It's Saturday morning, 2:00 A.M.
Jake arrived at my house and then we immediately departed for the Civic video Glenfield to get 3 things:
a) Xbox 360
b) Gears of War 2 (on xbox 360)
c) Guitar Hero: World Tour (on xbox 360)
As we were headed home we turned around the bend in the road to find a young lady in her young twenties trying to change a tyre with two things in her boot, apart from the spare tyre, she had one: a jack, essential. Two: a spanner. This lady was dressed in her work clothes, not the best outfit to change a tyre in.. as my Dad drove by he did something that didn't surprise me in the slightest, he did a u-turn and pulled in behind her to help her out. It turns out she didn't have anything to loosen the bolts with, and my Dads tools were built for an Audi A6, not a 1990 Nissian Sentra, so they were of no help. So My Dad then gaps it to a nearby petrol station to find a tool that will do the job. So Jake, Mandy and I were left with this wife to be (she was engaged) and sooner than later my Dad turns up and we are all set, the tyre is changed and we are on our way, knowing that we did a good dead.
What bothers me more about this event, was that that poor women was out of the street in Wairau industrial area for fifteen minutes without someone pulling over and giving help. It wasn't like the road was empty. This was at 8 in the evening. The traffic flow was large and there was heaps of potential saviours for this woman.
We as first world New Zealanders have gotten sue to the fact that everyone can fend for themselves, that in this capitalist nation the winner is the person that can get to the top first and hold it for the longest.
I wanna propose a different view on this. That we lower ourselves down the people that need help, and don't shrug the little man off. which seems to be the agenda for the capitalist society of today.
Because isn't that what Jesus did? He dined with the beggars, the tax collectors and the prostitutes, because when you really get down to it, how are those people meant to experience the love and the light of Christ, when they are hated by everyone they come into contact with.
No, i refuse to become like that, i will lower myself down to the people that need help. If that means not buying a $1800 amp and going to South Africa to work in the squatter camps with my Grandma then so be it. The Church of the 21st Century has denied the people any chance of real movement in faith towards the people that need help. The close knit boxed set that has formed as secured peoples life into that of mediocrity and conformity.
Now i don't mean conformity in the sense that everyone should go emo, thus creating a pack of people conforming together as emo's against conformity. It doesn't work like that. Instead we need to break this Shell of boxed set churches, because the "church" is one of the biggest obstacles for Christianity. And yes we need the non-profit organisations to spread the word, and the organise the movements to mission. But the Sunday morning, be there at 9:30am style church leads people down a path of conformity out of the true desire of Christ. There's the grit message of this Rant. Jesus Christ died so that we can step out into the world without the fear of the world. He died so that we are set free from the bonds of the world, so that no longer shall we worry about the man made law that drives people to extreme lengths to stay secure and safe, but rather we need to step out and use the ultimate gift that Christ gave us, Freedom.
The Culture of today is one where pleasure can be paid for and Love is scarce. As Christ's Children we need to love our enemies as if they were brothers, give them something that they will never experience themselves, the true and unconditional love of our Lord. To build the community that will allow this we need to change our culture into one where people love one each other, care for one other, and are not just out for themselves, but out for one each other, like Christ, who died for everyone else, to save everyone else, that he abandoned His well being for simple low people around him.
It shouldn't be hard to trust people around us, but it is. That act of trusting someone is nearly non existent these days. The fact that you can do nearly everything by your self, with little help from the Internet has allowed humanity to abandon the idea of trusting everything you have into other people. This idea of 'everyone making it big by themselves and stays at the top by themselves' is being poured into our generation by this capitalist drive, is destroying the trust that we should have and need in others. For with trust comes love. Jesus trusted people beyond what they thought they were capable of. He didn't tell them what to do with their lives, but rather provided a sound example of the right way to live, and they followed him through thick and thin. Jesus' act of trusting Judas and Peter, remembering that Peter also denied Jesus; three times actually, shows the extent to which he will trust people. The unconditional love that comes with trust drove Judas to kill himself in despair over what he had done, but also that loving trust drove Peter to become a great apostle of Christianity - The power of Trust huh!
We need that Trust in people... we should have that trust in people.
So next time you see someone stuck on the sided of the road, or see a hitchhiker in desperate need to get somewhere, trust them, pour into them the love of Jesus
Just a thought...
