Numb3er5

Before I start (fully recovered since last blog, God has been answering a few prayers :D )



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There are currently 4,283,179 people living in NZ, our most recent unemployment figure is 3.9%, one of the lowest in the world, if not the lowest. Every year we as a nation consume up to 470 million litres of alcohol, the proportion of that figure in which we consume spirits has almost double since the new millennium. Our average weekly income * was $537, up 3.5 percent from the June 2007 quarter
* Was up 5.3 percent for females (to $413) and up 2.3 percent for males (to $690) from the June 2007 quarter
*Was highest for those in the 30–34, 45–49 and 50–54 year age groups at $767.

Yet despite this there are over 420,000 crime offences reported every year (on a slow and steady decline I may add) with only 48% of these being resolved. Just recently our national annual suicide rate passed that of our own road toll, there are more people intentionally hurting themselves in NZ then there are accidentally doing it. In 2007 we had 759,906 students attending school 33% of which left school before reaching year 13. In our country over two million people call themself Christian. The main Christian denominations are Anglican (584,793 or 17 percent of people), Catholic (486,012 or 14 percent) and the Presbyterian group (417,453 or 11 percent).

Yet there were 18,380 abortions in 2007 with Women aged 20–24 years having the highest abortion rate (37 abortions per 1,000 women aged 20–24 years) in 2007. There were 317 resident civil unions in 2007 80% of which were same-sex unions. There were 11.3 divorces for every 1000 married couple in 2007, putting it at just above 1 in 10 marriages being unsuccessful. But more than all of this, there were a recorded 28,690 deaths recorded in 2007.

So that is the cross section of our society today, my biggest question is, how many of these people that call themselves Christian actually are living and acting out their faith everyday? I’m not one to point the finger and that’s certainly not what i'm here to do my biggest burden is thinking about those 28,690 deaths. These numbers all represent a proportion of events within the given time but they are more than numbers, we are more than numbers and statistics, you are more than a statistic. These numbers represent people’s lives, their actions, their beliefs and their social background. These are people with mothers and fathers, and family's. People with everyday problems, with love mishaps and people just like you and me, obviously we are all unique and not like anyone else we will find and yet we are a mere proportion of the world, compared to the 6.3 billion people everywhere else in the world we are but a spec. Isn’t it amazing that we are all different in some respect, we will find others with similarities but there is not one person like me, like you? Its particularly sad a distressing to see our suicide rate climbing and climbing.

My burden is with the number of deaths because although I can assume the majority of them were natural death's how many were murders? How many were suicides? And more than anything, how many were people calling themselves Christian? And how many weren't? I’m not trying to condemn anyone at all, only god can know how many of that number made it into his kingdom, but looking at all these other numbers I can only assume the percentage was small indeed. There must more to this life right? More than living than dying, more than the money we work so hard to dispose of, more than the cars we drive to destroy, more than the relationships we go through so fast. One question we must all ask ourselves is this, "what numbers will I fill?" at the end of the day we can't prevent being part of a statistic but like I have said these statistics show the makeup of our lives.

I remember vividly when that woman at the airport leant on the wall next to me and said "ah its the cross section of society huh?" The bible talks of our lives being like a breath of wind, moving swiftly from our birth to our death. We are but dust floating into the oblivion that is our future and we are as fragile as dust. Anyone who has lost a loved one or witnessed a horrific accident resulting in death will tell you how much it rips your insides apart, feeling as if a bombs gone off inside of you.

As Christmas approaches I can't help but think again 'this feels familiar' it seems like only a short period of time that it was Christmas last year, yet despite this we still clutter our lives with the meaningless material junk, the stuff we consume, the stuff we decorate ourselves with, the dresses we wear once or suits we wear once. For what may I ask? It will all mean nothing when you die, of course you can say "live it while you can" but its a chasing of the wind, its something that is merely chewing your time. Recently I attended a worship conference in Wellington city and in the back of my notebook I stumbled across a quote that opened my eyes once again

"There are no clocks to measure time except the beating of our singing heart"
No with no idea on earth who said this it made it feel more like God telling me to stop cluttering myself with all this nonsense and just sit back and relax, to simplify things and essentially have less of me more of God. In the famous words of "fight Club's" Tyler Durden

"Warning: If you are reading this then this warning is for you. Every word you read of this useless fine print is another second off your life. Don't you have other things to do? Is your life so empty that you honestly can't think of a better way to spend these moments? Or are you so impressed with authority that you give respect and credence to all that claim it? Do you read everything you're supposed to read? Do you think every thing you're supposed to think? Buy what you're told to want? Get out of your apartment. Meet a member of the opposite sex. Stop the excessive shopping. Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove you're alive. If you don't claim your humanity you will become a statistic. You have been warned- Tyler."

"This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time. "

Stop wasting your life.

Daniel

Familiarities

Its sad when you have familiarities invovled with debt, anger and general dissapointment in life.

i sit here, once again in debt, i need not go into details but its 1100 this time.

It all feel's so familiar and I wander how on earth I got back to this depressive state. With all do respect its not my fault this time, and I say that in honesty, not in a way that is trying to pass on the blame from myself. It would appear that I do indeed love to serve others, I love to love others. In the state I'm in, which is all to familiar for my liking I wander why I bother anymore. It would seem I get nothing back physically or spiritually and its this caring, loving and serving side of myself that has seemed to have gotten me into this scenario and all I can think is. Why?

I hear so many stories of God Blessing people, Healing them, Restoring them. And needless to say I have had revelations from God, in fact one just last thursday but I begin to wander, when am I truly going to get something back? I have given up so much for the 'Jesus Way of Life' and what have I got to show for it? Whilst I write I think of what one preacher once said, and that is that if i'm wandering when my next blessing or revelation is I need to put my trust in God, look back to the last one he gave me and live on that promise. My last revelation was when I was breaking down, because I came to the realisation that I have no idea what I'm doing next year and i just cried out to God, trusting in him. I opened my bible and there stood the words "Go in peace, Your journey has been approved by the Lord." I am trying with all I have to keep that as my foundation right now but after giving up so much of my life to God I sadly have to say I'm beggining to doubt him.

My journey to the Lord has been one of complete logic as that is how i function and God is aware of that, so in that aspect I have no doubt that the Judea Christian God exists. My doubt lies in the favour-itism. I put that dash there for a reason. God doesn't play favourites but he does have favour for some rather than others, And that is biblical. As I came to face the facts of my situation I had to clearly write out my priorities. And for me that is money, the money that I don't have. 400 of it being fines that will get me a police record if not paid. So this means I'm not going to finish the duration of my schooling which to me is a major dissapointment, not because I like school but because it means i have wasted my whole year, its gone. thats time i could have spent working. whether it be for the kingdom of God or the numerical currency we strive to attain.

tommorow I will be working all day, I'm hoping this will help prepare me for working full time, or whatever it is I end up doing next year. As I have said the sad part is that this all came to happen through my kindness towards others, my willingness to help and let them have a fun time. I can't help but feel utmost hatred at this. If this is what I get for being kind and loving then maybe I should never bother ever again, I even begin to feel my thoughts that say "if I died right now i wouldn't have these problems." however I know I've overcome this before and I'm better than that.
but will anyone notice me this time? will anyone thank me? will anyone help me for a change? will they be grateful for the sacrifices i make to make them happy?

I can only hope to get over myself in this time, in the sense that I need to focus on God, and trust that my problems are but a dust particle to him, they are no problem for him to handle, but will I be able to really surrender myself to him? it's one thing for me to pray this, to sing it in the songs. But I simply don't know how to open myself up to him. for this I begin to think "when will he open me up and operate?" because if I can't willingly do it then I can only pray that he will force it upon me.

I wish i could go in peace, knowing that my journey is approved by the Lord himself but I.. I just can't.

Adulthood.

What is adulthood?

ok no I'm not going to go down that rant.

but I will say what I have been saying to most when I could be bothered explaining.

18 is merely a number to me, and recently I have wandered what our lives would be like if we didn't attach numbers to our birthdays, the only reason we feel old, or young, is because of that number. so its just another number to me, one which bears no real significance to me, for i feel alive, not young neither old.

