Sunday @ 5 sermon

Hey folks, this is the sermon I gave on Sunday at the 5 o'clock service. It was my first, and I quite enjoyed myself.

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"Tonight we’re continuing our series, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is…’ where we are going through all the parables Jesus told in the book of Matthew; stories or images that he used to give us a better idea of what the Kingdom of Heaven looks like. The verse I have to speak on is Matthew 13:45, known as the Parable of the Pearl, or the Pearl of Great Price. It’s paired up with the parable we looked at last week, where a man finds a treasure hidden in a field, and then goes and sells all he has in his great joy, so that he can buy the field and own the treasure. Basically Jesus was saying the kingdom of heaven is a treasure to be discovered, and its value and glory fills you with a joy that makes you want to give up everything in your desire to get it. Frederick Bruner, who wrote a commentary on the book of Matthew, said when discussing these two parables,

'Few places in the New Testament as perfectly spell out the two main foci of the gospel, being grace and demand, and place them in their proper sequence, as do these two gem parables: first the jewels and then the selling; but without the selling there is no possession of the jewels.'

Last week we heard from five different people, as they shared about how that parable has been relevant to them, especially focussing on the demand side of the parables – the things they’ve sold or given up in their pursuit of the kingdom of heaven, and to better follow God’s direction. We found that to follow Christ might mean giving something up that we hold dear. Andrew talked about how he had to give up his parents’ approval in order to obey God in where he felt he was being led, because pleasing God was more important for him than pleasing his parents. That’s a big sacrifice! Jess gave up her lifeguard commitments in order to lead a youth group, as she felt God led her to do. For her, that was a big sacrifice!

For those of us who went to the 6.30 service, Ben talked about the same verse, and he challenged us to be ready to make those sacrifices, and to follow Christ wherever, whenever, whoever, however and in whatever he calls us to. It’s a heavy challenge, and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly: to follow Christ and take your place in the kingdom of heaven means to desire him more than anything else, and following him can mean obeying him in difficult things. To truly follow Christ means he must take a place more important than any sporting endeavour, any drive for success, any relationship or any image you may want to protect for yourself. These verses don’t say, ‘He went away and sold a bit of stuff to buy the treasure’, they say ‘all of it’. He calls us to seek and want the kingdom of heaven with all we have, because really it’s worth more than anything we have to offer. There are countless stories where people have given things up in order to better follow Christ. Many people in the Bible and out of it have lost their lives for Him, so highly did they value the kingdom of heaven! We see the apostle Paul as a great example of this. In his letter to the Philippians, 1:21-24, he writes:

‘For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.’

Clearly Christ is of the greatest importance and value to him, and because he is living in Christ, he is confident he will gain life with Christ in his death. He continues, writing:

‘If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.’

I wonder if we live, like Paul with this same attitude of great confidence and joy in what Christ offers us, or if we have a pretty weak grasp of all this? Do we value Christ as Paul did, so that our single concern is that he would be lifted high above all else, or is Christ’s grace just something else to think about and be thankful for, among the other important things in our life? Perhaps we don’t know about God’s grace yet?

Getting into the verse I have to speak on now, we read Matthew 13:45.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

So as I was saying before, these two parables spell out the main foci of the gospel: grace and demand. Last week we talked about the demand, the sacrifices. This week I want to look at the reason for those sacrifices, why this pearl, the kingdom of heaven, is valuable beyond anything else and why it is worth all we have and all we are. As I’ve thought about this verse and researched it a bit, I think the Israelites who Jesus was speaking to would have understood what he was saying better than we do. In their day, the value of pearls was significant, far beyond most of their means. I’ll just read some of the stuff I found, because I think it helps to put the value of pearls in perspective:

‘Before the beginning of the 20th century, the only means of obtaining pearls was by manually gathering very large numbers of pearl oysters from the ocean floor. The shellfish were then brought to the surface, opened, and the tissues searched. More than a ton were searched in order to find at least 3-4 quality pearls. In order to find enough pearl oysters, free-divers were often forced to descend to depths of over 100 feet on a single breath, exposing them to the dangers of hostile creatures, waves, and drowning, often as a result of shallow water blackouton resurfacing. Because of the difficulty of diving and the unpredictable nature of natural pearl growth in pearl oysters, pearls of the time were extremely rare and of varying quality. Divers had only very basic forms of technology to aid their survival at such depths. For example, in some areas, they greased their bodies to conserve heat, put greased cotton in their ears, wore a tortoise-shell clip to close their nostrils, gripped a large object like a rock to descend without the wasteful effort of swimming down and had a wide mouthed basket or net to hold the oysters.’

