It's honestly not that complicated.

Fire!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:29:00 +0000

America does NOT have a gun culture. I like guns. I always have. Like Adam Lanza, I started going to a gun club with my mum when I was about 11 years old. Like the Lanzas, we used to shoot targets. But at our club, the object was to fire five .22 sized holes into a target a little bigger than a US quarter, at 25 metres. It seems to me that American 'target shooting' is all about using an anti-personnel weapon to fire large calibre rounds into the 'kill zone' of a target shaped like a person. It's not quite the same. Not at all.

You see, America does not actually have a gun culture - America has a weapons culture. It has an obsession with anti-personnel weaponry. This is why comparisons to other countries with similar gun ownership are meaningless. After each massacre, the gun lobby argues that if only someone there had been armed then they could've shot the shooter. But arming the populace does not bring safety. America has horrific murder levels precisely because the populace is armed.

These weapons have no place except in law enforcement and the military. America does not need all this weaponry to guarantee the people's freedom - they are not free, this weaponry has imprisoned them in fear. The weaponry must go - it is not keeping anyone safe, it is killing their children. Keep your guns if you like, but lose the anti-personnel weapons.

In 1996, Australia banned semi-automatics. In the 18 years before, there were 13 mass shootings. Since then, there have been none. None at all for the last 16 years. Can you imagine that, America?

Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 03:14:00 +0000

I do not have $2000. But I just spent that much. Bummer.

Someone once told me that if you have a manufactured bed to sleep in, then you're already richer than most of the world's population. Well, I do have that. But that's just money. I also have a wife and a daughter and family who love me. I have friends who respect and value me. I am able to help others and it brings me joy and immense satisfaction to do so. I am rich then, in a way that money just can't buy. Money is not my god. God is my God. But still I faltered when our car started to stutter and judder. I faltered more as the bill to fix it started to rise. Shouldn't I be immune from such things? Shouldn't I live a charmed life? Well, actually no. I live in the real world, just as you do. Wars, famine and broken cars. In the great scheme of things, I am loved, honoured, respected, valued and cherished. What then is a broken car? A very small and inconsequential thing. Sometimes you just need to see things from a better perspective.

Speed

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 10:00:00 +0000

You're not going to like this.
In London, the inner city has a congestion charge applied to road traffic - if you enter the zone, cameras record your vehicle and if you haven't pre-paid, oh dear. They know you're there. We have a similar thing near my home on a toll road through a new tunnel. I saw a review of a sports car with in-built GPS that recognizes when it's on a racetrack (some racetracks have track days for the public) and switches itself into race mode by electronically changing suspension settings, fuel injection etc. Now I'm going to string some technology together... In Europe, large passenger coaches have speed limiters - no matter what the driver does, the coach won't go faster than its maximum legal speed. I told you you weren't going to like this. So... Say every vehicle had a speed limiter that recognised where the vehicle was... Your speed would be limited to the legal maximum wherever you were. No more speeding tickets. Ever. Emergency vehicles would be exempt of course, but then their drivers are properly trained aren't they? Seriously, why mess about with speed cameras and radar traps - just eradicate speeding altogether, the technology's already there. No more high speed car chases through urban areas. Less road deaths. Even here in NZ, seven people were killed on the roads just the other weekend. Police said excessive speed was a factor. They needn't have died then. What do you think?

Empower

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 21:57:00 +0000

Free electricity. Want some?

Fossil fuels are running out. Nuclear fission produces nuclear waste and the holy grail of fusion is still beyond our grasp. Wind, waves, solar and geothermal do a little but not nearly enough for most of us. So here’s the solution - People. That’s right, you and me. My family lived in a house where the doorbell was an actual brass bell. It worked brilliantly, never needed batteries and may well outlast the house. Everyone loved it. I have a wind-up radio that can charge my mobile phone. In some countries if you have solar panels or small wind generators for your house you can pipe excess electricity back into the national grid and reduce your bill. But the capital costs of these generators are high and they wouldn’t do much for most city dwellers.

