Life + Faith

Hey, I’m Jon.
And this is where I write about life and faith, no niche included. Just an honest attempt to be faithful and fruitful for Jesus. If that’s something you want more of, subscribe.

  • I’m Back…And It Feels Good

    This week I started in a new pastoral role in a new church.

    It feels good to be here.

    For the last four years I’ve been in a para-church pastoral role and I have to admit I feel ‘church rusty’ right now. The ministerial WD-40 needs to be close by over the next few weeks as I get used to being a church pastor again.

    landscape-nature-hills-church.jpeg

    Beginning this role has been a long time coming. Never mind the 44-day holiday I had between finishing my last role and starting this one, but the first conversation I had about this position was about eight months ago. It’s been a process, a good process. I’m excited to be here.

    In starting a new job, in a church or otherwise, there is always a mixture of excitement, challenge, and a sprinkle of weird. The learning curve is exponential as new processes and functions of the organisation need to be learnt. There is the attempt to get settled as quickly as possible and try and feel productive, but that’s actually not as easy as it sounds in a role all about people. And as I said to someone this week, “I’d love to be asking you questions right now, but I don’t know what I need to know so I don’t actually have any questions.” As time goes on this will become clearer, right now I’m just enjoying meeting new people and setting up my office.

    So in the midst of all these things it is very exciting to be here – I’m actually back in a pastoral position! Sweet!

    And there is a daunting part to it too – I’m actually back in a pastoral position! Argh! 🙂

    If I was to say what is the most exciting part to it all though it would be the privilege of walking alongside people as they seek to be disciples of Christ. This isn’t an easy proposition but it is something I’ve missed for a while.

    Being out of the church role for a while makes you realise how much of a privilege it is when you’re in it.

    With this being the case I’m thankful for a great first week back and look forward to many great weeks ahead.

  • Another Year Begins

    It’s a New Year.

    A time filled with expectation, excitement and possibilities. 

    For me this means a couple of changes, particularly early in the year. I currently have seven more days of leave before I begin as Associate Pastor for Youth & Young Adults at Rowville Baptist Church. In early March there will be a new addition to our family so that will change things up a bit too!

    With the turn of a new year brings the opportunity to take stock of what’s important and bring some focus to the year.

    I find I’m not very good at resolutions but I do enjoy taking time to think, pray, and plan the coming weeks and months.

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    With this in mind there is always the goal of writing and blogging more. I found last year a bit difficult in this regard, mainly due to personal reasons, as can be seen by my posting patterns. Yet, as 2016 has come upon us the writing vibe has gradually been increasing and I hope to see this as an avenue for more blogging.

    If you hang around here over the coming months I hope you will see posts about the Christian faith, youth ministry, sport, and some reflections on what I’m thinking through or teaching. It’s a random assortment of material, which isn’t exactly the advice given by the blogging gurus out there. But nevertheless, I do hope it will be a benefit to you as readers as it will be to me the writer. 🙂

  • 2015 In Review

    The WordPress.com stats monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

    Considering I’ve hardly written at all this year (7 posts in all) I’m pretty happy with these. Here’s hoping for a better writing year in 2016!

    Here’s an excerpt:

    A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,800 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 30 trips to carry that many people.

    Click here to see the complete report.

  • My Top Books of 2015

    At the start of each year I set out to read, on average, one book per fortnight. By the end of the year I’ve usually achieved this goal. What can I say? I enjoy reading. There’s usually a mix of fiction (40%) and non-fiction (60%), this year is no different. The list of books I read don’t include those I simply dip into here and there. These are the ones I read right through. If you’d like to see every book I’ve read this year then head here. Otherwise, below is a list of the top books I read. These all achieved 5-stars in my subjective rating system. 🙂

    old books

    Adoniram Judson by Jason G. Duesing

    Few books I read significantly shape me. The last would’ve been around a decade ago. Yet, in January one more was added to that elite list, this biographical account of the life of Adoniram Judson. Perhaps it was the timing, just before our miscarriage and a rather painful time for us as a family. It was helpful for that period but also for deeper reflection in what it means to live a life following Jesus and making him known to others.

    The book was so good I had to review it. The review gives you a better outline and idea of the book than I can give here. I also quoted him a little in some previous posts. It’s a great read and was significant to me at the time and as I’ve continued to reflect on it.

    In brief Judson was the first American Baptist missionary sent out, ever. He had a great impact on current day Burma/Myanmar, fruit which continues to be seen today. He endured so much personal and ministerial hardship, including the deaths of many of his children and two of three wives. He seems like an amazing man and very much worth the read.

    Michael Jordan: The Life by Ronald Lazenby

    Michael Jordan was the most iconic sportsman while I was growing up. Probably still is. He’d certainly be the best basketballer the world has ever seen. This biography is a comprehensive outline of his life and family. Lazenby begins generations before MJ was born and makes his way through the family tree before spending much of the 720 pages talking about his career. The Life outlines Jordan’s relationship with his father, family, coaches and team mates. It is a great read and even more so if you remember the glory days of Jordan and his Bulls.

    Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas

    Another biography makes the list here too. Can you tell the stories of others interest me?