So hopefully you can see that to acquire a pearl in Jesus’ day would be significant. Most people couldn’t hope to afford a pearl, so the comparison to gaining the kingdom of heaven would have been obvious. If the kingdom of heaven is like a pearl of great value, then surely it’s something to pursue and make sacrifices for.

Take a look at this bracelet of pearls:

Quite nice aren’t they? Any guesses at the cost? This is a Swarovski bridal bracelet, and the Buy Now price for these is just $52.50 on TradeMe.

How about these ones?

This lady is Maisie Plant, and in 1915 she traded her 1.2 million dollar 5-storey mansion in 5^thAvenue, New York for the pearls around her neck. Unfortunately for Maisie, she didn’t anticipate the depression, the war, and the introduction of cultured pearls, so in 1957, her necklace was sold at auction for just $170,000. Since the introduction of farmed pearls, they have become much more attainable. While it used to be that only 3 or 4 pearls would be found in at least a ton of hand-picked oysters, now through modern technology billions of pearls are farmed every year, and they look virtually the same, yet they only cost tens of dollars. By the 50s it was the era in which every woman could own her own pearl necklace.

I wonder if this is reflective of modern day society and our perception of heaven? In the same way the value of pearls has been cheapened, has the value placed on the kingdom of Heaven been reduced? True, natural pearls are rare and valuable, but in this modern day and age we’re able to create replicas easily, so their value has been lost, and they no longer have any great importance. I tend to think the same may be said for heaven for many people.

A while ago I read a book by Mark Sayers called ‘The Trouble with Paris’. Mark Sayers is a pastor of a church in Melbourne, and he’s well known for his speculations on Christianity in modern society, particularly in the young adult age group. In this book he looks at a concept called ‘hyper-reality’, which he argues has engulfed and corrupted modern western society. A twentieth century French philosopher Jean Baudrillard coined the term hyper-reality when he took a trip across America, visiting places like Las Vegas and Disneyland. He said that our culture had become hyperreal, meaning that we could now have things that were even better than the real thing. These days, hyperreality isn’t just limited to Las Vegas and Disneyland, but it has penetrated pretty much every part of our daily lives. The world has become a pretty misled place. Hyper-reality has come as a result of society being driven by consumerism, mass media and widespread individualism. Because of it, peoples’ expectations of what this world has to offer us have been overextended. People think this world can offer us more than it actually can. What are some examples the world tells us are possible, but probably aren’t realistic? We can keep our youthfulness. We can be rich. We can look good if we don’t already. We can avoid suffering. We can be popular. We can be happy when we buy things and achieve things and look good. We can be famous. We can be truly happy and satisfied by these things… All these things the world tells us to seek represent the cheap, fake pearls that we now use to replace the genuine one, which is the kingdom of heaven., but that is the only one that can truly satisfy us. I think this video clip kind of demonstrates just how bad hyper-reality has got. I do apologise for exposing you to this by the way…

Rebecca Black, the singer, is one of a quickly growing number of young celebs that have been produced by the company Ark Music Factory. At the request of parents seeking fame and wealth for their privileged children, this company takes the youngsters, many, as we can see having very little talent in the music industry, and they write them a basic pop song, recording their voice with auto-tune, and then create a Disney-like video with the purpose of making them famous.

