As 2004 draws to a close, people around the world stare in shocked awe at the devastation of the huge earthquake and Tsunami that rocked the world on Boxing Day. Surely, a loving God, many would argue, would not allow such horror to occur at any time of the year, let alone the day after so many have stopped to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
The Tsunami ripped through tourist resorts and native villages alike, sweeping away countless victims. Many of the dead were elderly or young children, who were unable to swim back to shore after being swept out to sea. The water chose its victims randomly, not sparing any one faith or culture from devastation. The news showed one mosque unharmed with its people dead on the sidewalk outside. A Gospel For Asia report told of the amazing survival of a whole Christian congregation:
"In one of our churches in Sri Lanka, our believers were spared even though their entire village was washed away," Brother K.P. explained. "At the time the wave hit, they were all in church, and their church building is located up in the mountains."
.. but at the same time the email reminded people that on the whole Christians were just as likely to be killed as others. How could God allow this tragedy to happen?
Perhaps, though, the role of God in this disaster should not be seen as 'cause', but as 'solution'. Although this world is corrupted, and terrible things happen for seemingly no reason, the Bible reminds us that in everything God can produce good results. Whereas a Tsunami could be seen as a bad thing (I doubt many people anywhere would see it as good) there can still be some good results that come out of it. By the 27th, one day after the Tsunami, Christian aid-workers were already rushing supplies, food etc in to the devestated regions, showing the love of God in the midst of the tragedy.
"In times like these, we know that God opens the hearts of those who suffer, and we pray that as our workers demonstrate God's love to them, many of them will come to know for the first time that real security comes only through Him,"Brother K.P. said.
The GFA email ends:
To help GFA bring help and hope to the tsunami victims, please go to
http://www.gfa.org/donate?DESIG=2520&motiv=WA4C-G1ER
And to help you pray for these suffering men, women, and children, we will be posting updates and photos from the disaster areas as they become available at http://www.gfa.org/urgent?motiv=WA4C-W9ER
Friday, December 31, 2004
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Settling down to play God
My brother went and brought Settlers 3 for $9.95 somewhere - a good deal I guess.
Anyhow, I don't usually play computer games (beacuse I am good at getting addicted to things) but, guess what? I played this!
And guess what else? Its addictive!
I've been pretty good really. In the last 3 days I have only played it 3 times. Thats only once a day....
(For how long you ask? Lets not go there....)
But, while playing God over these little computer minions, I realized what a bad job I was doing. Here I was, busy expanding my little virtual world east and west, thinking how smart I was to avoid confronting the enemy to the north early on, and I completely forgot about my little stonecutter. Suddenly, I have five building sites all asking me for stone, and there is no stone left! My little stonecutter keeps leaving me messages that complain about the lack of stone available, and I have to search for another quarry for him to work at.
On top of this, my latest guardtower is unoccupied because there are 'no soldiers in the area.' I try to help relieve this problem by sending a soldier over, but he doesn't want to go into the tower, so it continues to sit empty.
Meanwhile, to the north my spies have been discovered, and are quickly slaughtered by the blue hordes (that show up red on my map), and I realize that I have not yet discovered how to send my loyal troops into battle to save them (heck, I haven't even figured out how to get them into buildings). Subsequently, only one soldier answers my call to war, and valiantly enters the conflict against four blue/red enemies... he is soon dead as well.
Throughout all of this, I just keep thinking that I don't make a good God, and I am so glad I am not one.
I really respect God. I respect someone who, knowing everything, and knowing that we could choose not to follow Him, still loved us enough to not force us to. I respect someone who would give free will to us, even though we would complain about His lack of intervention from then on. I respect someone who gives us a paradise to live in, and then allows us to play with it, and destroy it, as much as we want.
It may seem like He isn't doing a good job, but as soon as you try to stop people doing evil, you take away their free will, and if you do that, you take away their humanity. God could have made a world of robots, emotionless and loyal to the end, but how would that being loving? A truly loving God would want the best for us, and would want us to choose for ourselves our own destiny, even if it is completely opposite to what He wanted.
