Southland Christian Ministry Training
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By Ian, on January 23rd, 2011%
The New Year has started already! Though for me it has been a fairly slow start, taking things very easy while recovering from major surgery just before Christmas. Not quite the way I would like to have planned it yet it has given me the opportunity to simply rest, stand back and reassess my life. Having more years behind me than in front of me is a sobering thought, and as I pondered this I was more convinced than ever that I want this year to count! After much deliberation I have decided that this year I want to concentrate on just four things:
- People! As I look back over the past year there have been all too many times when I have allowed things to become more important than people and relationships.
- Perspective! To make people more important than things I will need to constantly reassess my priorities, making sure that the urgent does not squeeze out the important.
- Passion! I refuse to just drift through life, rather I will choose to be passionate about who I am and where I am going, living life to the full.
- Patience! As my father used to say “Rome wasn’t built in a day” so I need to accept the fact that this will take time and perseverance, but it will be worth it.
Who knows what 2011 will hold for any of us, but I choose to live it intentionally, believing that God is in control and will guide me as I seek to put people first, readjust my priorities, live with passion and patiently accept the challenges that come my way. That is about as much as I can cope with today, conquering evil and establishing world peace may have to wait till next year… NO! That is God’s job not mine!
Chaplain Ian Whitley
By Ian, on January 2nd, 2011%
Most of the time I am an optimist, but my work continually brings me into contact with pessimistic people who are struggling with life. My role is to be a positive influence, to help them get out of their downwards spiral. The trouble is just telling them what to do does not work! Non directive counseling just letting them tell their story may work but it takes a lot of time! So what can I do? I can give them some practical, helpful hints, but what they really need is to discover some answers for themselves!
Over the last 20 years I have read many books that have been helpful to me as I have assisted others in this process. However, few of these books on their own cannot help people in their journey out of dark pessimism into the light – they are just too heavy! How to be Positively Optimistic – Your Personal Guide to Positive Thinking and Dynamic Growth This book is different, in that it is the sort of book that will enable people to find their own solutions.
The content is fairly predictable, but the genius is in the format, the illustrations and the hints on application. We all know that optimistic people have more fun, and that self talk stories set us up to go either up or down, but how do we turn helplessness and pessimism into hope and optimism?
McLean gives us a 5 step plan to do just that, which he summarises under the following headings:
- A=Action – helping us to be honest about our negative self-talk
- B=Belief – Are we ready to challenge our irrational beliefs?
- C=Consequences – are we prepared to consider what will happen if we continue to do what we always do?
- D= Dispute that norm – what would happen if I introduced new self talk stories?
- E=Energise – How to take action down this new pathway.
 The Village of The Rock That may not do justice to the content, but it should give you an idea of where he is going. I found his use of mind maps, focus boxes, quotes and stories all helpful, but it was that mouse that turned up on every page that kept me moving forward! In contrast to so many authors McLean overcame the desire to fill every page with words, which resulted in a short (150 pages), uncluttered, dynamic book, that even depressed people who don’t usually read much, can get through. I believe that many of them will in the process find their own answers with out the need for extended, professional therapy.
The climb to the top of the rock (at The Rock,near Wagga Wagga) is challenging but worth the effort…just like the circumstances you might be facing, so don’t give up yet.
A great book that I am happy to recommend, especially when it comes from an author who understands the Australian psyche! We are different and though we share many similarities with our US and Canadian cousins, it is a welcome change to see some home grown material.
Chaplain Ian Whitley
By Ian, on November 28th, 2010%
 The posting cycle is almost upon us but I beat the rush and have already taken up my new role at RAAF Base Wagga. Recently I heard one of my friends say “every exit is also an entrance – even death” which got me pondering. The fact is it is our choice whether we dwell on what we have left behind, or what we are looking towards! This posting back to Wagga after a fairly short time away (a bit over a year) may not have been on my preference list but I am choosing to give it my best and my all.
There are some significant challenges here at Wagga, and as I found out this week they are not going to wait for me to get settled first. I must express my thanks to CHAP Rob Paget for the work he has done in the last 6 months and the rest of the team here (Walter and Alan) for the great work they are doing. But the real challenge is to grasp the possibilities for the future, refusing to accept mediocrity and push on to new heights.
