Nathan’s voice on this crazy thing we call internet

Rugby world cup Car flags

2011-09-08T16:26:00.009+12:00

It anyone has been out and about recently, they will have noticed that many people are sporting their national flags on their cars, vans , trucks etc for the rugby truck. I'm going to see if I can spy all twenty World cup nations flags before the cup is over. So far I have seen

1. New Zealand

2. Samoa

3. Tonga

4. Fiji

5. England

6. Scotland

7. Ireland

8. South Africa

9. Japan

10. USA

11. Romania

12. Argentina

13. France

14. Namibia

15. Wales

16. Italy

17. Australia

18. Canada

19. Russia

20.

Georgia, you let me down!!! Sigh.......

Top five Puddleglum quotes to learn for the Ball.

2011-08-20T00:50:00.000+12:00

Top five Puddleglum quotes to learn for the Ball.

1. 1. “Puddleglum is my name. But it doesn’t matter if you forget it. I can always tell you again.” (useful if asked who I am.)

2. 2. “Marsh-wiggle. Marsh-wiggle. Very respectable Marsh-wiggle. Respectowiggle.” (useful if people ask what I am)

3. 3. “Life isn’t all fricasseed frogs and eel pie.” (possible useful, if asked how I am)

4. 4. “I’m on Aslans side, even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live like a Narnian, even if there isn’t any Narnia.” ( Puddleglum as his best.)

5. 5. “Well, I wouldn’t have dreamt of her doing that. Even though I am a good –looking chap.” (can’t see this one being useful much….)

Narnia Ball: Costume Ideas

2011-07-29T11:18:00.001+12:00

People are complaining that the theme of this year’s ball is too limited. Personally, I think that that is the most ridiculous claim ever. I’m not just saying this because I happen to be a big fan of Narnia, but because there is in face a lot that you could so with the theme. You can legitimately go dress in in two decades dress (1900s and 1940s) as pretty much any animal or any mythical creature, or in medieval style. Failing that, girls could probably get way wearing a ball dress, adding a crown, and they are Susan or Lucy at their coronation. But if that’s not enough to go on, I’ve made a list.

Guys

Peter or Edmund: 1940s style, or as Kings

A Faun, such as Mr Tummus

Mr Beaver

Aslan

A Dwarf: Trumpkin, Nikabrik, The white witches dwarf, Poggin

The Professor ( Digory)

Father Christmas

Trufflehunter the badger

Repacheep the mouse

A Bear

A Centaur

A Giant

Digory ( 1900’s style)

Eustace

Prince/ King Caspian

King Miraz

A Telmarine Lord or Solider

Price Rilian

King Tirian

Shasta/ Price Cor

A Calormen Or Archenlander

A Narnia Lord or solider

Puddleglum the Marsh-wiggle

A Sailor on-board the Dawn Tredder

Shift the Evil talking Ape

Jewel the Unicorn

Uncle Andrew

A Satyer

A Minatour

A wolf or werewolf

King Frank

Glimfether the owl

An underlander

A dufflepud

Girls

Lucy or Susan: as Queens or 1940s style

Polly (1900s style)

Jill Pole

Queen Helen

The White Which (or as Queen Jadis or Charn)

Mrs Beaver

The Lady of the Green Kirtle

A Nymph, Nyard or Dryad

A Narnian, Archenland, Telmarine or Calormen lady

Sarah the maid (who really was have a wonderful day) , Digaorys mother or Aunt Letty ( 1900’s style)

Ginger the Cat

A giantess

An owl

Queen Prunaprismia

Caspian’s nurse

Ramandu’s Daughter

Aravis

Tarkheena Lasaraleen

A hag or something else from the White Witch’s army

A bear, surreal, cat, leopard, panther, dog, mouse, rabbit, hare, hedgehog, fox, owl, horse, badger

That should be enough to get you started. And if you are not share what some of them are or look like, try Google. Better still read the books or watch the movies.

Harry Potter 7.2 Review

2011-07-14T04:11:00.002+12:00

Firstly *** SPOILER ALERT ***

I went to a midnight screening of the last Harry Potter movie tonight. Overall, I though that it was a great climax to the series overall. It would be best to watch is as soon as possible after watch the first part.

But there were part, particularly towards the end, which I though were weak. The aftermath, I was left disappointed with that. There was not really any emotion, ether the joy or morning, both of which were there in the book. There seemed little emotional response to the fact the the greatest dark wizard of all time had just been defeated. And it really was not clear which peace of magic finished Vodermort off. In the book, its his rebounding avada kedavra, but it the movie, its almost as if losing the wand destroys him. I also would have like the event have have had more witnesses. While it looked like Ron, Hermione and Neville did, no one else did. I also didn't like that Harry never fixes his own wand before breaking the elder wand, and that Neville is never told to destroy the snake, but just happens to do so. It was very much focused on Harry, Ron and Hermione. Personally, I would have liked to have seen more of some of the other characters.

Overall however, it was great. It was fast passed and exiting, fulled with humor as well as sadness, and involved some great magical warfare.

Ok, that will do for tonight. I might edit or do a new one tomorrow. Night world.

Loving

2010-09-13T22:07:00.004+12:00

Often when we talk about loving our enemies, you hear the “but doesn’t that make as doormats?” objection. But I’ve been thinking about the words of 1 Peter 3:9: “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called, so that you may inherit a blessing”. Now, whatever “blessing” someone means, it must be an action. It must be something you do to demonstrate love for that person. It is not being a passive doormat, not ignoring the fact that they have done something wrong. Our response to evil is to do something good. It is easy to respond to wrong by doing something wrong back, or ignoring it, or telling them why it's wrong. But to respond by loving, but doing good, that’s hard work. But that’s what the gospel calls us to do.

And it’s not just Pater who calls us to do this, Jesus says to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44) Last time i checked, prayer was something that we do, with the help of God. and Paul says “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). Loving someone is not ignoring them, it’s about engaging them. It’s about going that extra step to demonstrate to them what gospel love is. Unconditional. In the fact of evil. Hard, yes. But who said love was easy?

This is not about how we are saved. We are saved by grace, despite the fact that we do wrong. But by responding to evil with grace and love, we are demonstrating the gospel itself, in a deep and profound way. It's what God dose for us, so how can we not do it for others?

Pondering

2010-08-25T17:29:00.003+12:00

Things I am, or have been pondering lately.

What is post modernity? or modernity for that matter? is it overrated? Underrated? Real?

What does Luke 16:1-12 mean? and Luke 20: 27-39?

Why does it stop raining when you buy an umbrella?

How contextualised our understanding of the gospel is.

How I am probably more post modern than I want to admit.

Why is it that the best “worship sets” all seem to have one really bad song in them?

While Im there, why do we sing crap songs in church as all? Doesn’t God deserve better? Or is he happy whatever we sing? (Him using the weak to shame the strong and all that.) Does it matter if we get frustrated with bad song in church? Does that make me a bad worshiper? A bad Christian? or are my frustrations my worship to God, if they are born out of a desire to see God bet the best we can give him?

Can labour win the next election with Phil Goff as leader? Seems very unlikely at the moment.

Why did God, if he is good and loving, order the killing of all the Canaanites? All of them.Ok, that one is for an essay......

Why haven’t I blogged for a while?

How the latest star trek film has postmodern, Christological and Platonic themes all in one movie.

Why has the CD just stopped working?

Will the Tomorrow when the War Began movie be anywhere near as good as the books?

Why do bad things happen in groups?

How hard it is to be authentic community in a highly individualistic world.

what’s for dinner tonight?

Hi

2010-07-15T13:47:00.003+12:00

I haven't blogged for a while. I don't know why. Maybe i just don't have the time. I don't think so though. I just don't seem to get here much. Hopefully, I can do so more this semester.

Blog

2009-12-02T17:41:00.001+13:00

I haven't blogged for a while. What should I blog about?

Top 30 Laidlaw Quotes of the Year

2009-11-24T15:03:00.001+13:00

Thought out the year, I have been collecting quotes of funny or stupid thing which people have said. There has been a lot of demand for the list to be published. Here are the Top 30 quotes. Enjoy.

30. Emma: The Wellington Phoenix: Are they rugby or cricket?

29. Tom: To get a bus from here to town I had to walk to Hamilton

28. Steven: if you can kiss a live pig, you can kiss me.

27. Brie: Nathan is a crusty old man trapped in a young person’s body......

26. Rebecca: It’s hard to be a benefit in New Zealand, unless you go through WINZ.

25. Morgan: We will not prevail!!!!

24. Ben: I trust in the powers of Hollywood.

23. Laura King: He might be an excelian, of he might be an intelligent person.

22. Jess: Emma loves wetting her pants.

21. Ben: The whole crowed both go wild!!

20. Brie: You should have a joint.

19. Laura: Could you live in Auckland? Nathan: I do live in Auckland.......

18. Lara: I don’t believe in time.

17. Elizabeth: I’ll go on a witch hunt. It’s what Christians do.

16. Sarah: It’s fundraising for Hebron Christian School. Aaron: What’s that, a cult?

15. Nathan: What’s up with you Hebron girls? You’re all so motherly.

14. Christine: I hate salvation.

13. Rob: This is Bible College: we don’t have sympathy.

12. Lara: Do you think that these cars looks like ostrich toe nails?

11. Peter: We don’t kiss the opposite sex at Laidlaw.

10. Sebastian: Three easy steps to destroy a church. Number One: Say that worship is more than just music....

9. Lara: Doctors and nurses and other people who don’t know anything.

8. Christine: I’m allowed to be pathetic, I’m a girl.

7. Christine: Welcome to Female!! We don’t do logic.

6. Nathan: (to Elizabeth) I’m probably more of a feminist than you.

5. Laura King: Nathan is like a Ken type where as Peter is like a Barbie that you’ve turned into a man.

4. Jody: There is nothing about lying in The Bible.

3. Sarah: But there are no people in my bed.

2. Angus: How do you get to Liquor Dick?

1: Elizabeth: Boys are better than girls.

