I am Bond...James Bond

You scored as James Bond, Agent 007. James Bond is MI6's best agent, a suave, sophisticated super spy with charm, cunning, and a license's to kill. He doesn't care about rules or regulations and somewhat amoral. He does care about saving humanity though, as well as the beautiful women who fill his world. Bond has expensive tastes, a wide knowledge of many subjects, and his usually armed with a clever gadget and an appropriate one-liner.

James Bond, Agent 007		88%
Neo, the "One"		75%
Maximus		75%
El Zorro		71%
Batman, the Dark Knight		67%
The Amazing Spider-Man		63%
Indiana Jones		58%
Lara Croft		54%
William Wallace		54%
The Terminator		54%
Captain Jack Sparrow		46%

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
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Turning Point

Last night my girlfriend and I were at the flat, and a mate of mine (incidentally her brother) visited and we got chatting. We got into a discussion mainly centered on a conversation I had with a guy I work with. Without going into any great details he offered the opportunity for the three of us to get into a ‘prayer circle’ and just pray about anything that came to mind. After we went round the circle as it were, my mate ventured out on a limb, which forms the rest of this post. Hold onto your hats!
Here’s a question to ponder: Is it possible to hold on to unforgiveness for 17 years, without even knowing it, or knowing why? That was my unconscious position for that length of time, yet during the prayer time my mate was getting what he could only fathom as words from the Lord. Acting on these words, he asked if I was holding onto any unforgiveness toward my Mum. I remained silent, although my eyebrow was raised at this point. When he spoke those words, I hadn’t the slightest idea of what he was talking about. If he was speaking the truth, I thought to myself, then I don’t know what’s going on. To my mind, I was harboring no unforgiveness toward my Mum. But his vision from the Lord continued further; he asked me to picture when I was a little boy. And it is from this point that the night took one heck of a turn! To my mind, I had one – only one – memory of anything ill about my Mum when I was a little boy. When I was six, my parents separated (later years would turn separation into divorce), but at the time I had no idea what was going on. My aforementioned memory of my Mum during that time was her walking out of the house, with me looking outside from the spare room. That was it, my memory. Nothing more. I did not think that this was cause for any unforgiveness, but nonetheless I began to explain this event in my life to the prayer circle.
Then my mate began to ask me questions surrounding it; ‘Where was Jesus in all of this?’ I replied to him, ‘Nowhere’, because at the time I had no knowledge of God, and wouldn’t have any until I was 14. If Jesus was there, I sure didn’t see him. That was more or less my response, so my mate prayed to reveal to me exactly where Jesus was in that situation. Retaining my image of Mum walking out (with me in the spare room), I saw in this vision a man dressed in white standing next to me. His hand covered my eyes, and he said to me: “Your eyes will not see this until the proper time.”  I did not know what that meant, so I confessed this element of my vision. I was asked then to identify the man in white. My answer was plainly obvious, on the level of being asked to put 2 and 2 together. It was  Jesus, and I understood His words. When Mum walked out, I did not understand what was going on. All of this was well above my head; hence my eyes did not see this.  The proper time,  it seems, would either refer to later years revealing to me the why  of the divorce, or to this night.
But throughout this vision I was having, I saw this little boy and Jesus from a third-person perspective.  And the little boy was talking  to Jesus. And as the outsider looking in – the little boy’s future counterpart – I could hear their conversation. The little me was asking Jesus what was going on, and Jesus was replying in words that could have only been from the mouth of the Lord. My six-year old self had many questions, and Jesus answered them all. During this vision, my mate asked me if there were any lies I took on board since the separation, and he asked the Lord to reveal them to me, if I could not see them. And indeed a lie was revealed to me (but for personal reasons I won’t post them here), to which I replied as to what this was. I was then prayer over to have this lie broken, removed, set free from my life. And no sooner had he prayed over me, I did  feel something come off. I did  feel loosened from something.
I write this post because I wish not to forget what happened last night. I felt the power of God in a way I have never felt before, for a long time. God came down and revealed to me an unconscious unforgiveness that I was holding onto. And now I can say that I have been set free from the separation, the lies I held to, the events that would shape me as a result. I have been made new, because God had decided that – through my mate – last night was the proper time.

