Proud to be a prude - there is a fine line between entertainment and immorality

We seem to live in a society where it is more socially acceptable and expected to be nude, rude and crude, rather than a prude. Well, today I am coming out as a prude, owning it and proud to be it.

A friend from Maryborough visited on the weekend and she is a bit of the 'adventurous' sort. She organises things and enjoys getting out and about, so when she suggested her and I go to Dracula's on the Gold Coast I was sceptical but agreed to it. In my naivety however, I was expecting more of a Rocky Horror style Cabaret with vampires scaring me. I am known to be jumpy and get frights easily (I had to stop watching 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' in my late teenage years as it gave me nightmares, lots of them) but decided that since I am now 40, I should really be a little more daring. My idea of Dracula's was that people would jump out and scare me, there would be zombie type songs and a few scares along the way - so I didn't research it, I just assumed (mistake number one) that it was a show as far as shows go. You know, entertaining, funny some talent and all that jazz.

After the tickets were booked I told my ladies Bible study group and they said they had heard it was a bit dodgy and my work colleagues said the same. I was feeling a little nervous but thought that this is a show people rave about (that is all I knew of the show) and if it is for the public, it can't be that bad. I was wrong...

We arrived and were greeted by 'deathly' looking beings who were intentionally rude to create the atmosphere of <insert spooky music here> fear. Since I don't want to be sued for giving away what happened, the room and the ghost train ride were as I expected, a bit on the scary side, like make you jump. The next part blew my expectations to smithereens. Nude, rude, crude - that hardly even describes it. The show began with some singing, dancing and some inappropriate sexual jokes. Already, I felt uncomfortable but I thought that it may just be the start and that it would improve. I was wrong. Again. It went from crude to cruder and I went from prude to pruder. As I ate my meal I tried to close my eyes and ears to the blasphemy that pierced my soul. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. I needed to get out of there, but I felt bad as my friend had organised it and I didn't want her to leave on my behalf. It took a while before the official show called 'Nine Pints' began. The show was divided into 9 sections, i.e, 9 pints. I didn't even make it through all of the first 'pint'. A person in headgear in the shape of a sperm danced onto the stage. That was it for this old prude. I just couldn't stay and be attacked by vulgarity so opposed to my faith, so I got up and left, but not before praying for the people in that room. My friend popped out after act 1 finished to see if I was ok. I told her that she should stay if she pleased and not leave because of me, but she left with me and also informed me that after I left, big blow up 'private parts' (I did have the scientific names here, but apparently I am  too much of a prude to even have those words on my blog and removed them...) emerged onto the stage...I am glad I left when I did (though earlier would have been even better...)

While sitting there amidst this 'attack', God's spirit in me grew stronger and louder. I fought it and convinced myself that it would okay and that I would survive the show, but the power grew stronger and my mind was playing some scripture through my mind. First I was thinking of Philippians 4 v 8 and the words '...whatever is pure, whatever is lovely...if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.' Nothing about this was pure or lovely. I was then playing Sunday's church messsage (as we work through the book of Ephesians) over in my mind. Ephesians chapter five, in particular, was looping in my thoughts, like a record stuck, particularly in verse 4 where it says 'Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place,' it basically then goes on to say that these acts will have no inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God. I do not think it coincidence that the message at church on Sunday would literally convict me and strengthen me when this darkness was looming and trying to envelope me. 'Walk as children of the light' the Spirit was reminding of this passage again and again. I tried to squash it, ignore it and hoped it would go away, but it didn't. Finally I prayed for courage to be obedient to my holy convictions, and immediately, my legs stood up and marched me out of that place.

I may be a prude, but more so I am a follower of Jesus. The price He paid for me is eternal, no amount of money or critical opinions matter. It is hard being a human and being fearful of being judged by others, but I am being transformed. I make mistakes and sin and fall short, but I am being created after the likeness of God, learning to walk in love and holiness learning from the most loving sacrifice of all all, the greatest gift of all. My human nature will let me down, but with His strength and in obedience to Him, I will perservere to walk as a child of the light, filled with the Spirit and living loud for my Lord.

