Ok... in the footsteps of the venerable Daniel. Check this out : - Pete and Scott's Soup

Yay for Tuesday!



Work today was pretty hard out. I finished an hour late. There are so many new things to learn, and it's all swimming around in my head, and I get confused between all the different tests, and sample names, and do-dacky whatsits. But apart from that I'm enjoying the challenge. 'Twas quite funny this morning. On the local intranet, tehy had photos of all new employees at Tip Top, with their names. My photo had 'Bruce Flavell" attached to it. Thus Anita's rather random (notice the alliteration) comment.



Oh man: Today I sampled some of our whares. Very choice. Grabbed a fresh ice-cream crunchie of the production line, and ate it in the lab. My first ever. Very nice it was too. Also at the end of the day, I sampled a fresh 2L Signature Range Chocolate Eclair Ice Cream. And believe me, fresh ice cream (before it's really hard frozen), tastes a heck of a lot nicer than t'other stuff.



Well I'm hitting the ol' hay, because my shift is 7:30 start so........I'm out.

Well today I started my work at Tip Top. I'm overwhelmed by all the new stuff I need to learn. 60% of the job involves microbiology stuff - which I happen to have never studied. :) hehehe. On the other hand it is very interesting, and time seems to go rather quickly. It was cool however to see Anita at work. (Pity she was a snob and took off hehe just joking.) Not only that, but I met the mother of a boy I taught at Manurewa Junior School of Music. The funny thing about that is that I met another mum of the boys I teach at Nestle. It is indeed a small world.



Ok maybe depression sounds kind of major. Maybe 'down' is a more appropriate expression. Sometimes it's nothing you can point you're finger at. There seems to be no fathomable reason for feeling the way you do, but you do feel distinctly down. Weord.



Man I was reading the Jacob and Esau passage today. How Esau got done out of the blessing. Hardly what you would call fair. In trying to see God's "The older will serve the younger" fulfilled, Rebekah and Jacob went to deceitful and ungodly methods. It reminds me of Abraham and Sarah, not being able to have a son, and not trusting God in seemingly impossible situations. This reminds me of how often I try to use man's wisdom in getting God's results. 'Tis a no no. Full reliance on God is hard, and sometimes we say to ourselves "What are you doing God", or even worse... "Let me help you out God". But God is sovereign and his purposes are not thwarted. (What kind of a God would he be if they were!)

Dear readers of my online diary, I wish to apologise for my unashamed (pronounced with an 'id' at the end of the word) punishing of the English language in my last post. Special apologies to Alana aka Miss Dictionary.



The only exciting thing that has happened to me recently was going to the optometrist. Oh boy! My eyesight hasn't got worse since I was 18, which is good news. On the other hand, it could't have got much worse.......hehe. Anyway, I had to get new frames because my old ones were busted. It's pretty expensive, and when you take samples home to show everyone. Nobody likes the ones you like, and they all like different ones, and so in the end, you just go with what you want.



Nato, you don't know how many times I have heard that pathetic joke "It's all greek to me." But ENOUGH ALREADY. It isn't funny after the millionth time. If someone tells you they are learning Greek. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT say "It's all Greek to me". Chances are they won't find it funny, and chances are even higher that your nose won't either.



Well I'm writing my entry one computer away from Jono, and he stole my thunder about TVs. But I'm so with him. TV is evil to social gatherings. What's also scary is that we are often to gutless to suggest an alternative (like a game) because we think we'll get chopped down, when in reality, most people are just watching the TV because it's on, not because they want to. (There are exceptions to this.)

Well, we're back. The car survived.





Punish verb - 1. To completely finish off, destroy, use a thing. 2. To do serious damage to something. I introduce this definition, due to the excessive amount of punishing that went on during our time away.



We punished the track in semi dark conditions. We punished the "Pete and Scott's Hearty Tramping Soup".........(by the way, remember to bring the noodles. it's not the same without them....seriously.) Next we punished James and Malachi. That was awesome. Check out James 4:4. After this we punished a whole coal bucket filled with coal, and then raided some wood from outside, and punished that. Then today we punished Jono's shoes, and his tramping pack. All in a day's work. I think Strong Bad would have a bogus mathematical theorem for this. The amount of punishing that takes place, is directly proportional to the amount of pleasure one feels. Bogus Mathematical Theorem



On a more serious note. It was awesome to get away and read God's word, discuss it, and pray. It was really awesome, and I am really excited about doing something like that again. We picked some real gems from James particularly, and it was really challenging. It was great just sitting near the fire, chatting, shovelling in copious quantities of coal. In the end, we decided to sleep in the room with the fire, even though it wasn't the bunk room. The rules stated that we weren't allowed to move matresses onto the floor, and so we had to sleep on the floor. But, better to be warm and have a hard floor, than be cold and have a hard mattress!