It has been a while since i wrote and i suppose i'll just explain whats been happening.

exams, what a big bundle of joy huh? i finished them last friday, but something was different this year when i sat them, i bore no real stress upon them because the simple fact is i just don't care anymore. not in the sense that i would simply not attend, as i attended all. but i just feel at ease with my results. the only reason they feel stressful to people is because their whole future lies in those results, how sad that must be to be audited your whole life by others, ending up only where your own knowledge leads you. this year was different for me, i've been continually growing in the lord this year, reminding myself that i need to be refreshed in his spirit everyday. and the reason i simply didn't care this year is because i know that God has everything safe and secure in his hands. why should i worry when i have the creator of all the universe looking after me? my future bears no relationship to these results, not anymore. and i feel confident in knowing that God will take me where he wants, and i guess this is just another step to not living for myself but living for God. just giving him more and more of my life to him for him to do with as he pleases, i've never felt more alive in life, i've never felt more content with nature, with the world, with the people around me. sure i still feel disgust at how human beings have polluted God's beautiful creation, polluted with more than just atmosphere, polluted with violence, hate, famine, war, prostitution and basically with everything that God never intended. yet at the same time i feel content in knowing that we are all part of his divine, complex plan. in knowing that he knows all and see's all. he can see our struggle now yet he also see's the point in the future when its resolved, he's watching the second coming as we speak.

as i reach 'adulthood' i feel no different, but i do feel a sense of change. a sense that now because i am no more 'wordly' confined that God is beginning to lift the same confinements off me spiritually. of course it only comes down to my own will power and passion for him, and life is beautiful, no matter how much we go up and down like waves on the sea, i live on the foundation of Jesus that will never fail. I am beginning to see the beauty in the everyday things, the simple joy's of life that, for the masses, we all just run by, so occupied in our own issues that we never stop to look and realise that amongst everything, amongst the war, the crime, the economy's, the pollution of everything. If we are to simply stop and take a breath for a moment we can see that beauty, we merely have to open our eyes, and our hearts to the raw beauty of life.

i am really unsure of what my point in tonights post is. it seems, as per usual, that i am ranting (its fun you should try it sometime), but none of this worry's me, in my puberty years, in the years that i was trying to discover what life was all about i obviously began thinking of girls. my mind still today wanders off into 'what my future could look like with her' yet allthough it troubles me i don't feel confined by it, God provides me with what i need at the appropriate times i need it, he is my one true love, and Jesus the bride that awaits me in the place he has prepared for me. i feel it neccesary to copy and paste something of which i wrote a few years back. something that i thought, at the time, was a stepping stone in my life.

"i finally feel like i have lived life because i almost passed out while being the host to a new years piss up i have a mad collection of music on my dell 17.5 gigs to be exact and i feel like my life career is pointing towards photography and being in a nz band i am no longer worried about what people think of me and have confidence when meeting new people
(mainly chicks) i feel like 2005 to 2006 new years piss up will forever be a milestone in my life and i have my 42 below bottle to remember it all"

now this is just a part of what i wrote, and as you can see i was placing my hope in the wrong places, i had no mention of God or spirituality, and of all the thing i was proud of it was all wordly, all temporary and 'a chasing after the wind'. i had no idea what i was talking about and this life lead me to destruction.

i look back at that and simply laugh at my own stupidity, but also rejoice in knowing that i will never have to go down that road again. i still feel that passion for photography but merely as a hobbie, the reason is simple. seeing God's beauty with our own eyes is beautiful but when we capture that on paper, on film, only then does it become absolutely priceless, like decorations which truly glorify God's creation. i know also that music is still a passion of mine, and whilst at parachute i was more clear on the reason why. music can be used for one of two things. to reach an audience with the truths in the band's lives. lessons they've learnt and things they've endured, things that they are able to communicate to us through their lyrics and music. in this first part also fits in the crucial part of glorifying God, because for most of these truth's that they want to communicate none shine as bright as the truth of Jesus Christ, his suffering and our life in him. the second is probably just as common as the first, to communicate false truth's, to send a message of hate to the listener's because the song writer has endured something but not found the truth in it.

i believe this is also the choice we have in life. to live one of truth, or of false truth and false hope. there is no doubt in my mind that my future lies in the hands of God, so i merely ask you today, where does your future lie? is it in the results of the next coming test, is it in the false hope of mediocre life that the media portray's. or are you sick of conforming, of going along with the crowd and pretending like everything's ok when you know that there isn't much right about your life.

99% of all thought processes are eliminated before they even reach our subconcious, how this works i do not know, but i know that the thoughts that reach your mind are shaped by your expectations, by where you have placed your hope in life and specifically where your passion lies.

think about it (really cruel pun/paradox huh?)

Healer

Now those of us who are well informed in the music scene of worship, from hillsong to hymns will have heard about the unfortunate events surrounding Michael Guglielmucci's Terminal Illness and his song about his struggles called "healer", It is my misfortune to announce (if you hadn't already known) that this was all a fabrication. Now below is an article i have found that tackles the issue with great wisdom and biblical background and if there's anything more i can add that the Article doesn't say it's that we should all be keeping Romans 2:1 in mind in this time of confusion and probable anger.

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Dear Worship Community,

I write this article today from my home office and studio. Looking outside my windows I can see the rain and wind increasing from Tropical Storm Fay. Although she is located several hours south of our home I can see and feel her presence. As the sky grows darker and more ominous I can’t help but think of the storm we’ve encountered over the last twenty four hours in the world’s worshiping communities.

Breaking across the news, forums, blogs, and twitter we all became aware of a great disappointment involving Mike Guglielmucci, author of the smashing hit song, “Healer”. Many who are familiar with this song and Mike’s story would read this and immediately think “Mike has passed away. He lost his battle with cancer”.

Sadly, that is not the disappointment and sorrow that we embraced yesterday. On the contrary, we learned the terrible news that Mike Guglielmucci’s story of his terminal disease, his battle with cancer, and who knows what else …. was a lie. One of the original stories was published in this Australian news site.

So as worshipers, many of whom have promoted this song, the now-famous video testimony, and the recordings, we find ourselves tossing back and forth with waves of emotion including anger, grief, frustration, bitterness, pity … and the list goes on and on. Many of us have shown the video of this false testimony to our churches, our friends, and even our sick loved ones.

This comes on the heels of continued announcements of sin and moral failure from other well-known ministers including Todd Bentley of the “Lakeland Revival”.

Events like these invoke such incredible emotions and questions. With today’s technology it’s not uncommon for a person, a song, a ministry, or an event to become world-famous within a few weeks. How do we handle the fame?
How do we address the elevation of people and songs into the world’s view? More importantly - how do we handle it when these “vessels” break?

The news came pouring into my inbox yesterday morning. I was scheduled to lead an hour of worship and prayer at my home church, St. Simons Community Church. I arrived for prayer, sat down at the keyboard, and looked across the congregation. With authentic disclosure I leaned into the mic and said, “I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to worship. I don’t want to sing. I’m frustrated. I’m disappointed and disillusioned”. Jumping into a super-spiritual time of worship would have been fake and fabricated - just as much as the story Mike Guglielmucci has told us. I gave a quick, 2-3 minute recap of the morning’s events and just sat back for prayer.

One of the men in the congregation spoke out and brought forth a reading from God’s Word that I believe is incredibly relevant to this situation.

15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.

18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, …

Philippians 1:15-18 (NIV)

I love how “The Message” translation covers verses 18-19:

18 So how am I to respond? I’ve decided that I really don’t care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on! And I’m going to keep that celebration going 19 because I know how it’s going to turn out.

Men and women of God, we must remember this truth. God has given us His light. We are to be His glory here in the earth. However, the all-wise God of the Universe chose to put Himself in us, a people who despite all the wonderful glory of God are “prone to wander” as the hymn writer of “Come Thou Fount” so poetically puts it.

Paul speaks to this in 2 Corinthians:

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all‑surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Cor. 4:7)

We are these earthen, clay vessels. The thing about earthen, clay vessels is that they are fragile. They can break. So when vessels break, how do we respond? Biblical discipline should be exercised through the local church. I’m grateful to see this is happening. The position of influence and honor should be removed. Restoration should begin. Healing should be sought. Prayer should be offered.

As I have pondered these events, I’m somewhat at peace by the reminder that none of this surprised God. He wasn’t caught off guard. As much as this sin and failure grieves Him and His Church, He is still in control.

We do not know the heart or motives of Mike Guglielmucci, Todd Bentley, or other ministers who have had their sins exposed on a worldwide level. We certainly must confess that we’re all capable of such sin. We must ask ourselves how the Church would respond if all of our secret sins, thoughts, motives, and selfish ambitions were exposed for the world to see.

With this in mind, we have to ask ourselves this question - does the breaking of the vessel disqualify what the vessel produced? Is the song tainted? Honestly, the true motive behind the creation of these lyrics and this beautiful, anthemic melody is still unknown. We cannot (and should not) accurately judge that at this time with our limited information. Still, aren’t these lyrics still true? Do they not express God’s redemption and healing grace? Do they not uplift and edify the sick, the weak and the weary?

Lastly, could it be that God will use any vessel (weak, strong, broken, tainted) to accomplish His will? I believe we can go to Scripture and see God using the weak to confound the wise. He uses wicked Kings and rulers to further His plan. He uses prostitutes and yes, even donkeys. He uses you and me.

These actions, like Tropical Storm Fay, are sending out their effects. The rock has been thrown into the water, and the ripples are racing across time. How will we, the Church, respond? Despite our frustration, let’s allow the local church and those in authority over these “broken vessels” their freedom to exercise discipline. For the rest of us, let us pray. Pray earnestly for those affected. Pray that God will be glorified in the midst of failure. Pray that “in our weakness, He will be strong”. Pray for wisdom to those involved in the music industry that have supported this song. Pray for Planetshakers, Hillsongs, and for Integrity Music. Pray for the tens of thousands of Believers that will be discouraged by high profile, public failure.

I believe You’re my Healer
I believe You are all I need
I believe You’re my Portion
I believe You’re more than enough for me
Jesus You’re all I need
My Healer, You’re my Healer
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
You hold my world in Your hands

As for me ….