Time For Change

After dicing it up in my head for almost too long, it’s time to be brutally honest with myself about blogging. Visitors will spot the ever-growing gap between blogs, and that’s for a very good reason; I’ve (sadly) lost the ‘drive’ to blog as frequently as I used to. When I began my blog, it was in the middle of last year for one of my classes. When the nature of my posts didn’t meet the grading criteria, this blog then essentially became my online place to express my thoughts, feelings and opinions, particularly theological ones. These days, my blog has declined into none of the above. Looking back now, I think I placed upon myself unnecessary pressure/obligation to blog. This of course, is the wrong approach, and henceforth I am going to try a different approach to remove the ‘compulsion to post’, the expectation. I will instead opt to turn this blog into a more ‘personal’ direction. My idea at this time is to mainly check in each week with how I’m going, what’s good and what’s not so good in my life…basically, returning to the personal side of blogging (within reason of course). If I have theological musings, these will most likely be written offline  on my computer, rather than posted up here.
In any case, I won’t be disappearing completely, just rehashing the whole aspect of blogging.

Peace out!

Of God And Illness

If you’re anything like me, then you hate it when you’re stuck at home nursing some kind of illness. That’s been me over the last couple of days; I’ve been recovering from a sore stomach and, would you believe it, was caused by me eating far too much sugar products! Let’s just say that when you get a bunch of mates sitting at home watching the Crusaders on Sky, one tends to get a bit too “partied-up”, no alcohol needed. That was me on Saturday night…and Sunday/Monday was spent in stomach agony. When will I learn!
But being stuck at home has its upsides too. Like not being at work for instance (although I did  go to work on Monday). But I didn’t get to College because I wanted that extra day of recovery, and I’m pleased to report that I am back to my normal, energetic self.
Being stuck at home also allows one to sit back and reflect on God. I mean, what else  can you do when you’re crook? When you’re used to sprinting through life, you’re now forced to hit the brakes and take life in the slow lane. I’ve used my “day of slowness” to sit down and catch up on some homework (which I’m now up-to-date with), and it’s interesting that God can be found within my studies. I’m sure many of my College buddies can attest to that. I wouldn’t say that God has leapt  every time I flick over a page, but just little seeds here and there have helped me grow in this faith journey we call life.
So the next time you get caught out by any sort of illness, sit back and take the time to mull with God. When you’re healthy and stuck in the fast lane of life, seldom does anyone check up on their personal growth. I am one such person. I need to downshift, and maybe you do too.

Return Of The Student

Disclaimer: Most of you may have noticed that I deleted a post prior to this one. That’s because the post contained a HTML graph that stuffed up the menu on the right of my blog. Hence, I removed the post.

The day has finally arrived; I’m back at Bible College. Today is Wednesday and halfway through the Orientation Week, and man it feels good to be back! I have returned to have a stab at the second year of the Degree problem. It’s interesting being a returning student, among all the first-yearers. I remember when I first started at College. I was like a stunned mullet, with this “what’s going on here” look slapped all over my face, having no clue as to what this new place is and what I’m getting myself chucked into. I know how the new students feel, and I hope that I (and the rest of the returning crew) can get along side the new students and help them into the college family atmosphere. Either way, it’s shaping up to be yet another fun – and hard working – year as we all seek to discover not only our brains, but what God has in store for us as we enter our studies.

Peace out.

Merry PC-Christmas

I’ve wanted to write this post for a while, but have never gotten round to it. However, here I am, so brace yourselves in and cast your minds back to Christmas 2005…
I love Christmas. I love the fact that there in our calendars is a day to commemorate the birth of the One who came to save every single human being in history (and future). Years ago, it was just a day for me to get tons of presents, but these days my focus has shifted somewhat. However, not everyone out there shares these views. Yes, I’m referring to both  the birth of Jesus and  the secular present-swapping tradition. For those of us that keep abreast of the news, we will have followed the uproar of Christmas itself. I read everything in my workmate’s paper about it: there were scores of letters, articles and snippets dedicated to debunking Christmas as “exclusive”, and cries of “multi-culturalism” echoed throughout as a counter or rebuttal. I remember thinking to myself, isn’t it funny how Christianity or anything linked with Christianity gets bricks thrown at it, yet every other religion remains unscathed? Let me elaborate: Christmas is under fire as being too exclusive. Why don’t I hear anything against Hanukkah? Why aren’t people taking pot shots at Ramadan? What about the page-filling story in The Press about the birthday of Hinduism’s foremost deity, Ganesh?
My point to you is this. The cries of “exclusivity” are coming from those who by choice did not wish to partake in the Christmas celebrations themselves, be it celebrating Jesus’ birth, or swapping gifts. Those that are pushing for an “alternate Christmas” (or a “neo-Christmas”) are not only those who would deny Christ’s birth and existence (done by choice of course), but these very same people would have no problem with the other festivities I’ve listed. Hanukkah is specific to the Jews, yet I hear no uproar. Ramadam is the Muslim month of fasting, yet noone throws up their hands and cries “intolerance”. And I don’t recall ever hearing a bad word slung against Ganesh or the Hindu celebrations themselves.
One final point needs to be written: I also find it funny how those that sling arrows at Christianity do so from a most comfortable range. It only seems to be those not interested in belief in Christ (or any “God” for that matter) that seek to bring Him down – or out – for anyone and everyone. How does the general public (aided by the Government) seek to establish a PC, tolerating society when intolerance is still rife? Does the existence of intolerance not suggest that there is a line to live by? Does not the rampant advance of intolerance show us that we are far, far from this line?
I would be willing to bet that God is looking down on His creation. And He is crying. He is crying to a world without ears. He is crying to a people that couldn’t care less. And we have done all this…by choice.

