When pride pokes you in the eye!

2 years ago, I got a 'check up' with a new Optometrist as a favour for a friend who was investing in the Optometry business.

Let's call this Optometrist "Jane" (not her real name).



Jane was a bit too pushy for my liking, particularly when it came to rules about throwing my contacts out strictly after 30 days wear. She even made me sign a contract to say I'd do it!

I objected to being treated like a child! I know when my contact lenses need changing - thank you very much!

So I never went back. I figured I knew better. I started going to a more local optometrist.

Rcently, I've been having some troubles with my left eye getting a little bit irritated.. just a little.

Then this morning - I woke up with a roaring red eye. It is weeping, it is painful, it feels like sand in my eye every time I blink. Even now, I feel like I have cotton wool packed into my eye.

Figuring I better get it checked out - I took myself to visit my new latest local optometrist office.

I turn up for my appointment and get told the unsurprising. I have been wearing my contact lenses for too long. The extra wear has caused proteins to build up on the lens surface. This has starved my eye of Oxygen. I have blood vessels that have surfaced. I am actually very close to damaging my sight.

I am banned from wearing my contacts for a month!

As if that wasn't pride-destroying enough. My latest local optometrist has a new employee. It was this new employee that saw me and delivered the bad news. This new employee? Jane!!

Proverbs 16:18 "Pride precedes a disaster, and an arrogant attitude precedes a fall."

Today Matters

Do you ever, like me, get up in the morning and think this is just another day.. another day to get ready for work, another day to iron clothes, catch the train, meet with people and talk about issues. It's just another day in the daily grind where I am going through the motions of doing what needs to be done, or what I feel like doing.

One seemingly meaningless day turns into another.. and days turn into weeks, months and even years of sometimes the same boring monotony.

But are our days really meaningless?

Each day we make a myriad of choices, we undertake a range of actions and interact with countless people. These choices/actions/interactions may seem insignificant, but the effects may be much more significant.

In the bible, Paul shares this wisdom to his friend, Timothy.

1 Tim 5:24 Remember, the sins of some people are obvious, leading them to certain judgment. But there are others whose sins will not be revealed until later. 25 In the same way, the good deeds of some people are obvious. And the good deeds done in secret will someday come to light.

This verse has such wisdom. What people do today will show up - now or later – but it will show up. The choices, actions and interactions that people have in their life today will have consequences tomorrow - whether they are good or bad.

If you sow a financial seed into the kingdom – it will show up sooner or later. If you invest in the lives of your kids - it will show up sooner or later. As my good friend Andrew Staggs says- if you invest some money, it will show up as compounding interest tomorrow.

However, if you have an area of sin that you haven't deal with in your life – deal with it today, or it will show up later. If you make poor choices in what you eat - it will show up sooner or later. If you make poor choices in how much you spend, it will show up sooner or later. If you make poor choices in how little time you spend with God - it will show up sooner or later.

In fact, everything that is done today will have a return – sooner or later, whether good or bad.

As John Maxwell would say, today matters. Today is another day that I get to do something that shows up later - in a good way!

Today I get to eat healthy so it shows up as a reduced dress size later;
Today I get to take an interest in or invest in my kids' life so it shows up in their lives later;
Today I get to meet with my creator, so I can see the fruits of an overcoming life show up sooner and later;
Today I get to give my best at work, so i can get a payrise or promotion later;
Today I get to save some of my salary so it shows up as financial freedom later;
Today I get to give to those in need so that God repays me this debt later;
Today I get to thank God for all that I have so that it creates a joyful disposition in me sooner or later;

On the flipside, today I can ignore my conscience and do an action that will show up later and create harm in my life. Today I can spend impulsively money that I haven't yet earned. Today I can eat 3 packets of tim tams! Today I can encourage an inappropriate relationship. Today I can slack off on the job. Today I can neglect to pray or read the word - the effects of which will show up sooner or later.

What do I want to see show up in my life tomorrow, or next month? or next year? Then I must think about what I do today.

Today matters.

Surrender Now!

I am a big Seinfeld fan.. huge fan. One of my favourite episodes is where George Costanza’s father has been advised to say "serenity now" aloud every time his blood pressure is in danger of going up, but he yells it instead. The episode is littered with this outbursts of “SERENITY NOW!” It’s supposed to be his pressure relief valve.

Well Frank Costanza isn’t the only one who has stresses and tensions in his life. Strangely enough, I found I have them too. People not responding the way I thought they should, things not going the way I think they should go, and most of all, me not behaving, achieving, persisting, resisting, or overcoming as I should. I never seem to have my own ever-changing set of expectations satisfied – and it creates a life of stress.

It seems the harder I try, the worse I become, and the more disappointed I get in myself and others.

In the book, “The me I want to be”, John Ortberg writes about how we can be God’s best version of ourselves – the thing I seem to be so regularly unable to do.

Ortberg dedicates a section on our efforts to ‘try harder’ and the futility of it all.

He says, “The harder you try to work to control things, the more you lose control. The harder you try to hit a fast serve in tennis, the more your muscles tense up. The harder you try to impress someone on a date or while making a sale, the more you force the conversation and come across as pushy”. He adds, “I need a greater power than simply ‘try harder’ can provide. Imagine someone advising you to try harder to be graceful. Try harder not to worry. Try harder to be joyful. There are limits on what trying harder can accomplish”

He proposes this alternative. “Try softer… trying softer means focusing more on God’s goodness than our efforts. It means being more relaxed and less self-conscious. Less pressured… When I try softer, I stay patient when things don’t turn out the way I expected”

But most importantly, when I try softer, it means I surrender all the failures, frustrations and expectations to God. It means asking God for help.