I STILL BELIEVE.
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To see the actual article please go to

http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/when-vessels-break/

Full credit to Fred McKinnon

"Fred McKinnon is the Founder and Publisher of TheWorshipCommunity.Com. He's also the Worship Director for St. Simons Community Church, a husband, father of 4 wonderful kids, an e-biz owner, and a self-professed web2.0 addict, blogging at www.fredmckinnon.com."

So will you still believe after this?

I will, and i also believe strongly that nothing we can do will ever hinder God's Power, whether that is the power to heal or to simply answer your prayers.

Struggles

It has been a few weeks since my last post and I thought I better update this thing.

After Get Smart I was on fire for God, and I need say that it has died a bit but it’s been good that mostly the fire has continued in its strength. It’s difficult for me to have such strong faith at times, especially when I continually argue with atheists who (for my rational and thinking mind) pose a good argument from time to time. I believe that that same thinking ability of mine is in need of a balance, its one of the reasons I walked away from God, yet at the same time it’s been pretty much the sole factor for my strengthening in faith for God. After Get Smart I found out that I had scoliosis and I felt deprived of the fact that I could have gotten healed, but with my thinking mind I reminded myself that with God there is no plan B, everything is according to his plan. However my physical condition has not improved much.

This year I haven't been exercising much and although I’m not one who actually cares what others think about my body and looks, I am one who (for the sake of the fact that my body is God's temple) wants to respect my body and be healthy and fit. I have never liked exercise much but have kept up with soccer and general walking around, its not as if I have much time this year to be active and going to a gym or anything as my schedule is choka block already and I can only hope that not having school next year will free things up a lot for me. Whilst I am aware that for every struggle God will provide us with Blessings and/or a rejoicing time, it’s hard when I'm going all out for God and I seem to not get much in return. In saying that I am preaching next week at our Christian group at school and I am prayerfully jumping into that task with all I can give it.

This weekend coming up is going to be amazing, with youth group on Friday night, the school ball on Saturday night and church Sunday morning, followed by a worship service that night also. Amongst all my struggles and stress I see evidently that God is up to something great, I talk to friends who all say that their church needs to find a bigger venue. I see more ad's on TV about Sunday services, and TV programmes which broadcast some of these. I know that whilst God has a plan for my life I have to see past that and think broader, think about the huge revivals he is doing worldwide and in my own city. I see on the news the constant troubles and misfortune of war, poverty, famine, pollution and all the rest of it so I’m now making another stand against news. Not because I want to be ignorant about it but merely because it pains me to watch sometimes, when I’m doing all I can for God where he has put me but begin to wonder "where are the people that he has called for these regions?" and more importantly why are we a generation that ignores such calls, we all want to make a change and do something great with our life’s but God it just seems we're all talk and no walk when you actually call us to do great things.

Father in heaven I thank you for what you are doing, but Jesus I pray that we begin to be a generation who won't back down from your call at the first sign of struggle and persecution, you took the ultimate punishment and what we endure is mere bee stings in comparism.

God give us a heart of Passion, a heart that serves. No matter what the cost.

Go Dream

It as indeed been a while since I have written.

Things became busy and sick for me during the last week of school.

managed to get the famine 'to do' list done, raising a massive 9800 dollars, a very gratifying feeling indeed, every minute of stress was well worth it, still more to come though.

During these holidays I attended my first ever Get Smart youth conference, entitled "Dream". And indeed they focused on dreams, the dreams we have and how to align them with the plans that God has for us.

we all know of the lines people get in for days, whether it is to get the new Iphone, or to see a international band, or for a new book release - but I was blown down and completely awe stricken to hear that young people from all across the south island were queuing from 7am till 9am to get in, queuing to praise God, to learn about him and to have their lives changed. The atmosphere was electric, and several times, the building filled with a warmth that I felt to be un-natural and could only be explained by the presence of God. And be assured that God did move, he did touch people, he broke down barriers, he healed lives and found hundreds more in his kingdom by the end of the conference.

It was an event full of brilliant international speakers, unforgettable worship and an atmosphere that will remain vivid in my mind for decades to come. I could fairly say that half my praise time was spent looking around, soaking up the fact that hundreds of teenagers were gathering to lay their lives down at the feet of the Lord and serve him, it does indeed feel like God is building up an army. And I pray with all my heart that the young people who attended do not lose heart, but study their notes, listen to their resources and read the books they bought, to grow and rest on God in these hectic days where it feels as if hell is right outside the gates of church. But as a speaker reminded us it is just the opposite, the Church (the body) is set up right outside the gates of Hell.

The two most memorable scenes in my mind were as follows.
1. the healings, and I talk of this in the broad sense of hundreds of lives being healed clean of sin by accepting Jesus as their saviour (and indeed my heart still rejoices.) but also in the direct meaning, the healing of the injured, right in front of me I saw people being healed of scoliosis (only to my surprise to find out I have it, as the symptom is that one leg is slightly longer than they other) and to see a person I know, walk up the stage on crutches, and then to walk off the stage without the assistance of the crutches, here is a young man who accidentally cut himself with a chainsaw, breaking bones. To be drastically taken under the power of God, and being healed, for hundreds to testify Gods Glory. For this I thank and praise thee oh wonderful God. Amen.
2. The speakers, in specific Reggie Dabbs, Andi Andrews, Brian Houston and Jurgen Mathesius. Reggie is one of those lively black Americans who have the ability to make people laugh, yet pierce their heart with Gods truth at the very same time. Reggie, during his first sermon asked for all the mothers in the crowd to come to the altar, and then asked anyone with addictions, with conditions of which the doctor said there was no hope to come forward, the aisles filled with hundreds of people in need for a mothers love, the love that is so unique and powerful that all Reggie asked them to do is to move amongst the crowd, looking them in the eyes, saying they love them and giving them a hug, lo and behold that was all that needed be done for the love of God to come to every person in that auditorium. Andi preached whilst pregnant, that alone to me shows the true heart of a Christian, to put aside your own needs and circumstances and to give it all you’ve got to bring people to Christ, my notes and undoubtedly the longest on her sermon, she spoke with challenging and convicting authority of how we as Christians need to get over what other people think, and to stop settling for second best, she hit the very important issue of relationship on the head by stating that so often young men and women settle for second best to suit their temporary needs of comfort in one another. She spoke informatively on how even today we still praise other Gods by giving into such things as, loss of our God given identity, loss of generations and most importantly our persistent ability to make ourselves sexually immoral. Brian talked about living on the edge, and touched on the fact that Jesus himself said ‘let your yes be yes and your no be no’ he talked with wisdom on not being indecisive, and that if we live our lives sensibly were not living what God wants for us, simply because sometimes what God requires of us doesn’t make sense! Finally Jurgen talked about living with a complaint, and not accepting the unacceptable. Living with a complaint does not mean we waste our time on our complaints but it means do not live with complacency, because it’s then that we lose our passion for the lost. And don’t accept that your friends and family members go on life condemned to Hell! because that’s unacceptable, He spoke with great passion and carelessness about the use of the word ‘Hell’ and ‘Devil’ which I think made him stand out for me.

There is simply too much to talk about, so for your sake I will wrap it up. But I must say that I see Get Smart being the beginning of something great, being the point in young peoples lives where they can say to their friends looking back, “that is the reason you are saved today, that is the reason I love God like I do and that is the reason you are seeing an uprising In followers of Jesus Christ”

God is doing something in my School, he is doing something in Wellington and he is doing something in our country, I am forever thankful that I am part of all three, any Christian living here today is part of his plans, and it constantly leaves me in awe that he would choose me to do his good works in life.

Amen to that.

Dependance

“We are dependant on God, God is independent of us”

As this thought occurred to me I realised just how much it was God himself that put it into my mind. It makes perfect sense, however let me elaborate and go into depth for this.

The Basis of God is that he created all and governs all, he is outside all laws we could conjure up because, and fact is. He created those laws. He is all powerful, all knowing, and present everywhere you go. Why did God create us if he knew we would betray him? Because it pleased him, he would get satisfaction out of us finding him through our own choice, the choice which is free will. However we seem to forget that God is unaffected by our decisions, by what we say and what we do, in fact although it pleases him it could not bother him one bit what we get up, he created us, left us with his word and his son, what more does he need to do? God is fully independent of us, which goes to say that whatever we say will not effect his existence, what we say and do will also have no effect on him as C.S Lewis once said ‘a man can so much defy God’s existence as a man can scribble ‘light’ on the walls is a hope to escape the darkness.’ It goes to show that whatever we say or do, no matter how smart we think we are the fact is God is real (cff ‘the case for Christ’.) a further analogy of this is Shakespeare, a once living man, created plays did he not? Othello and Romeo (as we see them in the play) do not talk of Shakespeare, in this role Shakespeare is the creator and they are the characters, as much as they want to they would never be able to find proof of Shakespeare because Shakespeare could make and laws he wants to govern them in his play and he would still be unaffected by them. However the characters are dependant on Shakespeare’s laws to survive, in fact without Shakespeare they would not exist. Did Shakespeare gain anything out of creating this play? Not anything personally as far as we know however it satisfied him to do so. So here the characters are fully dependant on Shakespeare for existence and a fulfilling life, yet Shakespeare in completely independent of them in the sense that what they say and do in the play will not change him at all.

