Tattoo

I have been wearing the colors for 10 years now, so I thought I’d make ‘em permanent.

- Primarily it’s about Aboriginal protocol and their just call for treaties. In lieu of a message stick, wearing the colors (Aboriginal flag, of earth, sun, and sky/skin) is a way for me to declare that I am with their basic cause. I have observed protocol as best I can and have the blessing of the Whadjuk elders to be here, and I listen for their wisdom.
- But also, the colors are woven into a Celtic braid, which shows I can bring my heritage to this and find a lot of common ground.
- the three strands can symbolize a lot! The Trinity; cultures brought together by Christ’s blood (Ephesians 3); God’s glory flowing through our cultures…

All this has an aroma of “Shalom” – that’s the Hebrew word inked there. It’s a huge, holistic, sense of all levels of reality finally being right with each other. And I’ve experienced enough of it to think it’s worth identifying myself with the pursuit of it.

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At home in The Shack

For all those who asked me what I thought of The Shack, here you are, and I’m sorry I took so long to read it.

So many people asked me about William P Young’s book, The Shack, that I thought it must be just another one of those latest-greatest fads you see around Christian bookshops from time to time. But now that I’ve read it, I realize you were asking me because you thought I might personally resonate with it – and I do. Come to think of it, I have not been asked about other fad books in years. So I’m sorry I didn’t cotton-on sooner.

I felt quite at home in The Shack. So many ideas that may seem alarming to some, seem quite sound to me.

For example, the most controversial image was God’s appearance as a woman for the sake of the father-damaged Mack. God later appears as a man when a reconciliation and father-healing has happened. To me these elements of the story express the wonders of the incarnation and redemption: that Jesus is God made flesh and reveals himself to us gently & in a way we can relate to; and that God then redeems our brokenness to take us to a more whole relationship.)

And I loved how these insights were explored within the context of profound suffering. It was no easy approach.

Some of my favorite quotes:

• “Does that mean,” said Mack, “that all roads will lead to you?”
  “Not at all.” Jesus smiled as he reached for the dorr handle to the shop. Most roads don’t lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you.”
• “You will learn to hear my thoughts in yours, Mackenzie.” – Sarayu assuring Mack of her presence and interaction with him whether he senses it or not. This turn of phrase describes beautifully how I experience God most often.
• Re: The Tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”When something happens, how do you determine whether it is good or evil?” …All of this sounds quite self-serving and self-centered … “Then it is you who determines good and evil. You become the Judge… So when your good and evil clash with your neighbor’s, fights and arguments ensue and even wars break out.”
• “You might see me in a piece of art, or music, or silence, or through people, or in creation, or in your joy and sorrow. My ability to communicate is limitless, living and transforming, and it will always be tuned to Papa’s goodness and love. And you will hear me and see me in the Bible in fresh ways. just don’t look for rules and principles; look for relationship – a way of coming to be with us.” – Sarayu again, the personification of God’s wisdom / Spirit.

The emphasis on God as a Being-to-relate-to made far more sense of the historical data we have, and the experiences of myself and many others. This makes it a far more complete book that The Celestine Prophecy which I reviewed recently. I couldn’t help comparing them, since they both try to overview their spiritual insights through the medium of story.

For content, I also could not help comparing The Shack to my book, Treading On God’s Heels. If I had read The Shack beforehand, I may not have written my book. The Shack covers the topics in a much better story than I could weave. As it stands, however, readers of Treading On God’s Heels, will find straight talk about the same insights canvassed so skillfully in William P Young’s story.

Sure, if you lifted quotes out of the context of the whole book, you might have to ask some theological questions to determine Young’s views. For example he doesn’t deal much with hell in the way Jesus does. But the things he does say are fresh and helpful (and Biblical): about suffering and rights, law and relationship, freedom and love, forgiveness, and redemption.

Yep, Sally and I both felt quite at home in The Shack.

my other blog

If you subscribed to this blog, you will find more from me these days on geoffwestlake.com.  It is more my work site. It’s also a wordpress blog, so you can subscribe to that as well.