What does that mean? I am not yet sure, but no matter what your role, and where you are that is the challenge for all of us! Each of us can make a difference, and you can do things that I can’t because we are each unique, with a diverse range of gifts and abilities. One of the books I was reading recently (High Five by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles) put it like this:
“None of us is as smart as all of us”
The fact is we all need each other, and it is only as we work together that we can achieve those high goals. Padre’s ponderings is about giving a few hints along the way, and being part of your team. I look forward to meeting with you and encouraging you in your journey.
Chaplain Ian Whitley
By Ian, on October 11th, 2010%
It has been another difficult week in which I have been guilty of letting the negatives get on top of me. Even recognising that this was happening did not seem to help! How come an optimistic person like me could become a pessimist? By focusing on the wrong stuff and letting the negative self talk predominate. I found myself drifting in a sea of emotion and was brought to my senses when I read the following:
The opposite of love is not hatred,
The opposite of hope is not despair,
The opposite of mental health is not madness,
The opposite of remembering is not forgetting,
In every case the opposite is nothing but indifference.
These words were written by Elie Wiesel, a Jew who survived the horrors of the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, who recognised that indifference is so tempting, so seductive yet in the long term it is destructive. That quote reminded me of another from the same era:
“In Germany they came first for the communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me – and by that time no one was left to speak up.” (Pastor Martin Niemoller, quoted in Be Our Freedom Lord, p254)
We live in a world where there is injustice, pain and suffering, there will be times when negative feelings weigh you down, but resist the urge to just opt out and be indifferent. These people survived and flourished even in extreme circumstances, so can you! This week I also read and was encouraged by the story of Sir Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop and his survival, by “rejecting helplessness, indifference and fear… he was a light and a beacon of hope in those dark days of 1943 and 44…” (quote from Ian McLean) but maybe that is a story for another time. Don’t give up to indifference and negativity, you have what it takes to make a positive difference!
Chaplain Ian S Whitley
By Ian, on October 8th, 2010%
This week I have had a couple of opportunities to tell my story, to describe my vocational journey from being a hospital scientist, to ordained minister and finally a military chaplain. When I do that the obvious question is why? How did I know that was the “right” thing to do? There are no easy answers to those questions, especially when it  does not seem logical! If you are struggling with your future directions, or how to cope with the posting that did or didn’t come, your first step is to work out what your life purpose is. Only then can you assess how the decision you are making will help or hinder achieving that goal. The fact is at many times in life we are not faced with choosing between a good and a bad option, but struggling to decide which of two good (or bad) options is better.
If you are content to just accept mediocre, and take the route of least resistance, you need not read any further, but if you want your life to be super fantastic, to go to new heights and achieve beyond your wildest dreams then stop and ponder the following:
1. Who are the most important people in my life? Rate the following:
- family – spouse, children
- friends
- work colleagues
- work supervisor
- sporting team
2. What things are most important to me?
- Being available to my partner, family, children
- Work performance… getting a top PAR… promotion…
- Earning more money to become rich…
- My toys, my house, my car, my big screen TV…
- Personal happiness, having fun, avoiding responsibility
3. Does my division of time and money prove that these are my priorities?
- Who gets my best time, energy and attention?
- What gets the biggest share of my discretional finance?
- Is there good balance?
4. What have I got to do to readjust this balance?
- Be honest with myself and take control of my life
- Set some realistic goals for the future
- Assess whether I am in the right job – one that allows me to achieve my priorities?
Somewhere in that pondering it might be helpful to also ask “Where does God fit in all that?” The fact is, the reason I left the lab and took an enormous pay cut to become a minister was because that is what I believed God wanted me to do! That decision was not logical or easy, but I have never regretted it and God has richly rewarded me for that step of faith. If you are unhappy with your life maybe the above audit will help, but if you are struggling with the bigger question of why I am here and what is life really all about then maybe you need to meet God. I would be happy to introduce you!
Chaplain Ian Whitley
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