The Faraway Tree

I have been at times recently feeling the need of a decently sized teddy bear to hug. God sent me a snuggly kitten to babysit for a week! It is the second most stressful week and weekend of the year, with marking and reporting deadlines next Thursday morning sharp. Kitten Meg is asleep on my lap. Thank You, Father! Praise God!

Our prayers are with K. as she flies tonight to Vanuatu on a three week missions trip. God bless!

Things that have made my jaw drop recently:

1. Corey Doctorow – I read Corey Doctorow in a sort of dazed wonder. First, I read the novel Little Brother, which I read in one white-knuckle, nail-bitten sitting at the computer even though I hate to read books on a computer screen, and which left me reeling for a few days afterwards and seeing the world in a completely new and sparkly way. Then, last night a simple interview which I read all 5 pages of at midnight even though I was desperately tired. Possibly the first time an interview has been so engrossing. Neil Gaiman links to it on his blog.

2. The writers and actors of The West Wing. I am in love with the characters and the quality of this show. Working through season 1. Love the one liners. Best so far: “You know, I’m a very handsome man. I mention this because it’s not something people realise the first time they meet me.” Thanks goes to Karen Miller (author of Kingmaker, Kingbreaker duology) for the recommendation, and the Jennings for the loan!*

3. Whoever wrote (and a particular cast member of) the first episode of… well, more on that later.
Perhaps in two weeks or so.

Eeeee!

* CJ was in Juno and Hairspray and 10 Things I Hate About You and Sam Seabourne was Sodapop in The Outsiders! He was my favourite, if I remember my Yr9 novel study correctly. The wonders of IMDb!

I made this list of questions up to find out more about a short story I am trying to rewrite as a bigger story. Two days of enthusiastic and nearly non-stop writing later, I’d found out so much about the story’s world that I could then use in the story that I would like to offer it to the world at large as an ideas-starter. It’s not exhaustive, or unique, but there might be a question or two someone hasn’t thought of. By all means help me add to it! Most importantly, as a friend reminded me, DON’T let the meticulous nature of the questions scare you off writing the actual story – the story is much more important!

WORLDBUILDING NOTES

• Time:
• Geography and transport:
• Science and religion and magic:

1. Are they seen to be all the same thing, perhaps, or do some people have extraordinary abilities? Why?*
2. Do different strata of society have different beliefs?
3. Do different regions have different beliefs?
4. Do other groups have different beliefs?

• Art, fashion, music and architecture – how is it influenced by science, religion, magic and societal organisation?

• Recreation – what is society’s? What is my character’s?

• Holidays/Festivals/Celebrations:

• Education – what is normal? What has my main character had?

• Societal organization and the philosophy behind it.

• Society’s daily duties/expectations/responsibilities/roles/general perception of:

Men, Women, Girls, Boys, Engaged females, Engaged males, Married men, Married women, Old men, Old women, The rich / masters, The poor / servants / slaves, The farmers / gatherers, The service providers, eg. Musicians / architects / artisans, Tradespeople / merchants, The educators, The educated (Doctors / lawyers / Bankers / other), The warriors / protectors.

• Are there any particular/different ways my character looks at the world? Why?

What has my character been denied that everyone else knows? And why were they denied it? What has my character got privileged knowledge about that nobody else knows? And why have they got that?

• Everyday life:
Sleeping, Food/cooking/preparation/eating/feasting/manners, Sanitation, Makeup and adornment, Drinking (alcohol laws/customs?).

* I would like to acknowledge that some of these ideas are from a writing session I attended, put together by Gillian Pollack of the Canberra Writers Centre.

1. “Be Thou My Vision” has to be the best hymn ever. I’m listening to Robin Mark’s male-choir-and-guitar-and-Irish-fife-and-fiddle version, from the CD “Songs and Hymns”, which I downloaded from iTunes. Brilliant words rousingly sung.

2. If you’re a Christian and you want to do something for the persecuted church, go over to http://www.prisoneralert.com/ and generate some letters. It’s a ministry of Voice of the Martyrs. If you want to feel connected to the persecuted church and want to pray for those who are suffering for their faith all over the world, they also do an email newsletter that sends out specific news and prayer items from time to time. It’s never intrusive, they don’t pepper you with emails and it feels good to finally be informed about stuff the secular media doesn’t have time for.

3. I would like to thank “qb magazine” (the magazine of Queensland baptists) for some decent articles. Quotes below.

From “The Princess Phenomenon“:

So, is this ‘princess phenomenon’ an indication of our desire for self-worth and self-esteem? If so, we need to get back to the fact that our worth is found only in Jesus Christ who made us, died to save us and calls us to follow him into a holy life…. And yes, we are children of the King, but we are also his servants…. The logic is simple: God is king. I am his daughter, therefore I am a princess….Perhaps being a princess focuses on how the world sees us, whereas being a daughter is at the centre on how our heavenly Father sees us. It seems to me that no king deals with his child as ‘princess’ in preference to ‘daughter’…. As we use the term ‘princess’ we need to be balanced and be careful that we’re not subtly supporing the message that ‘It’s all about me’… Because in today’s culture, to be a princess means being looked after and pampered, and that’s not what God means for his children…. As we shine like stars in the universe we must be reflecting HIS glory, not our own.

