From the Bible this week: Colossians 2

This week I have been reading from Colossians in my quiet times (after listening to “I have hidden your Word in my heart“).

I have been really encouraged by chapter two as I have read through it.

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Colossians 2:13-15

It is awesome to know that Jesus has dealt with our sins, and the punishment that we deserve will no longer fall upon us! We are ALIVE in Christ. And through Christ’s death, we no longer need to conform to regulations and rituals. This doesn’t mean that we don’t obey God any more. But it means that we can worship God with freedom! How exciting is that!?

We don’t need to be focussed on how good we are at obeying rules, we need to focus on Jesus, and what he has done for the world. Let’s keep living for him, and working to glorify God.

Mars Hill iPhone App

A while back, Mars Hill released an iPhone App designed to give easy access to all their online stuff (link to iTunes Store). It’s very well made, and very professional.

The App itself allows you to easily stream sermons to your iPhone, as well as allowing you to read the blog and listen to music. All in one easy place.

However, it doesn’t fulfill any functionality that couldn’t be already found on the iPhone. And personally, I find it easier to listen/watch sermons in the iTunes App on my iPhone, as I can then download the sermons to the device.

Still a great App for the iPhone, and once again, Mars Hill is leading the Christian world in technology. Props to them.

After thinking about this App, I think I’ll have to make a list of iPhone Apps from churches and for general Christian purposes. Do you have any favourite iPhone Apps?

Public vs Private #7 | Other Teachers

I’m still in the process of thinking about whether to teach in a private school or a public school (can you call them that?).

Something to consider in this decision are the other teachers at your school.

At a Christian private school, there is likely to be a higher proportion of Christian teachers. This might make it easier to have a Bible study each week with other teachers, and you may be able to create a unified front for Christ for non-Christian teachers. In this situation it may be easier to be a witness for Christ with the support of other teachers.

At a public school, there may not be many, if any other Christian teachers. This might make it incredibly hard to be a witness for Christ, and you may be tempted to be quiet. However, you would then be placing more Christian teachers in public school staff rooms. So hopefully encouraging Christian teachers who may be at the school, or being a much needed witness at the school.

All of this is of course speculation as I don’t know how many Christians teach at either public or private schools. However, I would love to hear from you!

If you’re a Christian teacher (preservice counts), what has your experience been with staff rooms at public and private schools?

Please comment here.

NFL

Recently I have been enjoying watching the NFL on one. It’s a great sport and part of me wants to move to America to watch a game. Anyway, here’s a video of some NFL players with Mad Skills. They are amazing!

6 Talks on CRAZY Bible Stories

For an upcoming beach mission, I am currently preparing 6 kids talks. They’re going to be on CRAZY Bible stories, I think it’s going to be pretty fun. I’ll be writing some reflections on this blog as I write the talks, so here is a brief outline of the talks.

CRAZY!

Talk 1 – Writing on the Wall (Daniel 5)

Introducing the series and speaking about how God speaks to us today through the Bible, after first telling the story.

Talk 2 – Babel (Genesis 11:1-9)

Saying that even though God has told us how to live through his word, we rebel against him and we deserve punishment for this.

Talk 3 – Jesus Calms the Storm (Mark 4:35-41)

Jesus is God, and he has power over creation. He is incredibly powerful. We shouldn’t doubt him.

Talk 4 – Daniel and the Lions Den (Daniel 6)

God saves Daniel in this story from the lions. God saves us from the punishment we deserve through Jesus’ death on the cross.

Talk 5 – Jesus’ Resurrection (Matthew 28:1-8)

Jesus is alive today and he is the boss of the world!

Talk 6 – Saul to Paul (Acts 9:1-22)

Saul becomes and Christian and follows Jesus. Learning about how to live a new life for Christ.

The Bible has some crazy stuff in it. But there is nothing crazier then what God has done for us. This talk series will use the crazy stuff as a base to introducing the even crazier stuff!

