Byrnesys Blabberings

I have Moved

2006-11-23T09:54:00.000Z

THIS BLOG HAS MOVED TO LIAMBYRNES.CO.UK

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How about this

2006-11-13T11:10:00.000Z

mmm.....Stuff isnt posting right now. But will this post work. Please ignore this post, its just for fixing stuff's sake

The Kooks, Musical tastes, Anger anyone?

2006-11-09T15:34:00.000Z

I am becoming a bit of a fan for The Kooks, as a musician I want to see a little more in band than just staying in time with each other, what I enjoy about the Kooks other than imaginitive guitar playing, fun bass and brilliant drums is that they are pushing it a bit, genre wise they are everywhere and nowhere....in a good way. You get a good feel of their influences, and I swear the top gear theme tune is at the end of one of the tracks! Anyway I have a habit of hearing bands names, that start with "The" and then I just hear white noise after that because of the explosion of "The" bands and write them off, Well feel free to listen to the Kooks, a fun rock album. As I was listening to the Kooks this morning, I was thinking about how popular rock/indie (I dont claim to be able to tag genre very well) has changed, then I wondered whether it was just my tastes that had changed? Firstly though, I think rock has changed, evolved if you will, some more funky edges coming (see Maroon5) and even lines being blurred (LP/JZ -Collision Course). Secondly as I have branched out, and enjoy many different types of music (probably due to the lack of peer grouping in School/College, where you were labelled by your music) I've had to pitch my music tent in the middle a bit. So for example, I dont listen to quite so much (if any!) hard music that I used to listen to, this I guess is a combination of musical tastes being affected by becoming a musician, also the acceptability of certain music types in (Christian) social circles, and the fact they have a less anger probably (which is what most would like to attribute the lack of listening to, but Im afraid they all take a fairly equal part)

The Truth isnt Sexy

2006-11-08T15:39:00.000Z

This is a campaign from Protest4, a Social Justice movement run by some Christians and as I read, while browsing Schotts Almanac 2007, That its the 200th Anniversary (1807)Parliament abolishing the slave trade. I thought I would give some space on the blog for this important organisation, The Truth Isn’t Sexy campaign has been devised to expose the truth between human trafficking and prostitution. Networks of criminal gangs are exploiting impoverished communities across our world and are buying and selling women and children as though they were commodities. Promised a life freed from poverty, these girls are easy targets. All it takes is an unfortunate response to a carefully worded advert in a local newspaper, a new boyfriend skilled in the art of manipulation, or a scheming family. The girl is then passed from the hands of care-less traffickers and sold on to brothels. The atrocities these innocent women suffer can be compared with the worst type of slavery. Many of the girls have no idea that they will be involved in the sex-industry and those who do are often misled about the violent and brutal entrapment that awaits them. Often having to service 30 to 40 men a day, they are kept locked up in brothels unable to access help. They are brutalized and threatened until they are broken and compliant. Technically this is organised rape. Trafficked girls usually have no control over their earnings. They are told by their owners to pay off the highly inflated expenses of the journey; a journey they were either duped into taking or took without the knowledge of such costs being incurred. However, working off these ‘debts’ is almost impossible owing to constant fines and additional charges for food and board in the brothels. As well as the financial trap, they are caught in a physical and mental trap that uses violence and emotional coercion to maintain their enslavement. The Truth Isn’t Sexy Campaign aims to raise awareness about the reality of this trade.

It is estimated that 80,000 men in London regularly pay for sex.
Of the girls solicited by these men, one in three are not ‘happy hookers’.
Trafficking will continue to increase where there is money and demand.
More lives will be ruined.

Please Love Ted

2006-11-08T15:18:00.000Z

I struggled with whether to say anything on the whole Ted Haggard thing, which is going so crazy on the blogs and news that I can call it such an undescriptive name as I have, for those of you this side of the pond who missed it get the news here. TallSkinnyKiwi has written the first post I have read which focusses on the important issues, which motivated me to write this in order to link that My thoughts have been 3 fold in this: For him: The shame and difficulty of an inward battle, ravaging your life as it emerges from the shadows, effecting your family, friends and ministry. While what he has done was clearly wrong, Im sure Ted Haggard doesn't need to be told. He needs grace, understanding, Love, and to be out of the spotlight, to work with his family out of the rubble of what has happened His Family: Who can know the pain, shock and shame they must feel, Andrew@TSK has written a beautifully compassionate post about Ted Haggards kids and our prayers for them can be guided by his own reflections. His Family: How do you deal with this, when a friends seriousl dirty laundry gets hung out. My Hope for his friends, and my aspirations for myself, were I ever to be in this situation is that I would abandon any thought of self preservation, or reputation, and invest all the love, grace and mercy I could muster, being loyal in my love for a friend.

Guess That Logo

2006-11-08T14:36:00.000Z

If you're a regular internet go-er you'll be familiar with the logos for ebay, google and myspace, but are you sure you know them? Heres a much more difficult than I imagined test on Internet Logos

iTunes thrift store

2006-11-08T13:46:00.000Z

Yesterday, I was reading Live a Big life, I love Andy's design work on this site, and conceptually its a great idea (once Id worked it out), so I decided to jump out of Google Reader and have a read the post in its design context (I wonder if RSS will ever address that...I guess not actually seeing as the letters stand for Really Simple!). Anyway I thought Id have a quick look at the side bar, seeing what Andy is watching, listening to etc. I clicked on this AllofMp3 link.

I started seeing album covers I recognised and crazy low USD prices on them. I thought there must be some catch, like you rent the MP3 for a month, or it streams, has a crazy encoding that needs its own player, Nope.....well surely its illegal...Nope! I got the full bio of it here when searching for all of mp3 review, thinking this must be wrong! Here is the reason for this much cheapness!- Copyright organizations in Russia, unlike most of their colleagues abroad, are willing to close favorable deals with online music services. For one thing copyrights for downloads in Russia are more or less equal to the rights radio stations have to pay for broadcasting music. But the most important factor is that one US dollar is worth lots of rubles. In Russia CDs cost about 100 rubles ($3). So to Russians Allofmp3 is in fact almost as expensive as iTunes to Americans. - museekster.com So it seems ladies and gents we have found (with major hat tip to Andy White) the iTunes thrift store...but wait is everything as it seems? heres a review from my frenzied usage last night: I drove home imagining all the albums, I could legally download for a couple of quid!...and still sleep sound knowing I had actually paid for them, and not having the trouble from P2P (now clearly illegal) downloading of crappy qualities and files being hi-jacked. I got home and set up an account with allofmp3, all OK so far. Then I tried to add some money to the account (it works as a top up scheme instead of iTunes pay per download) All was lost!....they were not accepting credit cards at the moment, but I thought I saw a way round by buying an xrost prepay card and transfering it to allofmp3, but when trying to add money that way, they didnt accept VISA....argh! This was excrutiating, so near yet so far, like a glass of water to a thirsty man, stuck in a glass box (apprently!). Then again another way round, you could also buy xrost pre pay cards through Click and Buy, a BT service! SO off I trotted rubbing my music desiring mitts, but then NO again, the BT (horrifically designed site) would accept the city I lived in, and the error message was cut off half way through so there seemed no way to do it. I was beaten...but I thought maybe a little persistence would help, 7th time it went through I opened an account, paid up $20 (£10.47), registered the card on allofmp3 and added the albums to my basket like a squirrel on the last day before winter gathering nuts. SO how did they download, I thought this was meant to be a review not a collection of strange metaphorical images?? Once placed into the basket, you go to the album, and save target as.. a right click option most will be familiar with, but you have to do it for each song, which is a bit of an inconveniece. Another inconvenience is that the files are mixed and matched and some have tags (for their importing into iTunes with Album and Artists etc then some dont. So basically theres a little leg work in getting them ship shape, for the iPod transfer. The files were excellent quality, and (not that I see that Ill ever need to use this function, you can choose the bitrate (quality) and file extension you want the file in!....

So in Conclusion to this sporadic and strange review of All of MP3, I give it a 5/10 for usability, 7/10 for Quality of Service, 9/10 for Value for Money (lets face it the only thing better would be free, legal music!) The usability issues are easy to overcome with a couple of minuites of playing around and are well worth the while for the money your paying compared to iTunes.

Blogging for an audience?

2006-11-07T10:44:00.000Z

Ill tell you Im blogging to get my thoughts out, and alot of the time that would be true, but there is also something in there that hope somebody somewhere is reading it. Most of the time I write a post with a person in my mind, it helps me to write clearly, and not rely on connections Ive made in my head but havent expressed. I read blogs that are from both ends of the spectrum and I feel like I live somewhere in the middle. TSK, is often talking about his stats, readership, Google and Technorati rating, whereas Antony at Coming to the the Quiet, seems to actively flee any type of rating. Now both of these guys I have relationship with to a greater and lesser extent, and I dont see anything negative in these approaches to web readership. Both taken to the extreme could be unhelpful, but then it depends who or what your blogging for. Even though I would say the traffic or lack of it doesnt really bother me, I am always interested in blog design, and connection technology, partly because I was involved in a little web design before I even knew blogging existed! I love the new developments in web2.0, ajax, rss etc and was interested to read about minimalism creating a more readable blog. Although I LOVE functional technology such as rss links, clever picture shows etc, side bars can often become overwhelming. Before I knew what a blog was in fact, as Andrew moved up to Orkney and made contact with my friend Miriam, I was told this guy might need to stay in Aberdeen sometimes, and he has a website. SO I checked it out, and it was clear he did indeed have a website. But not really like a website I had seen before. It looked like a page of an encyclopedia! Never having heard of blogging, I struggled to know how to read, and to get my head round of the concepts of bars without lines, organisation through date etc. But still I kept on, and over the years became quite the blog reader, and somewhat bloggEr. So maybe minimalism is the answer, ht:maggi dawn now I understand the concept of blogs and the agreed format I read blog intuitively, but how accesible a technology are blogs?

Truth, and Love, and Love and Grace, and Truth and Grace and Love

2006-11-03T14:33:00.000Z

So....central themes to our lives and our walk with Christ clearly, but where do they exist, which aspect should be in primacy. I was reading alot of Christianity Today articles yesterday, and there was a comment mentioned that a new generation of Christians had grown up with Grace centred Christianity, instead of truth centred Christianity. I found it very interesting and wish I had kept the article and could link it. I grew up in an evangelical church which was called Grace, and it has always been an enforced (searching for a better word than that!) value in my mind. That the Gospel is Grace and God is Grace and all of these things. While I believe this to be true, and Grace is the liberating beauty that is the glory of God. I think many of us can be more graceful, or certainly more compassionate than God!? By this I mean that we can forfeit truth, for grace which in essence is a universal acceptance, of everything, which is not the central theme of God's Grace. Clinging to the Truth of the Gospel, always means a theology full of Grace, but clinging to Grace, does not always being truth...What do you think?, my cogs are turning on this one.

Speaking of God...

2006-11-01T20:36:00.000Z

I love it when I read scripture,and something new about God comes alive to me, the nature of who he is. This is often called revelation of course, and I think that it can be found almost everywhere. I realise this may have been taken to the extreme (though Im lost for examples of that) and some may find it somewhat heretical if we speak of revelation in God's word in equality to the revelation for example in God's creation. I imagine this negative reaction has come about due to people adding their own crazy twist to their interpretation to extra-spiritual revelation. In some ways I can understand negative reaction to "crack pot" ideas that people attempt to attach to established doctrines of the Church, but for a moment (I say this to myself in writing this as much as anyone reading it) lets let go of the worry that someone will destroy the truth (Im not asking us to abandon the pursuit of keeping purely scriptural theology, just asking us to loosen the grip and allow ourselves not to have the monopoly on the mind of God I addressed that here earlier this week. I love to see art, music, film, writing, anything creative (and if humans are involved, things, even the most mundane have a creative aspect to them) that speaks to me something about God, sometimes it shouts it, sometimes its just being whispered. But almost everything creative is inspired and created through the creator, the one that creativity began in, through and continues with. He is the one that made the ultimate act of creativity,and everytime a chord is played, a piece of prose is written and a picture is painted, something in it, quietly or loudly allures to the order, and beauty of the original creator. Every experience of beauty points to Eternity - Hans Urs Von Balthasar Often creativity has been perverted, and so often satan seeks out ways to put a twist on the best things, mix a lie up in some truth, or point good intentions down the wrong directions. We see it particularly clearly in religious devotion, essentially a good practice,to give ourselves to the things of God, but how easily our intentions slip and we begin to do things that originated out of love and worship, and do them out of duty and image itself. In the midst of the madness of work, the business of theology for study, I try and read something relational, pastoral, fictional, anything that has the focus of enriching, or edifying me, whether through speaking of the heart of God, or simply letting me escape somewhere to rest, over the last little while I have been reading (less rather than more unfortunaly) Captivating, which has been around for a while and was one of the those books I always "intended" to read! John Eldredge (who wrote Wild at Heart) and his wife Stasi Elderedge, share some thoughts concerning the God's plan for the feminine heart. They speak about how God speaks about himself through the distinct ways in which he has created men and women. "For Adam is captured best in motion, doing something. His essence is strength in action. That is what he speaks to the world. He bears the image of God, who is a warrior. On behalf of God, Adam says "God will come through. God is on the move" - Captivating pg36. As the book is written primarily in relation to women, there is not quite such a succinct passage regarding women, but the book (so far as you can see im not past the second chapter) challenges us to look at women (as men or at ourselves as women) and say what is she telling me about who God is? I have done this many times in music, creation, writing,and painting but Ive never done it in relation to gender! The immediate things that come to note are that Women are beautiful, they desire to be loved, they are relational, and that their relational status is much of the time how they give find self-worth. For example the breakdown of a relationship or friendship is normally alot more emotional for women, as Men will often although affected by it not be shaken to the same depths because they dont give the same value, or meaning to the relationship/friendship. Men often find themselves self worth in the "doing" of things, the busyness of employment, the playing of sport. It is not that either male or female are boxed into only finding their self worth in those examples, but that primarily Men and Women find their self worth, and attach values in different ways and to varying degrees. Try looking at different people today, different works of creativity, even the smallest of things,and ask yourself, What can I learn about God? Often you will find parables which allure to God and his kingdom, exist all around us.