I know what I'm doing my Masters thesis on!!!

2009-10-24T14:31:00.003+13:00

You know that your a Laidlaw theology student when....

2009-09-09T16:18:00.004+12:00

40 signs that you study ( of used to study) theology at laidlaw College

1. You wake up at 4am with a sermon idea, and then lie in bed preaching to yourself for two hours.
2. Before your six kids go to sleep, you read them a bedtime meta-narrative.
3. You go to movies, and see the Christological themes, even if they are not there.
4. You are living with the kingdom is now, but not yet tension.
5. Tom Hank reminds you of Rod Thompson.
6. Turn your eyes upon Jesus reminds you if Rod Thompson
7. You used to have an open mind, now you’re a cyanic
8. You relate everything back to the big story
9. You have no secrets.
10. You put everything into context
11. You have a picture of Mark Strom on your wall
12. You have a picture of Angus on your wall
13. You spend most of your time writing essay, watching DVD’s or on Facebook.
14. You dislike Hillsong.
15. You recognise Angus’ butt.
16. Every word you use end in ism or ology
17. You speak Greek or Hebrew better than English
18. You came here to find a spouse. ( Laidlaw: Love And Interment Dating Leads to A Wedding)
19. You wish Bill Osborne was your grandfather
20. You sleep three hours per night, and have dreams with biblical allegories’.
21. You got rid of your old clichés, and now you have new ones.
22. Mark Keown is your favourite lecturer.
23. Your favourite book of the Bible is Song of Songs.
24. Your favourite TV channels are Aljazeera and C4
25. You call procrastination enjoying creation.
26. You are look forward to creation being renewed.
27. You are constantly depressed, but you call it groaning with creation.
28. Your favourite preacher is someone who died many years ago.
29. Your greatest aspiration is to be a martyr.
30. You think that eschatology is the new black
31. You learn how to start arguments about things nobody knows about.
32. You think incest is natural, as you can marry your brothers and sisters in Christ.
33. Changing the world is about justice, mercy and social transformation.
34. On Facebook, you are a member of the Mark Strom Appreciation Society, the Rod Thompson Appreciation Society, Keown's Fanclub, as well as the I Appreciate Christian Pick-Up Lines groups.
35. You have read Olson, Erickson and Grudem.
36. You read the Bible literarily.
37. You realise that many people have an over realised eschatology.
38. You see the underlining worldview assumptions in TV ad’s.
39. You know that you will find it all on moodle.
40. You are growing a faith which is both courageous and intelligent.

Thanks to those who helped me come up with the: especially Peter, Laura and Rebecca.

Quotes....

2009-08-25T09:04:00.006+12:00

I have added all my TSCF quotes (or most of them) to http://thequotebook.net/

I have Laidlaw ones too, which I might add at some point....

Rugby should be an olympic sport!!!

2009-08-06T14:47:00.000+12:00

If you agree, sign the petition here:

http://www.olympic-rugby.org/

Parachute 2010

2009-07-20T08:43:00.011+12:00

Bands confirmed so far:

Falling Up
Newworldson
Family Force 5
Leeland
Hillsong United
Underoath
Switchfoot

That is the final line up.
Bands rumored to be coming, which it seems, are not

AS I LAY DYING
Manafest

The speakers are: Mike Pilavachi (UK), Paul de Jong (NZ) and Matt Fielder (Aus)

Why Theology is the most important subject.

2009-07-19T17:01:00.004+12:00

So, this what various fields of studies really are, in order for lest important to most important.

Commerce\ economics: The study of how to misuse the resources of the world God gave us to satisfy individual human wants, rather than the needs of humanity as a whole.
Science and Mathematics: the study of the world which God created.
Humanities: the study of the creatures which God made in his image to rule of the the world he created.
Theology: the study of God.

So there you go: Theology wins. Although given we live in a post modern world, what is truth anyway......

Turns out that “The Church” is a building after all....

2009-05-15T16:52:00.001+12:00

Ok, so before you label me a heretic, hear me out. So I’ve been read 2 Samuel, where David wants to build the temple for God. But God says; throw the prophet Nathan in Chapter seven:

“‘The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: 12 when your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me]; your throne will be established forever.' "
In other words, David wants to build God a house, but God said “no, I will build you a house,” Which I thought was pretty awesome. We can to God with the things we want, trying to “do good” yet God turns it around and makes it something even better!!
And today, I was read Ephesians and 1 Peter, and here are few verses for them:

19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2: 19-22)

4As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For in Scripture it says:
"See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame."[A] 7Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
"The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone, 8and,
"A stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall."[d] They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. (1 Peter 2: 4-8)

Now, traditional the promise to David has been thought to have bean fulfilled partly by Solomon, but also more fully by Jesus. Yet these passages from the New Testament are using the analogy of the temple for the church. So in that scene it could be said that the church is in fact a building, albeit a spiritual one.
Now, I might be reading too much into it, but I’m wondering if, in light of these New Testament verses we can also say that The Church is also partly fulfilment of the promise, as is part of “David’s House.” Paul said that we are children of Abraham though Christ, so maybe we are the house of David though Christ? The New Testament never makes the link, so maybe it’s pushing it a bit to say that, but maybe Paul and peter had the promise in the back of their minds when they wrote their letters.
But in any case, we are Loving Stones of the temple of God. How often do we say to God “I want to build your kingdom” when God is saying to us “I want to build you into my kingdom”? Another versus from Ephesians 3: 8-9:
Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.
Paul calls his “work” his “grace”!!!! How awesome is that. We are saved by grace, and we should see our “work” for the God as grace, not work. The gospel is all about the riches of God’s grace. I love it. It’s amazing. And I love learning about it.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19)

New Names for our Islands?

2009-04-23T17:25:00.012+12:00

There has been a bit of controversy in the last few days about the names of the North and South islands. Apparently they are not official. So they want to change them. This is fair enough, because they are boring.
But here the thing. They want to use the original Maori names. Which is also fair enough in once sense, since they were the first people to arrive. But here’s the thing. Almost all of our place names reflect New Zealand’s past. Which I’m all for celebrating and remembering. I did a degree in history.
But would it be cool to pick some names which celebrate New Zealand as it is today? Wouldn’t it be great to make a statement about who we are today?
Just a though. Any ideas?

Bill and Ben Island?
Fush and Chups islands?
Middle Earth and Narnia Islands?
bret and jemaine Islands?
Union and League Islands?
Phoenix and Warriors Islands?
Black Singlet and Janell Islands?
Jaffa and Pineapple lump Islands?
Kiwi and Tui Islands?
L&p and Pavlova Islands?
Scrum and Line Out Islands
Footrat flats and Fred Dagg Islands
She'd be right and Yeah, right Islands!!!!! ( or maybe Good on ya, mate for the Island!!!)
Gumboots Island and swandri Island
Wild Pork and Watercress Islands
Hokey Pokey Ice cream and Chocolate Fish Islands!!
Sand fly and mozzie Islands!!
mcgillicuddy serious and the National Party Islands
Batting and Bowling Island
The slice of Heaven Above and We don't Know How Lucky we Are Islands
What Now and Country Calendar Islands
No.8 fencing wire and barbed wire Islands
Split Ends and Crowded House Islands (maybe we could even get away with Mumsdollar and the lads Islands ;))
Meads Island and Umanga Island
Rogernomics and Ruthanasia Islands
Hillary and Rutherford Islands
Or we could one Waikikamukau Island, so It will be a real place!!!
:)

Isaiah and Jonah: A tale of two Prophets.

2009-04-21T13:59:00.002+12:00

I was stuck today by the great contrast between two of the Old Testament prophets” Isaiah and Jonah.
Isaiah Sore a vision of God, And when God asked “"Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" Isaiah said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah Wanted to go and do God’s will, to speak Gods word, spread Gods messages. Yet God told him to say,

"Go and tell this people:
" 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed."

When asked for how long, God said

Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,

until the LORD has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken. (Isaiah 6)

I don’t know about you, but I think that I would find that a pretty sucky kind of commission: Go preach my words, but no one is going to repent.”

Yet in contrast to this, when God told Jonah “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you," Jonah Runs away. He didn’t want to speak Gods message. Yet when He did finally, the whole city repented and turned to God. And then guess what Jonah does. He goes off and sulks. I mean came on. Nineveh is one of the most powerful cities in the world at this time. Think New York or shanghai or London, the whole city, turning to God, after one guy goes and preaches there. That’s the kind of responses we dream about!! Yet Jonah goes and has a wee cry in the desert.

What’s going on here? Why is the guy who is saying “send me God!!” getting told, “go preach it brother, but no one’s going to lessen” yet the guy who doesn’t even want to go, and tries to run away, get possibly the greats response in human history?

