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Nathan Bridgewater
Happy Australia Day!
With all of the recent Oprah lovin’, it’s hard not to love our amazing country. There’s something very significant about our distant location from practically everything except New Zealand, that does something to our national sense of self-awareness.
I’ll never forget when Australia II won the America’s Cup Yacht Challenge, and our PM, Bob Hawke, famously declared, “Any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum”! Men at Work’s “Land Down Under” blared across the country. The nation experienced a wave of euphoric pride- that, which in my young life, I had never experienced before. A realization…I’m an Australian.
David Koch recently wrote an article entitled What I hate about Australia Day. In it, he encourages all Australian’s to take a firm stand against small-mindedness of racism.
It’s so important to stand for something worth standing for. Sometimes “standing” requires us to ‘take a stand’, or ‘stand up’. Some people don’t stand for anything. Australian history paints a picture of a nation proud to take a stand where others fear to even go.
As believers, we are all required to take a stand. How we live must always stand for something greater than the now. Jesus stood where no other man could. When Jesus stood, time stood still.
We are so graced to live in this beautiful, rugged and diverse country. We have many reasons to take a stand for the greatest cause.
What do you stand for?
Nath Bridgewater is the Lead Pastor of Canvas Church
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Visit our make your mark paint page, and get the creative flow moving again. Just click the ‘makeyourmark’ black dot.
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You would’ve heard the term “life can be taken for granted”. This is true in more ways than one. When I was younger, it was not uncommon for the word “life” to make it into virtually every church’s name. It was the thing to do. It represented a new time, where the church thrived from an influx of enthusiastic and passionate believers. My dad was a pastor, and while growing up I experienced a culture that desired, hungered and called out to God for Him to move. A desire to encounter this living God, that influenced our services, prayer meetings and small groups.
It didn’t matter where the church met—school hall, factory, movie theatre—the value was one of life: full of energy; an expectation that God would show up. Life is about energy and atmosphere, a sense that God is actually present at this thing called church, and that anything can happen.
The church must always champion the cause of life. One of the criticisms of church is that it’s dead. I recently read an article by Billy Hornsby, a passionate church planter, about the value of a life-filled church: “Life is that element that gives the church a sense of God’s presence and movement. It is the pulse of purpose and the reality that you are moving forward. It is contagious and everyone who is exposed to it gets infected and then addicted to it. After a few weeks of experiencing life in the local church, it is hard to go back to the mere religion that many churches offer.”
It’s easy to slip into consumer mode at church and just turn up to receive. This dangerous act develops a laziness and complacency within us that can be difficult to break free. But when we unite together, hungry and desperate for God to move, it’s inevitable… something will happen.
Psalms 22:3 says: “God dwells in the praises of His people.” Where God is, there’s life. Where the people praise, and get excited about God, there’s life.
When there’s no life, the seats are too hard, the politics are downright scary, and people start complaining about everything. Even worse, church happens on Sundays, and has no lasting affect on our “everyday” lives.
Life is something we pursue and maximize. From the work place to a marriage – this truth applies to every aspect of our life.
Nath Bridgewater is the Lead Pastor of Canvas Church
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In response to my recent post, Getting Traction, Ian asked: “How do you manage all the seemingly insignificant decisions you need to make and prioritise them well? It’s hard when you have 40 decisions that need to be made and then knowing where to begin first… Any ideas?”
Yes. A couple of ideas, maybe even 40.
First of all, in making any decision there should be a process that clarifies, considers, compares and confirms what we are deciding. This process saves us from rushing into things emotionally and, over time, can be honed to become something that we can do on the “fly”, or instinctively.
We need to operate from the position of pre-determined values because the right values keep us from making bad decisions.
Truth is a value. So too is honesty. Integrity. Authenticity. Kindness. Fairness. Equality. Being healthy. Having quality friendships. Stability. Consistency. Perseverance. Patience. Forgiveness. All can be learnt and become instinctive- and help us make decisive, strategic and wise decisions.
It is important to place value on the right things. Some things just aren’t worth the value we give them.
For some people, the only time they consider their values is after a near-death experience. The right values are pillar-like, and tend to stand tall throughout our lifetime. They are proven by pressure and endure all sorts of challenges. Values are real, and stand firm in real situations. Flimsy values fail.
Values can be determined by asking, “Why do we do what we do?” Knowing “why” helps us identify “what” we do, and how we do it. It’s easy to slip into autopilot mode and start directly at “what”. If you don’t know why you are doing what you are doing, you could be wasting your time. Asking “why” saves a lot of time and pain. It purifies the meaning of the things we do. And, as a direct outcome, clarifies our vision and purpose.
I think many people are busy with things that have little or no value. Often, our to-do list is filled with distractions, worries and other things that are driven by cheap or worthless commitments in terms of value.
This entire process can help us determine which decisions line up with our values. We can then focus on these and, at the same time, thoughtfully reduce our list.
I would be interested to know how others prioritise the decisions of their demanding schedules. What other aspects of your life require balance? How do you prioritise conflicting demands? Who and what gets preferential vote and how is that decided?
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I’m sure all of us at some point in time have taken the required 10 seconds out of our busy schedule to watch an Olympic men’s 100m sprint final.
Olympic sprinters are all highly trained athletes striving for what many kinesiologists call “the Paxian ideal”: equal parts strength, speed, explosiveness, agility…and gold necklaces.
These professional sprinters memorise how many steps it takes to finish the race—every single step has been planned, practised and perfected. Often, a race is won or lost in the first 10 steps. From the moment the sprinter launches off the blocks there is a complete focus on traction that will ultimately produce a seemingly unstoppable momentum to win the race.
Attention to traction is intrinsic to building momentum in anything we do, which, once gained, can be harnessed and directed for maximum results. The challenge is that getting traction is the hard part. Or getting traction is the challenge.
Genesis 26:12-13 tells the story of Isaac, Abraham’s son of promise. “Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him. The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous.” He had to investigate, invest, risk, sow and manage—a lot of hard work, all of which displayed no initial fruit.
Gaining traction isn’t rocket science. It is often the relative outcome of a number of factors all requiring consistency and continuity. Sometimes it requires attention to a seemingly insignificant detail. Solomon wrote that “it’s the little foxes that spoil the vineyard”—small details are the heavy weights of traction. Traction is more than one amazing lucky decision; it’s a series of good, seemingly insignificant decisions.
It’s easy to miss this fact and go for the one-punch knockout solution. We can over simplify our challenges with basic sweeping plans that fall down at the pragmatic level. Or, even worse, spiritually simplify a situation that basically requires common sense. Sometimes I feel sorry for God—we drag Him into so many ridiculous situations.
But Isaac got it right. He diligently “sowed in that land”. He anchored down long enough for something to happen. Between the lines this means, “He mastered stability and patience.” He didn’t roll out when he felt bored of it. He didn’t allow himself to be distracted by distractions. He had focus. He resisted frustration. And he reaped.
In fact, Isaac reaped a hundredfold and “began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous”; traction has a chain effect that leads to momentum. In momentum, even your bad days bring fruit.
Everybody wants the “prosper” part, and Isaac’s version would make anyone salivate. But it’s traction before momentum.
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