belated photos...

this is in the KBC classroom - blonde-Ellen, Sarah, Beth, Amy and Anna up front This is my bio-group ("bring-it-on"-group, originally called "spiritual formation group" but apparently that word was too long and boring) - you're supposed to meet with your bio-group once a week, and answer a whole heap questions honestly - confess - and pray together... We live together anyway, so that's fine. Right now my bio-group is scattered all over the world so I miss them. Beth (on the left) is in Middlesborough (just got engaged by the way!!) and Tash (right) is in Hungary with her dad.. exciting!
This is Abi, me and Simon-Zoolander (!) --the principal of KBC, in case u didn't notice.
And I just have to say: I FINALLY FLEW A KITE!!! (Me, Abi, Mark)
And this is the M&M (Mission and Ministries) gang.. sadly Tash isn't in the photo, as she's taking it. Otherwise everyone's on it - from the left: Amy, Sarah, Beth, Dave, me, Matt, Mike, Mike, Eric, Anna and Jack in front and James kneeling.

Watching a TV documentary today, a mother was talking about her conjointed twin teenage-daughters... She said something like: you have to see them like a child does - not asking questions like "how do they work", "how do they fit together", etc - just accepting that they do work, and who they are...

It made me think about God. Jesus said we have to become like children to enter the kingdom of God. Open. Accepting. Trusting.

Jesus' prayer to our Father was that we would receive the kingdom life - eternal life, which means to know the Father and to know Jesus...

Knowing God, the perfect father, creator, king, saviour, friend, is proper mint!

Questions of Creation

Today in Transforming Culture (a series of lectures every Wednesday evening), we learnt about the centrality of creation care to our lives as Christians in today's world. It was very, very interesting! Thanks dad, to all you've exemplified in your (as I now understand) prophetic lifestyle. Getting a bit of biblical background as well has helped me see that this is actually not an incidental issue, which some Christians just happen to have the gift to see and do something about - it's important we all see the significance of God's relationship with his earth, and our relationship with God and the earth.

Whilst many people who don't know God personally take the current state of the earth seriously, many Christians I've encountered till now don't seem to see it as important, arguing that the earth will be "burned up" anyway..

Read Genesis 9:8-17, Leviticus 18:28, Jeremiah 12:4, Psalm 24:1 - The earth is God's, the earth as a whole... It's a beautiful gift to us which we were told to subdue/rule over in the same way Psalm 72 describes; bringing justice to the afflicted, crushing the oppressor...

When we read in some bibles, in 2.Pet 3:10, that the earth will be "burned up", the proper translation of the Greek word may in fact be "found". In 1.Cor 15, Paul's use of the word "changed" (v.51-52) implies a continuity of his created world in our final redemption. And in Romans 8 Paul says that the world- that is mankind and creation alongside each other - waits in eager expectation for God's final redemption. Christ's life and death have cosmic consequences - John 3:16 talks about the world - the cosmos. Colossians 1:15 onwards talks about Christ holding everything together - this confirms again the relationship between man and the earth (which God first confirms in Genesis 3:17b-19).

So the Gospel, the good news, is for God's whole creation..!

We are called to be worshippers, who are in right relationship with God, treating the things he has made in the same way as he treats them. Stewards. Kingdom-bringers...

We all know Jesus said to "love your neighbour"... Who is my neighbour? The current state of the earth, with climate change and all it's consequences, forces us to face the fact that by not getting informed and appreciating creation and worshipping the creator by actually acting on what we know, we are contributing to devastating consequences (which affect the poor the earliest and the most, result in desertification, declining crop yields, malnutrition, hunger, conflict, refugees...), we are not acting out God's heart for the earth... But when we do, we are in effect helping the poor and future generations - which is acting out the heart of God. So I have to ask myself, am I ready to lay down my life of comfort for the sake of my "neighbours" - whether they live miles away or years ahead...?

(I wonder... what does God think about one of his creatures becoming extinct..?)

Back to the partey...

found some new pictures, bl.a. av de norske englene:

And here is an A-Z of the personalities at KBC - first, the A:
And here's the Z:
også måtte jeg bare drite deg litt ut Solveig ;) du er jo så søøt!