I think this is a timely reminder that when it comes to God’s mission that is the key thing: it’s God’s mission, not ours. Successes comes down to Gods work, not the state of our own heart or own efforts. We are called to be faithful in preaching the message is a way in which the people will be able to understand it, in our prayer life, in our love for God, other believers and nonbelievers. But doing all these things “right” is no grantee that we will see the results we desire. That’s Gods bit.
That said, we still have some questions to ask ourselves.

Are we willing to go to the Nineveh’s of our word? Are we willing to go to the places we are told are too dangerous for us, or where we are told the people “too evil” to even bother with? To go to the poorest, the most violent? To the prostitutes, to the gangs, to the drug dealers, to the terrorists?

Are we willing to be Isaiah’s in this word? To preach the gospel to anyone, even God tells us that they won’t respond, but that he wants us to them anyway? And to stay where god has called us, even if we are not seeing the fruit that we want?

I believe that we need both today: we need to be willing to go anywhere God call's us: even to the Nineveh's of the world. And we need to be will to go, even if we don't see any fruit.

the beatitude: remixed

2009-04-19T12:58:00.001+12:00

I was thinking what the beatitudes would look like if someone came up with them based on how the church looks today. Or at lets what came’s across from some parts of the church in the west today .

Blessed are the spiritual,
for their spiritual experiences bring then close to God.
Blessed are those who are happy,
for they will live a fulfilled life.
Blessed are those who help themselves,
for the world is their oyster.
Blessed are those who know that they are righteousness,
for they know that they are going to heaven.
Blessed are the tough on crime,
for obviously they have never done anything wrong before.
Blessed are those who know Jesus in their heart,
for the heart is good, but the mind is corrupt.
Blessed are those who are anti abortion, pro“family values” and pro smacking,
for these are the issues that God is clearly most interested in.
Blessed are those who are not persecuted,
for if God was blessing them, why would they be persecuted?

Or if we twist it around the other way:

Down with are the poor in spirit,
for it’s their own fault that they are poor.
Down with are those who mourn,
for they should get over it and harden up.
Down with the meek,
for its people who have it all together we need in this world today.
Down with those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for if they just gave 10% of their income to the church, they would be fine.
Down with the merciful,
for people need to repent before they can be shown mercy.
Down with the pure in heart,
for they must be self-righteous.
Down with the peacemakers,
for they are totally unrealistic.
Down with those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for they haven’t tolerated other peoples beliefs.

Let’s remind ourselves of what Jesus actually said (Matthew 5: 4-10):

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Anyone see the contrast?

I Want one!!!!!!!

2009-03-18T16:51:00.006+13:00

Its a tank, with a Church on it. AWESOME!!!! Imagine parking one on the Laidlaw car park......

"As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God"

2009-03-18T16:46:00.003+13:00

This is a fascinating article, I recommend you read it and let me know what you think. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece

Pi Day, yesterday.....

2009-03-15T16:48:00.003+13:00

Yesterday was Pi day. March 14th. I missed it :(
That’s Pi as in the mathematical term pi. Not Pie day as in a day to eat pies, which would be fun. Or pie day an in a day to "pie" people (cream pie in the face) which would be fun, and dangerous. Although so would a day for eating pies, now I think about it......

Ok Nathan, get back to study......

Question of the day..

2009-03-05T17:02:00.002+13:00

What does the sign above the door to my room say?

A) Jesus
B) The Bible
c) The Church
D) God

Auckland: After one week.

2009-02-28T22:28:00.005+13:00

Well, I’ve now been in Auckland for a week.

Auckland and Wellington both have the same weather pattern: fine and sunny during the week and raining during the weekend. The difference is that in Wellington the rain comes with wind, in Auckland it comes with humidity.

"Summer school" was ok. I really only did it cos I figured it was the best way to met people. And I was right. I’ve meat some really great people here and some really interesting ones too. One guy biked and skateboard around the world. In fact, is in the presses of applying to getting it recognised as a Guinness world record. Here his website. http://www.14degrees.org/ . Another guy was in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe movie. Although I’m a bit disappointed that I’ve only managed to collect one quote so far...... Have to work on that one.

I've done lots of exiting this as well. We went to an outdoor movie the other night, which were lots of fun. Also went to a drive out to Owera way and to a gig friday night. There is a bowling alley just a couple of doors down, which we tried out one day after class. The Pac n Save across the road claims to be the largest supermarket in New Zealand, which is great.

So the first week at Laidlaw was great. Classes proper start this week. Looking forward it.

1st day at laidlaw.....

2009-02-24T16:39:00.002+13:00

What I learned on at 1st day at Laidlaw (" summer school"):
The Bible is the norming norm.

Question of the day: Do smiley’s count as punctuation?

Nathan goes over to the darkside......

2009-02-20T10:00:00.006+13:00

For those who didn't know, I'm off to Auckland to study Theology at Laidlaw College this year. So big changes for me. New city, new church, new job (hopefully), new people, new weather. But I will still be supporting Wellington sports teams: The Hurricanes, Phoenix and Lions. I leave tonight: were driving up, but only going as far a Taupo tonight. So this is goodbye to all you awesome Wellingtonians out there. I’ll be back....just don't know when. I'll try to keep this blog updated more than I have bean- so more than once every couple of months. And you can all was Facebook me, Twitter me, text me, email me...... you can try to bebo me too, but I don’t check it that regularly, so I might not see it for a while. Or you leave a comet here. And if you want to send me something via snail mail you can send it to

Nathan Bayliss
Private Bag 93119
Henderson
Waitakere 0650

Don’t put "Laidlaw College" on it; it apparently confuses the posties...

Thanks for the support. And if you can pray for me too that would be greatly appreciated.
Nathan.

this is stupid........

2009-02-16T21:31:00.002+13:00

Nathan is blacked out: Stand up against "Guilt Upon Accusation" for New Zealand http://creativefreedom.org.nz/blackout.html

This is a stupid law. Read more about it at the website.

Parachute 2009

2009-01-29T15:34:00.003+13:00

Here is some highlights form Parachute 2009.

Best road trip moment: Hot pools and river swim at Taupo on the way back. We ended up stay Monday night at Tuapo. It was great.

Funniest road trip moment: Reliant K’s song (or two songs) about five Iron Frenzy.

Craziest late night antic: lots, but I’m going to give it to the time a group of about twenty people ran out to a stall and stated charring, then singing “ o lay o lay o lay...” They were soon joined by a number of our people, include Even and myself...

Best game I randomly joined in playing: The toss the can around game Saturday night. Who would have thought a can would be so much fun!!!

Best speaker: None of them were overly awesome that I went to, although to be far they were aimed at a lower level than what I would like. Chris Hill would be my pick of the ones I sore.

Best non music event: “backyard cricket” game between Kutless and family Force 5 versus some randomly selected punters. It was hilarious.

Best free giveaway: free Ice blocks to supportas!!! Yeah. Although since we give them money throughout the year, it’s not technically free.

Best mainstage ad: Life FM. Have you ever wondered about pirates? What’s up with those guys?

Best instrument played: David Crowder from David Crowder band played a guitar hero controller for one song. AWESOME!!!!!

Best chorus: Goes to Tome 39!!!!
I’m singing to annoy the neighbours
Head banging does my brain no favours
I’m sorry that I smell so bad
But I’m having fun
So please don’t be mad

Best one liner from a song: “hold on, wait a minute, put a little love in it. Love Addict,Family Force Five

Best instructions given by a band: Casting crowns got us to tell our neighbours that “I love you, but you’re not cool. So that we don't think we are too cool to worship God.

Best up and coming act: No question: The Israelites. They were on debut stage Tommo 39, and they were awesome. And they were young as. The drummer looked like he was only about 8 or, and the others would have been no older than 14.

Best New Zealand Act: hard call: Rapture Ruckus, Mumsdollar, Late 80’s Mercedes were all awesome, and Dave Dobbyn was cool as well, especially the last three songs he did. I’m going to say Mumsdollar, but there’s not much in it.

Best Stage show: Family Force 5. Great songs, great costumes, great stage presence and moves, awesome.

Most focus on God: Casting Crown. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a band that has so obvious bean more about God then there music. They even said the unthinkable at Parachute “music’s not going to change the world.” Very refreshing.

Best overall Act: Again a hard call. David Crowder Band and Casting crowns were both awesome, and both really focused on God. Family Force 5 has some great song and one of the best stage shows have seen. But I’m going to give e the award to Kutless. Great music, awesome act, really focused on God. And they had two sets, and they were only about two songs which they played it both.

So next year? Well, it’s going to be Parachutes 20th Birthday, so they are planning a big one: they are expecting 30,000, so hopefully some big acts. No word one who they might be, although they said they were hoping to get a circus on site.
My picks: They will need to have ether third Day or Delirious? to headline Sunday night, maybe both? Probably one or two other really big bands: so Toby Mac and the Newsboys. I’m also going to say that they will have Family Force 5 back, Falling Up, Paul Colman, now he’s not with the Newsboys anymore. The Lads and Detour 180 will come back too.

What's in it for..... others!!!!