This site will be used for more of my more difficult, edgier comments, which may upset some Christians, but hopefully will be of help to ordinary people trying to make their way forward.

Cheers.
g

Seven Deadly Sins: “me and my shadow”

We all have blind spots, where we find ourselves in destructive patterns before we know it… I’ve noticed that by the time I do eventually recognize what’s happening and start to get cleaned up in one area, another sin is already in my blindspot!

So I started thinking through the seven deadly sins to see what might be next!

 The sins: Listed in the same order used by both Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th century, and later by Dante Alighieri in his epic poem The Divine Comedy, the seven deadly sins are as follows: luxuria (extravagance, later lust), gula (gluttony), avaritia (greed), acedia (sloth), ira (wrath), invidia (envy), and superbia (pride). Each of the seven deadly sins has an opposite among the corresponding seven holy virtues (sometimes also referred to as the contrary virtues). In parallel order to the sins they oppose, the seven holy virtues are chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility.  - (Wikipedia)

The Seven Deadly Sins: “me and my shadow”

When I was a young man, I assumed everyone suffered with lust as the un-beatable sin. Then I heard an older man say, “not everyone,” and I began to imagine what it might be like to live without enslavement to lust. I started using www.xxxchurch.com. And in “Blue Like Jazz,” Don Miller describes the naked female as a sight beyond any vista he’d ever seen, and likewise I began to imagine what it might be like to behold feminine beauty without sinning. As years went by, and I married & take in the vista, lust became less of a problem to me.

With some thoughtfulness, Sal & I bought a house. I work for a Christian agency on ‘staff support’ – meaning people donate to my salary – so it’s not much. After a few years and blessings we had a few investments. We chose to do that so we could make some money for Opportunity International Trust Banks (which generate micro-finance in poverty stricken areas) and to other workers and global needs. If we had not made those investments we’d have nothing to give – we’d still be simply living hand to mouth. But one day I turned around and saw greed, right there in the mirror! Well we made sure we figured out when enough was enough, and cashed out when the investments had fruited enough! Plus we had a bushfire in 2002 – we could see the flames towering over the trees next to the house as we drove away with everything that mattered in the car – the rest could burn. It was a very liberating experience to feel and know that we were detached from all that ‘stuff’.

Meanwhile, we had some kids, and they needed bathing and daddy time, and so footy training was impractical for me. No more footy. This sacrifice of my health was a conscious decision on my part for the sake of the needs of my kids. But as the years went by energy level decreased, and some nights it was all I could do to keep my eyes open in front of the TV. I run a neighbors’ network called Cheers. It runs on being intentional about getting off our butts and meeting the neighbors, and getting involved. And yet I began to realize sloth was in me too. I still have relaxing nights, but I make sure I go to the meetings I’ve organized, and ring mates to catch up, and make myself do the things I said I’d do. I put it in my diary. And I’ve also started to exercise again, even if it is only for 7 minutes a day… and the energy is returning.

Meanwhile, I have always enjoyed flavours – I’ve often joked that if I had to lose all but one of the five senses, then I’d choose to retain “taste.” Particularly the big aromatic flavours – olives, anchovies, pepperoni, shiraz, guiness – my coffee has to be strong black with a dark brown crème. I savour flavours, like the mouse in the movie Ratatouille. But in 2007/8 I started to catch myself going for seconds of the really tastiest stuff. And then thirds. One time I took a whole bowl of leftovers which I suddenly realized was supposed to be a side-dish for many. Could this be gluttony? While I was thinking about this, I turned 40, and noticed a little middle-age spread. Maybe it could be justified, but I visited the doctor in Nov 2008, and he said my cholesterol was too high at 6.4. And I learned that fat around my organs was stressing them. So I started the Every Other Day Diet, and 7 Minute Muscle programs.

So what’s next?