The Amazing Thing About Grace

I was cleaning out my room the other day, and I discovered a book that I had not read in a very  long time. This book was Philip Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace?  This book has a history: A cell group I once belonged to (that is, before it disbanded) used this book as the basis of our studies. In fact, the copy I own of Yancey’s book was a study guide to it. Either way, we were unable to complete our study of the topic of Grace, due to our group splitting off.
Anyways, the re-discovery of this book got me thinking. What is  so amazing about grace? And at work one day, the answer came to me. Ponder this passage of scripture for a while…

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
                            – 1 Corinthians 1:18-19

One of the central keys to Christianity is the doctrine of Grace.  Jesus came as the once-and-for-all sacrifice for the forgiveness of Sin, which of course was His saving act by His blood, on the Cross. One thing to bear in mind about salvation by Grace is that it stands in stark contrast to salvation by Works.  And here’s where I got thinking in overdrive: when we do wrong against another person, our natural tendency is to “work” off the transgression we caused to him or her. A sense of guilt accompanies an act of wrong, and we naturally try to work off our guilt, in the hope that we have done enough in order to satisfy the person we’ve wronged. Now, almost every major religion (Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, et al.) stresses that it is by our good works that we are able to be made perfect. And you would expect an all-powerful God – creator of all things - to look at us humans, and look at those who have done the greatest. Yet the very same all-powerful Creator God does the exact opposite  to the common sense and logic of human thinking. In fact, the message of Grace can be summed up this way:
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
                            – Romans 5:8    

Arthur's Pass

Remember my post from way back when I went over to Arthur's Pass for the day? Here's some photos of the day =)
Enjoy...


The Crew (Left to Right: Ricardo, Miriam, Andrea, Myself and Peter)


The Crew (sans Andrea) atop a bridge on the Devil's Punchbowl track


A view of a really cool mountain



Devil's Punchbowl Falls



This is the self-suspending ice-shelf I made reference to in my last post about Arthurs's Pass. Considering it's the middle of Spring and it was roughly 25 degrees outside, this was the most impressive bit of the whole tramp!

Full Scale Clean-Up!

Although it wasn’t intended, this post is mainly ‘an extension’ to my previous post.
I have titled this particular post as is on purpose. Basically, I need prayer…tonnes of it! I have fallen into a lull in my lifestyle at the moment, and it has created a suffocating aura, an aura that promotes nothing but sheer laziness. It’s not that I don’t do  anything, it’s just that I have fallen into a trap (like so many people do) of getting into a habit of playing far too many computer games. Yep, I get home after work and the first thing I do is blob. Where do I blob? Not in the lounge, that’s for sure. I blob in my room, in front of this screen of mine, and waste my time playing games.
However, I need a change. Prior to typing this post I uninstalled every single game off my computer, now I need to pack away the boxes. The prayer is mainly for not only breaking this deadly and anti-social habit, but to also devote my time to more meaningful, fulfilling activities.

Thank you…

The Busy Slacker

Hehe long time, no blog!
I haven’t quite vanished from the face of the Earth; just a small blog to let you all know that I’m alive and well. I hope you’ve all had an awesome and memorable Christmas, one filled with wonderful times and reflections of God deciding to pop on down to Earth as a manger-dwelling infant. I have disappeared temporarily from the blogspot for a number of reasons. Firstly, check out my previous post (Golden Age) for one  reason. Secondly, I’ve not been able to have any time to myself for the last month. Ever since exams, I’ve straight away returned to Window Treatments as a full-timer until my second year kicks under way. Thirdly, if I haven’t been at work I’ve been elsewhere. It seems that my time has been spread across many fronts, and the fact of the matter is, you are reading this particular post because I finally  managed to have time all to myself.
Anyways, must dash. I didn’t tell you how much time I had to myself (clue: not all that much). But rest assured over my absence I’ve collated some juicy ideas for posts that will hopefully spill over from my brain to my blogspace. But until then, have a happy New Year’s celebration(s). Don’t do anything I wouldn’t (list not available) =)

Peace out!