2008-11-05T10:15:00.000+13:00

Its election time. Politicians are out trying to get as many votes as they can on elation night. The trouble is people have so many different ways of deciding who to vote for. So vote the same way every time, for the party they parents’ voted for. Or against the parent there parents’ voted for. Others take hours poring over each parties manifesto and work out who to vote for that way.
As the Telstra Clear ad says, we have become a society where people are asking the question “what’s in it for me.” Or maybe we have always bean so. Whatever way it is, that seems to be the way many people approach deciding the way they vote in elections. They vote for the party which will offer them a few extra dollars a week in tax cut. Or so they will get a student allowance when they study. Or for whatever the election bribe happens to be that year. They make their vote on the based on what’s best for them.
But is this the best way of doing it, voting purely out of self interest? I don’t believe it is. I believe that as Christian, it is my duty to look out for the needs of others. The Bible is clear on this.

Mk 12:31 the second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Ro 13:9 the commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong,
Isa 1:17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

Ps 146:7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free,
Ps 146:8 the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.
Ps 146:9 The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

The Bible is clear: we are to love others and stand up for the disadvantage, the poor and the sick. This is how we are called to live our lives. And this is also how we are called to vote. Some Christians seem to have the idea that the government (or state) should not have to look after theses people because ‘the church” should be doing it. But the truth I with our votes, as much as we can thought organised church activities. This is the second of the two great commandments, and should be the focus of our lives, including the way we vote.

We need to stop think about just ourselves when it came to election time, and think about the bigger picture of what God is doing. God is about love, justice and mercy. God is about bringing people to him. For too many Christian, so called “family values” is what defines “Christian politics.” Issues such as the civil union bill, anti smacking law, prostitution and abortion are seen as the most important. But these are not the issues on the top of the agenda of Jesus. In fact Jesus said that because of his coming families will be divided (Luke 12 51-53). Now, I’m not saying that these issues are not important, but that we have our priorities wrong here. The issues have because more important than the people. Winning the battle has become more important than loving our neighbor. Jesus was about the poor, the meek, the peacemakers, the merciful those who moron, those who hunger for righteousness. And so should we. Whatever we believe is the best way to achieve this; this should be our goal as the people of God.
Jesus spoke this parable when he was on earth.

Mt 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.
Mt 25:32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Mt 25:33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Mt 25:34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
Mt 25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
Mt 25:36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
Mt 25:37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
Mt 25:38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
Mt 25:39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
Mt 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Mt 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
Mt 25:42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
Mt 25:43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
Mt 25:44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
Mt 25:45 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
Mt 25:46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.
Which group are we going to be in? This parable applies to the way we vote as much as it applies to the rest of our lives.
Ironically, it is the green party, the party which many christen think of as the most ungodly which in there election complain seem to be thinking closes to this. They may have the wrong starting point, the planet rather than people, but there think is what I’m talking about. Vote for me- the poor. Vote for me- those who morn. Vote for me- the peacemakers.
So when you vote, don’t just think about the few extra dollars tax you might get, or the student allowance you might get. Think about the mother straggling to raise a family of five on her own because her husband as left her or is dead. Think of the kids who go to school hungry because there family can’t afford to feed them. And also think about the millions of people around the world who live in poverty- of or next government can chose to support them too- or not.
Don’t think “what’s in it for me” but “what’s in it for others”. That’s how Jesus would vote, and it should be how you should vote all if you follow him.

Nathan's Election predications

2008-10-29T21:17:00.001+13:00

Ok, with about a week and a half to go, it’s probably time I do a post or two on the election, considering I studied politics. Now, a week and a half is a long time in politics, and it is always considered foolish to make prediction as to the results. Nevertheless, I thought I would make some predictions as to the results, just to see how I go, before I turn my thoughts to the slightly more serious matter of how we should vote.
- National will get the biggest proportion of the party vote, around 45%, although probably not much higher.
- Labour will get around 35-37% of the party vote.
- The Greens will be the only other party to get over the 5% thresholds, probably around 6 or 7%.
- New Zealand First I’m picking won’t get over 5%, and survival is dependent on winstone peters winning back tauranga. Although if anyone can make a came back its Peters, so don’t be surprised if he does win his seat back.
- Rodney Hide, Peter Dunne and Jim Anderton will all hold their seats, and thus there parties will get back into parliament. However, they will all only get around the 1-3% of the party vote, and will have 1-3 seats each.
- The Maori party will win one or two of the Maori seats off Labour, although I’m picking labour will hold on to at least one of them, but will get a smaller % of the arty vote than this, and will overhang the parliament.
- No other party will get into parliament.
- The government will be lead by National, with support from the Maori party and United Future, and if they need it Act.
I think they key to this election is going to be the seat of tauranga. If Peters can win it back and get New Zealand First back into parliament, National will have issues forming a government as they have ruled him out. If he can’t win it back, National will win. It’s interesting that most of the minor parties have taken one side or another. Last election there were three centre parties which could have gone either way- New Zealand First, United Future and the Maori party. This time however, National has ruled out working with New Zealand First and United Future has said they will only go with National. Only the Maori party are still official open to going either way, although things can change depending on the results.

Oh yes, and barack obama will win the US election

weird things about Auckland

2008-09-18T21:06:00.000+12:00

Seem s like I am overdue for another blog post. I went to Auckland the other week. Here is a list of some of the weird things about Auckland form my observations.
- Some of the bus stops have napkins in them. What a way to decorate a bus stop!!!
- In Narnia, they have animals which talk. In Auckland, it’s the buses. “The next stop is Britomart...”
- One bank had a drive though. For the recorded, it was a National Bank.
- A shop on Queen Street had a Phoenix jersey.... IN THE WINDOW!!!!! I thought we went Auckland anymore!!! Or maybe they want to be Wellington.
- Queen Street is full of currency changers, New Zealand souvenir shops, jewellers, books shops and Aucklanders.
- One book shop had a Bible in the new age section.
- Manna had a self help section!!
- The trains a pulled by diesels. Wellington’s electrics are way better. Faster, and better for the environment. There were people dancing on the train as well.
- It’s built right on top of an active volcano fled. Although that’s not that weird, when you consider Wellington on a major felt like, Christchurch in just the right place to get smog and Parmy is built in a hole. Yep, our forbearers share knew a good place for a city when they sore one.
- There is a shopping mall in like, ever suburb. They go with the volcano’s I guess, there one of those in very suburb too.
- Going to places by boat. I had to use the ferry to get to parity much anywhere.
- They have “Wendy’s” which is a burger takeaway, and “Wendy’s” where you can buy Ice cream and drinks.
- Jasmine Taylor. She proves the impossible.... that there really is such a thing as a decent Aucklander. Some other people proved that too, now I think about it.....
- The Warehouse’s had signs saying “Auckland’s lowest price on DVD’s and CD’s”... in Wellington colours!!! See, they really do want to be Wellington!!!
I think there was probably some more, but that’s all I can think of at the moment. I was a good week and a bit, but it was a relief to hear over the intercom on the plane. “Ladies and gentlemen, was are about to begin the decant into Wellington...’ He also said something about Gentlemen making share they wife’s are in the upright position and ladies to check that their shoes matched there outfit.

Google Games!!!

2008-06-19T11:45:00.000+12:00

Google games a fun, something to do while you are waiting for other pages to load.....
Here is one I like. You google “ yourfirstname looks like” and see what comes us. And you need quotation marks, or else it won’t work.
Here are some of the answers I got.

Nathan looks like a monkey!
Nathan looks like a random guy who forgets to shave
Nathan looks like a caveman
Nathan looks like the Big Buck Bunny
Nathan looks like Evan almightily with the beard
Nathan looks like a little angel.
Nathan looks like a homeless man
Nathan looks like Jesus

And here are some other people.......
Matthew looks like one of those football guys with a 3 month pregnant belly.
Sarah looks like Hermione Granger!
Michael looks like a drag queen in one of Paul’s porn videos
Melissa looks like she has something sneaky planned
Natalie looks like that truck driver from Pee Wee
Rachel looks like a fluffy pink cupcake
Kirsten looks like she just crawled out of her coffin, ready to feed, but the lights are hurting her eyes
Evan looks like someone who died
Dave looks like a pixie fairy
Stevie looks like a historic ruin.
Jamesy looks like a girl....
Karen looks like a modest Jewish milkmaid
Nathaniel looks like it is he who has been slapped about the face
Andrew looks like a drug dealer
Jasmine looks like a cross between Christina Ricci and an Oompa Loompa
Richard looks like the smooth talking bad boy who makes girls go weak
Ash looks like an aunty
Ben, looks like a grotesque gnome or troll and displays an equally ugly personality: he kills the family's dog and cats....
Jared looks like he has a lopsided Dora the Explorer haircut
Ruth looks like a young woman who can arouse an old man.

Graduations are also very auspicious occasions.

2008-05-22T16:19:00.002+12:00

I have now graduated!!!!!!!!! I now have the piece of paper to prove that I have a degree. And it’s meant to last 500 years, due to the fact that it is make out of goat skin. If it doesn’t last 500 years, I might have to sue Vic.
So what does it mean?
1) I really do need to find another job.
2) I now have letters after my name!!!!!! Yep, I am now official Mr Nathan Thomas Bayliss, B.A. Although I don’t think I’ll ever use it, as that would be showing off.....

