Scott & Sarah Kennedy

The kingdom of grace and the world of ungrace – part 1

2010-10-11T18:46:00.001+13:00

Like so many other New Zealanders I was shocked and disappointed at the recent revelations that ACT MP and “3 strikes” law campaigner David Garrett had used a dead baby’s birth certificate to get a false passport. It is disappointing when people in positions of influence are found to have ‘skeletons in their closet’. However what for me was most shocking was the self-righteous and venomous indignation of the media and general public baying for blood. It highlights for me what has elsewhere been described as ‘ungrace’.

I am not really interested in exploring whether or not it was the right thing for David Garrett to resign. In fact I am not really interested in the case per se except that it highlights the way the world works. In our world, we are judged for who we are and what we do. If we treat people nicely, they generally treat us nicely in return. If we treat people in a way that metaphorically burns bridges, we can lose friendships and alienate ourselves from others. If we do something stupid, that gives people the right to condemn us, and based on the magnitude of the folly, the right to dismiss us completely. This is the world of ungrace. And in a world of ungrace, people are very eager to put the boot in when someone is caught in wrongdoing.

Because we live in a world of ungrace we try to hide the real ‘us’ from those we come into contact with. We live in fear that our acquaintances and those closest to us might discover some of our own ‘skeletons’ and perhaps wipe their hands of us. We all know in the depths of our soul that if people could see the real us, they would find fault with much they saw. Indeed few of us have more than one person with whom we can be entirely honest about our true self. These true friends who love us in spite of our faults and flaws are rare and precious jewels, and their friendship mirrors the kind of friendship that God extends to people.

We cannot hide the real us from God. One of the occupational advantages of being God is omniscience. That means God sees the real us – our actions, our words, and scarily enough, the thoughts and motivations of our innermost self. He looks at each one of us warts and all, and still offers his love to us. This is an incredible truth. He sees our skeletons; the selfishness of our heart, the malice towards others, the deceit, and yes, even the stupid things we have done in our past, yet he still offers his friendship to us no strings attached.

What makes this offer even more gob-smacking, is that God’s grace to us comes at a great cost. For God to be just, he cannot allow the guilty to go unpunished. All of our obvious wrongdoings, and our less obvious closet skeletons must be paid for. They represent a relational block between us and God. This block cannot just be ignored. A husband who has cheated on his wife cannot just say to her ‘Let’s forget this ever happened’. But God has demonstrated great love for us, by finding a way to remove the block so that our wrongdoing before him and injustice towards others can be dealt with. God’s innocent son Jesus agreed to take the punishment that our wrongdoing deserved in order that God might look upon us as innocent. Jesus was nailed to a cross and forsaken by God as we deserved to be, in order that we who were once enemies of God might be made friends. The Bible poetically puts it this way; “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our sins from us.” Those who trust in Jesus are treated as if they had never done anything wrong. Nothing is allowed to get in the way of their friendship with God.

This is a most beautiful truth. God is a God of free grace. He does not require us to act in a certain way to receive his love. In him the world order of tit-for-tat ‘ungrace’ is slowly being dismantled. With Jesus a kingdom of grace broke into this world and the free offer of salvation from God’s just wrath has been offered through faith in him. His kingdom will gather in people from every tribe, every nation, and every language. And when he returns, we will celebrate God’s grace to us in a world removed of all sorrow and injustice.

Chalk and Cheese

2010-04-23T16:46:00.004+12:00

I rarely have any good to say about customer service. In my experience people are a lot keener to sell to you than they are to help you when something goes wrong with their product. My recent Epson printer complaint is an excellent example. I complained about a piteously poor product, was offered a couple of measly cartridges if I bought another printer, and was told to call an 0800 number if I wanted to discuss the matter. Epson your customer service is pathetic. I have since replaced my Epson printer with a Brother HL-2140 laser printer thanks to Flybuys. The print quality is excellent, the speed is impressive, and there are no paper jams or misfeeds. So far so good.

What I really wanted to write about however is a recent experience I have had with excellent customer service. I want to hand a customer service trophy to Dell computers. In January of this year I bought a laptop for ~~gaming~~ university purposes. Having a small home and a young daughter who sleeps in the computer room, I needed a portable option. Since we don't own a TV, we also use it to watch movies. However, ever since I got it, I've noticed that it intermittently struggles to play a number of our DVDs. So I decided to write to customer service and ask if something could be done. Enter Dell's excellent customer service. The person I emailed asked if I could do a couple of checks myself and email the results, which I did. Then he organised for a technician to come out to our place in Parau. The technician rang the next working day and arranged to come out at a suitable time. When he arrived he immediately started dismantling the laptop. I had been a little worried that he would check whether various DVDs worked on it. Since it was an intermittent issue I was dreading what many of us technophobes dread:- the ol’ phantom computer problem, that disappears when a competent geek comes along, and reappears as soon as they have departed. But he didn't muck around with checking DVDs. He immediately replaced the drive. After briefly checking it, he left, and asked us to call if we have any problems.

I've been very pleased with my Dell laptop so far. It is a fantastic machine. But I'm twice as happy now, knowing the customer service that backs it up. I've heard of people having to send machines away for weeks on end while they get tested and repaired. I have never heard of technicians being sent to a home to fix a machine on site. So if you are looking for a laptop, may I recommend a Dell. Next time I'm in the market, I'll be certainly looking at one.

A walk in the forest

2010-04-17T16:43:00.007+12:00

Our little family took a trip to the Arataki visitor centre this afternoon. We popped across the road and did a short walk along part of the Arataki Nature Trail. Walking this trail provides one with a religious experience, for posted at various intervals along the path are signs that encourage an almost superstitious 'worship' of nature. I may comment on some of these at a later date.

However one sign that I really appreciate describes some of the deeds of Tane Mahuta the god of the forest and birds. On the left side of the sign is written:-

Ko Tane Mahuta te atua o nga ngahere
Na Tane i whakawehewehe a Rangi raua ko Papa
He maha nga Tamariki a Tane
Ko nga rakau katoa, nga manu, nga ngararu me nga kararehe katoa

Ko Tane hoki te timatatanga o te tangata
Nana i hanga a Hine-ahu-one te wahine tuatahi o te Maori
Kei roto i enei mea katoa te mana o Tane.

On the right side a translation in English is provided.

Tane Mahuta is the God of the forests
Tane separated Rangi (sky) and Papa (earth)
Tane has many offspring
All trees, the birds, reptiles and animals

Tane is also the beginning of humans
He formed Hine-ahu-one the first Maori woman
The spirit of Tane is found in all these living things

This reminded me of the creation account in Genesis, part of which I have reproduced here:-

And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
(Gen 1:6-10 English Standard Version)

Its fascinating to see the links in the mythology and creation stories of various cultures to the Hebrews' Genesis account recorded in our Bible. While I know there are other explanations, it is worthwhile pondering whether these incredible commonalities suggest there is an element of truth in the stories. In Genesis we read the story of God creating the heavens and the earth, and the story of his creation of various kinds of animals and finally his creation of the first man and woman.

Anyway I am quite interested to eplore further parallels and have got the Reed Book of Maori Mythology out of the library to aid my investigations. Watch this space.

Hope beyond death?

2010-04-04T09:00:00.000+12:00

If you are reading this, you are terminally ill. You may be reminded of a certain gruesome film “The Ring” where a message on a video gave its viewers seven days to live. While the message you have just read does not contain this same power, it is nonetheless true. From the moment of our conception, our time on earth is counting down. Morbid? Yes. Unimportant? No.

For such a universally important topic, death is not something our culture contemplates deeply. Sure, there are reports of death in the papers; there are accounts of murders and tragedies. Films and books are riddled with death. But somehow these deaths seem unreal; for the most part wholly ‘other’ from us. We cannot really imagine a world where we are no longer present. Our whole understanding of the world assumes our own being. In the rare incidents where we do contemplate our own mortality, we are distressed at something that seems so unnatural.

Why do our hearts rebel so much against death? Why do we grieve when a loved one dies? Why do we dread our own mortality? I put it to you that we rebel against death because it is unnatural for us. We are not designed to die. While some may say death is part of the circle of life, our hearts tell us this is not so. Death is an unwelcome intruder – a thief which humiliates us and robs us of our dignity.

Unlike those who hold to an atheistic evolutionary framework where death is an essential part of the world, I believe death is an intruder. As sons and daughters of God, we were created for life abundant. And yet in that garden of perfection our first father rebelled against God and brought death into the world. Since that fateful day, our race has been doomed to death. Our original glory and dignity as image bearers of God has been marred and defaced by our rebellion, and we all must face steady decay until death finally humiliates us.

Yet today is a special day. Today we celebrate the man Jesus who conquered death. Nailed to a cross and left to die, Jesus was the only human being who was not infected with the disease of sin. Jesus did not need to die. Yet he submitted himself to death in the stead of those he loved and desired to save. Death could not own him – for in him was no sin – no trace of rebellion against God his Father. So triumphant he rose from the grave and appeared to many of his disciples - eyewitnesses so committed to the truth of the resurrected Jesus that many would give their lives up rather than deny it in the years that followed.