Went round to my mate Hamish's place tonight. We are studying Greek together at Grace Theological College. Grace homepage I'm a bit behind in it at the moment, so need to put in a bit more study. I will do some more tomorrow.



Faith and Prayer

Jono and I were chatting about this. If we really believed prayer was important and useful, we would do it much more often. It's a life principle; if you think something is worthwhile, and you genuinely believe it, you will spend time doing it. In the same way, if we have faith that God hears and answers prayer, we would take time to do it. I think it's similar to the whole faith and works thing. In the same way if you're faith is real, and you really believe that Jesus Chirst died for you, obedience will follow.



Welcome

Nice to see Anita, (and Hamish) and Alana on board! (or is it on bored?)

Well well well!



Last night Jono installed a CD player into my new car. And then we hung and talked, so that is my excuse for no blogging! Very cool to have a CD player in one's car. I'll be cranking up the ol' Beethoven as I cruise around....hehe!



Well today is the day. me and Jono are cruising down to the Pinnacles. Hopefully the weather is only showery. So I went to the shops to get some food for our travels. Peter B and I discovered an awesome tramping mix recipe that is very hearty. Ok let me walk you through the preperations:-



Pete and Scott's Hearty Tramping Soup

Pour in two sachets of continental hearty beef soup for a cup into a billy. Add one thinly sliced onion. Add four cups of water. Heat and stir. Add a packet of crushed up 2 minute noddles, and a 100g packet of dried Continental Mixed Vegetables. Lastly add 150g of diced Verkerks Danish Salami. Continue heating until noddles and mixed veges are cooked. Eat muchly.



When you share this with others, remember it's name. Pete and Scott's Hearty tramping soup. Otherwise it's free to copy.



Well I better pack, because we are leaving when Jono finishes work at one, and that will be pushing it, so I'm going to be ready to roll. Please pray for safety, and also that our time will be used fruitfully in prayer and meditation!





God bless you all.

I was going to write a long post tonight, but I will do it tomorrow. I will do it nine times. Nine Times



Sorry to disappoint the fans. have a trophy.

Frustration of frustrations! I am having difficulty getting Madden 2002 working with my system. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARG! Some of you who know and love American Football will know and share my frustration. It runs like a dog, which the cheat has beaten to a pulp, and chucked the poopsmith's way. It's not good. Any ideas please email me! It's like you load up the game and it's a slow load time, and then in between menus it's like C64 days again (slow) but once you get INTO the game, she runs like Strong Mad chasing after Strong Bad after a swift kick from Mr Bad. Strong Bad kicks Strong Mad

Oh well.



Romans 7:21 - 25 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!





Yep, that sums my thoughts up so well at the moment.



:(

Well my oh my! Look at the time folks. Since the day grows old, I shall make this quick, otherwise the consequences tomorrow shall be of an unfavourable nature.



Reasons for this tardiness in my writing are few, and good reasons are even fewer.



Reason for taking this long to write:-

1) Had to get a new hdd, so Jono could take back the one he had loaned me.

2) Had to reformat hdd, install dual boot Windows 98 and XP.

3) Had to configure hardware and all that.



Good reasons for taking this long to write:-

1) fhqwhagads was trying to play like - U NO ME! Don't get this into your head LouP!





So anyway, hopefully I'll be better prepared tomorrow. On a scale of 1 to awesome.........have a super great day!

Read this passage from matthew this morning. I noticed a verse I'd never noticed before. After Jesus healed the paralytic, this verse appears:-

Mat 9:8 But when the multitudes saw it, they were afraid, and glorified God, who had given such authority unto men. It puzzles me. If you don't understand why I'm puzzled, don't worry, because I don't really want to explain it, but if you do, let me know what you think! Is verse 8 from the perspective of the crowd? or the writer?





Man.... today was choice:- At work people kept bringing me samples to eat. I was given a roasted almonds (the ones that later go inside the chocolate). NICE STUFF. Also was given some chocolate almonds - covered with milk chocolate followed by white chocolate, and finally the roasted almond. And then there were the Oompas. I think I'm getting fat! I'm going to miss work.... mainly for the people - HONEST! I really like the company in the lab. There are spme real nice friendly people. (Hehe - especially the ones who give me food!)

Ok, a few matters first.



A) Who's the dude that moves to the beat? THE CHEAT, THE CHEAT! Who's the dude that made Scott's blog super great? JO NO JO NO. Thanks Jono - you're the man. Cheat Theme Song



B) Got asked for an interview with BOC today, but I've turned it down, as I'm almost certain to go to Tip Top.