Some highlights of graduation include
- Walking down the middle of the road in funny clothes. Lambton Quay to be precise. Along the same rote as the Lord of the Rings stars went before the world premiere of Return of the King!!! And I was right near the front. I also got to hang out with Anna form 1st year cell group back when I started uni.........
- Listening to the mayor say staff. Can’t remember what, but hey.
- Going to watch Evan walk across the stage and get some paper. I also got to see five or six people I know at that ceremony too.
- The person who was meant to be next to me didn’t turning up. That meant I had to be “row leader.” All that meant was that I sat at the end of the row, and had to follow the direction of the usher, rather than the person next to me.
- Putting a hat on. “By the authority of Victoria University of Wellington, I, Tim Beaglehole, Chancellor, grant on the persons whose names are entered on the roll of graduates the degrees, diplomas and certificates there appearing, and are hereby admitted to these degrees, and awarded these diplomas and certificates in this university.”
- Walking across the stage. And getting a song. And shaking hands with the pro chancellor.
- Getting a degree!!!! Yay, three years of work!!!!
- Singing Gaudeamus!!!! Hehehe, I’m so glad I learned it at Rongotai. But it didn’t help when they didn't change the side to the second verse till it was almost over........

And my ceremony has made it to the national media, for three different reasons
-A M.A graduate decided to turn the draft of her thesis into clothing. She also wears shocking pink...
- The student speaker couldn’t make it, as she got stuck at Auckland Airport due to fog.
- Joel Cosgrave, VUWSA President decided to wear a t-shirt to promote Men’s sexual heath. Only it wasn’t really appropriate for a graduation ceremony.

So another auspicious occasion. But also, an infamous one!!!!! Getting into the media for three things counts as infamous to me. So that my new favourite word...... move over auspicious.........

Follow your dreams?

2008-03-20T10:04:00.001+13:00

It seems to be popular theology in the church at the moment that Christians should " follow there dreams" as they are from God. The thinking seems to be that our dreams must be from God, and therefore it is our duty to follow them. But its this relay what the Bible teachers us?

It wasn’t Mosses’ "dream" as such to free the Israelites for Egypt- he argued with God for quite some time, claiming not to be the right person for the job. David had a dream to build a temple to God, a dream which was not his, but Solomon’s to fulfil. And it was the "dream" of most, if not all of Jesus’ disciples for much of Jesus’ ministry that Jesus would lead a rebellion against Rome and restore a Jewish kingdom. However, God plains was to establish a kingdom which was not of this world.

Now, im not saying that all our dreams a bad. God does sometimes give us a desires or dream to do something. But it does not always follow that all our dreams are nesaseale from God. We need to discern, thought a lot of prayer, but talking it thought with Christian friends and weighting the "dream" against was we read in the Bible wethe or not they are from God. Sometimes it will be that God is calling us to something new, other time he may not be.

So where does this idea which, if not blatantly preached is suatilly practiced by many Christians came for? I think part of this is a symptom of the church making our hearts king in our Christian faith. We say that to became a Christian you must "give your heart to Jesus." Many of the songs we sing on Sundays talk about us " giving our hearts to God." Christianity is described by many Christians as being " a relationship with God"- a heart thing.
But Jesus Said clearly that the greatest commandment is to " Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." (Mark 12:30) Many Christians today stop at heart. But heat is not followed by a full stop but an and. This is not an ether or. Its an all of the above.

The sad thing is that it seems to me that a lot of Christians are not just tiring love God with only there heart. They have somehow gotten this idea that "the heart is good, the mind is bad." That is to say, they seem to believe that the mind can be corrupted by the devil, but the heart can’t. I have even herd a speaker at Parachute say one year something along the lines of " the devil can’t get into your heart. That’s why Jesus want to get into it."

Maybe I have read my Bible well enough, but I don’t recall the part where Jesus and the devil decide to play hide and seek. I do however, recall a number of places in the Psalm where the Psalmist ask God to purify there heart. ( one example being Psalm 51:10) If we need God to purify our heats, than they must be corruptible.

We must get back to loving God with all our hearts AND all our soul AND with all our mind AND with all our strength. The Bible also says that if someone is guilty of braking one part of the law, they a guilty of breaking the whole law. Therefore, one can not love God with all there heart if they are not also loving his with all there soul, mind and strength also.

God will give us the desires of our hearts, when there desire came form him. We must remember however, that not all our hearts desire are form God. We still live in a War zone, and there is still someone out to temp us away for God. And this someone has acsses to our hearts, and well as our minds, our soul and our strength

the M and M weeding

2008-02-27T20:38:00.000+13:00

Things I learned over the 5 days I was in Parmy for Michael and Melissa weeding.
-Weddings are very auspicious occasions.
- If your grooving to music in a car, and you to at traffic lights, you might get spotted and luaghed at.
- Tanks are awesome.
- When asked questions by a radio station, "Jesus" can work as an answer.
- Everyone in Parmy has a dog.
- Macdonald’s is a great place for grooms to hang out before weddings.
- Ash likes play ultimate frizbe, huarb gardening, jelly westing and country music.
- Jasmine like poking her friends on Facebook, huarb gardening, kite surfing, wide pig hunting and playing doctors and Norse’s.
- I have a illustrious male modelling career.
- manual cars really are a lot harder to drive than automatics.
- Michael likes whispering sweet nothings into Melissa ear.
- Auspicious is a cool word.
- Weeding photos are a lot of fun.
- Karen Lau is an great peoet.
- Fi can’t remember that much about 1st year cell group, bar that Al had the wrong number of toes.
- Kate and Chris monkey love the IRD.
- Smoking can be dangerous for your health.
and finally and most important..
marriage is like a wombat.

Twenty something’s: the churches unreached generation?

2008-01-23T21:26:00.000+13:00

Is it just me, or is the church in New Zealand really doing a bad job at reaching out to, and supporting those in the twenty-something’s age group? Its conviction has been growing in me for some time, that the church is doing an ok job of reaching theses in their teenage years. It’s becoming had to find a church without an employed youth pastor, let alone one without a youth group these days, and there are a large number of events, publications and programmes aimed at teenagers today. And we seem to be doing an ok job of reaching those middle aged and older. The many parenting and marriage based ministries around is one example of this. Now I don’t want to dis all these ministries, many of which do a fantastic job. Be we seem to forget that people don’t go from being an eighteen year old school kid to a 30 year old mother or father with a middle class job over night.
There are a few stars in this ministry vacuum. Marriage preparation causes and ministry to university students such as TSCF do existed and do an awesome job. However, much of this work goes unnoticed and underfunded by the church at large. TSCF for example have only around 2000 people on there database of supporters. Churches as a whole do not see 18 to 30 year olds as groups to minister to. Yet as I beginning to learn, people in this age group face many challenges.
Most of these challenges could be whole blog posts in themselves, so I simple list few. We are moving from education to full time employment in a time where employed want work experience. We often move away from our home town to somewhere where we know nobody, most of us ether get married or straggle with being simple. And most of us are still trying to work out who we are and what it means to follow Jesus.
One of the reasons why I think that I loved my time in TSCF was that it was a chance to be around people at the same stage of life as me. I know I was not a “youth” any more, and yet I didn’t and still don’t feel like I’m an “audit” yet either. This felling of being out of place dose not came out so much at All Saints as there are a few twenty some tings there, but definitely did while I was at the New Wine Summer camp over the weekend. I couldn’t help feeling a little out of place in the adult zone- that I was still too young to belong there, yet I felt too old in Firewire- the youth zone- last year. Most of the twenty something’s at the camp were not in a zone, but helping to run one of the younger zones because, as one of them said to me, they don’t know where they would go if they didn’t. And while it is awesome that they are serving God, it is a shame that they don’t have anywhere where they feel like they belong. In past years there has been an attempt to provide this with “the location.” However, this was not really a “zone’ as such, but just a space to hang out in late at night.
And I don’t think this is just a new Wine issue but a church issue. Try goggling phases such as “twenty something’s ministry” in New Zealand. It doesn’t get many hits.

So what should we do about this? I don’t have the answer. But I do think we need to do something. I would also like to know if other people feel the same way, or is it just. So if you could post your truths on the issue, and any ideas, that would be great. Do we need something like a “twenty something ministries” or a “twenties something’s camp”? Or is the answer that church need to be church by church rather than a whole new interdenominational ministry.
I leave with this thought. Jesus did not begin his ministry till he was about thirty. Why?

A tribute to Kylie

2008-01-10T20:36:00.000+13:00

Kylie Palamo, a workmate of mine, sadly passes away on Saturday, after a battle with cancer, aged 30. Today I attended her funeral. "Smiley" Kylie was a fantastic workmate, with a laugh and smile which will be remembered by everyone who met her. Her kindness made her popular with everyone. Visits to the music bar were always a moment to remember when Kylie was there. Kylie's Faith and many friends and family helped her get thought the last mouths of her life. We will all miss her heaps.
God bless you Kylie, and rest in peace,
Nathan

Same staff I’ve bean thinking about

2008-01-07T21:02:00.000+13:00

Who is the God who we as Christians worship? Is he a God of Love? Of justice? Of Wroth? Is he our Father? Our king? Our friend? Our Shepherded? Our judge? The truth he is all these things. And more. We worship a many dimensional God. All these characteristics belong to the God found in the Bible.

Yet many of seem to reduce his to just one of these. There are many who talk about the love of God, but forget that because he is also a just God, he is therefore also a God who punishes those who continue to disobey his. There are others who tell everyone how God is going to punish them for everything they have done wrong, while forgetting that God came to earth as a human to save us. Others seem to worship a God who is nothing more than a mysterious best friend, while forgetting that he is king and lord over their life, while others have great respect and fear of God, yet they don’t know his as their heavenly father.