I couldn't handle that power.
If I were God, I would have lost my patience and 'smited' me long ago.
Thank God I'm not!
Anyhow, I don't usually play computer games (beacuse I am good at getting addicted to things) but, guess what? I played this!
And guess what else? Its addictive!
I've been pretty good really. In the last 3 days I have only played it 3 times. Thats only once a day....
(For how long you ask? Lets not go there....)
But, while playing God over these little computer minions, I realized what a bad job I was doing. Here I was, busy expanding my little virtual world east and west, thinking how smart I was to avoid confronting the enemy to the north early on, and I completely forgot about my little stonecutter. Suddenly, I have five building sites all asking me for stone, and there is no stone left! My little stonecutter keeps leaving me messages that complain about the lack of stone available, and I have to search for another quarry for him to work at.
On top of this, my latest guardtower is unoccupied because there are 'no soldiers in the area.' I try to help relieve this problem by sending a soldier over, but he doesn't want to go into the tower, so it continues to sit empty.
Meanwhile, to the north my spies have been discovered, and are quickly slaughtered by the blue hordes (that show up red on my map), and I realize that I have not yet discovered how to send my loyal troops into battle to save them (heck, I haven't even figured out how to get them into buildings). Subsequently, only one soldier answers my call to war, and valiantly enters the conflict against four blue/red enemies... he is soon dead as well.
Throughout all of this, I just keep thinking that I don't make a good God, and I am so glad I am not one.
I really respect God. I respect someone who, knowing everything, and knowing that we could choose not to follow Him, still loved us enough to not force us to. I respect someone who would give free will to us, even though we would complain about His lack of intervention from then on. I respect someone who gives us a paradise to live in, and then allows us to play with it, and destroy it, as much as we want.
It may seem like He isn't doing a good job, but as soon as you try to stop people doing evil, you take away their free will, and if you do that, you take away their humanity. God could have made a world of robots, emotionless and loyal to the end, but how would that being loving? A truly loving God would want the best for us, and would want us to choose for ourselves our own destiny, even if it is completely opposite to what He wanted.
I couldn't handle that power.
If I were God, I would have lost my patience and 'smited' me long ago.
Thank God I'm not!
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Christmas Calculations
Today (according to my calculations) is Tuesday the 21st of December, 2004. That means there are precisely 4 days left until Christmas day.
I have a family consisting of four (including me) and I also have one girlfriend. Again, I can calculate these numbers, and come to the conclusion that I am to buy 4 presents in total in order to fulfil my minimum yearly Christmas present quota.
With 4 days left, it would be easy to assume that my Christmas shopping should be over, however, like others (particularly of the male species) I find myself having still two and a half presents left to buy.
I suppose thats not too bad. After all, that leaves me with approximately 1.6 days to find and purchase each remaining present.
However, given that there are roughly 4 million individuals in this country (New Zealand), and therefore it could be assumed that (dividing equally between the genders) there are 2 million males, if these 2 million males find themselves faced with a similar situation to myself, it may be quite difficult to find and purchase these presents in time.
Think about it. If each of the 2 million males still shopping spent a minimum of twenty minutes shopping each per present (which is quite a stretch for some, such as myself), that adds up to a total of 40 million minutes of shopping left to do before Christmas!!!
This isn't that serious, as many males could do their shopping at the same time. However, if each male needs to take their presents through the checkout (lets say this takes 30 seconds per present) then this adds up to (2 million males, times 2.5 presents, times 30 seconds) 150 million seconds, or 2.5 million minutes of checkout time. As there are only (60 minutes per hour, 24 hours per day) 1440 minutes each day, this reaches a maximum total of (1440 times 4) 5760 minutes remaining until Christmas (this doesn't seem very large, have I miscalculated??). This means that for all of the 2 million males to make it through the checkout in time, there needs to be at least 434.027(reoccuring) checkouts in operation 24 hours a day for the next four days!!!