Why does history so vividly remember this man who conquered death? What is so important about Jesus? Sure there is the amazing fact that he managed to escape death, but the rest of us are yet helpless and will all stare death in the face at some point or other. We remember and celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, because he is the first fruits of the dead. The first fruits in a harvest signify a promise of more to come. In the same way, Jesus victory over death is a promise to his people that they too have victory over death.

Though we must still taste death, the sting of death can be taken away. Jesus now holds the keys to death, and we do not pass through the door unless Jesus has opened it for us. Moreover, for those who have been joined to Jesus Christ through believing in his power to save them from their own rebellion against God, Jesus promises that at the end of the world as we know it, they too will be raised to life – with perfected bodies ready to live life abundant in a restored world where death and suffering are banished forever. What hope Easter Sunday brings to us all as we contemplate our own mortality.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Ever get the feeling you're not being listened to?

2010-03-26T16:50:00.004+13:00

To Epson's credit, they replied very promptly to my email. Unfortunately, their email sent the message that they were really not listening to me. And I quote (with spelling mistake uncorrected):-

Due to your expereince with the Epson Stylus CX3100 Epson Customer Service Management would like to extend an offer of a set of complimentary cartridges if you purchase a new Epson printer through an Epson New Zealand Stockist. Please note that this offer is only valid for 30 days from today.

So apparently I'm supposed to be bribed back to the brand with a couple of measly ink cartridges once I purchase a new Epson printer. In the immortal words of some beer we drink; yeah right.

Epson does not exceed my vision

2010-03-25T12:35:00.001+13:00

To whom it may concern:-

I'm fed up. I really am. I have spent the last hour trying to print a nine page essay for my university course. From the third Epson printer I have owned. The first one came free with a computer I bought and printed green when I wanted red or yellow when I wanted blue and was finally replaced by the shop I bought the computer from. The quality of the second (same model as the first) was marginally better. At least it printed the colour I chose rather than some randomly picked hue. But the third. The third has gone far beyond the first two in its annoying idiosyncrasies.

The stats looked good. It had a fancy name. Epson CX3100 multifunction printer sounds like a class act. If only. Multifunction? What a misnomer. More like multi-malfunction, for since I have owned it, this printer has gone where no printer before it has gone in exploring new ways to function inappropriately. The scanner stopped working, rendering the copying function useless, and leaving me with the print function alone.

Well you would assume that the print function should be all right since after all, this machine claims to be a printer. Alas how naive I was. This printer prefers to mess with minds rather than print documents. Let’s begin with the ill-conceived document feeder..what a place to start. It jams and then continues fruitless attempts to feed 50 odd pages through at once finally printing on the same line of the piece of paper it cannot feed through over and over again until the ink gleaming on the page is an inch think, and for the next 100 documents black patches of ink appear at regular intervals on the top of the page. Alternatively it might decide to misfeed so that the one page of the document prints hard up against the top of the page leaving Sahara size regions of white at the bottom of the page. Another of its party tricks is the ol’ feeding it through on an angle trick, which leaves one with a piece of paper with a gradually decreasing white margin.

And let’s not forget the print quality. It is appalling. Gutenberg's first printing press had clearer type quality. No matter how many times one cleans the heads or faffs around with 'maintenance' settings, it refuses to print clean lettering. If I wanted a strikethrough effect on all my documents, I'd select it in my word processor. Then to make matters worse, after finally having got the print quality from ridiculously poor to slightly better than ridiculously poor, the next time one attempts to use the printer, the type is back to unreadable, with missing lines of ink. So again one must clean the print heads using up more of Epson’s completely over-priced ink. How is it that humble black ink is bordering on the price of gold per ounce?

Which brings me to changing ink cartridges. How is it that my colour cartridge runs down when I’m only printing black text? Why is colour ink consumed when I want to clean up the quality of the black ink printing and vice-versa? Why do I need to install a new colour cartridge when I only want to print with the black cartridge? The only way any of this makes sense to me is to assume it is some ploy by your sales team to increase revenue.

Every time I attempt to print a document now, I have to retry at least three times, fiddling with maintenance settings in an attempt to get a type that is passable in terms of readability. Reams and reams of paper are wasted in the process. I swear that my Epson CX3100 is solely responsible for vast swathes of destruction in the Amazon rainforest. But alas this darn machine has crossed me for the last time. No longer will I endure its petulant shenanigans. I have decided to introduce it to my trusty friend Mr Claw Hammer. I will not sell this machine to some unsuspecting citizen. No, I could not inflict this on my worst enemy.

So I'm off to buy another printer. And I assure you it will not be an Epson. I have been driven to distraction with your printers which in my experience are the poorest quality printers around. I have never had such problems from the HP printers which I have used. I will never purchase another Epson product until I hear there has been a vast improvement in quality, and I will tell all my friends and family about my experiences with your piteously inadequate products. Your by-line at the moment is “Exceed your vision with Epson”. The only thing of mine that has been exceeded by Epson is patience.

Yours mostly sincerely,
Scott

Silencing Dissenting Voices?

2010-03-07T10:19:00.003+13:00

What is it about human nature that we always seek to ban messages or silence people who disagree with us? I was half listening to a conversation at Teachers’ College the other day where a young lady was up in arms. It turns out she was irritated because another student had taken a different approach to an essay topic than her. She did not think he should have been allowed to have the viewpoint he did. Now you may laugh at this – and perhaps notice the similarities this young lady shows to those who disapprove of physical discipline on their children so seek that it should be banned for everyone else. Yet I think Christians also suffer from this neurosis.

Take for example the reaction of some Christians to the atheist bus campaign in the UK and the similar attempt here in New Zealand. A significant number of Christians think that atheists should not be able to advertise their beliefs in public places. We are concerned perhaps that people may read “There is probably no God, so stop worrying and enjoy your life” and doubt the existence of God, or perhaps turn away from the faith. We are annoyed that Christians are falsely portrayed as living joyless lives, when we know from personal experience that Jesus has come to bring us life abundant! However I believe that attempting to ban what we disagree with sets a dangerous precedent. What if the majority of people decide they do not like what we say and want to ban our thoughts and the public expression of our faith on billboards, pamphlets and radio? This would be a deplorable state of affairs. In general I believe we should support the right of others to say things publically, even if we disagree with them, because we also want to speak about our faith publically. It is hypocritical of us to demand the right to express our beliefs yet deny those rights to others.

What further amuses me about this situation is the contradiction in the thinking of some Christians. They get their knickers in a twist because “There is probably no God, so stop worrying and enjoy your life” is posted in the public space of a bus. Yet some of those very same Christians send their children to public schools, where God is banished and in essence the children are taught “There is probably no God – or at least he’s not relevant to what you’re learning about, so get on with learning without him”. In my mind the far more dangerous message is the silent and subtle message of the education system rather than the in-your-face attack of the bus slogans. Better that God be up for discussion in a public place than be ignored there completely.

We do not need to be afraid of the enemies of the gospel. The gospel is powerful and does not need state protection to advance. When the gospel took off in the first few centuries after Jesus died, the state was not benign with respect to the church. Christianity did not spread because its beliefs were forced upon an unwilling population. Other viewpoints were not silenced - although later they were and we all know what happened to Christianity then! In fact, in the early days of the church, Christians were often persecuted by the state. A plethora of religions and gods surrounded the early Christians and the messages they were bombarded with were much more antagonistic than the slogan we are discussing now. Yet the gospel was able to spread in this situation because people were able to see the light of the truth in the midst of the lies and darkness of Satan. In the same way, I believe this campaign gives us a chance to discuss our faith in the public arena. It is a positive opportunity in a world that is increasingly trying to limit our faith to the personal sphere. So I say “Let them come!”

Idols in the Classroom

2010-02-22T16:50:00.001+13:00

Last week, while on practicum for my graduate diploma in primary teaching, I taught a lesson on bullying. The text I used was a cautionary tale called “Don’t be a bully Billy”, which tells the tale of a young bully Billy who treats his classmates nastily until he gets sucked up into a spaceship by an alien – English literature at its finest. In the lesson I was attempting to communicate to the 5 and 6 year old children why they shouldn’t bully. In the end the angle I adopted was that “Bullies don’t have friends.”

A couple of days later as I was mulling over my first week of practicum and in particular this lesson I had an epiphany. I understood in a powerfully new way the religious nature of a state education. State education is not some benignly neutral environment in which children learn bare facts.

In teaching that lesson on bullying I could not make reference to the God of the Bible and his expectations of human behaviour. Rather I taught as if he did not exist, and instead appealed to the children’s desire for friendship to help them avoid bullying. I removed Jesus from his place as the one who is before all things and the one in whom all things hold together, and instead set up the false god of ‘peer acceptance’ for the children to worship. While the result may be a reduction in bullying, the children have been taught that there is satisfaction to be found in someone or something other than Jesus Christ, namely peer acceptance. This is a lie of the devil. He is constantly seeking to trick people that they can find satisfaction, true meaning and abundant life in something or someone other than Jesus Christ.

You see, many people make the mistake of thinking that state education is neutral because it keeps religions like Islam, Buddhism and Christianity from being promoted in the classroom. This seems a fair assumption. The state is not giving any religion an opportunity to ‘proselytise’. Young impressionable minds are protected in an environment that will not lend support to any one religion. This leaves schools in a position to teach the supposedly neutral bare facts of life:- maths, reading, writing and perhaps more controversially history and science.

