An "I'm still alive" blog
Busy, busy, busy, busy, bing is, bing is. Busy, busy, busy, busy, bing is, bing is. Mmmm, rest, Mmmm, rest.

Whoa, 35 comments- that's insane!!!. And most of them were so good too. It's quite interesting that most people disagreed with the CUB, although for very different reasons. Issues ranging from personal experience to hard facts and back again. There's a lot of passion and, I think a real desire for the right thing to be done. Reuben, I admire your sense of justice and mad debating skills (it demands heaps of respect), even if I disagree with your opinion. J, you raise some interesting takes on one of the root problems of the whole matter- "what contributes marriage?". Sam, Gus and Ruth you all make good points too, but I do have to get to work ;). And thanks everybody else for commenting too. It was a very healthy debate

Probably the only point I'd like to rebutt in that whole tirade of arguments and coutner arguement is the idea that gay marriage's will be stronger than straight ones. Say gays get full marriage rights. Sure maybe for one generation the idea will be appreciated, but what then once it becomes norm? Anybody know the stats about women voting. I'd say that it would be the same percentage as men- and that really was a fight against the establishment. Get what I'm saying? So even though this isn't a reason at all to disallow CUs or same-sex marriages, I still think it is important to be real about this. As is often quoted "Gays are people too". Which is true for both the good and bad points of humanity. They're only attracted to people of the same-sex, not relational super-humans.

interesting thought in the critic this week from a Muslim (ex-pres of the muslim society and med student- very articulate guy) The west only passed laws supporting prostitution and tobacco (etc) not because they wanted them, but because they couldn't stop them.

Another interesting observation: People from mainland china often speak at volumes as though they're fighting, when they're just having a normal conversation. Hee, he he. It's so true :)

i'll catch you up with my week later.
Bing

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Sleep is the cleaner of the bodily temple

I was going to go to bed about an hour ago, but i got thinking in the shower. (as you do)

One thing was what Ruth asked me while she was here: What's your opinion on the Civil Union Bill. I guess I fudged an answer, and the more I think about it, I keep thinking up counter-arguements and oh nuts.

But here it is anyway.
I think the Civil union bill (CUB) is wrong because it damages families, something I seem to value more and more as I grow older. I see the bill as a stop-gap in society, for many reasons.

The first issue that seems to come up is "gay marriage". Now the CUB is not a "gay marriage" bill per se. It just gives gay people the same legal right as people who are straight. ('scuse the common terms). This seems fair enough, especially if what my beliefs say are good, eg, love, peace, family, security etc. Now these are good things. Fantastic even. I can't argue with that, in fact I would encourage those things. But you know what, my beliefs also say that it's an abomination in the sight of God to be gay. Now that's a very big call, and the sensible side of me says to go with the lesser of two evils, take what you can. But then, I think, just because it's the lesser evil it doesn't make it right. And i'd rather offend people doing what I believe what's right than try to win everybody. Well, for a start I'd annoy someone who needs to have conviction wouldn't I?

Don't get me wrong, I think harm-reduction is great at a societial level. I can't change other people by telling them what's right and not, nor do I want to. But at a personal level I can change things in my environment, even people I interact with. Because they also change me. So say as a doctor, I meet a (recreational) drug-taking patient. Now I can support harm-reduction programmes to limit their damage and encourage them to stop doing it, right? Often we don't have 'hard' evidence for or against drug use, but I believe it's wrong. Ditto homosexuality. i can't claim to personally know any gay people closely or anything and that may skew my beliefs. But i guess I can sympathise with being told that what you're living is a lie, responsible for many evils and that what you believe is crap.

The second issue seems to be less picked upon by Christians, but I reckon is a little more argueable. I acknowledge that the whole homosexuality issue is entirely belief based, and if it were a heterosexual couple there would be no problems, but celebration. However, what about de facto heterosexual couples? What's the deal with that? I see the status quo as, "I have a choice to get married and receive legal benefits or not get married and don't." But the CUB seems to be saying "I don't have to worry about marriage or not but I can still get legal rights about my relationship." There seems to be a lack of responsibility there...

