to love everyone? What about those people who you just don’t like! You know who they are… they get on your nerves, it might not be their fault (though it probably is) but you just dislike them!
Well as Peter was preaching on Sunday night he hi-lighted for me a very important distinction to keep in mind when reading books like 1 John:
LIKE does not equal LOVE
There will always be people that for whatever reason you don’t really like them, maybe your personalities don’t click, maybe they hold views that bug you, maybe they’re just too goofy for your tastes. Whatever it is, it is fine. The bible never says you need to like people. Instead it says you need to LOVE people.
Loving people is about looking past the things that annoy you, looking past their views/goofyness/faults and seeing that they are made in the image of God and are dearly loved by him. Liking someone depends on how you’re feeling and what they are currently doing. Loving someone is based in God’s love, it is not a slave of moods or personalities, rather it is steady and immovable as it rises above all these things.
Just think about it… Do you think God liked you when he sent his son to atone for your sins?
I don’t know the answer to that (I’m not God) but my guess is that he didn’t like my rebellion, pride, sin, gossiping, lying etc etc.
God instead looked past these things and loved us by action (not in words or tongues): “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” 3:16.
Thus we can indeed love people, even if we don’t like them. What renewed vision this gives us to follow the instructions of John:
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:7-12)
Matt Chandler
This past weekend I was at engage conference with some of my friends from church. It was a really great weekend of relaxing, good teaching, great music and of course late starting sessions! The definite highlight for me was the first talk of the conference by Matt Chandler. He was trying to re-define what we think the gospel to be, taking us away from a traditional western individualistic view of the gospel as simply “my personal salvation from my sins”, to “reconciling all things through the cross of Jesus Christ”. Although I knew this already I found his application of this point extremely insightful. He summed it up this way:
“You are beneficiaries of the gospel; therefore you are agents of the gospel!”
God reconciles us to himself, but that is not the end of the story! We now, having received the gospel, have a responsibility to continue its spread – we are now agents of the gospel. See it is not just that God saves us and now we aim to iron out the sinful hiccups in our lives till we die. Rather we are now on a mission to work for the gospel in whatever way and with whoever God gives to us!
Why do we share the good news that God is reconciling all things through the cross of Jesus Christ? Because we are beneficiaries and therefore agents of the gospel!
Why do we love the unlovable, the outcast and the oppressed? Because we are beneficiaries and therefore agents of the gospel!
Why do we give our hard earned money away to support Christian ministry and alleviate suffering? Because we are beneficiaries and therefore agents of the gospel!
Why do we desire the needs of others always above our own? Because we are beneficiaries and therefore agents of the gospel!
Why do we love the poor and seek to bring justice to this unfair world? Because we are beneficiaries and therefore agents of the gospel!