But this is a fallacy. You see, when we remove Jesus Christ from the classroom we are effectively denying that he is Lord of all. We are banishing the Creator from our classrooms and then expecting that we can make sense of his world without reference to him. There are no ‘bare facts’. The facts belong to Jesus and any attempt to interpret his world whilst ignoring him is folly. The facts cannot be interpreted correctly by those who deny the one who owns all knowledge.

Christian education is not about saying a prayer or two and inserting a Bible verse in your lessons. It is not about mentioning God here and there as one might sprinkle salt and pepper on ones meal. A true epistemology (theory of knowledge) must recognise that all knowledge belongs to Jesus Christ – who John describes as the one without whom nothing was made that has been made. A truly Christian schooling will have its curriculum, methodology and practice saturated with Jesus Christ.

All this thinking has left me with two dilemmas. The ethical dilemma for me as a Christian teacher starting out in the state system is how can I teach without denying my Lord Jesus Christ and setting up idols in his place in the classroom? The ethical dilemma for the Christian parent with children in the state system is how can we keep our children from seeing our Lord Jesus Christ as irrelevant in their lives when he is ignored and replaced with idols in their classrooms?

One of the down sides of living in Parau

2009-10-16T18:48:00.004+13:00

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

2009-10-13T22:41:00.000+13:00

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

2009-10-10T16:52:00.010+13:00

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

2009-09-27T19:05:00.001+13:00

Check it out.

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

Hope

2009-09-24T19:51:00.006+12:00

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

2009-09-12T20:30:00.014+12:00

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

2009-09-10T16:22:00.001+12:00

I think I might begin to post again.

Creating Little Monsters

2008-03-03T12:00:00.005+13:00

Some of the best arguments for using a smack as part of loving parental correction come from the children of those who will not smack.

Good gracious me Deborah! What kind of little monster are you foisting upon an unsuspecting society?! Deborah doesn't want her little Mea to fear her as a parent. Well that's a nice thought, but when you read on and find out what sort of issues Deborah has with Mea you wonder who is running the show.

Now, of course, our wilful daughter seems intent on testing our resolve. On a daily basis, we contend with screaming and tantrums, along with the regular declaration "No!" There are the refusals to put on a seat belt, eat dinner, stop putting half-eaten fruit on the carpet, tidy up toys, have a shower, stay in bed and much more. We know that much of the behaviour is consistent with the developmental stage and it will change.

A few times now we have sat in the car, stationary, while we persuaded Mea of the need to have her seat belt on before we drove anywhere. Of course, it's tedious to have to sit there and wait but in those moments humour works wonders. It diffuses the tension as well as enabling us to illustrate our point and get Mea to comply. Making a joke of how silly we are for having to sit there seems to work. She's also concerned about a policeman giving us a fine.

For goodness sake woman! You are the parent and Mea is the child! You are in charge! You are meant to train your child, not be trained by her. Some people might be happy to have their households run by two year olds - but I and the vast majority of people are not. Two year olds need direction - not this "You're my equal" dialogue rubbish.

It baffles me that Deborah wanted to have her model of child-raising published. It does nothing to convince me that smacking is not necessary. Rather I was more convinced that now and again a smack is probably quite a good thing to prevent your child ruling the roost and becoming an absolute monster.

Christian Extremism

2008-01-29T07:18:00.001+13:00

I was reading a few blogs, and I was directed to this editorial in the Sunday Star Times.

What a distrubing editorial. As most of my readers will know, I am a follower of Jesus Christ - a Christian if you prefer. While I may be different from many New Zealanders, I suspect that like most I care deeply about this country. And so I was annoyed by the insinuations that this editorial made about Christians who have begun to actively promote the referendum on smacking. Consider the introductory paragraph with me.

The Right has found a heavy club to beat the government with: a referendum on smacking at the next election. This is a brilliant ploy by the religious extremists of Family First. It will gather not only libertarians, Act voters and other motley fanatics of that kind, but many decent and ordinary people. It is as though the Brethren had found a cause that appealed to the mainstream. The political and social effects are likely to be large and wholly malign.

Notice the words 'religious extremists.' Why does agreeing with over 80% of the New Zealand population on the smacking issue make one an extremist? Aren't people with religious convictions allowed to promote what they believe is right without being labelled as extremists? Are we supposed to lie down and let the government tell us how to live without attempting to play our part in the democratic process? Is democracy not intended for Christians?

Notice also that by implication 'Christians, libertarians, Act voters and other motley fanatics' are not decent and ordinary people. No - they are a separate category. Presumably they are indecent and peculiar people. But surely if many 'decent and ordinary' people are getting behind this referendum attempt - the cause in itself can't be all that bad. Just because the people out on the streets collecting signatures are Christians doesn't mean that the cause itself is somehow evil.

It saddens me that an intelligent journalist could have written such ill-thought comments. Like the Exclusive Brethren, Christians are being portrayed as social lepers. We are painted as people who can't be trusted; people who have a dangerous agenda. The reality? We're just normal people trying to follow Jesus in this world - trying to love God and our neighbour - failing often. But we're not the big bogey man.

Kerikeri Holiday

2007-11-06T09:50:00.000+13:00

Sarah and I were able to enjoy a wonderful holiday last weekend in Kerikeri.

We saw a mother duck with 12 ducklings..

Checked out the Stone Store...on the outside because we didn't want to pay to go in!!

Mucked around on the rope swing!!

Viewed some waterfalls...

We visited the Anglican Church....

Went to the grave of a good friend.

Saw St Paul's Rock.

Conquered it too!

Another Step Towards Tyranny

2007-09-11T10:15:00.001+12:00

If this actually happens, we might just move out of New Zealand.

The Children's Commissioner is proposing mandatory screening of every baby's home life in a bid to halve New Zealand's high child murder rate.

Those who refused to take part would be referred to welfare authorities.

Wow. We can only hope that this supremely daft proposal is ignored by parliament. But one thing I know is this: No one is going to enter my house to check on how I raise my children without a big fight being put up on my part.

Now why is this being proposed? Well apparently this could save five children a year. Ha! That should be on the next Tui billboard. What a load of codswallop. I suppose it will be just as effective as banning smacking. Because that has been a roaring succes hasn't it? What it will do is increase a nosey government's reach into my homelife. Back off.

We need more of this!

2007-08-29T06:52:00.001+12:00

I was heartened to read of these teenagers who caught a robber and dragged him to a police station. Awesome stuff. Great community-mindedness and action.

Homeschooling

2007-07-24T07:11:00.001+12:00

There was a bit of a discussion in one of my recent posts about homeschooling. I was quite interested in the different approaches taken. This led me to think "Is there a lot of conflict over the idea of homeschooling because people have different ideas about the goals it should achieve".

I want you as the reader to lay aside your fundamental issues with homeschooling for the purposes of answering this question. "What is (or should be) the goal of homeschooling?"

I'm not looking for a particular answer. I'm just interested to see what your ideas are. I have my own on this matter, and sympathise with some of what has been said recently on this blog with respect to the problems of homeschooling.

I'd rather there not be a huge comments argument on this. (We can save that for a post in the future.) What I would prefer, is for you to help me develop my thinking on this subject by offering some ideas as to what homeschooling should achieve.

Encouraging Stuff

2007-07-16T13:39:00.001+12:00

Last week after preaching at church a 10 year old girl came up to Sarah and I to show us the notes she had taken from the sermon. The notes came complete with a picture accurately depicting my geeky self resplendent in striped jumper and square specs.

However what really was encouraging were the notes. This little girl had accurately summarised my sermon. She had listened and understood the basic message. I was very impressed. It just goes to show that children are often a lot smarter than we give them credit for.

Edit 17/7/7
Striped, not stripped!!

Honeymoon Photos part 1

2006-10-11T11:22:00.000+13:00

Here is the first place we stayed at. It is a farmstay in a place called Okains bay about 20 minutes from Akaroa.

Okains bay has a school (with about 10 children I think), a museum, two petrol pumps, and a general store which is pictured here.

Here is Okains bay itself - about 2 minutes down the road. Lovely bay, but it was autumn, so we didn't swim.

Here are a few pictures from one of our day trips. We visited the Christchurch gardens which was really beautiful being autumn - with leaves golden and red.

And here are some photos from a Banks Peninsula walk we did. Notice that in the South Island, they must label the track and the view.

Sarah and I decided to go on a cruise out in the harbour.

On another of our many walks, we got this view of Akaroa itself.

This is part 1 of 3 of our honey moon slide show! We took about 600 photos, so if you want to see them all - come round. :)

Cool Stuff

2006-10-03T09:07:00.001+13:00

Last night Sarah and I went to a concert in Old Government House celebrating its 150th aniversary. We got front row seats right in front (as in no more than 2m from) of the Fazioli grand piano. Michael Houston performed the second half of the concert which was a real highlight. The first half was performed by some students from the university.

Music included some arias from Handel's Messiah, music from Mozart's The Magic Flute, Brahms Variations on and Original Theme, 6 Chopin Mazurkas, a Debussy piece, and 1 short little piece by a Cuban composer whom I had never heard of before.

A fantastic evening.

Changes!