My Blog Silence: Business and Quietness

2006-10-31T13:24:00.000Z

My Blog Silence has been due to both my Busyness, and quietness in the last few days. Friday of last week I had Andrea and Anna, some friends come from Yorkshire who I knew in cornwall, but unfortunatly that day was overshadowed by a tragic incident, the sinking and consequent fruitless search and rescue mission of the Meridian. This is the first (and indeed the only time in the company's history) that lives have been lost at sea while on contract. Our small office is inevitably pretty impacted by this tragedy Please pray with me for the families of those who have lost people important to them this week. There is plenty more to say on this but this blog is not really the right way to do it.

Daily Wanderings

2006-10-25T14:39:00.000+01:00

Some things Ive seen today:

I read a very long, but worthwhile transcript of a presentation relating to the DaVinci Code by Scot McKnight, who writes the ever popular "Jesus Creed" blog, its well worth a read. Ive not actually read or seen Da Vinci Code, but I am going to watch the movie in the next week.
This is a major development for a tempramental country which we shoudl be lifting up, Conscription in Cambodia which it is argued is being used to curb figures relating to national unemployment crisis, which will continue to be excaserbated by the fact that HALF of the country's population is under 18!...What implications does this have for missions to this nation in the future?
As Wayne Rooney England Football star turns 21, check out his garage, unbelievable!
iTunes exncryption has finally been cracked, and although Im a big supporter of Apple, my belief in fair media distribution overrides to support this, though I wonder in the long term whether or not it may have long term implications on how willing music labels are to distribute media online, which may damage the final goal

I read through lots of blog posts everyday and list the best ones I add, every couple of days, to the the right hand bar under pick of the posts!

The Second Greatest Commandment...

2006-10-24T12:59:00.000+01:00

...is to LOVE your nieghbour. I have been playing around with the Myers briggs type indicator which is basically a psychoanalytical peronality test, not you regular bebo or MySpace quiz, the Myers Briggs have books etc all based on the theory, and I think it is actually of some use. When approach things such as this I think it is important to remember that a test for personality should not have a binding conclusion on your life BUT it does make for some interesting self assesment and contrasting to those who you are in contact with. I wont tell you all about the theory but you can read about it here What I want to go on to speak about is relationships, and more specifically than that relationships that are important to the Church. Well my immediate conclusion to that is that in some way ALL relationships are important to the church. But when we look at relationships with our fellow laity, towards leader, people in other Quote un quote departments of the church. Relationship is the key to sucess, Im 21 and it didnt take me long to work it out, and that is why Jesus gave it such prominence, and weight when he gave it as the second greatest thing we can do. In fact it seems to me to be a derivative of the first, but obviously Jesus wanted to spell it out plain and clear, and not leave us to ponder in the way of other things he wanted to communicate. The Catholic (all, not just Roman) Church is quite a mosaic these days I think it is fair to say, and unfortunatly we are not quite bound together very well, and not creating the best picture in our mosaic but I addressed that this morning, relationships between churches are based around one day ONE person decided not to be in good/right relationship with another, the church split, the church fragmented, now I know that is a hidious simplistic view of Church history and that the Church has split for it to survive (pos. Reformation) but essentially the point I want to make is that, the building didnt make a decision, the congregation more than often didnt take a vote, it was ONE person. We often go to church, meet people, and decide who we are "like", who is "our type" of Christian, who we find it comfortable to relate to etc etc, but the bible calls us brothers and sisters in Christ, and therein it implies a form of unity, and that unity is based in our love for one another. Anyone, Non-Christians can love someone they like or get on with, but we set ourselves apart from the world when we love someone that our reason tells us is "wierd" "different" " a lesser" "another type", this is when we make the impact on the world, not just by loving our friends but by loving those who should be our enemies. ref. my post on the Amish testimony of Forgiveness. Sometimes we can refuse others world view, or perspective, and isolate ourselves from them, because either we have pride in our own perspective, thinking that we have a monopoly on truth and we know best, it would do us well to remember this is how Adam and Eve first sinned. Secondly we can isolate ourselves from relationships with people who are different because it is uncomfortable for us to be around that person. Some of the greatest things spoken to me have been by people I have attempted to keep away from conversations with for my own comfort. The bible constantly is calling to us to eject ourselves from OUR comfort zones in order to further the kingdom which has its currency in Love. How often do we ponder how well our money, finances or investment would do if we did this or didnt do this, put it here or put it there. It is right to be wise with our money but how much would change if we put this type of value, effort and thought into the currency of the kingdom, a treasure that doesn't turn into dust. Love, loving our neighbour. Martin Stephen, a guy in our church spoke recently about putting on "glasses of Grace" which is a really powerful concept, the thought of seeing someone with Grace then enables us to speak to them with grace, and have grace-filled motives towards them. To be generous in our opinion of someone, to be generous in allowing them to have their perspectives, and being humble enough to hold our opinions in our hands lightly, and not to use them as weapons.

Short Reflections on John 6

2006-10-24T10:25:00.000+01:00

This Morning I was listening to John Gillespie's reflections on John 6, He drew about many things I hadn't noticed before. John does a pretty impressive thing when he preaches by seemingly going deep but infact just illuminating simple truths to the listener. So I am just shortly going to bring out some things that he mentioned and add my own observations The most interesting points for me were drawn from the famous account of Jesus walking on water shortly after the feeding of the 5000. Im going to use Marks account of this for the first section below: Mark 6: 45Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away. 46After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.47When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land. 48Seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, The first thing that I have read over before is the fact that Jesus saw them with super-natural vision, though he was on a mountaintop it would have been impossible to see them in a small rowing boat in the middle of the sea (Johns gosepl places them 3 or 4 miles out to sea), and the immediate and simple realisation for us as Christians is that when Jesus has sent us, and we dont see him like we saw him before (eg for the disciples he was no longer physically with them) he is ever present, he sees us however far away we percieve ourselves to be from him. This is a simple but beautiful truth for the Christian. Back into John's account from Verse 18 18The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. 19Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they *saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened. 20But He *said to them, ÂIt is I; do not be afraid.Â 21So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. It would be enough if any of us saw somebody we know walking on the sea at night to give us a scare, but JG notes a Jewish Myth that the jew would see a ghost shortly before death. Then an amazing thing happens Jesus gets in the boat, and the boat miraculously is taken to the destination, often in my own life I can see how I have struggled to do, conquer, achieve something and felt like I was failing and so far from where I wanted to be, when I gave up on my own strength and let Jesus come into the situation, my destination had been achieved by that very act. The most interesting insight JG had for this passage was that the boat and disciples are actually a prophetic or eschatological picture of the Church, floundering and failing in the World and Jesus comes to them to calm their fear, and supernaturally, and miraculously transports them to their destination through Grace, overcoming the natural hinderances of all the situations that Churches are bothered by, just by his prescence.

The Weekend

2006-10-23T16:28:00.000+01:00

This weekend I watched the first disc of Prison Break due to not managing to see the 3rd episode of Lost (which Im watching tonight) and now mid writing this post Im realising what an American Drama watcher I must seem! But I was stuck in the house on Saturday as Rachel had the car with her mum for manicures and shopping day for her mums birthday and I had to take phone calls and write emails for work, so the backdrop for that was Prison Break....and my excuse for LOST can be tracked here. I also hooked onto Matisyahu this weekend, after a taste late on friday night, stumbling over it after watching the Killers Live Sesion at AOL I checked out Matisyahu, who is producing some v cool Reggae/Dancehall/Hip Hop - Check his AOL Sessions out here, I suggest King without a crown. If you heard this you wouldn't think he looks the way he does. He's a hassidic reggae artist, eg. An Orthodox Jew, a his story is pretty cool, he seems like a pretty sound guy and one of those you'd love to have a conversation with! John was on to this way before I was, but his post from last year seems to have dissapeared and the transfer of posts onto his new typepad blog seem to have gone as well! Oh well. You heard it here second...right! I spent a brilliant sunday afternoon with Rachel having lunch at a crappy cafe but right on the beach on a beautiful winterish day, looking out over the beach at people jumping waves on jet ski's which possibly looked like the most fun thing to do......and made me wish I had a few grand to blow on a jet ski! Also this morning (I guess not strictly the weekend but seeing as this is a post full of air I thought Id add it) I read this psychological typology assesment, and took the test, came out as an ENFP which then gave a scarily accurate break down of my personality. I dont normally like to be put into boxes but personality wise this pretty much has me pinned down, and makes some interesting comments, click here to see the breakdown

Generous Methodology: Evangelism

2006-10-19T16:56:00.000+01:00

Often I cringe, and despair about some followers of Jesus approach to evangelism, and when Im in conversations with those who aren't christians I find myself apologizing for the previous acts of Christians. I wondered today, what it was that fired me up about what I viewed as wrong evangelism. It comes from a root of a similar subject I had with a colleague today. She said why is war and violence so often interlinked with religion, and I concluded that for people who consider themselves religious (using it as an over-arching term, without the negative Pharisee connotation we can often attach) it becomes a part of thier identity, or even their complete identity. This is why I can find myself (often wrongly) so protective over communication styles of the gospel, becuase I feel like if only non-Christians would see the Gospel how I see it, everyone would be saved! Because my experience of the Gospel is so positive and freeing, I cant stand any other way for it to be communicated. But at the end of all that I cant expect someone to communicate in the same way as I do, because they are not me!...and its prideful to think I have a monopoly on ways to speak of God. In terms of evangelism, I want to try and bring into my thinking a concept that apply to the members of a church. That is that everyone brings what they have to the table, for the guy who stands on a street corner condemning people to hell, God sees his heart and only he can judge him. Maybe someone will get saved through that, Im sure plenty of people at some point have, thats why more than one person does it. Then do I still think people should stop doing that, if someone has been saved through, if the Kingdom of God has been furthered through. Who I am to say the RIGHT way of evangelism is through friendship and witness. Its only A way not THE way as my pastor is often fond of saying.

My Life as the Gospel

2006-10-19T11:19:00.000+01:00

This morning Ive been talking about goals, aims in life, hope and contentment. Unfortunatly here is a story about the lack or mis-guidedness in peoples lives. Suicide in australian farmers has risen rapidly in response to an ongoing 6 year drought which leaves farms without a sustainable future. The land was always going to be hard to work, see Genesis 3, and these stories, these lives in Australia are an awakening reminder that we are in a world that needs hope. It all boils down to where we place our trust and hope. If we place our hope in a broken world, it will continue to break and let us, as will people. That is often a very hard lesson to learn, and one continually to learn, as we meet great Godly men and women the reaction of mine is often to put them up on pedlestool, which then is literally setting them up for a fall. Thinking about worldy goals I feel immensly blessed to be able to look to a goal thats bigger than myself and bigger than the life I lead, it is a product of salvation, a freeing of earthly bondage. As I discuss my faith today at work, it is clear that even the most gracefilled and loving words as a presentation of the gospel "...is foolishness to those who dont believe" and as I attempt to be a loving, graceful, forgiving witness with my life, words and actions at work I am freed by the fact that the holy spirit is the one who draws people to himself. Lord help me to know where my work ends and yours continues, to be a light but not to drag people in your direction. Amen

The testimony of Forgiveness

2006-10-17T16:06:00.000+01:00

Im not sure there has been a better testimony to Jesus on such a large scale in the past few years than that of the Amish families response to the killings of their daughters a few weeks ago. As one friend remarked as we discussed it at Church that sunday "They have set themselves free...." to what, you might ask, as Josh Grogan writes aptly from "Descending the dark staircase into bitterness" Read his well thought out article on the forgiveness of the Amish in the Philidephia Inquirer here The simple people know what many of us still have not figured out, that the ever-escalating violence of vengeance has no end, and that the acid of revenge etches the human heart with deep and permanent scars. Imagine if the ethic of unilateral forgiveness could envelope the Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq, the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland, the Jews and Palestinians in Israel. Imagine if it could permeate the streets of America, where rival gangs kill over colors and young men settle scores over respect with 9mm Glocks. The Amish have found the road to a higher place. The rest of us could do worse than to be a little more like them.

Lost: Wow I missed this!

2006-10-17T11:49:00.000+01:00

Well the Lost Series is back in full swing, 2 episodes in and Im already planning my week around the next one being released, and coming out in cold sweats when the downloads dont go correctly. I pride myself on being pretty into the show, having discussion with my fellow Lost wathcing locals (Rachel, Jane (the absent), Fraser (absently sunning himself while the 3rd season kicks in!), John (In Hawaii himself..but I suspect not watching LOST), and new member Leslie Stephen (purveyor of Lost episodes in Chief)! about the show, and all the details, but I missed this. JACK IS CLAIRE'S HALF SISTER, !!!! - READ HERE This excerpt from an interview with Terry O'Quinne (Locke) A: "I have no doubt that Claire is Jack's half sister. Trust me — the people that are creating this story do not throw (stuff) like that around lightly. He knocked on a door and a woman said, 'You're not being a part of her life. I want you out of her life.' People who pay really close attention to the show know that that woman is Claire's mother. And that's why Christian ended up going to Australia. That was put there for people to think that specific thing and so therefore I think that we will find out that that is absolutely true and in fact that her child is Jack's nephew. In my mind, this is a slam dunk! To find out they are actually related by the same father and they don't have any idea — after all their moments during the birth of the baby, is really great stuff!" Terry O'Quinn (Locke) UPDATE: Also here's a pretty comprehensive list of things still not answered in the Series 3 yet whic I grabbed from comments in lost review: First and most important, the numbers. I think alot of people have forgot about them. Second, the monster. Third, the mystery of what this island really is. Fourth, what the Darhma initiative originally had planned for this island and are these others taking that plan in a new direction. Fifth, the mystery behind Walt and the special powers he possesses. Sixth, why this island has "healing" powers, hence Sun is fertil again, Locke can walk, Rosemary doesn't have cancer anymore, etc. Seventh, if there is a link between all these losties, since they have all seemed to have crossed paths a few times right before the flight. Eigth, what Henry, aka "Ben", plans during or after the two weeks he mentioned to Kate in Episode 1 Season 3. Nineth, why was Libby in the mental institution with Hurley. Tenth, how will Desmond's ex girlfriend play into finding Desmond. If you remember, in the last minute of the Season 2 finale, two people out in some arctic area call her and tell her "I think we found him." Perhaps she is the key to their escape and how we will find out what this island really is. If its missing anything, then someone please add to the list here in the comments UPDATE 2: Here is a pretty convincing story in relation the numbers: The Meaning of the numbers

Our little neighbours

2006-10-17T10:38:00.000+01:00

A Sunday school teacher asked the children just before she dismissed them to go to church, "And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?"Little Johnny replied, "Because people are sleeping." Often in our church there is the sound of kids talking when they "shouldn't be" and babys wailing, and in the last few months God has given me enough grace to love it, I love its irreverance to human plans and neatness, and whenever I see a kid running down the aisle of the church when the "shouldn't" be I always think the Kingdom of God belongs to them. When I see people looking aggravated at some kid across the church saying with their eyes "Get that Kid outta here coz the important things are happening now" I think, Jesus would be welcoming them right now, pleased that they were even there. We often choose for things to annoy us more than they need to, so when a child makes a noise that "should know better", in our minds we attach it to every other time kid's have done that and make a huge deal about it, instead of holding our pristine order lightly, and enjoying the ups, downs and realities of the family life of church. Im not making a case for out and out chaos contrary to 1 Corinthians 14:33For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. BUT....I think Paul here is talking about a service a good deal more chaotic than most of the meetings of the people of God that I have ever attended. We are fustrated mostly by children, because they are not adults, but never seemingly fustrated at adults because they won't be like children: Matthew 18:2-5 2He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. Adults can engage themselves in long attention span activities like 40mins of music, and 40mins of preaching, but this is different for children. Needless to say when Jesus spoke, Children were attracted to him. We can only speculate why this was but I would say it was for two reasons: 1) The way in which Jesus spoke, story told etc 2) His spiritual prescence which transcended generational boundries. This would maybe give us an insight into how to engage children in our church services? There is something missing in Church's in relation to ministry to children, it seems lip service is paid to teaching children in childrens church etc, when the prevalent attitude is how to get them out of the way of the real business of church assemblies. I love children....one at a time, but I admit I struggle with great hordes of them, It is a mission field/oppurtunity which is outside of my comfort zone, it is not having a intellectual, theological exegesis with cognitive, educated individuals. It is the essence of the gospel that is required, to LOVE our neighbour as ourselves, even, well in fact especially the little neighbours. Matthew 22:36-40 36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." God, give me more of a heart to love children BECAUSE there is nothing in it for me.

