Saturday, March 27, 2004
Sleep
Enfolded in her arms of love
I'm the luckiest man alive
One breath away from the end of the day
I've found that peace for which I strive
Now do I get up out of bed
To write the thoughts I find
Or do I take the chance that sleep
Will not erase them from my mind
(Obviously I didn't take the chance)
Tony Abbot Speech
Tony Abbot (The Australian Federal Minister for Health and Aging and the Leader of the House of Representatives) gave a speech on the 16th of March about Christian politicians in Australia.
This is awesome.
Thanks Rodney for the link.
Emerging Church
Darren wrote an article today about the talk he is preparing for his national leadership.
Heres my comment on his article
You have to tell them this story - they have to know.
Thats the point of the emerging church in my mind - to be relevant.
The traditional structure has completely lost it, and the more evangelical churches while more "friendly" are not real enough. I generalise here but they are 80% full of Sunday only Christians - and that shows.
Real Christianity is meeting with people like Jo where she is at. Well done on how you handled that - you now have a chance for conversation with her later, and maybe an invite to a "real church".
One last comment. I remember street witnessing years ago (in the 80's) with a bunch of well meaning guys and gals, however when it came to the crunch - we failed miserably. One of the guys had bought a brand new leather jacket - nice tan soft and supple leather - man was he proud of it. A homeless dude spurned the tract that was offered and quoted the verse about giving them your jacket when they take your coat. He asked - dude will you give me your coat if you are real about this? My friend couldn't do it and in our debrief afterwards, we all realised that we couldn't have either. We are NOT saved by works (by grace alone), but by our works are we known.
Too many people like Jo see the fancy buildings and the empty words and are never connected with the reality that is Jesus in us. Whose fault is that...
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Religion & Philosophy & Politics
Religion from Wayne
Mr. Codswallop: St. Paul says when you become a man you must put away childish thingg.
Mr. Flapdoodle: He also said to take a little wine for the stomach. I followed that advice. One out of two isn't bad. Kinda like a coin toss.
Philosophy found while surfing - Nagel's Bat Argument
and finally (anti)Politics from Little Red Boat
Why Do I Blog?
John inspired this topic.
I was so engaged by his article, and by his readers comments that I have written my own here.
I started blogging in November 2003.
Still in all the busyness of Life I have found time to write.
I guess thats because there is so much to write about, and emptying my brain of observatons and experiences helps me analyse myself and the world around me as well as making room for more information in my brain.
I also blog for another reason.
I am creating a family dynasty and want my children and grandchildren to have some idea of their forefather and his family. I want my blog to evolve with me as I become more mature and patriarchal. I am trying to encourage my father and mother to record their life's stories too. My grandparents had one essay done on them by myself and my sister and I think that is the extent of written infomation about their lives, and I dont even know if they have been kept by my mum. I dont want that to happen to my parents or my generation.
Thanks to all the other commenters to John's post for their input.
Desiree
Dick
Dennis
Kimberlee
Sherry
Becky
Job 36:15-16
15 But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering;
he speaks to them in their affliction.
16 He is wooing you from the jaws of distress
to a spacious place free from restriction,
to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.
I liked this a lot.
Thanks Andy.
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
People Watching
I saw the saddest thing yesterday at the train station. A young boy of around 10-12 smoking a cigarette. He was in the company of an older boy around 15-16. The young kid was even spitting out between drags. I felt so sad that in 10-15 years time this kid will be totally addicted to a crippling financially and health wise, habit.
What is it with woman and fashion?
Some women have NO IDEA about clothes. A young lass walked onto the platform, maybe 20 or so. She was wearing a mid thigh mini, white with exaggerated brown pinstripes, teamed with a pink jumper. Nothing wrong with that. But she was also wearing a pair of brown baggy slacks that were so long she was walking on the cuffs with her shoes. Just totally ruined the effect. Another lady, whose body mass had concentrated itself between her sternum and her thighs was wearing skin tight pedal pushers and an off the shoulder tee that was stretched tightly over her belly. If you are shaped like an orange, why wear clothes that accentuate your disproportionate fat distribution. Hey, either have some liposuction or wear something flattering. This lady wasn't very fat at all and could have worn something less tight that still showed off her shapely calves and ankles without drawing attention to the roll of fat around her middle.
Well that's my rant for the day.
On the positive side, most people I saw were dressed nicely.
Web News
I like this prediction by Thijs van der Vossen. I concur.
Technorati is now running its Beta site as its main site. It is a great tool.
The 46 best freeware utilities
Here are my picks from that list
Gadwin PrintScreen Easy and functional Print Screen capture program.
DLL Archive ckean your PC pf unused DLLs.
YahooPOPs Read your Yahoo mail on your own PC email client for free.
Real Account Awesome Outlook Addin.
Bookmark Bridge Synchronise browser bookmarks.
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Blogger Idol Week 9 - Childhood Treasures
This weeks topic is "Childhood Treasures"
Visitors for Sunday Lunch
All my life as a kid, I can barely remember a Sunday where we didn't either have visitor's for lunch or special rarity - we were invited somewhere. My parents had a policy of either planning to invite someone for lunch, or finding whoever didn't have somewhere to go. For most of my teens I (as the eldest child) was in charge of preparing Sunday roast. I prepared the meat, floured and salted it, put it in to the oven to cook, peeled and washed spuds, pumpkin, carrots, parsnips and sometimes kumara and put them in the roasting pan. Then it was off to church and let's see who we can bring home today. Often one of my school buddies came regardless of who else might be invited. His family were not Christians, so Mum and Dad took it on themselves to provide a home for him to be welcome in after church, to discuss spiritual matters and to hang out with me and my sister.
I met many fascinating and diverse people from all nationalities, creeds, social standing, political leanings and religious persuasion. We had eastern philosophy people, naturists and commune dwellers, hitchhikers and backpackers, over seas tourists, visiting preachers and missionaries as well as folks from our own area.
Consequently I learnt my racial tolerance from my parents, who truly love all men as their brothers and sisters.
In the last few years we have started to do the same thing with our family, starting small and building up. We have held BBQ's after church in a local park next to a dam where there are great facilities and a cool playground. We are teaching our children the value of a stable home and friends the same way I was taught.
This Sunday just gone we invited some friends from church (met the week before - but have known of for many years.) They have been in Ukraine as missionaries (in fact he is from Ukraine) and we had a great time with them.
On Saturday we are going to McDonalds with some visiting speakers to our church from a couple of weeks ago.
This Thursday we extend further, we are starting a weekly discussion group for some of our neighbours.
Thanks Mum and Dad for the lessons learnt, the relationships formed and the experiences of meeting all those people.
We look forward to continuing your legacy.
Sunday, March 21, 2004
Linkage
So the music companies are losing money beause of 12 yr old online kids swapping files?
No Way
Kazaa sued again - only this time its for its own software by an ex employee.
Great article about web design by Gerry McGovern
Tim Henman beats Andy Roddick
Popcorn Victim wins $20M Damages
Lord of the Rings - Hometown Acclaim for Kiwi director Peter Jackson
Super Heros
This is a cool superhero site
Check out all the photos and jewellery.
Thanks Judith for the link
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