2006-09-21T19:03:00.001+12:00

Taking my cue from Jono, I have tidied up my sidebar. All 'new' links have joined all the others. I have also joined 'most frequented' with other blogs. "Watch this Space" which was something Jono and I never got around to has been deleted for now. I have tidied up a few other issues, and blogs which have not been updated for more than 2 months have been deleted.

Photos of tramp, and eventually honeymoon will come soon. Honest.

Clevedon Sunset

2006-09-01T20:11:00.001+12:00

Sarah and I just got back from a lovely walk up the hill at the back of Clevedon. We watched the sunset, and had Chinese for dinner. Nice to have a night off youth group once in a while.

We took a book about youth ministry up with us and discussed it....very geeky.

Ahhhhhh sweet sunset. Actually it was not an overly impressive sunset - but not too bad.

Sarah would not let me post any of the other photos of her here - except this one - which she is in - albeit barely.

Dick Hubbard

2006-08-28T09:24:00.001+12:00

Dick Hubbard has been lampooned for his recent actions and speech against the "Boobs on Bikes" parade. He his mocked that his actions of speaking out against it attracted more people to it.

So what should he have done people? Should he have just ignored it? If he felt it was wrong and offensive - should he not be able to speak his mind? Since when is it better for us not to act on our conscience? Should we mock this man for doing what he thought was right?

What kind of man knows something is wrong and is afraid to say so? That man is no man. This lampooning is just an attempt to silence and embarass those holding to traditional morality. I say the mayor did right.

Smacking

2006-08-24T07:59:00.001+12:00

I wonder why a government that won't even pay back money it stole, can tell parents with a straight face what is best for their children. If they can't act in a moral way in such a big issue - what makes them think they know how children should be brought up?

Old Age

2006-06-01T07:27:00.000+12:00

Happy Birthday Priscilla!

It Takes All Kinds...

2006-05-16T14:23:00.000+12:00

There are some seriously strange people out there. I found someone entered my blog through a google search for "Pictures of Guinea Pigs getting married". Yes. Pictures of Guinea Pigs getting married.

As I investigated this further, I found something even scarier. Some people actually do wedding ceremonies for their guinea pigs. I am not joking. They dress their guinea pigs up and have weddings. I kid you not. Here, you don't believe me? Check this. Complete with invitations, bridesmaids, and groomsmen. (Or are they groomspigs?!) Did I mention the priest?

This goes to show how wonderful it is that we aren't all the same. Could you imagine being the same as someone was interested in guinea pig marriages? Well that is one of the wonders of diversity. Everyone is different. No two people are not on fire.

PS Where are all you hypersensitive people now? I wrote a good post designed to stir you into a frenzy the other day, and you all hide. Maybe you are beginning to see the world rightly..... (That oughta do it!)

Replacement Letterbox

2006-05-14T20:53:00.000+12:00

Rakesh bought two new letter boxes to replace his smashed ones (He owns two houses on our driveway). I went out and bought one the same. It was one of the cheapest ones, but still cost $49.95. We are not made of money, and I'd like to take $49.95 out of the wallet of the idiot that did this. They need to realise the hard work that produces money to fix things they destroy. And I mean they need to personally realise it. But alas, chances are they won't, and will continue to wreck the property of others. Raaa!

The People Have Spoken

2006-05-01T07:09:00.000+12:00

Ok, ok ok ok! Here are some photos to appease you all. Yes I got married, yes I have photos! Nicely planned as you will of course note to coincide with our 1 month anniversary. Nah actually that was a fluke - Priscilla just told me so I edited the post!

So... the first one we have here is Sarah - my beautiful wife. She looked exquisite and these amazing photos don't even begin to do her justice!! (Hmm that oughta get a good dinner tonight.)

So we got married in Greyfriars church in Mt Eden - but no she didn't go there before she got married. Sarah attended PRC which rented a hall - and she wasn't keen on getting married in a hall.

Ok so let's move onto the next photo...(does this feel like a slide show?)

Ok so this next photo is of the ladies getting ready to enter the church. Does anyone else find it funny that the ladies have to get ready to enter the church, whereas the guys just burst in? Ok maybe you don't but it kinda amuses me.

So in this photo is Sarah's mum, and then all the bridesmaids. Please note the beautiful girl on the right - it's ok, I can say that, she's my sister.

Ok moving right along....

So here I am a married man with my lovely wife!

The photo is a bit blurry due to the fact we were walking down the aisle.

Please note how casually I am walking down the aisle - one hand in my jacket pocket in fact!!!

Now onto family photos....

The top photo is Sarah's family, and on the bottom is mine, minus James who had gone awol, and Lou who went to look for him. They do appear in the professional photographs which before you ask we have not received.

And here we are leaving the church in a 1928? Model A Ford. I thought I'd include this just in case there were some car enthusiasts around.

Actually I'm not even sure if car enthusiasts like these type of cars - but hey, I thought it was pretty choice.

Neil our driver (the dad of one of Sarah's friends) was a first rate chap. Thanks!

So here is the view from our reception. Pretty lovely I reckon. As you can see we were right on the beach. Near the end of the night I looked out and the waves were lapping quite close to the building!

Here is my wife being carried away by vicious bandits. Oops I mean my groomsmen. A special thanks to all of you guys.

Jono thanks for being best man - appreciate it man. And Carl and David - thanks also for your friendship and being able to share this day with me.

Actually they look too nice to be vicious bandits. Look at those cheesy grins. Looking good though boys.

And here we have our 1st (and very possibly last) dance as husband and wife. I must admit I wasn't really keen on the whole dance idea - but we got there in the end.

Anyway - seeing as you back in the corner there have fallen asleep YES YOU! I guess I better wrap the ol' slideshow up. Thanks for your prayers and support we really enjoyed the day. Thank you to those who came - we appreciated your presence - and indeed presents. Hopefully we will share hospitality with all of you in the not too distant future.

Soon I'll do a condensed honeymoon slideshow. Yes condensed - we have over 600 photos.

Bless you all.

The people can shut up now.

Computers

2006-04-26T14:21:00.000+12:00

The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do.

Ted Nelson

Raaaa!!

2006-04-19T20:34:00.000+12:00

Disclaimer:- You may think it is strange entitling my 1st post as a married man with "Raaaa!!". It is not a reflection of married life, but an incident that just ticked me off.

I really dislike it when dumb people with dumb land rover type vehicles with dumb big bull bars tailgate me. Coming back from visiting a friend of Sarah's tonight, we were tailgated by one such vehicle.

For a start I dislike people driving these dumb vehicles around suburbia because...well... becuase they should get a life and get an Alfa Romeo....but that is all beside the point.

What really annoyed me about this guy was he was dumb. He didn't get the point that I didn't like him tailgating me. I changed lanes. He tailgated me. I burnt him off at the lights (not hard in the 155). He caught up to me when I stopped accelerating (once I had reached the 70 km speed limit) and tailgated me. I braked to show him I was uncomfortable about his bull-barred nose sniffing my rear. He tailgated me. I beeped in exasperation at him - but I think he just didn't get it.

So i have two words for all you inconsiderate drivers who think you are Greg Murphy and can stop within a metre at 70km. BACK OFF. GET A SAFE FOLLOWING DISTANCE. GO BACK TO SCHOOL AND LEARN ABOUT PHYSICS SO YOU CAN UNDERSTAND WHY YOUR BIG FAT DUMB LAND ROVER TYPE VEHICLE WILL NOT STOP INSTANTLY AT SPEED. DO NOT SIT RIGHT BEHIND MUCH PRETTIER VEHICLES WHICH WILL BE DAMAGED BY YOUR UGLY VEHICLE WHEN YOU CANNOT BRING IT TO A STOP IN TIME. I GUESS THIS WAS MORE THAN TWO WORDS.

Honeymoon post with pictures may follow soon.

Suggestion

2006-03-30T09:38:00.000+12:00

Hi everyone!

I hope you can all make it to our wedding on Saturday. If you are coming, I suggest leaving in plenty of time. Mangere bridge is closed, and the Home Show is on at Greenlane. Traffic from the south will be congested.

Last Saturday, Girls Day Out was on at Greenlane, and Mangere bridge was closed - as a result a bridegroom was 2 hours late for his wedding. Not good.

This is most likely my last post as a single man - but hopefully not my last post.

News In Brief

2006-03-24T08:30:00.000+12:00

Well things are getting pretty hectic with wedding preparations and what not. In fact this whole process has lead me to an interesting theory on weddings. Why do we have weddings? Well I believe that the wedding day preparation process is designed to test your relationship and see whether you have a decent chance of surviving after that date. If you can't hack it you won't make it to the wedding day......but I shouldn't jest!

In other news, we have had three additions to our lawn mowing collection. Three little guinea pigs in fact! Marmite the mother is doing fine, and the not so appropriately named "Woman" is very proud of his achievement.

Some Thoughts

2006-02-28T17:13:00.000+13:00

I was reading a paper Geoff Macpherson had done on youth ministry today. In it he commented on how the entertainment industry saw teens as a lucrative market. Because of this young people are often held back and tied to immaturity and dependence. He quotes Mark DeVries (Family-Based Youth Ministry):-

'As the bridge from childhood to adulthood gets longer and longer, young people find themselves mired in a peer-centred culture that no longer moves them naturally into adulthood. And unless they can find their foot to step out of that culture, they can be stuck in perpetual adolescence."