So... you know those stationary bikes at the gym? Imagine this: you have a stationary bike in your apartment that is connected to the national grid. You can exercise and have cheap or free electricity or you can do nothing and pay. Your choice. Electricity would be expensive for most but subsidised for the elderly and infirm. Teenage obesity would phase out – not only would the kids generate a little electricity as one of their chores but there would be a minor industry offering to generate $100 of electricity for $60 cash etc. “You want to borrow the car son? Well it’s an electric car so you’d better get on and charge it.” Do you go to a gym? Bit pricey aren’t they? Imagine if they paid you. Do enough on the bikes, treadmills, cross trainers and rowing machines and get everything else for free. Now there’s an idea.

Now, I realise that one stationary bike isn’t going to give completely free electricity for a family of 4 (although it might for a single apartment dweller). What I’m aiming at is to change people’s attitude to their power consumption. Once you make manual generation widely available, we’ll see solar or wind-up phone and ipod chargers become normal rather than the niche market they are now. More technology will follow as demand drives development. It’s about ownership and responsibility. Power to the People.

Households everywhere would take less from the grid. That lets us stretch fossil fuels a little further and buys us more time to come up with a better plan. Since we draw less, the proportion contributed by renewables (wind, solar etc) becomes more significant and that will help drive development in those areas. And then there’s the health angle. Type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and even depression have been linked to a sedentary lifestyle. The US alone spends $150 billion dollars each year treating medical conditions attributable to obesity. Stationary bikes. Two birds, one stone. Tell me I’m wrong.

Culture

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 08:50:00 +0000

I have been a bad parent. Occasionally. Mistakes. Bad decisions. I've always stayed within the bounds of what is culturally acceptable though, just like these parents. [If you can't be bothered with a 9min clip, watch a few seconds from 3:42, you'll get the idea]. So, by the judgement of the majority, these parents are doing no wrong. But my spirit is riled. What is acceptable to them is abhorrent to me. Am I imposing my own Judeo-Christian worldview on their ancient culture? Should I just leave them to it? Are their children different to ours? Somehow immune from trauma as their parents assert?

Our culture defines us. It gives us pre-conceived ideas of how things should be, and how they should not. But culture is not static. Some of what is common today would horrify our great-grandparents. What is acceptable is fluid, and changes over time. We decide what is 'right' largely based on what everyone around us is doing. Just like these parents. No foul then? Or are there true objective standards that we should all live by, irrespective of geography and culture, outside of space and time? I believe that there are. I believe that there are moral absolutes written into the very fabric of the universe.

What about you? Do you define right and wrong by the culture around you? Do you think some things are kind of wrong but it's ok to do them because everyone else is doing it? What if you moved to Cambodia?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:46:00 +0000

Clicking 'Like' on Facebook does not make you a humanitarian.
Or so a thread I got involved with last week said. I tend to agree. At least in part. Kony2012, the now viral doco calling for the arrest of Joseph Kony, has been getting alot of flack. Some people complain that the charity behind it spends too much on administration and so they give them nothing. Some people object that part of the campaign calls for fly-posting and so they do nothing. Many I am sure won't bother to sit through a 30min youtube clip - the internet has trashed our attention spans. Actually, I usually don't myself, but this time I did, and so should you, if you haven't already. If you didn't know, Joseph Kony, according to some authorities, is the world's most wanted man.

So what do you do when a clip like that comes your way? Ignore it? Watch it? Share it? Give to the charity? Sign the petition? Email a politician? Join a demonstration?

I am reminded of being constantly harangued by beggars when I lived in London. It was known that some did it as a fulltime job, dressing and acting the part and earned more than I did. But which were conmen and which were worthy? An old Bible teacher of mine had great advice: "You will find that if you ignore pleas for help, there will be a hardening of your heart, increasing each time. So when you travel, carry a pocketful of low denomination coins and give to everyone who asks you." I guess that the worthy would benefit from a few pence, whereas the professionals wouldn't cover their expenses. So can we apply this to social media? Do we even care? Well, if a clip like Kony2012 drops into your newsfeed, watch it. Consider donating a few bucks to the charity. Research them first if you like. Sign the pledge. At least share the clip with friends - if you do nothing more, maybe some of them will.

Kony2012 is about raising awareness, and as more people have joined the call for action, the US government has been moved to act where it had refused before. So the internet campaign is working, actually making a real difference in the world. Does clicking 'Like' make you a humanitarian? Not really. But clicking 'share' just might. What do you think?