Nothing so crazy as Sandwhich Art

2006-10-13T13:53:00.000+01:00

This is the craziest stuff! Check it out HT: Beckie

Technology Review: Google, Google, Google

2006-10-13T12:56:00.000+01:00

Ive alway quite enjoy web based applications, that includes email and FeedReading which is maybe more traditionally used offline after connecting to an online source. Since back in the day (mid nineties for someone my age) I used to use hotmail, BEFORE it was owned by Microsoft, and loved the fact I opened email the same wherever I went, who evers computer I used. Hotmail used to be underground, and everyone else I knew had a yahoo address. Then SPAM became a big problem and there were no other Worthy web based /free email provider, until gmail, and I love it, a very timely fusion of web2.0 and webmail. Searching for stuff, although it took my folder orientated computer comfort zone away, was great.

So, yay for google. Anyway I noticed reader when it was released in beta and got an invite, so have been using it ever since due to having problems using the RSS reader in thunderbird, Firefox's web application. Its been a good reader, if not a little simplified, but they just released a new upgrade and while its had a little teething problems (undertandable in beta pre-releases) it is something I can definatly recommend. Reading the blog post about the new release of reader and google being the guys actually producing web2.0 while others were dreaming a philosophizing about it, I notice their aspirations are moving the right direction, with their web 2.0 rating having the top end as flickr. With the release of the new Google reader, and Google's aqquisition of Youtube, brought up another bitter wound. Its one of the blips in AJAX/web2.0 history that google let yahoo! snap up Flickr. Flickr, is about the only web service outside of google, that I really live with, and everything good about it has already been said by someone else, so I wont say anymore. So moral of the story is....Google congrats on a good buy with youtube, nice job on reader, but get some kind of huge-ass bank loan and buy flickr off Yahoo please.

I need to lighten up

2006-10-13T11:12:00.000+01:00

Its Friday the 13th and I am 100% not superstitious, but if I wasnt afraid that like so many bloggers before me I would get fired for letting you know the craziness that is happening at work today (and at 330am last night!).....needless to say I am 3 BIG cups of Coffee in, and the admin girls bought me a kitkat. Meanwhile while the Scottishg Oil Industry goes crazy I cant stop thinking about my automobile. Rachel, beloved, trusted, faithful, safety concious girl friend past her test a couple of days ago. Having passed my test a few months ago I knew the best congratulatory present I could get her (bar buying her a car) is to insure her (which is a bigger deal here in the UK than elsewhere) on my car. So to give her the best of it, today I passed up the independence and comfort of transport, grabbed a lift with my ex-commute partner Marty Stephen and let her take the car to work. Despite the real crazy situations at work right now, and my complete trust in Rachel's driving (shes probably 3 times safer than me, but shhh dont let her know I said that) I cant help but worry that right now, the alloys are being scratched against the side of the kerb, a scratch is being made down the side of the car because of parking to close, the wingmirror has been ripped off because the car was parked too far off into the road. Wo, I need to lighten, its just a car after all

The Pain of Football, The Joy of TV

2006-10-12T11:07:00.000+01:00

FOOTBALL (Yes, the first one, no shoulder pads!) Oh the pain of it, Scotland having a great warm up for Euro 2008, and England, blundering there way to another cry of, "Why have we ever kept faith from 66!" Read the whole Debacle here MY COMFORT: Is that Episode 2 of Season 3 of Lost is on the cards this evening. Not having a TV, I dont watch alot obviously, but I think LOST is brilliant, well it definatly managed to hook me anyway. A touch of fantasy while keeping realism is my perfect mix for any Drama.

Blindly embracing diversity will damage unity

2006-10-10T15:58:00.000+01:00

As so often happens, more intelligent people put into words things that are in my heart to say but never make it there with my lack of eloquence. NT Wright writes on "Blindly embracing diversity will damage unity". Two Years ago, shows how behind I am, but still worth a read.

The Semantics of Christian Healing Part 1

2006-10-10T11:41:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I pondered with 5 others guys in a class room, the healing miracles of Jesus, and the concepts around Christian healing (Semantics: refers to the aspects of meaning that are expressed in a language), people shared there about their own experiences, and within such a small group there was amazing stories around healing and its different occurances. Two of the most interesting, impacting and notable stories where about Mothers, One student's Mother died from Cancer last year and detailed how there was healing in her life but not a cure for her condition(I will talk about this later) and the second was a Mother who had been inflicted with M.E. for over 10 year but then was healed miraculously and completly! Both Stories glorified God in their own ways and both gave us real, tangible food for thought when looking at Christian Healing and its connotations. We tried to pin down a description of Christian Healing, and couldnt come to a consensus around any particular concept around healing, but I came to my own conclusion that healing is based around reconciliation, although this conclusion is a work in progress! By Reconciliation I mean the concept that the pain inflicted (physical, emotional, spiritual, mental or social) is removed from affecting the inflicted. Within this description there is an under lying clause that healing is not alway a cure. In many cases of illness, particularly in my mind is emotional hurt, the infliction can not be healing as thoroughly as we view physical infliction and therefore the individual can be healed by moving away from the source of pain and being reconciled to something greater. This is not a quick fix, or straight removal of the source of pain, which could be an incident, a conversation or even a person but for the Christian, Christ can overshadow the pain with his love, and be a greater influence on the persons emotional wellbeing than the pain originally inflicted.

Calling us On: Extract from Epistle to Diognetus

2006-10-07T15:54:00.000+01:00

I was given this by someone from our Church, when I popped over their house to pick Rachel up, It really calls to me: Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country or language {living in such places} as the lot of each of them has determined and following the customs of the native sin respect to clothing and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries but simply as sojouners. As citizens they share all things with others, and yet endure all things as foreigners. Every land is to them as their native country, and every and of their birth as a land of strangers.... They pass their days on earth, but are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed lays and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives.... They are reviled and they bless. Unknown Author: Second Century

Quick Note Worthy's: Deliver Us from Evil/Move to Wordpress

2006-10-07T15:47:00.000+01:00

Ive no time to be long winded today but here are some noteworthy things today: - I watched this trailer today "Deliver Us from Evil" Its about Catholic Priests Involved Sexual Abuse, there is no way we should protect clergy anymore than any other paedofile should be protected. (Found through A's Post, an issue a little closer to him on the catholc side of things) - Also I very probably will be moving to Wordpress soon, liambyrnes.com an .co.uk will continue to get you to the blog but the blogspot address wont. I know Ive been threatening this for a while, but keep coming, It wont be until I have my (blog) house in order.

Music News Oct 2006

2006-10-03T16:31:00.000+01:00

In Music News just now: - Coldplay is NOT retiring due to them all but one becoming parents, you'll be g lad to hear though they don't have plans to record the follow up for X&Y yet READ MORE - Yes, Jay Z is officially not retiring, and his new album is out in November including, the usual rockafella suspects: Kanye, Timbaland, Pharrell etc but also Chris Martin from Coldplay apparently. Jay Z is currently touring in support of Water for Life Foundation with the United Nations. Jau Z commented when questioned about his so called Retirement by EW "It was the worst retirement, maybe, in history, I believed it for two years." READ MORE - Switchfoot have a new offering coming out in December titled "Oh Gravity" check the cool artwork here, but have pre-released a song in the states available at the usual places online. READ MORE - Jeff's friends are in a new band that I think are pretty cool, and deserve to be big. Delta Spirit, Check out their MySpace for some songs or straight download them 1, 2 , website, Label site (for buying their EP, which is on its way to me right now!) and last but not least awesome video on youtube - Last but not least...err again The Killers - Sam's Town, their new album is OUT NOW, Get it at CDWOW @ £7.99

Fujitsu - Dreaming of the Future

2006-10-03T13:07:00.000+01:00

I often, probably fairly deservedly get comments that some of my posts descend into such Geekery that they are non sensical, using abbreviations and acronyms , so the following post has definitions in the forms of links on thw words you may be unsure of. Hows that for accesibility. At work right now I have a nice 17inch LCD Screen but at home my huge 19inch CRT screen takes up not just my view area but about a foot behind that too. Fujitsu have just proto typed a paper thin screen to the size of A5, as an ebook reader. But this will be the technology that in 10 years time our computer monitors will be as thin as booklets (including the casing for these paper thing screens). Read the prototype breakdown for yourself here at MacWorld

Yoof and the Church/Communication of the Gospel

2006-10-03T11:50:00.000+01:00

Now when I say Youth Im actually wanting to discuss generations and the implications for the Church. This generational interaction is fast becoming one of the most contentious issues in modern western classic church set ups (Im alluring to the evangelical/charasmatic, born or heavily influenced out of 80's Praise and Worship Movement in most cases). I have always been taught, and really believe that the local church (group of followers of Jesus in an area) should be able to meet, and interact cross generationally. In fact I think often it is what is so special about when God's people come together, that young can relate to old on the plateau of Christian faith. But when we look at the reality of Church services how is this worked out. Most of our sunday services (though planned with and full of good intentions) are set up for middle aged Christians. The facts of it are normally, 20-30 Minuites Singing, 20-40 Minuites speaking/preaching/teaching, 10-20 minuites fellowship, possibly an response oppurtunity. The durations and activities are all geared towards the audience of a middle aged adult. This prognosis isn't a slagging of these activities within a church service but we have to look at how there done, and if we really think about it they are normally set up in line with how the leader/leader's age group would recieve the most from a sunday service. But unfortunatly sunday services aren't set up for the leader/leadership teams benefit. In fact they are not even set up for the congregation, or any "target audience" within that. They are there to be a corporate expression of love to Christ. Within the congregation there are going to be as many thoughts as to how that expression is best acheived or outworked as there are people, but as in all things workable generalisations need to be established. Firstly we can identify a common Youth culture which spans the sub-culture within that umbrella of youth culture. This Teens/Youth/20's Culture can be seen as quite distinct from the culture of 40+ (of course there are exceptions to all these generalisations but lets just try and work with these ideas). The approach or communication is what I see as the key issue or difference between these two generations. Communication is such as massive thing as it affects the expression (how people express/outwork their love to God and to the people around them), communication of values (how the bible is taught in an effective, penetrating way), communication of Character (how people are discipled/progressing in their lives following Christ through the examples they are given). Communication models within the Church need to be addressed in order for this generational chasm to be bridged. At some point the pre-dominant Church model (within the disciplines outlined at the beginning of the post) emerged from the model of Church that most of the leadership aged people grew up in, and so for them to deny this emergence to the Y generation (a term Im not fond of but fills the gap for now) would be short sighted, and probably jepordise the effectiveness of the Y Generation for the Kingdom in the long run. A long sighted approach would be to ensure building effective foundations for the Teens/Youth/20's to be able to stand on, to go higher and better than those that preceeded them, too often unfortuantly when we look at many churches we can see an expression of church that looks to build a personal (particular leader) and/or stylistic (a way of doing things that has worked in the past) empire, this empire creation is then ensuring that cultural ideals and values (which are not inextricably linked to Gospel, but more a way that the particular generation/group have chosen to outwork the gospel) become "sucessful" within the terms mostly based within the common terms of sucess for business eg. Numbers (financial and body count) or longevity. This may seem like a particularly pessimistic view of the current status of many churches, but I would like to counteract it with the fact that there are many Y Generationers who LOVE the Church, LOVE their leaders and see their Godly authority and character but want the oppurtunity to develop Church models which enable them to be as missionally effective as possible to their fellow un-churched generation. Dan Kimball puts it nicely when he says the Frodo's need Gandalfs, and with this I agree entirely, The Church needs to work with all generations involved and needs to inter-relate in order to be a healthy representation of the body of Christ. So this post is in no way trying to advocate some poorly planned youth break off/church split situation, but is an appeal/answer to Pastors who are maybe wondering why there seems to be so little Teens/Youth/20's in the church, and the one's that are, are often disillusioned with Church (and therefore often their faith which will be linked to the status of the church, as it is for most young Christians who havent matured beyond this...which is fine, nobody has made it yet and were all on a journey). The ones that are in Church are bored because were trying to feed them in a cultural way that doesn't relate to their real life experiences, but allure to a world that they only see in their parents lives, thus resigning Christian community in their minds to being a middle aged (and often middle class unfortunatly) occupation. In church often we present the gospel, and invite people to come, invite Youth to be captivated by Jesus and live life for his Glory, and then set up endless cultural hurdles and hoops in order to achieve the goal. Which many are not willing to do as they hurdles seems so many that they crowd out what ever was so attractive about the Gospel.