Let's Investigate our "Neutral" State Education Curriculum

2006-02-11T12:20:00.000+13:00

The following is part of Dr Muriel Newman's "Newman Weekly". (Apologies if this is not all right, as I had trouble with transferring it from my email to this. It went all weord and computerry.)

While reflecting on education, I was reminded about the comments that are frequently made about how young people today think so differently from their parents’ generation. As a result, I decided to check out the school curriculum to see what our youngsters are now being taught and how it has changed since the fifties and sixties when I was at school and the seventies and eighties when my children were there. I have to say that I was surprised at what I found.

The school curriculum is now divided into seven essential learning areas: Language, Maths,Science, Technology, Social Sciences, Arts, Health and Physical Well-being.

Even a cursory examination indicates that there has been a dramatic shift in curriculum content in some areas. Maori language, rights and beliefs (including “the spiritual dimension of hauora”), have been interwoven into the curriculum at every level and in every area, and significant amounts of material that would previously have been considered to be political can now be found. The burning question, though, is whether or not this constitutes indoctrination and social engineering?

Firstly, to the Social Sciences learning area and Social Studies where our five year olds (Year 1) are being taught about the benefits of central planning and environmental advocacy, through talks from planning staff and building inspectors, resource materials supplied by Greenpeace and farming discussions about issues such as “concern from anglers that dairying effluent is harming fish (and tourism) in South Island rivers”.

In Science, seven year olds are asked to discuss not only recycling, but also global warming and environmental activism, eight year olds must write “a letter to the local council justifying why a mangrove swamp "should be conserved”, and twelve year olds are expected to research “the ethical implications of a current biotechnological issue: genetic engineering, reproductive technology, cancer research, HIV/AIDS”.

But the most dramatic curriculum change is in relation to those deeply personal issues that used to be regarded as family matters that have now been incorporated into the Health and Physical Wellbeing learning areas. This curriculum teaches five year olds to name all “sexual parts” of the body. By age seven, the children are taught about “gender equity”, “cultural equity”, “abuse” and “harassment”, and at eight, they are learning about “pubertal change”, the “differences in gender and in sexual orientation”, and recognising “discrimination on the basis of chronic illness, mental illness, or cultural difference”.

At age nine, they are taught to manage risks in “sexual decisions, drug use, rape, harassment, racism, sexism, and homophobia”, and at ten, they are learning about harm minimisation in relation to “rape, harassment, the use of drugs, discrimination, and sexual activity”, as well as being introduced to the Privacy Act and the Human Rights Act.

By age eleven, the children are taught “safe sexual practices and drug use”, and in one teaching unit, “Positive Puberty”, they are expected to carry out ‘group’ research on “menstrual periods, wet dreams and erections”.

At age twelve, students should be able to analyse “euthanasia, reproductive technology, abortion, racial conflict, politics and sport, poverty and unemployment, unresolved grief, child-rearing practices, and violence in sport, gangs, and families”.

To explore the curriculum yourself, go to the NZ Centre for Political Debate website where all the learning area links have been provided - http://www.nzcpd.com/

A Wee Story About Tax

2006-02-03T15:54:00.000+13:00

From here.

Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men — the poorest — would pay nothing; the fifth would pay $1, the sixth would pay $3, the seventh $7, the eighth $12, the ninth $18, and the tenth man — the richest — would pay $59.

That's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement — until one day, the owner threw them a curve (in tax language a tax cut).

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." So now dinner for the ten only cost $80.00.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six — the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share?"

The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, Then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being PAID to eat their meal. So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of his earlier $59. Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free.

But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man who pointed to the tenth. "But he got $7!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man, "I only saved a dollar,

too . . . It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!".

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man, "why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered, a little late what was very important. They were FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS short of paying the bill! Imagine that!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how the tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.

Where would that leave the rest? Unfortunately, most taxing authorities anywhere cannot seem to grasp this rather straightforward logic!

Read This

2006-01-25T09:41:00.000+13:00

I know it will take a while, but this article is definitely worth the read. It's witty and pithy.

With the way western birth rates are heading there is no reason we should expect our democratic type of civilization to last more than another generation or so. Welcome Sharia in folks!

Happy New Year

2006-01-01T18:17:00.000+13:00

To all my readers - happy new year to you all. May it be a fruitful and prosperous year in all the best ways.

And to all those who have commented about my lack of blogging - you'll be happy to know I plan to change this soon. Stay tuned.

Bless you all.

Miscellaneous

2005-12-21T08:48:00.000+13:00

Hello People!

Well once again a miscellaneous everything post. But you should be happy! These don't tend to get me deleted from other people's blog lists!

Well Nato has been up for Christy's wedding. It was great having you here at 58B man! Anytime you need a place to stay up here - just let us know.

The wedding was really lovely too. It was a great service - and the reception was fantastic. The food was really good too - which for the guys is one of the most important facets of the wedding - a close third behind looking good and ensuring that the flowers match the bride's dress. Seriously though - I thoroughly enjoyed the whole event - and it made me look forward to an up and coming wedding in 2006.

Sarah and I also went to her church camp. It was a really enjoyable time fellowshipping with other brothers and sisters. The camp topic was stewardship - very challenging and useful. The ol' table tennis table got a fair thrashing by just about every camp member - since the weather meant we were inside for a bit of the camp.

Sarah and I have recently got into table tennis. She thrashes me just about every time we play - but I swear I'm getting better. Last night we went down with Carl and Shannon to play table tennis at MCS. That was a whole lot of fun.

Anyway - that probably about does it. If this is my last post before Christmas, take care and God bless.

Past Week

2005-12-12T09:01:00.000+13:00

Quite a few cool things have happened over the last week.

Sarah's birthday was last week. So I spent the day out west, and attended church there. We had a feast and swim with all the PRC youth.

And of course Louise arrived back from Japan. It is awesome to have you back. What larks !

As Christmas is coming (and the guinea pigs are getting fat) it's time for all those breakups. So last Wednesday, we had a bbq breakup for our homework club. We don't have that many kids coming along, and none of them are from Christian homes. Their parents came - and we had a really good afternoon all together.

Then there was the Manukau Christian School breakup. Dad made a good mini speech (yes it is possible!!), and the children performed a really good musical with a Christian message. James won a cup for his 1st place in the school cross country - although dad announced that I had won it. Must be old age.

In gardening news, I planted seeds of my Dill from last year - and I have little plants growing. Did the same with a rotten tomato in the fridge - and have a whole lot of little tomato plants growing.

Edit 12:00
I forgot to mention my trip to Tip Top for the farewell afternoon tea for Padmini one of my old workmates. It was good to catch up with my old team (Lee, Ash, Cam, Rozz and Steve, and some other friends like Peka, Jerry, Simi, and Connie. An added bonus was the aquiring of some ice cream.

Geekatron

2005-12-08T11:31:00.000+13:00

My lovely Sarah has some fantastic news. As some of you know, she has been working on a BSc honours - and today we found out that she has got 1st class honours! Wohooo! Her overall mark for the year is A+!

Well done!

Garden Update

2005-12-08T09:27:00.000+13:00

I don't care if you think I'm a nana. I like gardens.

So I'm going to give you an update.

The herb garden is going great! I have managed to propagate most of the herbs I have by various means. Currently I am working on Lemon Balm. The method I am attempting to propagate this by is the old "bury one of the stems under some soil and hope it gets some roots" trick.

Well it is berry season. All my strawberry plants are fruiting - and producing nice strawberries since I stopped watering them so much. The blackberry plant is flowering, and soon hopefully we will have berries. The orangeberry plant shows no signs of fruiting yet - neither do the rasberries, berry delight (some hybrid variety) or the boysenberries. Loganberries are fruiting - and the birds are loving it. Mongrels. Hopefully my new scary CD trick will stop them pillaging my fruits!

In rose news - my roses have black spot. Need to do something about this, but not sure what.

Stay tuned.

Time To Boot Some Bottom

2005-11-30T12:14:00.000+13:00

Hi chaps. Here is an opportunity to complain. Tell Air New Zealand how disgusted you are with their policy on men sitting next to unaccompanied children. Here is what I wrote:-

Recently I heard of your policy regarding men sitting next to unaccompanied children on your flights.

I am disgusted at the attitude your company has shown towards men in general. I resent the inference that this policy makes about men. Not all men are kiddy fiddlers, or rapists and to treat us as such is sexist.

Is this policy going to be changed? If it is not, I and my family intend to boycot Air New Zealand until you change your policy.

S Kennedy

Your Thoughts Please

2005-11-16T14:32:00.000+13:00

1. Is our comfort and ease more important than the lives of some people?

2. Is it fair that in New Zealand we can choose to spend our money on comforts and luxuries, while in some countries, people do not even have enough to choose to eat?

3. What should our response be to this situation?

4. What would you like the response to be if our situations were reversed?

5. Does distance remove our moral obligation to help people? (You may question whether we have a moral obligation to help people who are starving at all - however I think this is fairly easy to prove. So for the sake of this please assume that we do have a moral obligation to help a starving person who lives next door to us.)

Edit 2:50pm, Just clarified the last question.