Now I know that this example is a bit of an extreme, but I think it demonstrates the basic message that currently dominates society, that says we have to make something important of ourselves, and that you exist to satisfy yourself. We’ve been brought up in a world that values success, and ignores reality. Realities like Rebecca Black can’t sing, nor can her friends in the video act… Realities that we just aren’t talented at some things, while other people are. Realities like we will inevitably fail at things. People will stuff us up, and we will stuff others up. And perhaps greatest of all, there is the reality that we all will grow old and die. I wonder what false realities you have been chasing? Have you been led to believe that there is a way you can be fully satisfied on earth? Instead of seeking that valuable pearl, living for God and selling ourselves on his behalf, building up our treasures in the kingdom of heaven, so many of us are seeking our immediate satisfaction in these worldly things, the false pearls. For us Christians though, this is such an ironic thing, because we know these things can never truly satisfy. We believe that our true satisfaction and joy will be found in heaven when God dwells among us. It’s difficult though to live sold out for God, because living in this false reality can be pleasant and easy. So why would we want to give away control, and sell all we have for this one genuine pearl, when it means we will have to suffer for a while, just like those pearl divers did and the merchant in the parable does? Why would we accept that this world isn’t all we want it to be, when it’s so much easier to pretend that it’s good, and to not worry about what the future holds? The reason is because reality is nagging at us. I know this clip gets overplayed, but I think it illustrates what I’m talking about pretty perfectly. This man had been searching for true reality, for that fine pearl, unconvinced that the world in which he lived was all there was. When confronted with the choice to either remain in his naïve comfort or to discover true reality, it was difficult. It's the Red pill/Blue pill scene of the Matrix. Unfortunately I'm unable to embed this video so you'll have to click the link. Watch from about 1:22 to 3:44.

Over the past few weeks through the news, I’m sure we will all have been reminded of how little control we actually have in our lives. It seems that reality has been breaking through, the reality that we currently live in a broken world have no real guarantee for happiness here. There is nothing in our lives, in our world that can give us a surety of happiness. Possessions and loved ones can so easily be lost. The little empires we build up for ourselves can be damaged and destroyed, if not by some disaster, probably at different stages by the general struggles of life we all must face, and certainly when we die. It’s pretty disturbing how easily it can all be stripped away. And that is reality.

I’ve found this to be reality in my life over the last 6 or so months, not through any real hardships, but simply in quiet times, when I just stop and think about all I have. Through my life I’ve always been a pretty happy guy. The thing is, nothing has really gone too badly for me. School and uni were easy enough. I’ve always had plenty of good friends, and my family has been great. I have a nice room filled with lots of nice stuff. Not much of all that I have has been taken away from me, and perhaps my whole life could go that way. But as I sat thinking one day, I was considering what of it would really last me. As I’ve already mentioned, probably none of it. It sounds really depressing and such, but the hard truth is, one day my family and friends will all die, and so will I! And so that leaves me with nothing. And that’s reality. I appreciate these people and things; they are good to me. But I can’t put too much trust in them, because no matter how great they may seem, because the hard truth is they are imperfect, and won’t always be there for me. Fortunately, reality doesn’t end there. As I was thinking about these things, and feeling a bit disturbed by the emptiness, I thought about my relationship with God, and the promises he’s made. I’ve always believed that God has saved me and that I’ll get to go to heaven and be with him when this happy life ends, but up to this time it had just been like a cosmic insurance. I treated it like another fake pearl, just a way to ensure my current satisfaction would continue forever. I didn’t give the kingdom of heaven the true value it deserves. Yes, it did lead me to change parts of myself, kind of like token gestures, and I did care about God, but I probably didn’t place much dependency on him. He was my helper, and I’d help him when I felt like it. But as I was thinking about all I have, and realized it doesn’t all equate to much, that’s when it dawned on me just how important is this relationship Christ offers me and this place he has prepared for me in the kingdom of heaven. In the absence of all the things I own and all the people I care about, the kingdom remains. Jesus never leaves me, and that’s why this pearl is so precious! It’s not just a pretty thing we wear as we do our usual things, just a token cheap pearl to make us look better. It is the reason we do all things. It is the lasting jewel that has me prepared to give up anything at anytime in any place. When push comes to shove, the fake pearls in life won’t stand up to the test. They’ll be proved false, mere imitations of the real thing.

I think too often Christians fall into the trap of trying to align their faith with hyper-reality, as I was doing. They make God and the kingdom of heaven just another way to give them a good feeling. Instead of being the bread of life and the one true pearl that we sell ourselves for, we box him up and only worry about him when things go badly. He becomes our cosmic insurance, so that we can live a normal happy life here, making success and other worldly things our core values, and then we think we still have that surety of this life continuing when we die. Too often we become complacent and allow ourselves to settle for just enjoying life. We do all we can to avoid suffering and injustices, wanting heaven now instead of accepting the reality that it is coming, but for now we must wait patiently for our full satisfaction. We need to pay more attention to what Paul said, when he talked about producing fruitful labor while life in the body continues.