Metamorphosis

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 08:20:00 +0000

It’s Monarch butterfly season here. We have 2 swan plants outside, covered in big, fat, stripy caterpillars. My daughter inspects them every day. We have 5 chrysalises at the moment, with another 2 set to form at any time. In about a week we’ll see the first of the beautiful, black, orange and white butterflies emerge.

The video above is full of metamorphosis. Ignorance to comprehension, complacency to distress, dream to nightmare, despair to hope. Make your own list. Overarching it all is Jacob’s own transformation. A modern-day slave trader, Jacob treads the path of John Newton, who underwent the same metamorphosis more than 200 years before him. As with Newton, God is working a miracle in Jacob. But God does not wave a magic wand. There is a rebirth, but then a process of transformation that runs the entire rest of your life. It isn’t all plain sailing. People you thought would help you, don’t. You see setbacks. You let yourself down sometimes. Jacob is still working out his salvation with fear and trembling. As am I. But through it all God is present and He never, ever gives up. Amazing grace.

Schemes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:57:00 +0000

Daddy, what’s Voodoo?

Cinderella, 101 Dalmations, Sleeping Beauty. Classic Disney tales. The older ones followed a general theme. The innocent central character(s), the bad person who is set against them. Then, the injustice and the crime. Against the odds, and with the help of a few noble friends, the wrong is righted, the baddie gets their just desserts and the good live happily ever after. Job done. Fantasy abounds of course, and Disney is fond of the inclusion of supernatural evil – the wicked witch, the evil queen, a spell, a curse, a magic potion. There is never a mention of God - heaven forbid we offend the poor, sensitive atheists – and prayer is replaced by ‘wishing upon a star’ but I can tolerate that. Evil is evil and good is good and we all know the difference. Or so it seemed.

Recently our family was introduced to the one of the newer Disney offerings, The Princess and the Frog. It’s a modern reconstruction, barely paying lip service to previous incarnations. Rather than rely on a single plot device, this time the evil baddie (a voodoo witchdoctor) casts spells, uses a magic talisman, his victim’s blood, tarot cards, a voodoo doll and needle, and commands malevolent dark spirits to do his bidding (although they ultimately cause his undoing). All very real modern-day voodoo practices. Of course, just one would suffice for the plot and would be plenty for a G rated children’s Disney flick. As the story develops, the innocent victim meets some noble friends who help her along the way but this time they can’t help enough so she seeks out a voodoo priestess instead. Whaat?? Being harassed by dark spirits? Feel like you’re under a curse? More voodoo is what you need. I wonder what Walt would have made of it all. I was expecting the tagline: “Sponsored by the Voodoo Association of North America”. I didn’t see it, but it must be there somewhere. Thankfully, the littlie has gone back to Cinderella and is acting out ‘getting married’ rather than conjuring up dark spirits. They do what they see.

Community

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 07:59:00 +0000

I have a need. It seems.

Recently I joined a bloggers group called the Fellowship of Devotional Bloggers. It’s a collection of blogs that are meant to encourage or build up. My blog had to be approved. What surprised me was how delighted I was when I got accepted. I mean, what’s the big deal? I’m in a few bloggers’ groups. But it isn’t just another bloggers’ group. I realised that what mattered to me was acceptance. And value. I am accepted and valued. It surprised me that I needed to hear that and it got me thinking. I was already accepted and valued. I know it in the core of my being. I am a Christian. Even though I was a pretty rotten person on the inside, God accepted me because of the price Jesus paid for me and when I accepted that, God accepted me. With open arms. The birth He wrought within me and the way He continues to forge change, declare my sonship. The Holy Spirit within me as a constant presence. When you’ve been born again, you know it. So I was surprised to discover a subconscious need for value and acceptance. The realisation that something was missing. My conclusion is this – what is missing is community. Yeah, I have friends but my closest friends live farthest away. My wife is my best friend and she and my daughter are the most precious things this side of Heaven. I have church... sort of... And therein lay my discovery.

I am involved in the kid’s ministry so I’m a part of it all but my church is huge. I have a friend I meet with weekly to pray but he is so busy and often cancels. Recently he’s moved house further away, making connecting more awkward. I am not in any kind of small group... There. Right there. That’s what’s missing. Community happens in the small groups. People sharing each other’s burdens, helping, comforting, encouraging, teaching, learning, training, solving, trusting, nurturing, caring. Value. Acceptance. I know this. I used to lead small groups, years ago. And now here I am, out of community, wondering what’s missing...