Golden Age

“…Lord, there was a time when I had a ‘Golden Age’ in my life…but I have forgotten what that feels like. I pray, Lord, that you would restore to me what it was like to live life to the full. I pray once again for a golden age…”

What you have just read is a small and somewhat paraphrased version of a prayer I made to God a long while ago. When I speak of a ‘Golden Age’, I speak of a time when I was living life with all the energy in the world, where (almost) everything seemed to be running quite nicely, and if the enemy decided to wage war, I was able to ward off such attacks in the power of God. That time was at the start of this year, and has been lost since April. And the time that has followed hasn’t been all bad,  but inwardly I had felt empty, that a piece of me was somehow missing or in need of restoration. Many times I had prayed similar prayers (like the excerpt above), because noone  likes living under a dark cloud, so to speak. I had times where I hated my life. I wanted something more.
Then God showed up…

Recently, I returned to my place of work (see previous post), and have been having an absolute blast. I have regained a lot of energy since returning, and this has served only to lift me up. But it gets better. Last Tuesday I played Laser Strike with my teammates and we thrashed our opposition, paving the way for next week’s final against the top team. So I’m pretty stoked about that. And today I tasted – for the first time in ten months – a full-time wage, and am aiming to save as much as I can, as well as buying Christmas presents and a place ticket. So all these have also  lifted me up, but these pale next to what really  set my life spiraling upward! I don’t want to sound like a “spiritist”, but I really felt that God has blessed me, by not only giving me all these little victories and niches (because it’s the little things in life that really count), but on Friday night I feel that God had given me the greatest gift anyone could ever receive from His hand – namely that of a special someone =”) Me and my best female friend of three awesome (and turbulent (1)) years are now going out. And ever since then I have been walking differently.

Oh, and if that last sentence sounded odd, read it again in light of what I’ve just written. The words are simple, but the meaning is there.

Praise God, for His testing of those He loves. Praise God, for the blessings that follow. Praise God, for Him being God.

Notes:
(1) By ‘turbulent’, I mean that me and my friend have got perhaps the  strongest friendship I’ve got with anyone out there. We’ve been through so much crap, it’s not funny! But we’ve always stuck it out, and have emerged stronger as a result. And now that we’re going out, if a problem arises, we know how to deal with it. Praise God for special friends like that!

Is Your Heart At Risk?

Inspired by Lani’s blog, I decided to partake in the Cynicism  test…
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You scored 10, on a scale of 0 to 30. Here's how to interpret your score:

0 – 10: Risk-free. Your Cynicism level is very low.
11 – 20: Somewhat cynical. Your Cynicism level is probably high enough to be of some concern.
21 – 30: Severe cynic. Your Cynicism level is very high.

What I'm Up To (In Brief)

With Bible College ceasing for the year, what has become of the J can be summed up in two words: Window Treatments.  With the end of my study life comes the re-entering of my full-time working life, as I make a return to the place where I built my life. I am working there more or less until my second year gets under way, which isn’t for another ten weeks at the least. And here I am – as I said in my November 1  post – joining my ‘working family’ for the longest haul in the infamous W.T. Christmas Period. In a lot of ways it’s great to be back! I feel comfy and right-at-home in the W.T. atmosphere, so it’s great that I can hang out with my workmates like the days of old, and have a good hard slog at the same time. But on the other hand, I miss College life. But I know in time I will be back for the long haul. Can’t wait to see you all there in 2006.
As well as returning to workplace life, I also stamp my authority on the Laser Strike field as I return to my tourney team as well, much to their delight. We played the top team last night and lost to them, but only by 40 points! We went in with a ‘tactic’ and came out with brains full of ideas and refinements. Next week we play a team called ‘Tekken’, and if we play the way we played last night Tekken are going to get ripped to pieces. That’s the plan anyway, and plans always  look good on paper, don’t they!
Tomorrow night I’m off to my Dad’s house after work for dinner and quality time, so that oughta be awesome…providing I can beat him in Darts. Difficult when he’s a Canterbury rep!
Anyways, off to host home group tonight, and I need to shave!
Peace out from the J =)    

Remember those plastic signs that you can stick to the back of your windscreen? Here's the best one out there.