In the News (well my news really)

2006-10-02T17:26:00.000+01:00

I have just started this semesters course: Spirituality, Health and Healing, with a focus on Mental Health. Should be interesting, but probably pretty in depth, the reading I have done already for it is pretty full on, but the lecturer is meant to be a cool guy, and pretty respected in this field John Swinton.
Work is going well, though very busy
Church is going through some stuff at the moment really, but Im being challenged to keep my perspective wide angled and not to be pulled under/in by issues, but to focus on the fact that Jesus will build the Church.

Conservatives: The Unrealism of it all!

2006-10-02T17:03:00.000+01:00

David Cameron is in quite the predicament within his party just now. Hes worked on being the Conservative 2005 answer to what Tony Blair brough in 1997 if that makes sense. He's attempting to give the young charasmatic renewal to the Conservatives that Tony brought to the Conservatives. The only problem seems to be is that David Cameron is not standing in front of the same Nation that Tony Blair was in 1997. The UK in 1997 had been under the conservative hold and people were more than ready for change, New Labour presented through the media a perfect refreshing face for politics which called people to be optimistic about the nation and as they looked towards the 21st Century believe that Politics could be as fashionable as the world of show biz. Almost 10 years on the country seems much more desgruntled by a war they feel were dragged into by the USA and disenchanted with Politics in a way that any politics PR campaign would struggle to revive. The mounting pressure on David Cameron to come up with the Policy goods is a real error in my view (not that Im bothered about the state of the Conservatives election popularity) but for the Conservatives to commit to policy, especially tax cuts if they are announced are entirely unrealistic. They have no way of telling what the state of the nation will be by the time the election comes round, and trying to play a classic conservative move of the tax cut will not win the day in my opinion as Gordon Brown has already ensured that this middle ground is covered, and a few waivering middle England voters wont be swayed, well heres hoping anyway!

Dreaming of the New iPod

2006-10-02T16:43:00.000+01:00

I stumbled across some new fangled iPod Designs that enthusiasts had come up with, they've been collated here by Cnet. Like the phone designs but Im not so sure that Apple will release cell/mobile phones to be honest. Still enjoying my 30G iPod, Although connecting it to my car (its main use) by a tape and a naff little cable is less than ideal. When my budget is a little better balanced I think I may invest in an Alpine iPod Head unit. Oh how the mighty anti-capitalist has fallen!

The Challenge of Surprises with Rachel

2006-10-02T10:56:00.000+01:00

A classic Story....Rachel is the most impossible person to surprise in the world (sligh overstatement...but only slight) refusing to be kept int he dark about presents, plans or well..anything. But this time I'd done well, kept all notion of this surprise away from her twitching ears.... She thinks shes just going for a meal, and then BAM big surprise were off to see Paolo Nutini instead, that was the plan. Hurdle Number 1: Rachel calls saying that she is getting alift in and will be there an hour early. So I try and ring round and ACTUALLY book a meal so as not to rouse suspicion, only problem is the place I said were going to is booked up, but say I should turn up and check it out, only problem is that this is soooo not conducive with the "Its been booked all along..." thing and the other restaraunts which would be a step up (and therefore a better option without broching why we couldnt eat at the original restaraunt) are all fully booked for Friday night. So I guess the only option is, is to show her the tickets straight away and then see if she still wants to grab something to eat, she does, and is suitably elated at the surprise tickets. Hurdle Number 2 Appearing on the horizon: We end up actually getting into my original Restaraunt intention and have a really nice meal, which stretches well past opening doors at the concert, as we figure we'd just miss the opener, who would probably be some crap Aberdeen band anyway. So anyway we leave the restaraunt and make our way to the venue...we walk and hear sounds of a pretty RAAR band playing, which makes me think, Oh we didnt miss the crappy opening band, but willing to put aside out little timetabling issue we move ahead to the bouncers/ticket guy who first takes my ticket and rips off the stub then Rachels and looks puzzled. Que Hurdle 2: Bouncer: "Paolo Nutini, sorry that tomorrow night"....I could not believe it! All this hard work for a month trying to hide tickets and spin stories of going out for Dinner, while saving the plan and actually getting into the Restaraunt...to be told the tickets Ive had in my posession for weeks said Saturday all along!...Anyway I took it pretty humourously as (fortunalty) did Rachel who remarked the blunder meant that our date was streched over the Weekend! Saturday night, second trip to Aberdeen for Paolo Nutini.

A Look at local and Global Discipleship

2006-09-21T12:54:00.000+01:00

As someone who is interested in technology, I can be one of these people who love technological advances even if they are no particularly useful, just because there "neat", "fun" or "out-there". But quite often I look over things, "Big Picture" them (one of those terms I couldn't quite put my finger on until my friend Marty Stephen mentioned it the other day) and realise, "Wow that works so well, and actually changes something" The Internet has really been one of these things, and its affected my personal discipleship. Back in the day, you would go to church and collate this linear storyline of people who affected your life in a discipleship sense. e.g. Your Pastor, a guy you get on with, someone you look up to. Through spending time and experiences with these people they would input into your life, work through things with you, even just share things that made your day better. While I would contest major pastoral issues and accountability are probably safer kept with you local community eg. Your Church, Your Family and local friends, the Internet has allowed an information exchange which can contribute to this. This leads to global discipleship, Discipleship from people who you quite probably have never met, or even seen, but can impact your day, month, year or even life. Like it or not, our influences in life can rarely be tracked in a linear fashion, constantly external forces are "helping us" think certain though, for example, Apple Advertising "helps me" know what I would like to buy in the next 6 months! But this is not always an adverse influence...Case in point (and the background to my thinking of this post) is I often check through my Google Reader list (RSS feeds) which are some favourite blogs that have posts delivered to me, and one has been sticking out for me as an influence to my day. Jim Martin - A Place for the God Hungry - Now Im far from claiming this blog as a discovery, as its pretty popular but I have been amazed in the last few weeks how much this blog has really inputted into. There are two streams of reasoning why I think this blog can be classed as Global Discipleship - It is a Blog for such a time as this - It is content for such a time as this Jim hasnt filled his blog with the bells and whistles of some of the more techie blogs, but that has been the beauty for RSS/feed readers, Jim's content has been the driving force for the blog, not necessarily the page attractiveness, and as blogging progresses I think we'll see more of this trend, people who are able to produce great material and access blogging without the need for technical wizardry, or even aesthetics. Jim also seems to be able to be concise without loosing the heart of the material (an attribute this post is revealing I don't have). Jim has also set a default, a dependability, When I see his posts on google I know they wont be War and Peace, they'll be deep enough but not too much, involve scripture, maybe some bullet points, and hey even a little picture on the top left! It feels to me often to be a "word for today" type of thing, but there is reality in there to. So now that you've tired of me going on about it, add it to your reader, He's churning out some great stuff, around subject that are really close to me heart, and hes a good bit down the road on them than I am at 21, so its also full of explanation of the journey to it. So Global discipleship, the blogdom can really be a tool for it, for breathing life into us....Ive lost my steam on this post now!...how very un-everything I said was good!

Live NOW

2006-09-18T13:57:00.000+01:00

The last few weeks, when I get a wandering thought, it often is one that is attempting to step back on life, look where I am, and where Im going. I suppose really, it's a natural exercise as many things change around me and in me and the dust settles from those immediate changing periods.

Sometimes healthily (in terms of vision and passion) and unhealthily (being disillusioned, impatient and unenchanted in what God has for me during this period) I look forward with more than eager anticipation, this is often a case of missing the adventure of what God has for me NOW by getting bogged down in everyday intricacies. I am settling down to work in an office, at a great, engaging job, thats allowing me to study at Uni and work my way out of debt and into financial preparation for ministry, this is such a gift from God, But yet I can grow dissatisfied because I am still looking to the final goal, the visions fulfillment, and not enjoying and living through the journey (Learning this for the 100th time!). Last night Stuart preached on going against the grain in our culture (hence artsy picture above), and although Ive probably heard and possibly responded to similar messages in the past I was challenged to live Now and not in the future, minister now and not in the future, live a life of love and compassion not despite working in an office in a western country but BECAUSE, and not just hold on until I "Really" get called somewhere. The truth is, if I cant live it out now, If I cant give everything to being Jesus where I am now, do I think I will be able to do it in the future? If I can't do my thing in Samaria, how can I ever go to the ends of the earth I remember John's Dad once telling a story about being serious about following Jesus, and I think the example works just as well for living missionally wherever you are. "The School Kid says when ever I get out of School Ill live for Jesus, but right now the peer pressure of my friends is too much, The College Kid says when ever I get out of College Ill really be serious for Jesus but right now I need to concentrate on my studies, The Middle Age Guy says when ever I retire Ill really be serious about following Jesus but right now I dont have anytime Now what If the middle age guy never makes it to retire, the kid out of school or the Student out of college, we have to live for Jesus today." I kept this story with me because it really challenged me as a young teenager to go for it today, It made me think What am I waiting for, there will never be a better, easier, "more right" time to do it. Decisions like that in my teenage life which God gave me the Grace to pledge are what brought me to where I am, and I always want to live like that, Pushing, Living, Loving, Noticing, Breathing everything of God in my life NOW and not just dream/put it off to the future.

Office Madness and somewhat Genius

2006-09-07T16:03:00.000+01:00

My Office Madness: Sometimes when theres nobody around in my office for more than an hours, I have conversations with myself, such as this one: "Hmmm...Paper Clips are actually a pretty good idea now I come to think about it" "I wonder how someone thought of twisting thin metal to create tension with itself without damaging the document it held" "Who came up with this Genius thing!" I the travel to Wikipedia, and wait like an injured baby seal, now returned to health, being let back into the wild......... and No, there is no clear answer, BUT the redeeming fact for me (As I claim half Norweigen descendence) is it could well have been norweigen and stood as a sign of unity and resistance against the Nazi invaders during WWII. I also happened across this very cool story, which passed me by while it was going on, but reminds me of the guy who took and fridge around Ireland and of Dave Gorman's GoogleWack adventures, thinking about it, it could actually have been Dave Gorman who took the fridge around! HERES THE GENIUS THING http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_red_paperclip ONE RED PAPERCLIP Theres a sermon in there somewhere...if you are so inclined towards sermons.

Slave trade

2006-08-29T11:38:00.000+01:00

You can tell what Im thinking about mostly today, See this Interesting Article on who ended the Slave Trade that I found over at Brad Hightowers blog This article I think should really inspire us to campaign again such a huge injustice such as Slave trade/People trafficing with abandonment.

A Screen Survey

2006-08-29T11:14:00.000+01:00

Hi there Blog readers wanderers and anyone who doesn't know quite where they are! Please do me a favour, I keep going onto my blog and the sidebar has been pushed to the bottom, then sometimes its on the side where it should be. If you could spare a minuite, please leave a comment on this post letting me whether its on the side for you or on the bottom and if you have time what OS, Screen resolution and browser your running. If your reading through a satelitte site or RSS Reader, click here Many Thanks! Liam

Soft Drugs dont hurt anybody

2006-08-29T10:13:00.000+01:00

This is a way too common perception of drugs such as cannabis. As a teenager "softer" or Class C drugs are seem as harmless recreational pasttimes and commonly cited to be less harmful than alcohol. When set next to Alcohol this may be true but sometimes, you have to look further than yourself. People have tried to argue against cannabis citing the psychological problems it can cause but this article actually calls anyone out there doing cannabis to look beyond themselves. Not to be so concerned with number 1 ( a pretty common characteristic with any drug user) Read this Guardian report of UK Cannabis Farms and the Vietnamese Children illegally trafficked to be the foot soldiers of them Cannabis farms spread to the suburbs "Officers are also eager to locate the Vietnamese criminal chains coordinating the farms, which are often linked to people smugglers.....The use of trafficked children as "gardeners" inside the factories is of particular concern to child protection groups. "We were first aware of Vietnamese children trafficked for cannabis factories in 2003 when a case was reported in Sheffield," said Christine Beddoe, from Ecpat, a coalition of children's charities. "Since then we have learned that this is a UK-wide problem, with cannabis houses regularly raided." Last week the Guardian revealed that children trafficked into Britain to work in cannabis factories were among a number of failed asylum seeking children for whom the Home Office is drawing up plans to return to Vietnam." Check out Protest4.com who are working for Justice for people who are brought into the UK in SLAVERY, and offer to HELP Human-trafficking causes slavery. Protest4 exists because millions

are silenced through this injustice. Protest4 is one point at which we

can unite our voices and actions on their behalf in the protest for a

more just world.

Last.fm

2006-08-23T16:05:00.000+01:00

Last.fm, Ive been a user for a while and I have this great thing called iscrobbler which integrates into iTunes on both my PC and iBook and basically breaks down what I'm listening to, e.g. top artists, weekly top tracks etc etc. Its for those of you who like me like to decode your own movements and habits. Anyway it seems since the last time I had a look on the site, the whole system has had quite the face lift so if you like the idea, go check it out last . fm

Technorati Tags: habits, iTunes, listening patterns, iScrobbler, puppy

This is not an antiwar post

2006-08-22T10:50:00.000+01:00

This is not some politically aimed post, or even an anti war post, so no comments about how I should support the boys. But all I can say is WOW. Military Spending to date this year:

http://www.milspend.org/gbp.php

Leaving things

2006-08-16T13:38:00.000+01:00

I don't feel like Im a "leave something til it goes away" kind of person but sometimes I don't blog for a while when so much has happened that I wonder if I would ever fit it into, or be able to explain it in a blog post! So I am going to try the impossible just now and blog whats happened in the last few weeks in as short a post as I can write. So Basically....the job I took for summer opened up another oppurtunity to work for the company in a really good position (both interest wise and financially) so I applied with the idea of maybe switching my theological stuidies to part time. The long and short of amazing God things that happened was that I got the job, bought a nice car and ejected from Studentdom (the pot noodle type) for ever. So Im i the job and really enjoying. I wont bore you with the details but if you really want to know about it you can email me and Id be more than happy to let you know if you cant stand mystery! But before I finish this brief and under descriptive post, I just want to let all of you who were aquainted with me in the years of studenthood in its purest form (searching for a better word!) firstly Thanks, and heres a commitment and a promise that if it ever becomes more about things and stuff than about Jesus you can hit me over the head with a plank. As far as this tieing into my vision I see this as a complete blessing of God to get some money together for the future (mission/place etc) and enabling me to comfortably (financially at least) get through Uni. Much more to tell, little stories how God has working in situations in the last few weeks, and already had some amazing conversations at work. Pray for him to be glorified in all I do, and that to always be first in my mind

Going back to work, Big Decisions

2006-07-24T17:46:00.000+01:00

Today I went back to work! I forgot what it was like to get up so early that by the end of the day you forgot anything you did at the start. While being away I had some decisions to make about the future and what my vision was for the future, andmore to the point the route I was going to take to arrive at the realization of that vision. I've been leaning (i think) that we are not always going to take the most direct route to the things most important, or put better, the way we thought was the direct route isn't always so. In coming to those conclusions the decision was somewhat taken from me, and I get a decision by the end of the week. Ill be less cryptic as it all unfolds, but I would definatly appreciate prayer as I make some big decision this week, that I would be heavenly/kingdom minded and be of earthly use, and to make the right decisions, and more than all of that I would glorify God in my heart throughout all of it. Also be praying for my great girlfriend who's in even more of a predicament as this period of her life comes to an end and she has no clear direction or inclination for the next year.