And here I am sitting a a computer???!!!
Its so easy to stress yourself out at Christmas (I'm kind of stressing out after those calculations) but, in the end, its not the material possesions and gifts that make the difference (this is such an i-haven't-got-my-presents-yet thing to say). After all, Jesus reminds us that amassing treasures on earth is pointless, as 'moth and rust can destroy, and theives can break in and steal.' The true treasures are instead those that are stored in heaven, things you can take with you: your character, your honour, and maybe even your friends and family. They are what are really important.
The best Christmas gift, of course, was the first one given. 2004 years ago (or there abouts) Jesus came to earth, and was born as a baby, in order that 33 years later, he could die on a cross for our sins. At Christmas it is so easy to think of Jesus as a baby, and leave it at that. However, the most important moments of Jesus' life are not the first ones, but the last.
When Jesus cried out 'It is finished' and died, he gave us the best gift ever imaginable: freedom from the sin that tries to destroy us, and a gift of eternal life with him.
All we have to do it accept the gift.
All I have to do, is go and buy them!
I have a family consisting of four (including me) and I also have one girlfriend. Again, I can calculate these numbers, and come to the conclusion that I am to buy 4 presents in total in order to fulfil my minimum yearly Christmas present quota.
With 4 days left, it would be easy to assume that my Christmas shopping should be over, however, like others (particularly of the male species) I find myself having still two and a half presents left to buy.
I suppose thats not too bad. After all, that leaves me with approximately 1.6 days to find and purchase each remaining present.
However, given that there are roughly 4 million individuals in this country (New Zealand), and therefore it could be assumed that (dividing equally between the genders) there are 2 million males, if these 2 million males find themselves faced with a similar situation to myself, it may be quite difficult to find and purchase these presents in time.
Think about it. If each of the 2 million males still shopping spent a minimum of twenty minutes shopping each per present (which is quite a stretch for some, such as myself), that adds up to a total of 40 million minutes of shopping left to do before Christmas!!!
This isn't that serious, as many males could do their shopping at the same time. However, if each male needs to take their presents through the checkout (lets say this takes 30 seconds per present) then this adds up to (2 million males, times 2.5 presents, times 30 seconds) 150 million seconds, or 2.5 million minutes of checkout time. As there are only (60 minutes per hour, 24 hours per day) 1440 minutes each day, this reaches a maximum total of (1440 times 4) 5760 minutes remaining until Christmas (this doesn't seem very large, have I miscalculated??). This means that for all of the 2 million males to make it through the checkout in time, there needs to be at least 434.027(reoccuring) checkouts in operation 24 hours a day for the next four days!!!
And here I am sitting a a computer???!!!
Its so easy to stress yourself out at Christmas (I'm kind of stressing out after those calculations) but, in the end, its not the material possesions and gifts that make the difference (this is such an i-haven't-got-my-presents-yet thing to say). After all, Jesus reminds us that amassing treasures on earth is pointless, as 'moth and rust can destroy, and theives can break in and steal.' The true treasures are instead those that are stored in heaven, things you can take with you: your character, your honour, and maybe even your friends and family. They are what are really important.
The best Christmas gift, of course, was the first one given. 2004 years ago (or there abouts) Jesus came to earth, and was born as a baby, in order that 33 years later, he could die on a cross for our sins. At Christmas it is so easy to think of Jesus as a baby, and leave it at that. However, the most important moments of Jesus' life are not the first ones, but the last.
When Jesus cried out 'It is finished' and died, he gave us the best gift ever imaginable: freedom from the sin that tries to destroy us, and a gift of eternal life with him.
All we have to do it accept the gift.
All I have to do, is go and buy them!
Friday, December 17, 2004
Suddenly, Agoraphobia sets in!
It may seem slightly silly, especially as I am publishing this on the www (world wide web - note the 'world wide' part in particular), but realizing that people may actually read my ramblings is quite an amazing thought.
My last post (was it 13 days ago already?) received a record number of replies for me... two.
