Tall Skinny Kiwi Rides Again!

Andrew Jones - uberblogger, Emergent type, well travelled pilgrim took a blog fast in September, but is now back with avengeance now that we're in October.

TSK is one of the most consistant & creative bloggers out there, so definitely worth reading. He's a true citizen of the world..and beyond, having lived in the following countries:

17 years in New Zealand
10 years in USA
7 years in Australia
3 years in Czech Republic
3 years in UK
1 year in Latin America
3 months in Canada
2 months in Asia

Read & learn

Johnny Laird "meets" Johnnie Laird

There can't be many bloggers who have resisted the tempation to find "themselves" on the web by googling: I guess it's that whole parallel universe thing that hooks you...thinking you might not be the only you on the planet.

Well, I uncovered another Johnny Laird, all be it with another spelling.(Johnnie)

We each have very different lives! I had my usual 1 and a ½ hour slog around the M25 in the car to arrive at the office for a days work – I didn’t see a single bear or goat all the way!

Endless harmless fun

...if you're bored, and want to have some harmless fun, check out this little game

Waltz Wisdom

The Leadership Team at Granger Community Church , IN, USA are really worth watching out for.

Tony, Tim and Mark are frequent bloggers who never fail to inspire.

Mark Waltz posted something really interesting recently called "My Friend Is Trying To Save Me" which kinda stopped me in my tracks


"I love it when people come to Jesus, and because they understand how much they matter to God, suddenly their perspective on people around them changes, too. For the first time in their lives they see people differently, they see that people really matter. They matter to God. They matter as treasures God created. They matter to that person who's just discovered God's grace.

It's disappointing though, when followers of Christ begin to see their friends as walking targets, a bull's eye target to faith-wrestle to their knees, so they can be "saved"."

Read on here:

Thanks, guys, for all your good stuff, and making me really take time to think.

He's a funny la'

I simply can't not make a reference to Kevin's awesome blog on the perils & joys of collecting on behalf of The Salvation Army.

As Kevin says "if you are not a Sally then this will not make any sense, but if you are, here is some guidance."

My changing world…

Yet another great entry on Headphonaught’s blog has set me thinking. They usually do:

‘Naught happened to mention that he “Had a picnic on the front... porkpies... rolls... houmous... prawns... cheese... you know what I mean... the kind of food your folks would pull together for picnics... except maybe the houmous... unless your folks were really cool! Had a picnic on the front... porkpies... rolls... houmous... prawns... cheese... you know what I mean... the kind of food your folks would pull together for picnics... except maybe the houmous... unless your folks were really cool!”

Food seems completely different now to the kinda stuff I ate when I was a kid. It used to be a sort a fatty wasteland mostly composed of various combinations of pies, chips & bread. I can vaguely remember pizza coming on the scene in our house, but it would barely be recognized as pizza today.

Things like houmous, chorizo, bagels, sushi, olives, the myriad of pasta & coffee variants and any number of other of today’s run of the mill stuff weren’t even on the radar.

So, if the food’s changed, how much more so the world.

I was chatting with someone a good deal older than me a few weeks back, and we got into talking about “Al-Qaeda”, who they confused with “Aljazeera”. When I explained that Aljazeera was a kind of Arabic CNN I stopped short. “ “You know what CNN is, don’t you.?” “Err…..no” came the reply.

Sometimes the pace of change is so rapid, those of us who kinda keep up – or at least try our best to - should remember that there are many who just get lost in the wake of change.

Thanks, ‘Naught once again for making me think.

Geetar Double Whammy

Today I found a couple of cool bits online that I want to share with you:

Firstly, why not bounce over to Carlos Whittaker at Raggamuffin Soul.

Carlos is the Worship & Arts Pastor at Sandals Church in Riverside, CA, and blogs here about his stolen guitars. The cool part is you - yes, YOU! - get to vote on the colour of his new replacement.

Go ahead: you know you want to.

Vote here

BTW, you should check out the Sandals site anyway.

SECONDLY.....I found this great piece of guitartistry on one of Carlos's buddy's blog:

Thanks, Brian, for introducing me to Erik Mongrain

Sneaks

Now, I've always been a sucker for eye-catching sneaks, so these things really caught my eye.

I'd love to see them up close. Kinda freaky! I think I like them

Vox Veniae

Yesterday I was rapidly bouncing around the blogosphere & googling away like crazy when I happened to stumble into Vox Veniae a new Church in Austin, TX. As it happened, they really only kicked off in their present form this week, September 10th, so I figured it would be interesting to watch their progress, and add them to my prayers.

A little bit of online detective work threw up something that drew me in even further. Their lead Pastor, Gideon Tsang has a couple of kids who share their names with my boy, Noah Joseph.

Man, the web makes the world such a small place!

Guys - you have my support. I'm gonna enjoy observing your journey.