Ryan Sumner, Dip.BS

What a year it’s been! Here I am, more or less at the end of my first year at Bible College, and what a year it’s been! I started out on this journey of living with Jesus in early 2001, so I guess I’m coming up to my fifth birthday – even though I’m 22! I came from a background of partying, drinking copious amounts of goodness-knows-what, smoking, and on one occasion drugs. But all that’s in the distant past. I’ve often reflected on my past with a chuckle to myself thinking, five years ago I would never have thought of this whole God-thing that I’m doing!  And I would never have picked this ardent ex-Atheist to be willing to give up full-time work to go to Bible College to study to become a Pastor. What a 180 that  is!
So as I sit back and reflect on this past year, I remember that I’ve sacrificed so little in order to gain so much. I gave up full-time hours to put time in attending Bible College. I gave up earning $400 a week to pay $3000(+) for my dream. My relationship with my girlfriend at the time before College ended (long story), only to gain a whole heap of friends that I so see as something much, much more. Thank you guys for being my family this year. Thank you my Boss for letting me go to strive toward my calling (and still return for part-time work). And especially thank you God, for making yourself known to me in ways I cannot articulate. And that you’re still  with me, even when life throws me curve balls.

And to everyone – roll on next year for another round! See you all there =)

"Coincidences"

Tonight has been a night of some amazing “coincidences”, in particular two things that have contributed. The first is from my home group tonight, and the second is from my mate at College. Both of what was said parallels quite nicely and somewhat profoundly. I think there’s a message from God in all of this, so I think I’d better write it down for future reference, as well as for the benefit of whoever visits my lovely corner of the Internet world.

I’ll start with home group: we looked at the book of Esther tonight. Our aims were to delve into the book and create a character study of Esther’s two chief characters: Esther and Mordecai. We split into two even groups and studied a character each (my half chose Mordecai). When we met back, it was amazing to see just what we pulled out of the book. What was equally more amazing was that both of us zeroed in on perhaps the  key point of the entire book. Basically, the book of Esther explains a string of “coincidences”, one after another, in succession. First, Esther just “happened” to be chosen as the new Queen, who just “happened” to discover a plot against her people, the Jews. She just “happened” to win the King’s favor enough to have the Jews spared, and just “happened” to be written in the legacy that is the Bible. Those who have read Esther will jump on the key point: God is behind it all. Although He himself doesn’t get mentioned even once, nonetheless God doesn’t have to be blatant for it to be of God.
The key point in the book was the sentence that Mordecai gives to Esther: “For such a time as this”. Explaining Esther’s position, Mordecai charges her with why she’s Queen in the first place: to save the Jews from genocide. Being the only  person conceivable who would have spoken up for the Jews, Esther agrees despite the conviction that she could die trying.
For me – and for the group as a whole – the “for such a time as this” passage speaks volumes to us today. And I want to link this with what a good mate at College said (you know who you are): The Bible speaks of God’s redemptive work throughout creation and history. And we as humans have a chance to act in God’s redemptive plan. As my mate put it, we get to write something in the Bible. Not literally speaking, but we have our lives, and we have this golden opportunity to bring about that which the Bible speaks of. What an amazing “coincidence”, that in two days I hear this central theme. I don’t want to risk making it more of an issue than what it ought to be, but dare I say I think there is a word from God for all of us…

…for such a time as this.

That Time of Year

One down, one to go!
Last night I entered into the first of the two exams I have at the end of this year. After spending ‘far too much time’ studying (all of about nine hours!!), I wrote at speed to complete two hours of OT exam. For confidential reasons I can’t mention anything of what I wrote, but I can tell you that I was full of confidence during the time. Thanks to Warwick I didn’t fall into the trap of the first semester, and this time I had all three questions show up (funny that). I don’t mind telling you all that afterwards I felt drained!  And my vision was somewhat fuzzy when I left College and went to board my bus back home.

Roll on Thursday for my NT exam – but for now it’s time to hit those books.

Happy Me!

Today marks a momentous occasion. Although I an tentative around the term best friend (because some people think it’s a preference between friends), but being the un-PC man that I am, I use the term freely because I’ve grown with my best mate for the past 11 years, so I guess you could say that he knows just as much about me as I know about myself. Anyways, he spent about eight months in Australia on a sort of working holiday/adventure, and today he arrived back in good ol’ New Zealand. He misses Aussie, as you can imagine having made a lot of new and awesome friendships over there, but to be honest it’s so cool to have him here after all this time =)
Thought I’d share that with one and all. Needless to say, I’m in a very happy mood.    