So this all begs the question: is the value you place on the kingdom of heaven like a fine pearl, retrieved from the bottom of the ocean? Or, along with the rest of the world, have you started to seek those things seemingly closer at hand, which claim to offer satisfaction, like success, fame, relationships and wealth? While those things may give some satisfaction, they can’t hope to be lasting. They offer an imitation of the true satisfaction that awaits us. They are just like the billions of cheap, farmed pearls that anyone can get. The pearl Christ offers will only be received by some, not all.

I’m going to pray now, and then we’ll do communion. As we go into it, I’d like it if we could take it silently. Take it seriously. Jesus says he’s the bread of life. Think hard if he’s the bread of your life, your be all and end all, or if he is simply a cosmic insurance. Reflect on the value you give him and the kingdom of heaven. Are you wearing him like a cheap pearl you’ve already bought, or are you living your life desperate to glorify him for the grace he has shown you, confident that one you will stand before him and he will offer you the finest pearl? I’d encourage you not take this communion out of habit, but as a meaningful act of committal to him. Ask him to reveal himself to you, to give you a new revelation of the value of the pearl he is offering you. And please! Don’t feel at all pressured to take it."

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We then went into communion and took it silently after I prayed. It was a great experience leading the 5pm church for a night, and one that I'd definitely like to have again. I appreciate when people are able to give me pointers about how to improve, and they really ask me about the stuff I'm saying. Not gonna lie, I also really appreciated the compliments people gave me about the message. Made me feel pretty glad of all God's been doing for me, and of this place he has brought me to where I can share to other people and hopefully encourage them by a message. Windsor is such a great, supportive environment, and I'm so stoked to be given opportunities like this.

On good weather and melancholic moods

Hello helloooo, how are we all? Enjoying the sun I hope! It's been quite nice hasn't it. "Yessss!" chortled all the happy kiwi readers.

Glad we're happy then! So how have we been? What have we been up to? Working? Studying? Yes, yes of course. Well just working personally, taking a gap year from the studies you see. Oh I see! Yes, but I am studying a bit for this sermon I'm giving on Sunday... Oh... Like at church? Yeah! So you're a Christian are you? Oh that's cool ah aaaaahhh seen any movies lately? Saw Black Swan on Saturday actually. Any good? Well at first I was quite miffed to be frank. *Elliot. No it's an express... Never mind. It was a very odd movie, and certainly disgusting in many ways. Well sexually and violently. Intense seems to be the buzzword people use in describing this film, and I'd have to agree! It didn't really let up the entire movie! It felt a lot longer than it actually was. But flip it was good. It was one of those movies that you keep thinking about afterwards, and things start to make more sense, and the whole story seems to fall into place and you start to think of it as much better than you remember it being during the experience! I like those. There Will Be Blood was another movie like that for me. At the time, confusing and inconclusive, but afterwards, breathtakingly brilliant! Actually, the last couple of scenes of Black Swan were that in the experience. The final dance scene was stunning. It's all I can think of. The music. The filming. The costumes. The climax of the plot. The acting. The dancing. The lighting. It was all magnificent. It was such a catharsis of awesome that I had to force myself not to tear up, because I certainly was not going to cry in a ballet movie! I've talked it up a lot, but don't go into this movie naively, it was incredibly graphic and INTENSE. Oh thanks for the heads up! No probs bruh. Check this out. It's the first part of her black swan dance. The second part's the best but not online, so this is a teaser.

I did actually cry later on. I was at a 21st. The situation was actually quite hilarious: I was sitting with my friends Antoni and Robmcstay, and we had a fake cry-off. I won. Twice. It was so hard because we kept cracking up: knowing that people would see three guys looking intensely at a spot with incredibly hard-broken expressions trying to cry at a 21st party was to us hilarious.