Talking to Sam earlier tonight we discussed possible reasons for not getting married: problems with commitment, rebellion against culture, too much hassle (lack significance) seemed to be the main themes. Has individualism taken over our relationships too, "what can I get for me?" I think a lot of people have seen the pain of some, possibly many marriages forced by culture and have rejected that. But doesn't breaking up any really long-term relationship hurt? (i'm talking 3-4 years plus here). Didn't the introduction of divorce aid the process? No, because now we have the pain of divorce too. I'm not sure if anything changes during marriage, or whether we are lead astray by "fairy-tale romances", but I think marriage would be really hard, but rewarding. There's an ad on the radio which is saying that at the mo', its a reminder of reality, and occaisionally acts as a bell of doom.

What about commitment problems- will I be committed enough to declare it publicly to this person. Is marriage associated with settling down, another thing I guess which our generation is rejecting at the moment. Now, I enjoy toys (like computers, cars etc), and I can see that settling down would get in the way of that. Having to sacrifice for the other person, and having to try be one. And what about kids. They'd get in the way of a lot of "me" time. But, like leadership, you're only as good as your legacy, and if I don't have any legacy (natural or adopted), the what will I leave behind. Sometimes i look at all the old papers I read, and wonder what's behind each of the names of the authors- what's really significant in their lives? What have they left behind in this world?

When i die, (barring rapture of course) I'd love to be surrounded by family, quiet a lot of family. And knowing that I would have built into each of them, to have loved them, and showed them the way to heaven, by knowing the gate keeper, Jesus. If I wasn't surrounded, I 'd still like the second bit. I'd hate to know that I'd failed to do that with someone dear to me because I was too busy "playing" with my 'toys' or building useless legacies. (He says determined to finish broodwar). I know that it will be a lot of hard work, and that it will require real sacrifice- I'm not sure how I'm going to enjoy Saturday morning sport for the nth time for instance, or getting my kids ready for school- if they're anything like me, they'll be shockingly normal.

So I guess, ultimately i disagree with the CUB because it's selfishly driven. I believe that it's about going away from God's way, which is sin. I do acknowledge that there's a lot of problems with God's system, mainly because it has human operators, and it has caused heaps of pain. But look at it's successes. The next time you see an elderly couple, married together for ages. I reckon that's so cool to see two people committed to each other for ages, through thick and thin. Will i stay that committed to God, let alone my wife? My grandparents have been married for 50 years, and they argue like crazy. But they are so committed to each other, they live with it. and I rec kon they wouldn't have it any other way.

So that's pretty much my opinion on the CUB. It probably doesn't count for much, but there you are.

Owe, and the sleep being the cleaner thing. I'm learning a lot about the importance of sleep recently. (well, learning actually implies application...). Pastor Mike talked about the importance of the cleaners in the church at School of Leaders on Sunday. I saw it again in a leadership magazine I got at Schering-plough and I thought was cool. God asked me what are you're cleaners- your essentials to make your body run at optimal speed. I eat well, get some exercise most days (hill walking!!), am starting to do regular quiet times, and trying to cut down inactivity. I don't smoke or drink, and my biggest poison is caffeine. Yet I don't sleep enough. Which is stupid, so I better go.

Thanks for reading

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Yay, another badger
bananaphone =)

Oh it's also my mother's birthday- and she's hosting two Japanese students at our place. What a star! At least she got a massage today :)

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One down... many to go

Whoop. My school of leaders assignment is finished. It's 8 pages, 3600ish words, very briefly proof-read and yeah, not my best, not my worst. But there's still the post-assignment mess in my room. I actually can't move my cahir because i keep running over bits of paper.

So why start with this? Well, i guess it's something that God talked to me about last night. This assignment has "gotten in the way" of a lot of stuff. Like comm-pact, self stuff, my room getting clean, etc, etc. Basically it's been another thing on my back. It's made me grumpy, made me tired, made me hate it. Well, ok, I chose to hate it at one point. But my "bloody" assignment has also been of much benefit to me and a great gift from God. How many people get the quality of training that I get for nothing? And yet I whinge and I moan, and I complain because it costs too much. And I know a lot of people who've done the same.

Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:26)

Opps. Big Opps. bugger.