Lull

2005-11-15T15:44:00.000+13:00

Some people reckon in conversation that there is a natural lull every 7 or so minutes. (Or was that 11 minutes?). I wonder if there is a theory of 'lulls' in the world of bloggery? There seems to be one right now.......wake up everybody!

Alana

2005-11-12T12:15:00.000+13:00

It has been brought to my attention that somehow Alana's link has disappeared from my blog. How disgraceful! It may well have been done when I added those new blogs a week back. Being so early in the alphabet I copy her link paste it and then edit. Must have cut instead of copied.

To make amends here is some free advertising. Isn't Alana cool. Don't you wish you had a blog as cool as Alana's blog. Everybody needs one. You need one, I need one, fhqwhgads needs one. So in summary check out Alana's blog.

Clevedon Hill Sunset

2005-11-01T12:04:00.000+13:00

Last Wednesday Sarah and I went up Clevedon Hill with some fish and chips, and coffee and coke to watch the sunset and hang out. It was most beautiful, so I thought I would share some photos with you all.

Sinking Sun

Sarah and I watching sunset

Setting Sun

Almost Gone

Hiking

2005-10-21T07:37:00.000+13:00

Peter and myself are taking some of the Form 2 to Form 4 boys from the church away today for an overnight hike. Pray for safety and..... sanity!

Summer is on it's way!

2005-10-18T08:34:00.000+13:00

Yes that’s right! Yesterday while working in the backyard, I got burnt. My whole back has gone pink, and one night recently I heard a single cricket chirping. It’s coming!

Oh Dear

2005-10-10T10:56:00.000+13:00

Who wants the UN to control the internet?

Apparently, China is leading the effort to achieve this. Is this not a worry since China only allows its citizerns online acccess with government control?

In fact the UN itself doesn't have a crash hot record in the area of free speech. Here are some examples from TCS.

During the 1970s and 1980s, a number of Third World countries used the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to press for a "new world information order." This grand-sounding project claimed that governments around the world needed to be more involved in "managing" information flows to better serve the "public interest." Part of this new order was the idea of forcing journalists to obtain government licensing in order to report the news. American journalists were quick to point out the dangers this system posed to media independence -- if a reporter uncovers news a government doesn't like, and exposes it, she could lose her license.
......................................................
In 1995, delegates attending a UNESCO-convened meeting on "Women and the Media" held in Toronto,

Canada

called for various forms of government control on the media. These included taking legislative action to combat the "predominantly male culture of the mainstream media" by passing laws mandating "gender-sensitive" hiring practices for media outlets.
......................................................
The UN's readiness to sympathize with supporters of censorship made an appearance last year. Its 2002 Human Development Report praised

South Africa

's Human Rights Commission (a government-funded body) for persecuting journalists in 2000 who dared to write investigative reports of high-level corruption. The Commission slapped the journalists with trumped-up charges of "subliminal racism." The UN, bizarrely, said that this persecution helped to build "respect for human rights."

Road Trip

2005-10-09T14:22:00.000+13:00

Well I'm back guys!

Jono, Dwaine and I took a trip up north in the ol' Alfa. We stayed at a nice little backpackers place in Whangarei. It even had a nice spa pool - which we made use of. The second day we travelled all the way up to Cape Reinga. It was fantastic weather for most of the day. We made our way back and camped at a place in the Mangamuka gorge. Unfortunately our tarpaulin 'tent' masterfully made into a shelter by Jono lasted only until 4 o'clock in the morning, whence it began to leak. The rain was pouring down, so it was hardly surprising. And the main problem was not infact leakage from above, but from beneath. So we packed up at this ungodly hour, and travelled down to Whangarei.

In Whangarei we slept in the McD's carpark and later consumed a nutricious breakfast there. Dwaine's eyesight was called into question at McD's, where another patron walked over to him while he was reading the newspaper (at a very close distance to his face), and suggested corrective lenses might be the order of the day.

Quotes of the trip:-
Dwaine: uhhhh bro could you grab me a drink?
Jono: Sure uhhhh want a Mallowpuff?
Dwaine: uhhh How about that drink I asked for?

Jono: (At 2:30 in the morning) I can see some stars
Scott: You'll see a whole lot more in a moment if you don't shutup.

Winners

2005-10-03T10:50:00.000+13:00

Andrew Coulthard wins for guessing National's seats.

Jono Willis wins for guessing Labour's seats.

Crunchie bars coming to you both.

The Prize Goes To....

2005-09-23T16:08:00.000+12:00

Well we don't know for sure yet do we? So be patient, and you will find out in good time. I just want to reassure you crunchie bar lovers that I have not forgotten.

Carl

2005-09-15T22:25:00.000+12:00

I've been in to see Carl a number of times today - and am happy to report he is doing well and in good spirits. God is indeed good, and Carl has been spared. It was one of the worst accidents I have seen the end result of. Looking at the car, you would think nobody could have survived.

It's times like these you see how much people really mean to you. I was so worried this morning when we saw Carl hadn't been here all night. Here's to a speedy recovery.

In the Draw

2005-09-14T23:02:00.000+12:00

43 - 48 Andy C
55 - 50 Mark Y
49 - 53 Debs
52 - 48 Allan
47 - 51 Nato
40 - 50 Anita
45 - 50 Priscilla
53 - 49 Andrew (from Whakatane)
50 - 52 Jono W
65 - 45 Carl
48 - 53 Bonza

Red signifies Labour, Blue National. Andrew and Nato are ineligible for the crunchie bar prize due to location. Sorry guys.

Hurry!

2005-09-14T08:33:00.000+12:00

Today is you last chance to enter the election competition.

Reminder

2005-09-12T09:57:00.000+12:00

Hey folks! You can't win if you're not in!

Remember this Wednesday is the cut off date for the competition. Avoid disappointment, enter now! :)

Thanks!

2005-09-11T13:31:00.000+12:00

Thank you to everyone who hiked out to Titirangi for our engagement party last night. It was an absolute honour that so many people came. It is great to know that so many friends are supporting us in this step we have taken. Thank you also to those who gave us gifts. We appreciate the time and thought that went into choosing these.

Thank you also to God! I know I don't deserve it but He has given me the nicest Christian girl you could hope to meet!

Election Competition

2005-09-07T12:25:00.000+12:00

I want to run an election competition.

You are all welcome to join in. Guess the number of seats National and Labour will win. The closest for each will win a crunchie bar.

Conditions apply.

1. You must be in Auckland to win the crunchie bar.
2. Your entry (in the comments of this post) must be made by Wednesday 14 September.
3. You must leave a way for me to contact you.
4. The judges decision is final. Deal with it. I think I'm also meant to say something about correspondence.
5. One entry per person.

Edit: The crunchie bar may be exchanged for something of lesser or much lesser value.

Four People

2005-08-30T16:33:00.000+12:00

This is the story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody: There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realised that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody, when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Assassination of Common Sense

2005-08-29T08:47:00.000+12:00

And I quote to you:- All student teachers will have to prove they can pronounce Maori in order to graduate, under Labour's Maori policy launched yesterday.

"Maori is an official language of this country but many people don't make an effort to pronounce Maori correctly. Teachers teach our kids a lot of things, from Shakespeare to poetry - what is the difference in teaching how to pronounce people's names and Maori correctly?"

Morons! Utter morons!

1. One could also say "English is an official language of this country but many people don't make an effort to pronounce English correctly. " But there is no such English pronunciation test for student teacher graduation.

2. Shouldn't we be more concerned about our teachers being able to speak and spell English, before we even begin to worry about a language like Maori?

3. Who's definition of correct pronunciation shall we run with?

4. What about accents? In the same way that Irish, Germans, and Indians all speak English differently, we will all speak Maori differently - if at all. Deal with it.

How can anyone take Labour seriously? What a bunch of ninnies.

Engagement Party

2005-08-26T16:44:00.000+12:00

When: 10 September at 7:00pm
Where: Email me if you are coming and I'll tell you where.

All are welcome, please bring a plate of finger food.

Polls

2005-08-26T11:39:00.000+12:00

Michelle posted an excellent comment with info about polls. So I thought I would post it so you can all read it easily. Anyway here it is....(hope you don't mind Michelle)

Aah Scotty, but here is something the News Media will not tell you...
Opinion polls should be taken with a grain of salt and are very unrelible. (except that the public belives them and thus votes accordingly)
I am learning about this in my Political Behaviour and Psychology class at Uni. Basically there are many problems with opinion polls, here simplified into

a) margin of error. The poll that you linked to does not say directly what the margin of error is, which is bad reporting, but it does mention numbers which denotes (the 1000 respondents) about a margin of error of 4 percent. That is actually quite large. And means that Labor may be anywhere from 41-49 (never never use decimal points in polls, also sign of a bad poll) and National may be between 32-40 percent. This could make the popularity of the two parties much closer. A possible one percent!

b) A sample of 1000 people (which this poll is) is about a middle-sized sample, and still cannot accurately guage public opinion. For example, if they conducted a phone survey, what about people without phones? (those either too poor to afford it, or those who wish to remain unlisted) The poll mentions Aucklanders, and thus had a specific focus on those in the Auckland region (as many polls do).

c) Additionally, in opinion polls people often change their answers to impress the interviewer (probably not applicable in this case), or they are pushed into boxes that they dont actually fit into. For example, if the question says "are you more likely to vote National after their tax cut announcement? yes or no , then opinions are actually being created for people who were not intending to vote National anyway.