But seriously, that was a melancholic day. Seeing that movie made me realise just how corrupted a lot of people actually are in this world. And when I got home I lay on my bed reading the Herald online. Earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Christchurch victims named. 16 dead in a mine accident in China. Another 16 in China killed in a bus accident... I went to sleep at 6 in the late afternoon feeling rather glum, and woke at 8.30, somewhat confused for the party. This ain't a too cherry world when you look close enough, and sometimes it's screamingly obvious. I shouldn't forget that.

Cool story bro...

Thrilling stillness!

I had written a massive blog that I was pretty pumped about and thought was pretty deep for my standards, and I was going to post it but I'm pretty sure I'm going to speak about it when I do my sermon at the Sunday @ 5 in a couple of weeks (come listen!), so I don't want to put it up because when I speak it people who read it will be like, 'Oh cool... I read this in your blog...' and it'd be stink-buzz! So I'll probably post it or something similar after then :)

But don't worry! Heaps has been happening so I have more to write about!

First, here's a great video that Ben Morley posted on Facebook about a week ago and I've been absolutely obsessed since!

(Here's hoping that worked! It's my first post with a video!)

Yes! It's Puff the Magic Dragon! I think it's so beautiful. Such a joyful and sad tune. It's about the loss of innocence/childhood, not drugs, I think. The crowd is so cool too! Such an indie 60s crew! Or were they mainstream? They sing it so sincerely! Cute.

Hope you enjoyed that :) How about this? My mate Genny posted it and I have now acquired their CD wooh!

Mega cool! They are so into it! Imagine if we worshipped that way? Dayum that would be good.

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^Tacky page divider.

So I've been working full time at the caf the last week and a bit now and I'm really enjoying it! It's so good to be working and have a reason to rest, rather than resting because there's nothing else to do. Makes me appreciate my quiet time much more. Yesterday on my day off I just cruised. Jordan had stayed the night and we just chilled through the morning. It was great! I love it when the lights are out and there's that silence before you drift off to sleep, and then one of you has another question to ask and so conversation goes on for several more minutes. Conversations seem way deeper and more personal in those situations, it's mint. When he had left I ate a bowl of strawberry and vanilla ice cream and it was particularly good on that March afternoon... I've decided the first two weeks of March are my favourite, weather-wise. They are still nice and hot and summery with heaps of sun, but there's that cool new breeze that is so refreshing and live giving, the way it flows over your face, dry and parched from months of summer's heat and dry. But then it rains and the breeze becomes a cold wind and then it's not so nice and hot and I just want summer back... But yesterday lured me out of the house, it called me down the road to the beach, and it beckoned me lie on a grassy bank by the oily but gentle little Mairangi Bay stream; yesterday's joy was me getting grass in my hair and sun on my legs, and she played to me her beachy sounds (the wave's orchestra, as Andrew put it, the natter of cicadas and birds and dogs, and the occasional car vroom), and life flowed into me! I got so pumped up just sitting there quietly enjoying God's stunning creation...

I was so enthralled my it that I got up at 6 today to get ready for my 8am start, and spent the 7 o'clock hour down on that same bank, sitting in the chill stillness watching the sun rise, while the North Shore elite strolled their dogs or pumped their legs. It was brilliant. So often with my quiet time I try to achieve stuff, like if I have an hour in my room I'll sit at my desk and write my prayers and thanks for 30mins and then read the Bible for 30mins, so that I'm making the most of my short time... But I'm not! I miss out doing it that way. I don't hear from God as well as I could because I'm not listening, I'm busying. So this was awesome, because in that nature, in my quiet, His spirit moved me and encouraged me. Who else could I live for but He who created such a beautiful morning for me? And so my day went terrifically. Work was busy but I was up for it because I was growing the kingdom of heaven, not merely washing dishes and being rushed off my feet. Despite the stress of a busy cafe day, I had peace and joy! Can't wait for Presence tomorrow at 7 in Browns Bay. A group of us are praying and worshipping there, come join if you can! The stars are out tonight by the way, have a look :)

They're taking the hobbits to Isengard!

I finished Lord of the Rings! Dang it was good. By the end both the front and back covers had come off and the pages looked well worn. I became pretty obsessed with it toward the end, reading it every spare moment. Once when I hung with Katie I just read solidly for 2hrs saying hardly a thing, and the next night I finished it at Dennys at a 'hang out' with Dan, JadeandTalman.

