OBVIOUS QUESTION #1: ???

The obvious question #1 is, of course, why have a blog entry titled "Obvious Question #1"?

If you have browsed through some of my many videos you will see that what I try and get people to do is to inform themselves, think about things for themselves and reach their own conclusions.  The Lord created us with a brain, the gift of logical and rational thought processes AND the free will to use them to think about, meditate on and reach our own conclusions and decisions about the reality we find ourselves in. The Lord gave us these things in order that we might use them to discover not only the truth about the reality He has created but more importantly to discover and get to know the truth of Him. After all, only when you know the truth can you truly love.

Those who do not want you to know the truth and who wish to deceive you, will discourage you from using the brain The Lord gave you, to do your own thinking about, and more importantly, asking awkward questions about, the things they want you to believe are true. They will try and convince you by many different ploys that you do not have the qualifications, intellectual prowess, special secret knowledge, education, information, etc. to be able to think about these things for yourself and that it is best to leave the thinking to those who do and simply put you faith and trust in what THEY tell you to believe. In otherwords they are saying "let US do the thinking for you."

 In stark contrast The Lord encourages us to always think rationally and logically for ourselves AND question and test EVERYTHING to see for ourselves if it is true or not.   The Lord assures us that those who desire the truth enough to SEEK the truth shall find it. He WANTS those who love the truth to find it. He ENABLES them to find it.

So back to the obvious question of why "Obvious Question" posts.  I have found that one of the best ways to find the truth is to ask questions in my own mind. But sometimes it is more interesting, informative, ... and, let's be honest, just plain fun, to ask them out loud. And usually the more obvious and awkward the question the better .... And OK the more fun.

"Obvious Questions" will be the questions that pop into my mind as I listen to or read the news, contemplate current affairs, ponder social issues etc.  You might like to ask them in your own mind too (or you may come up with different ones). Or if you want to join in, start up (or stop dead as the case may be:-) a conversation just pop the question into the mix and see what happens. Could be interesting and might even be fun to watch.

OK now you know what they are when they pop up on the blog I'll throw a couple up so you get the general idea....

NOW A CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER ON 123RF

Latest breaking news in this neck of the woods is that I have now been accepted as a contributing photographer on the royalty free images site 123RF. (Click name to go there). Early days yet but my initial 10 photo submissions are up as well as 5 short video footages I put in recently. Another 20 photos are still in the queue being processed but hopefully will be up on site in the next day or two. There will be many more to come in due course and in fact I am out and about right now capturing more of The Lord's wonderful creation. (Yes I am actually sitting out in the Australian bush doing this post via the mobile phone network.)

 The above link will take you directly to the 123RF website but if you want to view just my (growing) collection then click HERE.

In relation to Small GIFTS Ministries the 123RF website is an excellent resource and I use it for my own videos when I need images that I cannot capture for myself. In fact the eagle images in my video "On Wings of Eagles" are licensed from 123RF. The concept of royalty free images is that you pay just the one up front price (price varies according to size of the image selected) to download an image but included in the price is a license to use it many times over without the need to keep paying royalties every time you use it. Major commercial uses and users do require special licenses but the standard Licence should adequately serve most SGM applications.

Except for large commercial users Photographers earn their income from the number and size of images downloaded, not the number of times they are used. This is good news for SGMs as images can be downloaded for as little as a dollar or two, and even less if you take out their subscription packages. What is even more good news for SGM's is that photographers often put up a certain number of images from their collections as free downloads. In fact once I can get a decent collection up on site I too will be offering a selection as free downloads as part of my own SGM efforts.

So if you are an SGM or a small group or local church and are looking for relatively inexpensive (and sometimes free) images that you can use royalty free as often as needed for all sorts of purposes I can highly recommend that you check out 123RF and what it has to offer.

PS: Having rather limited financial resources I am hoping to use the sale of my images at 123RF to help fund my own Small GIFTS Ministry efforts. So if you decide to download any of my images you will not only only have some ( hopefully very nice) images you can use and enjoy, you will also be helping my SGM. Even using the above links to visit 123RF and linking others to this blog post will be helping me. My heartfelt thanks to all who do, may The Lord bless you abundantly.

With love from Christ in IslandBard.

#smallgiftsministries #ttpagoTLa

THE HIDDEN GIFTS OF THE "HASHTAG ANGELS"

Don't think you have any Small GIFT Ministry to offer? Think again!

