January 27th

Hey all, for those of you not going to Parachute this year would anyone be keen for a camping trip somewhere like Okains Bay for the weekend of Parachute?

Well

I'm back in the Garden City. It was good to get away for a bit but its good to be back amongst all you wonderful people. We saw the sun every day down in Clyde (for those that don't know Clyde is near Alexandra) so I think I am a few shades darker. We took my parents motorboat out nearly every day and I finally managed to drop a ski and stay up for more than a second. We had a nice quiet Christmas with my aunt and my only living grandmother (actually only living grandparent).

Just a brief thought, Christmas is weird, the season builds itself up into a frenzy leading up to this holiday and yet everything reverts to normality as soon as it is over. There is absolutely no wind down it climaxes and then it is over.

Anyway hope to see some of ya around and enjoy whatever holidaying you have left.

Merry Christmas all

and goodwill to man. I am off to within the next few hours to Clyde therefore to all readers I wish you a Merry Christmas and hope you have a great day. God bless you all. Peace out.

Proof of the 2 am mission to Timaru

The mighty beast


The Driver


The Photographer


The Victim


The Fuel Gauge at Timaru

So what have you done with your day thus far?

Well, I've been to Timaru and back!

Be afraid

Life and something like it

This shall be a post in three parts. Not because of its longwindedness but rather the disjunctive nature of its subject contence.

Anyway to start matters off its time for another Christmas rant. Now I know there are some of you out there that fully support Christmas and like. And for that I say good on you. However, I for one cannot stand the crass commercialism and the rampant materialism. I loathe the sight of animals dressed in mini-Santa suits. I cannot stand Christmas songs (excepting of course Snoopy's Christmas). Christmas to me means a lot more than all of this stuff. Christmas to me has come to me whanau and whether or not its blood kin or a fictional kinship group I find Christmas to be a time when families can come together and try to express for a day how much they mean to each other. I know that I am looking at this from the background of a person who comes from a Christian family etc. and therefore it is not universal. But to me that is more important than merely receiving gifts. Showing loved ones that you care and appreciate them. Anyway, that is what started Christmas in the first post God loved us enough to give us the gift of his Son. I know its really cheesy and cliched but there is a reason why some things become cliches.

On a completely unrelated topic I got called an extrovert today!!!!!

Life and something like it II: The Exorcism

I just went to see the Exorcism of Emily Rose, apparently a court room horror (as in it is set in a court room but is a horror story). It is not a horror, at least not in my mind (given that this is a person that watches movies such as the Exorcist, the Omen, the Shining, Psycho, and Ninth Gate to name a few) granted there are a number of scenes which caused me to jump and dig my fingers into my legs but it was not a horror. When I left the theatre I did not feel the goosebumps down my spine nor the icy hand of death rather most surprisingly I felt spiritually uplifted. Interestingly enough it was directed by a Christian director.

The portrayal of the demons (excepting the possible ove dramatisation of one of the demons naming himself as Lucifer) was impressive but what gripped me was the portrayal of the priest who performed the exorcism. His faith was awesome and simple, yet not simplistic. Though terrified when he confronted the demons he rested his faith in God and trusted in Him for his protection. When the demons named themselves as "the one who dwells within" the power with which the priest responds "And I am the one who comes in His name" is staggering. It is interesting in spite of the violence to other people and strength of the demons they but once touch the priest and that was merely a scratch that failed to draw blood.

This movie also had the interesting discussion of science and the bible. The ironic twist was that the Methodist God-fearing prosecutor was presenting a scientific case against the priest and was clearly skeptical and even downright disbelieving in any supernatural explanation. Whereas the self-confessed agnostic defence attorney was defending and even accepting the supernatural explanation. It was interesting to see a comparison of the supernatural and the scientific approaches to and solution to Emily's problem and there were even flashback's with alternative explanations to her injuries and expriences other than those recounted by the defense. While from my point of view the movie seemed to be presenting the supernatural explanation as the best explanation of events the scientifc was given as much time.

Finally this movie is written from a Catholic faith paradigm. Therefore there are points in which the priest prays to Michael and Mary. And another where the Virgin is reported as having appeared in a vision. However, I did not think that this was too bad as it was representing faithfully what the Catholics believe and being told from their point of view this would probably be how they would interpret events.

In conclusion I would say that to any person Christian or not, Protestant or Catholic, that this is a movie well worth a watch, at least if you can handle horror scenes. I think it definately discusses and makes the supernatural a very real possibility. As a movie as a whole it sort of seemed not to climax completely although this may be due to the lights in the cinema coming on during one of the crucial scenes of the movie. This broke the spell of the movie. But worth a watch. For other stuff take a look at the site.

