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A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,300 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 55 trips to carry that many people.

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Women are often self conscious about their bodies.  If they’ve had kids, chances are they’re in the majority of women who’s bodies didn’t bounce back to pre-child days.  Most women struggle to lose post-baby fat and it makes them even more self conscious!

So there’s a dilemma when making love.  Men like lighting (flood lighting if possible) and women often prefer pitch black can’t-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face darkness.

The problem I have with this dilemma isn’t just that I don’t get to see my wife’s gorgeous body when we’re making love, it’s that in the normal course of life I see more of OTHER women’s bodies than I do my wife’s!!

This is frustrating and creates a unhealthy, unsustainable sex life and could drive men to look elsewhere to satisfy their craving for visually stimulating sex.

THE SOLUTION?  Candles.  Candles enable the man to see and they bring light that flatters the woman enabling her to be less self conscious and more confident.  Candles (or your mobile phone torch – but candles are better) are a happy medium and create a win-win for both sides!

Try it out married couples!

Matthew 23:23-24 – “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”

This is Jesus talking to the Pharisees (religious nutters of the day).  They would give to God one tenth of even their spices but they failed to love and value the bigger things like justice, mercy and faithfulness. 

Careful, religious legalism seems good to your soul but that’s where it stops. There’s no actual fruit and everyone around you feels small and is forever being corrected by your spiritual elitism.

Religiosity is focused on the small matters to make sure everything’s perfect.  Did you say that right?  Did you cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s.  Now this is fine when you’re an aircraft mechanic but we’re talking a relationship with God that’s been smothered by a monster sized dose of grace!

Lighten up peeps!  Jesus is more concerned with a person than a principle.  He didn’t die for rules to be enforced but for a relationship to be established that would bring right living THROUGH that relationship.

We get it back the front too often.  Let’s embrace the bigger God picture with a real appreciation for His grace but keep allowing His empowering presence to help us live right too.

I asked Pastor Nonon and Teeny about it and they said it’s a sign of respect.

2. They know how to honour

I was a little blown away by the level of honour in the Filipino culture towards leaders, older people, even older kids.  We have a lot to learn about honour in Australia.  Maybe I should preach on it one day.

I was continually referred to as ‘Pastor’ (think American twang on the ‘r’ there), they kept giving me money as an ‘honorarium’ for preaching/ministering.  The team got given cash too.  More than once.  They wouldn’t let us pay for anything.  Not ziplining, not airsoft (like paintball but more painful), not meals.

It was humbling.  To be in a city and country where there are obviously many people who are poor but to be honoured with financial blessings… and many of them?  I was gobsmacked.  It got uncomfortable.  Awkward even.

But it showed me what true honour looks like.  And there’s a reward guaranteed by God for those who give honour… to those above them (leadership) beside them (peers) and those below them (entrusted to them).

Jesus said in Matthew 10:41 that anyone who receives a prophet or righteous man properly will get a significant reward.  Major lesson we need to learn especially in Australia.  A certain cycle of blessing is prevented when the honour isn’t being made.

1. They don’t need what we think they need

Sure, the standard of living is generally much lower, the nutrition, medical and even education isn’t anywhere near what we ‘expect’ from our government or our country but throwing money at them isn’t the solution.

I expected to be beaten up by the poverty but I didn’t realise how content and happy people could be without an iPhone, access to freshly ground coffee, broadband internet and a 3 bedroom house.  The reality is we don’t need to Westernise them.  Part of that (good and bad) will happen by osmosis anyway.

What they need is prayer, love and for us to serve them.  Being generous with money is a good thing of course too as a few bucks here goes much further there.  But they need local economy, fresh businesses, better infrastructure and ideally better access to better food and possibly more higher education in my opinion.

Clearly I’ve only been there once, for 6 days and visited 2 cities (Manila and Butuan) but I’ve got a great love for the people developing and I think our typical Western ‘fix-it’ solutions just might cause more harm that good.

Prayer will help.  As people get an understanding of who they are in Christ and how God designs them to prosper the whole society will continue to change.

Love will help.  Building relationships, partnering together in ministry and business, connecting and supporting them will help.

Serving will help.  The Western mindset is to act like the saviour.  We need to serve them in humility, in their context and their culture in ways that their leaders think is best.  They’ve got some great stuff going on over there that we need to pay attention to.

Tonight we head home! In 2 hours we’ll be at the airport and waiting to board our plane home. Then it’s only a 3 hour train trip and I’m with my amazing family again. I can’t wait to hug and wrestle my boys, tussle their hair and hang out with them. I can’t wait to hold and hug my baby girl. I can’t wait to kiss and hug my wife (and then some!) and tell her all the amazing things God did. Skype was good but it’s not the same as face to face.

I’m so totally blessed. My wife is incredible. And I’m going home today.

Bring it on.

We took all day to get to KL and then hit the night markets in Chinatown for some late night bartering and retail therapy. After a very late night we crashed in the cushy Sunway Resort beds.

Today we hit the Tech Mall after a big brekky catching up with lots of C3 peeps in the hotel. I displayed incredible self control and didnt buy anything! I did however help the others spend their hard earned ringgit.

Tonight the Vision 2020 Conference began. Incredible. Huge refreshing from the Holy Spirit, a new song, then Ps Phil made us laugh, cry and think about how we GO into the world to reach people for Christ. Challenging and timely. Loved it. Late dinner with the team and Andrew and Kathryn Kable from C3 Victory. Very good times.

Saturday we headed up the mountains for some zip lining! We zipped across a 400m valley with totally stunning views. Got some great footage I’ll post later. That night Josiah preached at the Youth Jam and the power of God flowed again. About 200 kids touched by God. Incredible.

Yesterday was EPIC. I preached in New Generations Sunday morning service on having a Big life and we saw about 30 decisions and God touched about 70 others with His power and love afterwards.

We then did Airsoft! Similar to paintball but you fire 0.2 gram bbs with very real looking weapons. I officially got my butt kicked by the BTAG – Butuan Tactical Airsoft Group. Loved it all. Last night we headed to the Gaisano and saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Decent flick. Got a ride home on motorbikes by the NG worship team. Awesome!!

On Monday of this week there was a bombing that targeted the governor and killed 2 people and injured 6. It was too close to where we were heading so sadly we had to cancel that part of the trip. It means we didn’t get to visit the child feeding program we have been supporting for 3 years now but it was the wisest thing to do.

We met Renilo and his wife, the pastors of the church in Midsayap where the ministry runs. It was a great but brief visit to Pizza Hut for lunch together. We talked and found out that our support also enables 6 children to attend school! I love that we are helping in this area too. So good.

Our visit was brief but definitely worth it. We gave the gifts we brought over and went on our way all the way back to Butuan which took 7 hours due to the rain and a few pit stops. Tiring but essential part of our day. God is good.

I travelled with Grace, the project director, a lovely teacher at the project and Erish. His home is very simple, made from wood and decorated with gifts that we have sent over. I met his gorgeous family including his two older sisters, younger sister and brother and his mum. She works to support them all as his father left them but she can only find occasional work at the local coconut plant.

It was again a life changing moment for me. They live in such simplicity and poverty but maintain an inner joy despite their situation. We are finding this beauty all around this amazing city.

Last night we were treated to a massive Chinese feast before heading to church for the final night of the Nights of Fire. God moved powerfully again this time 200 people showed up. Amazing!

I’m continuing to fall in love with the Filipino people and their culture and this city.