The SGM concept is all about CONNECTING those brothers and sisters in Christ who have gifts to freely give, to those brothers and sisters in Christ who have need of them. The idea is to use the hashtags #smallGIFTSministries and #ttpagoTLa as keywords that allows us to quickly find each other on the Internet.

There is a very important and valuable SGM that anybody and everybody can share. I call them the "Hashtag Angels". These are brothers and sisters in Christ who make their SGM the task of locating (or they may already know of) existing places on the Internet where gifts and resources are already freely available and using their own site, blog, facebook page, Google account, etc. bring those sites into the SGM movement by sharing the link with others and including in the write up the hashtags #smallGIFTSministries and #ttpagoTLa. Simply by including the hashtags with a link and information about the site brothers and sisters in Christ will be able to find it with a SGM hashtag search even if the site itself does not have the hashtags.

With the help of Hashtag Angels the SGM movement can grow much, much faster because we do not have to wait for sites to come on board the SGM concept. Hashtag Angels can reach out and bring into the SGM search range existing resources that are already out there and freely available to the body of Christ.

May the Lord bless the SGM movement (if it becomes a reality) with many wonderful "Hashtag Angels".

#smallgiftsministries #ttpagoTLa

INTRODUCING THE CONCEPT OF SMALL GIFTS MINISTRIES.

 Like most followers of Christ I am pretty much an unimportant "nobody" as the world, and even much of the wider Christian community, measures such things. After all a disabled senior citizen in a small country town on the underside of the world is hardly the world's idea of a "mover and shaker".

But something very strange ( if miracles are not a common occurrence in your life) happened to this unimportant "nobody", he suddenly became disabled and everything he had worked so hard to become in the eyes of the professional world disappeared overnight down the drain hole of life. But in its place The Lord gave me some unexpected gifts that I did not work for but received freely by His grace alone. In the latter years of my life I find, much to my surprise, this unimportant disabled nobody is now a writer, poet, photographer, graphics "artist", and video maker.

But it has taken a very long time (and some hard lessons) to understand what it is The Lord wants me to do with these gifts He has so freely given to me. He wants me to use them for and share them with, the whole Body of Christ - FREELY! But even more than that I think He wants this unimportant nobody to have a try at some "moving and shaking" and perhaps encourage others to do likewise with the gifts He has given them.

You will note that "Small GIFTS Ministries" is very much plural and not singular. This is because it is not intended to be AN organisation but rather, a CONCEPT, and hopefully, with the blessing of The Lord, eventually a worldwide movement of like minded individuals (nobodies and somebodies alike) and organizations all sharing the same vision and creating their own Small GIFTS ministry as The Lord leads them and using the gifts He has blessed them with.

So what IS "Small GIFTS Ministries".  It stands for:- 

"Small Group Internet Facilities and Technical Support". 

The intention is to use the Internet to provide local churches and small groups of Christians throughout the world with FREE resources and support from the God given gifts of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Especially to help new churches and groups get established but also to help any "resource poor" congregations and groups who can better use their limited finances than having to continually purchase the gifts The Lord has already given freely to His people to grow and nourish the whole Body of Christ.

The concept is based on two foundational understandings and a command from Christ Himself. The first understanding is that the rapidly growing church model set up by the Apostles and illustrated in the New Testament is not that of large, centralised, resource rich, organisations with cumbersome organisational structures and long "chains of command". Instead personal discipleship, mentoring and rapid spread of the Gospel was achieved by "small and many" groups of believers under the control and guidance of the Holy Spirit and helping one another more as a community and family of individuals than as an organisation. I believe the followers of Christ are now moving back to this proven "Biblical" model in ever increasing numbers.

The second understanding is that the gifts we receive from The Lord are not for ourselves or for our own advancement or gain but are for the advancement and wellbeing of the whole body of Christ to which we belong. Not just our denomination, local church, home group, bible study group, etc. But for the WHOLE body of Christ, wherever it may be in the world.

Indeed I recommend as a suggestion that all "Small GIFTS Ministries" that may arise adopt the motto that will appear at the top of my own special copyright notices allowing free use and distribution of my works:-

To The Profit and Glory of The Lord Alone!

Finally the SGM concept is in obedience to the command of Christ regarding those He sent out to share with others the gifts He had given them.

Matthew 10:8 "Freely you have received, freely give."

Perhaps your local church records its sermons (video or audio). If your church or group is blessed by those with the gift of teaching and preaching why not share the recordings with those many groups and churches around the world who do not have easy access to pastors and teachers. Even well written sermon notes can be shared with other pastors and lay preachers from around the world to work together so that preacher may sharpen preacher as "iron sharpens iron".