From the Bible this week: Psalm 119

Last Sunday I heard a great talk from Dave Miers at church.

The talk was on Psalm 119, and God spoke to me.

The Psalmist is excited about God’s word. Out of the 176 verses in the Psalm, only 3 don’t mention his word (decree, law etc.). One of the best verses in the Psalm is verse 11

I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

The Psalmist has God’s word in his heart, and hidden in his mind. So that he may keep God’s law.

I really enjoy hearing about people who are fired up for God’s word. And hearing this spurred me on to continue reading God’s word throughout the holidays, when it is normally so easy to be lazy.

So after Sunday I have been convicted to be excited about reading God’s word throughout the break, and build up my knowledge of the scriptures. I’m pretty excited!

If you’re on a break at the moment, are you using it as an opportunity to continue reading God’s word?

Dave put up the talk and some awesome resources on his blog (get them here).

A Week has 5 Days #3

It’s been a while since one of these, and I may have to change the name considering the fact I probably wont be writing enough to do weekly catch ups (Here’s what I was planning to do with these…). But here’s what has been happening on this blog recently.

Posts since August

• We’re Engaged!
• Permanent Break from Blogging
• Maybe I will…
• Live Out LOUD
• 5 iPhone Apps I Have Enjoyed
• No Such Thing as a Private School
• Live Out LOUD Videos

Latest Delicious Bookmarks (What is Delicious?)

• Mars Hill iPhone App
• Internet Memes
• List of Most Used Passwords
• Live Out Loud
• Four Staggering Facebook Statistics
• 11 ways to use images poorly in slides
• 10 Mistakes When You Blog
• Mac Software Bundle
• Ten Comnandments of Social Media
• Christmas Icon Set
• Hospital Sign Fail

Glad to be back writing!

Live Out LOUD Videos

Here’s a bunch of videos advertising for this Friday’s Gig, it’s going to be amazing! Website here.

No Such Thing as a Private School

This semester at Uni I have been doing some research into the funding of Public and Private Schools.

Through this research I have come to believe that (in terms of funding), there is no such thing as a Private school in Australia.

On the right is a breakdown of funding in Australian schools from 2008. As can be clearly seen, both private and public schools receive government funding. Of this, Public schools receive far more State funding and Private schools receive more Federal funding.

Government (Public) schools receive $1022 per student from the Federal government and $10222 per student from the State government, for a total of $11244 per student from government funding.

Non-government (Private) schools receive $4713 per student from the Federal government and $1664 per student from the State government, for a total of $6377 per student from government funding.

How can we can non-government schools “Private” when they clearly receive government funding. Sure, they may have policies that are not dictated by the government. But why cant we have a system where every student goes to the local comprehensive government school? I understand that there are reasons for this (I will detail these reasons in a future post), however surely a single system of education would benefit the education of all.

Australia has a history of a split system of education (mainly based on religion), which is where a lot of these issues come from. Other countries such as Canada and England have a more mainstream system of education, where there are Private schools, but they are for the VERY rich only. I wonder if there is any possibility of a single mainstream system of education in Australia?

What do you think?

5 iPhone Apps I Have Enjoyed

My current home screen

It’s been a while since I recommended 5 of my favourite apps (here). So here are another 5.

1. My Account (free)

If you are with Optus, then this app is priceless (/free). Allows you to view your account balance quickly and easily.

2. Ping! ($1.19)

Used to be free. Allows you to send free messages to other iPhones via push notifications, requires them to have ping. (my username is calumhenderson)

3. Chain Rxn Free (free)

An iPhone version of the popular Facebook game. Great to entertain while waiting in line.

4. Cricket LIVE ($1.19)

All the cricket action for the summer ahead. Includes push notifications for wickets and upcoming games. (Australian games only)

5. Flick Cricket (free)

A fun little game of cricket. Great for train trips.

So I have noticed that these aren’t all that useful. But some are pretty fun, and sometimes it’s good to have a break on a train or in a line for coffee.

Hope you have enjoyed the list!