Life and something like it III: Something else

This is a completely different post to the last one but since I promised someone I would try to faithfully blog it then here goes.

I arrive at a certain someones' flat late this evening to collect a piece of equipment that I accidentally left there. I get there and when the last of the other's goes to bed a person makes an interesting suggestion. Now this first bit is a bit hazy and therefore I may unfaithfully be recording it but here goes. The suggestion was "Let's get naked and get the oil or vinegar and lather ourselves in it and then roll and around on the floor of the kitchen. It would be alright because I'd lie perpendicular to you. You can lie face down over here and I'll lie on my side over near the sink. Don't worry we'd be facing one another. We can then writhe around."

I'm sorry you'd have to hear that. But I kind of suggestedy that if anyone walked in or even heard the suggestion they would have some large questions concerning homosexuality for both of us. Anyone wish to disagree with this synopsis?

Lord I don't know where this is going

I think that if I had to pick a single song to be my anthem for this year I would choose this one:

Lord (I don't know) by Newsboys
You are the author of knowledge
You can redeem what's been done
You hold the present and all that's to come
Until your everlasting kingdom

Lord, I don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead me to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt

You are the God of tomorrow
Turning the darkness to dawn
Lifting the hopeless with hope to go on
You are the rock of all salvation

Lord, I don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead me to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt

Oh, Lord, you are the author
Redeeming what's been done
You hold us in the present
And all that is to come

Lord, we don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead us to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt

The line Lord, I don't know where all this is going; Or how it all works out has been running through my head off and on throughout all the year. Sometimes I have so many questions and so many problems and so many issues with Christianity that I get myself completely bogged down. I end up completely confused and wondering who out of the vast number of theologians all with their different conceptions is correct. Finally it comes down to we don't know and all we can do is have hope that whilst we don't know where this world is going or how everything will work out that God does know. Not to doubt that God has it all in hand even though we might not have any understanding in how it possible can all come together.

I think that is the one thing that I am going to take away from this year having faith in God that he is going to resolve everything in wisdom, love, and grace.

So I still don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
But I can have hope that God will lead us to a peace
that passes all doubt that things can possibly be resolved

A Most Glorious Day

This day was spectacular and successful. All that I wanted to achieve was achieved.

The day began at 10:30 am with a mission to find Castle Rock. Now I know I am a born and bred Christchurch lad which should mean I know where to find this iconic location. My only excuse is that my parents generally are the ones who have driven me there and I did not pay attention back in the day. So we began the search in Halswell. This is very wrong and I learnt that you cannot get onto the Summit Rd from Halswell (which is sort of the road I was looking for). That route being exhausted we then proceeded to Cashmere and up to the Sign of the Kiwi, as I believed I knew what lay to the right I took the left thinking at the least it would take us to rocks to climb if not Castle Rock. However, as the road progressed we came to more landmarks that we remembered and therefore eventually arrived at Castle Rock. We clambered around there for 2 hours or so (with much encouragement to get me past my fear and trepidation of heights). It then being lunch time we then proceeded to the supermarket and then took our food with us across the hills to Taylor's Mistake. It was stunning over there and afterwards we went for a delightful romp in the waves. So much fun. Beach is the good. And then what is the best thing after a soak in salt water? why, icecream of course. Goody goody Gumdrop :D.

Not only was this all achieved I then proceeded to a friends place to organise a 21st. Since I had only remembered about this 21st on Tuesday and we were meant to be organising it for next Saturday it was kinda imperative that a lot of the details such as invitations were finalised asap. I think we managed to capture everyone that should be there and if not tough luck (for him not for the people we forgot). We then discussed a few smaller details such as seating and food etc. To finish off this part of my day a friend and I drove about the city doing a mail drop for everyone that we had addresses for or thought we had addresses for :S. So not only did I have a great day in the sun I also achieved with success all that I needed to.

To cap off this most excellent day was the midnight screening of Narnia. I shall not spoil it for those that have not seen it yet but I will make a few brief comments so if you do not want to have your viewing of the movie sullied by my opinion then stop reading ... NOW. I thought that the director kept to the heart of the story a lot better than Jackson to LoTR. There was one scene of pain for me along the lines of the 'death' of Aragon in LoTR II. There were some fantastic scenes that I thought were incredibly well done. The child acting was not painful and the CG worked very well for the most part although getting animals to have facial expressions and to talk requires some major unrealistic distortions. I enjoyed with reservations and am waiting until I see it again until I pass judgement.

U2

*Drool* I have my ticket to the greatest show that this country has ever seen: Paul Hewson, David Evans, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullins Jr. Sadly I could not get general admission and had to settle for seated. But I will be there on St Patrick's Day. I am so stoked.