From “Bearing the Silence of God: A Turkish Theologian finds the image of Christ in the persecuted church.” by Ziya Meral:

Statements such as, “More Christians have died for their faith in the 20th century than in all the other centuries of church history combined,” and, “It is estimated that two-thirds of all the martyrs in Christian history died in the 20th century,” are frequently used in reports and writings on worldwide persecution.

More Christians are killed than are saved from execution at the last minute. More Christians stay locked in prison, beaten and tortured, than are able to walk free, guided by miraculous escape plans. More Christians suffer lifelong deprivation of their most basic civic and economic rights. More converts from Islam give up their faith than stay Christians, and those who remain in the church struggle with lifelong battles with shame, depression, and isolation, caused by the loss of ties to their families, communities, and nations.

Above all, for the average persecuted Christian, there are unanswered prayers and the absence of peace, strength, courage and joy. Their humanness in a very earthly plot line finds no place in our modern-day obsession with heroic stories with victorious resolutions.

….

For persecuted Christians, suffering turns into affliction when they internalise the horrible feeling that they are alone. When the persecuted Christian begins to believe that most of the global church does not care and will not be there to share his pain, loneliness moves from the physical dimension to an inner anguish.

….

At this point, the incapacity of the modern church to reconcile the suffering of the global church with the God of love is evident. But, our highest good is not a problem-free life; it is to be like the Son.

….

Through our stubborn commitment to love those who persecute us and to dwell in nations that torment us, our witness for the gospel gains power. That is why the Prophets of the Bible lived symbolic lives with symbolic actions, such as sitting in dust and ashes. The lives of the Prophets were the very voice of God speaking to people, just as the life and sacrifices of Paul were the channels through which God spoke to the nations.

….

Yet the silence of God is not the same as the absence of God. Within those silent moments, he is present in our pain, suffering, and isolation. He is hurting with us as we are hurting like his Son. In his silence, he is speaking loudly to the world around us.

The greatest glory Jesus brought to God was not when he walked on the water or prayed for long hours, but when he cried in agony in the garden of Gethsemane and still continued to follow God’s will, even though it meant isolation, darkness, and the silence of God. Thus, we know that when everything around us fails, when we are destroyed and abandoned, our tears, blood, and dead corpses are the greatest worship songs we have ever sung.

….

When we identify ourselves with the humiliation, suffering, and death of Jesus, we are also granted the privilege of being identified with the resurrection, glory, and reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.

….

The promise of sharing his resurrection and glory gives us a great hope: that our sacrifices are not in vain and do not go unnoticed, even though no other human being – nor the global church – may know or care about what we are going through, even though we may not see any apparent rhyme or reason in our suffering now.

This means that our calling to bring life to the world and glory to God has other blessings besides the joy we have now: the joy of bringing hope and light to a pain-filled world and the joy of pleasing the God we love, through our willing surrender to his desire. Here I am speaking of a far greater joy that awaits us: the joy of being welcomed, restored, and glorified by the Father, just as he welcomed, restored, and glorified his risen Son.

….

[Ziya Miral quotes CS Lewis' The Screwtape Letters, where the senior demon advises the younger:]

Be not deceived, Wormwood, our cause is never more in jeopardy than when a human, no longer desiring but still intending to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe in which every trace of him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.

….

He [God] holds back his power so that we can accomplish his work, so that our sacrifices can be sources of life and healing to the world…. We know that he is not quiet, but is speaking powerfully through the lives, suffering, and death of his children.

Whoa – I finally found a free copy online of this song! I’ve been after it for a while.

Aaand it WORKS!

I foresee more YouTube embedded delights… (evil grin, rubs hands together gleefully)

Enjoy!

Last night I dreamed that God showed me the length and breadth of the earth – hurtling through the air above lands and continents, plummeting down to impossible depths in the ocean as the waters pulled back, then looking up from the ocean floor before launching up again. I spent the dream in terrified awe. Interestingly, I woke up to realise that my imagination had had almost laughable limits and that if God were to show me the breadth and detail of the actual world, I would have possibly gone mad as my mind may not have been able to take it.

The message as I see it: if the world I imagine is big enough to take my breath away, and the world He created is a thousand times bigger still, HOW BIG IS GOD?!

Whether the dream was sent by God or my subconscious, that’s a great message. I couldn’t do anything but wake up praising God!

I think one of the main reasons I want to travel the world is so I can wonder at what God has done and at how much bigger He must be than all the wonders I see. How awesome would it be to travel with that your conscious goal?

Also to praise God about: the fact that I, sick, driving my little car with almost no grip left on the wheels, was not washed off the road or struck by lightening last night as I drove to Toowoomba. It was scarier than driving in fog, which I was doing once I was driving in Toowoomba last night, around Picnic Point. Thankfully, God had moved the storm the opposite way to the way I was going, so it passed me on the flat highway, not while I was going up the range! Woohoo!