One of the down sides of living in Parau

Sarah and I were shocked to find this giant centipede in our bedroom today.














At about 15cm, it was far too big to be inside!!














So it was given refugee status and released into the garden......the far end of the garden.




























For the science geeks out there, we think it may be Cormocephalus rubriceps - the largest New Zealand centipede, which can grow up to 25cm.

Loving Ugly People

Recently a rather unfortunate side of my character was brought to my attention. In the course of daily life I dealt with someone who in human terms was extremely ‘ugly’. When I met this person for the first time I was aware of a feeling of revulsion and an intense desire not to make the effort to get to know this person any better. What made this discovery all the more distressing was that on further reflection I realised this was not a one off event. It has been a consistent pattern of behaviour that had until that moment not really surfaced in my consciousness. I realised that I've judged people my whole life. Certain people haven't been worth my time, while others have been. And in the final analysis, I have chosen my associations and friendships almost exclusively for selfish reasons - not for the benefit of others. In a new, fresh and utterly shocking way, I discovered how desperately selfish I am at my core.

Musing further on this, I realised that this is a natural yet poisonous way of relating to others that most of us develop early in life. We tend to shun the unlovely, give up on the difficult, and avoid the strange, all the while aiming to be ‘in’ with the socially acceptable, the beautiful, and those who generally make us feel good.

In fact many experts tell us that this is exactly what we should do. Recently in studying a sales manual, I was interested to find that it encouraged the reader to surround themselves with people of a positive outlook who were going somewhere in life, as this would help the reader also achieve success. On the flip side the reader was encouraged to avoid people who are negative or not going anywhere.

What warms my heart is the wonderful truth that God does not treat people like this. God does not ‘get’ anything out of a relationship with us. His desire to relate with us is not based on a need he has that we can fulfil; it is a relationship of total inequality. He gives and we receive. What can you give to the God who has everything? Despite the truth that God has nothing to gain from a friendship with us, he sent Jesus into the world to bring people back into relationship with him. And Jesus was not selective. Not only did he associate with the rich and socially acceptable, but he was more often seen with people that the socially acceptable would never associate with: down and out prostitutes, hated tax collectors, fishermen and people struck with the dreaded contagious disease of leprosy. God showed us through Jesus that whatever barriers were between us and him, he was willing to stoop down and sweep them away that we might know him.

One of the biggest barriers between humans and God is our natural state. We all rebel against him. We try to live our lives without reference to him. We have become enemies of God. But when Jesus came to earth he preached a radical message of forgiveness to God's enemies. He said "love your enemies and do good to them...and you will be sons of God because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." Jesus told his followers that they shouldn’t just love those who love them. He didn’t want them to develop a pattern of relationships based on self-interest. Rather he called for selflessness in love. This same selflessness is the kind of love God has for his enemies. And Jesus lived this selfless love out. As the true son of God, he loved his enemies. Dying on the cross he prayed for those who put him there saying "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing". Jesus death was a sacrificial death. His death on our behalf breaks down the barrier of enmity between us and God, and allows us to relate to God as a loved Father rather than an angry judge.

This truth spurs me on to want to be a true son of God who loves those who are not only my enemies, but those who I am not naturally interested in relating to; those of a different and difficult culture, those of a different sexual orientation, those who have few friends, those who are shunned by society....even those who are ugly. I'm sure that my epiphany will not make me a perfect follower of Jesus in this respect, but I do hope it will help me more fully mirror his unconditional love for people.

Lower to uppper Huia Reservoir Walk

9 October 2009















Our intrepid heroes begin their most dangerous expedition.















A couple of our brave heroes in a contemplative moment.















That's it? Two of our bold explorers find themselves disappointed at the lack of loss of limb and life.















It didn't take long for some members of the party to fall back into the patterns of their primate relatives....seriously bringing into question the claims of creationists.















Our three fearless adventurers complete their death-defying walk and are about to get fleeced at the Huia convenience store.

An Interesting Review

Check it out.

If you found that interesting, you may well be interested in this book.

Hope

Hope is endemic to humanity. When we hope, we look forward to a better day. And in a world like ours, looking forward to a better day comes naturally to us. If we live, we hope.

As teenagers we hope to find true love in our relationships. We hope that our lives and future employment will be significant. In our twenties and thirties we perhaps hope that we will be able to marry; we may struggle to have children, and hope that we will be blessed with a child. We end up in places of employment where we struggle with drudgery and long for meaningful employment. Perhaps we become caught in violent relationships and end up hoping that our partner will change and treat us with respect and dignity. As we grow older we may hope for many other things. We begin to long for retirement. We might desire that our children find a suitable life partner. We may become philosophical and perhaps begin to hope for an end to oppression and injustice. We desire that poverty and sickness be alleviated. All our lives we live in hope.

And even in the most dire situations, people will dare to hope. Imprisoned in the most horrific conditions, Jews in concentration camps hoped that they would be rescued. Prisoners on death row cling on to hope to the very end. In the most torturous situations, people will continue to hope. In fact it seems to me that the moment that people give up hope, they give up life.

But what if human hope is nothing but a vain delusion? What if there is no better day? So many of us have experienced hope becoming reality, and the reality itself has been far less satisfying that the positive feeling of hope that preceded the reality. It seems to me that much of what we hope for, far from satiating our desires, merely leaves our inmost being parched, driving us to hope for something else. Thus we live our lives in the perpetual pursuit of what we do not possess.

Why do we hope? Why is it that we like mice run on a treadmill never reaching our goal? Is hope some evolutionary survival mechanism that prevents us from cutting short our otherwise pointless lives? Perhaps in some sad twist of fate, those who managed to develop hope managed to survive better than those who could not. But if this is the case, does this not leave us in a terrible predicament? Our hope is at best useful and at worst irrational, for in the final analysis, while it may spur us on to great deeds in life, the grave mocks all human hope with its certainty and its finality.

Is there any other explanation for hope? Could it not be that in the deepest recesses of our being, we somehow know that we were intended for a better world? Could it not be that as created beings reflecting in some marred way the God who made us, we long for the perfection that we were designed to radiate? Are not our innermost beings desiring a world without grief, injustice, anger, poverty, oppression and death? In short, is not our hope an echo from Eden?

2009 Photo Montage

Ok I don't know how to format these, so my apologies.


January 1. An auspicious start to the year. Ok so it looks really weird - but it tastes really good.

















Tongariro Crossing














And again....














Waitawheta tramp - I couldn't believe the sign!













"Ahh so that's what the sign meant"














Sarah is about to get VERY cold














The view from our home in Parau - looking back to Manukau

Just before sunrise, looking out from our front deck

Walking along Whatipu.















The massive dunes at Lake Wainamu













Looking out from Mt Don Mclean towards the Awhitu Peninsula












Entrance to the Manukau Harbour















Sarah at 'work'....or at least at her place of employment












Oh to be an academic!!

















The Tasman lookout walk near Piha.













Sarah on the Arataki nature trail














Goodbye old faithful!! Hello $1000













Howick Historical Village













A very strange sort of rooster.














Me at Kitekite falls - which apparently has a rather bloodthirsty history













Sarah tip toeing across Armour Bay (1 minutes drive away) at low tide.

From the Ashes

I think I might begin to post again.