And suddenly, I realise that there are actually people out there who may even read what I write!!!
Sure, two may not seem like a very big number, but its bigger than one, and its a lot bigger than zero, and the fact that one of them apparently lives in another country altogether allows my mind to run free with the thoughts that, just possibly, there are thousands of people around the world, each waiting with baited breath for my next post.... or not...
I've always wanted to write, and therefore, I suppose, wanted people to read what I've written, but its still weird when they do.
Why would they bother???!!!
But, if they do, what does this mean for me, the humble blogger named 'Lark'? If I have a possible audience, then what should I say to them? What words of wisdom should spill from my mouth?
My best answer for this is that I should just continue what I've been doing: writing as I am led, when I find the time, energy (and computer) to do so.
I know I'm not the perfect example of what a Christian should be (oh no!!) and I may still be young and unsure of many things in life, but the least I can do is be real.
Jesus led by example, he let his disciples see him on his good days (teaching etc), and his bad days (pleading with God to take away his burden), in his highs and his lows. He also called us to be witnesses for him.
We are called as Christians to be the light of the world, to make a difference to the darkness.
I have no idea how bright my light is, or how many people can see it, but I know that however much it glows, God can use it.
Maybe someday a non-Christian can get something out of this...
My last post (was it 13 days ago already?) received a record number of replies for me... two.
And suddenly, I realise that there are actually people out there who may even read what I write!!!
Sure, two may not seem like a very big number, but its bigger than one, and its a lot bigger than zero, and the fact that one of them apparently lives in another country altogether allows my mind to run free with the thoughts that, just possibly, there are thousands of people around the world, each waiting with baited breath for my next post.... or not...
I've always wanted to write, and therefore, I suppose, wanted people to read what I've written, but its still weird when they do.
Why would they bother???!!!
But, if they do, what does this mean for me, the humble blogger named 'Lark'? If I have a possible audience, then what should I say to them? What words of wisdom should spill from my mouth?
My best answer for this is that I should just continue what I've been doing: writing as I am led, when I find the time, energy (and computer) to do so.
I know I'm not the perfect example of what a Christian should be (oh no!!) and I may still be young and unsure of many things in life, but the least I can do is be real.
Jesus led by example, he let his disciples see him on his good days (teaching etc), and his bad days (pleading with God to take away his burden), in his highs and his lows. He also called us to be witnesses for him.
We are called as Christians to be the light of the world, to make a difference to the darkness.
I have no idea how bright my light is, or how many people can see it, but I know that however much it glows, God can use it.
Maybe someday a non-Christian can get something out of this...
Monday, December 06, 2004
Who have you court?
Marmaduke stared into her deep, brown eyes, his love for her reflected in his own. He offered her his hand, helped her from the carriage, and escorted her up the steps to her front door.
There he smiled warmly, bid her farewell, turned, and left.
She floated on a cloud for the rest of the day, remembering the look, the touch, and the smile.
Courting, eh?
Good old fashioned word.
It always seems to remind be a bit of the Pride-and-Predujice era that girls like so much (yes, I have seen P&P, although I haven't read the books). I quite like it too.
Call me weird, but courting has a nice feel to it, that modern dating with its kiss-me-quick attitude seems to miss. I don't like the word itself, it has that out-of-touch-with-reality feel to it, but the essence of it is good.
For example, nowadays people seem so quick to jump into the physical aspects of a relationship, and worry about how to physically please each other before they've even finished learning each others names.
'Courting' or whatever you call it, spends a lot more time building up the friendship between people, without the urgency of rushing into each others arms.
I also believe (and will stand by) the courting (and Christian) principle of not sleeping with anyone until you are married. When you sleep with someone, you are sharing with them on a more deeply emotional and spiritual level than any other possible act. If you don't end up with that person, you will have opened your soul to them for no reason. So many people are jumping from one bed to another, and feeling empty and worthless inside. I don't want that to happen to me.