That excellent article a member of your church wrote for the church newsletter - why not share it freely with the world and let them be a blessing to the whole body of Christ? In fact if your church has one of those newsletters that are packed with useful information, tips, articles, etc. why not share the whole newsletter with the world wide body of Christ?

If your home group or Bible Study group is blessed with gifted people consider how you can share that blessing with other home groups and Bible Study groups wherever they may be and be a blessing to them also. If you are a writer, poet, video maker, photographer and graphics design person like me, or a singer, songwriter, composer like my daughter ("minstrelbear" on YouTube) why not freely share with your brothers and sisters in Christ everywhere the blessings of the gifts you have freely received from The Lord for that very purpose?

Are you gifted in administration, church and small group planting, operation, and growth, website creation, Information Technology, crafts, trades, etc? Why not freely share "How To" guides, videos, advice, facilities, etc. via the internet, DVD and DVD (.iso) image files, email, etc. to help those churches and groups who do not have easy access to such blessings?

The list is as long and as wide as your vision but you get the idea.

For example, for quite some time now under a special copyright notice my eBooks have been made freely downloadable and distributable for non-profit, non-commercial use by my brothers and sisters in Christ wherever in the world they may be and I am about to do the same with my video works and blog posts to create my own Small GIFTS Ministry. May I encourage my brothers an sisters in Christ everywhere to likewise create their own SGM to share their gifts, large and small, freely wherever they are needed or may be used in the body of Christ.

Feel free to adopt or adapt the special copyright notices I use, or create your own. (Mine are not based on legal advice but are intended to make it clear that I retain ownership and control of and rights to, the material at all times and that what is being given is PERMISSION to share and distribute it on a cost free basis only for non-commercial purposes. Likewise the motto "To The Profit and Glory of The Lord Alone." can freely be used as can the spotlighted cross in the circle logo I created (I can make the logo image file available). It would be great to see them cropping up on SGMs around the world to symbolize unity in diversity in an SGM "movement". But I have to leave that in the hands of The Lord.

THINGS YOU WILL NEED:

Obviously the first thing you will need is access to the Internet. You will also need some sort of host site where you can store your material on-line and make it available for viewing and/or download (unless you are doing yours by email or some other means). There are a number of such hosting sites (Google+ and YouTube are one example but there are many others and you do not have to limit your self to one only.) Some may require an annual fee while others do it for free if you do not mind the odd bit of advertising popping up here and there.

I am still praying about and trying to organize such a site for myself. BUT HEY! Wouldn't it be incredible if some CHRISTIAN web hosting sites decided their SGM is to freely host other SGMs as download sites! THAT is how SGM works, everybody being individually led by the

Lord to find ways to freely share with the whole body of Christ the gifts and opportunities the

Lord has blessed them with for that very purpose. Something to pray about folks!

MOST IMPORTANTLY it is essential that you either own or control the copyright of the material you share or you have permission in writing from the copyright owners to freely share and distribute it. Sorry but you cannot go about freely sharing and distributing OTHER PEOPLE'S material without their permission. That, I have to warn, is illegal and you could find yourself in a spot of bother as well as in need of a lot of prayer (and legal) support.

I STRONGLY SUGGEST that you retain copyright control of your material and reserve all rights. What you are giving is PERMISSION to share and distribute the material not ownership and control of it. Not only do you then retain ownership and control of the material for all future purposes but you also retain control of the sharing and distribution. It means nobody else can make money, buy, sell, rent, hire etc. what you have intended to be freely shared and distributed without cost.

To this end it is a good idea to include a special copyright notice in anything you share.

FINALLY A NOTE ON HASHTAGS:

Perhaps it is the Lord's doing (perfect timing) but I just had an article explaining a bit about hashtags drawn to my attention in an email. Now that I know a LITTLE something about them and what they do I am going to tag my SGM stuff with 2 hashtags:-

 #smallgiftsministries 

(pretty self explanatory).

#ttpagoTLa 

("to the profit and glory of The Lord alone" - it is a more unique identifier for freely usable Christian resources)

Hopefully by using these hashtags it will not only help any SGMs find each other but also help small groups, churches, etc find SGMs and their available resources. Please use them where you can. It would be wonderful if soon when a small group of brothers and sisters somewhere in the world type in these hashtags they are presented with screens full of freely available resources and help and not the empty screens currently produced (I tested to see if anybody else was using them). By the way you can also further refine your search using other keywords in addition to these when searching.