I like this, which comes straight from their site:

"We dream of grace to make Austin a more grace filled city
We dream of grace to care for those of us in need
We dream of grace imposed in the face of social injustice

We dream of grace expressed through art and music
We dream of grace unleashed through our talents and passions

We dream of grace to be a part of Christ's death and resurrection
We dream of grace to be redeemed from our destructive human condition
We dream of grace to live in the way of Christ
We dream of grace permeating friendships, marriages and families

We dream of experiencing grace through
racial, cultural and socio-economic diversity
We dream of experiencing grace through the greater global church

We dream of grace to hear & become the voice of Jesus"

Buildings

I've always loved beautiful buildings.

When I was a little kid I harboured ambitions to be an architect, before someone - I don't remember who it was - blew those ambitions out of the water by saying "you need to be really good at maths to be an architect". I used to have books filled with scribblings of my kiddie house designs and stuff, but I HATED maths!

Well, it never happened, but I never fell out of love with beautiful buildings.

...just found this great site with awesome pics of some great modern places.

Have a look - you won't be disappointed.

What can be said?

Romans 8

31-39


So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

The Message

Noah's Walking: The boy done good!

I don't have a picture of the actual event, but this one's close. (even though his eye's look like he's been on the razz!) My wee man has taken his first steps unaided! What a great surprise when I got home from work last night to see him wobbling over to greet me. I'm a proud Dad!

ubertech:GGTD

I stumbled across this site through Scott Hodge's blog:

GGTD - Geek's Guide to Getting Things done

There's a lot of good stuff from the mysteriously named Uber Tech, who describles himself as an "E_Preacher and Information Technologist"in the area of productivity, life hacking & all that good stuff. I've got a feeling this is a blog I'm gonna visit over & over.

Loadsa good links to more of the same too...definitely worth a browse.

Scotland 6 Faroe Islands O

How fantastic is it to read a result that starts "Scotland 6.....". I don't really care that it was against minnows like the Faroe Islands: I'll take that. Possibly the best margin I can actually remember.

We arra peepul! :-))

Fantasy Festival

Thanks - once again - to Headphonaught for some lovely bloggin' stuff.

The 'Naught suggests the following game:

"OK... here's a game to play... Fantasy Festival :: 8 artists / bands - only one can return from the dead. Who & why?"

Here's mine....(and this counts for today only & in no particular order)

Santana: Saw them in the 80s, Saw them in the 00s - brilliant both times.

Julie Fowlis- was completed captivated by her band, Dochas, on a track on a compilation album I picked up in FOPP a few months back, so now I'm keen to find out more.

Ry Cooder: Mr Electic Electric - pure genius.

Bill Frisell: Long time jazzy fave.

MUSE: They had completely passed me by, but saw them on TV at Reading, and was seriously impressed.

k d Lang - sings so beautifully, it makes you wanna cry

U2 : Do I REALLY need to explain? ;-)

Stevie Wonder: Playing the old stuff

The passed away one: This was the hardest - there are so many, but I'd probably have to go for Bassist Numero Uno, Jaco Pastorius

The wheels on the bus...

This is just really an excuse to share another picture of my wonderful kids.

I thank God for them everyday...every time I see them they just make me beam!

Cloudy

No doubt you've all seen this before, but here's mine...

If you want to see a Word Cloud of your blog, you can do it here

Thank You for the cross

Jesus Christ, I think upon Your sacrifice
You became nothing, poured out to death
Many times I've wondered at Your gift of life
And I'm in that place once again
I'm in that place once again

And once again I look upon the cross where You died

I'm humbled by Your mercy and I'm broken inside
Once again I thank You
Once again I pour out my life


Now You are exalted to the highest place
King of the heavens, where one day I'll bow
But for now, I marvel at Your saving grace
And I'm full of praise once again
I'm full of praise once again

Thank You for the cross
Thank You for the cross
Thank You for the cross, my Friend

©1995 Kingsway's Thankyou Music
Words and Music by Matt Redman

Darrin is blogging

I mentioned that Darrin Reeves was about to start blogging, and now the day has arrived. He's a clever, creative chappy, so expect lots of good stuff. In fact his first post is so good, he's gonna struggle to maintain his own high standards. Look out for depth & wit in equal measure.

Welcome to the blogosphere, D!

Immigration Nation

Kudos to The Independent for spotlighting one of the hot political footballs of the moment....in a positive way.

For my money - and it's an opinion not everyone will share - the UK is all the richer for it's successive waves of immigrants over many centuries. In all areas of life, our little island is enhanced by the wonderful diversity of our people - ALL of our people.

When we're slipping into a nightmare scenario when people are being thrown off planes, forbidden from enjoying The London Eye , and having to tolerate a seemingly less welcoming environment we would do well to remind ourselves that we are a hugely mixed crowd, with roots entwined & tangled from a myriad of different places over many generations.

Love All, Serve All!