And one last little gripe about this opinion poll... 10 percent of respondents (it says 9.6, but as i've said, never use decimal places in polls, its pointless and simply used to try and show something thats not there) (eg. Labour is on 45.3 [45%] and National is on 36 [still 36%] makes it look like Labour is further ahead)
sorry - distracted =)
10 percent of respondents were "undecided, refused to say, or did not know". Thats quite a large percent!!

Anyhoo, hope that gives you a bit of insight into why opinion polls aren't very reliable and you shouldn't be influenced by them (even though the majority of the population are, which is why the media and politicians use them)

=)

By michelle, at 11:18 AM

Bad News For National Voters

2005-08-26T08:53:00.000+12:00

Overall, Labour is comfortably ahead on 45.3 per cent, up 1.4 points from last month's poll.

National is on 36 per cent, down 1.5. The difference between the two is 9.3 points.

Find out more here.

Upside Down?

2005-08-25T12:35:00.000+12:00

Isn't it funny how on Close Up last night, Michael Drake was demonized for his stance on smacking, whereas shortly afterwards, a porn star was portrayed as a hero. I am reminded of this verse:-

Isa 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

News or Views?

2005-08-24T18:15:00.000+12:00

I just watched the 6:00 news on TV one. There was a slot on smacking. The report told us of Michael Drake's school Carey College sending home a brochure on "How to smack your children". This 'report' once again proved that we are not watching news but propaganda. People not only tell us what happened, they tell us what to think about what happened. Unfortunately there are too may people in New Zealand who have both never been taught to think for themselves, and don't realise they are being told what to think.

What a wonderful tool of societal chage the media can be. Let's buy it.

Animals

2005-08-23T09:02:00.000+12:00

I just heard a audio clip from the TV ONE "Debate" last night. The word debate I use loosely. I could not hear what either Helen Clark or Don Brash were saying because the audience was shouting screaming, and banging some kind of wooden object so loudly that it sounded like a riot. What a disgrace.

As I have always suspected; for most the election is not about reasoned debate.

Wedding Date

2005-08-22T09:05:00.000+12:00

Sarah and I are getting married on April 1st 2006. Yes that's right! April Fool's Day!

Do you take this woman...... NO hehe joking.

Now I'm working on my 50 guests. Tricky as since my family takes up to about 20 guests.

Something For Us To Crow About!

2005-08-09T09:08:00.000+12:00

For those of you who are a bit down after the All Blacks' loss to the Springboks - and our all round pathetic displays at sport - don't despair! I have found something that we are world beaters at. Crime!

New Zealand's Glorious Achievements
Assualts: 6th (USA 5th)
Burglaries: 6th (USA 17th)
Car Thefts: 4th (USA 9th)
Drug Offences: 3rd (USA 4th)
Rapes: 12th (USA 9th)
Total Crime: 2nd (Behind Dominica, USA is 8th)

But if your chest swelled with pride from those figures, wait until you see our suicide figures!

Suicide 15 - 24 year olds: 1st (double USA's statistics, and well ahead of the second country)
Suicide 25-34 year olds: 2nd (USA 10th)

You can find all this information for yourself here. You will obviously need to make sure you compare countries per capita, since bigger countries will generally have more total crime.

The Conclusion of the Matter

2005-08-04T10:22:00.000+12:00

I'm sure many of you remember my rant about the desk and chair scenario from Warehouse Stationary. Well today, my disgust at incompetance and stupidity was proved just.

In a brochure today, the desk and chair are being sold separately. The desk is advertised for $249.99, and the chair for $79.99. It was always ridiculous for $50 to be added when a chair was taken away. Now we see this fact with $50 being taken off if the desk is bought separately. Common sense finally wins the day.

How True

2005-08-04T09:53:00.000+12:00

Poor Journalism

2005-07-29T12:14:00.000+12:00

This is worth a read.

Psst! Don't Tell Anyone...But...

2005-07-29T09:05:00.000+12:00

Jono's post prompted me to write about the tongue.

Isn't it funny how when you're in a relationship, everybody seems to have their own ideas about what you should or shouldn't be doing, and instead of talking to you about it, they talk behind your backs! Stories seem to take on a life of their own, and things that aren't true get passed on and around until a fully distorted and factually untrue story finally gets back to you.

Well I'm pretty hacked off about this kind of behaviour, as it should not be seen in Christian circles. Gossip, and slander should be expected in non-Christian circles, but here in the church, they seem to be more common than outside the church.

What is gossip?
Gossip is the spreading of a malicious report about somebody. Oftentimes gossip is actually true, but by passing it on, we could be damaging the person involved. God's word demonstrates how bad gossip is. In Proverbs 11:9, we see that gossip can be used to destroy others. In Proverbs 11:13 we see that a true friend does not gossip. There are also a couple of specific warnings to women in the New Testament telling them they must not gossip.

So what do we do if somebody tells us a delicious piece of gossip? We should not pass it on. But instead, we must reprimand the person who has brought the gossip to us, and tell them to talk to the person they are gossiping about. If you are concerned by what you have heard about the person, go and see that person, and talk to them about what you have heard.

It's a simple biblical and exceedingly obvious principle, that when you are discussing issues in a person's life, you should keep the issue to as few people as possible. The less that know about something, the easier it is to deal with pastorally.

What is slander?
Slander is slightly different from gossip, in that the story that is being passed on is a story that is actually not true. I personally have been the victim of this recently, and it is not very nice at all. How on earth can a story that is not true be passed around? Well there are many reasons for this. What may have started out as a bit of gossip has been exaggerated, and retold so many times with embellishments that it no longer represents the original story. Or perhaps somebody has overheard a conversation they weren't involved in, and misheard the context and passed it on as gospel truth. Sometimes it can also be done with a malicious motive - to hurt another person.

In 1 Peter 2:1, we are commanded to rid ourselves of all kinds of slander. In Colossians 3:8, Paul gives the same command. These are just a few passages that deal with slander. But as Christians, we shouldn't need hundreds of passages for us to make the choice of obedience. God is dishonoured when we gossip or slander others, so we must not do it.

So what do we do if someone is slandering someone else? Once again the first rule is not to pass it on. You may think that someone really needs to know. You may think that you can add the phrase "I heard this but I'm not sure it's true" to what you are saying, but there is no excuse. We must reprimand the person who has slandered someone else, and tell them to talk to the person they have slandered. If we are worried about what we have heard, we should talk to the person involved and tell them what rumour is being passed around.

Summary
What we humorously refer to as the church grapevine, or gossip mill, is not something we should be amused by. Gossip and slander are things that the Lord hates, and we should hate them too. I know it's hard - I struggle, you struggle - we all struggle with juicy bits of gossip we want to pass on - but we must do what is right.

1. Let gossip or slander stop with you.
2. Challenge the gossip and the slanderer.
3. Talk to the victim of gossip and slander.

Buying A Ring

2005-07-24T06:56:00.000+12:00

Yesterday I spent some time looking around the mall at jewelry shops with Sarah for an engagement ring. I now know about carats, clarity, colour, and cut. It was quite interesting really.

We got engaged on Tuesday 19th July in the evening at Piha. It was an amazing setting. But - you had to be there, and I wouldn't have wanted that. We delayed telling people since my parents were away, and we wanted to tell our families before anyone else.

As well as being extremely happy, I am somewhat scared. It is a big responsibility to commit to a person for a whole lifetime, and I do take it very seriously. I suppose one would have to be fairly slaphappy to not have some feeling of fear.

Where have all the guys gone?

2005-07-20T10:34:00.000+12:00

Check out this.

Salient comments included:-

Education Ministry figures show there are just 355 male primary and intermediate school teachers in the Bay of Plenty compared with 1464 female - meaning males are outnumbered four to one.

and

Nationally, just 10 per cent of about 800 teacher training scholarships went to males last year.

These are terrible statistics, especially in a country which had 161,000 female single parent families in 2001.

I'll leave you with a couple of questions:-
Where are our young men going to learn what a man is supposed to be like?

Do these statistics have anything to do with our guys doing worse in school than girls?

What is going on?

2005-07-18T18:03:00.000+12:00

Is this New Zealand?

What is happening to our country? Why is a random van shooting at a stopped police car and motorist not front page news anymore?

2005-07-15T08:58:00.000+12:00

Ninjas and Fairies Night - The boys of 58b, and some other shadowy ninja.

2005-07-15T08:50:00.000+12:00

Dad and Sarah with Pinnacles in background

2005-07-15T08:49:00.000+12:00

Waitete Bay - Early sun on the bay which I stayed the night at.

2005-07-15T08:47:00.000+12:00

The Breakdown on Coromandel Roadtrip

Allan - You're a Legend

2005-07-15T08:31:00.000+12:00

My computer coughed and died last night.

However, with Allan's expertise, and a little program I had, we were able to fix it, and save the pretty maiden, I mean my data. And it only took until 1:30am or something. Anyway, thanks Allan - you're an awesome dude - always willing to help out when I'm in a fix, so cheers.

