smoking vs fastfood

Is it strange that a lot of Christians judge smoking based on the fact that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, yet the same emphasis does not seem to be focused on unhealthy eating and lack of exercise? (I don't smoke btw just interested in what people think)

Weather

Since moving to Tauranga I have been amazed about the pride that Taurangites display in their weather. Everytime you tell people you have moved up here from Christchurch you get a response about how much you must be enjoying the warmer weather. IF this happened on the odd ocassion you would smile and nod but when EVERY SINGLE person does it too you, it begins to get slightly frustrating. It gets to the point where you have a standard answer for all these weather worshipping nutcases. Had I realised being a worshipper of the weather was a necessity for lving in Tauranga then I may have thought twice about the move.
I think I am going to get a tshirt made

YES I AM ENJOYING THE WEATHER (although it rains lots)

Cool night

A couple of weeks ago we went into town on a Friday night. I had a few too many drinks, but it was so good stopping just short of puking ... NAH Just kidding!

We went into town on a Friday night outreach equipped with a sound system, music team, BBQ sausages and coffee. Man it was an awesome night. Their was just a real peace about what we were doing. We didn't need to bible bash people, we were trusting God to bring the right people along and he did!

Towards the end of the night we had a cool discussion with a guy who had recently been divorced. It was a real God appointed moment, after I talked to him for 10 minutes my friend was able to share for about 20 minutes and ended with sharing salvation with him. The guy didn't want to commit that night because he was still hoping to get lucky but he genuinely wanted to know how to have a relationship with God.

Islamic heaven

Isn't it strange that Muslims spend their life avoiding sexual impurity and alcohol but their heaven is to be fulled with fine wines and pleasure mates. Based on all the immorality that goes on in Islamic heaven I would of thought America and western culture would literally be heaven on earth!!

God is good

After many years of wanting to go to bible college it is awesome to be here, in the time of God and at the place where God would have me be. Faith Bible college has so far been amazing! The teaching is just superb, the ministry opportunity are fantastic. But most of all I love Thursdays where we have hour of power (basically a Holy Spirit hour - although the term hour would have to be used very loosely as it is often 90 minutes to 2 hours). Each week without fail the manifest presence of God comes and ministers at that time. It is so great to be in a environment where the Holy Spirit is moving.

I would appreciate your prayers as I have been asked to share at a halfway house this Tuesday. A lot of the guys in the house are recently out of prison. I am really looking forward to the challenge although it is a bit dauniting. I am believing that God is going to mininster and move.

The end of an era

I will admit that I thought Australia would win the ashes. For the sole reason that England's Batsman would not be able to handle Warne and McGrath and while this may still be the case surely we are seeing the end of an era.

The signs that Australia were beginning to fade were evident in the test series against NZ. Sure they thrashed us in each test but their top order failed on a few occasions against a pretty average NZ attack, Gilchrist came to the rescue each time and order was restored.

ultimately this is very good for cricket. Australia will still probably be the best test team for the next year or two, but they are going to get beaten. The aura of invincibility is slowing fading away.

So this is not the end of the Australian era, it is just the end of the "Australia being untouchable" era.

As to who will win the ashes...... WHO KNOWS but it is the greatest test cricket I have witnessed

Greatest test match in modern history

Obviously i am not talking about the all blacks match on the weeked.
Surely the 2nd ashes test is the greatest test match in modern history. It had everything (except a sensational 100 from someone). Plenty of body line bowling, fast scoring, quick wickets and the most amazing finish. I will remember for a long time listening to the morning session and hearing the impossible nearly become possible only to be ripped away at the last second, that whole game encaptured everything that is good about sport

Maori pension at 60?

I see one of the Maori parties policies is to allow super ann to Maori at the age of 60 as the life expectancy of Maori is not the same as Pakeha. I watched a tv debate on this and the side against the legislation provided a very solid argument

This policy is flawed for so many reasons.