Anne Graham's Take

I was sorting through my My Documents folder and came across this file. It is a post from my 20’s group’s Forum, and I decided to save it to my computer. What follows is what was posted in its original form. It made me think…

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Hey, this is something I want to share with you - Following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre, Anne Graham, the daughter of the evangelist Billy Graham was asked on a TV program how God could have let something like September 11 happen. This is what she said - it is something to think about!

“I believe that God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman that He is, I believe that He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and protection if we demand that He leave us alone? I know there’s been a lot of e-mails going around about September 11, but this really makes you think. In light of recent events… terrorist attacks, school shootings etc... Let’s see. I think it started when Madeline Murray O’Hare complained she didn’t want any prayer in our schools and we said okay. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible that says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and that instructs us to love your neighbor as yourself. And we said okay. Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would become warped and we might damage their self-esteem. And we said, as an expert should know what he’s talking about, okay. Then, someone said teachers better not discipline our children when they misbehave. And the education department said no teacher in school had better touch a student when they misbehave because we don’t want any bad publicity, and we surely don’t want to be sued (There’s a big difference between disciplining and touching, beating, smacking, humiliating etc). And we said okay. And then someone said, let’s let our daughters have abortions if they want, and they won’t even have to tell their parents. And we said okay. Then some wise school board member said, since boys will be boys, and they’re going to do it anyway, let’s give our sons all the condoms they want, so they can have all the fun they desire, and we won’t have to tell their parents they got them at school. And we said okay. Then some top elected officials said it doesn’t matter what we do in private as long as we do our jobs. And agreeing with them, we said it doesn’t matter to me what anyone, including the President (USA) does in private, as long as I have a job and the economy is good. And then someone said let’s print magazines with pictures of nude women and call it wholesome, down-to-earth appreciation for the beauty of the female body. And we said okay. And then someone else took that appreciation a step further and published picture of nude children, and then stepped further by making it available on the Internet. And we said okay, they’re entitled to their free speech. And then the entertainment industry said, let’s make TV shows and movies that promote profanity, violence and illicit sex. And let’s record music that encourages rape, drugs, murder, suicide and satanic themes. And we said it’s just entertainment, it has no adverse effect, and nobody takes it seriously anyway, so go right ahead.
Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a lot to do with “We reap what we sow”. “Dear God, why didn’t you save the little girl killed in her classroom? Sincerely, Concerned Student”. And the reply “Dear Concerned Student, I am not allowed in schools." Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how everyone wants to go to heaven provided they do not have to believe, think, say or do anything the Bible says. Funny how someone can say, “I believe in God” but still follow Satan, who by the way, also “believes” in God. Funny how we are quick to judge but not be judged. Funny how you can send a thousand jokes through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but the public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.    

Maximized Manhood?

Yesterday I got a shock in the mail. Not a bad shock, but something that I did not quite expect to get. I was in my room, typing away, when my flatmate walks in brandishing a rather large envelope – addressed to me. She dumped it on my bed and walked out, carrying on doing her own thing. Me, intrigued by this new entrant, opened the envelope, and discovered to my amazement that it contained my certificate for Maximized Manhood!
For the past many Monday nights, I’ve been heading off to a men’s small group, working through the “Majoring in Men” curriculum. Thus far I’m doing the “primary” curriculum, and have successfully completed the first book in the series of three. So here I am, feeling pretty good about myself at this point…then something hit me. A sense of shame and guilt came in. And I knew why.
To get this certificate, you need to first complete an exam and send it away for marking, at which point you get a certificate in due course – if you pass of course (and it’s very difficult to fail in these exams). But I hadn’t actually sent  my exam away! How on earth did I end up collecting this certificate? I felt bad at this point, because here’s a fine piece of paper I haven’t properly earned. So today I’m going to put this right – I’m going to thrust it in an envelope and post it out. That’s the “shame” part, now for the “guilt” part.
If I look back on my life during these past couple of months, I will find that I haven’t lived a maximized life. Anyone whose read Maximized Manhood  (Edwin Louis Cole) can spot the central message, and the call to Christ-like manhood. I ask myself: Have I been living a manhood that God wants me to live? Have I been living at my potential? Have I really been living at all?
The guilt will pass, but will leave behind lessons that I’ve gotta take on board. Prayers and accountability would be most cool =)