danny’s space

Was chatting to Matt, a friend from church, last night on MSN. He’s a fan of rock music (which I’m oblivious to) and made mention of a new song out by Good Charlotte with lyrics:

Baptized in the river
I’ve seen a vision of my life
And I wanna be delivered
In the city was a sinner
I’ve done a lot of things wrong
But I swear I’m a believer
Like the prodigal son
I was out on my own
Now I’m trying to find my way back home
Baptized in the river
I’m delivered
I’m delivered

Lately I’ve noticed quite a few ‘Christian’ ideas seeping into popular culture, especially songs (which I guess you could say reflects this pop culture well). Words like heaven, sin, and even Jesus and messiah pop up time and time again. Just do a search on any lyrics engine and you’ll find a load of songs to do with these. Of course there are heaps to do with love as well.

And then this morning, saw a blog on the SMH about Junkies, Christians and the void, in which ‘the void’ was described as:

“Growing up, I thought I was weird or depressed because so often, I’d sit back and feel like I was going to be swallowed by an aching emptiness, this void and that everyone else was just getting on with their lives and didn’t feel it as well.”

Seems teenagers may feel this void, and that it may be linked somewhat to the hardcore punk rock that has been picked up by this age group:

“Ive just turned 18 and like many teenagers have become obsessed with the void (the reason for the rise of emo-ism and basically any band that can be labelled as whinge rock). I found that I blamed this feeling of emptiness, absolute shittiness, and the desire to adopt genocide as a profession on other people.”

Or, is this an attributing factor to why people drink?

“I find that the feeling of emptiness also goes away when I drink, but it comes straight back as soon as I sober up. Drinking isn’t a very healthy way to fill the void though, so I guess I’ll just have to keep on travelling.”

Or is God just another way to fill the void as one comment suggested:

“Oh my goodness. Sam you hit the nail on the head! I went to a Catholic School and every year we had reformed drug users come and tell us about the horrible lives they used to lead and how Jesus saved them. I thought it was about replacing one addiction with another (they really REALLY seem to get into their faith, almost as if it was a substitute for their prior addiction.) Perhaps it’s about filling the void?”

Or perhaps Christianity really does shed some decent insight into this matter…

“It became clear to me that right from the very beginning of mans [sic] separation from God; he has been trying to figure out a way back, how to fill that void, without even realizing that might be what he is looking for. However, just by his very nature, every chance he gets he stuffs it up…. Each of us has our own Egypt our own wilderness and our own forms of slavery, be it drugs, sex, addictions, overeating, depression… it [God] gives me constant affirmation that I dont need to spent my life sweating the small stuff. Im not a happy clappy Christian, just a regular quiet believer who stuffs up on a regular basis.”

Food for thought.

… is truly another man’s treasure. At least at Reverse Garbage it is.

Sara, Ernie, Nuggy and I drove down to Marrickville this morning and spend a few hours walking around the dusty warehouse of the Reverse Garbage co-op. It literally is ‘garbage’ that is sold. Offcuts, potato sacks, lots of random bottles and toys and paper. Like factory left-overs or something.

Not as many things as a good 2-dollar shop in Eastwood, and the things are pretty crap. Although, you’ll find rolls and rolls of butchers paper, which is great for youth group and childrens’ ministry. That was the main point of the visit. Also got a few random bits and pieces, two hessian bags (they sell quite a few things ‘by the bag’ which means you pay by volume!), and a ‘wide load’ sign (never know when that will come in handy).

Worth a visit if you’ve got nothing else to do. But take a gas mask, or take lots of antihistamines beforehand.

A very happy Hallmark day to all!

February 14th - what card companies, chocolate manufacturers and rose growers look forward to in the shortest month of the year. Too much commercial hype around a very simple concept that shouldn’t be restricted to one day of the year.

A few selected quotes from people on the SMH News Blog about Hallmark Day:

February 14 doesn’t mean anything and is simply a commercial reason for giving gifts. How about giving someone some flowers when YOU feel like it?!

…if you need valentines day to remember to give your partner some flowers or some extra attention, then some thing’s wrong with you…

When did we actually need a special day to remember and love someone? Why not do something special on any other day of the year and not be such a cliche.

Of course this represents one extreme, but I lean towards that extreme. Why need February 14th in order to do these things? From now on, I declare the new Valentine’s Day to be June 7th. Go the rebellion. Starting 2008.

And to smother flames, I do agree with those that say Hallmark Day is just a nice opportunity to stop what you’re doing and do something different/special. But why follow all this commercial hype - it’s a shame, it’s like what Christmas and Easter have become…