1) Superannuation is on borrowed time as it is, due to the baby boomers and the fact that elderly will soon make up a very high percentage of New Zealanders we can expect to see dramatic reductions in the amount of Super ann being paid to everyone, no people group should be expecting to live off a large government super plan, instead the government should be doing more to encourage private pensions scheme

2) Their are other races that also have a short life expectancy, but their is nothing in the policy to cater for them

3) Surely you should be trying to deal with the issues that cause a shorter Maori life span then simply accepting it as a fact and paying out super at a younger age

4) If two people have lived next door to one another and worked at the same job all their lives, one should not get to retire 5 years younger just becuase they are of a different race.

Labour to cut student loan interest

Labour have just announced

The Government will scrap interest payments on student loans held by people living in New Zealand, Prime Minister Helen Clark announced today.
She said the proposed change, which would begin on April 1 next year, would massively reduce loan repayment times.
The policy would cost $100 million in its first year, eventually rising to $300 million a year.
Miss Clark said the policy would form the second of Labour's seven pledge card election promises.
Labour's first pledge card promise is to widen the rates rebate scheme

I am a student who has just taken out a SL for course fees and I don't agree with this at all. The current system is perfectly fair with regards to course fees. I don't have to pay any interest while studying and after I stop studying I get charged interest at a low rate, plus the government already funds universities about 60%. Yes their is still an expense to studying but with regards to course fees the government is already investing thousands of dollars into each degree earned.

This new measure only benefits students after they stop studying (as they pay no interest while studying anyway). Surely the time to help them is while studying by paying a universal student allowance. I have said before and I will say it again I don't believe any government should LOAN money for living expenses.

Remove the ability to borrow for living expenses, pay a universal student allowance and keep interest on course fees once the borrower has finished studying

Work for the dole?

Should people have to work for the dole?

Yes, yes and yes!!!

I think it is vital that we establish something that once people have been on the unemployment benefit for longer then three months they should be required to perform some type of work or lose their benefit.
I think this should be the case for anyone on the unemployment benefit and anyone on the DPB whose youngest child is at school. Surely we are just encouraging a false reality by giving people something for nothing, I honestly think the people that a work for the benefit scheme would benefit would be the beneficiaries themselves.

I am tired and aren't capable of giving this the logic it deserves but post your comments anyway.

Should we tour?

I am interested in peoples opinions about whether the NZ cricket team should tour Zimbabwe? Their is a lot of pressure being put on the government to ban the cricket team from touring due to the human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and the fact that Mugabe is a patron of Zimbabwe cricket.
Currently the governments stance is that they can not stop the cricket team from touring as it was be an abuse of the NZ players human rights. They are saying it is up to NZ cricket to pull the plug. Problem is unless the government ban the NZ players from going then NZ cricket becomes liable for reimbursing the Zim team for the cost of the tour, by the time TV rights are taken into account this would be millions.

So what should happen?

My feeling is that the government should stop them from going, we can't be seen to support that regime in anyway. Although I think it is sad that the international community has done very little to stop what is going on in Zimbabwe and believe something should have been done a long time ago. It should not be left up to our sportsman to fight the political battle

Secondly the international Cricket Council should have suspended Zim from all cricket, due to the horrible conditions of this country.

I truly wonder if all the promises from the G8 will do much if we are going to fail to act in key situations like the one in Zimbabwe.

So what are your thoughts, should sports teams be used to make a political stand?

Singapore Airlines.

Sarah and I are now back safe and sound.
One of the pleasing aspects of our trip was flying Singapore Airlines. They are by far the best carrier I have ever flown on and regardless of price (within reason) I would always choose to fly with them again.
They have all the latest modcons on the plane, including about 30 movies that you can choose from, nintendo games system and a great music selection.
The real kicker though was their service, it was just fantastic. The staff are so friendly and run off their feet to keep you watered, fed and comfortable.
NZ could learn a lot about customer service from SA (in fact Singapore in general excelled in CS)

Safe and sound

We were in London when the bomb blast happened, it was our departure day. Thankfully we were not in central London at the time of the explosions, it was very surreal watching the coverage from my brothers house, knowing that these were stations we had been in the day before.
It was a dispicable act of terrorism and the scary thing is their is really no way of protecting the tubes. How do you protect something on which 3 million people travel on per day?

On a personal note thnkfully Heathrow airport was still open and I am writing this from Singapore.

