I'm not scared

June 12, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
3 Comments

13.jpgSomething happened to me today that would scare many others but I’m absolutely fine with it.

I became the father of a teenager. Our daughter Emily turned 13 today.

I know that the teenage years can be pretty rough, both for those going through them and for parents, but I’m not too concerned. There may be challenges along the way and we’ll face them if and when they come.

In the meantime, we’ll just keep on enjoying the company of our beautiful young girl who is rapidly becoming a beautiful young woman. Emily is an amazing person. She’s thoughtful, clever, funny, intelligent, sensitive and so much more and it’s a delight to watch her as she grows up to be more and more the young woman that God has created her to be.

I figure that if she turns out anything at all like her mum she’ll be doing very well indeed.



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Awesome

June 10, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
6 Comments

rainbow.jpgThere are some things that I could marvel at over and over again.

I love looking out our back door at sunrise and seeing the amazing colours that paint the sky. Not every sunrise is spectacular but day after day I can look at the emerging display and it really never gets old.

The moon has been pretty impressive over the last couple of mornings too. I’ve noticed it in the western sky as I’ve cycled to work. I love seeing the moon still hanging around in the morning, especially when it’s large and golden like it was yesterday.

This morning I saw another one of my favourites. An amazing rainbow was perched over the city as I cycled beside the river. If any of us see a rainbow when we’re at home we alert everyone else in the house before rushing outside to get a better view.

I never want to lose that sense of awe. There are so many natural wonders that continue to take my breath away no matter how many times I see them. The best part is that I know the one who made them all.

Are you still filled with wonder when you walk outside and see creation? What are the things that still amaze you no matter how many times you see them?



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Criminals

June 7, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
2 Comments

burnett.jpgI was introduced to the music of T Bone Burnett at an Elvis Costello concert many years ago at the Perth Concert Hall. Burnett was the ‘support act’ and someone that I needed to ‘endure’ before the real act began. I’d wanted to see Elvis Costello for years and this guy T Bone Burnett was now the only thing standing between me and that moment finally arriving.

Something strange happened when Burnett started singing. Instead of just wishing that he got off the stage so that I could hear about Oliver’s Army, I found myself completely drawn into his music and his lyrics. As it turned out, although I really enjoyed Costello’s performance, and it was rather brilliant, I enjoyed Burnett’s even more. I was now a fan.

T Bone Burnett hasn’t got the greatest voice in the world but he sure knows how to write great lyrics.

I was listening to his song Criminals on my iPod a couple of days ago and found myself once again agreeing with every word. T Bone sings it as his personal song but I can so easily make it my own. I can nod in agreement with every word.

Criminals is a great reminder of where we need to start if we want to change the world.

Criminals

I’ve seen a lot of criminals
I’ve seen a lot of crime
Doing a lot of evil deeds
Doing a lot of time

We speak of these men as aliens
From some forbidden race
We speak of these men as animals
We will lock in a cage

But there’s one man I must arrest
I must interrogate
One man that I must make confess
Then rehabilitate

There is no other I can blame
No other I can judge
No other I can cast in shame
Then require blood

I see him in the shadows down the hall
I see him in the plaster on the wall

There is no crime he cannot commit
No murder too complex
His heart is filled with larceny
And violence and sex

His heart is filled with envy
And revenge and greed
His heart is filled with nothing
His heart is filled with need

He’s capable of anything
Of any vicious act
This criminal is dangerous
The criminal under my own hat



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Giving it all away

June 4, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
5 Comments

aussie_money.jpgIt’s fairly widely known that Bill Gates has given away a large part of his $US40 billion ($AU48.7 billion) fortune in the fight against poverty and disease. Not content to miss the opportunity to do even more to make a difference, he’s once again encouraging other billionaires to follow his example and give away most of their money.

At a public debate in Oslo, the Microsoft founder has told the world’s richest people that they will find that they enjoy giving their wealth away.

I think all billionaires should give away the vast majority of their fortune.

I’m not saying they shouldn’t leave anything for their kids or to have a little bit for themselves but yes, I think they would enjoy it, I think their kids would be better off, and I think the world would be better off.

I’m a great believer that great wealth should go from the richest to the poorest. – Bill Gates

It’s easy for those of us without great wealth to look at Bill’s example and admire him for what he’s doing while at the same time thinking that the call to support worthwhile causes is only for those who can afford it.

I think the attitude is the same whether we have great wealth or not. We can have an attitude that says we’ve got to hang on to every cent we make or a generous attitude that looks for ways to help others with whatever we have. If we don’t develop a generous attitude when we have little we’re not likely to be generous if we ever find ourselves with wealth.

In the post Thinking about compromise by Seth Godin, he points out the fact that a lot of people who have more than enough are still trying to scrape together every dollar they can.

I know people with $50,000,000 in the bank who still don’t believe that they have enough, who still grind away at a job they don’t like trying to earn another penny.

Seth’s post is talking about attitudes to life and the way that rich and poor alike have to set their own values.

Are you waiting until you can afford it before you develop a generous attitude or are you already being generous in whatever ways you can already?

You and I may never be able to give away billions of dollars like Bill Gates has but we can still give away our time, our experience and our money to help those we can. I believe that we’ll find, just as Bill has found, that a generous attitude is far more fulfiling than the kind of attitude that only seeks to build our own empire.



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A million reasons to smile

June 3, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
2 Comments

compassion.gifSomething amazing happened last month. Something that proves that the problem is not too big to be tackled.

Compassion is currently serving over one million sponsored children. Over a million children now have hope for a better future. When you put the current million together with all those who have been through Compassion programmes over the past 57 years, you’re talking about a significant effort in changing the world one child at a time.

The one-millionth child, Fellow Blewussi Kpodo, is 8 years old and lives in Togo with his father, two older sisters and one younger brother.

Fellow’s sponsor is one than the world’s strongest women, Jang Mi-Ran, a long time Compassion supporter and Olympic gold medalist weight lifter from Korea.

You can find out more about the millionth sposorship at the Compassion Blog.

Last week on my morning radio programme I talked to DJ Konz from Compassion Australia about the milestone. You can hear the interview by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

We talked about the fact that the sponsor of the millionth Compassion child is from South Korea, the country where Compassion began its work. That country has seen such significant change over the last 57 years that people there are now able to help others.

The fact that the child being sponsored is from Togo is also significant. Togo is the most recent country to join the growing list of nations where Compassion works.



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