Quote

Mark Tasker and I went to Clevedon and had fish and chips for dinner tonight. We had a good time of fellowship. One amusing thing was the takeaway shop, which had a sign with the name of the place, and a quote underneath it. The quote read:-



"Always open until we close"



Yes well....

Assassination of Common Sense File

Thursdays entry belongs to this file. I should have introduced it as such.



Alfa

The Alfa is back on the road again, with the rust being fixed most meritoriously by Auckland Panel and Paint. I was very happy with the work done, and particularly that my car was vacuumed and dusted inside, and the tyres were cleaned. Very good service. The guy that owns it, is a friend of Malcolms, and goes to Buckland's Beach Reformed Church. So anyway, it should now get a warrant when it's due (next month), and shouldn't (please God) cost me too much money for a while.



The Plan

The plan is to gop hiking in a couple of weeks time. Should be good. Haven't been away for a while. It's the Hunua's, or the Kauranga Valley that's calling, I can't quite make out which at this stage.



Book of the Month

I am half way through Reason to Believe by R.C. Sproul. 'Tis a good book, and a very easy read. Not only that, it's about a 7 on the 'put a the the book a down scale', where 1 is 'This book is best used as a paper weight on my desk', and 10 is 'This book's cover has been grafted into the skin of my fingers'.

Choke Gasp Aaarg - from Real Issues, Maxim Institute



"Sing-a-long" a mockery



A tax-payer funded "sing-a-long" course raises issues about the accountability and strategic direction in New Zealand's tertiary institutions, as well as providing a good chuckle.



Tairawhiti Polytechnic in Gisborne has reportedly been paid $11 million of tertiary funding to provide a free eight week course to "enhance learning of Maori language". Students once enrolled are given their own waiata songbook and then asked to sing along with songs on the radio from the comfort of their own home.



Who is going to check that students sing? How will we know if they have sung correctly? What will constitute passing the course? No problem. There is no qualification at the end of the course, no external regulation, no record of pass rates and no record of whether people even complete the course.



An estimated one quarter of Gisborne's population was enrolled in the course last year. Minister for Tertiary Education, Steve Maharey has stated that he will act on these kinds of issues as soon as they come to his attention. In light of the projected $115 million "blowout" in funding for community education this year, the end of the "sing-a-long" could be near.

June 27

I will be preaching my first 'in church service' sermon on Sunday the 27th of June. This is a good step on the road to ministry. Please pray for me as I prepare this.



Trogdor's House Shift

Trogdor has moved house. Or rather Trogdor's house has been moved. Matthew and I moved the cave to one corner of the aquarium, and put lush vegetation on the outside of it. He has taken this to be his new home.



Quote of the Week

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.

Martin Luther King Jr.

C.I.A

I often come back from youth group on saturday nights really upset or down. As leader, you tend to have to deal with things that others might not know, that can just make you really wonder what God is doing. I feel so upset sometimes for the spiritual state of some of the young people. I really hurt inside for them. And it seems that even though I cry out to God for them, that he doesn't answer in the way that would seem best to me. But I am not God, and God knows best. I just wish that not one of them would depart from the path that leads to life, that all would be saved.

Alfa

The Alfa is going in for rust repairs next week on Monday. $1222 . Hmmm. I must love my Alfa. It's the only rust on the whole car, and it's in the boot of all places. The rest of the car is sweet as, so I don't know what the deal is with that. I'll keep you informed, as I know you all love the Alfa as much as I do. I suspect this is the last major work that will be needed on it for quite sometime, but that statement in itself could be asking for trouble.



Restoring A Relationship

This is from "A Purpose Driven Life".



1. Talk to God before talking to the person.

2. Always take the initiative.

3. Sympathize with their feelings.

4. Confess your part in the conflict.

5. Attack the problem, not the person.

6. Cooperate as much as possible.

7. Emphasize reconciliation, not resolution.



Good stuff, and stuff I want to use in my life, and suggest others use. I have been aware of many interpersonal conflicts in the church recently, and from now on, I am going to suggest this as a way of sorting things out. Sometimes people don't want to sort things out, but this is an un-Christian attitude. We must always want to restore a relationship.