^ See what I did there? That's right! I made their names one word garrrrow!

I started speaking LordoftheRingsy too, and every situation to me became LordoftheRingsy. I'd imagine which character my friends would be. I'd be Aragorn. He's the man - not that I'm the man! But flip... Definite man-character crush there... Sophie would be Legolas, and we agreed Em would be Gimli. Haha, that's some classic middle-child beats there! I'd also dream what my great adventure would be, hoping for some great task of my own that would somehow save planet earth, but no one would really know I'd accomplished. Adventuring appeals greatly to me... Really have to get onto that length of New Zealand tramp! Keeeeeen!

The book taught me a lot actually. I shared this at church last night (clearly I'm obsessed...): one thing that struck me in Lord of the Rings (no, I'm not going to abbreviate it to LOTR - waaayyy too nerdy) is how Aragorn is so patient in his waiting to be crowned king of Gondor. All his life in the north, basically in exile from his kingdom of right, he is aware that he may some day be made king, but he lives patiently there, waiting for the right moment. Through his life, he travels widely and becomes highly skilled as a ranger. He's largely unknown of except to the wise - others refer to him as Strider and consider him an 'outsider', dangerous and not to be messed with. Signs start to appear to him that he is finally being called to his rightful place (I gather that he is a man of mature age by this stage), and he goes on the quest with Frodo to destroy the ring (I hope most of you are familiar with this story!). He goes and more signs appear, but he still he doesn't rush things. He goes about it so patiently and perfectly, doing the hard yards before he reaps the reward. He leads the good armies of Middle Earth in a couple of big wars, and only when peace is achieved does he claim his throne. This speaks to me quite a bit. Aragorn was patient. He knew that to rush his task would make it patchy and he wouldn't have earned as truly as he could. Rather than forcing things, he just did as he was led to, and things fell perfectly into place for him. I want to live in the same way, being in the moment and doing what I'm doing as best as I can. I don't really see it now, but I know that by doing these things well, I will be preparing myself for the bigger stuff God perhaps has planned for me. I haven't been led to any great thing yet, so I will simply be obedient in the little things I have, and pray to be used in greater ways in God's own time. Jeremiah 29 speaks about this stuff. It's great.

Another thing I got from it was this. When Frodo and Sam were in the final stage of their quest, walking through the terrible land of Mordor with little hope, Sam was awake one night and this is what happened. 'The land seemed full of crackling and sly noises, but there was no sound of voice or of foot. Far above the Ephel Duath in the West the night-sky was dim and pale. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the shadow was only and small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his master's ceased to trouble him. He crawled back into the brambles and laid himself by Frodo's side, and putting away all fear he cast himself into a deep untroubled sleep.' I think that is so beautiful and a real insight into life. Though these two were in the greatest struggle they'd ever known, Sam perceived that it was just a passing thing. Though they may perish in the task, good would continue to prevail, and life didn't seem such a serious ordeal. I think of the people in Christchurch, being in such a horrendous situation there, with so much lost. Many of them will be living in misery right now, in the greatest struggle they'll ever see, and for many it won't pass so simply. It may be a lifelong ordeal for many of them. But destruction won't prevail. The white twinkling star is still able to shine into their lives. Let's be honest, I'm using this as a metaphor for God. He hasn't forsaken them. He still cares, and weeps to see them hurting like this. I just hope the people are able to look up from their troubles and see this joy, and let their hearts be smote by it. He IS a good God, and 2000 years ago he allowed his son to be forsaken for us, so that all us broken people can be rejoined with him, and be unforsaken people. One day he will come to restore us and this earth, so that sin and suffering ceases to exist. For the time being, we must persevere and simply live in that beautiful twinkling hope, however distant it may appear.

Mountaintop joys.

I'm in a stage of life where the popular expression "No pain, no gain" has been completely reversed. To be honest, most of my life has been this way, lots of good stuff with very little friction. Plenty of plain sailing. I think that's a big reason why I want to go flatting, start to run up against the shores of real life, ya know? But these last few days, life has been particularly giving. It's been so great, things have just been working out stunningly and I've hardly done a thing to deserve them. It started with the cafe work, how it was basically just handed to me, when the job should well and truly have been beyond my grasp. The architecture work I was hoping for fell through, but the cafe was there so keep me afloat right away, so that I needn't have worries for finding a job in order to go flatting. No, it's not ideal. I don't plan on being a cafe worker forever. But for the moment, it's perfect.

