As of 26 minutes ago, it became 2009.
20-0-9. That last one went crazily fast. One wonders what this one has in store.
Whatever the happenings, God remains sovereign.
Rather Him than me, that’s for sure.
a few of my favorite things
I love looking up at a clear night sky. One of my favorite things about where we live now is that the night sky can be beautifully clear. Very little ambient light to cloud the view.
Just the other night, after popping the puppy to bed, a glance at the sky stopped me in my tracks. It was amazing, awe inspiring.
With that, and the time of year it is, I was reminded of a brightly shining star, rising in – what I’m sure must have been – a brilliantly clear middle-eastern sky a couple of thousand years ago – supernaturally lit and placed by the power of God, to point the way to the Saviour.
It struck me then that, as Christians, we are like that star. Placed where ever we are by God, and (by his grace) reflecting His glory and being used by Him to point the way to the Saviour.
The choice then, to follow – and lastly believe – rests with the observer of the star. Just as it was with the oriental kings we read about in the Gospels.
So, as we celebrate Jesus’ birth, remember, the choice is yours.
Merry Christmas.
a historical day
Wow. I actually saw a Spitfire in the air today for the first time. What an amazing sight – and an amazing sound.
Very special to see an amazing piece of history performing as designed.
love capacity
Today was Grandma’s funeral.
It was nice, and altogether not as sad feeling as Grandad’s was last year. I think that may be because Grandma’s passing was less of a shock… That, and the fact that there was no piper playing at this one. Wow, the emotional energy from a lone piper playing something like Amazing Grace – it’s just incredible to experience. Always makes me cry like a newborn.
I was asked to read some scripture at the funeral. 1 Peter 1:3-9 to be exact. My Aunty apparently chose me to read that one as she knew it would be of special significance for me, being a Christian and all. That was very sweet of her.
Grandma and Grandad were so in love – it was amazing. They’d been married over 60 years when Grandad died a few days short of his 90th birthday. And Grandma celebrated her 80th not two weeks before she passed – around 9 months since Grandad went. They had this wee heart shaped photo frame with a photo of them in it. Each of them died holding it.
My wife and I have always looked at their marriage and held it as something of an example to us. It is our hope to be that happy, that in love – still – after 60+ years too.
It struck me that we all have the capacity to love like they did. We all have the ability within us to express love for another – whether we do or not is a choice that is up to us.
Go on – I dare ya!
God Bless
donkey
life, again – or the end of another
You may recall late last year that my Granddad passed away. Well, this morning, his beloved wife, my Grandma, followed on.
It’s obviously a really sad time – but not quite such a shock as when Granddad went. In a way, it’s nice to know that the pain of loss, the confusion and the sorrow will be over for her now.
This time around, we find ourselves unable to afford the trip for all of us to attend the funeral. There’s to be a special family ‘mixing the ashes’ ceremony in Oamaru on Friday which I’m really glad I’ll be able to be involved in (as well as the funeral).
On another note though, we have an old friend from Auckland staying the weekend for his 68th birthday. He’s a lonely soul – and looks forward to his annual trip down to stay with us. It’s nice to have him here and bring some happiness to a brother.
God Bless, and good night.
Flavours…..
We (my wife and I) have recently come to the conclusion that we’re not entirely pentecostal afterall.
We’re also not entirely conservative. Perhaps you could say we’re ‘preservatives’.
Certainly goes along with the whole ‘salt’ thing…. 😉
life, etc (cont’d)
Well, it’s been just over a month and I still choke up a bit thinking about Granddad…I guess that’ll happen for a while. I seem to be more sensitive to tear-jerky moments in movies at the moment too.
A new manager has been appointed at work which is great. Said manager has no IT experience or knowledge whatsoever which necessitated a new position – Team Leader, IT. I managed to get appointed to that role.
Interesting times ahead….
life etc…
So, my Granddad passed away recently. He was a day off of 91 on the day of his funeral. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to Dunedin in time to see him before he went.
Rather upsetting really – but it was lovely to catch up with family, and spend some time with Grandma before returning home.
Dunedin, and the South Island in general, is a beautiful place. For some reason, though my wife and I have never lived there, Dunedin feels like home. I suspect that we will be living there at some point in the future.
While away, I found out my boss resigned – and his boss would like me to be acting manager in between him leaving and a new manager starting. All rather daunting – but a good opportunity to try something different on for size.
Maybe it’s time to move ‘up’ from being a techie? We shall see…..
Renew the wonder…
I read this over at Our Daily Bread this morning and felt challenged by it.
I’m constantly amazed how these guys thousands of years ago were going through stuff that is exactly what people still go through today (talking about me here!). The impersonal structure of religiosity, the filling up of ones day with many things and the constant sapping of ones spiritual passion.
Back to basics – love God above all else, love one another. Should it really be as hard as mankind tends to make it?
I don’t think so.
If it means anything to you, ask Jesus to renew the wonder of Him (our first love) today, right now even.
If it doesn’t mean anything to you, well, that’s a whole other story then eh!? I pray you continue to journey towards the wonder that He is.
Bless ya
donkey
Time lag
Wow, it’s hard to believe it’s almost been a whole year since I made this blog and stuck a post on it. Show’s just how time flies eh? Or at least, how much time I have to blog anyway……
I really would like to publish stuff here more often but, well, you know how it goes.
I’m currently trying out Beryl/AiGLX on my Ubuntu workstation at work. Veerry nice indeed – and a lot faster than I figured it would be with all the extra eye candy. Doesn’t work so nice together with my gDesklets at the moment but I guess that will be addressed in future releases of both pieces of code.
A crazy thing happened yesterday – our church got ‘fire-bombed’ as the Pastor put it. It’s quite amazing that the damage wasn’t more extensive – it could quite easily have been much worse. As it is, it looks like God intervened super-naturally and put the fire out. We’ve been left with a smashed window and a burnt hole in a curtain where whatever was on fire was chucked in through the hole in the window – and a small patch of scorched carpet. Awesome eh? Old hairy legs must be getting a bit anxious about the headway we’re making in the community for God…
Must dash anwyay – this could well be all until next year! But I’ll continue to hope it won’t be……