The truth is, God is such an awesome and complex God, that we can never know all his characteristics here on earth. If we could, he would not be the God of the Bible, but a figment of our imagination which we have called God. Yet this is no excuses for us to focus on one fascist of God’s character and call that God. Now at one level, God is simple. Jesus said that we must receive the kingdom of heaven as a child would. At one level Jesus really is the answer to everything. But this God who calls us to receive him as a child takes an eternity to get to know.
So why do some many in the church seem to worship a one- dimensional God? Could have something to do the world we live in? Information in today’s world came in five second sound bites. A news story on today’s news only looks at one or two points of view. In short, we live in a world of simplicity. We then transfer this simplicity to our Christian walk. We seattle for a simple God, rather than taking the time to get to know the almighty God reviled in the scriptures. Furthermore, we settle for a simple understanding of the Bible. In most sermons, the Bible is quoted as only a few versus'(often taken out of context) to back a point made, rather than a decent chunk being read and studied. Some of us may memoires a few single versus at Sunday school, but few memorises who chapters, let alone whole books of the Bible. We have a few favourite passages which we like to read and re-read, but rarely venture into other parts of the bible. It’s no wonder many Christians have a 1D view of the God of the bible when we have a 1D understanding of the Bible thought which he has relived himself to us.
Furthermore, society tells us to follow our feelings, and to do what is right for the individual. This leads us to us promoting the parts of Gods character we like while ignoring those which we feel less comfortable with. This self-centeredness also flows into our “worship.” In most of the songs we sing in church (not that worship is about the music, but that’s another topic completely) the focus is on us, not God. Many consider a “good worship section” one where they “felt closes to God.” While having a good relationship with God is important, there are several issues with this. Firstly, worship is about glorifying God, nothing else. Secondly, music should not be the only means thought which our relationship with God is nourished. While each of us are different, and find different ways to grow closer to God more helpful than others, we must be careful that we don’t make one means the only means thought which we do so. Prayer, fellowship and Bible study are all critical part of our spiritual growth, and should not be neglected for any Christians, which music is really an optional. Thirdly, a good relationship with God is not bold one feeling alone.

The church is meant to be a light to the world. Instead, in often becomes a minor of the world, reflecting not the Light of the World, but the world’s “light”, which in many cases, is really darkness. We as the body of Christ need to look at how the values and culture of society impact on the church, the beliefs we hold, and the way we worship and the lives we live. We can only bring the Light of the world to the world, if we are in the world, but of not of the world, bringing light to the world, not reflecting the world.

What’s so silly about the silly season? (Apart from my spelling......)

2007-12-17T22:00:00.000+13:00

It’s that time of year. Christmas, or (as it’s popular to call it today) the silly season. The time of year when people spend a lot of money on Christmas presents, people get more stressed then they need to, and us Christians try to convince the world that it’s all about celebrating Jesus’ birthday, with one of the cheesiest slogans of all time-
Jesus is the reason for the season.

Yet when I think about some of the aspects of Christmas today and the life and teachings of Jesus, I can’t help feeling that it would be difficult to think of a way celebrating the birth of Christ which is less befitting of Jesus’ life and character. Pigging out on food, getting wasted at Christmas parties, stressing out over small things, making lists of all the things we want, speed, speed, speed........ stress, stress stress... all flying directly in contrast to the way Jesus called us to live.
And then when we do come to the parts of Christmas which do have some connection to Jesus, we seem to really more on tradition than what The Bible says happened. I mean, look at this popular Christmas Carroll, and at all the points where it reflect the “traditional” story of the birth of Christ, rather than the one which if found in the Bible.

Long time ago in Bethlehem so the Holy Bible said Mary's boy child Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day.

We all know that Jesus was almost certainly not born on Christmas day, as the bible does’t not give any date to when he was born,

Hark now hear the angels sing a king was born today

The angles did NOT sing as Christmas. Luke say “ suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and SAYING ( not singing) “ Glory to God in the highest...” (Luke 2 13-14) In fact it’s likely that angels do not sing at all.

And man will live for evermore because of Christmas Day.

Actually, it’s because of what happened at Easter, not Christmas which means that we will live forever.

While shepherds watch their flocks by night, they see a bright new shining star, they hear a choir sing a song, the music seemed to come from afar.

Again, the angels did not sing. And the Bible does not say that the magi followed a new star, it just calls it ‘his” star.
Hark, now hear the angels sing, a king was born today, And man will live for evermore, because of Christmas Day.

Now Joseph and his wife, Mary, came to Bethlehem that night, they found no place to bear her child, not a single room was in sight.

And then they found a little nook in a stable all forlorn, and in a manger cold and dark, Mary's little boy was born.

The Bible does’t say that they came to Bethlehem the same night that Jesus was born; it just says that “while they were there.” And we don’t know if Jesus was born at night or during the day.

That all said, there IS a lot of good which comes out of Christmas. People get to spend time with their family, which is a good thing. Some people go to church that otherwise wouldn’t. Giving gifts to people is great!! We need to become more generous people. Charity organizations like the City Mission do a lot of good work to help make Christmas spell for those who need it, and many people give generously to these causes. We get a day off work (which dosn’t really make up for all the extra work we need to do before Christmas, but hay).

So is Christmas a good thing or a bad thing? I believe that there is a lot of good in Christmas. But we also need to think a little deeper about how we use it to honor God. I don’t think we should follow the J-dabs and drop Christmas altogether. Neither should we embrace every element of chritsmas without think about whether or not it honors God. With a little bit of thought and prayer, we can make this silly season an act of worship to God.

Marry Christmas to you all.

What is church?

2007-11-29T19:01:00.000+13:00

I‘ve been thinking a bit lately about what is church? Church is a lot more than what we do on a Sunday, however, for this post I will be looking at a church serves. What should it look like? I’ve heard it said that church is people. However, I think it’s more than just a bunch of people. Church its fist and foremost about God- what he has done to call people back to himself thought the blood of Christ. It is a gathering of a community of the people of God- the people he has redeemed not by human effort, but by the cross. Therefore God needs to be in the centre of our view of church.

In Acts 2 42 it says that “they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” It goes on to talk about everyone being filled with awe, miracles being done amount them, sheering all their positions with each other, meting daily in the temple and regularly in people’s homes and gave praise to God. Now, this is by no means the only versus in the Bible which talks about church, but there is enough in there to help us to think about how we “do church.” If that was about my church, what would it say?

Something along the lines of “they meet once a week for about an hour where they sing a few songs and listen to someone talk, and some of them hang around afterwards to chat. There was prayer ministry available, to those who wanted it- but that was generally only two or three people. Some people would meet weekly for a cell group and sometimes there would be social events.” Ok, maybe that a little cyclical, but the point is that most churches today look more like this model than the biblical. Some churches might communion more regularly or have more liturgies and other stuff, but again, not like the acts two model.

In saying that, we also have to remember that this versus is taking about a particular church in a particle context. We can’t simple say that all churches everywhere most follow this exactly. However, that it does give us some basic elements which should bake us gatherings of belies: fellowship, teaching, prayer and the braking of bead as all important elements of a Christian community.

So, what would my ideal Sunday church series look like? His is still a work in progress, but here’s what I have so far. Let’s make it an evening service, cos that’s what I go to. I would have a shared meal every week before the service. Why? To build community. At CU we would go to Courtney central every week after the meeting for dinner and that make a massive impact in the community at CU.

Dinner would be followed by a “community act of worship”. This could be sing, but it could also be a number of other things such as community, liturgy, reflecting on a psalm or reading the Bible allowed together. While music is a great was to worship God, it is not the only way. In some churches the service is all about the music. However, it fails to recognise that a lot of people don’t like music, and while the Bible does call us to sing praise to God, it is not meant to be the cornerstone of our worship, Jesus is.

After that, would be teaching. Often the teaching in a particular church is geared towards one level. In some churches, the teaching is basic, so while great for seekers, new believes and younger people, offers no meat for mature Christians. Likewise, some churches offer teaching which is great for mature Christians, but not so great for others. Possible a model where there are different levels of teaching offered in the one services would be good, by having say three smaller group- more like small groups studies than a traditional sermon in church. This would also mean that the groups could prayer as a group afterwards. However, it also has some issues. It would ultimately need three ministers (or shepherds :)) to make it work properly. It could also to lowering standard of teaching overall and to some groups feeling superior or inferior to others. So weather this is a good idea or not is something I will need to mall over more.

I also need to think about how prayer, mission and communion fit into this, so more still to think about. However, I do think that churches to easy sip into adopting a model of series which says the same for years. Thinking about how we “do church” is healthy, but ultimately, we need to remember that the bible is our guide and should the ultimate authority we think about these things.

Hip hop History of the church 101. Plus Jesus on the water revisited

2007-11-27T22:03:00.000+13:00

At church on Sunday, we watched a hip hop\rap history of the church. Yes, that’s right, a hip hop\rap version of the history of the church. And yes, it did make me cringe. Now, the idea is not totally a bad one: it introduces church history to Christians who may never otherwise know anything about the churches heritage. I think it is important that Christians today understand the story of the church to see where God had been at work and what mistakes we have made. But apart from being cheesy, at lot of this history was not much more than a bunch of slogans which summed up large and complex parts of church history. True, summing up 2000 years in 10 munities a big ask, and it can be nothing more than a brief summary. But trying to sloganise history is bad history. Furthermore, there was not really any encouragement from what I can remember to dig deeper into the history of the church. Rather the focus was on what role we as the next generation of new Christians will do next. Again, not a bad thing in itself and it presented some good challenges for Christian viewers. But I hope the church will be more serious about understanding where we have came in the last 2000 years than to stop at a bunch of rap slogans. We need to understand both what God has done thought the church and what mistakes we have, so that we can move forward with where God wants us to go and to not make the same mistakes again.