Do you see the dilemma? We can continue to try and disprove God yet all we have in dependant of God, ironic isn’t it? That some of us use God’s given gifts to try and disprove God, it makes me smile at times because we are a generation that has lost our meaning, our purpose and our one true love. Sure you can try and debate what I say, or what Lee Strobel says, just as I could debate what Charles Darwin said or what Richard Dawkins chooses to say, fact is neither of us will be right, and anything we say or type will not even come close to what God knows, in fact it’s a lost cause on either side to prove or disprove God. At the end of the day all we have is the Bible and it is the only thing we can research to truly find what God thinks and who he is as our creator. It’s become such a common thing these days to just state ‘there is no God’ or on the flipside ‘God exists’
Yet what do we have to back up what we say? Nothing of our own knowledge, every piece of information we have today is thanks to the generations before us who, if you trace it back far enough, derive from thoughts and ideas around Jesus’ day. I do not think however that you can deny the importance of these things, our dating system is thanks to Bible, our naming of male and female is thanks to the Bible, the very governorship we have is thanks to the Bible, if you take things literally, everything and everyone we see today is thanks to the Bible (or God) so why are we so ignorant, why do we feel such hate to try and disprove our very own heavenly father. I used to be like this, blaming all my bad misfortune on God, hating him for the suffering in the world, the poverty, the war and the blatant evil and violence. It was not until I took a chance, accepted God’s free gift of salvation and stepped into the realm of the unknown, where Jesus is. That my life became blessed, it’s almost a year now since I did this and I can assure you that everything has gotten better, I have been so blessed that it makes me guilty, it makes me hate myself for how much time I wasted despising God, yet still he accepted me with open arms. The name God is very fitting and I cannot begin to describe to you how great he is, every song we sing, every prayer we pray and every little thing we do in his name will never fulfil what we owe Jesus for his suffering, the suffering we caused. Yet we are so lost.

‘Some want to set up stall under the safety of the bell
I would prefer to set up near the gates of hell’

I pray peace over everyone who reads this, I pray for a curiosity for you to contact your local church and i pray he pours his love into you.

May He guide you

Daniel

Let us.

Where to start?

Recently I have been extremely busy with my life, a simple way to emphasise this is that I have only Wednesday night free at the moment, remembering I have school everyday on top of that. Amongst this busy schedule I lost focus on God, forgot that in putting him first everything will fall into place. I really felt god telling me to just stop, not slow down but just stop completely and focus on him. I took Friday off school and did this, spending the day at church with my pastors just praying, talking and reading.

I think there is a lesson in this, sometimes although we are focusing on god; we lose sight of him as soon as an earthly task comes to hand. I believe quite literally that we need to be offering all that we do up to our lord and this is more than my thoughts -

I Corinthians 10:31
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

God wants us to do so, he doesn't need it there is nothing he 'needs' except for us to follow the two greatest commandments - Matthew 22:37-40

And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'
This is the great and foremost commandment.
The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'
On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.

I need not expand on that however let me get to the bone of my post today,
In Genesis 1:26 it says this.

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

we see a confusion here, it says 'and GOD said' God as one individual however when its God's word we see him say 'let us make..', so we know this is before Adam and Eve, in fact this is the very moment that God wants to create Adam. So who is 'us'?
It the goes on to say 'according to our likeness' the functional word here is once again 'our' as if there is more than one God. No not more than one God but the same God, this verse is the very first instance of the trinity. The Father. The Son. The Holy Spirit. So is this to say that we are not only made in the image of God, but also the image of Jesus and the Holy Spirit? yes that is exactly what this means.
Just try to grasp that for a moment, YOU are made in the image of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit, you are made in the concept of three entities. So what does this mean for us? I'm sure anyone who has read 1 Corinthians knows about chapter 13, the love chapter, a very beautiful chapter indeed. But before Paul writes that he wants to tell us about the characteristics of God. We all have some vague idea about how the trinity works, basically its three entities but the same character (being God).
So what does this suggest about us? Well firstly we have the father, which directly relates to God, our Father in heaven. Now God is the one whom we find ourselves in, he is the one of which we find or purpose in. our role. Secondly we have the son, Jesus, our saviour. Jesus walked this earth as a man and he represents the body, the body of Christ and how we are all a different part of this body. Lastly we have the Holy Spirit; the spirit empowers us to do what we would not be able to do on our own. The spirit empowers us for service. So we have the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. Our gifts, our unification and our service. I think it’s obvious in some churches that we focus on one of these three and almost forget about the other two. For example some churches may be all about service, all about evangelising to reach people. And this is great however they need to acknowledge people and that function they have in the unified body of Christ, they may be missing unity. Other churches may have this unity but have it so much that they feel closed off to newcomers, to reaching people. These churches possibly won't acknowledge people gifts, people’s talents. And the churches that do recognise gifts and talents of their congregation but at the same time have conflict within their church; they may not be unified with one another.

Three is the magical number here, a tripod for a camera is a very strong and reliable stand, however with just one of the legs missing it will fall, the rotary motor would not function without all three points. Like this we must remember that we have our three aspects on our journey towards conforming to Christ, we each have our own gifts and talents that god calls us to use, we are all part of the same body and need to be unified, and we all need to reach people. There was a survey done of 400 people, it showed that almost every time 9 out of 10 people would come to a church if they were invited.

So use your gifts, be unified within church but don't get comfortable, step out of that comfort zone and reach people.

'You are a Christian today because someone cared,
Now it’s your turn'

Peace and Blessings.

Dan

I Wonder

God is wonderful isn't he.

it seems more and more that his wonders have been revealed to me, everything you see in front of you now is thanks to god, the photons and electrons givings at the speed of light into you eyes which transmits the image to your brain to see, the very seat you sit on and even the simple keyboard keys you tap on probably everyday.

the more i think about it the more i stand in complete amazement and awe of his works, his power, his glory and his wonder.

so i wonder, why does it all seem to pass us by every single day, whether you believe that everything is in and because of god or not, life is a beautiful thing. we are surrounded by beauty and complexity, by masses of mountains yet droplets of beauty fall on them every week. how is it that we miss the wonders around us, it takes a simple observation and calm of mind to begin to realise just how empowering the things around us are. we live in a world that is full of suicide, full of depression full of a lack of motivation, yet there is inspiration all around us. beneath our feet, in our hearts, everywhere we go there is complexity and complete motivation.

it seems im just ranting now, i always tend to do that.

i just stand in complete awe of the beauty of our world, of my life, of your life and of every living thing around us, how can we miss this beauty. why do we not take the time to indulge in it and begin to comprehend the inspiration that surrounds us.

may we all be more observant and aware of the simple ecstatic joy that awaits us at every moment of every day.

The Power of Faith

I'm sure we (those who are familiar with scripture) have heard that faith is more important than deeds, however on top of that i must say that when two combine its a powerful thing. We know that Abraham was one who did good deeds through good faith, and he was very blessed by God for his obedience and his faith in him.

with the recent activities I have been partaking in God has slowly been revealing some small things of big importance, i feel the lord nudging me towards a season of prayer in my life, prayer for me personally has always been a hard thing, i often feel uncomfortable and inferior whilst praying knowing that he knows my thoughts, my heart and where I'm at, it almost feels unnecessary for me. However things have been unravelling for me and it seems that i have missed an important piece of knowledge, as humans we have senses and we all know that some of us have better smelling than others and so on. however god has also designed us with the same spiritual senses and once again they are unique to us as his children, there is a story of a person that i came across who could literally smell the sense of the holy spirit in the room of which he was in. consequently we all have spiritual ears, and we use these when we pray - our prayer is like out communication centre with the lord and it is this part of our life that the devil wants to attack, why?. because the he knows that once our communication centre is out our spiritual ears will not get any more orders from God, and on that it is important for us to acknowledge the importance of what the military like to call 'Last Standing Order' (LSO) which means that we need not hesitate if we haven't heard from God in a while, simply continue living how you have been since his last communication with you and he will use that growth to speak to you again.

I have come to quick realisation of this importance in prayer, during last weeks church service there was an alter call for healing, two people came up to the front and the first had three people praying for him so there wasn't much room for me to act there, i noticed another woman coming up the front and walked over to meet her.
I cannot remember what i prayed for her yet i KNOW that it was a prayer of complete faith in god to heal her of whatever the problem was for her, she approached me today and thanked me for the prayer, she had been suffering from major back pain the weeks prior to that service and it was affecting her sleep, work and pretty much all aspects of her life. The very next day after i prayed for her, she slept completely, her pain had completely gone away. She told me this today and i stumbled for a second, its like she was acknowledging me for her healing?!?! like wow. As the day went on i focused on the fact that it was gods healing and not mine however i did make the connection that if it had not been for my prayer, my faith combined with my deeds, she would still be in pain today. It was certainly a wake up call to me, and I'm beginning to make an effort for sorting out my prayer life and making it feel more comfortable for me to do so.

