In Love

February… the month of love!

The month that Hallmark makes it’s entire profit for the year in 2 weeks, the month that teddy bears & flashing novelty items become more than stocking-stuffers for kids, and the month that chocolate appears everywhere in heart-shaped boxes (not that we’re complaining about that last symptom!). Every year at this time, there are movies coming out that try to create a picture of what love looks like. According to the media, love means staying together only as long as you are ‘in love’, it means leaving your boyfriend for a handsome stranger, or sometimes it can even mean becoming a vampire to be together(!).

Let’s have a look at a different picture of love:

God Himself, in human form, sitting in a garden late at night, crying tears of blood in despair because of what He knew was to come, and yet willing to go through with torture, ridicule, betrayal, separation & death itself to be able to once again be with the one He loves—you. The Creator of the heavens and the earth sending the Ultimate Valentine, His only son, so as to be reconciled with his lost children—us.

Let’s spend some “date time” this month rereading His love letter to us: the Gospel, and delight in the love of our Lord, whose love knows no conditions, it simply is, regardless of our mistakes and sinfulness.

Lovers of our legs, smile, personality and talent last but a moment, but the Lover of our soul will continue to desire us long after the focus of the world turns away from Valentines Day. Which is better than a Hollywood storyline any day!

Love Brooke

Giggles

What makes you laugh?
When there seems to be no other way to get out of a slump, brighten a dull day or shake out of lethargy, a good laugh is a great response to an otherwise negative outlook.

Some things that I love to laugh at are:
Bill Bailey comedy
My brother's wisecracks
Bill Cosby recordings
Silly photos of my nieces and nephew
Playing the Paper Game

So, if you haven't had a good laugh in a while, or just haven't felt like smiling today, here's a little fun to brighten your day:





:) Love Brooke

A New Perspective for A New Year

Hi awesome young people!
I know I've been slack not writing for over a month, but I'm back now for a new year and a fresh point of view.
I hope you can take the journey with me this year...

One of my commitments for 2012 (which is a term I prefer to 'resolution') is to focus on God in difficult situations, rather than the situation itself. Easier said than done, I know! I am determined, and praying for the Holy Spirit to help me in asking this one question each time I am faced with something that overwhelms, frustrates or upsets me this year: "Where are you in this, God?" And then listening for His guidance rather then falling down into my usual habit of panicing, doubting and quitting.

Because, for me, I want 2012 to be a year of understanding - understanding where God is moving, how He is moving, and where He wants me in the midst of His plans. And isn't that where we all want to be - right in the middle of God's will and favor?!

Join me in looking forward to the bigger picture, 'cos things are going to get exciting!!

Love Brooke

Eternal Hope

I am reading C.S. Lewis's theological classic 'Mere Christianity' at the moment (well, have been at it for a while now - it's not a quick read!), and was really encouraged as I was reminded where, as Jesus followers, our hope should be focused.

Lewis writes : "The Christian says, "Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exist... If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.""

During this festive season, lets not allow retail marketing and social pressures to sway our focus from what really matters, as no diamond braclet, iPad2, new boyfriend/girlfriend, giant Christmas feast, or any earthly thing will ever truely satisfy our eternal longings. Jesus is not only the Reason for the Season, He is also the Answer for the Season.

Merry Christmas!

Love Brooke

From the Heart the Mouth Speaks

"The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart."
Luke 6:45

When my radio alarm clicked on this morning, the program presenters were having a conversation about how a new law was going to be passed in Pakistan banning certain cusswords from being used in text messages, and how outraged Australians would be if such a bann was enforced here. Their main point of contention was that Aussies love to swear and as a free-speech country we should be able to say whatever we want.
This point of view makes me sad not only because the Word says we definately cannot say whatever we want (Matt. 12:36), but because it shows a scary lack of understanding of what is really at the heart of the matter.

Jesus tells us that the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart, so what does it say about our spiritual state when we use language that makes grandmothers blush and little children gasp? There is a reason that He commands us to guard our hearts - it contains the wellspring of life, the very essence of who we are. And the words we speak not only communicate thoughts and sentiments, but life and death. Far from being accepted symbols of culture or personal expressions of individuality, what swearing really is is a verbal indicator of moral decay.

