Appetite for Destruction

It’s been a while but i really must post these provocative pictures courtesy of ‘Treehugger’…

 

‘Life’ on the Factory Farm

 

 

It just goes to show how powerful our collective cultural appetite is that we as a society generally push images like that under the carpet.  Images like those are not images of God’s kingdom in my opinion.  Even for those who prefer a selfish, domineering view of ‘stewardship of the earth’ there must come a line where stewardship turns into inhumane abuse. 

Factory farms cross that line.

 

For the majority of people out there (who may be unlikely to reduce animal intake, or better yet become vegetarians!), i would urge you to at least question how your animal products come to find their way to your mouth. If the answer is somewhat unpalatable, then choose animals and animal products farmed and killed by less unethical means.

But for the Grace of God…

In recent times, the thorny issue of asylum seekers, ‘boat people’, or the incorrectly and inhumanely named ‘illegal immigrants’ has raised its profile again after more boats containing these desperate people have reached our shores.

Predictably, the fearful xenophobes in Australian society have crawled out of the woodwork to bemoan the arrival of more foreigners to our shores (even though most of us can trace our families back to foreigners who arrived sometime in the past 200 years).  “We’ve boundless plains to share”? 

It seems not. 

 

If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing

Malcolm X

 

Child Genius

How could i constantly be outsmarted by my 19 month old son?  Exhibit A, the following conversation which was had with the young fella when attempting to feed him lunch.  Who would have thought he was such a discerning connoisseur?!

 

Dad:  Do you want some mashed vegetables for lunch?

Little Fella:  No

D:  Do you want some pasta?

LF:  No!

D: Cereal?

LF:  No!

D: Toast?

LF:  No!

D:  Yoghurt?

LF:  NO!

D:  Cheese?

LF:  NOOOO!

By now the scowl on the face was menacing, and i have rolled off just about every food in the house.  In my desperation, i thought I’d have a bit of fun with LF and throw in the name of a snack i know he loves.  I reasoned that he was simply screaming ‘no’ now because he was beyond all reason and having a real hissy fit.  Getting to him to refuse his favourite snack would be my last revenge!  And so i proceeded…

D:  Do you want any chocolate?

As i awaited an immediate and vociferous NO, i realised the game was not going according to script.  I was initally met with a strange silence.  From there the frown lines dissipated, the tears dried up, the thrashing monster transformed into a cheeky little prince.  As my son turned his head towards me, he fixed his gaze with twinkling eyes and a charasmatic grin.  Then his answer laid the final blow:

LF:  yeeeeSSSSSSSS!!

 

Doh!

Laugh

As we come to the end of Passion Week, the joy of the resurrection allows us to be people who laugh.

Look

Living within the realities of everyday life, Jesus followers are those who participate in outworking the prayer to see God’s will be done ‘on earth as it is in heaven’.  To do this we need to be those who look.

Lift

In honour of our Lord who was lifted high upon the cross in order that we may be saved to new life, today we aim to be people who lift.

Link

As we reach the middle of Passion Week, we move on to the fourth practice in our weekly rhythm.  Today we will discuss what it means to link.

Listen

The Launch Code continues today with our third practice, listen.

Learn

Today as we continue our discussion of practices which enable us to sustain a rhythm of launching life in the mission of God, we aim to be people who learn.

Magda is Over!

Well i am officially now 32 years old.  As such, the end of my 7 week ‘Magda Effect’ weight loss challenge has also met its deadline.

The full time score is a current weight of 70kg and a body fat of 17%.  This represents a loss of 4kg (the aim was 5kg) and 3% body fat (the aim was 5%).  While i didn’t quite reach my ultimate goals in the 7 weeks, i came pretty close!  I also made improvements in my patterns of eating, being less susceptible to the Fat Bastard lament, “i eat because i’m unhappy, i’m unhappy because i eat”.

 

 

I guess it’s time to celebrate by gorging myself on the copious amounts of chocolates i received for my birthday.  I am kidding…sort of!