A while ago, i was talking to a man who was telling me his beliefs and his experiences with god, its important to note that this man was not christian although he did have complete faith that god was real and that he could move in his life. He was at a party (not drinking) for a Friends sake and he was watching the drunks try to balance a stick on their fingers - whoever held it the longest won, he was speaking to a woman about his beliefs and was touching on the fact that it was all a a matter of faith, 'for instance' he said 'i could make the stick stay still' as he pointed at the stick on the drunks finger which was completely vertical and rock solid, it was apparent to everyone in the room that it was a defiance of gravity (due to the intoxication of the player of that game) and he was explaining to me how, with the faith, we can all act god in one sense or another. It seemed blasphemous at first but with my constant intention to stay open minded i though about it and realised the connection between this statement and Christianity itself. The meaning of christian is literally to be 'Christ like' i think, honestly, none of us can attain this and there is the statement that i came across which says 'there was only ever one true christian, and he died on the cross for us', in being Christ like we are agreeing that we are to some extent living as god himself, due to the deity of the trinity we can twist it to say that being christian is to be 'god like'. is it so hard to believe that you could deify gravity, that you could provide miraculous healing for someone, that your prayer could completely change a town or even an entire nation?

in fact if you search youtube for 'chriss angel' you will eventually find a video of him walking water, i do not know the spiritual orientation of this man but i know he has faith, and it seems apparent that that is all that matters, however I do not believe this to be the case (not because i would sound blasphemous if i didn't believe this) as it seems to me that as the majority, the most miraculous of healing have occured through churches, i know of a town in africa where it was normal for your kid to say 'oh dads in prison for the night' the town was absolutely ridden with crime and hate. three women continued to pray over the years and miracles took place, God told them to crack open a rock that was on the main hill in their town and after they managed to get a miner in from OUT OF THE COUNTRY they cracked it open and water gushed out of the hill. Here was a town that was in complete famine and poverty with a small church with a few people who prayed with FAITH and served their God with their DEEDS and now the town only has 3 police members, no prominent jails and they are so nourished that they are sharing their food and water with outlying towns.

I do not wish to claim that i am god, not in the literal sense, however i do wish to make you all acknowledge that "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." and that when we have deeds with faith we "can do all through christ who strenthens us" our very faith tells us that nothing is impossible, the man with faith will move mountains.

I hope you can gain something out of my long rant tonight.

Peace.

Daniel

Loves Desires?

'Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires'

I suppose this post will be more personal but hopefully still literate for the readers sake. The scripture above is in song of songs, twice. Its such a short book which emphasises on songs which focus on love and the male and female body however this is said twice, its probably the biggest repetition in the bible in context of the small amount of space the repetition occurs.

I think, personally, i have always struggled with love and always questioned what it is exactly and from this comes relationship questions, when is the right time? is she the one for me? is this merely physical attraction (again)? how do i know when god is calling me to a relationship.

'the joy of intimacy is the reward of commitment'

I have seen this above quote in two books, neither referencing each other, i can only assume that they are oblivious to the fact or that its a clear signal from god to me.
what is joy? joy is seen to be above happiness, near the feeling of love and Ecstasy, in fact we see that true moments of joy are not recognised till after the actual event, we do not and can not directly say 'I am experiencing joy' on the contrary joy to me is like 'good times' we have as memories in our minds. During the joy and the good times we are completely unaware of it however it takes a quick reminisce into the situation to be able to acknowledge that it was a good time and it was joy. Furthermore what is it to be intimate? I do not think it is specifically for relationships as we often talk of having intimate time with a friend or intimate time with god, however I can relate being intimate to the issue of love, when we truly love a person (be it as a friend or as something more) we have a desire to be intimate with them, conclusively being intimate is something more common than we think, being intimate could simply mean asking questions to someone to get to know them, however it could also mean enjoying a time of 'sexual' intimacy with a lover.

The quote makes complete sense to me now as it has been set on my heart and mind for meditation over the past month or so. When we make a commitment we seem to expect something, however I think many of us fail to realise that that something is so simple, the reward of our commitment is merely having n intimate understanding of whom you are committing to. we see this is friendships, in relationship, in work places, in sports teams and in fact pretty much everywhere there is human socialisation we are able to ever so slightly observe this.

Let us return to the scripture this post will be based on, this scripture tells us to not 'arouse or awaken love until it so desires'. I think its safe to assume that in this sense 'arouse' means to play with love, to tease it in the sense that we play with the idea of love and try to enter into the commitments of love without comprehending or even understanding the concepts of responsibility that is involved, we try to awaken love before we are ready for it. Of course our human ignorance tells us that we are ready for it, our human senses know nothing of the dangers involved for us as humans in the idea of love, we want to take all the love we can get and reap in the rewards without and consequences of course this follows the logic of trying to eat the icing of the cake without the cake, it tastes great at the time but shortly after we realise our indulgence was short lived and we begin to feel sick with ourselves. A latter problem with this scripture is 'until it so desires' it would be logical enough for us all to think, 'well how will we know when it desires?'
we cannot wait around in dismay for love to take ahold of us, a fools thoughts derive from letting things play as they may and that he has no control over these events. conjointly we have the power to make loves desire to enter our life a quick or a slow process. If we all waited for love to capture us I think its safe to say that we would all be sitting ducks. So what are the signs? being a victim and a straggler with the idea of love itself and with relationships I cannot say that my advise will get you anywhere however I can only try through a story of my own.

My first and last relationship came to me not too long ago however I think its important for me to include the advice given to me by a close friend that was consulting me in my struggle with love she said something along the lines of 'trust me, when you stop looking for someone they will find you' as I look into her current situation I cannot say this speaks true to her, however it had a significant effect on me, since the sprouting of my armpit hair I had always been trying to chase love, to catch it and be 'cool' like the other kids who had girlfriends, funnily enough it only led me into the solitary singleness that i am in now and that would've made me beg the lord for a new life at one point. Love was it as far as I'm concerned, our only point to life (biologically) is to reproduce, this starts with a relationship and as far as i was concerned back then if i didn't have that i didn't have anything.
I struggled with this advise at first but one day just gave up on searching, gave up on love itself, and surely soon enough a relationship came to me first and foremost in a friendship. conclusively this didn't last too long however its a lesson of patience for me, sometimes we think we are so useless because we try so hard at something and continue to let it fall apart. So often have I seen this in relationships and its hard to intervene as people cannot get past their human biology of sex. I do not know what the signs of love are however I think one thing to do is to confess, if you find yourself thinking about a person constantly, and you really do think they may be 'the one' for you, take it seriously and consult your close friends and family.

Often we try to tackle life all on our own and this consequently leads to us failing and thinking because of our failure that we are useless, this is not the case. I often say that no-one knows you better than you (other than god himself obviously) however I think its important to note that in times of dismay and trouble our very own perspective on ourselves is realigned to fit with the thing we currently want, consulting with others is helpful in these times as it reminds us that people do know you well, people are there to help you, some people may even be as close as family themselves, its these people that can define the unchanging qualities of our personality and when they see us in that light it helps to think with a clear mind and analyse a situation to our true desires.

so once again i restate these quotes

from scripture : 'do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires'
from literature : 'the joy of intimacy is the reward of commitment'

To sum this up I would advise us all to ask these questions about love.

1. Is this me chasing love or is this the love that has been waiting for me to look from where I was running?
2. Am I trying to awaken love before I'm ready?
3. Am I ready to committ myself fully to this love and if so does the person I love desire me also?

the advice I also gave to someone whilst in their struggle was that love is a two way street, if only one of you is ready to committ your life to the other then it needs to be reconsidered, if only one wants sex (for their pleasure) then it needs to be reconsidered.

The general message here is obvious to myself, and I pray that it will be obvious to you now as you read, Love is without a doubt one of the most written, recorded and thought about idea in our world today, that is alongside the controversy of the bible, which funnily enough coincides with the idea of love itself as we can see.

Live life without complaint, and Love till the point exhaustion.

(please note in this post i am talking about love in the sense of marriage and life commitments, i have addressed in a previous post the different aspects that love has)

Peace, Daniel

Love is a Doing Word

in being half way through a book that talks about love and relationships, and having just finished one talking about love and lust, and having based my life around it, i begin to think. what is love? truly and honestly, what is it?

the dictionary defines love as the following.