Going Home from London

2006-07-21T09:45:00.000+01:00

Today I have a feeling very much like the feeling you get as a kid where school is coming closer at the end of the summer holidays, a feeling of inner dread from coming home from what has been an awesome holiday. Rachel said yesterday it feels like we had three holidays with the first for Jakes wedding with Mark Davy, the second at home with my mum the third here in London. So We fly home tonight at about 7pm and thats the end on Monday Im back to work and the relatively cooler climate of Scotland.Yesterday I went to the Apple store in regent street, Apple's only retail store in Europe, and was like a kid in a playground, I couldn't take it all in quick enough running around looking at Macbooks, eMacs, iPod Stereos etc....it was all too much! More about that later anyway.. Another enjoyable moment about being in London is the existence of that all cheap store for girls H&M, has a mens section in London and so I indulged in buying a couple of jumpers (in the hottest period in the UK for around a decade!!!) I also got my name in the London paper the evening standard while I was here for only two days. On the bus home from Leicester Square we got collared by some journalists and I got a quote. You can read the evening standard online. See page 8 for my quote! So more about the random stuff while on holiday later, but sitting here in the flat in London Im really grateful for the oppurtunity to have been so many places and seen so many great people in such a short period of time.

Spurgeon at Altitude

2006-07-10T10:36:00.000+01:00

Im just on my way to Cornwall for Jakes Wedding (my best friends younger brother...now there's an event that makes a 21 year old feel old!) Im reading some stuff on the flight down from a book I bought called "Selections from the Spurgeon Sermon Archive" its part of the relevant publications "foundations of faith" set which I picked up. Because I checked in pretty late and so the closest seat I could to Rachel was the middle of three in front of Rachel, so were doomed to lonely travel for an hour or so til we get to Heathrow, so a bit of reading was in order. She's very much against me using this holiday as a reading fest so maybe its good that I get most of it over and done on the plane sitting away from her. Anyway I was reading a brilliant part of the first sermon in the book which is on the Immutability of God delivered January 7th 1855: "...his strong love stands like a Granite rock, unmoved by the hurricanes of our iniquity. And Blessed be his dear name, He is unchanged in his love. When he first wrote the covenant, how full his heart with affection to His people. He knew that his son must die to ratify the articles of that agreement. He knew right well that he must rend his best beloved from his bowels, and send him down to earth to bleed and die. He did not hesitate to sign that mighty covenant; nor did he shun it's fulfillment, He loves as much now as he did then, and when suns shall cease to shine, and moons to show their feeble light. He shall still love on for ever and ever..."

Back to the Future with Gunkut

2006-07-03T15:10:00.000+01:00

Well after a while of silence on here I'm back and its all thanks to my main mac man Gunkut Tundogen who is my favourite guy of the day for getting the wireless on my iBook back up and running without me having to buy any expensive new parts! Gunkut has helped me out a good few times now and is a credit to CMKY Aberdeen where he works. Im sure his job title must be something like Mac Saviour etc etc. Anyway my wifi is back which means that Ill be blogging back from ecto instead of crappy ole Blogger stuff. But for now I only have one lunch hour and theres a nice toasted cornation chicken baguette waiting for me so Im off.

Which theologian are you?

2006-06-16T15:28:00.000+01:00

Which Theolgian are You Quiz? You scored as Anselm. Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period.He sees man's primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due. You should read 'Cur Deus Homo?' Anselm 93% Karl Barth 60% Martin Luther 60% John Calvin 60% Friedrich Schleiermacher 40% Jonathan Edwards 33% Charles Finney 33% Augustine 33% J?Moltmann 27% Paul Tillich 7%

Pick of the week

2006-06-16T15:10:00.000+01:00

Ive not only been slack on the blogging front but also on my RSS feeds. So as I have a quieter days, here are my picks from the last days Antony is writing some good stuff here on feeling and authenticity Andy writes some thoughts I've definatly had concerning England's world cup performances, though unlike him I AM English and have alto to loose (fortunatly not money though) Jim Martin give some Great comments on what other people think.

Changes...lead to lack of blogging

2006-06-16T15:04:00.000+01:00

Well my exams are finally over and an amazing God given oppurtunity came along for a great job. Its in Aberdeen so Im still commuting from st combs for 3 hours but its basically working for an offshore oil contractor. We supply offshore personnel and I basically co-ordinate that working with the management of the company. It'll be a really great thing to put on my CV and is teaching me alot about multi tasking, seismic geological surveying and many other things. Its in a beautiful edwardian building and Im on the top floor in a really nice business area of Aberdeen. The pay isn't bad either so hopefully it'll go someway to paying off that big student overdraft I've stacked up. The Airport signal on my laptop has been down too, which also accounts for the lack of blogging, though when I get paid Ill fix that. I also just recieved a Master's dissertation on ecumenical unity, basically missional stuff between churches so if I get round to reading that on my commute Ill be writing my thoughts on the subject too.

Dealing with Sin, with Theology

2006-06-02T15:30:00.000+01:00

Ive been working in the church office today but not being too busy, and why the Pastor (Forbes) and Stuart (my boss) are off talking to some poeple who are getting married in the church Ive been amusing myself with podcasts and the like. Today Ive been thinking how fustrating I find it to feel like dealing with issues and learning things are like holding a fish in rubber gloves....OK OK I know I need to unpack a little - Basically when I was younger as a Christian I thought, I was dealing with issues in my life like ticking boxes in forms. I would get convicted about something, look at how to deal with it, so that it would come back again, and that was the box ticked. Instead these days I feel like dealing with issues is like holding that fish with some rubber gloves on when you hold it tight, you've got it, you've dealt with it, but then something else comes up, and to keep at the forefront, the way, or even just the fact you have to deal with it, you have to loosen the grip on the other fish, as more and more fish come up, you drop a few, forget it's an issue then there is goes again more fish until you haven't got a good hold on any of it, and you wonder where that neat form went where you ticked boxes! As you may be able to tell, the last few days Ive really been examining myself, pulling myself up on things, attitudes and well, sin, that I have been letting ride. As Im doing this I am just weighed down with how much death there is in sin. Now nobody get worried I didnt rob a bank or rape anybody, but the small things are equal, in the fact that their rebellion from God, and his design for us. I know that I repent and hand it over to God, and that Christ's glorious blood covers me, but I find it hard to nail those hands on the cross, for my laziness. Ive never really struggled with Grace before, knowing it over my life, But I know God is bigger than my sin, he is bigger than my doubt even. Ill trust in him. This kind of leads me into something else, a while back while I was working at the church office, a quite respected leader in the eyes of the church leadership and area, asked me what I studied and I said 'theology' he said 'You want to work for the church, why are you studying theology', It was meant as a haha theology is a joke etc etc, that I feel often riddles charasmatics, but concepts I was reading for the reformation course I did last semester are helpful aspects on my feelings. The first is something Calvin wrote in relation to Christology; (the study of the person and work of Christ) He wrote that Christ was like a mirror on a right angled corner, God the father was around one corner and humanity was in the other, the only way in which God sees us is through and by Jesus, and the only way we see and access God is through Jesus. Jesus enables us access to the holy of Holies, because God sees us through the redemmption of Christs death. The second is that the sacrifice of Christ was his death as a man and as God, the two part identity of Christ, so in dying the sacrifice he made was not only as one man but as God who is bigger that the universe, sin and humanity live within the finite and within the universe, and that is why Christs work is entirely sufficient, I am blown away that he took it on himself for me and you.

The end of it all, and the beginning of more

2006-05-26T14:31:00.000+01:00

Well Ive finally come to the end of my 2nd year. Today I had the last of my exams and am officially free until september. I am glad for two main reasons just now: The first, I am free for at least a few days to gain back some rhythm in my life after the pulls and weights of revision and pre-exam stress. Secondly, things that have been on my mind for the summer, I can now concentrate on. Life Update: as far as those of you who are interested in my whereabouts in the next few months, I will be still based in North East Scotland due to working with the church, and rent etc, so I am commited to get a job...boohoo Oh well, hopefully it will be something good I can put on my CV, pray for that if you would. Secondly I hope I can get some good reading in this summer, I always make this a priority but then the end of the summer comes around and Ive read all but half on 2 books! Also some focus and vision for the next couple of years in relation to a)the future and also b)My current position and ministry. I am happy where I am and trust God for the step after Uni (in 2 years) but I think as this is the half way mark for my degree its a good time to take stock and get some vision for the future here, and elsewhere. Thats all for now I may update this post later.

Wondering around evangelism

2006-05-24T15:13:00.000+01:00

While I have no time to blog, I, it seems have some time spare to read articles not related to my looming exam on monday. So heres a link to a great little article on evangelism. I know for me someone who's always said "Ooo my gifting is not in evangelism" this is the kind of thing I embrace, and I think over the last 2 years one of the things Ive really reconcilled is my inner commitment to want to see people being set free by Christ and the unattractiveness of traditional soap box evangelism. Being interested in people's lives has been a good way for me to learn that its a way of extending God's interest in them, and the realisation of that in their lives. Wondering into Christ Found this link at Scott McKnight

Ill be right back

2006-05-20T12:34:00.000+01:00

Just dropping in to say Im busy, busy studying for exams in two days (Monday and Friday) Thanks to everyone who offered supporting comments on the blog, email and over the phone about Alex. There making a film about Kyle Lake, both the trailers are shot beautifully and it is a tribute to a great man of God (http://www.kylesfilm.com/) My iBook, after much verbal amrwrestling with apple is being fixed! yey!...but right now Im stuck with my desktop and the crappy blogger editor which never inspires me to blog. I think Part I&II of Ephesians study is all your getting as I ran out of steam on that project, but maybe it will be helpful to someone at some point. I also may endeavor to dump to knowledge on Romans that Im collecting, which no doubt will fly away shortly after my exegetically based exam. Apart from that, Im using the Google Reader Favourites bar alot, check it out on the right, it gets updated pretty much daily with the best posts Ive read. Also check out pandora.com great project! nb. sorry for the 1Dness of this post but all the button seem to be broken for links and pictures. Sorry

Struggling to grieve

2006-05-11T22:53:00.000+01:00

(Alex is the one in the middle) Well the irony of last nights post is not lost on me today. I found out today that a good friend from University died tragically a few weeks ago and I didnt even know. Alex was a german biology student who lived above me last year, I spent a good few evenings hanging out in her flat with her and her other german friends and we all had a great time together, we were all setting out on an adventure together and having a great time doing it, for them it was being in scotland for me it was starting my studies and living so far from home. I dont really know what to say about it all except that Im really upset about it, but cant seem to cry or externalise any of it to the point that I feel like im being unhealthy. Im so used to just experiencing things in my emotions right away and I dont know quite whats happening. Alex was great fun, and we had plenty of good chats about my faith and her faith in evolution (being a biology major) she was really kind to the people she was around and welcoming and looking back on the year where we lived so close she was a good friend. Tonight Im praying for her family, who must be experiencing my sense of loss to an extent I cant imagine, For me I think this is the first person Ive known well in my mature life that has died, and in such a tragic way. She was touring scotland with her family when she was trapped in a fire in a youth hostel near skye. Heres the BBC news on it 1 and 2 I was preaching on worship tonight at church, I had half a mind to call our pastor and ask for him to step in as I hadnt finished preparing when I found out and I couldnt collect my thoughts well enough but then an hour or so before I went out I just decided to bust it out. The stuff on the paper was the stuff my heart was passionate to share but I didnt really connect and flow as well as I wanted to, and knew it as I was preaching. I had to stop for what felt like 3 minuites though probably more like 20 seconds when my thoughts about alex which I had surpressed all day popped up and i choked up, It wasnt the time for it so I pushed it back down and got on with it, not sure if that was the right thing to do but It felt like it at the time, I couldnt speak for a while because I would have cried but the silence was unbareable too. Anyway there are a few rambled thoughts for now, my iBook suddenly doesnt feel like such a big deal anymore. Peace

A few notes on my life at the moment

2006-05-11T00:25:00.000+01:00

Alot of peoples live are turning upside around me, and I feel like Im waiting for my bombshell to hit. Though I am quietly assured that God's plan for me will bring me to the trials when I need them. John moved out of our house last week, and I think God's been graceful in keeping me busy which has meant I haven't missed him in any painful sense. Fraser has/is moving upstairs to John's old room which is nice not to be rattling around up here on my own. Im listening to Creed Human Clay which all in all isn't a great album but reminds me of being mid-younger teens at Johns house, good times, and here we are who would have guessed it. I also got some bad news today, my iBook has been on the blink and wont come out of sleep mode, crossing my fingers hoping that it was something small didnt quite work, basically the repairs (I got the quote this evening) is more than I paid for the iBook 6 months ago, the logic board has gone £370 then £175 service charge. So that is a real shame but I am also preparing to give a sermon on worship for the last couple of days and having my mind in that place of not considering 'stuff' very important Im not devastated, though it's a shame to leave the lovely world of apple so abruptly.