I already have an ongoing struggle with pride. I work hard at what I’m doing, and do what I do because I think it’s the right thing to do – integrity is a big deal to me, living an integrated / wholistic life, that is right under God, heart, mind, soul and strength. And so the down side is that I think I’m right – which means I can appear arrogant, as if I have ‘the’ right way. Of course I know there’s not one single right way to think about things, but the way I’m thinking about it at any given point is the right-est I can do for now, and so I can do no other than live that way. But it means I can be slow to realize when someone else has a better way, or is more right than me. And that looks a lot like pride! Add to that, that some people react to the alpha-male traits I have, as if that’s arrogant anyway. Add to that, that I am in a job that requires me to ‘tell’ people some things they may not know, things that I think are right. Add to that, that sometimes I have offended people by an insensitive comment or gesture, and you’ve got a cocktail of arrogance there. (Sorry if you’ve been on the receiving end.) So I do try to listen and learn from everyone. My father-in-law is my great model for me. He seems to assume that because he is “just a lowly farmer” that he must not know that much, and everyone else must have more insight than he. So he listens carefully to everyone, and asks for their wisdom on everything. And over the years that enquiry and reflection has made him a very wise man indeed – if only he would trust that a bit more.

I also have my battles with wrath: I suffer from an inherited form of depression, that made my granddad a mean drunk when he tried to self-medicate back in his day. Thankfully effexor is available now, but I know what it is to be enraged. Plus, I don’t take it very well when people in power treat me like an imbecile. try to write off what I’m saying with lame one-liners that really make no sense, or caricature what I’m saying as silly. It’s disrespectful, it treats me like an idiot, and I see red – the blood rushes to my brain so fast it makes my eyes rattle. The sense of shaming is the worst thing for me. (I’m sure a psyc with a little knowledge could have a field day with that.)

That only leaves envy. I suppose I don’t think in envious terms because I feel I’ve been blessed with so much – I have a meaningful job, a great wife who is truly my partner, 4 beautiful kids, more ‘stuff’ than we need, a fulfilling relationship with God, a very rich education (formally and informally), varied life experiences. And I’m very grateful for it all, knowing there’s no reason I was blessed with it, and aware that to whom much is given much is expected. So – maybe envy is my blind spot! Envy is “wanting to see someone else suffer so that I can have what they have.” I can’t see that exactly – at Cheers we work hard for others to be empowered, so when they take over something we once did, we’re grateful! Not envious. We think its great that they can do it now, because we can get on with something else. But then at work, sometimes I see a group get to do a job we should do, & I think, “my organization are sidelined when I know we could do it a lot better.” That’d be envy…  

Even more troubling is this: I’m concerned at the size of my ecological footprint, and the system I’m attached to and complicit in, because I know it means that someone suffers so that I gain. I want to do something about it, but we need to do that together, so how? I am looking for answers as we speak. Bring back the electric car, bring on the air car, bring on green power, bring back trees everywhere and a renewed discovery of the pharmacy that is the native bush. Bring on the word ‘enough’ in economies and politics. End slavery and exploitation, stop oil-dependency, start new industries that are sustainable, bring on ocean reserves, give some land or land-rights away, let the UN do its job to broker equity in a pluralist world… and so I struggle with someone else having to suffer for my gain.

Classically the antidotes are as follows:
chastity, beats lust;
temperance, beats gluttony,
charity, beats greed,
diligence, beats sloth,
humility, beats pride.
patience, beats wrath, (and asking “why am I angry: am I sad, scared, or shamed?”).
And kindness, beats envy.

But here is what I have learned so far:
- Life is better without the vices!!!
- We all have blind spots, and that’s where the vices sneak in.
- A man’s got to know his limitations (Know thyself.) Be vigilant on myself.
- Christ’s in-spir-ation helps me beat the vices.
- Everyone battles with something, so cut us some slack.

Geoff

Geoff’s diet & exercise

I now diet every other day, and exercise for just 7 minutes.

Don’t laugh – I lost 10kg in the first month, and now continue to lose fat and gain muscle. Of course you have to do it the right way...  

Lots of my friends are interested, so here’s the summary FYI.