"An intense feeling of affection and care towards another person."

would you think this to be a fair interpretation of the one thing that this world is moulded around (or should be, lord knows its certainly a missing factor in todays world), the one thing that can cause so much pain to someone because they supposedly 'fell in love' why do we say we 'fell' as if we couldn't control the feeling, this terminology seems quite ludacris to myself. we excuse things for the sake of love, 'why did you leave her?' 'because i was in love with her and it was the only way to protect her', every religion talks about it, whether from the positive spectrum or not, all beliefs are based around it and all deeds are done through it.

it has become conclusive to me that love is more than meets the eye, more than our minds can comprehend, more than our world could ever offer. Massive Attack describe love as a 'doing word' in their song, teardrop more lyrics from this describe love as the 'teardrop on the fire' of the world, what damage would a drop of water have to a blazing fire? none, why is it this way today?
C.S lewis wrote a book on it called "The Four Loves" i have yet to read it but its based on the four loves of our world which are as follows

* 1 Affection
* 2 Friendship
* 3 Eros
* 4 Caritas

the former two are obvious and self explanatry but the latter two are probably rare words to us so let me elaborate,

Eros (έρως) is love in the sense of 'being in love'. This is distinct from sexuality, which Lewis calls Venus. so in this character of love it is defined as being in love, which relates to 'falling in love' which implies a marriage or long term partnership to us

Caritas (agapē, αγαπη) is an unconditional love directed towards one's neighbor which is not dependent on any lovable qualities that the object of love possesses. from wikipedia that is a complex sentence so let us break that down to laymans terms. A loves B but independantly of the lovable qualities of B, so essentially we get to the religious side of things for the only one we know to love like this would be god.

so here we have three basic loves that are earthly and the last being supernatural. it would appear logically to me that the former three are striving and attaining to be like the 4th, but failing incomaprably to do so. shakespeare himself has written the vast majority of his works around the idea of love, i once read a poem of his (very long i may add) that describes the love between a turtle and a phoenix, as odd as this sounds shakespeare puts it well in this poem

"Reason, in itself confounded,
Saw division grow together;
To themselves yet either-neither,
Simple were so well compounded

That it cried how true a twain
Seemeth this concordant one!
Love hath reason, reason none
If what parts can so remain"

there is no reason in love, love knows no standards and it strikes wherever the connection occurs. its brings the divided together, its puts together the broken piece and it is full of twisted truths, yet at the end of it, when we find it. it appears so simple "Simple were so well compounded" to us that love may occur, how did we miss it beforehand, it was right in front of us how did we not grasp it?

let me back this up with some scripture, a piece that i love (funny that)

"Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,

5does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,

6does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. "

love, to us is something we characterise, something we try to put into perspective, a concept that has blown our minds until we learned to define and refine. yet here god tells us that love has no characteristics, it's simply love. it does not fear, does not hold grudges and does not have fovourites, its simple love. no one can take love away and no-one has more right to it than any other person, it simply loves. we cannot justify love and we cannot refuse to recieve it, it simply loves.

Switchfoot wrote 'look what a mess we've made of love' what is he comparing todays love to? being a christian himself does he mean god's love? how can we mess up love? it simply loves.

i think the only power we have over love is the choice to use it or not, we can withhold it from people, from this decision the love in the air is shortened, its choked and starved, we need love to survive. its been proven that without human contact babie's die within 5 weeks of birth, it is wired into us to interact, to hurt, to speak, to care and to love.

Black Eyed Peas in their first and very succesful single 'where is the love' said this

"And if you hatin you're bound to get irate
Yeah madness is what you demonstrate
And that's exactly how anger works and operates
You gotta have love just to set it straight
Take control of your mind and meditate
Let your soul gravitate to the love y'all"

here we see that if 'you hatin' then you are bound to go mad, hate only produces negativity, bitterness, anger and a selfish attitude, we need to love to stabilize this, 'you gotta have love to set it straight' how can we properly function in life with all this hate and anger around us, here it tells us to take control of our mind, do not let it slip and become angry at the small things, control yourself after all we do brag about it being 'our life' so how can you give in so easily to the bitterness and aggression of life, when we can put oursleves higher than that and 'let your soul gravitate to the love' two wrongs don't make a right, its so commonly said but do we mean it, do we see the philosophy behind such a statement?

Bob marley was due to perform one day on a public stage but was shot in the shoulder the day before it, we walked out of the hospital that day and went straight to the stage, someone stopped him and asked 'Bob, you shouldn't do this mon, you need rest' he replied with 'the bad people in this world won't rest till they see us collapse so how can we rest today and let them get what they want', i love Bob's music it demonstrates such love and passion in music that we ought to be striving for these days. then of course there is the famour 'god is love' statement, we have all heard it and i have put my own twist to it in an earlier post last year, but do we really know the signifigance of such a statement, essentially it works both ways, love is god and god in himself is love.

love is such a privelage, such a godly desire, we all yearn to be loved, really its all we truly want in life, love is the basis of our existence, the basis of all religion and the basis of our lives for if our parents didn't love us chances are you wouldn't be alive to read this here and now. how will you show love in your life? will you research it and have a humble understanding of it? or will you be like the multiple person's i have known and fall in love with the concept of love itself.

Limp Bizkut wrote in their song 'Lonely World'

"It's like love, some people get it
For some it's just a glove that just never fitted
For me it's just a pain in the ass
But i'm addicted to the taste of hopin' it could last"

for some love is fortunate nad in their favour, they have a good life and find thier soulmate first pop, no worries, they are set, for others its the glove that never fitted, that math's equation that was always too hard or that DIY job they simply couldn't be bothered with, for most it is that 'pain in the ass' but we are all addicted to it, all addicted to the vast reward it gives us when we finally conquer it. the day we find true love we find in ourselves something we have never seen before suddenly and finally we see ourselves giving all for the one we love, we find ourselves constantly think of the person, we become paranoid when they are five minutes late home from work, we fear for their safety and want to do all we can to protect them in life.

may we all find this love one day, and may we all live a life of love, love that shows who we are, love that will brighten someones day, love that could put a smile to the face of someone who might be planning suicide. love that builds character and inspires us to follow our dreams.

Dan

Roadmaps And Revelations.

This post may be long, tis named after the 'parachute band' album as i think it is appropriate for the very long road trip i have been on.

consisting of 13 days, hundreds of photos, meeting many new faces and jumping like crazy to many many different bands this road trip is going to be one i will remember for a long time to come.

to begin with, big day out. what an experience as a newcomer to this event, to see people passionate about playing and listening to music and getting an insight into their lives through music is in short what this trip has been focused on. to see the NZ band Shihad live in concert was simply amazing, the passion and energy they put into their performances makes you think its their first time playing, Jon Toogood (the lead singer/guitarist) is closing in on 40 and yet he looks and plays like a passionate 20 year old it gave me inspiration and motivation in life, the lyrics from Shihad and Rage Against The Machine are so liberating to know that I'm not the only one who realises how screwed up this world is, in fact the numbers only continue to grow for that area.

its an awe inspiring thing to see many non-christian bands talk about that 'something more' in their lyrics and it gives me confidence to go on spreading the loving news of Jesus. Jon Toogood puts it wonderfully in his song "Boat Song"

"All of us, connected
All of us on the same road home
And if one should fall or falter
Then we all reach down together as one
And we lift them up again"

we are all one through Christ and even as non-believers we feel some connection to everyone in our world, we feel responsible for the well-being of others, we feel obliged to love. love is the universal language of which we all understand and correlate to one another, we cannot deny or reject for we all love to be loved and to give love, love can be the most devastating emotion known to us and i have seen it do that to too many people, but at the same time nothing can compare to it when it goes right and i have seen that in many people also.

Jon knows How important individuality is and how easy it is to sometimes just go with the crowd and disappear into the depths of society, he expresses this so well in his song 'the brightest star'

"When you go against the grain
do you know just how beautiful you are
when there's nothing left to say
you're the brightest star

We're like the water at the edge of a wave
that gets left upon the shore
disappears into the sand
and was seen no more."

that needs to explanation, the lyrics themselves are beautiful enough.

"now for every boy and every girl
with all the pain and joy in the world
we don't mean nothing without love"

"And there's a fire in my heart that will not die"

"Sunset, sunrise
See the world changing right before you eyes
Go with it. It's a ride
You gotta live for everyday until you die"

i could go on more, but the point is that we all feel to some degree a sense on unity, connectedness and most importantly a feeling of love all around us, its hard in these dark times to give in to the deceptiveness of the media, to fall into the mindless back chat of gossip and popularity, we all want things but there is something that is universal, call it being human, call it god, call it money, call it whatever you may but it all roots from love, without it we are nothing and from it we can gain everything.

whilst travelling the roads of new zealand i get inside me even more a sense of such worth, we have such a wonderful life and we take it all for granted, we make no effort to give this kind of life to others, we indulge in our own selfish wants, we have such a wonderful life handed to us on a silver platter and all we can think of is how goog we look, what others think of us, how 'manly' we are we don't take one second to think about those that have nothing and have to rummage in the trash can's for one small meal a day, we don't stop to think about the 60,000 kids that die every year due to HIV and AIDS, are we blind to our own devastation, our ignorance is going to be the demise of our freedom, the cause of our destruction. meanwhile in more than 40 countries around the world we are not allowed to express our christian faith and doing so leads to imprisonment and persecution and more likely execution, consider the story of the young boy who's village was invaded by guerrilla warfare, they were shooting people waiting to speak up this 13 year old boy stood up and said 'I am frank (not actual name, should have taken notes on this story) and i am a soldier of Christ' the men walked towards him, cut his arm off and asked him to repeat himself, "I am frank and i am a soldier of Christ" he said again just before they cut his other arm off, "what did you say?" they asked. he spluttered "i am frank and i am a soldier of Christ" they sliced his chest and stomach open and demanded he stopped speaking, he fell to the ground and whilst coughing blood he said "I am frank and i am a soldier of Christ" they then be-headed him.

there are so many more stories like this that i could give you all but the message is clear, regardless of your beliefs, regardless of your background i believe we all need to be aware of the persecution in our world. it is so easy to slip back into our daily routine and forget all about it, but our world is calling for some great people to sort out this mess, Will you be one of them? or will you become as i say 'just another statistic' will you step up to the mark? or will you simple disappear into the sand like the tip of a wave.

