The Power of Story

One good story covers over a multitude of statistics.

Dave the Donkey Book Review

Dave the Donkey

"Dave the Donkey" was short listed with my Car Park Parable books for the 2010 CALEB award for faith inspired writing in the Children’s section. I have personally corresponded with Dave’s author, Andrew McDonough, who is a South Australian also trying to get good Australian content out there in an American saturated market. He has given me some great insight into the publishing industry; don’t let that fool you though – I’m not afraid to tell you what’s wrong with this book. Unfortunately – there’s nothing wrong with it.

Dave the Donkey is an excellent retelling of the events around Easter from the donkey’s perspective. But it’s not a narration of the events – it takes the form of a picture book where less words are more. Where the irony, contrasts and juxtapositions in the last week of Jesus’ life are left to speak for themselves, and told with such simplicity that they are compelling even for a child.

As with all of the Lost Sheep books the pictures are bright, the humour is funny [and Australian], there is information on the back page about how to use the story, and there are little surprises to find on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th readings.

Although the Lost Sheep books are aimed at children, like all good stories they are ageless. I have personally used this story in schools, nursing homes and worship with no kids present – it always brings a smile and that pause, when you know something is taking root is a person’s heart.

Great to add to anyone in Ministry’s Easter repertoire [and you can download a project-able version from the lost sheep website] it is also a great book for a child to own to help them ponder this imponderable event.

Skype not against the law?

The recent revelations about 'Kate' who was unknowingly filmed during consensual sex and broadcast on the internet has opened a whole hornet's nest of issues for the Australian Military. The treatment of women in the whole of our society is again under-consideration. Unfortunately we men continue to see women as simply 'meat' for our pleasure - it is a reality across all our society - look at our advertising, bill-boards, porn, magazines.

I want to come to it from the position of privacy. As a minister I have to follow a whole heap of privacy rules in my congregation that have a compliance cost. Even though we are supposed to be a united body, intimate community of believers - I am not allowed to pass on a phone number to someone else in the church without their permission. Now, that might actually be a reasonable idea - but how can someone who has filmed someone else having sex, without their permission, and then broadcast it over the internet - have not broken any laws!!!!

If I can got to jail for giving a phone number to another member of a church fellowship, how can this not be illegal? Is this catch up? The internet moves too fast for the law. Is it just the law being an ass - or is it the stupidity of our modern society where we have rules that strain out the gnats, but swallow the camels? Privacy rules, and blue card rules, that burden the local, community, volunteer groups, while not doing that much to actually solve the problems?

Yes this is a rant, but I need a place to let out the steam! Having mentioned the 'QLD' Blue Card system - is this the best way to combat pedophillia? A huge bureaucracy that makes anyone wanting to help with kids have to go through a rigmarole that only tells us about people who've already been caught? Surely we could spend the money more pointedly. Confronting education programs across all schools. Preventative Programs. Has anyone does any studies of the effectiveness of the Blue Card.

OK, I'm over it, but the 'Kate's' of this world are not. Poor kate.