On Saturday I had hockey trials for the Prem/Prem Reserve squads of my club. I was merely hoping to get into the reserve squad, only ticking that box and leaving the Prems for the hard outs, the go-getters. But after the trial I held little hope of even making my aim. Summer days of eating too much and doing too little had taken their toll and I felt well unfit, performing pretty poorly. Or so I thought! Today I got a call from the club chairwoman to congratulate me on making the Prem squad! Unbelievable, to be selected out of a reasonable group of players into that team which I've always considered somewhat beyond me. For the last few years I've just played in the Senior 1 grade, two grades down! So I've been pretty stoked and motivated since that call. I figure if I don't start getting a bit of pain for my gain it won't last, so I went for a run. I'm pretty keen for this renewed desire for fitness to last. I've had times like these before, where I get a sudden desire to get really fit and succeed in my sport. Last time was when I watched the 2008 Olympic marathon and got uber inspired, planning to be the next big competitor! That phase lasted a couple of months. The time before, I decided I was going to win the Tour de France. That lasted two bike rides... But this time a great position's just been handed to me - admittedly it's no where near as special as those things, but I'm still thrilled! I want to make the most of this.

Another gain was seeing two great films this past week for just the pain of $10.50 each! Last week I saw True Grit, a Coen Brothers film based on 1800s (I think) back country America. It's about an intensely mature and determined 14 year old girl who's father has just been robbed and killed by an outlaw, and she's determined for said outlaw to be convicted of his deed. When local authorities won't act, she takes matters into her own hands and hires a Marshal to travel with her into Indian country to track him. It's epic. Such a great journey they go on, running into plenty of ruffians and wild territories. There's something about that folky America I'm in love with. The Assassination of Jessie James By The Coward Robert Ford, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood are all fantastic portrayals. As is Bob Dylan and Mark Twain. It seems such a rugged culture where men are fearless and lawless, and there's always plenty of grand, nay, hardy adventure. And the prairies! Oh the prairies... The other film which I saw tonight was The King's Speech and it was brilliant, as anticipated. Colin Firth was convincing as the stuttering British king, as was Geoffrey Rush as his unorthodox speech therapist Lionel Logue. It's so great to see a film that's simply worked around the genius of the actors, and doesn't really need to lean much on structure or storyline. I loved the close ups of the king. Firth conveyed his frustrated emotions as a man who not only lacked a voice but someone who he could truly relate with. It made me happy the way Lionel and Bertie became friends through the film, being such an unlikely pair - a stiff man of high royalty and an immigrated Australian commoner. Reminded me a bit of Denny and Alan off Boston Legal and how their friendship grew always stronger...

Ah swoon... Things are good. I could tell you about more unmerited gains, but that would bore you! Oh there's one more extraordinary one, but that story's already been told! Check it out - it comes up in the New Testament quite a lot. And I bet you thought I wasn't going to preach!

Return of the blog!

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, those of you who noticed and have been annoyed. I've been annoyed too. My F.O.M.O. tendencies have crept in massively lately so that when no hang out has been happening, I've been on watching How I Met Your Mother or on the computer on Facebook and Skype and Gmail and Stuff and any other distracting site, just so I can feed on, let's be honest, rubbish to distract me. It's awful! Time spent in quiet without those distractions is so incredibly important. Without it I've become pretty exhausted, anxious, lacking in time for just thinking and listening to God, and unproductive... And so without this thinking time I've had nothing really valuable to write! So here it is, I'm cutting back on my distractions. No more staying out ridiculously late at hang outs that aren't doing anything for me or wasting time scrolling down the Facebook home page or clicking the refresh button on NZ Herald. I want my space back. God wants time from me and he trumps. I heard a cool way of describing prayer the other day: thinking deeply before the Lord. How cool is that? I'm keen to get into it. Hopefully the next post will be more positive and my days will have been more productive!