Parachutes motto is
'God and music is a powerful thing, but it takes an army to keep the music going'
in the midst of worship with 'parachute band' i looked back beyond me to see thousands of people filling this field and stands, all with their arms raised in praise to our father in heaven, it may have been the atmosphere or it may have been just a feeling but i felt something saying to me right then that something is happening in our country, a revelation is unfolding to the undeniable and heart breaking truth of Jesus Crucifixion and sacrifice on the cross that day. in the middle of my moshing to the band 'all left out' in the song switch over i got a tap on the shoulder, thinking it was one of my friends i turned around to see a young woman wanting to respond to me T-shirt, so whilst their new song came on i was explaining to this woman why Jesus died on the cross, it was one of the most memorable moments of my life and i can remember it so vividly.
i feel god wanting to work in my life and i feel him doing so but i cannot express my regretfulness as i don't put in all the effort i could on my behalf, i feel guilty for it, i feel so unworthy of my god's love and its so easy for everyone to feel this but the bible tells us in Romans 3:23

'for all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of god and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came through Christ Jesus'

we are all sinners and god knows it, he sent his son to take the punishment that we all deserve rightfully, the keyword in this passage is 'freely' it is our choice completely to accept or deny this fact of redemption and grace that god gives us, Romans 6:23 then says

'for the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life in Christ Jesus our lord'

we all deserve punishment and that punishment is death, we cannot make it right, we cannot let it go because what wrong we do always bugs us later on in life, threes a reason for this. god works in our life through our shame and it is his right to for our shame will bring us back to him, it will make us question our existence and our meaning in our meaningless life.

everything on this world has been given to us for a reason for a purpose, for our enjoyment and pleasure, but why are we worthy of this pleasure and joy, everything happens for a reason and you are not reading this by coincidence or by luck, you have been out on this page by god, he is my rock and my passion, i cannot give up on this world, i know there is more to it than what meets the eye i know that we are all winners, the great example of this is that we we're all sperm once upon a time racing with millions others towards that egg, the others didn't make it but you did, your own life is a living witness of how special you are, we all endure hard times that is the simple fact of life and i know of too many people that have gone through so much, but very few of us give up, we know that life is worthwhile for some reason and we all feel like there is a reason to living life, and i tell with all my heart and soul right now that there is a reason, we do have a purpose and you can take away my computer, my microphone, my rights, my freedom and I'm going to say it anyway, our meaning, our purpose is Jesus.

'i hope you finally find what you have been searching to find, i hope that you realise that it was there all along'

God i waiting for us to live out the wonderful life he has for us, once again, will you be a statistic or will you step up and make a difference.

'he took it all on the cross and got my sin's erased and now I'm free as can be I'm just free to be me'

god has filled a hole is my life, he took me when i was at the end of my demise and since then he has been unfolding wonders in my life, i have never been happier and i pray with all my heart that everyone i encounter will know of this happiness one day, my mind has been set on the way to love life and this motto is for the sake of god completely.

expect nothing.
love everyone.

The beginning of meaning

Meaning, what is it? We judge things on it, every word holds a meaning and every plant holds a meaning to serve nature, everything we see in front of us in our PC holds a meaning and a purpose, we deny and accept peoples arguments based on the meaning of their existence and logic. As humans we are wired to find purpose and meaning in life, and the first week of 2008 has revealed to me what has meaning in my life, after being the ‘sober driver’ till 1:20 am last night I can conclude that the meaning of my participation in drunkenness is to show my love and humility through my acceptance and patience for the situation at hand. I no longer feel the need to fill my life with meaningless drinking and sexual temptation, instead I feel myself ready and able to show Jesus’ love through my actions and by being an ambassador for my faith to others. This first week of 2008 could not have gone any better, I now have joint ownership over a new car (a real steal for the price paid) which is followed by my yielding of a restricted license, I am about to embark on a spiritual metaphorical road trip in which I am going to discover new places in our beautiful country and live every moment with the grace of God and love of Jesus. Henceforth this shall be my new year’s resolution, to live in and about Christ allowing him to speak in my actions and show himself through my love and acceptance. In addition to this I begin my manager training at work from when I get back from this journey, things appear to be getting off to a brilliant start and I plan to keep it this way.

My acceptance of others beliefs has opened more in the last two months than ever in my life, I have had the privilege of god softening my heart over the past couple of months to the devastation in our world, the sadness and poverty in which Jesus’ message has vanished, I feel resentful to some extent sitting here on my mothers flash laptop, roof over head, sitting on a comfy couch with slightly more weight than desired due to my over indulgence and sloth like behaviour since school has finished. I feel disgusted every time I see how Americans live their lives, catching a glimpse of their wealthy lifestyle through the show ‘my super sweet sixteen’ where a 16 y/o girl received $300,000 worth of jewellery, a brand new convertible $48,000 BMW and in conclusion more than a million dollars worth of spoilt royalty and presents. It makes me feel anguish and depression in knowing how the rich in our world continue to resent and deny the existence of poverty while they live in their multimillion dollar homes eating daily meals that cost more than what you and I would spend weekly on groceries.

It makes me sad yet enlightens my life in knowing all this, thus allowing me to begin the massive work of improving my life, asking for god to break my heart for what breaks his and teach me to love like he has loved me, this I see to by my meaning in life. I do not see fit for me to continue in doubt and low self esteem for my life, I am going to commence with my satisfying other’s expecting nothing in return and quite literally serving others with my hands and feet, I do feel content with my life, my beliefs and my meaning in life I cannot see myself living any other way than that of which I have been living in this past week, I find my tolerance for anger and bitterness increasing as my temptation equally decreases for violence, cursing and judgmental behaviour.

In conclusion (in hope of not boring you all with the length of my post’s) I can confidently say that my life is back, because I have given it up to god, not fully but in saying that its not a short easy task. I am calm, peaceful and content in all situations and I constantly see myself being with the ability to share my beliefs openly and with an open mind with other’s opinions on my beliefs. I am continuing being challenged by god and it’s a reviving feeling to know that there is always something to improve on.

Peace be with you all.

Dan / Chips

Advent Revelation.

in the Latin advent directly translates to 'coming' or 'the coming', henceforth my post means the coming revelation. be it the jolly season of the big fat man in red, pavlova and the generosity of kiwis spending over 1 billion dollars over the past month on presents i thought it necessary to do a little background research. whilst browsing the trade me threads i came across the term 'saturnalia' and a person saying that anyone who celebrates Christmas is deceiving themselves and actually celebrating this event. Saturnalia is the feast at which the Romans commemorated the dedication of the temple of the god Saturn, which took place on 17 December. Over the years, it expanded to a whole week, up to 23 December. this struck me and made me want to go deeper into the origins of Christmas. Christmas is effectively the conjoined term for Christ's mass, hence the reason we give and love in this season because we are massing for Christ and therefore it 'should' be our most humble and holy time of the year for us, however thanks to the hefty and reliable commercialism and consumerist ways of our society, this is not the case. The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually after Charlemagne was crowned on Christmas Day in 800. Around the 12Th century, the remnants of the former Saturnalia traditions of the Romans were transferred to the Twelve Days of Christmas. so its safe to assume that Christmas is today's most updated and accurate version of saturnalia, however in the same sense it is not celebrating the same thing as saturnalia is. so what is Christmas actually celebrating? firstly it asks us to remember the birth of Immanuel (Jesus of Nazareth) albeit not the actual date (according to the roman and Jewish calendars back then the 'actual' date found by many researchers is august 15) the idea is that Jesus was beyond the worth of a birthday and that everyday was a day of glory for him, hence at the end of the year we take time to look back and thank Jesus for all he is done. in the more practical and simple terms Christmas (to those that don't consider themselves spiritual) is about giving, not for the sake of being acknowledged or for the sake of wanting something in return but simply giving from our hearts, giving from love to those that need to know that we care, those less fortunate. all over New Zealand cities have mission dinners (or lunches) on Christmas day and they only way these events are possible is through the generosity of the city itself (in the form of donations to the food bank and tithes to the ministry (tithe being the donation of money for a cause.) however in saying this we must relise that the idea of giving directly relates to the basis of Easter. Jesus gave his all, gave his life and took all our suffering and pain that we rightly deserve, in taking to much abuse and humbly giving his life to those that wanted it he gave it to all of us, saint Nicholas (more commonly recognised as Santa Claus in today's society) was a bishop of turkey. He was born during the third century in the village of Patara. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving so this is where the idea of giving came from, it came from a christian, therefore in being known for his gift giving the one thing that remained in saint Nicholas' mind was Jesus. so i ask you, and with all discernment.
do you really know what you are celebrating? what is the real reason of happiness within this season?

its a season full of generosity and loving, who are we doing it for? obviously the first answer that comes to mind is each other, but if that be the answer why don't we all sit back and just expect it to be handed to us with a silver lining, nobody asks for presents yet we all conform and think we must satisfy one another with our gifts, we obviously don't do it for ourselves otherwise we would halt presents altogether and dwell in our greed and selfishness, we're not doing it for the other person as they don't ask for anything, so deep down. what is the purpose to it all? why do we continue this ritual known to us as Christmas. effectively it is Christ's mass, regardless of your beliefs and your background, if you partake in the gift giving and the indulgence of lights and festival then we are all really coming together for Christ's cause in life which was to give and to love.

