Guest Author: 5 Years On.

Posted by Rob Borley | Posted on 11-09-2006

Category : Religion, Society

Long time reader and regular commenter Dan Bevan is our very first guest author here on threedays. Have a read and encourage him with a comment or two. If you too think you can contribute to our growing community and wish to be a guest author then why not send your article to me (rob.borley@threedays.co.uk). Now, over to Dan.

5 Years On

It was one of those events where everyone will always be able to remember where they were when the planes struck. The images are unforgettable and as vivid now as they were that day, the cloudless sky filling with smoke and debris and agony….and that was just the start. How do we reflect now on the events of September 11, 2001? For those who lost friends, family, colleagues, businesses, 5 years is nowhere near enough time to fully come to terms with it. I still find it unbelievable that the thought of carrying out the attacks turned from thoughts…to plans…to actions.

The questions in my mid are simple, even as an onlooker to the tragedy. How do we manage to forgive? How do we manage to love our enemies, when their mandate is to cause death and destruction? Do we even attempt to understand their cause? As Christians, do we have a responsibility to think not as the world now does, but to be non-condemning? Do we ‘hate the sin and not the sinner’? I wouldn’t ask someone to try and answer all these questions, but they are just a few.

Or do the events of 9/11 become a way of connecting us closer to humanity, to our own mortality and the need to make every day count? When we are exposed to violence and danger of the most extreme kind, does it give us a glimpse of the grief that God must feel for his children who are suffering?

Dan Bevan

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Inherently Wrong!? :-S

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Posted by John Roberts | Posted on 28-08-2006

Category : Literature, Religion, Society

At the moment I am currently reading the book ââ?¬Å?Blue Like Jazzââ?¬Â by American writer Donald Miller, this is a book I bought a few years ago but it has nestled harmoniously in between all my other Christian books, until 3 days ago. I was packing, to get ready from my north to south move and I decided I would pack 3 books to go with me, I picked up the Bible, I picked up a copy of Twelfth Night which I am translating and for some reason I picked up Blue Like Jazz.

I have only read the 1st two chapters and already I could write 4 or 5 different posts on some of the things that have stood out at me, but this one thought has made me think for quite a while now are we born inherently wrong? What I mean is, are we born knowing how to be bad/naughty and not know what good is?

ââ?¬Å?some friends were over at the house, and they have a kid, about 4 or 5 years old or something, and they were telling me about child training. They said their kid had a slight problem telling them the truth about whether or not he had broken something or whether or not he had put away his toys, you know things like that. So later I started wondering why we have to train kids at all. I wondered, you know, if I ever had a couple of kids and I trained one of them, taught him right from wrong, and the other I didnââ?¬â?¢t train at all, I wonder which would be the better kid.ââ?¬Â
ââ?¬Å?The kid you teach right from wrong, of course.ââ?¬Â I told him
ââ?¬Å?Of course, but that really should tell us something about the Human condition. We have to be taught to be good. It doesnââ?¬â?¢t come completely natural. In my mind, thatââ?¬â?¢s the flaw in the human condition.ââ?¬Â
Extract from “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller, nelson 2003

Unfortunately this post is going to open up more questions than I can give answers too, I suppose it�s a post to find out what your thoughts are as much as what mine are.

So are we born inherently wrong?
Do we only know how to behave badly and we have to be taught what is right?
Is this a side effect of the Fall ââ?¬â?? after all we were created in Gods Perfect Image?
is this a problem caused by Satan, does he try and attack the young and innocent, when they still don�t know right from wrong?
Or do we know what Good is, but we just ignore it?

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Serving

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Posted by John Roberts | Posted on 18-08-2006

Category : Information, Religion, Society

8 days…8 long days…8 long and tiring days…8 long, tiring and unbelievable days.

that�s the only way I can describe it. So often we forget as Christians that we have to go out and serve, to do things that push our personal safety zone, to be in a place where God can use and challenge us, and I believe that all those things happened to some of the Threedays team at The Rock; Gareth, Jo, & Myself all gave up 8 days of our holiday to help serve and be leaders on this Cyfa Pathfinder venture for 14-18 year olds.

Matthew 20:27 talks about a leader being a faithful servant, that they are not above any job, and this is so true in the arena of camps, we get given jobs which no one wants to do, and itââ?¬â?¢s easy to moan about the things that annoy us, but one thing that struck me during one of my moans was ââ?¬â?? John who are you here for, is it you? Or is it the 60+ young people who are here to find and get into a relationship with God? I had to completely humble myself and admit that although I enjoy everything about camp, itââ?¬â?¢s not about me!

It�s an amazing privilege to be placed in a position of trust and respect and have young people who are searching and finding themselves in the Lord share their experiences of life with you, asking if you would pray with them and being in the same place worshipping the same God.

I could go on for hours writing about all the things that happened at camp but no doubt you would be bored, but let me tell you God was so present from the outset, yes there were problems of both physical and spiritual to overcome, but it�s at times like this we realise that we cannot do anything in our own strength (and after 8am-2am, everyday this is very true) but we need to rely on the promises God has given to us, that he is with us every step of the way and that we (the leaders) need to get our hands dirty once in a while and stop telling people what to do and do it ourselves!

So I really wanted to use this as a challenge to all you people who read the posts on threedays, to go out and serve, serve the youngsters in church, serve the tea and coffee after the church service, go and do someone�s garden who may not be able to otherwise do it, it�s quite easy as leaders to get into the point of view that I am a leader and don�t need to do these things, but as Jesus stated he came to serve the world, so why aren�t we?

If we actively serve as leaders others are only going to follow suit! Remember if you want to walk on the water, you have to get out of the boat!!!

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