Now, I'm going to sound old fashioned, but I reacted to this newspaper article. Why? I am a stay at home mum (who does lots of other things as well). This article, like most articles on this topic, always have more women in the paid workforce as the ultimate good. So in order to meet this aim, there is a request for more subsidised childcare. I am not against childcare, and I am not against women in the paid workforce. However, I think it's a shame when careers are valued over family. I know when I'm 90 years old, I'll be glad for my family way more than the hours I worked in the workforce. I fact, whilst I enjoy my study, and other things I get up to, and work, when it comes my way, I don't see them as the more important thing. And it would be a real shame for children if their mums' thought that being the workforce was more important than spending time with them. The women cited in this article aren't the type who have to work to make ends meet - they are the top earning women in Australia. I hope their kids don't feel like they are stopping them achieving new heights in their careers. Just remind me of these thoughts when I start placing my career over my family! Hope it never happens. Toby and I are keen to both work part time and share the child care...because we both love spending time with them, and both love doing other things as well. And it's so nice for the kids. Maybe that'll be the best way forward for us as we journey with Wycliffe. We will both def have roles to play in whatever placement we end up filling. And our children will be an integral part of it all...they're not tagging along with us, I like to think they're on an adventure with us.

In other news - Caleb and Wilberforce have just started sharing a room...so far so good, 2 nights in. So good to see brothers who love each other!

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

It must be exam time at SMBC. I can tell this because many students are going to my online file storage system Filing Cabinet to download exam study papers. The reason I can tell this is what is happening is because everytime someone makes an account in the system I get an email. Also I notice that people are stumbling upon this blog in their search for the study papers (I hope this entry serves to help redirect them)

Either lots of students are keen to add files to my collection or they are not aware that it's actually not necessary to create an account to download public files such as the exam study papers. I have a strong feeling that the latter is the case. I really should make it more clear on the site.

Though the majority of files in Filing Cabinet are study papers for SMBC exams, there are some other tid bits, and I've been meaning to upload a lot of other resources, but haven't got round to it yet. The actual Filing Cabinet web service is still very much unfinished. If I ever have time I'll finish it, then sell it to Google for $$$ :-)

Filing Cabinet came about as a result of a 3 frustrations for me:

1. We collect a lot of resources in paper form - things like handouts, sermon notes, Bible studies, etc. People put the effort in to prepare them, so we don't want to throw them out then later have to put in that same effort when we need to provide something similar. As a result our filing cabinets at home go full and our bedroom floor was going the same way.
2. There's many system for filing files in folders, but none that actually work. Invariable most of you files will belong in more than one folder. E.g. a children's talk on how Daniel relied on prayer and it paid off for him. Do I file it under 'Prayer' or 'Daniel (OT)' or 'Children's resources' (we had a folder for each of these)?
3. No only did we have all these paper resources, but also lots of digital resources collected over many years, but noone had access to them except us, and we weren't making very good use of them, partly because they weren't filed very well (see frustration 1 and 2)

Filing Cabinet solves these issues in a number of ways. Firstly digital storage is less space-restricted than physical storage. Secondly files in Filing Cabinet are not stored in folders, but instead are tagged with labels. One file can have as many labels as you like, thereby eliminating frustration number 2. If I want find resources to prepare a study on Daniel I just need to apply the filter "Daniel" and all files with that tag will be presented to me. Thirdly, anyone with an Internet connection and a web browser (yes that's you) can access and make use of all these resources for free.

Also the code is open, so if you want to make improvements or set up your own Filing Cabinet feel free.

One thing you can find on Filing Cabinet is an essay about how the Internet affects languages around the world. I submitted it last week to finish off my sociolinguistics subject here at EQUIP. The Wordle is here:

I think that a lot more of Africa will be joining the online world over the next decade. That should be interesting in a linguistic sense.

One of our assignments in my Into to Literacy class was to make a book for a beginner reader. This one is dedicated to Caleb.

Click on to read the whole thing.

Wilberforce was born yesterday at 12:30pm and we were overjoyed to meet him.

He was named with William Wilberforce in mind - a Christian person who's greatest achievment was the abolition of the slave trade to England, but also achieved much more in his life for the sake of humanity. Wilberforce was a person greatly used by God. If our Wilberforce follows in those footsteps it'll be a wonderful thing.

Caleb met his new brother today and they took to each other really well. Caleb loves being able to gently calm little Wilbie when he cries. We're praying that this new role for Caleb will help him become a little bit more mature and responsible.

Mg has also been doing really well. The labour was short and she recovered quickly. She'll be coming home with Wilberforce tomorrow morning. [Edit] Wilberforce's temperature has been a little high, so they need to keep him in until at least Saturday morning to make sure he's okay.[/Edit]

click on to see the 10 best pics:

Philip Island is famous for the "Little Penguins" (They used to be called "Fairy Penguins" but they recently had a name change because people weren't taking them seriously enough!) These penguins are about the size of seaguls and spend all day swimming in the sea. When the sun goes down they get into groups and go up onto land to nest. One spot on one of Philip Island's beaches is a place where many of them come up each evening. They've set up a grandstand and floodlights where you pay to go and see them. (or if you pay more you can get the "penguine plus" experience and see it from a little further along the beach - probably on more comfortable seats). We got there early to get a seat near the front, it gt quite cramped pretty quickly. The penguins were a half hour later than expected and we didn't bring much entertainment for Caleb. He was extremely squirmish by the time the penguines arrived and the people in front graciously didn't comment on being kicked in the back alot.