Oh, and a wee update: the architecture experience I had over summer ended, when I had hoped it would continue into this year, and as I expressed earlier, I would get obsessed on architecture. So when this was made clear to me, I contacted the cafe I work at asking for full time work and they have been gracious enough to increase my hours (by how much I'm currently unsure). So my plan for the next couple or more months has been revamped. Perhaps God has had a hand in this though. At the cafe shifts finish at 3.30 at the latest, giving me all afternoon to accomplish other things. Perhaps this will be doing work in the church, which I would be very keen for. Perhaps it will be learning an architecture computer program, so that I'll be more employable in the future. Perhaps I'll work for mum on a big new project we hope she's landed. There are options here, and I'm excited about them. I hope God will continue to take my plans and bust them, twist them, warp them to something he desires.

Under the influence of Paper Kites.

I got back from Aussie about a week ago, having avoided both flood and cyclone (!), and arrived in Auckland to a terrific surprise. Dad was there to greet us, which was cool because it's always nice to see him, but the surprise was my old bud Jade! She'd been gone 6 months to South America and London, and we thought she'd still be gone until Feb 10th... so when she rushed up behind us, Meg filming the whole event, we were pretty mightily surprised! Em teared up and couldn't contain herself; I acted cool and pretended immediately that I knew all along... Haha it was fantastic. It turns out our whole group of friends, and even people we don't know had been given direct instructions to not let the Rices know, so as not to ruin her big show at the airport! Pretty epic. It's crazy how easily she's fat (fitted) back in. Just like old times.

A couple of days after our return, we were roadie-ing down to Parachute, this one to be my 8th. It was different to other years. The main stage line up was much less impressive in stature than we've become used to, not that I really minded. I'm way too pretentious and indie and hipster and skuxx for that stage. It was actually awesome though because it meant the lesser known artists, especially locals really flourished. It was so great to see Avalanche City, Alaska and Paper Kites, among others playing to full audiences and getting the attention they deserve. I hope Life FM took notice! For me there really is no weekend better than Parachute, walking from stage to stage having your ears filled up with such a great variety of good music, and then letting it simmer as you hang with friends in the village or tents and maybe listen to a sermon or two. It was inspiring musically. Spiritually too. Lately I'd say I've had quite a lot more than usual on my mind, which has distracted me from having that pure love relationship with God that I think is so important. Leading up to the festival my mates had been getting right into their own relationships with Him, getting heaps out of a couple of worship nights which I found myself feeling distant in. For the first half of Parachute it was the same: I stood back merely spectating the worship, while I could see my friends up the front loving every minute of it. I felt skeptical and full of doubt, only able to appreciate it as good music. At the Sunday night service during the Chris Tomlin set, Louie Giglio spoke, giving his Indescribable sermon. It talks about the stars and the massiveness of our universe, revealing how big our God is to create it all, and how insignificant we really are in comparison... but also how loved we are, that this God who created stars and galaxies of a scale beyond our comprehension, still knows each of our names. And not just that, he made such an effort to relate to us that he sent his son down in human form to live with us, and then die for us... Sorry, I don't really mean to preach. It's just that for me in that moment it was great to be reminded of the God I'm supposed to love and adore. My problems weren't so big anymore, but my God is. I love how Parachute and other camps can do that, give me a kick and remind me about stuff that I forget. I shouldn't forget that my God is big.

Post-Parachute I went tramping with what my friend apparently referred to as a 'Mongrel Mob'! Haha, it was a bit. Besides Lucy, I wasn't really very familiar with the group, but that's the beauty of tramping. It unites people! I wouldn't say it's the actual tramping that unites people - if I may quote Hannah mid-the ascent of a long hill: "I'm miserable." Haha, but the whole experience certainly does. We did a Mt Pirongia overnight walk, staying in a cute little Christmas coloured hut overlooking the bush to the vast Waikato plains below on the east. The track was reasonably tricky, so we didn't rush it (he writes chuckling to himself as he thinks about the pace...). It was so cool, because as we walked the order would change every now and then, and as we were all fairly unfamiliar with each other, there was always plenty of conversation to be had, and if not, it was cool because we were walking in beautiful New Zealand bush! You actually can't beat it! In the hut the girls prepared a great meal for us, and we drank wine and everyone told stories, often quite hilarious. It's such an awesome way to get to know people, free from all distractions. So honest and pure! I am keen for more!