Great T-Shirt Designs
Would you by these shirts or ones similar? How great are the designs! just found them here.
Called to Love.
On Wednesday James blogged about what he believes we are called to do.
He came up with: “Love God, love others, heal the sick, raise the dead, drive out demons, freely give, make disciples, teach people to obey God.”
I agree! Awesome. But, similar to the criticism I had of the Jesus Culture conference, where is “Feed the hungry, clothe the naked” etc etc? Aren’t there a few missing?
James jumped back - and rightly so - with “these things are simply loving people”. so under “love others” comes; “Feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, invite strangers in, clothe those who need clothes, look after the sick, visit the prisoners. However you treat people is how you are treating God, so treat people like the king of Kings.”
His observation though, was that we’ve forgotten that this is what love actually looks like. That, as blessed people in a blessed country, with a western lifestyle, we simply don’t see that there are people who need feeding, or inviting in. Or maybe we do see it as plane as day… but we leave it to ‘The Salvos‘*. It’s not our job, someone else will do it.
No. That won’t do.
Invite someone over.
Give someone your left over food. Better yet, cook someone a meal and have the leftovers yourself.
Give your clothes away. And not just the old ones.
Visit Gaol, and Hospital.
Love on people whether you know them or not. Because even if you don’t think you know them, you’re doing these things for Jesus.
And don’t worry, I’m talking to myself as much as I’m talking to anyone else.
* The Salvos, The Govt., St Vinnies, Mission Australia etc etc. who all do a GREAT job, but only because we fall severely short.
* AND if you’re a soldier or officer then remember YOU ARE The Salvation Army, so start loving. Or keep loving. But just do it!
Lots of things. Life is full.
Ever thought about squatting? Seen a big old neglected building that would be perfect for a youth centre? Check out this site to get some info to do with the best way to go about it.
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I read about a new Australian Drama called Satisfaction in the West Australian Newspaper. Here is another article about it. It follows the lives of 6 high-class prostitutes in the city of Melbourne. One of the actresses commented “On one day I had to do 6 sex scenes with 6 different men. I really felt like a prostitute”. Lord, there are so many women & children caught in the grip of the sex industry. Show us what to do. Show us how to react. Show us how to respond. Show us how to love.
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On Coffee again..
I’ve been looking into some more coffee-related things. This time I’ve found two places to recommend.
Urbanista in Northbridge
Great coffee, excelent service, fantastic atmosphere, short walk from Salvo Headquarters, central to Northbridge, easy walk from the city.
and..
Source Foods in Highgate
I haven’t been there yet, but it’s next on my list of places to try.. This is what their website says..
Sourcefoods is a food business committed to providing sustainable foods of excellent quality and value. We define sustainable foods as those products whose chain of supply contributes positively both to our ecological and human communities - environmentally, socially and economically. We think of quality as a description of foods which taste great and are beneficial to your body and mind. Welcome to new paradigm business.
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Newly recieved email updates;
The Foundation for Young Australians has just accounced that their Youth Run Organisation’s Sustainability Grants are open for application until February 11 2008. There is $270,000 up for grabs. Check out their website for more details.
When I was doing some research into Community Based organisations etc. for my Community Development unit this semester I came across this groovy website - Pigs Will Fly. They have a newsletter that you can subscribe to that fills you in on what’s been happening at the site. They have a community / sustainability focus. A great read.
The Forge WA network have recently added some Audio to their website from their most recent WA conference - Nuts and Bolts. If you weren’t able to make it to the conference, or even if you were, check it out.
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A while back I was doing a random google search for “The Salvation Army” (am I the only one that does that from time to time?) Look at what I found…
Salvation Army Campaign in Brazil
In Brazil, the Salvation Army has launched an interesting outdoor campaign to raise awareness, donations of clothes, and money. What we liked most about it was that for the campaign they are using real cardboard, plastic trash bags and old sneeker boxes that were found on the actual streets of Brasil, which then references back to the living conditions of the people they help.
And… this wasn’t the Salvos but.. A Christmas Wreath Like None Other
The photos above are of a Christmas wreath made out of signs collected from local homeless people in Seattle. It was put up on the street in a heavy trafficked shopping district early in the morning of the 23rd of Dec by Erock and remained up until it was taken down by city workers on the morning of Dec 27th. To create the wreath, Erock went around and collected them from homeless people in the area. In return he gave each of them a few dollars and some more cardboard and pens to make another sign.
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Thought about your Christmas shopping yet? How about checking out these great alternatives.
- JustGIFTS (keep a look out in your OnFire, at your Corps and at justsalvos.com)
- Oxfam Unwrapped
- New Internationalist Shop
- Hero Shop (Be a Hero Australia)
- TEAR Australia
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I was just caught smiling widely when I spotted the DC’s walking hand in hand to get some coffee 
lovely to see!