The other thing which I have been thinking about recently is about Jesus walking on the water, and how we interpret it. It seems that we often use it in a metaphorical way for having a lot of faith and it often said in songs that ‘if I keep my eyes on Jesus\ have enough faith I can walk on water.” However, I’m not share that this is the point of the passages. Jesus did not give a universal promise to all his followers that if they have enough faith they too will literally be able to walk on water, Jesus only ever commanded Peter, on this one occasion to do so. Now, this does not mean that we shouldn’t have faith in Jesus to do miraculous things thought us. He does promise us this in a number of separate occasions in the bible. However, at this particular scripture, I think that focus should not be on us and our faith, or even Peter’s faith (or lack of it), but on Jesus, and what this tells us about who he was. The point is this passage tells us that Jesus was not an ordinary person. He was doing something extra ordinary. This passage is to help point us to who Jesus really was: the son of God. I think we need to think more about how we uses scripture and whether or not the way we understand it is the way it was written to be understand: every if the point we are making for it is generally right. We need to be more careful with scripture in this regards.

Just some thoughts.

S.L.C 2007: the end of my time with TSCF.... or maybe just the end of the beginning............

2007-11-26T20:18:00.000+13:00

The other week I went to my last TSCF event as a student: Student Leadership conference. This year I did stream three; a stream dedicated to people who are in there final year of study and about to enter the workplace or go into post graduate study. We spent a lot of time looking at how to honour God thought our work. It’s not simply a matter of using work as a chance to get only to give to the church and to be nice to people, but we should see our work as an act of worship, and really think about how it glorifies God. We were also challenged to think about how we use our money: doses this glorify God, and spent the week looking at the book of Nehemiah and a lot of time reflecting on who we are.
All this has given me a lot to think about and work thought, which I have not really had the chance to do yet. However, as I reflect on how I have changed while I've bean at Uni, I can see that t has changed me a lot. There are lot of things with CU\TSCF has given me, but two in particular are significant. I think I am a much more thoughtful person, particularly with regards to my faith. I the past I would have gone along with whatever was the in thing in church or Christian circles, without thinking about whether or not it was really God at work. Now I think thought- at least a little- what I see in church. Is the really in line with what the Bible teaches? Is the glory really going to God? And I think my involvement with TSCF\CU has been a large part of this.
Some people would say that this is a bad thing: we must have faith in God and not our own intellect. And to a degree they are right: we should really on God and not ourselves. But on the other hand, we need to make share it is really God we have faith. Therefore we must make share it is God at work in the things we see around us. We must make share we understand what the bible really teaches about who God is and how he want us o live our lives. This is something which I am only being at. And while I think it is health to think thought what I see in the church and the world today, I don’t think became a total cynic is healthy ether. When we see things which are not perfect in the church, I think it is healthy to be thankful that God is still at work in human imperfectness and weakness, and not get cynical at where Gods people are at.

The second is a number of good friends across New Zealand and around the world. I have meet so any fantastic people though CU and TSCF both staff workers and students, some I have gotten to know quite well, some not so. I really hope and pray that I will continue to develop theses friendships, and that God will use them to grow both his kingdom and us as individuals. It’s great to know that if I have to movie to a scary place like Auckland I will actually know some people there. If any of you actually read this blog; YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!!!! You really are. Thanks for the good times, the prayer meetings, the mafia, the deep and meaningfully, the committee retreats, the camps and conferences, the road trips, the cell groups, the soccer, the laughter, the hanging out, the whatever it is. I will miss you. Where ever you are, I know that God will continue to use you to bless people and grow his kingdom. And somewhere along this line, weather here or in eternity, our paths will cross. And because of the cross, it will be to Gods glory.

So it’s goodbye to TSCF as a student. Thanks to TSCF, in really it’s thanks to GOD. I will leave with the word of the unofficial anthem if TSCF, IN Christ alone- and song with sums up the gospel of our LORD and savior Jesus Christ. A song with always reminds me of what God has done for me: both thought the cross and thought TSCF.

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save'
Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
fAnd as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost it's grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Brought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

Harvests 2007: my reflections.

2007-11-03T12:03:00.000+13:00

On Sunday night I went, along with a couple of CUers to the last night of the harvest outreach event at TSB Bank Area. There events featured a couple of popular Christian bands: the Newsboys and the Katenas, and a message form evangelist Greg Laurie. While a large number of people responded to the alter calls at the end of the events and I believe God was at work, I was nethertheless left with some issues about some aspects of the event. My main issue with it was how very “chruchy” it felt. All the music was what would be considered “contemporary worship.” And while the main message delivered by Laurie was amide at non Christians, there was a lot of talk by other people was definitely aimed at the Christians present. While it was the Sunday night, which I understand often has a more churchy feel to it in there sorts of events, and the Meany Christians presents were obviously havening a good time, I couldn’t help felling that this would feel very strange and in-groupy to any non church goers present, for whom the event was meant to b aimed at. Furthermore, it was also obvious that a large majority of the people present were church goes, maybe as much as 80% or higher.
So where does this leave us? Do we as a church in Wellington know how to reach the people in our city with the gospel in their language? It felt to me that we were try to reach them with our culture. I mean, the main drew card was the Newsboys, who while massive in Christian cycles (well, they are a bit past there used by date now, but they are still well known) are unheard of by theses outside it. If we want to reach the non- church goers in Wellington with the gospel, filling the TSB arena with Christians to listen to the Newsboys play a few of the “church worship” orientated songs is not the best way of doing it. Share, a lot of people went up at the end, as I praise God for that. But I feel confident to predict that most of them were church goers. Which, by the way, raises another issue: what are there so many people in Wellington churches feel the need to respond to the message at an event like this? Are there no opportunities in regular church services? Do we even know how to preach the gospel to those going to our churches, or by we need a big American preacher to do it for us?

So my challenge to the church in Wellington is this: How are we going to build on the gains of the harvest 2007 event? How are we going to move forward, to reach the people in this city in their language? How can we share the good knows that Jesus died to forgive them of their sin and that he rose on the third day relevant to them?

Yesssssssss!!!

2007-10-18T09:45:00.000+13:00

Ive now done my last essay, and if I pass every thing, i have a degree!!! Now i have to find a job. At the moment I'm working at the new warehouse store which opens today. It doesn't have much stock, but we do have Vegetales!!!

NOOOOOOOOOO.......

2007-10-07T22:32:00.001+13:00

The rugby :(

Blogs and blondes

2007-10-03T21:39:00.000+13:00

Only two people in my pols class blogg...........

And for something different......

A blond, a brunette and a redhead escape from jail and
Decide to hide in a barn. As they hear the police closing in, they climb into
the loft and hide in three empty burlap feed bags. A young officer climbed into
the loft, shined his flashlight around, and decided to check the burlap bags. He
kicked the first bag containing the brunette, and she responded with a
convincing "woof". He kicked the second bag with the redhead inside, and she let
out a perfect cat’s meow. "Nothing up here but cats and dogs," the officer
Responded to his superior. Deciding to be sure, he kicked the last bag, the
one containing the blonde. She yelled out "Potatoes!!!"

Arrrrrrrhhhh!!

2007-09-19T21:15:00.000+12:00

Ahoy there, me harties, just thoght Id post to callabrate Internatioanl talk like a pirate day!!!!!!!.
http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

How Kiwi is the chruch in New Zealand?

2007-09-05T09:21:00.000+12:00

I was thinking about this last night. The church in New Zealand seems to rely a lot on resources for over seas, in particular America and Britain. Examples of this would be the Christan books that we read- the Kiwi Bible is the only example which I can think of which came for New Zealand, the music we listen to, although we do better here, the teachers we listen to- someone seems to have a lot more authority if they are from overseas, and the programmes we run, such as alpha, Christianity explored etc.
Now don't get me wrong, New Zealand s a relatively small country with only four million people, so it inevitable that we will have a lot influence from there counties, and these people have many gifts and experiences which can help us in New Zealand. I for one am very thankful for the number of extant TSCF stuff workers form outside New Zealand But my worry is that we often just apply oversea resources, without thinking about how the context in America or the United Kingdom is different to that in New Zealand. Furthermore, it mean that the many people whom God had gifted in New Zealand don't get a chance to to use them.
If the Church in New Zealand is going to reach the people of this nation for Christ, we need to be serous about connecting with our own culture. This means we need to take the time to understand kiwi culture as it is today, and to develop the girts which New Zealand Christan have, not just rely on overseas ideas. I would be good to See a New Zealand equivalent to Alpha, which address the questions New Zelanders have, and to see some good Christan books written form a New Zealand prospective and to help New Zealand Christan understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus in New Zealand.

America

2007-08-27T09:17:00.000+12:00

Apparently, America has ever lost a war where is used Mules. George W Bush is a donkey, so he doesn't count.......