Swine

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:04:00 +0000

100 pigs. Sows, in fact.

Where would you get 100 pigs from? We just hosted the Rugby World Cup here in New Zealand. Twenty different countries competed. It was the largest sporting event the country has ever seen. Unfortunately, the Samoan team’s manager took too many liberties - drinking and playing golf when he should have been looking after his players. Someone complained to the Samoan Prime Minister and word got back to the elders of his home village. They fined him 100 pigs for bringing disrespect to the village. It works out to around US$2500 but that’s a huge deal in Samoa. He made a formal apology to his elders, paid the fine and asked the forgiveness of the whole country on national radio.

Contrast the British team. They had drinking binges and inappropriate behaviour and were roundly panned for bringing their country into disrespect. One of the worst had married the Queen’s granddaughter only 2 months before. You might have expected him to be more of an ambassador. Actually, he was filmed being inappropriate with another woman in a bar. He was fined just under US$40,000 and sacked from the team. He has been unrepentant. What his wife called him is not recorded.

With community comes accountability. Is too much independence a bad thing? What do you think?

Thief

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 03:49:00 +0000

I only have myself to blame.

There is an old Indian fable about a man who meets a mysterious stranger who gives him 3 pots of gold. Two are filled to the brim whilst the third is not quite full. The man thinks “Before I spend all this, I’ll just top the third pot up like the rest.” So he sells some property, converts it to gold and puts it in. But the pot is still not full. So he sells more, then more, then more but the pot never fills. Eventually he sells everything he has and becomes destitute, obsessed with filling the third pot. His compulsion prevents him from enjoying the bounty he already has and it ultimately destroys him.

A month ago a mysterious stranger (from Telecom) gave us a TiVo recorder for signing up to a 2 year deal. Brilliant! Now I can record TV and I get all the new free digital channels. It took over an hour to set up. It nearlyworks... Sometimes it finds 4 channels, sometimes 10 channels, sometimes none. I have spent hours trying to sort it out. Emails back and forth to the TiVo tech guys. The one time I wanted to record something, it refused to find the channel. It has stolen hours and hours of my life. I have nearly given it up...

Whilst trolling the net for ideas on blog promotion, I came across Tribepro. You submit content and tons of people share it across their own networks. It took me an hour or so of registration, set up and instructions before I realised that I need to earn points before I can upload anything. This translates to me having to share forty-four (!) blog posts from others before I get to offer one of my own. I wonder how long it would take me and how many friends and followers I would lose...

Have you heard of Onlywire? It’s awesome! It allows you to post to multiple social media sites and groups with one click. You have to download the software, load in your media sites and then you’re away. It nearlyworks... It posts to some of the sites. It nearlydoes the graphics properly... It’s so close to working and it would be so useful... I spent a couple of hours trying to get it to work properly... I went to bed very late. Very tired and very dissatisfied.

It was then that I remembered the old fable about the pots of gold. In the story, the mysterious stranger turns out to be the devil. In the west we have a saying “If the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.” I think I got suckered. Three times over.

Principle

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:36:00 +0000

I am weird. Apparently.
Yesterday, I proved it once again. I cycled to work. Nothing unusual there. But I stopped at every red light and waited for every green. This makes me strange. Cyclists in my city seem to think themselves above the law. Many are recidivist offenders, making illegal turns and ignoring red lights. Of course, they are the first to complain when cars cut them up or make the 'overtake then turn left' manouevre. I want cars to respect me. I want them to give me space. I want them to give me time. And I especially do not want them to overtake me then turn left across my path. But we will not be respected if we ride arrogantly. This is common sense surely? We reap what we sow. Personally, I know where I'm going when I cycle. And it isn't just to work.

Busy

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 06:06:00 +0000

Today is my day off.

That's why I'm so busy.