    Bonhoeffer was a pastor during the time of Hitler-led Germany and into World War II. He was one of few who saw Hitler for what he was and went against the traditional German church at the time. This leads him to be a main player in seeking to assassinate Hitler during the war, which he is consequently imprisoned for. Metaxas is a great writer and gives a detailed account of Bonhoeffer’s life. It took longer than I would’ve liked reading this on Kindle but it was still worth the 5-stars.

    When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate poverty Without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself by Steven Corbett and Brian Fikkert

    As part of my role with Global Interaction I have had the privilege of facilitating and leading short-term mission or exposure teams. This involves preparing people to engage in missions in another culture and with other religions. At the same time questions are often raised as to the validity and method of these trips, quite often seen as a waste of money with little help to others. I have my own thoughts on this of course but this book helps put many of these things in perspective.

    This is a good primer on poverty and dealing with people who are impoverished. It also has some good chapters on what non-profits can do to safe guard themselves in dealing with the poor, whether that be processes or programs or finances etc. I was particularly interested in how they approached short-term teams and there is a whole chapter dedicated to that. Consequently they have elaborated that chapter into and entire book now too. In any case, this one was excellent and gave me a real insight into dealing with things regarding the poor and social justice.

    Leading from the Second Chair: Serving Your Church, Fulfilling Your Role, and Realizing Your Dreams by Mike Bonem and Roger Patterson

    So in January I become an Associate Pastor. I thought it worthwhile to read up on what some of this may entail. This book was rightly recommended to me and very much worth the read. It is written by two guys with much experience in associate roles and delves into three particular tensions those who lead from the second chair may face. It gives a good picture of the realities of this role, whether it be in a church or other place of work.

    Knowing God by J.I. Packer

    Knowing God is a Christian classic and remains so today. This is a re-read for me but it had been 10 years since I last picked it up. Packer outlines the Christian faith and the central aspects of it. As the title suggests, it helps us in getting to know God, who he is and what he is like. As I read this it reminded me of how ‘lite’ the Christian Living books are today. If you’d like something of substance to read this coming year then give this one a go.

    This time of year often produces ‘best of’ type lists on various websites. I mainly stick with books and you can read 2014’s list too if you like.

    My Top Books: Yearly Series
    2014
    2015 (this post)
    2016
    2017
    2018
    2019
    2020
    2021
    2022
    2024
    2025

  • Our Miscarriage, Our Marriage, and Our Master

    Dear Babis,

    I know today is a tough day for you darling.

    It’s a tough day for both of us really.

    I know today is really a reminder of what could’ve been. It’s a day that should be filled with love, joy and happiness. Instead it’s become a day of sadness, possibilities and tears.

    I’m sorry it hasn’t turned out the way we would’ve hoped.

    I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge (1)

    I remember we were so excited when we found out you were pregnant again. It was a fun few weeks knowing what we knew, all on our own. Our little secret was something we talked about each night, thinking of what the future might hold for the little creature being created inside of you. For me, I was really looking forward to telling the family, and very excited for our first becoming a big sister.

    But that week in early February kind of changed everything, didn’t it?

    That happy week, where we were going to tell the family, turned sour after the scan and multiple visits to the hospital.

    When it all went down, so to speak, it was a devastating time for both of us. I know you felt it and continue to feel it more deeply than I. I just hope I can continue to love and support you in the way that you need.

    Today especially.

    I reckon the miscarriage is probably one of the tougher things we’ve been through together. It’s been a painful and difficult experience for us, but one that has helped us grow stronger and closer together. I mean, the marriage course this year has also helped us, but this really did bring things into focus.

    Having been through this I’m so thankful that the Lord provided a few glimmers of hope and encouragement in the lead up to the miscarriage, and which continue to sustain us at times.

    Surely that Sunday sermon has to be the most relevant sermon we’ve ever listened to together. I truly believe the Lord provided sustaining grace for us when we needed it most, particularly through Psalm 91:1-2, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most high will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust’.” I know this passage, and the preaching of it, continues to give us a sense of His sovereign hand holding us, and a peace despite the hurt.

    I pray it gives you that grace and peace today.

    I know we feel the loss of possibility, the loss of opportunity, the loss of what would have been. I know it still hurts, and will continue to hurt, no matter how many more kids we may have. But I’m thankful that despite whatever circumstances we find ourselves in the Lord is with us and is giving us joy and comfort.

    So darling, I love you. And I’m thankful that we’ve been able to grow closer since this happened.

    I’m thankful that we’ve been able to walk through this together, and will keep walking despite its challenges.

    I know its been one of the more rotten years because of this, but despite this brokenness we cling to God, praying with more clarity and regularity for the brokenness throughout the world.

    I know you would like to know what that little creature would have turned out to be but unfortunately we can’t know that. But darl, I’m thankful we can continue to talk openly about the miscarriage and remind ourselves that despite our brokenness Jesus is the one who makes us whole and the who will bring us the comfort, peace, and healing to our situation. He did that in the first week of February and he’ll do it again today, as we remember the one that got away.

    Love,
    Jonny.