OK. Not meaning to get too heavy here! So lets backtrack a little...

If everyone could see inside of you and see the health of your spirit, what would you want them to see? Would you act (and talk) differently if you knew that everything you do is broadcasting who you are underneath? Well, our speach is doing this, even if it is a gradual process - because, lets face it, some people are very skilled at wearing masks and hiding behind perceptions. But the truth is that all people eventually reveal who they are at a heart level by what comes from their mouths. In those unguarded moments that we love to push aside with a "just kidding" or a "no offense" excuse, we show the world the side of ourselves that God knew all along.

So we see that as much as parents and teachers try to enforce one, a blanket rule of 'No Swearing' is never going to fix the problem entirely. The root of the issue is much deeper, is much slower and is more significant.
God is, and always has been, after our heart. To grow in us a transformed spirit that dwells on "... whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute... anything of excellence and worthy of praise" (Phil. 4:8). When we are focused on those things, swearing seems like such an unnecessary and undesirable response, doesn't it?

Love Brooke

History Makers

I was listening to that classic Delirious song "History Maker" this morning (which I think is one of the greatest Christian anthems of all time!), and it got me to thinking... what does it take to be a 'history maker' as young people in the world today?

In our current culture of Self is King and Pleasure is the Goal, the answer is still the same as it's always been throughout history - Stand Up in Jesus. As the song proclaims, "I'm gonna stand, I'm gonna run into His arms". When our focus is on Him and not ourselves, when we stand up for His truth and not our own rights, when our identity is found in the Lord and not in material things, we won't be able to help but affect and influence the world for the better.

Because the huge role of changing the world for Jesus starts with the small (but equally challanging) role of changing ourselves from the inside out for Him. God wants to transform our hearts to be a reflection of His heart, so that we become passionate about the things that He is passionate about - justice, mercy, righteousness, love. Once we have that Holy Fire on the inside of us, we can stand up in confidence and become the Speakers of Truth that He has made us to be... and the world will never be the same again!

I want to challange you today to listen to "History Maker", and allow the Lord to speak to you through it - what is He calling to you to work on today that will be a step towards changing the world tomorrow?

Love Brooke

Is God still a good God when He allows pain & suffering in the world?

To understand and know an invisible God, all we can look at is the evidence of His hand - the world He created and the person He fashioned after Himself - Man.

When looking at the two, we must bear in mind that the picture we see now is a broken one, an imperfect representation of the Master's original masterpiece. Before sin entered the world, creation worked in harmony with its Creator and man lived in perfect innocence and communion with God.
He gave us free will because it wouldn't be real love if we were forced to love Him and not be able to choose Him of our own accord. The down side of free will is that we now have the ability to choose the wrong thing, to make the wrong decision, to go against God's laws. And thus, sin entered the world and we were never the same again.

So now, we live in a fractured state, seperated from our maker, existing in a world that no longer functions as it was originally intended to. Nethertheless, this does not alter the nature of God. Just as one bad painting does not change the fact that the painter is still the painter, so God is still God, is still good and still desires us to live in perfect fellowship with Him (i.e. His goodness being displayed in the beauty of life back in the Garden). All good things come from the Lord, and the painful, unjust things are only part of the broken world we live in. Rather than asking "Why?", a better question is "How?"... How does God fix the problem of seperation that our sin causes?
He fixes it with an offer - receive the sacrifice of my son in place of your sins and be reconciled to Me. The price that our disobedience demands has been paid on our behalf, and the freedom of righteousness is available to all who choose Jesus as their saviour.

Pain and suffering come to all - following Jesus doesn't exclude us from this - but what it does offer us is a comforter who walks besides us, a friend who sticks closer than a brother, and a God who understands all we go through, because He has been through it all, for us.
And the eternity that we have all been made for, for which our spirit longs, is where our ultimate focus should be - on that glorious day when all tears shall be wiped away and ever hurt and pain healed forever.

Love Brooke