Thank you for reading.
Choose light and be blessed,
Much love,
Jax

Choose happy

Since I last wrote a fair bit has happened. We bought our first Aussie home after being in this wonderful country for 10 years, of course with buying came packing and moving. Needless to say it has been quite a busy start to the school year, with moving around mid-term, work responsibilties and all those other things that go with 'adulting' these days. I put off writing in these busy times, not because I don't want to write, but because writing makes me happy and I therefore want to relish rather than rush these times where I can allow my thoughts to escape onto the screen and enjoy time spent reflecting and recharging.

Anyhow, enough with the waffle and onto recent reflections. Have you ever heard of the  'International Day of Happiness?' I heard of it for the first time a few weeks ago through my interactions on LinkedIn. Surprisingly for me, it was first celebrated in 2013 - six years ago, yet I only encountered it this year. It was conceptualised and founded by a United Nations special advisor to advance global happiness. A great, yet kind of sad concept. I love the idea of spreading happiness, of actively and intentionally choosing happy - because to be honest, my default doesn't always naturally revert to happy, it goes somewhere between lethargic, cranky or 'meh'. So a reminder to choose happy is important, but 'International Day of Happiness' goes beyond just individual happiness. 2019's theme is 'Happier together, focusing on what we have in common, rather than what divides us,' in other words celebrating our common humanity.

Overall, this is a geat pledge to 'try and create more happiness in the world around me.' I guess what saddens me though, is that we have to be reminded of this, we need a day to remember to actively choose happiness and share happiness. And despite our efforts, we look around and see tragedy, not happiness. Just last week the shootings in Christchurch shows hatred rather than happiness, it shows a rift in common humanity; in love, kindness, gratitude and acceptance. In short, I love all things positive and happy, celebrating happiness seems fitting for a person who is interested in education, wellbeing and positivity. My faith, however, goes a step further and reminds me to love God, to love people and to ultimately deepen happiness into joy, joy that is only found (for me) in Jesus. As a human race, we do need that reminder to choose happy, to be positive and to spread cheer and even more so, we also need to realise that evil is part of our world and where we can change our attitude we should, I need to remind myself daily that I can control a certain percentage of my responses and that I too can actually take the focus off myself (and my self-centredness) to check in, serve, support, care for and love others, because no act of kindness is wasted. And being grateful, grateful for the blessings in our lives, things that we often take for granted, we need to take time to consider our many blessings and this may also contribute to our happiness.

If you are reading this and want to know why I am a Christian or what being a Christian means to me, feel free to ask. I love understanding how and why the world works the way it does and would happily answer any questions as best I can. I have also copied an email I sent out to my school colleagues yesterday. I have the privilege of working at a Christian school and can openly write about such matters.

Thank you for reading,
Blessings, Jax

PS if you have any suggestions for blog posts or want me to write about something feel free to comment :)

Here is the email transcript:

Hi everyone,

 

I hope this email finds you well.

 

Today (Wednesday) is International Day of Happiness, and 2019’s theme is “Happier Together: Focusing on what we have in common rather than what divides us.” 

 

As followers of Christ we have joy that exceeds simple happiness, but life still happens and sometimes our joy is clouded by the reality of tragedy that we as humans suffer. So, whilst a day for happiness may seem secular in nature (and a bit sad that the human race needs a day to be reminded to be happy), perhaps we could go one step further. May I encourage us as a staff to choose to be positive, choose to spread happiness and ultimately to rejoice in our greatest joy, our Lord and Saviour Jesus. In our world, as we heard at the start of the term, sin is the rule and grace is the exception. Let’s be the exception.

Let us spread happiness and support in our community. A small act of kindness goes a long way to bring a smile. Contact a friend or family member you haven't spoken to in a while, write a thoughtful note of encouragement or <gasp> cover a colleague's duty if they appear to be having a rough day.  Let's also lift one another up in prayer, and focus on our commonalties; loving Jesus, loving one another and loving our wonderful school community.

Let us spread some cheer, be the reason someone smiles and appreciate all things big and small. Happiness is a choice to be positive. Choose happiness. Choose to be the reason somebody smiles today and every day and if you are struggling to find 'your happy' be sure to chat to someone and pray for comfort only the Creator can provide.

Blessings and smiles,

Jacqui

Hebrews 13.16: Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Nehemiah 8.10: And do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

James 5.13 IS anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise

Philippians 4.4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.