BUT DO BE CAREFUL! Remember #smallgiftsministries and #ttpagoTLa are nothing more than KEYWORDS that can be used to help people find brothers and sisters in Christ who are willing to share their gifts for free. A search using these keywords is no different to any other internet search and there is no control over who can use them in their sites, blogs, etc.. They offer no special protection. Like the internet itself, nobody (on earth at least) controls the SGM concept (if it gets off the ground), me least of all. It is merely brothers and sisters in Christ helping one another where they can as independent and autonomous individuals and groups. A search using the SGM keywords should be treated with the same caution and precaution as any other internet search and people should use their own discernment and discretion (and virus protection, etc.) in regards to the sites and content their search produces.

The Internet is about to discover its first Small GIFTS Ministry. I pray to The Lord it will not be the last, but the first of many.  

With Love from Christ in IslandBard

Provided it is done freely and without charge

"Introducing The Concept of Small GIFTS Ministries"

may be copied, used and distributed

(in its entirety only including this notice)

by brothers and sisters in Christ

to the profit and glory of The Lord alone (ttpagoTLa)

By special permission of 

D.J. Ludlow copyright 2014

#smallgiftsministries  #ttpagoTLa 

THE OHANA OF THE LORD

(An article I wrote several years ago)

Sometimes we get enlightenment from the strangest of places, even an animated movie about a strange little alien dude called Stitch and his equally little Hawaiian friend Lilo. It has been some time since I enjoyed watching Lilo and Stitch but something I will never forget about it is little Lilo’s explanation to Stitch of the Hawaiian word OHANA. To quote Lilo:-

“Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind ... or forgotten.”

I had call to remember it a little while ago when I was talking to a brother and friend about a new interchurch men’s group and an elderly brother and friend came to mind. A brother who has not been in the best of health in recent times. What about him and those like him I asked, are they not also brothers in Christ? Our plans must include them. They need to be as much a part of any men's group as we are, we cannot leave them behind. - They too are the "Ohana" of the Lord.

It is so easy to get ourselves tied up in programs and "leadership" the way the world does it. We prepare the programs, the planned activities and the schedules, the goals and the mission statements, etc.. We decide the way, raise the standard, and set the pace and having fulfilled our "leadership" role we hand responsibility over to the followers themselves to keep up with us. But many cannot keep up for many different reasons, and sadly all too often they just disappear from our radar screens and get left behind. They fall through the cracks in OUR organisations (but never from the hand of the Lord Himself).

BUT we are not called to leadership as the world considers “leadership”. We have but one leader, the Lord Himself. Even Jesus did not call Himself “the good leader” but rather, “the good shepherd”. Likewise He exhorts those of us who would take on the responsibility, not to be “leaders” of His people but shepherds of His people, like Him. For a shepherd is much more than a leader, he is a caretaker who lovingly tends the needs of every single sheep in his care – ALL of them! Jesus did not say to Peter if you love me lead my sheep, rather He said to Peter if you love me feed my sheep. It is not the responsibility of the sheep to keep up, it is the responsibility of the shepherd to ensure none get left behind. Moses was raised by Pharoah in Egypt and no doubt taught in the ways of being a great leader of a nation. But the Lord first took Moses to the desert for many years to learn the ways of the humble shepherd before asking him to shepherd His people to the Promised Land.

The truth is we who are in Christ are not people of the world that we should follow the ways of the world - we are the family of the Lord, who follow the ways of Christ Jesus Himself. WE ARE OHANA! The ohana of the Lord! Ohana means family – and family means nobody gets forgotten – nobody gets left behind.

John 6:37-40  "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.  For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.  And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.  And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day."

Provided it is done freely and without charge

"The Ohana of The Lord" may be copied, used and distributed

(in its entirety only including this notice)

by brothers and sisters in Christ

to the profit and glory of The Lord alone (ttpagoTLa)

By special permission of 

D.J. Ludlow copyright  2012.

#smallgiftsministries #ttpagoTLa

MAKING ROOM IN THE CHURCH FOR THE MULTITUDE

(An article I wrote for my local church bulletin)

"After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands" (Revelation 7:9 NIV)

I was reading this passage the other day again and, as often happens, the Lord showed me something else that had never occurred to me. How did John know they were from many nations, tribes, peoples, languages etc. - just by looking at them?