Nov 2008: Age – 42. Cholesterol too high (6.4), too much gut fat. So I researched (didn’t want to waste my time.) 
Dec 2008: Start diet and exercise – lost 10kg. 
Feb 2009: weight stable, but continue to lose fat and gain muscle. Feel fitter. Visible difference.

Thanks to www.JonBenson.com  The detail is online at  www.EODD.com,  www.7mm.com, – you pay for the ebook, but it contains the research & recipes etc. (He’s a good Christian guy, used to be a youth minister, is 40-something – we’d be mates in other circumstances.) 

Every Other Day Diet

Jon calls them Feed days and Burn days.

Feed days - Eat normally – yes pizza, burgers, whatever. (But don’t binge!) Keeps your metabolic rate high!

Burn days – every other day, rabbit food (see SNAPP below). Because your metabolism is still up at the rate for handling Feed days, you will burn fat on the Burn days. 

If you only have rabbit food all the time, your metabolism will eventually adjust down to preserve fat reserves. No further fat is burned. Then when you get sick of the diet, you Feed, and because of the low metabolic rate, you will gain lots of fat quickly. So keep general metabolic rate up, but burn fat via burn days. That’s the key.

 On “Feed” days: keeping your metabolism up: 
- high level of calories
- coffee & exercise in the morning (I often go without breaky to keep burning fat till I eat at lunch)
- eat what you want 

On “Burn” days: high metabolism + low intake = fat burning
- low level of calories: the SNAPP food.

SNAPP

S – Shake: (I eat just an egg & coffee) start the day with protein & exercise to rev up the metabolism

N – Nuts: first snack (eg. peanuts). Nut oils are healthy. Pumpkin seeds are esp good for men’s health. (BTW, a good intake of omega 3 oils means you need much less animal fats, which are bad for cholesterol.) 

A – Apples: Jon says, “Pectin slows the digestion of sugar and also creates a feeling of fullness. Obviously apples are healthy. Everyone knows the old saying about keeping the doctor away. The pectin in apples, along with the wonderful phytonutrients, both go a long way to keeping the doctors at bay.” Use as a lunch replacement, altho some days I have lettuce mix, with can of salmon, olive oil, olives, pepper, etc = tastey rabbit food. 

P – Protein: at dinner time. A little lean meat – lots of green veg – not starch or carbs.

P – Produce: – also any non-carb veges, esp. raw green veges.
And if you snack before bed, only raw green veg, or nothing (better to go to bed slightly hungry: “It’s the time the body is either told by the brain to store fat or to burn it during your sleep.”  

So on Burn days – no fat, carbs, sugar (including sweet fruits – except Apples). 

Drink water – half the time you feel like a snack, you’re actually just thirsty. Keep water handy. It also helps organ and cell function.

 

7MM – 7 Minute Muscle

To make the most of the diet, add 7 minutes exercise a day! Exercising (the right way) will release fat-burning hormones, keep metabolic rate up, and add muscle (which also burns fat.) And yes this is key for women too – adding muscle does not mean bulk, but rather it reduces and shapes in all the right places. 

 The trick here is to work the muscles close to fatigue, as soon as you can, yet still being able to maintain exercise for 7 minutes — long enough for the hormones to be released. Sure you can exercise for longer, but by getting the reaction going, you’ve already achieved the goal. (It’s the 80:20 rule – the first 80% of benefit takes 20% of the effort, the last 20% takes the next 80% of effort. The extra 20% benefit is necessary for elite or competitive athletes to get ‘the edge,’ but not for those of us who just want to be generally healthy.) 

Working larger muscle groups that affect most of the body is a great idea, as it ‘wakes up’ more muscle that need the chemical reactions. Vince Delmonte says, “I focused on compound exercises that positioned me to lift the heaviest weights possible and maximize the most muscle in the shortest period of time.  The list for this is short – bench presses, bent over rows, over head presses, deadlifts, squats, dips, chin ups and hanging leg raises.  Those were the core 8 exercises and each workout I would do a slight variation on those movements for variety.” 