A perfect day

Sarah and I have just had a fantastic day in Luzern, Switzerland. Luzern is a beautiful town with a awesome green lake. It is like Queenstown only it is not crowded and has lots of beautiful buildings. We decided to shell out some cash and do a tourist trip. It started with a 90 minute boat cruise through the lake which was truly breath taking. Then we went on the worlds steepest cogwell train up a 6000 foot mountain. The view was amazing and their were many cool walks to go on. From their we took a large cable car halfway down the mountain to a place where we could go toboganing (sp?, which was also a lot of fun. We then took a half an hour Gondola ride down to the bottm and then a 15 minute bus trip back to the centre of Luzern.

As it was about 30 degrees we asked our Hotel manager if their was a part of the lake where we could swim, he pointed out the local swimming area and we walk down and had a really nice dip. Then on the way back we bought a whole lot of junk food and got back to our room just in time to watch a cool thunder in lightening storm (actually we only watched the lightening!). Arrhhh a perfect day!

Oh yeah the rest of the trip has been great too!

We're going to Bonnie Doon

Sarah and I are off to Europe tomorrow!!! So next time I read this blog I will be in London. I am sure I will manage to make the odd blog from various exotic European locations. "We're going to Bonnie Doon"

Comfortable

Ever hear that prayer "Thank you God that we have so much freedom to worship you...." Everytime I hear it I think what would happen if the church in New Zealand was being persecuted and would it be such a bad thing? In so many places where persecution is happening the church is growing. Obviously having our freedom is a blessing, but when we trade freedom for comfort that is when we tend to get into trouble.

I often wonder if we have worked so hard at trying not to "turn people off the gospel" that we have lost the edge of "how to get them interested in the gospel". Surely the faith we have requires that sometimes we are put in a position where our faith is being persecuted (maybe not on a grand scale all the time but certainly to a higher degree then we currently see).

Oh how often I slump into a comfortable "ask me no questions and I won't step on your toes kind of faith". Oh God help me

End of the road

After over six years in the same work place I am coming to the end of the road! Today I have one week to go WOW!!! I am so looking forward to new challenges and what is in store for us up north but one part of me is sad. Few people get to work in a job where they learn something new (which they find interesting)everyday.

As I reflect on 6 years it once again reminds me of the Faithfulness of God, as he has been with me at work and grown me over the last six year so he will go ahead of me. I am so grateful for his continued favor and blessing in my life.

One more week to go YIPPPPEEEE!!!

Income splitting

United future have just released their policy on taxation and I must admit it is looking pretty good. I did not vote United Future in the last election but am quite impressed with their taxation policies. Income splitting for couples with dependent children is a fantastic way to invest into the family and give mothers a chance to stay home with their children(if they choose to). I think it would need clear guidelines around it and I would have a limitation of about 30k that could be passed to a partner.

The Threshold changes and first 3k being tax free are also quite reasonable in the context that they are also proposing income spliting

I am however very surprised for them to say that their total tax package is only going to cost 2 -3 billion and am suspicious that this may be just the threshold changes without taking into account the income splitting side of it.

Rediscovering the Cross

Time and time again I find myself having to rediscover the cross. When you really stop to think about the bible and what Jesus has done, it still is and will always be the most amazing truth ever told. What is it within me (us?) that wants to normalise it and break it down to something that doesn't give goose bumps every time I think it about.

"I cried Who nailed him their, this child of peace and mercy, who nailed him their come and face me like a man, who nailed him their and the crowd began to mock me, I cried owe my God I don't understand and then I turned and saw the hammer in my hand" - The Hammer - Ray Boltz

I don't want to live under condemnation but I want to strive to live under the constant conviction of the cross. That each day would be truely different because of what he has done for me and the power of his Spirit. In the mean time though I am having to rediscover the cross over and over again.

Seasons

With the cold snap I have been thinking about the seasons and come to conclusion, I like every season except spring. Summer is great because it is warm,fun and test cricket is on! Autumn is nice because it begins to cool off but the weather is consistant, and the trees look nice. Winter is nice because you get to rug up warm ,do nothing and it is footie season. But spring is the biggest let down (certainly in ch-ch) it is supposed to bring the hope of better weather but invaribly it rains heaps and is really incosistant. Cricket season starts but the pitches have more water on them then a hotel corrider after a visit from Dover. Yip I hate spring