Then it occurred to me that they may all have been in white robes and holding palm branches - BUT .... they were not necessarily all the same. I kinda like that they may have been all different sizes, different complexions and facial features. Perhaps different hairstyles, singing styles, etc. Maybe some were swaying and tapping feet, and some I know of, probably "air-guitaring" with their palm branches. Some maybe looked a bit like you and some a bit like me and a whole lot who thankfully looked like neither of us :-). Some may be were playing drums and upturned bins, others flutes, tambourines and bells. Others may be clapping sticks and boomerangs and playing didgeridoos as together they make a joyful noise unto the Lord.

To think of "Christians" simply as people like ourselves is such an easy trap to fall into. But it was a very, very long time before ANY Christians were English speaking, western cultured, suited and tied, Summer dressed, middle classed people.

But the Lord does not call us to liken ourselves to each other, but to Christ Jesus. A lower classed, cloaked, tunic and sandal wearing, Jew from the Middle East who never spoke a word of English in His entire time on Earth. But equally clearly we are to liken ourselves in the spirit and not in the flesh / clothes / eating habits / housing styles / income bracket / age group / way of speaking / etc.

 Therefore, next time you warmly welcome to your fellowship those multitudes whom the Lord has drawn from  "every nation, tribe, people and language" just as they are, remember that the only thing the Lord has asked them to give up from their multitude of cultures and lifestyles is that which is sinful, not that which is different. And do not forget to welcome also those brothers and sisters in Christ He has drawn from out of those other oft forgotten foreign, and not so foreign places from which the Lord rescues His people. Those He has redeemed from the tribes of the gangs of the streets, the peoples of addiction, the nations of the disabled, the people of poverty, the children of abuse, etc.. Welcome equally, ALL who have washed themselves in the blood of the Lamb and been redeemed by the same God who redeemed even us. Let there be no distinction among those in Christ.

Galatians 3:28 "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise"

Provided it is done freely and without charge

"Making Room In The Church For The Multitude" 

may be copied, used and distributed

(in its entirety only including this notice)

by brothers and sisters in Christ

to the profit and glory of The Lord alone (ttpagoTLa)

By special permission of 

D.J. Ludlow copyright 2013.

#smallgiftsministries #ttpagoTLa

Why The Name?

OK, finally found my way back here. Still have not the foggiest of how Blogger and Google+ works. I log in and get columns of snippets of goodness knows what from goodness knows who with no rhyme or reason to it all and no explanation as to what to do with it. I am sure there is an explanation somewhere but a big shiny "getting started" button might be nice, especially if it is connected to some good tutorials and a step by step setup guide that explains how it all fits together. I'll keep puttering around but not exactly what I would call an intuitive look and feel to the whole thing at the moment. OK that felt good. Moving on now ...

In case anybody is actually seeing this blog yet and may perchance be wondering about the name of it (Views From an Island Place) those who have visited my IslandBard YouTube Channel will know that I have been a victim of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) since 1996. MCS isolates you from the modern world and restricts you to a few safe islands in a vast chemical "sea" of polluted places. If you want to know more about MCS type "Multiple Chemical Sensitivity" into your search engine. Skip all the old "it is all in your head" sites and check out some of the more recent research articles where doctors and scientists are discovering that it is a very real physical injury and disability.

In the meantime my videoed poem "An Island Place" will help add a little more insight.

IB

Hello

Not sure who is seeing this yet. What started out as a simple YouTube Channel is now a Google+ social labyrinth and I have no idea yet how it all works or fits together. But like a good little lab rat I ran down this particular tube and discovered a place to blog. A rather fortuitous discovery as my old blog site of similar name got "disassembled" when Bigpond.com suddenly decided not to host blogs anymore and scrapped its "BigBlog" site.

But being a poet and writer as well as a video maker and photographer, not having a place to "publish" my thoughts and observations is like trying not to breathe.

I don't think anybody is going to be that interested in what I had for breakfast, or who I met down the street, etc. You will be pleased to know it is not going to be that sort of blog. Rather it is going to be thoughts and observations about many diverse matters and aspects of the world and reality we all live in together. Much like my previous blog it will contain not only writings but also the odd poem or two and perhaps the odd photograph or two depending on what this blog system can do.

OK I'm off to check out what Blogger can do and how to drive it and how to set it up. Will try and get back soon.

Oh, by the way, those of you who have visited my YouTube channel will know that I am a committed follower of Christ, but with a very different "take" on things than most denominations and theologians put out. People love to put labels on others because they like life all neatly "pigeonholed". A little advanced warning, you are going to be a little hard pressed to find a label for me other than "Follower of Christ". The world hasn't invented a label yet that will stick to me or a pigeonhole that will accommodate me. I'm kinda ... different than what most people expect.

Bye for now. IB