perspex’tive

this evening one of our neighbors came round so i could help him download a word type program for his computer so that he could start compiling all the incredible ideas he has for gardening in and around our street – we got to hear some of his dreams in that area a few weeks ago and i told him i could help him find a simple way of recording it…

he finally came over tonite and started showing me some video clips of stuff he could do with tyres and with old wooden crates that are free and easy to find all over the place – i was thinking of what videos i could show him on the internet and it pretty much came to japanese people with giant elastic bands over their face trying to bite into a marshmallow suspended from a strong or else a tongue-twisting program where if they get it wrong, this giant fly-swatter comes out and nails them in the nads…

and i was really smacked in the face [once again, sometimes a daily occurance here] how superficial i can be and how there are people all around dreaming of life-giving things and sometimes i am preoccupied with watching someone get hurt or pull a funny face… it reminds me of how in ephesians 3.20 we are told that the God we serve is able to do more than all we could hope or imagine… and i do talk about this one a lot cos it’s one of my many favourite verses, but i think that sometimes we [especially us as Christ-followers who are connected to the ultimate power source of the Universe, thru none of our own worth or doing] hope or imagine too small and so, even when God comes thru and we get what we wanted, it isn’t that impressive…

what we did for our neighbour was so small [a free, legit word program, and then the beautiful Val showed him how to download and use pinterest and he just took off] and yet he got so excited, because his dreams are so big – dreams for himself, his family, and the community…

i hope sometime soon to move from marshmallows and nut-cracking to tyre-walls, wooden crate compost pins and plastic cup gardens…