Yes I can complain about being overloaded, stressed out and over-worked. How I don't have enough 'me and God-time', and all sorts of other things.
But I want to be fit for service in the kingdom of God. I want to do extraordinary things and see phenomenal things happen. I want to change the world, even if I only change the world of those around me. I want to be true to my friends, and my colleagues. To be true to my values, and true to my God. If I ever have a "Its a wonderful life" moment" and feel like I'm not making a difference I'd love to see a completely different world. And I want to be one of many, so that only God gets credit.

And those are HUGE dreams and so, if I'm going to harp on about a "bloody" assignment, then i better seriously look at where I want to go.
Just to confirm that, i had a bit of a yarn today with Dave P while food shopping. He just said the exact same thing. If you are going to be true to biblical principle- faithful with little, faithful with lots- then we better be careful how we react to situations. This was after Bing successfully lost the shopping list and had to get it redone =(.

I guess that's one thing that God taught me at Convergence. Just doing his will. In fact, Convergence in general wasn't a big revelatory time, but a "keep going" time. a reminder to get back to basic principles of loving God and others, serving, and being faithful. That I was on the right path, and to be encouraged. I guess I'm starting to believe that Comm-pact is going to work, that the Church is God's only hope for the world. And that both scares me and excites me. He also taught me to stop worrying about the speaker praying for me and just to pray to him. That it doesn't really matter who's praying for me, because it all comes down to Him anyway, and who would you rather seek, the speaker, or God himself? So I spent most of Don Lake's prophesy session in prayer for him, which was a huge honour, and a very big lesson from the G. One of the sucky aspects was some of the times that I felt quiet down, and how I dealt with that as previously written. And also I guess the lack of real connection with people at times. To counter that, I did have some awesome conversations, and did enjoy just hanging with people. Seeing Ros again was cool, and walking round town with Phil until 1:30 was pretty random. I'm not so excited about Wellington next year, probably because I didn't meet too many Wellingtonians, and I'm loving down here, but I know that God has something awesome instore if I'm willing to let him.
I better get to bed.

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So Sam was right...
Bah, School of Leaders assignment, i say bah. Took me an hour and a half to write the first part of the first section- and Daniel and I planned out our answers last week. Arggh! Well that and experiments didn't go so well today. At least prayer was ok.

So I'm sorry I won't blog tonight. Especially about Convergence. And Ruth comes tomorrow, so I better clear my washing from the "spare room"

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Newsreel

This is like one of those old newsreels, you know, received 6 weeks after the event. Never mind, I still want to record this for posterity, and I'km doing it on my new ibook, It's so cool to watch "the apprentice" and type out stuff I wrote two weeks ago... and hopefully to the present. It also lets me listen to Sam play some Radiohead, and calibrate my battery.

The Drive
Over the weekend of June 28, I had the extreme pleasure of driving Becs, Dave and Jane (in no particular order) up the South Island - it was such a cool trip.
We left about noonish, thankfully, because I had starcrafted till 4 am the previous night. I did win a lot of levels, , but it was so DUMB.

Oh well, with lots of V, Coke, and a kg of liquorice helped as we travelled to Penny's. Needed to tag out at Rakaia, because I was seeing corners where there weren't any. Thankfully I got some sleep, and Dave navigated us to the Roper's. They were so cool.- cards were a lot more fun than the Rugby.

On Sunday we went to church at the cathedral, well after driving off with Dave's pillow on the roof and having to return to the Roper's to get it. It was really different from Elim, but still very cool. The sermon was about moving forward is the hardest option, based on Simon Pounceby- the olympic boxer with the manslaughter conviction for killing his 5 month old daughter. About forgiveness and moving forward with God's call. We also sang some cool hymns and took communion. It was interesting to see how it was done elsewhere. Also wondered about the design of the Cathedral, with the "holy bit" that's at the back with the priest in it. I think it's called the altar? It seems like the "holy of holies" in the temple of Jersusalem? Perhaps acting as a barrier to God on a subliminal? Dunno. I guess I always wonder why people say "God is so far from me." I guess i can kinda see why sometimes. But you know, I enjoyed it, and I still met God there, so its only an observation.

