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TO 20/20@SIGHT
Welcome
to 20/20@Sight, our space for the creative arts. Here you'll
find a selection of writing - both prose and poetry - along
with photography and graphic artwork. If you'd like to make
a submission, simply contact editor@sightmagazine.com.au.
THIS LIFE: ENCOURAGEMENT
All of us at some time need a word or hand of encouragement: Well done! Keep it up! Thank you! Let me help you! This inspires us with hope, lifts our spirits, and instils courage to go on. This is the marvel and the value of living among people. As great as this comfort might be, there also come times when the right people either are just not there or are themselves down and demotivated. Perhaps the loneliest place to be is where everyone can hear your groaning but no-one offers comfort.
It follows that the best source of encouragement must be someone who is close and readily available, sincerely caring with no personal problems, and someone who is not only glad to genuinely encourage but also capable of easily helping you. That person is God the Holy Spirit (John 14: 16-17). Sometimes we walk through valleys as dark as death, but because He is with us we feel safe and we are not afraid (Psalms 23: 4). As we work hard to make a living, God cheers us up in our need, and we do not feel bad any more. When you are sad and discouraged and tossed around in a storm the Lord will restore you (Isaiah 54: 11-14). When you are suffering, you can find comfort in God’s promises, because God’s promises have stood the test of time (Psalms 119: 50, 52). The very Scriptures give us comfort and hope (Romans 15: 4).
MIKE ABEL writes about how God encourages us - through the tough times and the good times... |
more... |
THE BIG PICTURE:PORNOGRAPHY = DESPAIR; JESUS = HOPE
My name is Derek Higgo, I’m a psychotherapist in Sydney providing counselling for couples and individuals. The larger percentage of my work concerns men of different ages struggling with pornography. More and more people are struggling because pornography is not accountable, it’s anonymous and it’s so accessible.
Sadly, by the time the men I speak to come to me, they’ve often developed a pattern of addictive behaviour, their marriages are damaged and they’re under a burden of immense shame, guilt and depression. Some are even considering suicide.
To see Outreach Media's March poster and read about the meaning behind it, follow the link... | more... |
FOR PREVIOUS:
February, 2010: There is no truth. Is that true?... | more... |
January 2010: You can't play hide and seek with God... | more...|
December 2009: Jesus. Not available in stores. God's Christmas gift... | more... |
POETRY: MOVING FORWARD THROUGH FORGIVENESS OF SINS
Jesus was baptised into the world at a late age, but he knew what there was to know about God before he was born.
Just like us. We know.
Then we seek, we lose.
Unfortunately sometimes failure, suffering, sin means we lose but never find because we don’t look at the Lord and say, “Forgive me, Father, I have sinned.”
Read more
of VANESSA MALISA's Moving Forward Through Forgiveness of Sins... |
more... |
Climate change is one of the biggest threats to biodiversity and species loss. With every increase in global temperature, more and more species will become extinct such as the marine turtle, the Murray cod, orangutans and ginseng, as the relief shows. The poor are more vulnerable because they are more dependant on natural resources and have lower capacity to cope.
The climate is changing and hope is fading. Fading because we are not seeing the national governments of our world be courageous enough to make the hard decisions needed to halt dangerous climate change. They're not courageous enough to step out of the political vote-scoring cycle and implement visionary, long-lasting sustainable solutions.
Have
you ever had a friend who would be willing to give up their
own life to save yours?
In our day and age it’s
hard to imagine a scenario where a friend could be placed
in such a position.
For earlier generations who lived in less
secure and comfortable circumstances, this may have been a
real and genuine occurrence.
Just today, during a time of worship and
meditation, I had a very clear vision of a dark, bloodied
battle scene. It was on a muddy and roughened terrain, loud
and fierce explosive noises ripping through the sky, bright
flashes of severe light as spotlights frantically scanned
the field, and then as an explosion of artillery tore up the
soil even more, punching holes in the earth. Shrapnel flying
through the air. Bullets ripping randomly in every direction.
Bodies lying on the ground, torn, bleeding, dismembered, some
gasping for their last breath, others still and cold.
Then, straining across the battle-zone;
a solid and strong figure, carrying a heavy load, attempting
to rush to safe cover on the horizon. Steely-gaze, fixed on
making it to protected trenches, where urgent medical attention
could be administered.
NICK HODGSON reflects on the meaning of Easter... |
more... |
Oh yeah, Christmas - well yes, the children and the old people
need to have their festivities. So yes, I'll be there, I'll
take the day off and yes, I've got some presents - over there
in the corner - I'll be part of it. Church? Well, OK but maybe
something'll come up and I might have to miss that but I will
be there for lunch.
Really though, I know it's
something that we can't do without, I know, but I'm no longer
a child and really my mind is not really on such things -
I have to keep my mind on the job. So much to do. So much
to arrange. So much to get in order for the new year. A new
broom. A new way of doing things. Resolutions. You know. A
new year and clean start and all that.
All this Jesus in the Manger
stuff, it's not where I'm at. Not really.
Read more of BRUCE C WEARNE'S Christmas reflection...|
more... |
SHORT STORY:
INCIDENTS AT THE GATE
Dies
Solis, Ante diem III Idus Iulias, DCCLXXIV AUC, Hora IX
(Day of the Sun, 3 days before the Ides of July, 776 years
after the founding of Rome, the Ninth Hour)
The sun had passed its zenith, but its heat still made the
air shimmer above the baked earth and cobbles of the street.