Hosea 6:1-3

2006-05-05T17:40:00.001+01:00

Firstly I am on a hot sweaty bus on the way home just now and would like to commend the inventors of air con! i was in a lecture on 1st and 2nd Corinthians and the lecturer who is a pretty popular Pauline scholar mentioned some verses in Hosea in reference to Paul using Old testament language when describing the atonement in the language possibly for the jewish Christians who were more likely to make the connection, so for example in Romans 3:25 Paul speaks of the passing over of the sins. Any way its not really that I wanted to talk about, it's the Hosea verse (getting back on track): I'm always struck by the prophetic connection of the Old testament talking about Jesus, and the redemptive acts of God, and for me his is one of the most beautiful verses, Hosea 6:1-3 Come let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. He will revive us after two days He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before him. So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD his going forth is as certain as the dawn; And he will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth

Technorati Tags: bible study, Hosea, pauline theology

Today is a wierd day

2006-05-05T17:40:00.000+01:00

Today is a wierd day....my best friend (so much so that he's just brother really) left today, went back to cornwall after 8 months here, it was a wierd leaving, not necessarily bad, just wierd. There was lots of talk about him not leaving, and possibilities of him staying so I didn't really know what to expect and so didnt rise my expectation in either direction, then last night I contained myself with the busy-ness of having an ad hoc leaving party, then this morning blearry eyed watched as he drove up the hill leaving the village with his arm out waving the whole way, and there it was, he was gone. John probably knows me better or as well as anyone on this earth and I think that has been the root of the joys and our fustrations together over the last 8 months. Over all we probably act like brothers more than anyone else we know, rolling our eyes at each others habits, but sharing a deep sense of identity together, knowing that were both intent on the goal, and journey. His leaving is a shame, an end of an era, and at the same time just another day but I know that God blesses a life given to glorify him where ever it is, Im glad for all our sakes that God's will is not a tightrope but at the same time he knows exactly what were about to do. This type of openess on a blog makes me cringe a little as I click "post" but its a good a place to process and dump as ever.

Scot McKnights E.P. Sanders Principle

2006-05-02T09:31:00.000+01:00

EP Sanders Principle I read a book on the Paul (thr apostle) that I liked so much I bought it, I think thats the first time Ive genuinely bought a book outside of required reading texts. Anyway it was a very short introduction to Paul, which is a brilliant series by Oxford University Press.... So what Im swiftly blogging to say, is that Scott McKinght (apart from the fact that he should be employing me for the amount of links I give him!) mentioned a great story involving E.P. Sanders the guys who wrote the forementioned book, its all about going for coffee with Sanders and the story basically ends up: When the bill came, I asked to pay and he said this very clearly and directly. He looked me in the eyes and said... want to know the rest, pop over and read this short but great post on Kingdom generosity

Sufjan Stevens - explorefaith music

2006-04-26T14:49:00.000+01:00

Sufjan Stevens - explorefaith music# Been listening to this guy and really enjoying the music for about a month now an this is one of the best intro's to him Ive read.

In other News...

2006-04-26T12:04:00.000+01:00

Well, Hello, No I havent run away again but work comes first Im afraid and I thought also Id leave some space to get some feedback on my it turns out not so short comment on ephesians part I and II. I will give the penultimate part right after this essay (which I should finish today, correction I need to finish today) But In other news I am reading the RSS feeds and google reader has this great starring system which you'll know about if you use gmail, where you star your favourite posts. Then Ive set up a postroll which I mentioned about a week back, a new 1 or 2 posts come up most days, and more and more are coming from Jesus Creed, partially I suppose because of the frequency of Scotts Posts, but its really good stuff none the less. Its also a helpful aggregator to see my favourite blogs to read in fact. Also Ive been playing with the beta version of coComment which you can read about here, but it dosent work for any comment systems that use pop ups, so until that time, its proving somewhat redundant.

A Short Comment on Ephesians Part II

2006-04-22T11:16:00.000+01:00

Today Im going to look at the theology in Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Paul's letter if you wanted to split it up here could be understood as a two fold piece for the Ephesian Church. From Chapters 1 to 3 Pau'ls discussion is mostly on theological or conceptual grounds. In contrast the following chapters 4 - 6 Paul discusses more practical or directly applicational topics. There are many theological aspects of these few chapters but the one's I am going to concentrate on at the moment are the Divine Grace that Pauls Speaks of, and secondly the issue of Jew and gentile races. Looking at Paul's letters his theology and as one writer puts it, is more of an 'occasional' than 'systematic' theology and so we can only understand in part. But here in Chapter 2:1-10 is a basic overview of the theology or theological perspective which sets out in order that he can go on to speak of church issues in context. Divine Grace here being the centre point of what Paul sets out is important, and fits with Paul's famous theology of "Justification by Faith". As we mentioned in Part I Realised Eschatology is one of the point on which authorship is contested, and Paul's emphasis on this is a direct outworking of the understanding of divine Grace for believers right now. As we discussed in Part I, the letters are written to direct situation s in Church's so it is not unimaginable that Paul would put emphasis on particular areas of theology that he though the conduct of the church he was writing to needed to assimilate into their lives. Though I am in no way and expert of the Ephesian church, it could inferred that the Ephesian Church saw their salvation weighted eschatologically and were not living under Grace for now, and the fullness in which Christ had given to them. Some helpful napkin theology in relation to this is a saying of my pastor: "I have been Saved, I am Being Saved and One day I will Be Saved" A side note yet one worth mentioning is that the grace, which is membership in the kingdom of God to come, and that which is partially manifest, is through faith, this is discussed in Galatians and Romans, but faith itself is a gift, in order for it not to be works, faith comes from a knowing of the truth. Many people know the gospel, but those who KNOW it are those with faith and this extra knowing is faith given by God, so justification, righteous-ing, salvation is from God in two fold, the first that he died so that we might be saved, and that he might defeat Death and Hades, secondly that the very gift of understanding that is from God's grace and not our own intellect. A side line maybe, but a worthwhile observation at least. The second Theological issue which is a little newer to me is the unity of Jew and gentile. Paul's theological outlook is that all who are in Christ are saved. Paul himself mentions that if the law was the judge he upheld it as a jew in all the ways he was taught, but this was still not enough to save him. the only way to salvation for Paul. That is why he condemns the jewish christians for demanding that the gentile converts or greeks, become circumscised. For Paul this request shows that the jews are missing the point and he uses the Exodus story of Abraham (I think its Exodus 12 but not entirely sure) where Abraham is reckoned Righteous before God, before he was circumcised. What Paul is saying is that the nation of Israel is no longer under the old covenant, Pauls speaks later on here in Chapter 2:11 11Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— When paul adds the (by the hands of men) he is directing us towards his opinion that circumcision in the flesh is exactly that circumcision in the flesh. Paul sees this as meaningless if we are not circumcised (set apart for God) in our hearts. Paul continues speaking that there is no favoritism between the Jewish (nation of Israel) and the gentiles, as he sees the gentile as the diasporic descendants of Abraham. In 2:15-16 he goes further: 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. Paul seems to be saying here that, what once was two (as in Jew and Gentile) is now one in Christ and so no work of the law will ever justify us, for both Jew and Gentile the requirements are the same, as they are now one. This is a one sided argument, as there are many scholars in both schools of thought but this one makes the most sense to me. Romans 10:12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, Not only here is Paul defending the right to gentiles to be considered complete members of the Christian community but he is also defending everything he is standing for. In the jews demanding that the gentiles become Jews, they are saying that Paul could find salvation in Judaism and the law, and Paul should not have converted, they are denying his calling to the gentiles to assimilate them into the body of Christ: Gal 2:8 For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. For Paul the gentiles being a full part of the church is an integral part of what it is to be the new Christian community. Finally to conclude this theology Chapters 1-3 section on Ephesians, a good way in which we can visualise the nature of the 3 races which paul is discussing is that if a circle representing the JEWS and a circle representing the GENTILES and overlapped, in the overlap is what would be called the CHURCH, this is the first theory, the theory I am proposing, to understand verse 15 chapter 2 is that there are 3 circles, JEW GENTILE and a third, the CHURCH, a remnant of the Jewish circle and the GENTILE circle make up the CHURCH, but in this, they leave there circles entirely and adopt a new identity as the bride of Christ, the CHURCH. Again Questions, Comments and corrections welcome...

Technorati Tags: bible study, church, ephesians, pauline theology, apostle paul

A Short Comment on Ephesians Part 1

2006-04-21T11:08:00.000+01:00

In the last few months Ive been studying Romans, though at quite a shallow level. Im aware of the possibility of such a deeper and more meaningful study but unfortunatly time does not permit it right now. John (who no longer blogs which sucks) mentioned to me yesterday how he wanted me to blog some of the study I do for my degree and since I have nothing with me to do work on my essay on justification in Romans, I thought a productive thing to do would to blog some stuff about some of the minor or smaller of Pau's letters, this is definatly a completly subjective and snapshot view of 3 of his letters. Firstly Ephesians, In the academic world of theology there is some debate on the authorship of Ephesians, as in whether it actually was written by Paul, for me this is not too big a deal as the canonisationof it for me confirms it's Godss Words so it is somewhat insignificant who the vessel of delivery was, saying this, I do actually think that Ephesians is a Pauline letter and the arguments against in are fairly weak. Basically there is nothing that is completly non Pauline within it. Some of the issues that authorship is fought over though are interesting to glance at. Firstly in Ephesians 2 Paul is speaking of eschatology (the end times) in a sense of realised eschatology (as in much of the work of Christ in the belivers lives is happening right now, thos purportedly is in some contrast with Pauls comments within Romans which speak of a more balanced eschatological view point where although Christs works are being outworked in our lives they are also something which will be completed. This soteriological (issues of salvation) issue can be understood when we see that it is sometime helpful to place slight emphasis on either of the sides when speaking into situations. So for example when Paul was writing to the Ephesian Church as when he was writing to the church in Rome he knew of issues which he felt he needed to comment on and couldn't visit so addressed them in the form of a letter (and one of his disciplesd who would carry the letter, read it to the church and explain anything they didnt understand) In Ephesians here this is Tychicus (6:10-20) but in Romans for exmaple it is Pheobe (Rom 16:1) Another issue for scholars who argue over authorship is the hierarchy of the Church as outlined in (Eph 4:11) Apparently the remnant of Pauls Churches were considered the more charasmatic less structured churches, this is argued from such scriptures that speak of sharing with everyone and those that speak of the equality for everyone under Christ. For me there are two responses for this argument the first is that there nowhere in the corpus of pauline literarure where Paul speaks against the hierarchy of Churhc offices that are subsequently mentioned in chapter 4. Also though I havent the time right now to check the approximate dating of the letter to the Ephesians, As time moved on and the Church found issues with the lack of offical offices Paul saw fit to put them in place. Unfortunatly that is all i have time for right now, thatcovers the authorship debate within the letter to the Ephesians....Comment and corrections are welcome, as long as you have Grace in understanding that Im a 2nd year undergradate student who has hashed out a quick informal overview and not a definitive academic commentary!

cool shark shots

2006-04-20T12:11:00.001+01:00

Ive always loved south africa from the days when I used to long and go and surf J bay, I just found this through Liquid thinking which i havent been on for ages. These photos and stories are from Africa geographic which I didnt even knew existed. None of these photos are fake but they are unbelievable!! Here are links to the stories: African geographic Great White Mating and Sharky Shores

I would be Grateful if you could....

2006-04-20T10:14:00.000+01:00

Hey, just a very quick post for a request that you could pray for me!.....Over the winter in North East Scotland my body hasn't reacted well to the cold and Ive had about 5 or 6 bouts of thw flu and cold over the winter which has sucked. Towards the end of the winter a group of people were praying for me in relation to it, and they felt that God was saying I was carrying too much, and was stressed with attaining the grade in my studies and keeping all the other plates spinning. I just had a nice 3 weeks off, and Ive just returned to University and have some coursework to get done which Im working away, and Ive come down with something again, ironically it makes work more difficult so more stressful. Anyway I would be grateful if you could pray as I could definatly do without this for the next week or so.

Wholly Yours, My Easter song

2006-04-17T13:24:00.000+01:00

Ive recently been enjoying this song, I guess its one of those songs that just helps me express what I want to say in worship to God, one of those songs I feel like Ive written but couldn't spit out. I love that Dave Crowder didn't keep in simple or shy away from a bit of wordiness, some of these words have much more depth than some of the cardboard-like words we get in some songs. I thought Id share the words I am full of earth, You are heaven's worth, I am stained with dirt, Prone to depravity You are everything that is bright and clean, The antonym of me, You are divinity What a certain sign of grace is this From a broken earth Flowers come up pushing through the dirt You are everything that is bright and clean And you're covering me with your majesty And the truest sign of grace was this From wounded hands redemption fell downLiberating man You are holy, holy, holyAll heaven cries holy, holy God You are holy, holy, holyI wanna be holy like you are But the harder I try The more clearly can I Feel the depth of our fall And the weight of it all And so this might could be The most impossible thing Your grandness in me making me clean Holy, Hallelujah Holy, Holy, HallelujahYou are holy, holy, holyAll heaven cries holy, holy GodYou are holy, holy, holyI wanna be holy, holy God Dave Crowder from the Album A Collsion

Retraction Revision, well maybe just a clarification

2006-04-17T13:11:00.000+01:00

I happened to re-read one of my posts the other day in light bof a comment which made me think it was maybe interpretted differently than I posted it. It was Islam, Jihad and Ignorance So just quickly Im going to add some comments on what I said...re-reading I can tell I wrote it in a rush. The Introduction maybe sets my thoughts up incorrectly Since 9/11 Ive been fustrated with pretty much the ignorant speak of muslims as one body moving as one. What I was attempting to say was that I was fustrated with people speaking of Muslims in blanket terms, while you can deny post modern thinking till your blue in the face, it is inconceivable that every Muslim, or given that Christian, American, White person thinks and acts in the same way. Also later on the post I mentioned my attempt at communicating a balanced perspective on subject Ive struggled to find a way to relate a more balanced understanding of Islam in a world view which constantly seeks to polarize its characters. I think here instead of "in a world view" it would be helpful to say to a World View, as Im was speaking of communicating balance and perspective on Muslims to those who seek to stereotype. So I hope that cleared a few things up. ORIGINAL POST HERE

Academics/experts etc

2006-04-15T16:30:00.000+01:00

As I sit here researching essays for the next couple of weeks as I get ready to go back to lectures after the easter break, Im looking at books 10's of them written in every concievable subject and sub subject!...that what somebody once said about experts is possibly true, An Expert (feel free to add academic etc) is someone who learns more and more about less and less until they know absolutely everything about nothing. Hopefully I can keep my learning in life broad as well as deep....you may continue.