(Train nap interlude)

Then after some of Becs' fantastic navigating out of Christchurch (which takes ages!), and some not so fantastic navigating by yours truly in Kaiapoi, we got lunch and headed north. Then was car church, which was very cool. Err, sorry Jane for taking over the discussion, but it was pretty good none the less- we did have to stop the prayer session to get petrol in Cheviot, but that's ok.

After Kaikoura wen realised that it was going to be tight to get to the ferry, Real tight in fact. Ok, Becs, Dave and Jane were like sweet, but man I was sweeting. We made the 4:30 check in at 4:27, then I sprinted to make the final boarding call, as I had to drop the car. I had to turn down the lady who needed a jumpstart because of the ferry, which I felt a bit bad about- but I think i made the right choice.

Collapsed on the ferry- still talked to Maria and her family, and saw Bjorn.

Slept poorly on Sunday noght in my own warm bed. i think too much caffeine. Dropped Dave off at the end of Upper hutt, went around the block and he was gone- man that guy is good.

Went to the Dentist later that day. At first she said i had great teeth. After some Xrays and some laser diagnostic thingy, I have 6 caries- 2 of which she gave me some ozone treatment for- apparently bacteriostatic and virostatic properties. These caries were apparently due to coffee, and coke consumption without seeing a dentist. $220 for 2 bits of treatment. I also have 4 fillings to look forward to down here. Mum and Dad were real good about it andare happy to paying for it through but my pride (and the value of my teeth) are a little dented.

Had lunch with my good friend Kerryn on Tuesday. She's ayear younger than me, but graduated last year, with a computing degree of some sort. she's now working for Marine Safety Authority, and seems to really enjoy it. Well I would too, if my work flew me around the country, and let me supervise the project for the course that she did last year. I also saw Bel in the same cafe.

I also got to the opportunity to see my friend Liz and her new boyfriend Liz. My friend Angela was also there. It was good fun to see them again.

Family stuff: It was nice to see my family again. I enjoyed being around them, and doing family stuff, like going shopping, sharing, eating, and just catching up. It was a priveledge to go to Greg's hockey game, and watch him play. Damn, he's a better player than I'll ever be. And it was also cool to go see harry potter with Mum and Drew. Dad was at work for most of it, but it was good to see him too.

and now I'm on the train to Convergence- i wonder what that will bring...

And what did it bring?

Convergence was not what I expected. In fact, I'm not sure what i expected, but you know how sometimes you are pleasantly surprised? this wasn't one of those times. It wasn't bad by any means, but I guess the best times that I had weren't necessarily with others doing convergencey stuff. Like wnadering around Welly by myself, because none of my group wanted to do the group activity (which kinda annoyed me, and i should have said something, but i didn't- I'm over it now though) I ended up having the most random adventure. I meet this kinda academic dude who's some sort of pre-historian, and he was telling me all about this book that predates the bible- called the books of wonder, the books of renown. It seems to be somewhat related to the Nephilim in Gen 6:4, and some sort of sumarian, sans script, inca, polynesian, chinese link. (random huh) apparently there's some kind of ancient civilisation that knew about Wellington, and it has some ancient history. He also talked about ancient masters of knowledge- apparently one was the "serpent" in Genesis. He finished with a bit of a lecture about Christianity and how it is some trunk of knowledge from God with branches going off to Buddhism and Yoga. I'm not sure how much to believe, but he seemed to know what he was talking about. His name was Ed O'Sullivan- It was an experience to say the least. i'm looking forward to his book.

I then got to spend some time in a greek fish and chip shop. It was very stereotypical greek guys, they were really cool. and they kept paying out the customers (jokingly) and hassling the chinease fish assistant.

Ok, I'm bored of this now, and perhaps so are you. So i'll probably do a more convergence in depth blog tomorrow.

I also need to say that Comm-pact was launched very well today i thought.

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Freudian slip?

I somehow ended up at www.unbeliever.org due to IE's fascinating ability to google search any words that I highlight- and I came across this statement on the subject of inter-faith marriages:
"ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT MARYING AN UNBELIEVER?" (Note 1 R)

I know it's a spelling mistake, but it does raise an interesting question, and a with a tired mind I'm just laughing at it. Now, don't get me wrong, but didn't Mary have a child out of wedlock? Is that the what the writer's following diatribe is all about?
I'm sorry, I'll try be sensitive to somebody's deeply thought out passion about the evils of religion. Like Hitler was a christian, therefore all Christians are bad. (like how some christians have thought that the Jews were bad because some of them crucified Christ).