Girls

2007-08-18T08:29:00.000+12:00

Girls don't like boy, girls like boys with CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!!!!!

Old and retired

2007-08-15T10:14:00.000+12:00

On Thursday CU had its AGM, and thus has a new committee. The new committee is:
Kirsten Meyer - President
Peter Jackson - Vice-President
Andrew Walbran - Secretary
Melanie Mylvaganam - Treasurer
Peta-Maria Harris - General Exec
For me, it’s the end of Two years of serving God in CU committee. As I reflect on that time, it has become clear just how faithful God has been to us. There were time when everything seemed to go wrong, but God used the time for good: to help us refocus on mission. Often, we don’t see how God is work, when we are there: It’s only when we look back that we see how God is at work.
I know that God has big plans for CU. My prayer is that the new committee will seek God will for the group. I also pray that God will continue to guide us Oldies who are retiring: that we make continue to reach those around us and that we will grow to know God more.

Poltical Campus

2007-08-04T09:13:00.000+12:00

There is this website I found via facebook, which you can take a test and work out where you are on the political septum. While its not an exact since, its not to bad over all. If you want to see where I am, you will need to vist my facebook profile.
It also has here particular politicians and parities are in some counties, including New Zealand. Its striking how right wing New Zealand, the US and the Uk all are. Fi will probably disagree with where United Future is,
The website is http://www.politicalcompass.org/index

Sick

2007-07-30T11:16:00.000+12:00

Lots of people seem to be getting sick lately. That's not cool.

Random post

2007-07-27T12:42:00.000+12:00

So, Im now 21. I feel old.

Christianity: a relationship with God?

2007-07-19T12:12:00.000+12:00

I was thinking last night about some of the terms we use in church to take about Christianity. We often say that "Christianity is not a religion; it’s a relationship with God." While idea itself is true, and Christianity is about our relationship with God, I have some issues with using this as a definition of what the central focus of what Christianity is about. It dose not tell a full story of what Christianity is.
One issue is that form my limited knowledge of other religions, you could say that a number of other religions, such as Islam or Judaism are also about a relationship with God. A different type of relationship, yes, but you wouldn’t get that for the relationship definition. However the biggest problem with it is that I don’t think it’s a very Biblical was of looking at it. The Phases "relationship with God:" doesn’t n occur in the NIV, ESV, NASB or NKJ translations of Bibles. The idea that that people should) live in a relationship with God is biblical. But it’s a lot deeper than that.
So what does the bible tell us Christianity is? The message which the apostles perched is called the gospel (e.g. Acts 15:7, Acts 20:24, Romans 1:1-2). The world gospel means "good new." But what is this good news? In a nut shell, that even thought we have turned away from God, thought the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we can be restored to God and have eternal life. While that is about our relationship with God, it’s not the way the Bible explains it. And I think there is something else going on when people describe Christianity as a relationship. I think Christian often what to make the gospel seen "more appalling" to people, so instead of telling them that Christianity is about the forgiveness of sins, they say its a relationship of God, essentially watering down the gospel.
So with saying Christianity is a about a relationship is not wrong per say, we need to make share we a preaching the whole gospel, not just a part of it.

Political websites visterd in New Zeland

2007-07-18T18:10:00.000+12:00

According to http://www.alexa.com, there are the ten most popular political websites in New Zealand
1. Scoopwww.scoop.co.nz - Site info
2. Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealandwww.greens.org.nz - Site info
3. Elections New Zealandwww.elections.org.nz - Site info
4. National Partywww.national.org.nz - Site info
5. Hide, Rodneywww.rodneyhide.com - Site info
6. Labour Partywww.labour.org.nz - Site info
7. Investigate Magazinewww.investigatemagazine.com - Site info
8. Policy.net.nz - Political Policy Onlinewww.policy.net.nz - Site info
9. ACT - The Liberal Partywww.act.org.nz - Site info
10. DecisionMakerwww.decisionmaker.co.nz - Site info

Interesting that www.rodneyhide.com is more popular than Labour. The Greens came in at number two, I guess due to the young nature of its supporters.

Muffins

2007-07-17T18:34:00.000+12:00

One must live there life according to principles. One which I live mine by is this: muffins are not meals. Muffins make great snacks or morning\ afternoon teas, and can be part of a meal, but you can’t have only muffins for a meal.
On a totally different matter, so people have been asking what I will do next year. The answer: I don’t know!! I have a number of different ideas: find a real job, do MINTY, go overseas on some sort of mission. But yeah.
I’m also back at uni now, and finding my last papers ok. I’m doing two Political science Papers: one on researching political the other on leadership and a history paper comparing New Zealand and the United States. I’ve only had one class for each so far, so will reserve judgment till later.

TSCF Conference

2007-07-03T13:59:00.000+12:00

For the past week, I was at the TSCF national conference, at El Rancho, Waikane. The theme this year was eternity. The teaching was outstanding and was done by Andrew Lim, a pastor from Pamiston North, and Dave Wells, form the Bible college of New Zealand. Andrew Spoke from 1 Thessalonians. He challenged us to live in accordance to how God has called us to live many areas of our lives. One of these was not to put on a mask, but to let people see the real me. It’s easy to pretend that I am a “perfect Christian” when in fact this is not the case and it is impossible. He also challenged us to live boldly for Christ, to live a pure life and to treat my work and studies as part of my worship to God.
Dave likewise challenged us to live an undivided life. It is far to essay to separate our life’s form the story of the gospel. Dave’s challenge to relate the gospel message to our world and to individual’s lives was great. We need to think thought how the story of the gospel relates to the people around us, to both work and uni satiations, to the content of the subjects we study and to society in general. I guess I've always known and bean worried by the fact that Christians tended to live in our own Christian bubble to some degree. Often we listen to “christen music”, read Christian books and hang out with christen. While these are not bad things in themselves, we do have a tendency to alienate ourselves from the rest of the world and then wonder why we have issues reaching them. To overcome this, we need to, as Dave said, understand the story of the gospel, the story of the world and the story of the individuals we know. I realised that this is something which I myself will need to do if any change is going o happen. Furthermore, Dave reminded us that we need to have love for the people around us and not treat them as project but as individuals people made and love by God.
The “interactive experience” was also a high light for the conference. This was a number of actives which we did such as a card game where we could not talk, a hospital simulation, where we had to decide who lived and who died, a confidence courses, where some of us were blindfolded and a quiz. As great as talks are, I found it really helpfully to learn lesson is different ways. All the actives were helpful and it was really interesting to see how different people reacted in the different situations, especially the lunch! Some of us got to sit at the table and have a good feed, while the rest of us had to sit on the floor and got very little. While many of the lesson I guess I knew before, it often take a practical situation, such as we were faced with to derive, them home.
TSCF conferences are great times for learning, speeding time with God and for fellowship. It was awesome to see people I haven’t seen in a while and to meet new people. But the best thing of all was that God was at work.

New things.

2007-07-02T11:39:00.000+12:00

So, I have a blog. I don't know how much I'm going to use it, or if anyone will ever bother reading it if I do, but I have one nevertheless. Why? In this world, Internet is is changing the way we like and communicate with each other. Every man ( or women) and his dog seems to have a blog. It provides a space for expressing ones views on any issue one whats to address and for give people- friends, acquaintances, enemies and strangers- a glimpse into there lives. For many people, there opinions are ill informed, based on doggy media series. For me, I hope that my views here can be formed by something more than that. Hopefully I can think about what I say before I post it. Hopefully I can research my facts, and not rely on bad research. Hopefully I will let God's word shape my thinking. So yeah. This is post number one. Enjoy.

Nathan’s voice on this crazy thing we call internet

Rugby world cup Car flags

Top five Puddleglum quotes to learn for the Ball.

Narnia Ball: Costume Ideas

Harry Potter 7.2 Review

Top Ten Blog posts I would/could have done, since the last time I blogged....

Loving

Pondering

Hi

Blog

Top 30 Laidlaw Quotes of the Year

I know what I'm doing my Masters thesis on!!!

You know that your a Laidlaw theology student when....

Quotes....

Rugby should be an olympic sport!!!

Parachute 2010

Why Theology is the most important subject.

Turns out that “The Church” is a building after all....

New Names for our Islands?

Isaiah and Jonah: A tale of two Prophets.

the beatitude: remixed

I Want one!!!!!!!

"As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God"

Pi Day, yesterday.....

Question of the day..

Auckland: After one week.

1st day at laidlaw.....

Nathan goes over to the darkside......

this is stupid........

Parachute 2009

What's in it for..... others!!!!

Nathan's Election predications

weird things about Auckland

Google Games!!!

Graduations are also very auspicious occasions.

Follow your dreams?

the M and M weeding

Twenty something’s: the churches unreached generation?

A tribute to Kylie

Same staff I’ve bean thinking about

What’s so silly about the silly season? (Apart from my spelling......)

What is church?

Hip hop History of the church 101. Plus Jesus on the water revisited

S.L.C 2007: the end of my time with TSCF.... or maybe just the end of the beginning............

Harvests 2007: my reflections.

Yesssssssss!!!

NOOOOOOOOOO.......

Blogs and blondes

Arrrrrrrhhhh!!

How Kiwi is the chruch in New Zealand?

America

Girls

Old and retired

Poltical Campus

Sick

Random post

Christianity: a relationship with God?

Political websites visterd in New Zeland

Muffins

TSCF Conference

New things.