My beautiful wife works one day a week – on my day off – so I am a househusband. Get little one up, breakfasted, washed, teeth, dressed. Do webcam with Grandparent. Take to Kindy. Go to post depot and pick up parcel that wasn’t delivered yesterday. Do weekly shop and put purchases away. Have half an hour to self for tea, biscuits and all too quick read. Pick up from Kindy. Assist in building house made from clothes airer and blankets. Make lunch. Go on trip to art gallery. Ignore gallery, go to next door park to hone the fine art of tree climbing. Go to art gallery, look at flowers for aaaaages. Prevent little one from getting interactive with modern ‘art’. Attempt to answer questions that I don’t know the answer to – “I’m not sure why the wheelbarrow is upside down in the middle of the floor”. Return home, clean out rabbit and restock with rabbit yummies. Ponder artistic value of homemade rabbit hutch built from ‘found items’. Get dinner ready, eat dinner, plate up meal for beautiful wife. Do dishes, clear kitchen, bath little one, dry hair, supper, teeth, stories, prayers, settle in bed. Listen to beautiful wife’s day, debrief on little one’s activities, do best to get to bed so as to have enough sleep before little one gets up at dawn. Have no time to blog so don’t write it up til days later. And I forgot to do the laundry. Hats off to single parents.

Bored

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 02:42:00 +0000

I am bored.

Bored, bored, bordity bored bored bored. It's not that I have nothing to do. I have loads to do. Things to do, places to go, people to see. But I can't do any of them because I am HERE. Here is normally not boring but today it is. I am at work. Today we have finished the available work and there is nothing to do. But some might appear... You never know... So we must WAIT. Out THERE my things to do are piling up and the time to go to places and see people is fast disappearing. I am being paid to do nothing. Lucky me. But actually it is quite unpleasant to do nothing whilst being stuck at work. We were made to work. To produce stuff. To create. Being aimless is just plain wrong. A kind of torture. So when I've finished this I am going to spend the rest of the day, in between conversations, doing the one useful thing I can do - I will pray. But not out loud because I am at WORK. In my head. Trying not to move my lips. So no-one thinks I am MAD.

Bargain

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 06:24:00 +0000

What is this man worth?

This kidnap victim had his ransom paid. The price? 1027 convicted criminals pardoned and released. Gilad Shalit was kidnapped by Islamic militants just over 5 years ago. His captors said they said they treated him well. He looks like skin and bones to me. His government ransomed him. Some of the released were serving multiple life sentences for murder and terrorism. 280 of them were responsible for the deaths of 599 citizens. Who on earth is Gilad Shalit? What is his value? Well, he’s just an ordinary guy. A corporal in the army. But his government thinks he’s worth it, that anyone is worth it.

My government would not pay such an extraordinary price for a kidnapped soldier. Would yours? Would they pay anything at all? Even negotiate? Should they?

Gilad’s government has paid similar, though lesser, ransoms before. Some of those released terrorists committed more murders within months. It is expected that the same will occur again. More citizens will die. Where then is the sense in this exchange?

There is no sense in it. But should there be? What is the value of a single life? Should we sacrifice everything for it or weigh it against the risk to the many? If you were the leader of your country and this came before you, would you pay this price?

Think

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 10:30:00 +0000

Oh NO. Now I've gone and done it. I have seen this knocking around the intertubes for a short while and now I've gone and watched it... The whole 33minutes...

And what do I do now... Can't just pretend it's not there... Can't bury it... Have to share it... sorry. I'm a 180er myself. Feel free to use the contact tab at the top right if you don't want to leave a public comment.

Warning: controversial with some unpleasant graphic content.

Future

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 09:42:00 +0000

Death and near-death.

My wife is a nurse. It is both immensely rewarding and immensely draining. She has spent 20 years in acute clinical environments, looking after very sick people, running cardiac arrests, dealing with grieving relatives. But the times they are a-changing. Now our daughter is increasing her time at kindy, the job is no longer a good fit with childcare. And since so recently nursing her Dad through a terminal illness, the environment is more traumatic for her than it was before.

What to do then? Pray and push doors. The perfect job would be helping mostly well people and would have late starts, early finishes and school holidays off. Dream on, dreamer. Hang on though, what about school nursing? But those jobs are few and highly sought after and all her experience is acute clinical. Pray and push doors. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” I love it when a plan comes together. There is a local school that seems perfect. Large and challenging. It has a switched-on nursing team looking to expand their facilities. It is 10 minutes from my daughter’s kindy and school. Amazingly, they called her for an interview. Of course, there are other jobs out there so who knows? He knows. One of them has my wife’s name on it.