Shaun
Jake arrived at my house and then we immediately departed for the Civic video Glenfield to get 3 things:
a) Xbox 360
b) Gears of War 2 (on xbox 360)
c) Guitar Hero: World Tour (on xbox 360)
As we were headed home we turned around the bend in the road to find a young lady in her young twenties trying to change a tyre with two things in her boot, apart from the spare tyre, she had one: a jack, essential. Two: a spanner. This lady was dressed in her work clothes, not the best outfit to change a tyre in.. as my Dad drove by he did something that didn't surprise me in the slightest, he did a u-turn and pulled in behind her to help her out. It turns out she didn't have anything to loosen the bolts with, and my Dads tools were built for an Audi A6, not a 1990 Nissian Sentra, so they were of no help. So My Dad then gaps it to a nearby petrol station to find a tool that will do the job. So Jake, Mandy and I were left with this wife to be (she was engaged) and sooner than later my Dad turns up and we are all set, the tyre is changed and we are on our way, knowing that we did a good dead.
What bothers me more about this event, was that that poor women was out of the street in Wairau industrial area for fifteen minutes without someone pulling over and giving help. It wasn't like the road was empty. This was at 8 in the evening. The traffic flow was large and there was heaps of potential saviours for this woman.
We as first world New Zealanders have gotten sue to the fact that everyone can fend for themselves, that in this capitalist nation the winner is the person that can get to the top first and hold it for the longest.
I wanna propose a different view on this. That we lower ourselves down the people that need help, and don't shrug the little man off. which seems to be the agenda for the capitalist society of today.
Because isn't that what Jesus did? He dined with the beggars, the tax collectors and the prostitutes, because when you really get down to it, how are those people meant to experience the love and the light of Christ, when they are hated by everyone they come into contact with.
No, i refuse to become like that, i will lower myself down to the people that need help. If that means not buying a $1800 amp and going to South Africa to work in the squatter camps with my Grandma then so be it. The Church of the 21st Century has denied the people any chance of real movement in faith towards the people that need help. The close knit boxed set that has formed as secured peoples life into that of mediocrity and conformity.
Now i don't mean conformity in the sense that everyone should go emo, thus creating a pack of people conforming together as emo's against conformity. It doesn't work like that. Instead we need to break this Shell of boxed set churches, because the "church" is one of the biggest obstacles for Christianity. And yes we need the non-profit organisations to spread the word, and the organise the movements to mission. But the Sunday morning, be there at 9:30am style church leads people down a path of conformity out of the true desire of Christ. There's the grit message of this Rant. Jesus Christ died so that we can step out into the world without the fear of the world. He died so that we are set free from the bonds of the world, so that no longer shall we worry about the man made law that drives people to extreme lengths to stay secure and safe, but rather we need to step out and use the ultimate gift that Christ gave us, Freedom.
The Culture of today is one where pleasure can be paid for and Love is scarce. As Christ's Children we need to love our enemies as if they were brothers, give them something that they will never experience themselves, the true and unconditional love of our Lord. To build the community that will allow this we need to change our culture into one where people love one each other, care for one other, and are not just out for themselves, but out for one each other, like Christ, who died for everyone else, to save everyone else, that he abandoned His well being for simple low people around him.
It shouldn't be hard to trust people around us, but it is. That act of trusting someone is nearly non existent these days. The fact that you can do nearly everything by your self, with little help from the Internet has allowed humanity to abandon the idea of trusting everything you have into other people. This idea of 'everyone making it big by themselves and stays at the top by themselves' is being poured into our generation by this capitalist drive, is destroying the trust that we should have and need in others. For with trust comes love. Jesus trusted people beyond what they thought they were capable of. He didn't tell them what to do with their lives, but rather provided a sound example of the right way to live, and they followed him through thick and thin. Jesus' act of trusting Judas and Peter, remembering that Peter also denied Jesus; three times actually, shows the extent to which he will trust people. The unconditional love that comes with trust drove Judas to kill himself in despair over what he had done, but also that loving trust drove Peter to become a great apostle of Christianity - The power of Trust huh!
We need that Trust in people... we should have that trust in people.
So next time you see someone stuck on the sided of the road, or see a hitchhiker in desperate need to get somewhere, trust them, pour into them the love of Jesus
Just a thought...
Shaun