Comments on Government Control of Education

2005-07-12T18:52:00.000+12:00

I am real anti government control of education. Really. And their control of preschool education is terrible. Check this out.

Basically, a preschool is closing down, because the preschool teacher, does not have a Diploma of Teaching. Tammy Tangaroa, the preschool teacher who can no longer run the preschool centre, has had 23 year experience preschool teaching. She also has a childcare qualification.

In 2000, the Ministry ruled that by 2004 teachers in charge of early childhood centres must hold a Diploma of Teaching (ECE), regardless of any other qualifications or experience. - The NZ Herald

Well for goodness sake! Why on earth does the government make decisions like this? Last time I checked, it was not compulsory to send your children to preschool. So why does the government feel it has to legislate preschool activities and business to death! If parents are unhappy with the way a particular preschool works, they will vote with their feet....or children.

Furthermore on a practical side, we must get away from this ridiculous notion that to be able to do something, you need a qualification that says you can do it. Little pieces of paper have never rid our education system of plonkers. Why on earth should people who are going to teach preschoolers need a three year diploma anyway? We allow parents to look after and train their preschool kids without having qualifications. And from recent experience with ERO, it seems like the government doesn’t have education in mind for preschoolers. So why on earth is there so much legislation around preschools?

Answer: Governments will always attempt to gain control of more and more. We must be wary of new legislation – because invariably it will affect our freedom.

Fiddling

2005-07-12T11:34:00.000+12:00

I fiddled around with my template - particularly the sidebar last night. I think it looks good. Check out the difference by visiting this.

News In Brief

2005-07-09T14:56:00.000+12:00

Man and Woman?
It has been discovered that my guinea pig's names are rather inappropriate. To be exact Man's name is inappropriate, for Man is actually a woman. Oh dear. I shouldn't have just taken the pet shop guys word and checked for myself.

I had wondered why children were not forthcoming.

Welcome
A welcome goes out to some of my newish readers! Hi Paul, Rod and Cherry, Dad, and Sarah!

Boys Hike
A week or so back now, Peter Boyd, Ethan and myself took the young dudes, up Clevedon hill for a night hike. We had beautiful but salty fish and chips from the famous Clevedon takeaways shop. You know folks! The one that has the sign "Always open, till we close."

Anyhow, it was a good time of fellowship and relationship building with the boys of the church. Fitness levels however were somewhat distressing - perhaps due to a more sedentary lifestyle led by youngsters in the age of PS2, computers and dvds.

The Pinnacles
Last Friday and Saturday, I went with two of my favourite people to one of my favourite places. Dad Sarah and I took off to the Kauaeranga valley. We cruised up the Billy goat track in a good time, and I broke my coffee fast with nice espresso coffee made with the gas stove up at the hut.

We enjoyed a nice mince curry with pasta, and spent the evening on a crossword. Frustratingly we ground to a halt on it. However, sleep proved to be useful, because in the morning, Sarah had worked out another clue. We climbed the Pinnacles, which was great fun, although to my disappointment, they have roped off the place you used to stand on at the top, and built a gaudy platform. However, we had beautiful views and weather on the Saturday.

We took off down the Webb creek track, and had Curry/Steak and Mushroom pies as a reward at the Thames Bakehouse.

Leader's Dinner
Last night, our leadership team for C.I.A. had dinner and hung out playing a cool version of Cranium. In this version, you make up the answers to questions about yourself, and the others have to guess them. Hillarity ensues.

Tax on Tax!

2005-07-08T11:18:00.000+12:00

A further investigation on the petrol tax example from the other day reveals that our gst for petrol is taxed on the cost of the petrol, plus the other taxes. Bad.

We Are Overtaxed!

2005-07-06T08:00:00.000+12:00

Here is just another example.

AA recently broke down what we are paying in tax on our petrol. Here is an example on '91 at 132.9 cents/L.

* Crown account 18.71c.

* Land transport fund 22.49c.

* ACC levy 5.78c.

* Petroleum fuels monitoring levy 0.025c.

* Local authority petroleum tax 0.66.

* GST (based on 132.9c pump price) 14.76c.

That's a total of 62.43c tax per litre on our '91 petrol at the moment.

THIEVES!

Edit 8/7/5
Corrected typo in GST price.
Corrected total tax per litre.

Have a Laugh

2005-07-04T14:08:00.000+12:00

Peter Warner handed me these at our last pastoral meeting. Thought you might enjoy them, and since my last post deleted itself (don't ask; I don't know) I wasn't in the mood to be creative.

Thoughts For Those Who Take Life Too Seriously
1. Save the whales. Collect the whole set.

2. A day without sunshine is like, night.

3. On the other hand, you have different fingers.

4. I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe.

5. Honk if you love peace and quiet.

6. Remember, half the people you know are below average.

7. He who laughs last thinks slowest.

8. Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

9. I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol.

10. Support bacteria. They're the only culture some people have.

11. A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

12. If you think nobody cares, try missing a couple of payments.

13. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

14. When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

15. Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.

16. I used to have an open mind but my brains kept falling out.

Will We Make It?

2005-06-30T07:27:00.000+12:00

I'm so close to beating last months views - and perhaps making it to 1000 views for the month. Will it happen?

Stop Press! Uncle Scott is coming to visit.

2005-06-29T08:57:00.000+12:00

I will be visiting Tip Top tomorrow (30th) for a quick tour of the plant and to address and meet members of staff. Actually just for a birthday lunch.

Yikes. What will people wear/do/say

Coffee

2005-06-28T12:16:00.000+12:00

I am 6 days into my fast from coffee.

Eeek.

Our Great Leader

2005-06-27T09:24:00.000+12:00

Good old Helen has a blog - check it out!

It is very well done - at least you can comment on this one.

Edit 9:44
This post was particularly amusing.

New Blog Name

2005-06-26T23:16:00.000+12:00

Ok - We were having a competition that got slightly hijacked over the simple matter of anonymity and desks and chairs. But let us all forget about that and think about the new name for Scott's blog.

Hit me!

The Desk And Chair

2005-06-25T12:44:00.000+12:00

My boss found an interesting implication to the desk and chair dilema this morning.

If taking away a chair increases the cost by $50, and by re-adding it back into the package the cost is reduced from $350 to $300, does that imply that if I ask for another chair, the price will be reduced to $250, and if I ask for 6 chairs and the desk I will get it for free? What happens if I ask for 7 chairs and a desk - do they owe me $50?

Ridiculous.

Competition

2005-06-23T20:49:00.000+12:00

I'm trying to come up with a new name for my blog. Ideas are welcomed. The best idea will win.

Assasination of Common Sense

2005-06-23T20:32:00.000+12:00

Warehouse Stationary Manukau always provides me with fuel for a moan. They are fairly inept, incompetant, useless....you know what I mean. Customer service is almost non-existent. You end up waiting in lines for ages, and if you want help, prepare to go digging!

However, they do have good deals, so go I must when I need some more computer paper or cds and so on. Today I saw an amazing deal on a corner desk system, which included cupboards, drawers, cd rack, and heaps of storage space for computer periphery. Unlike many computer desks, this had a separate area for working without the computer. It also came with a chair. The total package cost was $300.

Now I already have a chair, so I asked one of the staff what it would cost without the chair. He came back to me after talking with his boss and said "It's better for you to buy it with the chair." I told him I did not want the chair, and asked how much it would be without the chair. Apparently if I decided to not take the chair, it would cost me $50 extra. I could not believe the stupidity of this. Do you mean to tell me that it's going to cost me more to have less? Do you mean to say it costs me $50 for a "not chair"! He could see my logic, but evidently his boss couldn't.

Is it any wonder then, that with people this thick in places of power, that we have huge problems in New Zealand? Does it not also explain why Labour is in government. You could only be stupid or self-absorbed to vote for them.

Unscheduled End To Road Trip

2005-06-23T14:46:00.000+12:00

My roadtrip ended prematurely on its second day. I travelled down and got to a place called Waitete Bay. I stayed the night in my car there. It was pretty awful weather, but cosy in the car. A beautiful spot nonetheless. I continued my travels rather uneventfully until between Fantail Bay and Port Jackson. I was on gravel roads from just after Colville, and just after Fantail Bay, a stone ruptured my fuel line. I noticed instantly, as I lost power. I pulled over to check what had happened, and looked under the car to see petrol pouring out of the fuel line.

Immediately I called the AA. I waited from this time (about 9:30am), and not one car passed me on either side of the road until after 11:30am. It was actually quite cool being so isolated. I made a coffee with my little gas burner, and walked around ate heaps, read a bit, and even listened to a bit of Leighton Smith. Thank goodness for AA plus membership, which got my car from there back to Manurewa for free, although they took their time getting to me!! Apparently it would have cost me in excess of $600 to do this.

The bonus of getting a ride back on the tow truck was that I could view the scenery as a passenger rather than a driver. So all in all, God provided a wonderful holiday for me! Not only that, but I saw how to put a car onto a truck with the winch and stuff. It was real cool!

And Scott Went Out Not Knowing Whither He was Going

2005-06-21T14:54:00.000+12:00

That's right. I have been given a few days off to catch my breath! It's been quite hard lately, so I'm glad to get a holiday. I am about to jump in my car and drive. I'll be back sometime on Friday.

Have a great week all.