So I’m taking a leaf out of Frank Costanza’s therapist’s book. For the past 2 weeks, every time something, someone or I doesn’t/ don’t’ go/do/react/behave/respond the way I think it/they/I should (ie everytime my stress level is elevated), I put my hands in the air, and I say “Surrender Now”. It is my cue to let it go and let God take over me or the situation.

It’s not about giving up, but it is about letting go and letting God do His work in me or the situation (and it’s usually both!)

The First WestLIVE online life group

Tonight Westlife Church launched a new option for connecting and sharing - WestLIVE - our online life group.

It was a great night of chatting about my work matters yet not having to leave home.

Thanks to Roderick for these pics. Where's Nick??

My Work Matters

Monday morning, depending on your schedule, somewhere between 5am and 8am, your alarm will go off and you realise it’s the first day of another working week.

How do you feel at that point?

• Are you happy at work?
• Are you fulfilled at work?
• Do you feel that your work has meaning?
• Do have feel a sense of achievement at work?

Or Is work just a way to get enough money to pay the bills?

In the middle of the work week, how do you feel? Do you think “I would so rather be fishing right now, than putting up with this pressure.. in fact I’d rather be having teeth extracted than being at work right now.”

Or maybe this: “If he brings up my mistake one more time, I’m walking out the door”

Often good day at work = good night at home. Bad day at work = kicking the cat, yelling at the kids and burning the dinner.

Some people struggle with the whole point of work at all and would rather be hippies growing all their own food!

How does all of that fit in with our Christian walk?

Last Sunday, Westlife kicked off a important new series called, "My Work Matters".

Rick Warren says, “Many Christians don't make the connection between Sunday and Monday. They compartmentalize their life. They think, "Well, I've got a spiritual life and I've got a secular life. My spiritual life is when I read the Bible, when I pray, when I go to church, when I do good things for others. That's my spiritual life." And that's over in one compartment.

So then, they think, over in another compartment: "This is my secular life. That's my work, my job, my career, my business decisions, my finances, my pension plan; all these things are my secular life."

Rick says that God never wanted us to keep these two parts of our life separate. He is as interested in our work life as He is in our prayer life.

This new "My Work Matters" series seeks to help people make that connection between Sunday and Monday by putting our workplaces under the microscope. The series explores how to apply what the Bible says about work in our lives: It looks at how we stay motivated at work; How we deal with difficult people; How we deal with requests that cut across our own value system.

My next few blog posts will look at the first week of the new series - leadership in the workplace.

Parenting Fears

A US parenting website recently did a survey to identify the top 5 fears parents have for their kids. Interestly, the top 3 are my top 3:

Fear #1: I'm afraid my child won't get the education and opportunities she needs to reach her potential.

Fear #2: I'm afraid that someone will hurt or attack my child.

Fear #3: I'm afraid that my child will be injured in an accident, like a car accident

Fear #4: I'm afraid that my child won't fit in socially or will get picked on.

Fear #5: I'm afraid that my child will have health issues, such as obesity, anorexia, etc.

Fears 4 and 5 I don't worry about so much, probably because I didn't really fit in socially at school, was a bit of a loner, and had obesity issues. However, it didn't hurt me, I think it made me stronger.

I didn't get invited to any of the parties where peer group pressures were rife. I didn't rely on any physical attributes to gain friends, or boyfriends, but rather actually had to work on my character and personality (and still needs lots of work!!).

I learned to be self-sufficient in God, rather than relying on others for my motivation and and fulfilment.

John Maxwell says 'if you want to change the world, you have to be different from the world'. So not fitting in socially - well I can think of worse fears.

But fears 1 to 3 I think would be every parents' fear. What does God say that we can rely on to address these fears?

1. "Do not be over-anxious about anything, but by prayer and earnest pleading, together with thanksgiving, let your request be unreservedly made known in the presence of God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

2. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11. This includes our kids. God has a plan for each of them, and so we need not fear that they won't get the right opportunities to reach their God-given potential because God will direct their steps.

3. "Have not I commanded you? Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

4. "Yet the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen [you] and set you on a firm foundation and guard you from the evil [one]" 2 Thes 3:3

5. "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." 1 John 4:4

6. "You who sit down in the High God's presence, spend the night in Shaddai's shadow, Say this: "God, you're my refuge. I trust in you and I'm safe!"
That's right—he rescues you from hidden traps, shields you from deadly hazards.
His huge outstretched arms protect you— under them you're perfectly safe; his arms fend off all harm. ...
Yes, because God's your refuge, the High God your very own home, Evil can't get close to you, harm can't get through the door.
He ordered his angels to guard you wherever you go. If you stumble, they'll catch you; their job is to keep you from falling." Psalm 91:3-7


If we are without God's protection, then these fears are real. When we are in God's protection, He says "fear not - for I am with you" and we can rest in His promises.

Weigh to Go

The Queensland Times today reported this story:



My favourite bit is the plug for Bevan who loves me regardless.