Waste

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:00:00 +0000

We binned the bin. And that was just plain wrong.

As humans, we are supposed to be stewards of Creation. The apex organism. Responsible and accountable. In the movie The Matrix however, Agent Smith argued that the evidence pointed to us being a virus. We consume everything in our immediate vicinity until our immediate vicinity is destroyed. Then we spread outwards, consuming and destroying. Ultimately, he inferred, we will consume everything and destroy ourselves in the process.

Last week at work, a health & safety directive forced us to get rid of a large plastic bin just because it didn’t have a lid. We only used it for cardboard boxes. It was as good as new and clean as a whistle. But our hands were tied. So we threw it in the skip. Why? Because recycling it was too hard, we weren’t allowed to re-use it and, since we are a hospital, giving a used rubbish bin away is asking to be blamed for any number of spurious infections. So we tossed it away. Wastefulness. Anti-stewardship. And that would have been the end of it. Except that, with permission, the cleanest bin in the world is now sitting in my garage enjoying a satisfyingly useful retirement. If you subscribe to Agent Smith’s hypothesis, I may just have bought the planet a little more time. Reduce, re-use, recycle. Stewardship.

Choice

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 10:35:00 +0000

Heart disease or diabetes. Which would you choose?

I went to a cafe with my wife yesterday. We got coffees and I wanted a snack. I stared at the options behind the glass. One window contained cholesterol in all its glorious forms. The other contained sugar presented in a myriad different ways. Hmmm... It’s true there were chunky chicken salad sandwiches but I just wanted a snack, not lunch. There was also a token dish of mixed fruit but it looked kind of sad and dull, like it had been there for a few days with no takers. In the end, I chose the sugar. Partly because I reckon I have few risk factors for type 2 diabetes so I’m pretty safe, but mainly because they’d run out of sausage rolls. We have to do better.

Hungry

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 09:14:00 +0000

My church is outstanding.

So why do I feel undernourished? Most of us turn up on a Sunday morning, sit and listen to a stirring speech, have a coffee and wander out. Is that it? Shouldn’t it be more than that? One person paid to stand at the front, a handful dedicated volunteers and 95% passive attendees? Jesus took 12 men, discipled them and changed the world. How many men are there in your church? How long have they been there? We need to change. I need to change. I want discipleship. My church is awesome but the only visible way to get truly discipled is to leave my job and become an intern. What about everybody else? We do the basics, Christianity 101, then after that it’s up to the individual to seek out (and usually pay for) whatever courses they think they need. That’s not good enough. Church needs to be more like a college where the emphasis is on the student body (the 95%). We need to teach them what they need to know, not leave it to them to try and guess what they need. We need to link our programs and courses together so the 95% steadily progress along a defined path of learning and hands-on ministry modules. We need to utilise other parts of the Body of Christ that excel in areas we do not. We need to equip God’s people for works of service. We need to make disciples. Let’s get with the program.

Release

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 06:52:00 +0000

I burst into tears recently. In a public place.

In a prayer meeting in fact. No surprises, I had expected to. Cumulative grief leaking out. I’d felt heavily burdened for weeks. It was only a partial release though and the rest of the day I had a deep and weighty sadness that blunted everything I did and every interaction I had. Couldn’t get free. Not on my own. So a couple of days later, I had a friend pray with me, having pre-warned him of the likely outcome. I had no agenda, just needed help. The expected release didn’t come. But God did. His presence was undeniably manifest. A complete and pervasive peace that just kind of arrived and then thickened and thickened, enveloping me like a big, thick, white duvet of comfort, security and assuredness. I didn’t notice the heaviness leaving but it is completely gone. I floated off to work and have been fine since. Prayer ministry. Recommended.