It was fun to see the little birds struggling out of the surf and wander across the beach, but the best part was actually on the way out as the penguins waddled in their groups up along the bord walk that we were on within touching distance of us. We weren't expecting this part of the experience and on hindsight we should have got there late and possible not bothered wiht the beach bit at all. Sorry there aren't photos, were weren't allowed to take any "fo both the benefit of the penguines and for our own benefit" (not sure how that works).

We believe that all men and women being created in the image of God have intrinsic dignity and worth. People are unable to be in right relationship with God due to original and continual rebellion against him. They need to be made alive spiritually and restored to a relationship with God.

All humans are created in God's image (Gen 1:27), and I think this is the main thing that sets us apart from the rest of creation. The text of Genesis does not make clear exactly what is meant by being “in God's image” and there is no consensus on this among evangelicals. It could refer to humans being moral agents, or possessing an immortal spirit, or being in dominion over the rest of creation (this last one I am most inclined to agree with since God granting humanity dominion immediately follows Gen 1:27). The fact that all men and woman of all classes in all ethnic groups share this likeness means that we all have intrinsic worth over and above the rest of creation. I think it is also the basis for the fact that humanity can be in personal relationship with God in a way that the rest of creation cannot.

Sin is rejection of God's rule for our lives. That is what Adam did when he disobeyed God in eating the fruit. I believe Adam represented the whole of humanity to come in that act of sinfulness, therefore we are all guilty of the sin that Adam committed. This seems to be one of the main points that Paul makes in Romans 5:12 ff. These verses may also be interpreted as saying that everyone followed in Adam's footsteps in sinning, and that is how we are all guilty of sin. I don't think that's the best way to read this passage, but nonetheless, this second aspect of sin is also true, because from that point on, Sin/Evil/Corruption/Satan got into God's creation and spread all through it leaving nothing and none of us untouched, therefore we all have a sinful nature, and it is for our own sins that we will be judged on the last day, not Adam's.

Scripture speaks of two ways in which we interact with Evil/Sin: Firstly before we are completely sanctified we are agents of evil and we are guilty of breaking God's moral law, therefore we need forgiveness for our sin. Secondly before we are saved we are victims of Evil having been enslaved by the devil; thus we need someone who can defeat the devil to rescue us.

We believe that though we deserve eternal punishment and separation from God for our disobedience, God loved us and sent Christ to die in our place to restore our relationship with God.

Christ's primary work, His main reason for becoming a man, was to die for the sins of the world. Corresponding to the two ways in which we interact with Sin mentioned above, Christ's death and resurrection achieve two important things.

Firstly, it is a propitiatory atonement – a turning aside of God's deserved wrath on us and redirecting it onto Christ. He “became sin for us,” taking upon himself the sin of the world, he also bore the just punishment for it. Not only is our sin imputed onto Christ, but His righteousness is imputed to us (2 Cor 5:21). Thus we are freely forgiven and justified, while our sins are justly punished. In this way God is able to remain just, yet also be the justifier of us (Rom 3:26)! This is not “cosmic child-abuse” for at least 2 reasons: primarily because of the nature of the Trinity. Since Jesus is God, then God took the punishment upon himself, not placing on another, secondarily because Jesus chose willingly to undergo the cross with full knowledge of what it entailed.

Secondly, the death and resurrection of Jesus is a victory over the forces of Evil (Col 2:15) In this act Jesus proved to be the one who could tie up the strong man, Satan, and release his prisoners (Mark 3:27). Jesus laid down his life as a “ransom for many” (Mark 10:45) which means that it is the price paid to redeem us from the clutches of Satan. This victory is present in Jesus' death, but is seen most clearly in his resurrection from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is the first part of a bigger whole that includes the general resurrection and renewal of all creation, which, when completed, will leave the world incorruptible and unaffected by Evil.

Somebody* once said "History records no example of a sound, enduring church without the scriptures in their vernacular language."

The evidence shows that having the scriptures in the spoken language of the congregation empowers the local church. For example, one of my SMBC lecturers who had been a missionary among an African people group told on more than one occassion that the lack of scriptures in the language of this group was the only thing holding the church back from great growth.

Daniel Shaw (Evangelical Dictionary of World Mission) says that Bible translation ensures that God's message to people is "couched in their own language and culture" so that God's "power and authority comes to them directly in their culture"

Whe God's message comes to someone not in a trade language, but in their 'heart-language' then it can speak to their heart, effecting not just a mental response, but an emotional response. If a person does not speak your own language, then it is prohibitaively difficult to have a deep relationship with them, that's why people need to hear God speak to them in their own language.

That's why we want to do Bible translation.

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*If you know the source of this quote let me know so I can credit it properly