JC's helper: Sunday night

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Sunday night

I like this... it has truth about it.

The Communications building near the transmitter tower on top of Mount Cargill.
I did some plumbing on this when it was built over 40 years ago.

Love the bush tracks.

Back preaching...
This morning was the first church service since my holiday ended. I led it on a very personal almost autobiographical theme. I got some good feedback but the thing I noticed was how totally tired I was after it. I did some plumbing repairs for a friend, had lunch and then had a nanna nap for half an hour before going for a run. I went out like a light. I think I have potentially 47 Sundays before I retire, but I'll be out of action or on holiday for a couple of those at some stage. I am sure it will be time for a change.
Good news on my "plumbing problems..."
Because of prostate problems I have been wearing a catheter and bag until I get an operation. We tried before the holidays to get a valve arrangement so that I could wear shorts, go swimming and running. One nurse said it was fine, but neglected to send it out with the gear. When we followed up on that another nurse said I should not wear it. Well we made more enquiries last week and the nurse checked with the Urology Dept at the hospital. They said that it was OK for me to take off the bag and wear this valve thingy, and that apart from in bed it was OK for me to wear it all the time. I waited until Saturday to experiment with it in case it caused problems. It is so good to get rid of the bag, the chaffing straps around my leg and the awareness of it being seen or being off putting for those around me. This afternoon I have been wearing running shorts and it is so freeing. I almost feel normal again. Long may it last. It would have been great to have had it for the holidays!
Celebration exercise
I put on my shorts and went for a brief run with my friend this afternoon. It is so much nicer running in shorts! The run was relatively short and my wife was away walking with her friend when I got home, so I decided to walk the shorter route up "my" Mount Cargill. I was intrigued. As I was going up I came to this quite steep boardwalk. I was distracted because I was busy texting at the time, but I found myself jogging up! "What am I doing?" I asked myself, "I haven't jogged up here in a long time? I must be feeling good!" I think it was part of breaking free from my bag and long trousers. So I ended up with at least two and a quarter hours of exercise today.

There were skips available for rubbish down the road so we filled Wanda up and even had stuff on the top. A great Saturday clean out.

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The Blog's title

I am a Workplace Chaplain to the NZ fireservice.

At the firestation every time one man sees me he yells, "Here comes JC's helper!". I guess I am happy to be called just that... "Jesus' helper". I am a follower of Jesus.
A a quote from Dave Andrews in his book, "Not Religion but Love".
"Being a devotee of Jesus is not a matter of subscribing to a certain set of dogmas, obeying rules and regulations, and getting others to subordinate themselves to them.

The essence of being a devotee of Jesus is to live in sympathy with God as Jesus did; feeling the throb of God's heartbeat, and teaching our hearts to learn to beat in sync with the love that sustains the universe.

It means developing our capacity to sense intuitively what causes love pleasure, and what causes love pain, and doing everything we can to enhance the pleasure, and diminish the pain."

I love this charter.

The Charter for Compassion

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.