Sadness

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 04:56:00 +0000

It's the guilt that stopped me writing.
My wife has been away 3 times in the last 6 months. The last time was the shortest but man, was it the hardest. I was overwhelmed with sadness. Melvyn died. I hadn't had chance to grieve - supporting my wife and getting her back to England, switching into solo parent mode and ensuring that the little one's routine carried on. It wasn't just that Melvyn had died. I wouldn't be there for the funeral, to share grief, to share memories. I wouldn't be supporting my wife - again. Nora had lost her husband, her lifelong partner. What now for her? But it was also selfishness. My wife had been home for 3 weeks and she was going again. We had barely re-bonded - hampered by jetlag, her grief at leaving her Dad and the pressures of life at full speed. Just after she came home, the medics gave him 3 months. And then Melvyn died. A week later. Bam. Like a ton of stone in your guts. And then she was gone. I was alone with the sadness. And guilt. Guilt because I knew my sadness was partly about missing my wife and how dare I feel that in the presence of such greater loss? And so I muddled along. Thinking I'd process it later. So now it's later and the processing is not coming easy. I guess I waited to write this because I wanted to give you a great and wise conclusion. But I don't have it. Not yet. Still processing.

Separation

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 11:43:00 +0000

My wife is in England for her Dad’s funeral. Today is Father’s Day.

Life will be different from now on. Melvyn is the first of our parents to go. The youngest and the fittest, until this illness took hold of him. I will miss him. It is not fair. In 2 weeks my wife will be back and we will pick up our lives again. My daughter will have her Mum back, I will return to work, my wife will get back to her normal routine and life will go on. But it will not be the same. Our lives will be less. But when I think of Melvyn I smile. I remember him as he was before but I also think of him as he is now. You see, Melvyn crossed from death to life not the other way around. And it happened not last week, but a few years ago. He is in Heaven now, free of the disease that took him from us. Heaven is real. Arguably more real, more solid, more tangible than everything you see around you. Ask a physicist how solid matter is or how many dimensions there are. There is only one way to gain entry to Heaven. If your name’s not on the list, you’re not coming in. Is your name on the list? You don’t get on that list by being a good person. Because the pass mark is not goodness, it is perfection. So we all fail. But God has provided a way. All your less than perfect attitudes have separated you from God and no amount of good deeds can cancel them out. But God has provided a way. His son Jesus came to live a perfect life and suffer death in your place, taking the hit that is due to you. He has paid the price for all your shortcomings and He offers to put your name on the list. It cost Jesus his life so it could be offered free to you. God has provided a way. Jesus is the Way. It is not an ideology or a religion, it is a Person. Is your name on the list? Would you like it to be?

Reunion

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 22 May 2011 05:46:00 +0000

When the rabbit died at my daughter's kindy, we said he had gone to Heaven. Now her Grandfather is dying. She has been asking me alot about Heaven recently. Where it is, how we get there. She has settled with the idea that Grandad will go to Heaven and Jesus will look after him. And eventually, we will all be together again. When she is a very old lady.

Today we collected my wife from the airport. I love the arrivals hall. It’s an amazingly positive place. The anticipation of seeing loved ones again. The ending of separation. Relationships restored. Homecomings. There's such a good vibe.

The ultimate homecoming, the Rapture, did not happen on the 21st - sorry Harold. The arrival hall to top all arrival halls. It has been called the most preposterous of Christian beliefs. What say you? Do you think it’s bonkers? Or will I see you there?

Win

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 13 May 2011 19:49:00 +0000

My wife needed help.

She is in England. It is an increasingly secular, post-Christian culture. Some call this progress but the country has lost its way. There is a prevalent attitude of aggressive self-centredness. People want to be great but think this comes by getting one over on you. There is a desire to ‘win’ in every interaction. This often manifests as giving you the poorest service they can get away with. People do not want to help her. Helping is giving without getting something in return. They see it as losing. People see her as a problem to be palmed off. Even when it’s their job, they want to find an excuse to wheedle out of helping her. They resent serving. Fool Britannia.

In Roman times a soldier could commandeer any citizen to carry something for him. The obligation was for one mile only, and then the citizen was released. Released, but annoyed and resentful. So how’s this for an idea – when you’re released, you carry it another mile. Now you’re not doing it out of compulsion but on your own terms. No longer a slave, but master of your own destiny. That second mile is all yours. You put it down when you want to and walk back with your head held high. No resentment or bitterness. Your strength and character undeniably demonstrated. In other words, you win. It’s where the phrase “going the extra mile” comes from. And it works. It was Jesus who came up with that idea, and He knew what He was talking about. Go the extra mile.