Relevant has been on my mind this week. ‘Relevant?’, I hear you say. Indeed Relevant – Relevant is an awesome Christian mag which addresses important issues facing us today, under the slogan ‘God. Life. Progressive Culture.’ Pretty much it looks at what the Christian response should be with social justice issues such as caring for those in need like in the devastation in Haiti and Pakistan, and also with day to day issues too like, is drinking ok for Christians? Not only do they have a mag, which is available to Koorong and also on the net, but they also have a website with heaps of really interesting and inspiring content, with social platforms for people to share what’s on their mind about the issues brought up in the issue. Relevant also has a hil-AR-ious podcast which I can’t get enough of! I’ve been behind because of uni, but am now catching up! I’ve convinced Andy to listen to the podcast, after initial hesitation he has now subscribed! Best hour ever! : D Even a friend Chris was on the podcast today (there’s a segment called ‘Editorial question of the week’, where people either call up or write a tweet to answer the question), talking about a c-razy story that happened at a church whilst we were on beach mission! But wait there’s more! There is also Relevant FM, where the lovely people at Relevant have spent their time reading lyrics and listening to some awesome music, making sure it's quality stuff, before our little ears can be blown away! And there is also an App for all you iphone people out there, to keep you up to date with all the Relevant discussions and info and what not. Was only just reading yesterday about how aweful the devastation is in Pakistan. So many people have been affected! And tonight at church I found out that 9000 blankets had been knitted, and are being sent over – which is so encouraging and so helpful! I’m part way through my blanket, and so hearing about soo many blankets going to people who have nothing and who need to build their lives up from scratch has really made me more enthusiastic to continue! If you want to join in check this out.
And so I would like to encourage you to check Relevant out! : D It’s most definitely worth your time, and everyone needs to have a break and chillax at some point – if you don’t, you really should!
In todays podcast, there was an interview with Tony Campolo about his new book ‘Choose love not power’, which is a revised version of one of his books. This stood out to me as I am also part way through reading a book called ‘Controlling People’ by Patricia Evans, which is about recognising and understanding people who try to control you – which ties in with the power thing, with people playing power games. The interesting thing is that I started reading Controlling People thinking it would help me with my family, particularly my dad – but it opened my eyes to see that I can very much do the same things, and be controlling too! God has really convicted me of that, and it truly is amazing how blind you are to it – which is all part of the controlling attitude! As Campolo says in his interview, I want to be known as a Christian who loves sacrificially, and for that love and concern for others to be the reason people listen to me, rather than through resorting to imposing what we want others to do or to think. Because if we resort to the latter, we aren’t imitating Jesus!
Just on the lines with power, a friend Joan has been doing some speaking at a women’s conf at Katoomba on the topic, and I’ve heard that the talks have been really good – so I plan on checking them out, and maybe you could too! : D
I’m so thankful to God for the 13 hours sleep I got last night, and all the many blessings I can be thankful for! : D
I think I will have to leave the book review of ‘What is a healthy church member?’ til tomorrow! One because I’ve written enough (you can’t be reading my blog all day!), and two... because I haven’t read it yet! : P
Until tomorrow,
Your friend Liz : )
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