Why all this about courting? Well, I've started, although we don't call it courting. We are sticking with the principles of taking it slow. In fact, for 40 weeks this year we simply worked on our friendship, without even 'dating'. Now we've just taken the step of trying to work out how we can date without damaging our friendship, and trying to keep ourselves pure while looking towards the possibility of marriage.
Its only the second time I have ever 'dated' and its her first.
I pray that God will uphold us and support us as we work on this relationship.
There he smiled warmly, bid her farewell, turned, and left.
She floated on a cloud for the rest of the day, remembering the look, the touch, and the smile.
Courting, eh?
Good old fashioned word.
It always seems to remind be a bit of the Pride-and-Predujice era that girls like so much (yes, I have seen P&P, although I haven't read the books). I quite like it too.
Call me weird, but courting has a nice feel to it, that modern dating with its kiss-me-quick attitude seems to miss. I don't like the word itself, it has that out-of-touch-with-reality feel to it, but the essence of it is good.
For example, nowadays people seem so quick to jump into the physical aspects of a relationship, and worry about how to physically please each other before they've even finished learning each others names.
'Courting' or whatever you call it, spends a lot more time building up the friendship between people, without the urgency of rushing into each others arms.
I also believe (and will stand by) the courting (and Christian) principle of not sleeping with anyone until you are married. When you sleep with someone, you are sharing with them on a more deeply emotional and spiritual level than any other possible act. If you don't end up with that person, you will have opened your soul to them for no reason. So many people are jumping from one bed to another, and feeling empty and worthless inside. I don't want that to happen to me.
Why all this about courting? Well, I've started, although we don't call it courting. We are sticking with the principles of taking it slow. In fact, for 40 weeks this year we simply worked on our friendship, without even 'dating'. Now we've just taken the step of trying to work out how we can date without damaging our friendship, and trying to keep ourselves pure while looking towards the possibility of marriage.
Its only the second time I have ever 'dated' and its her first.
I pray that God will uphold us and support us as we work on this relationship.
Recent Update, version 3.1 downloading now
Well, my course is over for the year, my computer is finally working again (this is the reason I haven't been posting much), and I'm working on a vineyard.
Joy.
Actually, I've been working on this vineyard all through the winter, helping hammer nails into posts for 5 to 6 hours a day, clipping little black clips onto wires, and even doing a bit of work with grapes!!! Now that my course is over for the year, the only difference is that I get to hammer, clip and 'grape' EVEN MORE!!!!
I'm not really a manual labour type person. However, ten dollars an hour (minus tax) is reasonable, and the job (especially through the winter) has the helpful aspect of being flexible in the hours I work. Because of this I am able to chose not to work on days that I have assignments due, or other important projects (such as cleaning my room or walking the dog).
And so life drags on....
My basic aim in life at the moment is to get through the next two years of my course, and then see where it takes me. I have been semi-promised a job at my church if I complete my course, but I'll have to wait and see for sure what I want to do.
This isn't going to be a deeply spiritual post, its just kind of getting you up to date on my life, and helping me relax for a while by blogging randomly. Thankyou Lord for random blogs.
Joy.
Actually, I've been working on this vineyard all through the winter, helping hammer nails into posts for 5 to 6 hours a day, clipping little black clips onto wires, and even doing a bit of work with grapes!!! Now that my course is over for the year, the only difference is that I get to hammer, clip and 'grape' EVEN MORE!!!!
I'm not really a manual labour type person. However, ten dollars an hour (minus tax) is reasonable, and the job (especially through the winter) has the helpful aspect of being flexible in the hours I work. Because of this I am able to chose not to work on days that I have assignments due, or other important projects (such as cleaning my room or walking the dog).
And so life drags on....
My basic aim in life at the moment is to get through the next two years of my course, and then see where it takes me. I have been semi-promised a job at my church if I complete my course, but I'll have to wait and see for sure what I want to do.
This isn't going to be a deeply spiritual post, its just kind of getting you up to date on my life, and helping me relax for a while by blogging randomly. Thankyou Lord for random blogs.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