It is the advent of our society.


many blessings and best of wishes for all your holidays to come.

much love

Dan

Love is God

quite recently i have been getting a bit too slack on my spiritual side of life, on the other hand i have really been enjoying the holidays, then on the other hand my love life is a bit confusing (my feelings for someone mainly) don't get me wrong a relationship is the last of my worries but i suppose (seeing as i live in the moment) we will just have to wait to see whats happening on that side of things..

wow, Christmas is here... time just fly's these days and it seems like yesterday that i was doing my round of shopping and feeling blessed to be giving out of my heart (not for the sake of Christmas, and its materialised ways) and out of the simple love i have for my friends and family, i feel i have really grown this year, and most of all it has been a year of recovery and regeneration. As i walked around the hutt thinking about what to buy for certain people, i felt a sense of divinity, a sense of pure generosity and love, surely if i had enough money i would have been there all day and forgotten completely about work that night, but hey that's life. once again words fall terribly short of describing what i felt, but without a doubt it was a spiritual time for me.

i feel big parts of my life continuing to grow and improve and i am certain it is due to my closeness to the lord, there is no doubt in my mind now that link hutt city church is my home (spiritually) and i intend to sow seeds there and dedicate myself to bringing more people into this wonderful community within this church. i certainly feel that ever since i first when to this church god has been softening my heart and humbling my mind, i always liked to be the 'glass half full' kind of person but only recently have i found that it has become a way of living for me.

This morning in Church Paul talked about knowing god, and it struck me that all though i know god to some extent, my focus lately has been in having knowledge about him rather than knowledge for him.I feel constantly challenged by god and the impartation of his word into my life and its truly an enlightening thing to know that no matter how much i improve my relationship with him, there will always be something more i can do to make it better.Paul also mentioned that once we know god, that is what we will be doing for eternity and that truly knowing god is our key to heaven rather than the declaration of our acceptance of Jesus being our saviour. (well that second part is my conclusion anyway)

OK now for the depth of my post, Love is God- that is my adaptation of the all too famous 'god is love' i find that when we say it this way it explains a lot of the queries raised such as 'no love is a universal reasoning and feeling and therefore if you are concluding that if you don't know god you don't know love' i have heard this argument being fought at so many times and i think saying "love is God' links into the idea that god is within every one of us and that when we love, we are being godly in the sense that that love in itself is god and that when we love we feel an inner sense of divinity and grace throughout us, for to love is to be like god and therefore to be like god is to love.

(my thoughts are very scrambled this evening as i have been meaning to post for a while but had net problems so therefore am trying to put to many thoughts into one post)

another observation recently is that we as humans are finely tuned to impressing one another, whether it be on a humble level of impressing someone with your athletic skills or your academic skills, right through to the almost pornographic sense of impressing someone at a party to try and 'get lucky', to some degree we are all looking for some satisfaction, i myself get this satisfaction when someone acknowledges how caring i am or anything really to do with my persona. this idea of being impressed or impressing someone is not one to be taken lightly, because like with other things, it can be a godly attribute to us or it can be used by the devil to send us into the ground and destroy what little self esteem we may have. for example; by acknowledging that someone has impressed you and telling them, they may either A. take it to heart and continue to strive to do well at what it was they were doing, thus being the godly side, or B. take it to their mind and get arrogant about it and begin to think 'oh why should i listen to you, you're not as good as me' and that type of attitude, thus being the evil (not sure about that use of word) side to things. the essential thing, in my opinion, is to live in the moment, striving at where you passion lies and take everything said comprehensively to the heart, for it is there that you will find a true meaning to what is being said and it is important to use your mind for your thoughts but at the same time get a healthy balance between your minds thoughts and what your heart is pulling you to do.

i think i have addressed the majority of the thoughts that have been roaming my mind the last week or so and if its really important, I'll add it later.

Blessings and much love


Dan

Refreshing Warmth

i certainly have a habit of titling my posts with 'R' words huh? hehe

well this weekend has once again been a beneficial one in making my vital decision as to which church I'm going to stick to, once again i went to hopes church in the morning (hope is the friend i mentioned in my previous post, in case you didn't catch it) and i felt it quite warming. all though I'm one for big concerts and jump around to music i feel as though arise emphasises the music rather than a focus on god and i think link hutt city offers this better focal point on the lord, whilst waiting for time to pass before going to arise me and my wonderful mother decided to bring out ye ole photo albums.. now most teenagers get blush and all embarrassed with this but thanks to many awakenings this year i have managed to over come it and appreciate the aesthetic value to it, in fact it bought countless smiles to my face. i also must mention that in youth meeting (at link) we talked about Philippians 3:12 which i quite liked, now this post is mainly emphasising the point of approaches to preaching from a passage because all though we didn't preach on it at link, we addressed the passage and got a good understanding of it. now funnily enough our guest pastor at arise spoke on exactly the same passage, however sadly he didn't do a very good job on it (from my point of view) in fact he was quite a pessimist in some of the things he was talking about and only referred to the pas

sage a few times. the beauty of the bible is that it can be perceived in so many ways by so many different people and this certainly opened my heart to that point..

(i hate losing my train of thought) hmmmmm..

now on a semi related note i must mention that i have been getting some compliments from a few very genuine people as of lately, two people said that my writing (as presented to you on this page) is wonderful,fluent,easy to read and very interesting- this made me smile. later on Sunday after arise i went to a group called prayer's and pudding's this group is organised by my lovely friend Mava and was it was a pleasure to be there, the atmosphere was very open minded and genuine, and during this group meeting a good friend of mine said to me "y'know the more i get to know you the more i get to have a very deep respect for you" it took me by shock that he said as it was quite out of the blue, however it was a pleasant shock and i really was taken a back from words and only managed to say 'why thank you very much'. Later that very same night i was on the trade me message boards (taken quite a liking to them recently), of which i have met some interesting character's on here, one of which gave me my most humbling comment yet 'you have a very good eye for the disposition of truth within the bible and with this the holy ghost will work through you', before i go any further let me modestly mention that I'm not one to take compliments to the head and let it build my ego, i take them in with appreciation and reflect on what was said and how it is relevant to myself.

almost every day since the service last week at hopes church i have been having awakenings and the lord has been softening my heart to the reality of this world and what my part will play in it. I'm not expecting prophesies to unfold in front of me or for me to begin a preaching course at anytime, that is for the lord to decide, however i have been truly humbled in letting god take such a huge part in my life (hopefully one day i will be able to say that he is my life)

in total reflection of these past two weeks i am glad to say that my distance from the Lord has in total reality become a great distance less.

may he bless and nurture you all, thank you for reading.

Relaxing Awakening

this past sunday has yet been one of my best, i particiapated in two church services. the morning service i went to was of the old church of christ which i have many memories in, tis now called link hutt city church and is owned and operated by my friend hope's family, they invited me to their home for lunch and i took pleasure in accepting. they have a lovely house and lovely family. the night service (at arise) was wonderful and i really put all my energy into the worship which was quite refreshing in a way. it has now been a month since my baptism and i can certainly say that the devil has worked very hard to tempt me and at times suceeded, however i feel that this previous weekend has caused an awakening in me of which i need to follow through in. i ripped through 'the pursuit of god' within a few days of lapsed readings, at only 10 chapters and 120 pages i can safely say that it should be renamed as 'the christians handbook to living a righteous life' with small prayers following every chapter it has certainly helped to shape my way of living and my attitude into one that will be all for god. followed up with some research online of my own i have been quite enlightened these past few days and have a great joy in saying that i love everyday that i am on this earth for our universe is within the lord himself and every creation i see is one of god. this is a common concept for christians to apply but i think that rarely is it ever understood in full context. i think this would have to be the first time in my life that i have felt so.. honestly words can't describe it but i think in all honesty that i feel at ease with myself as a person, i feel so much more loving to everyone i encounter and i just feel so content with life and anything it wants to throw at me next.
this is more of a milestone post rather than providing insight to recent discoveries, i acknowledge i have had these sort of milestones before but when this one lasts 5 day's i am 99% assured this is going to last. i have written the preface today to what will someday be my autobiography, my goal is to a chapter every year which will ironically enough be based on that previous year, firstly i need to get the past 16 years done, this is a sure thing and it feels assuring to set myself such a goal and i tend to tackle it with all my soul.
only ten more days to go before the devil will stop trying so hard to tempt me away from the lord. i honestly don't know when i wil publish my first book however that is something to consider in th future, right now im living for the moment and in the moment for today is all we really have when it comes down to it, tommorow is the promise that was never made.
i finished 'the life of pi' a few days and i must take time here to recommend it to all. it is truely a masterpiece, it grips you and leaves you at the end thinking 'how simply beautiful'
i think that will be it for now.

god bless