My late Good Friday post and maybe my whole easter address

2006-04-15T11:34:00.000+01:00

I feel somewhat guilty that I have no deep theological thoughts to offer today, but beforeI begin the rest of my thoughts through that guilt, I want to outline how unbelievably grateful I am that the God of Israel sent his only son to die on a cross for me a wretch, but then gloriously turned it round to conquer death and hell so that I could be free for eternity. I can't even begin to describe what that means to me on the 2Dness of a webpage. Yesterday, when most Churches were having prayer meetings (as well they should) our church held an open mic night in the cafe of our church. It was a great evening with loads of community building time for the people in the church and for loads of people that don't come to church. It was really great to hear comments by people who don't are unchurched to say stuff like, "I never though churches did stuff like this" and "this is what church should be enjoyable" The evening was also important for the church, as church needs community....the mission of the church is to become a community that affects the community. To break that down we need to be a genuine loving community IN the church in order to look out of the church and be a genuine witness, and events like last night I think really build that. I sometimes wish that the church I'm involved in was (if this is not too much a vague term) a bit more liturgical, a bit more full of tradition, which maybe to some may sound strange, but over arching all of that Im glad more than anything that Im in a church that is trying to be REAL to the people inside and outside its walls. When I think of Jesus, when I act out the scriptures in my head, I see Jesus with this authenticity, this REALness that can connect to the common man, better than the existing religious structure. he did it radically and was pushed out of the religious circles for it. I hope I can be this selfless when I need to be radically real to someone. Listening to: My Little Empire from the album "This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours" by Manic Street Preachers

Technorati Tags: God, easter, church

Time coincidence

2006-04-14T09:00:00.000+01:00

I just recieved this from my friend Derek Duthie...an interesting fact! On The 4th of next month, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06. That won't ever happen again in our lifetime In fact it will be approx. 400 generations before it happens again. You may now return to your life.

gmail

2006-04-12T14:37:00.000+01:00

Apparently there are still people out there without gmail address' Join the revolution TallSkinnyKiwi: New Gmail address Its not the holy grail anymore, but I like the pic andrew So if your in need of a massive inbox then just email me asking for an invite at byrnesyliam at gmail . com

Islam, Jihad and Ignorance

2006-04-12T13:11:00.000+01:00

REVISED: Since 9/11 Ive been fustrated with the ignorant talk by westerners speaking of muslims as moving as one, there is no more unity within the wide spread of the Christian Church (less in fact in my opinion) than there in in the Islam faith community. This is usually used in conjunction with terroism/suicide bombing. Since last year when I took an indepth study course of Islam in the anthropology of religion, Ive struggled to find a way to relate a more balanced understanding of Islam to people with a world view which constantly seeks to polarize its characters. I stumbled across this Blog run by a Muslim who clears up a few things, for either people (westerners) with a severly typofied and narrow perspective of Islam or Muslims who equally ignorant, believe that they are actions like 9/11 and other such atrocities are part of a holy war. Unwilling Self-Negation » How To Be Violent In Islam To read the laster retraction and revision of this post click here

Another Great Idea from Google: postrolling

2006-04-12T12:15:00.000+01:00

You might remember my software changes post where I was playing like a child in a playpen with google labs stuff, well one of the project google reader (a less than ideal but sufficient free online rss reader) In the same theme as their gmail system you can "star posts" for later posterity, they've also included a code that means you can effectivly "postroll" (instead of just blogroll) stuff by linking to your current starred posts. Its installed a little lower on the side bar (oh for a typepad style 2 column template!...let me know if anyone has one for wordpress or blogger) The only problem with it, is that the colour schemes are utterly uncustomizable and this "black" theme is difficult to read, but I applaud google for the concept.

Background of the week

2006-04-12T11:59:00.000+01:00

painteddunes Originally uploaded by Byrnesyliam.

Well again Ive been busy this week, but there is stuff in pipelines a) for blogging and b) maybe a move of blog! Watch this space Meanwhlie check out some of my flickr photos if you like This is my background just now, I took this photo a few days ago its in the Paul and Marks visit set, and then I just played with the contrast as Im sure you can tell then put a watercolour effect on it. Kind of like a John Miller

Poker and Friends

2006-04-09T01:29:00.000+01:00

well Im sitting here at the moment playing poker at 1:17am.....well in fact I just lost. We've had two friends up from cornwall, Paul Adams and Mark Davy. Paul just won £5000 (technically in chips! hehe) after cooking us an enbelievable meal this evening with good wine, starting with beautifully cooked salmon with asparagus and a really nice sauce. Then an amazing bit of aberdeen angus steak and honey roasted vegetables. Paul then finale-d with some summer fruits and chocalte mousse. It was honestly one of the best meals Ive ever eaten and we also had a great time. Today we played at a wedding and then went to my first Scottish Premier league football match, Aberdeen Vs Hibernian, Aberdeen won 1-0 and a good time was had, as it included a good football game pittordrie pie. Paul and Mark came up to see John and I as friends and missionary interests for the church their involved in planting in Torpoint Cornwall. Everytime I meet these guys that are involved in the Church plant, Im blessed to be supported in prayer by such an exciting work, but more than that to have such good friends. Anyway, Ill update this post with photos of everything Ive mentioned in the next couple of days.

software thoughts

2006-04-07T18:41:00.000+01:00

I dont know how or why I still use Internet Explorer when I start up my PC but I do. Ive enjoyed safari on my iBook but not being able to tab through the windows is a pain so today as its announced that the famous renegade open source (not sure what open source is, the click here) browser firefox has clinched 10% of the browser market Im throwing my lot in with the underground and downloading it for my iBook and if that works out well then maybe even my PC too. I think the seller for firefox was that the tabbed window browser means you can have multiple home-pages, which is ideal for me as I always go to the same few pages when I get online whatever I plan to do. Because its open source, many a third party have made sweet extensions for it, which are little add on tools which make the browser even more handy and personal. Speaking of extensions, Google Labs, the research and development arm of the massive internet company google have released some nice ones. I had a good look round Google labs today, as they are churning out some great stuff. My picks at the moment are: Web Accelerator - As Far as I can see its a swish cache type thing, but enables web pages to load quicker, especially good if you have free space on your hard drive. Though it would as ever be nice to see a mac release. Google Reader - Ive been looking for an online RSS/Atom feed reader for ages, as Im running NetNewsWire on my iBook, I needed something a bitmore accesible, and this might just be it, Im going to try it out and get back to see how it goes On the way out: This isn't quite released for the public yet, though its not too hard to get a peek at, but google have just released an online page creator called non-surprisingly Google page creator, which looks like a great tool, though obviously still in the development stage. It is definatly the tool for people who cant be bothered to learn script, buy a program to make a nice looking webpage. It also seems google is going to be offering free hosting for these web pages at http://yourusername.googlepages.com/ check it out at http://pages.google.com/?pli=1

Google Pack

2006-04-06T11:01:00.000+01:00

Google have just released a PC pack, what they think is the essentials from their products and other freeware, it seems like a good idea, Im definatly pleased they bundled firefox as Im definatly a new advocate of that. Also a free version of norton is a nice add. The only thing I wouldnt have put in there is the real player because Im not much a fan of it. Go see here the google Pack

Selfless blog principles/I nailed him

2006-04-04T19:13:00.000+01:00

A strange thing happens when I open my iBook to Blog, I read my RSS feeds, basically everyone else's blog. Far from the lofty, academic, (but still inspiring and great) theological musings going on out, Ive been checking a few of my friends blogs out just keeping tuned in to their life, and I end up spending so much time reading their blogs that I just forget I opened up the computer to write about whats happening with me. Now while I hope I dont become too 'unexpressed' I hope I can cultivate being more interested in other people than myself, not in a gossipy way, just in a taking an interest, etc way. basically in a Jesus way, who just outrageously loved the people around him, until they decided enough was enough. I am they.

Technorati Tags: blogging

Hillsong United We Stand

2006-03-30T16:14:00.001+01:00

"United We Stand" (Hillsong United)

Im sitting watching the bonus DVD of this great album. At first glance I love Hillsiong United stuff, as a musician I love it because they've broken away from the 3 chord pap that was churned out in the late 80's and early 90's (dont jump down my neck on that note, that was great stuff for then, but Im glad theres progression.

My first real encounter with stuff from Hillsong was in my first year at uni. While at first I wanted to dislike this mega church hype, I was instead confronted with the fact that I could only see the good in it. Young people, ministering to other youth, songs written with gritty reality, passion and depth. From what I can see its a ministry filled with integrity and a passion to redeem culture and bring young people to Christ.....I want to fight it and find a million reasons I can snigger self righteously but Im impressed Hillsong has a great commitment to the local church making an impact in its community. Something I thought on for a while was, how can they pour money out on to great big lighting rigs, camera cranes and the like. Well, I guess although I can think of reasons such as poverty, hunger, and disease that it could have been spent on, but then I thought are they being good stewards of it, well Yes they are, they are fulfilling their vision and commitment and giviing it the best they can. I remember Matt Redman saying that when he came back from Hillsong Australia he was thinking that fireworks and the like were a bit over the top, but when he asked the guys at Hillsongs they said basically they were committed to Glorifying God in an extravagance that spoke of the extravagance he has poured out on us. Anyway want to buy this cd/dvd go here, want to check out united (their youth ministry) go here, want to see the Church in Sydney, and closer to home London click here

Technorati Tags: Australia, church, church ministry, Hillsong, Hillsong United, Worship, Worship Music, Youth Ministry

the cross

2006-03-22T23:07:00.000Z

Sorry it seems this blog has devolved into random miscellany...apart from busyness! Tonight after ROADS the kids club in our church, we retreated to our lounge to have some nice red wine and share pages from books we liked. I read this poem about the cross by Stewart Henderson: Strange Way to watch for stormy weather, Strange Way to disprove gravity, Strange Way to go round fundraising Strange Way to sing out liberty. Strange Way to reassure your mother, Strange Way to finish you World tour, Strange Way to pose for all those paintings, Strange Way to gather the poor. Strange dissident of meekness, And nurse of tangled souls. It's so unlike the holy, To end up full of Holes.

John Calvin...Calvin and Hobbes

2006-03-22T15:18:00.000Z

Something you may not be aware of is: "The character Calvin in Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes was named after John Calvin. It is thought that this reflects the young male character's belief in predestination (as justification for his behavior), while his stuffed tiger Hobbes shares Thomas Hobbes's dim view of human nature" How about that!

Background of the Week

2006-03-17T08:56:00.000Z

everyday is like tuesday :)
Originally uploaded by tearapen.

everyday is like tuesday :)
Thanks to Tearpen for this one

Dave Gorman's Flickr adventure

2006-03-16T10:44:00.000Z

Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | Dave Gorman's Flickr adventure Very Impressed today to read that UK comedian Dave Gorman has a flickr account, as a shameless plug heres my flickr page that you can pass the time with. http://www.flickr.com/photos/byrnesy/ - mine and heres Dave Gormans (yeah I know your gonna look at this one and not mine, tuh, call yourself a friend! http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgbalancesrocks/

Actors, Politicians and Priests

2006-03-15T11:56:00.000Z

I just had an interesting memory: My Grandparent were quite religious (or at least in seasons of their lives) yet there faith how ever much I try to have inclusiveness feels alien to mine. At any rate, my family considered themselves to be a good british Christian family and therefore I was baptised (not christened interestingly) in a local parish church. The Church of St Winnow in fact which is really beautiful. The guy who baptised me died while I was still young, he was some what of a local hero, especially in the eyes of my grandparents who I think were church wardens (mini deacons) anyway the guy was called Canon Miles Brown. My Grandmother, once said to me that he said. "People like me are made, and we either become Actors, Politicians or Priests" This collection of jobs seemed interesting to me, but in my time I've dabbled in the first two and ended up in the last! I certainly didnt find the last two even vaguely attractive when I was told that in my early double numbers! Thinking of it though, its slightly worrrying that Actors (people who are basically good at being ungenuine) Politicians (considered the biggest of liars) and Priests are all in the same catergory, well thats my short musing over.

Equality: I liked this

2006-03-15T10:51:00.000Z

"In a letter to a church in a region called Galatia, one of the first Christians, Paul, claimed that 'in Christ'- the phrase Christians used to describe this new reality- there was 'neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female.' He is calling the entire culture into question, insisting that through this risen-from-the-dead Jesus, the whole world is being reorganized. And in this new reality, every person is equal. Everybody. Paul is the first person in the history of world literature to argue that all human beings are equal." -Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis thanks to bob hyatt

Snowboarding in Scotland

2006-03-14T12:22:00.001Z

Snowboarding in France, Whistler, Switzerland, SCOTLAND!! On Saturday I went Snowboarding for the first time, seeing as we had all this snow I thought it must be criminal not to put it to good use. John (my flat mate and general mover of transport for any such expeditions) was up for it after seriously catching the bug over in france a few weeks ago (also having all his own stuff meant it was a bit cheaper for him). Anyway the moral of the story is that we got up at 4am and drove to Glenshee Ski Centre. After a crazy journey we turned up to a sweet car paring spot and hired some stuff. John was jet setting in his own personal snow board gear: Anyway after dressing up to look the part we headed for the beginner slope to see how to do it. The First obstacle unfortunatly for most of us who hadn't been before the crazy poma lifts. Basically a pole with a small disc that kind of pulls you up. Now all these left things are designed for skiiers, Skiing I was not, snowboarders have adapted ways to use the lifts but needless to say its some hassle. To add onto all of that for anyone who snowboard, skates or surf's im goofy so it was twice the problem! Anyway after just about getting the lifts thing going, we decided to progress onto some blue runs, but the only problem was that it was the busiest day of the season so far so lifts were breaking down and queue's were huge! So we would wait 30 mins for a lift just for it to break down and us to go somewhere else and the whole thing repeat itself again. Anyway we got some cool spills and thrills including John front flip (no joke) it was an accident that paid off well. The views were awesome. Im definatly gonna try and get out before the end of this season.

Independent Woman - played by kittens

2006-03-06T23:58:00.000Z

Independent Woman - played by kittens - Joel Veitch rathergood.com, music by Elbow I dont normally blog crazy student like rubbish on the net, but this is good for a laugh kittens in flat caps playing destiny's child songs. Anyway now Ive helped you waste your day...

