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About Me
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Will that be Lite, Traditional or Mega Cut for your steak sir?
There are more choices than you can poke a stick at & that is just for the prime rib, let alone everything else on the menu. Despite the fact that I almost always order more than I need they definitely cater to the desired portion of every individual.
Psalm 73:26 says: "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and MY PORTION forever." For weeks I have been pondering this description of God as 'My Portion'. What does that even mean? A portion doesn't really mean anything without some sort of context - it could be big or small, vegetarian or a mixed grill.
Then it hit me - it doesn't say "a portion". It isn't talking about just anyone's portion, what Joe feels like eating today or what Bill had yesterday. It isn't even talking about what I ordered last time. He is MY portion - precisely what I need right now, and what's better is that He knows what I need better than I do myself.
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9
One last thought: while I was studying to write this I discovered another use of the same Hebrew word translated "portion" in Psalm 73. It is in Deuteronomy 32:9 and says: "For the Lord's portion is His people…" Give that some thought!
Sunday, 1 November 2009
Thoughts for artists #3
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Saying "NO" in November...
I am not particularly talking about the 'big' things, although they can have their moments, but I regularly make bad choices when it comes to the 'little things'. I am more likely to drive to work than walk, more likely to have seconds of food I enjoy even if I'm pretty full and if I am considering whether to buy chips or not there is a good chance NOT is going to lose. Most of these things are not really the end of the world on their own but they do represent a pattern in parts of my life of giving in to things more than is good for me.
While spending a day recently doing a lot of driving (which always gives me a lot of time to think) I decided to deliberately spend one month focusing on making the better decisions more often & November seemed like a great time to do it (after all it will be over before Christmas this way!). So was born the idea of sayNOvember - a month of trying to say "NO" more often to the the things I usually say yes to. It's corny, I know, but then most good gimmicks are!
My challenges...
In addition to a general commitment to making some better choices more often I have also decided to give a couple of things up completely for the month of NOvember...
- Chips (particularly potato crisps) are a bit of a weakness of mine so I am going to give them a miss for the month & although I might have some hot chips in moderation if they are served to me as part of a normal meal I will be keeping them to a minimum as well.
- BEER! Drinking too much at any one time is not something I have a problem with but I do enjoy a few beers on a regular basis & am especially fond of beeroclock (Fri avo's when work finishes!). Being something that can really control people I have also decided to pretty much give drinking alcohol a miss for the month as well.
A few of us are into Twitter so will be tweeting on & off about our successes (and failures) throughout NOvember using the hashtag #saynovember - if you decide to join in then feel free to also join the conversation.
Thursday, 27 August 2009
Farewell to my Granny...
This morning we were trying to help the great grandkids work out what they wanted to say about Grandma today but they were finding it hard. So we asked them some questions to hopefully help: What did they remember about her? What did they love about her? Later when I sat down to write this I was also struggling so I asked myself the same questions & found I still had a problem.
All I could think of were words like “loving”, “caring”, “compassionate”…”nice”! Lovely words I guess, but it all seemed so trite – like the list of clichéd words I might use if I was trying to speak nicely of someone I didn’t really think that much of.
Surely that wasn’t how I felt about my Grandma? Surely I could find some cute stories, or deep insights to really demonstrate that she was genuinely special to me – how would my cousins feel if this was the best I could come up with on their behalf?
Just one year ago my sister Deb & I still had all four of our grandparents – quite an achievement at 35 & 33 years of age – but on Saturday evening just gone Mum rang to tell me that the doctors expected Grandma only had maybe 2 hours. I got in the car in Toowoomba straight away but about 90 minutes later, when I was only half way to the Coast, she was gone.
One thing I have discovered is that at funerals everybody is remembered differently – different words of affection, different ways that their lives impacted others, different achievements…and different things that might be avoided because everyone wants to remember the best now that they were gone.
I realise now that the words that came to mind about my Grandma are not trite, they are just simple, because she was simple – uncomplicated in how she chose to live. She lived focused on what mattered to her, and that was all of us, the people that God put in her life.
My Grandma loved people with everything she had & everything she was. She was often in the background, she was quiet & unassuming. She was little in stature but she was not little in love – she loved extravagantly at every opportunity, she loved people the way she knew her God loved her. She was “loving”. She was “caring”. She was “compassionate”. The simple truth is: she really WAS “nice”!
I loved her, as I know all of her grandkids did, as everyone here did – she was simply beautiful, soft & cuddly, unconditionally loving. She was the perfect Grandma &, while I know she is happier now that she is with Grandpa & her Jesus forever, for those of us now separated from her for a time she will be terribly missed.
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Remind me why we do this again!
There are a lot of things that inspire me to do what I do. It is a lot of fun most of the time, there is a great sense of cameraderie with the amazing people I get to work with, sometimes there is even a bit of glamour to it all but there are other times when it is almost too hard and none of those things are enough.
At a recent meeting for Carols in the City (one of the many events I am involved in) the following verse was shared with us by Wendy Francis & it really hit me for the first time...
1 Thesalonians 1:3 "We continually remember before our God and Father your WORK produced by FAITH, your LABOR prompted by LOVE, and your ENDURANCE inspired by HOPE in our Lord Jesus Christ." (emphasis mine)I was reminded that I didn't start this journey for recognition - my labour was prompted by LOVE.
I don't stack chairs, roll cables or stand in the rain for money, fun or even primarily for friendship - my work is produced by FAITH.
AND - when I am sore, tired and feeling unappreciated I keep going because of an endurance that is inspired by HOPE.
