Soap for Jesus

I figured a lot of you could probably do with a touch of lightheartedness (with a pinch of truth) to end this week, after the hurt caused by a whole stinkin' mess of conversative Christians. So, here is the way to start a guy-girl friendship. Joel Parisi adopted me as his new big sister, though we're kinda more contemporaries. A little further on into the conversation (which is part serious, part fun): Joel: You really should get back to him. Even if you... don't feel comfortable? Skyping, just keeping up a correspondence would (I think) mean a lot to both of you. Me: *nods* Poke me until I do? Please? Joel: Sure. Me: Not. Literally. Joel: LOL yeah, I was totally going to fly over there and follow you around, poking you. :rofl: Me: *facepalm* Joel. Srsly. Joel: I's teasing!! Look, I'm not your usual oblivious guy. Me: NO! Really?!?! I'm shocked. Joel: If you say something that's a bit unclear, rest assured, I've usually got it....

Okay, I've had enough. For months I've taken what would be frankly considered abusive comments directed at me, deliberately belittling me (that's fair enough) and the God I serve - which hurts far worse. Because you don't think He's real, because you deny His existence because you don't want to, because He doesn't fit in your little code of right and wrong, because He doesn't do what you want Him to, because you simply "can't see Him", doesn't make it acceptable in the slightest to go mocking Him in public to those who DO believe in Him. If you had a relationship with Jesus Christ, you would have some idea exactly how much these comments hurt and upset me. But you don't. And I'm sorry - so sorry - for that. But I'm not forcing God on you. I answer questions when I see a genuine heart for questions, someone who is really searching for answers - not someone who simply wants to deride, mock or leave a trail of hurt in their...

"A Twist in Time" "You want me to be evil? Fine, I'll be evil." I raised my hands towards them, the pink sepphalite now flickering visibly between my fingers, revelling in the release of the power I had chained back for so long. "No, we don't want you to be evil! We just want you to be good, to give you a second chance. Why lie to us?" Snow asked me, tears rimming her lids. "You know what your problem is?" I watched the light grow stronger. "It's not that you want me to heal. It's that you want me to follow your kind of healing. No matter how hard I try to be good, it will never be good enough for you, because there is a certain route you won't be happy unless I take. You want me to kowtow and bend, to grovel and you want to see your final victory - good vanquishing evil. The knight slaying the dragon. You want me to be completely destroyed, humbled on the ground, because that's the way every good fairytale e...

As 2014 approaches its final season, I realise that I have been blogging for almost five years. I originally started this blog to talk about my adventures in the Air Cadets. Quickly, it became a place to share my thoughts and glimpses of my life, fun and laughter and occasionally tears. As my world turned upside down, it expanded to embrace a new mission - what I'd learned, how I'd grown, to reach out and try to help others to see that they are not alone. I started OYAN around the same time that I started the Air Cadets; later on, during my backsliding period of 2010, I was convinced to join the Rebelution - as well as make friends with a guy called Jay Lauser - and I made a bunch of new friends. Blogger was popular, and I added many of my friends as bloggers. Then Wordpress kicked in, and Blogger was past top-dog. One or two moved to Tumblr. Some moved to a different blogspot. Some created their own websites. I kept them on the little list to the side of my blog, for p...

I'd love to travel around the world. To see unusual sights. To walk where history happened, see it with my own eyes, dream of what happened. I'd love to go on an adventure, have my own pilot's licence. To learn languages, to reach out to others. And I would love to climb mountains. In my dreams, I do. Sheer drops, clear sharp air, stunning views...sunset, sunrise, physical tiredness instead of mental weariness, good times with friends... But my body struggles with a twenty minute climb up a hill. It requires fitness, energy, resilience to be able to climb a mountain. A lot of training. Preparation. To be able to make it from that struggling, panting walk of twenty minutes' steep slope to scaling peaks. We face mountains in life. Rugged, stony, crooked mountains. And we get a lot of painful training beforehand. Never regret the pain you're going through now. You don't know what mountain it will enable you to climb in the future. Climb the hills with ...

Note: The way I live out my faith is...somewhat radical, because I believe in an intimate relationship with Jesus. So be prepared. :P I felt sticky, and ugghy, and grotty and bleh as I stepped outside of the office building where I work. It was another dragging high pressure day, and as much as I love my job, the atmosphere (and the worry) sometimes gets to me. Pulling my phone out of my jacket pocket as I began the twenty(ish) minute walk to the train station, I tried to catch up on a few people's posts, shielding the phone from the glare of the sun. A dear friend and sister posted about how some cruel people had laughed and called her fat before running off, and how broken she was feeling. Couldn't do much, but posted a quick note and walked off praying for her. It's been a beautiful day, in the between. And the between is what counts, isn't it? For right now, I'm in the brightness, the sun shining bright and the world glowing with colour and hope and beau...

Sometimes I think the world has a clearer grasp of right and wrong than we as Christians do, although they try to explain it wrongly. Christians tend to blur up the Bible in an attempt to accept everything they see around them. "Oh, God can't have said. God didn't mean." Well, maybe He did and you just don't want to accept it because you're putting your little code of what you think is right and wrong before His. While our faith is based on historical facts and logical processes, most of the day to day living is a sheer walk of faith. After all, isn't that why it's called our "faith"? Faith like a child. Trusting. Simple. Daddy loves me enough to catch me when I jump. Mommy loves me enough to keep me away from the hot iron and the cars on the road. Faith that while we don't understand and maybe never will understand God's ways or reasoning, He is right and just. Faith means grasping the simplicity of life and leaving the conf...