However, most non-Christians I know are pretty good peeps- many I would even call my friends. It's a shame that there's always a few who spoil it for the majority on both sides.

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An Upper Hutt Blog, 2nd edition

This was written last Wednesday on the Train, about the previous week. I really do like it, and it wiped itself on Monday before Spiderman.
It's in easy to read compartments so you can skim if you wish.


Thurs 22 Jun

Stealing Moments
Jesse (our old worship leader)once talked about stealing moments- the idea of just taking a minute tio talk to someone in your "acquaintance" group of relationships to build and grow those relationships. This just shows that they're important to you, even if your relationship with them isn't running at priority 1. I was reading over this sermon the other day and thought about how cool it was. Today I got taught a lesson on how it was done. I bumped into Pastor Mike and "stole a moment". It was amazing how just with a couple of questions an interest was taken in my life, and even though it is a technique, it doesn't work unless it's genuine. You feel really good afterwards. I really want to work on this more, becausei know that I can be a bit "snobbish" on occasion, cause I don't want to talk or what ever, which I guess isn't very good when there are heaps of relationships in my life and also being a leader. I don't have to be perenially happy, but do have to try share in people's lives.

Friday 23

Little Things
It's funny how little things can make your day:
i)This random chick just genuinely wishes me a "good morning" with a big smile. I felt amazing afterwards. There is such power in a smile, I must do it when I'm feeling good. Or do I choose to do it no matter how I feel? Don't want to be false about it, but do want to spread it you know.
ii)Dog in driver's seat, looking like they're the man. :)

Better get to work. More later

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An Upper Hutt Blog

Their is a lot of random stuff here, so while I listen to Crowded House,I'll arrange it all into easy to read snippets so you can browse at your leisure

Thursday

Stealing Moments
Jesse, (our old worship leader, and now Youth Pastor at Hamilton ELim)talked about 'stealing moments' one time at church. The idea of showing someone they're important to you by stopping and chatting with them for five minutes or so, even if you're busy. This is mainly for people who go in the "acquaintance" box. I was reading over my sermon/journal book the other night, and was quietly reminded of this, and thought about how cool it was. Thing is, I bumped into Pastor Mike today outside New World, and we 'stole a moment'. I mean seriously, it was really cool to see how it was done, and i should try and do it more often to people who I know. You just feel, well really good that someone who you respect took sometime to be interested in your life. Even if you do know they are making a special effort to do it any way. Just goes to show you how little things can really make your day.

Friday

Speaking of little things...
i)This random chick just gave me this big smile this morning, and genuinely wished me a good morning. I must remember to (genuinely)try smile to people more often. Wow, it's so, uplifting

ii)There was this boxer dog sitting in a car outside work. It was sitting in the driver's seat lokking like" Yeah, I know what I'm about", or as the Emperor from "the Emperor's new groove" put it,"gettin' down with my bad self. Ah ha, ah ha."

Lorryn
It was my friend Lorryn's last day today at work. She's leaving her job in um, less than pleasant employment circumstances which I won't go into, but it does make me sad. I fully respect her cause she's such a fighter- Hubby left her when she was 6 months pregnant, and so now she's the mum of a busy six-year old. she sounds like she's still giving him every opportunity that I had, and all the boundaries. She also managed to hold down a full-time job and a bit of a social life. She isn't a Christian, but is a really neat person who I will really miss.

Sports news
"Team Asia" (Dan and Myself)beat "The Rest" (Dave and Becs)at Trival Pursuit in a tough-fought encounter. Oh yeah!

Well that takes me up to last Friday- I haven't even commented on the drive yet, nor convergence. But hey, I thought I'd share :)

off to see Spidey now, so better cruise.

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Convergence
I've just driven the equivalent of a full working day, and half an island. My head is spinning, cause I'm no longer moving.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

There is a weeks worth of blogging (partly written, but that can wait until tomorrow because I'm buggered

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