1 Corinthians 13:13 "And now these three remain: FAITH, HOPE and LOVE. But the greatest of these is love." (emphasis mine)
Thoughts for artists #2
This is a great quote from Spurgeon on the sacred v's the secular that I read recently on James Macpherson's awesome blog (http://jamesmacpherson.blogspot.com/)...
"THE SEPERATION at what is called, “religious,” from the, “secular,” is one of the greatest possible mistakes. There is no such thing as a religion of Sundays, and of chapels and churches.
"At least though there is such a thing, it is not worth having. The religion of Christ is a religion for seven days in the week—a religion for every place and for every act!So how then is it possible to be an artist & consider yourself to be a Christian but not to consider yourself a "Christian artist"? To me that is like not wanting to be considered a "Christian human"!
"And it teaches men, whether they eat, or drink, or whatever they do, to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and to the glory of God! I pray that you may be kept from falling away from that religion, and that you may be kept up to the mark in serving the Lord in all things and attending diligently to the little commonplace matters of daily life."
Thursday, 1 January 2009
Living deliberately...
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." (Thoreau)Well I doubt life is going to give me the opportunity to live in the woods in 2009 but I do hope that I can learn to live just a little more deliberately this year. Of course, when I say "life" what I really mean is the choices that I make & the priorities I create.
The problem is that I seem to keep two separate priority lists.
There is the 'official' list, kind of the written down list even if it isn't actually written down. This is the list I would rattle off to you if you asked me to 'list' my priorities.
Then of course there is the 'actual' list. This is the list that would be created if someone could watch me non-stop for a month & then wrote down what appeared to be my priorities. Unfortunately, on this list computer games, TV & doing nothing at all rate a lot more highly than they do on the official list and other things like family, God & the poor seem to slip somehow.
But my problem is not primarily that I don't genuinely value things like my family & my God but that, well, I am lazy! No surprise to some of you I am sure (Mum!) but it is true - I would rather sit than stand, lie down than sit, sleep than just lie down!! (Thanks Drew)
This is my greatest challenge - choosing what to do with my time in a way that reflects the things that really matter to me deep down inside. Happening to life instead of letting life happen to me.
So as 2009 kicks off I am not making any resolutions, after all I already know what is important to me, I am simply going to try to live more of the minutes in this year deliberately than any that has gone before!
Saturday, 29 November 2008
Thoughts on grace #1
Saturday, 15 November 2008
Thoughts for artists #1
- Avoid looooooooooooong introductions before you get into the song
- Make sure the first track is your best track
- The first couple of tracks should be really representative of who you are
- The first track should be really catchy
- If you want to demonstrate diversity make sure the 'slower' stuff is at least the 2nd or 3rd song
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
How on Earth did I end up here?
When the story first broke in the news I was as dumbfounded as everyone else - how could such a huge charade be maintained for such a long time even to a person's closest family & friends? Watching footage of Mike singing 'Healer' at the Hillsong album recording I could imagine him standing in front of those thousands of people & thinking to himself: "How on Earth did I end up here?"
The revelation that Mike had struggled for years with pornography helped me start to make sense of it all. I can imagine the fear of being 'caught out' in this sin as the son of a high profile AOG pastor. Fear of the shame, fear of the embarressment it would cause to his family...fear that may well have led to a pattern of deception to make sure no one found out as it may well have seemed far too hard to be honest about the issue with anyone who might have been able to help.
King David faced a similar situation. He didn't wake up one morning & decide he felt like murdering a man to take his wife. He woke up & innocently walked onto the roof of his home (okay palace!) where he found the view was more than he bargained for. At that point David had a choice - turn away & go downstairs for breakfast, or take just one more peek at the naked girl bathing next door. Read 2 Samuel 11 for the full story!
I don't believe Mike Guglielmucci woke up one day & decided to fake having cancer for 2 years, but sin & deception are insidious bed fellows. I hope I can continually ask myself what 'little' sins I am harbouring in my life that seem harmless but if left unchecked could lead to me one day thinking to myself: "How on Earth did I end up here?"
Monday, 8 September 2008
God is never late...
We had about two months to look for a new house after finding out that we had to get out of the last place & throughout that process we had to keep on reminding ourselves that our trust was in God. The last time we went through this process God waited until pretty much the last moment on the last day that we had up our sleeves to lead us to the place He had prepared for us but when it finally came we were very happy for the two years we lived there.
I have often joked that "God is never late...but He has missed some awesome opportunities to be early" and this time was no exception as we were only a week or two from having to move and the rental demand was obviously very high. Because of that we ended up applying for a house that met our needs but I hadn't really fallen in love with...and we got it!
I was trying to be thankful but to be honest was a bit disappointed and wrote the following in my journal on July 7: "Thankyou for our new house Lord Jesus. You know that in a way it feels like it has fallen short of the MIRACLE HOUSE I have been believing for...but I say thankyou regardless..."
Exactly 3 weeks later I wrote this: "THANKYOU Jesus for our house...I am sorry for questioning your provision for us - this house is proving to be heaps better for our family than I could have realised..." I have no doubt (now) that God prepared this house for us and that it suits us, our needs & circumstances, far more than our 'wish list' could have guaranteed.
The truth is that while I was wishing that God wouldn't wait until the last minute He knew that had He shown us this house earlier, when I still had time to think I could find something 'better', I almost certainly wouldn't have applied for it at all. It is one thing for us to say we trust God, and maybe intellectually we do, but often our actions & feelings suggest that our hearts are not quite so convinced.
Sunday, 31 August 2008
Me & blogging take 2!
Maybe I can manage more than one this time...