Its light was blinding as it ricocheted off the white marble
of the facade and columns of the Temple towering a hundred
cubits into the cloudless blue dome of the sky. Men, with
faces hooded against the glare, hurried into the blessed coolness
of the shaded inner courts. It was the hour of prayer.
Huddled in the small pool of shadow cast
by an alcove, sat a man. His tattered garments served to emphasise,
not hide, his thin, almost emaciated form. His skeletal and
twisted legs were tucked under him so as to cause as little
offence as possible as he held out gnarled and callused hands
that also served as feet. Hopelessness was etched into the
sagging and lined face. Shame ground into fatalism by desperation
smouldered in the downcast eyes. Every day as long as he could
remember, they had carried him to the Beautiful Gate to beg
coin on which to live.
Read
more of KEVIN I. GRANT'S story Incidents at the Gate... |
more... |
COPYRIGHT
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works remain the copyright of the author.
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THEY SAID IT
“The accounts of women and children being hacked to death with knives and machetes would sicken anyone. However this is clearly a cycle of violence that will be repeated unless the international community - including Australia - takes greater action."
- Jim Wallace, Australian Christian Lobby managing director, speaking in reference to the killings of as many as 500 Christians in Jos, Nigeria, in early March. For previous 'They said it'... | more... |
THIS WEEK ON THE WEB
19th February, 2010
Take a virtual journey along Russia's famed Trans-Siberian railway with a new 'virtual train journey' on Google. Simply follow the link to get started...
For previous 'This week on the web'... | more... |
DID YOU KNOW? NEWS BRIEFS
THE
STATISTIC
Number of assassination attempts made on Cuban leader Fidel Castro
638
Source: As reported in The Guardian newspaper, quoting makers of a Cuban documentary, on 11th March, 2010
SALVATION ARMY CHAMPIONS MORAL CASE FOR "ROBIN HOOD TAX"
The poor are becoming poorer and the rich need to step in and redress the balance, the Salvation Army said this week, during a debate in London.
The comments came as a representative spoke up for the Robin Hood Tax campaign during a discussion at the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce).
Keynote speaker Professor Jeffrey Sachs international economist and author of The End of Poverty, actor Bill Nighy, fellow campaigner and screenwriter Richard Curtis, and Dr Clare Melamed, head of policy co-ordination Action Aid were joined by Major Ivor Telfer, The Salvation Army’s secretary for programme for the UK and Ireland territory. Alan Beattie, World Trade editor at the Financial Times, chaired the event.
WORK TO EAT OR EAT TO WORK?; NUCLEAR-PROOF REAL ESTATE; AND RISE OF THE KANGATARIANS
It sounds like an ideal job. A UK-based company has reportedly advertised a position for someone to eat - and more than they usually would. Proactol Ltd, which makes a weight loss product, says the successful candidate will be paid £23,000 a year to eat 16 per cent more calories a week than they usually do while introducing its weight loss product in their diet at the same time.
DAVID
ADAMS writes about the odder side of life...|
more... |
THE COMMUNITY OF THE FORGIVEN
I love the idea of the church being a community of the forgiven. The truth which is bandied about - and which I used to see on bumper stickers - of Christians being ‘not perfect, just forgiven’ makes me cringe because it is so often seen as an excuse for our own hypocrisy. At the same time however, there is a freedom and attractiveness about the fact that we can be part of a community that genuinely cares. Larry Crabb calls it the safest place on earth and that’s exactly what the church is called to be.
NILS VON KALM'S blog on faith, life and how it all might fit together...|
more... |
ANCIENT ROAD DISCOVERED IN JERUSALEM
Upon entering Jerusalem’s Old City through the Jaffa Gate, you are enveloped in the bustling and colorful David Street, lined with souvenirs shops and local shopkeepers. Now, an archaeological dig has confirmed that this very street has been on the map, literally, for 1,500 years.
The Israel Antiquities Authority announced the find earlier this month. At the time, the thoroughfare was 4.5 meters below the current street level. The road dates from the time when Jerusalem became a Christian city in the Byzantine era. While other locations on the Madaba Map have been discovered, the road had remained hidden until now.
NICOLE JANSEZIAN, of Travelujah, reports for Assist News Service...|
more... |
HOW NICE...
I occasionally throw a question out on Facebook to prompt some discussion so thought I'd send it out through the blog too. It may seem a little 'unChristian', perhaps provocative. But I've just been thinking....
Question: Do I have to be 'nice' 'cos I am a 'Christian'? Can I be honest and respectful and bold? Or do I have to be 'nice'? I don't like nice...It's like a dead fish handshake.
My anti-nice sentiment at the moment is actually springing out of the fact that I have been disappointed to experience, in Christian community, and even in the wider community, an avoidance of direct commentary or activism on areas of our society and communication that are destructive or anti-Christ.
ANN
WOJCZUK's blog about life, the universe and possibly everything...|
more... |
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SIGHT'S BLOG LINKS, HEAD TO OUR BLOGSPOT PAGE...
24th September, 2008: Hear DAVID ADAMS speaking to GURYEL ALI, of 96.3 Rhema FM in Geelong, talking about some of the stories featured on Sight...|
more... |
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All of us at some time need a word or hand of encouragement: Well done! Keep it up! Thank you! Let me help you! This inspires us with hope, lifts our spirits, and instils courage to go on. This is the marvel and the value of living among people. As great as this comfort might be, there also come times when the right people either are just not there or are themselves down and demotivated. Perhaps the loneliest place to be is where everyone can hear your groaning but no-one offers comfort.
Have
you ever had a friend who would be willing to give up their
own life to save yours?
THE COMMUNITY OF THE FORGIVEN
HOW NICE... 