I recently bought a “Total Gym 1000″ from the Quokka – for $25. A sneakily painful machine! 

 In the first 5 minutes, you want to lift as much total weight as possible – mix up the weight, repetitions, and rest period, to find the way to lift the most in the time available.

Clue: start with 80% of your maximum single lift. do reps of 5, with a 15 second gap between reps. Record it. You should start to really feel it in your third minute. If it’s too much, next time reduce the weight or reps, or increase the rest between reps. If its too easy, increase the weight or reps, or decrease the rest. Your muscles should just about be worn out by end of 5 mins. 

In the 2 minutes remaining, reduce the weight, and keep doing the exercise. You’re prolonging the benefit of the exercise by keeping the muscle close to fatigue for longer. And now you’re releasing a different fat-burning hormone. The last few lifts should be really hard for you – the money lifts! And adjust next time as you need to , to keep the exercise near redline. 

Keep a record of your lifting, so you can accurately compare how you’re going, and make the necessary adjustments. Also you’ll see how you gain over the weeks. 

And that’s it!

Really! It’s called “interval resistence training.” You should be puffing a bit by the end. Your heart rate should be up. This could be all you need cardio-vascularwise (although this has not been fully proven yet). If you don’t think you’ve had enough cardio, do another 7 minutes on another muscle group, and you will certainly have had enough for your heart. Or you can do a 30 minute walk. Or a high-rate burst of skipping or jogging or boxing.

But just the 7MM worked for me. 

Note: if after a while you feel flat / burned out, just take 2 days off, and let your nervous system recover. Then do the next day or 2 at 50% to ease back in. Then after that you’ll see your numbers increase again. 

Remember: For fat-burning
Diet is King! 
Exercise is second 
- esp. Interval, resistence /anabolic exercise (achieves some cardio any way) 
Cardio is last (but still of benefit)

This is a sustainable lifestyle for me. I started this because my cholesterol was high, and I had too much gut-fat around my internal organs. I’m visibly better now. There’s no real reason I can’t just keep on doing it. I intend to, so next time you see me, ask me if I am. 

Cheers
Geoff

 

 

Magi Mullets?

Did the Magi wear mullets?

Andrew Jones makes this a worthwhile study!

Cheers

Friends get things done

 

Friendships – that’s how we get things done.

In Banksia Grove: the monthly Round Table meeting has one representative from every network in the suburb, and we resolve matters in real time, using the mobile phones where necessary. It’s incredibly effective for troubleshooting, streamlining, and synergy. How did it start? I made friends with someone from each network, and when the idea came up, it was easy – just asking friends about a good idea, and we all made it work. There’s no program substitute for this process! 

In Perth, we have excellent co-operation between parachurch groups (eg. SU, OAC, TEAR, ForgeWA), who use each others’ expertise in R&D, training, & outreach. It’s because of the good friendships between leaders in those organizations. It grows by a cycle of working with each other, and then meeting to reflect, then working together again… 

Likewise we learn lots more about other cultures, other religions, other anythings… if we make friends with someone first.

I’m on the board of the AEA, which offers lots of different services to all kinds of Christian groups. But the biggest thing I think AEA offers is chances for people to meet, work together, become friends and imagine new synergies.

You know, the ancient Greeks had a way of looking after town affairs, called the “ecclesia.” (A good portrayal of an ancient ecclesia is in the movie, The Odyssey.) 

It met at the gates or some other civic place, and the basic mode of operation was:

1) avoid the agenda, and spend half the available time building the friendships, asking after each other;
2) listen to the older wise guys (elders) who knew a thing or two about town affairs;
3) tend to the needs of the town.

The idea was that they’d be able to find solutions much quicker if they were friends.

That’s been my experience. My maxim is, “All good things start with coffee.”

 

 

What brought me out

What made me start to blog? I wanted to say something on Facebook, something important, but I couldn’t find the right forum, so I just …had to blog it. I wanted to get it off my chest. So what did i want to say?