“The men here are bad”, she’d told me a few minutes earlier during my first ever Thai massage. Leaving sons and Thailand looking for work must have been hard, ending up in a dark room in a town known for sexual exploitation must now be almost intolerable.

“The men here are bad.”

How those words cut me. Men who take. Men who oppress. Men who demand.

The extra 200 UAH cash may have been part of it, but perhaps it was the timing and intent. At the end in order to bless rather than at the beginning in order to take.

I got the feeling the room had seen more than mere massage and I felt sick.

She was a beautiful lady. Smiling, a long way from home, almost trapped and working for family far away. Who goes to Ukraine to earn money to send to Thailand?

I bet most days she felt more like a shower after a massage, but today, it was a hug. Really strong. Heartbreaking.

I pray she has more days like this, but we know it’s not likely.

• ST205 Engine ‘09
• ST205 Gearbox ‘09
• ST205 ECU (yes mated to the chassis loom – not cheap) ‘09
• CT20b/ST205 Intercooler ‘09
• TRD/Excedy HD Clutch ‘10
• Full 3” Aussie Exhaust + Custom Muffler (aussie one was too noisy) ‘09
• DMS Gold 40mm Inverted Coilovers and Springs (~$3500) ‘09
• 235 Kuhmo Ecsta KU36 Tyres ‘10
• Active Intercooler Water Jets
• Gizzmo EBC II
• Windows go up automatically with alarm activation
• Crazy rare Toyota factory single-din storage thing under the stereo for coins, cards etc
• BOSE Speakers, Alpine +iPod, Custom Slimline Pioneer Sub + Amp
• Reconditioned steering rack ‘11
• New timing belt ‘11
• Noeltec front strut tops and custom bushes on the rear for the DMS
• Redline Shockproof in the Box
• Braided front brake lines

Other features from factory are:

• ABS (only available on Group-As in Aussie delivered GT-Fours)
• Air Conditioning
• Power Steering, Windows etc

A stupid amount of money has gone into this, and I’ve got a list of spares as long as my arm, including some really rare pieces, it did a 13.4 1/4 mile with heaps to spare, got top 4wd at a toymods dyno day and is just insanely fun around the twisties. Such a smooth engine. If you just do the mental maths on the parts on this car you’ll know the value. Engine has about maybe 120,000 on it from what I can tell, maybe less, it was barely used on the 1/2 cut.

Serviced religiously and frequently.. Cons are that the paint is worn on the roof and rear bumper, a little chip on the drivers door handle and the drivers seat has a fray and a few little scratches around the interior trim as expected with the age. Boot trim a little worn and dash vents lifting standard Celica stuff, wheels could be newer…

Returns about 13l/100 around town and < 10l/100 on the freeway.

Don’t buy a tired old GT-Four with a huge list of things about to break, virtually everything that can be replaced has been replaced on this car and it’s extremely reliable and smooth

I pray for love, hope and peace.

“Dear God, help me to live for you today.”

I can’t pray this anymore.

My life has been spent largely, ignorantly, trying to impress Father, trying to win that uncertain approval.  Yep, I related to my Father in heaven like I attempt to even now, sadly, relate to my idea of my late father on earth. Superior to me. Needing to live up to his standard.  Need to. Got to. Must.

Saturday: My usual habit was interrupted by an unusual thought, ‘Stop’.

Really?  What better prayer can I possibly offer in a world of endless preaching on how we are to do this very thing!?

Maybe…

“Dear God, help me to live with you.”

WITH? Argh.  That’s so hard.  So scary.  So..

 

 
Intimate

 

 
Yet, try as I might, I can now no longer simply live for God.  I want to live with him.  It’s a hard thought for me in many ways.  If I do stuff for him.  Obey him. It’s cool.  We’re square and I’ll get a pat on the back with validation on arrival in heaven and maybe a few perks along the way here on earth.

But to live with God? Side by side? In the trenches? In the kitchen?  Back yard? Dinner? Work? Home? In? Out?  It’s a rather serious raising of the bar.  That requires emotional commitment too.

Well, who is it I am going to have to live with? I see in the book of Mark a man, Jesus, who I have a sneaking suspicion was a lot of fun to be around. Invited to parties, cried when bad things happened, his friends and family cared about him. He made wine for people.  He invented laughter, painted sunsets, gave me my friends, and blessed me so.

I guess I could live with that person.

 
Will You hold my hand?

 

Jesus has largely to date been a rather two-dimensional object of my study. Perhaps I can best describe the ingredients of my upbringing as being given a colouring book but only a single pencil. I had an idea of what I might be able to become, to see, but trying to turn a green crayon yellow or a red pen blue ultimately frustrated and the scene missing in what the author intended.

While my journey has seen many changes, much healing and new hope I recently was invited in my spirit to read the Gospels again, but this time note only the emotions of Jesus. His reactions. His outbursts. To see the person with the dusty feet and caring hands. Was he funny? What bugged him? Would I have enjoyed his company? Will I?

This is not the exercise in reducing Jesus to the vernacular many seem to enjoy but simply an exploratory desire to see who’s actually there. Who is it I pray to? Hope in? Not what (with this I am familiar), but who? I’m tired of a God who specialises in spiritual engineering alone and thirsty for one who wants to hold my hand, laugh with me and one I’ll recognise one day as that Great Friend I made on earth.

Yes, it’s possible. And it doesn’t have to be fancy.  I found a perfect example today. Take a quick look at Compassion’s fantastic little series of relational, emotionally coherent, relatively low-friction steps.

1.  I saw an intriguing link appear on my newsfeed.

I wanted to know who Emilda was. I was intrigued. Win #1. Curiosity and value-matched with me, their target market. I clicked. The lack of information made it more intriguing.

2. Landing page is tight, about Emilda (value focused) and very low friction.

Only eight sentences before the call to action, and these well split up between compelling imagery. The relational tone of the article further drives intimacy.

Let’s raise the money to send Emilda to Greece.

See the page here.

3. Donation page coherence!

I am very pleasantly surprised to see, not a generic Everest of friction to send my money off into the giant fundraising void with the vague hope it might benefit Emilda. No, instead I had a page that looked like it was specially made for Emilda.

See donation page here.

So, I’ve gone from Facebook (though, this could easily have been an email campaign), to landing page, to donation page, with complete emotional coherency.

Take a quick look at your process and see if there’s anyways you can reduce clicks, copy and increase emotional coherence.