My Moral High Ground


God Help Me
May 5, 2008, 11:20 am
Filed under: Inspiration, Journalism, University | Tags: , , , ,

essayHaving spent my entire day laboriously referencing an incredibly painful essay on Investigative Journalism, my mind is for want of a better word, mashed. At this time of year when the end of term looms threateningly close, all thoughts of God’s peace and faithfulness fly quickly out my window. For some reason, when it comes to “school work” I am totally incapable of trusting that God has it in hand, admittedly this may be in part because my inherently lazy nature knows that I’ve been ignoring any opportunity in which God might have told me to get my arse in gear and start my flipping essay. With various deadlines creeping up on me, my mind becomes a cocktail of anxiety and regret and I barely stop to think of asking God for help.

Thankfully his Grace is far more relentless than my motivation and so I now sit before my finished work, a mean feat that most definitely was not done in my own strength. With time to reflect I wonder whether I would have been far more motivated if I’d spent more time focuses on God than worrying about my increasing workload. Today I was encouraged by another Christian Blogger who posted this short piece on their site.

Live for your athletic achievements - and some day the elastic in your legs will go, your reflexes will slow down, and your “life” will be over.

Live for your scholastic attainments - and some day knowledge will pass you by, and life will be over.

Live for your family alone - sometime the children will be grown and gone, and life will be over.

Live for your business success - some day age will come, younger men will reach impatiently for your place, and life will be over.

But live for Christ - live for the inheritance that fades not away - and life will then have just begun.

Though obviously family, work, school etc are important parts of most peoples lives, are they worth investing all your time and energy in? It’s definitely a freeing thought. I will however still have to give this essay in tomorrow!

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In the beginning…
April 21, 2008, 1:15 pm
Filed under: Journalism, Leadership, University | Tags: , ,

In the beginning was the Web, and the Web was with Blog, and the Web was Blog. This adaptation of John 1:1, best describes my current academic focus. Let it be known that I’m studying to be a journalist, perhaps the modern day equivalent of the bibles wretched tax collector, the most loathed of trades and my pending assignment is to blog my way to internet stardom.

How can this be? A Christian and a journalist? Surely that stretches even God’s infinite imagination.

Though I write this in jest, you’d be suprised just how many times I’ve encountered such a reaction, and before anyones begins spouting about judgmental bible-bashers, it is not only the church goers who think of this career choice as demonic.

When people ask what I study, I have begun to articulate the word “Journalism” as an apology rather than a statement. The disappointment is tangible as the ‘asker’ tries to hide their disgust and inaudibly mumbles something vaguely positive about some broadsheet or another. To admit such an ambition is apparently a serious social faux pas.

The truth is I actually enjoy my course and though I would never claim that the media is undeserving of its despised reputation, I still believe that something can be salvaged from its current miserable state. Our world is headed down the road to self destruction and drastically needs to change. Carefully wielded, the media is a revolutionary weapon, but the key is not to abuse its power.

This my friends is why I study journalism, not to promote the media, but to change it.

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