There are many dirty words around. Often referred to by the first letter, there’s one word that Anglicans don’t like: The E word. Evangelism. Coming from an Anglican background, it’s something that I’ve never been comfortable with. the thought of going out there and telling someone why they should be a Christian is something that fills me with dread. Unfortunately for me, as I want to become an officer of the Salvation Army, this is something that I am going to have to get over. Continue reading “Evangelism for those uncomfortable with it”
Author: Ben Clapton
I'm a violinist, teacher, composer and arranger from Ellenbrook, Western Australia. I love my family, coffee, AFL and running.
Band I’d Love to see live
It’s late, and I need to post, so this will be a short one. The band I’d love to see live would be The Beatles. Not only did they form a lot of the “rules” of rock music that bands would come to live by for years to come, but they also broke those rules and did things like write a pop song accompanied entirely by string quartet (Eleanor Rigby) or one accompanied by a Clarinet Trio (When I’m Sixty-Four), yet also did really quite rocking songs. So that’s the band that I would love to see live.
Do Parents beliefs equal your own?
I was asked a question on my Facebook page when looking for inspiration on what to write. She asked, “‘if my parents believe it/vote for it/say it/follow it, does this mean I should do it unquestioningly too?”
It’s a difficult question, and one that I don’t think there is one specific answer to. It will very much depend on your own family upbringing and circumstances.
In my own family, my parents have very strong beliefs, and they have passed those onto myself and my sister – yet I would say my sister and I have very different beliefs. So while our beliefs have been passed down from our parents, there is part of our own make up, our own experiences that determines how much of that we accept or not.
So that’s my experience, and while it doesn’t definitively answer that question, I hope it’s something. And I’d like to hear what you think on that question, on how much your parents have influenced your beliefs, and whether you’ve had your own choice on those beliefs.
Bach was a fraud!
It’s been a while since I published anything from my field of study (Music Research). That’s because I’ve been researching something groundbreaking that will change our idea of music forever Continue reading “Bach was a fraud!”
My wonderful wife
I’m sorry for anyone who isn’t my wife who reads this, because this may get a bit mushy. But I’ve only got 30 minutes of battery on my laptop, so I may have to cut it short, but I want to dedicate this post to my beautiful wife.
She’s been waiting for this post for a while, as she one day discovered a journal entry I had written about a summer crush I once had. She was worried that she wasn’t journal material.
Well, I’m telling you now, and the entire world, that she was much more than journal material, she is wife material. Continue reading “My wonderful wife”
Death
“Every now and then”, he told the congregation, “I think about my death.” His words brought a low murmur of surprise from the parishioners.
“I don’t think of it in a morbid sense,” he qualified, smiling faintly. “I ask myself what I would want said. If any of you are around when I have to meet my day… I don’t want a long funeral. And tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. None of that is important. I’d like somebody to mention that day that …Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life to serving others… I’d like for somebody to mention that day that … Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody…
I want you to say that day that … I tried to be right on the war question… I want you to be able to say that day that … I did try to feed the hungry… I want you to be able to say that day that … I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked …
I want you to say on that day that … I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison …
Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice! Say that I was a drum major for peace! And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind.
That’s all I want to say. If I can help somebody as I pass along … if I can cheer somebody with a word or song … if I can show somebody that he’s travelling wrong … then my living will not be in vain.
If I can do my duty as a Christian ought … if I can spread the message as the Master taught … then my living will not be in vain.”
Why Australia has an Obesity problem
Australia is a really odd nation. While we lap up shows like “The Biggest Loser” and have a rich sporting history, and perfect weather for getting out to the beach and exercising, in 2008 Australia became the world’s fattest nation. At that time, a report found that 26% of Australians were Obese.
Today, I read a news report that KFC were releasing “The Double” – a burger without a bun that has twice the cheese, twice the bacon and twice the chicken. It comes up at a total kilojoule count of 1939kJ (412 Calories) for the original recipie, and 2515kJ (535 Calories) for the Zinger burger. If you have the burger as a regular meal (which would be the most commonly requested), the chips add 1137kJ (241 Calories) or for a large chips 2403kJ (511 Calories). So this burger, in a meal ranges between 653 and 1046 calories. For a comparison, Males aged between 19 and 30 – to whom this burger is advertised towards should aim to consume 2400 calories a day if they are not doing any exercise. For me, as I’m trying to lose weight, I aim my meals to be around the 300 calorie mark.But it’s not just the calories. You’ve also got to take into account the fat (22.3g and 35.7g respectively for the two burgers), which for the Zinger Burger is about half the recommended daily Fat intake for an adult. In fact, the only good thing about this burger is that it doesn’t have a bun, which would certainly shoot the kilojoules up.
Yet, despite knowing this, take a look at this image, of a survey run at the bottom of this Sydney Morning Herald article on this burger.
At the time I grabbed this screenshot, 47% of 15474 voters approved of this burger. If this poll was representative of the Australian public (which it isn’t) that would be 11 Million people who think that this burger is acceptable.
Australia has an Obesity problem. The difficult thing is that it’s not just going to be a change in the food that fast foods give us that is going to fix this. It’s change in attitude, a change in mindset, from the entire nation, to help and support each other as we try to lose this dishonorable title of the World’s fattest nation.
Text or Call?
The question posed by the Daily Post today is whether you prefer Texting or Calling. While I text far more than I call, I still most likely prefer calling – even though calling for work sometimes scares me.
Calling allows you to share the context of your voice, and I know of many different occasions where a text has been taken out of context, when there would have been no problem if it had been said on a phone call.
I do like the fact that a text can be replied to when you’re ready, where as a phone call, I always feel like I might be invading someones space. But I think that overall, a phone call is better, due to the immediate fact of being able to explain yourself.
Dividing responsibility for success
I’ve recently taken over leadership of the youth band at church. Upon taking this up, the leader of the youth services (who just happens to be my wife) wanted to make very clear guidelines of what was expected of each of our positions. We decided that I would take care of the musical side of the youth services, rehearsing the band, choosing the songs etc. She would take care of preparing the meeting leads, leading the service and those sorts of things.
What we’ve found is that dividing that responsibility gives us the freedom to really focus on our areas, and do more with them than we could do if we had to do it all on our own.
Likewise, my manager recently started job-sharing with another person. While they’re still working it all out, they will divide up the tasks of one job, and divide it between the two of them, bringing their own strengths to each part. One will deal with the media, one will deal with more internal communications. One will deal with budgets, one will deal with writing. I think that this arrangement will allow them to focus on the areas that they work best in, and help lift the quality of output of our team higher than it has been before.
Dividing up your roles can give you freedom to focus on your strengths more, and help you improve the final result. How could you divide up your role(s) and what qualities would you be looking to add to give you the flexibility to work to your strengths?
Floreat Fete
Well what a busy day it was. Today was our Church Fete, one of the busiest days in our Church’s year. We had plants, handbags, cook books, sausage sizzle, cheap fruit and veg (bananas for $5/kg!), face painting and even a fashion parade!
The youth band played, and apart from some early sound issues with microphones not working, I was really pleased with it. We played a more contemporary set than we would normally play at a youth service, which allowed me to utilise our singers in a different way. I was able to spread some solos around which, I think, was greatly appreciated by the band. Plus, I finally got to play the violin for “Devil went down to Georgia.”
The Church fete is great, because our whole church pitches in and helps out on the day. From some of our youngest members to our oldest members, there’s a job for everyone on the day, and we raise a heap of money. The past couple of years we’ve raised over $10,000.
Ben Clapton 