Bad Day

If anyone cares.... I had a bad day at work today, and if I seemed in a bad mood with anyone, it was not directed at them, and I apologise.



News in Brief

I am now clean shaven. Gross. Maybe not for long, as it makes me look a heck of a lot younger.



I am behind on my reading goals. I am too embarrassed to say how far, so don't ask.



Trogdor is currently hiding on top of his cave. Oh nope, now he is patrolling around his cave. And now he is in his cave.

Dry Ice

We had some spare dry ice floating round at work the other day. So........... we utilised the opportunity like preschool kids. Here are some cool activities you can try when you come across some:-



1) Stick some down the drain and then put the plug over the top. You get sudden bursts of 'steam' lifting the plug up and down, much like the lid of a pot with boiling water.



2) Stick in a beaker, add water, add detergent. Check out those MASSIVE bubbles.



Well there was plenty more to try, but I won't bore you with all the variations on a theme.



Amazing Grace

Dwaine, Jono and I performed a "NZ idol" attempt at this on Monday night after everyone had left the church. It actually sounded pretty good even though we were mucking around. For your information I was NOT singing, but rather pianoing. We were just going hard, because there was no one to be embarassed in front of. Sometimes when you muck around it sounds better than when you are serious.

Bible Verse

Rom 12:2 Don't be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him.



Probably quite relevant to the discussion of men in leadership. If I'm being to cryptic, do tell me.



People

It's all about people. The Christian life that is. For how can we become more like Christ, develop the fruit of the Spirit, and live for others if we do not demonstrate these things in our relationships.



Touch

Twas a great game of touch last night. Some beautiful tries. Jono scored a most impressive one, as did Mark. Also impressive was the speed of Methane Ethan. The defence however was lacking...... at best.

Plain

It has been a concern of mine for a long time. Chocolate is a flavour, so is Caramel, but Vanilla is labelled as plain. This is a travesty of justice. How dare we do vanilla such a disservice. I demand reparations for the damages done. Vanilla ice cream is not plain ice cream. It's not as if chocolate is vanilla ice cream with chocolate added to it IS IT!? NO! Raa. Vanilla is a flavour in it's own right. And it is my favourite flavour. So don't anyone dare be calling it plain. There is nothing like freshly extruded vanilla ice cream. Mmmm. And by the way. Hokey Pokey ice cream is not vanilla flavoured ice cream with bits of junk in it. No. It's hokey pokey flavoured. Raaa and don't you forget it.



Jobs

I am looking at finding another job. I'll keep you posted.



Time for Men to Lead

I am heartened to see young men in our church starting to take things seriously. The lack of male leadership in the church today is something I am really concerned about. And by the church I mean the church in the Western world. A side issue is the lack of male leadership in the family. What does please me though is a number of guys I have talked to lately wanting to do something about it, but not only wanting to, they are doing things about it.



Great.

BBC

As in Berean Bible Church. Well a letter arrived for me containing some of their guff. However I don't know who sent it to me or why. However, I have been told that the NIV is bad, and I shouldn't use it. Don't tell them I occasionally use the Contemporary English Version - they may have a paroxysm. On the other hand the King James Version is God's word without error.



Anyway.. the guys who made up these pamplets which I got sent are really abrasive. Let me give some examples:-



"The Greek text from which the NIV comes was produced by a couple of Mary worshipping Catholics..."

"By the way, all you "Russelites" (Jehovah Witnesses to the uninformed)..."



It always worries me when a group sets themselves up as right on something, and everyone else has it wrong. To define a group by what it does not agree with sets off warning bells. Maybe there is something wrong with me, but it worries me.



What does make me laugh though, is that on the sheet I was given, they tell me three things about them that should make me want to visit them. Firstly there is no religion, then there is no tradition of men, but the third just takes the cake. There is no denominationalism. However by saying this they are making themselves a distinct denomination. They are defining their 'group' not so much in terms of who they are with, but who they are not with. Quite ironic.



Pity for them that some things they said were true and good.