C) I had been seriously considering going to Master institute (a Christian teacher's training college), and I had an interview with them last week. I decided against it, but today they offered me a position marketing, and teaching in their "A Year in the Son" course, which is I believe a worldview course. This would help me pay for my tuition fees, and they said it would lead to the possibility of me being appointed as junior lecturer for the course in 2004.



This all goes to show one thing. God is awesome. I have been struggling to find work, or something to do for months, and when I did find a job, it was at Nestle, doing something that had nothing to do with anything I'd studied. But I believe God has been teaching me patience, and is saying "All things in MY time, not yours."



On the other hand, I have to admit, I don't feel close to God at the moment. I seem to know stuff in my head, but don't feel it in my heart. Another thing I find interesting, on a different but related (hehe) field: What is faith, and how much do you need? Ok let me explain before everyone starts bashing me........



If I really had a full-up faith, I would never doubt anything, but how many people could say that they never doubt? When we doubt, that is a lack of faith, but is it not faith that saves us? So if we lack faith........are we unsaved? My comfort is this:-



Mar 9:24 Straightway the father of the child cried out, and said, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

Well Well!



I had a rather interesting start to this morning. Me and my mate Jesse had to go down and cook breakfast for the Men's prayer breakfast. So we got down at church at about 6:15, and made stuff. Oh yeah. It was kinda funny when I drove down, because I noticed some writing on my back window. Some lemon had written "0 - 60 1000 minutes". Now I'm quite fond of our old silver streak, so when I finally decifered the code (it was in three lines) I was rather perturbed. It's a good machine..... although not known for it's speed, it still is a cool car. Well, I'm off to get ready for church now.



God bless!

Just a quickie today folks!



Had serious lack of sleep last night. The neighbours next door (neighbours generally next door, but I was attempting to differentiate between neighbours as in "Who is my neighbour?", and what we generally think of as a neighbour today) had as massive as party. Well it was not so bad on the music front as the bass boom boom boom only went until about 12:00, but it was the yelling and shrieking that was really annoying. The last thing I remember was at 5:20 in the morning a young guy shouting "Help help im stuck in the fu***** window, someone get me out!" Well needless to say, I ignored his cries for help, although I thought of many potential ways I could in fact help him. Most of these methods involved pointy sticks, steel-capped boots, fire or directed pressurised water. Anyway that's as maybe. I was consequently late for work, as I slept in, and I think people found me rather grouchy during the day. I really didn't treat people nicely today, and found myself snapping at my family where normally I would have been fine. Hmm, more sanctification to take place methinks.

Wowsers! Keep the comments up!



Just a quick note to those of you commenting about my early rising. No I did not get up and post at 3 in the morning. For some reason the clock is rather whimsical, and decided that 3:00am sounds better than 9:00pm. Yeah beats me too.



Awesome day today. I got offered a job at Tip Top! So I'm going to give my notice to Nestle on Monday, as the pay is substantially (read heaps and heaps due to very poor current pay) better, and it is a permanent position, unlike the three month contract Nestle has me on. Ok money isn't everything, but when you aren't earning much, and are trying to save for a house, the more the merrier.



Which brings me to a prayer concern. Although I am delighted to have a permanent job, there is a concern for me that I may not be able to go to Japan for an end of year missions trip. I have already committed myself to this trip, and I really feel like I should be going. There is the possibility that I may get this time off, but it is not definite, so I ask that you would pray for that. God is good, and if he wants me to go.I'm already there!





Question...... why do I always turn the radio on when I get in the car instead of praying. Weord.

Oh well here goes - boldly into new territory.



The question "why" needs to be asked, as it does for everything. For what purpose. What does this achieve? Well I had a think about it through the day, after being persuaded by others to get my own blog.



There is of course what I would call the Strong Bad reason. Strong bad's new hands

This could be used as the megaphone to declare 'I am still awesome.............seriously."



On the other hand as I thought a bit more, I knew that most of you already knew I was awesome, so there seems to be no need in that department. (hehe)



Seriously though, as I thought of a purpose for this, I came up with one which I think is good. As well as being a journal for my thoughts, I intend for this to be a spiritual journal. As I discover things, and as God reveals them to me, I will write them down. That way, as I look back, I can see what God has done in the past, and look forward to the future, knowing the God who has been with me in the past will continue to be with me.



As I thought further, I realised that this is not an easy commitment. I'm one of those keen starters lacking in follow-through. Oh well, let's see what happens. I can't promise it will be a thrill a minute, but it will never be a monologue in minute detail of my spectacularly mundane existence. I'll try to keep it as interesting as possible and spare you the pontificating, and pick out the gems.



Well perhaps it's ridiculous of me to expect any readers. But to those of you who do. I wish God's blessing upon you, and I pray that even a little of what I say may help you in some small way.



God is great!

The first post......... ta da!