Historical Insight on Calvin's Predestination

2006-03-02T11:41:00.000Z

Today Ive been reading some stuff on the European reformation for Uni, which again Im not at because of the snow. Ive been reading on John Calvin's time in Geneva [for the sake of reference Ive been reading The European Reformations" (Carter Lindberg)]. If you want an in depth explanation of Calvin's double predestination is then check out the wiki definition here Firstly predestination in Calvins first few editions of his famous "institutes" work was in no way the foremost doctrine but sat with the rest in a document intended to be an evangelical training document for training pastors etc. Calvins theology of pre-destination first came into public question during his time in geneva by a reformed friar called Jerome Bolsec who would travel into Geneva and argue theology with the pastors in the Genevan academy. In October 1551 he publicly attacked Calvin's understanding of predestination. It had been questioned before, but what gave this attack more weight was that Bolsec argued the doctrine from scripture which for Calvin and the reformed tradition of the time was the highest authority. Bolsec argued against Calvin's predestination with he Verse 1 Timothy 2:4 which states God desires all to be saved, though he was then imprisoned, tried, publicly condemned and then banished for life this attack aroused more interest in this doctrine than any other theological debate of the time. This then made Calvin give it a much more prominent position within his later editions of the Institutes of Christian religion, he hammered out an extreme position on it due to the consideration that the reformation in geneva was based on popular support, if that support was eroded by Bolsec's counter argument then he feared his life's work and advancement of the kingdom through him would all fade away. This extreme position then has become the position taken by his later followers known as Calvinists. Though Calvin makes many theological claims, in modern theology and christian culture, the name Calvin and calvinist is almost always used in relation to the doctrine of predestination. Predestination is not a central doctrine that all other doctrines in Calvin, and the reformation periods flow from, but the central doctrine for the reformation is "Salvation by Grace Alone". This is taken from Paul's letters and particularly Johns Gospel 15:16 when Christ states to his disciples "You did not choose me but I chose you". The Doctrine of Predestination basically means that salvation is rescue and not achievement. On a personal level it is the proclamation that salvation is God's gift and choice of the person in spite of his or her doubts, unbelief, and external circumstances. To step this up into a corporate or ecclesiastical level it is the proclamation that despite all circumstances, God's Church will prevail. This doctrine for the reformed or early protestant church was crucially important as they were sufferning persecution for their reformed theology. calvin addressed his doctrine of predestination specifically to these, in order to comfort them. This is the point that Bolsec and many calvinists to this day overlook; that Calvinist predestination in doctrinal terms unconditional election is another way of saying unconditional Grace! If God's elect cannot be lost then those in persecution (especially in France for Calvin) could be assured of their salvation. God then, for Calvin, is a loving parent who Calvin describes in images of a mother who cannot forget her nursing child. Predestination for Calvin supposed would be the final guarantee of humility towards God and security for God's people in their salvation. The Later History of Calvinism unfortunately says that it guaranteed neither. In Conclusion, Calvin hoped that his extreme position on the doctrine of Predestination would ensure a humility and an assuredness towards salvation, instead it was turned into a doctrine against Grace. Listening to: "Reasonable Doubt" (Jay-Z)

Technorati Tags: calvinist, double predestination, election, john calvin, predestination, reformation, salvation

Snow, Snow, Snow

2006-03-02T11:30:00.000Z

Well I keep mentioning it in my posts, how Im not going to Uni because of the snow, how the snow is still coming. Well its started snowing a few hours ago pretty heavily and hasnt stopped yet, so this is "good dump" as the snow yuppies call it we were told was coming. On Saturday John and I are setting off to the slopes in Scotland to do some snowboarding. John spent a week in France recently and got the bug and so this will be my first attempt at it. Anyway here are a few photos for you from the last few days of snow. nothing spectacular just a few snaps. This was our Garden this morning, and it hasnt stopped snowing yet so its getting fuller. Yesterday I met John out of work and went and has lunch, there was a freak snow storm and he didnt have a coat, heres the result!

Technorati Tags: puppy, Fraserburgh, scotland, weather, snow

Gadget of the Week

2006-03-01T15:20:00.000Z

Just got my phone bill through from UK 3G Video phone Network through and theres a little promotional flyer for the new gadget for 3G Pupillo which is my opinion seems pretty cool: This little beauty is the worlds first mobile video eye and it's only from 3.You can charge it up, move it about (it's wireless) and set it up pretty much anywhere. Simply call up the 'Pupillo' using your 3 video mobile so you can see & hear what's going on when you're not there. It can see in the dark too!

World's first 3G mobile video camera
Totally wireless & simple to set up
Full colour video & built-in microphone
Sleek sculpted design
Simple: Just a videocall from a videophone
Discrete: Attached to ceilings & walls
Privacy: Access limit of 20 video mobile numbers (non simultaneously)
Security: Viewing access through entering a PIN
Night Mode: Infra red night vision

Check it out here

Technorati Tags: puppy, surveillance equipment, gadgets, video camera, 3G, Mobile technology

Creative Sacrificial Self Discipline

2006-03-01T10:40:00.001Z

Today is a new day, a chance to make a change, I WILL BE DISCIPLINED - why am I blogging this? well If I fail want to fail publicly and if this helps be stick at it any some more then its done its job. I would love to say that I want to follow Jesus so passionately that when I go to sleep Im excited to get up just to spend time with him and read the bible but the truth is the first thing I think about is how little hours I got and whether theres enough milk for some frosted flakes. But Yesterday I decided to make a change, Quiet time etc etc is something Ive always struggled with and recently just ha a realization that Im not breaking a commandment not to do it, as we can so often feel like not doing this is a sin due to the pressure of Christian culture, and I was quite happy to take a 'new' mindset towards it all in the rebellion of the most hated Christian Culture. But in my act of defiance towards constantine I somewhat swung like a pendulem, because I didnt consider quiet time or whatever you want to call it a religious duty then I decided to be free from it more and more often until I just forgot that I ever did do it. I spent time with God a few times a week, but it wasnt really set aside time and I think my heart values time with God do much more than giving the relationship the odd 10 minuites here. So While Im not going to beat myself if I wake up late one day and dont do it at a regimented time of 5:30 or whatever I am definatly going to be intentional about it. Yesterday I wasnt in Uni in Aberdeen because of the snow and while I did bits here and there I really didnt get a whole lot done, and a pet hate of mine is complete unproductivity due to time wasting, ebay watching, dvd extra watching, guitar playing, snow ball making etc etc. In the afternoon I normally do an Old Testament survey with other people at the church lead by a guy called Graeme Young but this week we've had some guys over from Metro Ministries in New York who are kind of linked to our church, you can check out the great stuff they do here, anyway they were over and instead of the OT survey we had a bit of Q&A where they told us some stuff and we asked questions. Still freshly bugged from my complete lack of productivity and knowing the time craziness of their week (100hr weeks etc) I said "Have you got any practical tips for effective time management" They shared a few things that I think Ill just share with you as I plan to put some if not al of them into practice in different way in committing to be a better user of my time. - Firstly Discipline is really a byword for sacrifice, often to really achieve things and to be successful at something you have to do things that you dont want to do - To be use creativity in your time management, ensuring everything is done and this approach is much liklier to be sucessful than creating regiment which you almost always break and even when it works it is very constricting. When involved in ministry a plus is to be able to imporovise and be flexible so having regiment is limiting in that sense I actually just compressed a page of stuff inot those two sentences so there you have it, creative time management, these man made formulas though inevitably have to have a spiritual under belly that Im trying to cultivate in really LIVING life as worship, doing everything as if it was for the Lord.

Technorati Tags: church ministry, discipline, metro ministries, time management

Counting those small but important blessings

2006-02-28T11:39:00.000Z

Well some good but simple advice Ive picked up over the last year is when things get on top of you, like the fact A4 pieces of paper wont go into plastic wallets properly (polly pockets!) then count your blessings. So today Im thankful for: I get to choose to study the reformation or Romans 4 today and not Politics We have a local shop that buys in our favourite ice creams just for us! - By the way heres my vote for great ice cream of all time: The Maxibon

Snow and seasons

2006-02-28T11:14:00.001Z

Well we've got some serious snow today!....I guess aboout 3 inches at least, at any rate our road still hasnt been gritted so I didnt go to Uni today and Im trying to get some work done beforeI try and get up to church. I havent seen this much snow in at least a year, so its cool, but I really want some good snowboarding trousers to go wiith my sweet jacket as I think thats my area of weakness right now. I dont really live in my head in "seasons" like many people mention but at the moment everything seems to be changing for people around me, people dying, relationships dying, and constructs that Im used to. I hope I havent become too comfortable to be ready for a change closer to home. So Lord as is snows around me, keep me trusting you that you watch over me and the people I love and teach me how to glorify you with my life more and more. Listening to My Oh My - David Gray (an Old favourite

Technorati Tags: life change, scotland, snow, weather

Jo Mango Gig in Aberdeen

2006-02-23T13:35:00.000Z

Jo Mango is playing the tunnels in Aberdeen on the 26th of March. I saw her play at CLAN this year, and she was pretty good, then some friends had her CD Antidote and I wished I had gotten into it before the gig, this gig seems to be on a sunday, which is a shame as I probably wont make it, gutting Oh well. But if your in the area I definatly recommend it for some thoughtful but accesible tunes. "Jo Mango is definitely one exotic fruit to seek out" -The Scotsman “Compellingly beautiful...a Scottish artist destined for bigger things... **** ” - The List "She had the hundreds gathered mesmerised by her haunting voice" -The Evening Times “ ...the crowd were completely captivated... What a voice! Jo displays a range and control most pop divas would kill for. **** ” - Ben Spencer, Sunday Mail Heres her website http://www.jomango.co.uk/ Shes also playing edinburgh and glasgow on the dates around that so if your near there then check out the gigs section of her website

MacBook Pro: First day, first Lab tests

2006-02-23T10:45:00.000Z

These days being an avid Appleowner (iBook G4) I have fallen into the world of apple technology love. Yes Ive got a whole folder of RSS feeds that are tracking the Mac World (no pun intended) seeing what the new iPod looks like etc. Anyway being but a humble iBook user, with an aspiration to be a powerbook user, the new Macbook Pro is my new elixir. If you cant be bothered to read the whole story here are what I see as the main points - MacBook Pro works just like any Mac, and a good deal of programs run on its intel based prcessor, Rosetta conversion software does the job for all the rest until all the software becomes converted - No 12" Version yet - Mag safe power cable seemsto be a great idea, intelligently realising when its connected to the MacBook and releasing its magnetic seal when the cable takes a fierce pull, eg someone tripping over it, which it seems in the past has been the end of many an apple portable, though not me fortunatly - It seems to heat up much in the sameway as the powerbook - Remote control and Front Row are now regulars on G5 systems So thats that....we can only dream ;) Macworld: First Look: MacBook Pro: First day, first Lab tests

Blog Titles

2006-02-22T22:32:00.000Z

Well Ive been playing around with photoshop, and have come up with a new title (see above) its got a couple of influences, the background is from the new sony bravia advert which has the Jose Gonzales Song that I blogged about before. The text is kind of influenced from the bloc party album front cover Anyway, I photoshopped a few of the balls to show over the text...so I looked back over the titles, over the last 3 years Ive had about 18 titles, they've definatly had a different feels to them. Anyway I thought Id upload them and mention something about them as some of them took quite a bit of time- This one had a quote on it for Napolean Dynamite with a crazy contrast turn up on a picture of the bass guitar This one was a quick solution to get rid of the one before! Its a picture of some kind of squirrel I took at the grand canyon of all places Heres a picture of some of youth and us at some dunes near st combs called "the pot" A picture of a farm near pennan, north east scotland St Combs beach were I sampled some of the colours in the picture and used the for the text. This is one of my favourite ones, just for its simplicity, the blurred photo of us playing at worship practise. Aberdeen Skyline with the text skewed and put on the crane A picture of my uni halls room, the font had a drop shadow. This is pretty naff, a candle on its side Outside the Theology department at Uni (not on purpose infact) This was a cool sunset outside of church one evening. The text is mostly taken from the blogs before Picture of music at church, samme picture as blog title before but the text took me ages coz I did every letter one at a time hate this streched lettering, not a favourite An attempt at an artsy shot in the library with my old camera, concept didnt quite get realised here A photo of aberdeen leaving on a boat to orkney The first title (that wasnt just text) a picture of the meeting in trafalgar square after the Soul in the City event 2004, the defining event of that summer really. Anyway this more than anything is to preserve it for me, and my graphics type friends out there....sorry for the rest of you, who probably see this as self indulgent

Background of the week: POLZEATH

2006-02-22T11:43:00.000Z

Polzeath
Originally uploaded by Jagosilver.

Every week I change my background(well around that anyway from a cool shot on flickr or just a place.

I always felt I was kind of cheating the photographer, but I guess I can give them some recgnition and you can see some cool photos.

This week its a picture of my favourite beach in cornwall (mostly for the memories as opposed to the picturesqueness or anything) Polzeath.

Births out of wedlock 'pass 40%'

2006-02-21T18:37:00.000Z

Births out of wedlock 'pass 40%': The percentage of children born outside marriage leaps from 12% to 42% from 1980 to 2004, a report says. Should this be something we as Christian fin scandalous, im not sure but i read it with akind of "Oh well I saw it coming" But I guess what it kind of does say is that 40% of kids are being born into potentially unstable families, now I know there are a lot of variables. And I think basically I would happily and stand and argue for marriage as first a biblical model but even as something that sociologically is effective in secular society. So maybe this should 'offend' me more than it does, but I am slow to feel scandalized and am very slow to want to be the moral majority. No one needs my morals pressed on to them, what I think they really need is Jesus, not someone telling them that they shouldn't live like that. So Yes, its a problem, I grew up in a single parent family and know that the non perfect model of 2 adults and 2 kids can be overcome, but I think there are some definate advantages to the Mum and Dad scenario, and for them not to be (hypothetically) willing to commit, if not spiritually then legally to life partnership then that leaves some question as to whether they are comfortable enough in that relationship to raise kids. Just a quick thought on the news

Technorati Tags: bbc news, birth out of wedlock

iBook Fix for Activity Window

2006-02-21T08:44:00.000Z

I know this isnt my usual type of blog post but I thought Id enrich the internet with some useful info for mac users as recently Ive been searching google for stuff I never used to, and finding some great stuff. So hear is some information for the Information super highway. If your a regular reader of this blog, please feel free to look away now. PROBLEM: Activity Window wont open, it blinks on the dock then shuts down ANSWER: The Disk permissions are set incorrectly if your in administration account (if you dont know you probably are) so go into the applications folder in the hard drive then to the utilities folder and into disk utility then "repair disk permissions", note this takes forever I left it to do it over night and turned the screen off. This should fix it.