Monthly Archives: September 2009

Thought for the morning

Posted on by Brad Heap

It is always a good morning when you wake up dreaming and singing the Newsboys song How Great Is Your Faithfulness.

If I rise on wings of dawn
Or drift in seas of doubt
Even there Your strong right hand
Has never failed to guide me out

Great is Your faithfulness
To carry on with a sinner like me
Great is Your faithfulness
Turning shame into victory
Your grace has never let me be
Your mercy’s waited patiently
Oh, so great is Your faithfulness
To carry on with a sinner like me

If I hide in dark and shadows
Fearful of each day
Even there Your blinding light
Illuminates my pathway

Goodness never
Never fails
It never fails me

Which instantly made me think of the following verse in Romans 8 (NIV):

Rom 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
Rom 8:39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Which is fantastic news to wake to in the morning.

Ditch the Kiwi Dollar now, and can we become another state of OZ in the process?

Posted on by Brad Heap

The herald reports that it is likely that the current taskforce on getting NZ economy back up to speed with the Australian economy will recommend replacing the Kiwi Dollar with the Aussie.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10598348

The Government’s transtasman taskforce is to investigate scrapping the Kiwi dollar and adopting an Aussie one.

Don Brash, chairman of the 2025 Taskforce and former governor of the Reserve Bank, confirmed he would report back in November on whether a common currency would help raise New Zealand living standards to Australian levels.

Brash said New Zealand would be more likely to cancel the Kiwi currency, replacing it with cash stamped “Reserve Bank of Australia”.

The notes would probably retain images like those of Sir Edmund Hillary and Sir Apirana Ngata, so they would look Kiwi – apart from that vital difference in the fine print.

A major benefit would be a fall in interest rates to Australian levels, making business more productive. But economic authorities would be concerned this cheap money would spark a property boom. Currency union would mean New Zealand could no longer adjust interest rates to control booms.

The sooner we do it the better. And while we are at it can we just hurry up and become another state of Australia, and make both countries (or the one) a completely independent republic at the same time. Or are my dreams just too good to possibly come true?

Owning nothing, but having everything we ever need.

Posted on by Brad Heap

On Friday I got Rob Bell’s latest book Drops Like Stars.

So far I am 3/4 the way through it and loving every page and every image. The bit I was reading last night was to do with possessions and ownership and Rob Bell quotes 2 Corinthians 6. Here is the full version from the NLT.

2Cr 6:4 In everything we do we try to show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind.
2Cr 6:5 We have been beaten, been put in jail, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food.
2Cr 6:6 We have proved ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, our sincere love, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
2Cr 6:7 We have faithfully preached the truth. God’s power has been working in us. We have righteousness as our weapon, both to attack and to defend ourselves.
2Cr 6:8 We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors.
2Cr 6:9 We are well known, but we are treated as unknown. We live close to death, but here we are, still alive. We have been beaten within an inch of our lives.
2Cr 6:10 Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.

I can’t claim to have experienced half the things that Paul and the early disciples experienced. But the words of these scriptures still hold true today. No matter what I pray that I would be able to show that I am a true minister of God in everything I do, and through that God will be able to give me the patience to endure troubles, hardships and calamities of all kinds. I pray that I won’t be beaten, put in jail for my beliefs. However if I ever do I pray that I will always know that God is right there by my side as my saviour and best friend.

Thought for Yesterday

Posted on by Brad Heap

I was meant to post this yesterday but I forgot. I made this up (but it may be subliminally a quote from somewhere).

Those of us who appear to be bulletproof on the outside are often the most shot to death on the inside.

Chilling on Sunday Night

Posted on by Brad Heap

I got called into work this morning to cover for someone who was ill.

The day went fast and well but it, of course, prevented me from doing the stuff I had planned.

Anyway tonight I am having fun just chilling out and relaxing on the couch watching the Skillet – Comatose Comes Alive DVD. Each time I watch the DVD I get something else out of it, mainly the power of the lyrics, songs you hear again and again but never quite grasp just how powerful the underlying lyrics are:

I lie here lifeless
In this cocoon
Shedding my skin cause
I’m ready to
I wanna break out
I found a way out
I don’t believe that it’s gotta be this way
The worst is the waiting
In this womb I’m suffocating

Feel your presence filling up my lungs with oxygen
I take you in
I’ve died

Rebirthing now
I wanna live for love wanna live for you and me
Breathe for the first time now
I come alive somehow
Rebirthing now
I Wanna live my life wanna give you everything
Breathe for the first time now
I come alive somehow

Excerpt from Rebirthing, Skillet.

I saw angels fall down
at the glory of the Lord
and as I raise my hands I see

I saw angels fall down
at the glory of the Lord
and as I hit the ground I see

And I fall down
afraid and shaking here
And I fall down
perfectly safe in you

I saw angels fall down
at the glory of the Lord
the hurt and the broken find rest here

I saw angels fall down
at the beauty of the Lord
and as I kneeled I cried to know Him

Angels Fall Down

Before the final song lead singer John Cooper gives a powerful message about the meaning of the word comatose to the band. I have transcribed the key parts of it here:

The word comatose means the state of being in a coma. And the reason we called the record that is because I have two small children and I am all of a sudden realising the things that my kids are going to go live and go through that I never dreamt of going through. Going to school through metal detectors, me sending my kids to school, in fear of another school shooting, wondering if it is going to happen, when it is going to happen. September 11 the most shocking thing that has happened in my life, wondering when and if another September 11 may happen, another sniper shooting, child abduction, senseless violence. And we called the record comatose because if we don’t wake up out of our commas and realise we are losing this world, we are losing a generation, then we are just going to lose. Everybody is going to lose, we are going to destroy each other, we are just going to burn each other up, and I want you to hear me because this is what I am most excited about with this message, this message is not exclusive to Christians. This is for atheists, agnostics, Christian, Muslims, Jewish people, and anybody in between. If we can all agree this world is getting worse and you all have roles to play to make it a worse place or a better place. All it is going to take is deciding we are going to care more about somebody else than we care about ourselves. And for all of us Christian people here, we have all been talking about changing this world. I say it is time we stop talking about it and just do it. If we actually believe that love is the answer, then we need to start loving people and see what God can do in our country, see what God can do it our world.

Neither humorous or entertaining

Posted on by Brad Heap

Demon Drinks refused to answer questions about whether it released the photos, or what thought was given to the possible victims of the bomb.

A statement from promotions and sponsorship co-ordinator Will Seal said Demon Drinks regularly ran competitions for consumers to send in “humorous and entertaining photos”.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10595324

I was talking to someone last night on MSN did not see the gravity of the situation that these photos have put NZ in.

Lets spell it out this way.

NZ currently has no combat troops in Afghanistan. We had the SAS there, and they may go back.

We have no fighter planes or bombs there. We actually own no fighter planes.

For the last twenty or so years NZ has prided itself on being a pacifist and being peace keepers not war makers.

Last week John Key and Kevin Rudd announced closer ties between Australian and New Zealand Defence Forces, if more of this is going to be result then we better pull out now. It is going to destroy the values that NZ has fought so hard for.

DIY its in our RIP?

Posted on by Brad Heap

The herald reports today that DIY injuries are killing nearly 600 people a year in New Zealand: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10595342

That is nearly twice the road death toll, so I expect from next week to see an aggressive anti-DIY ad campaign on TV, the banning of all commercials for Mitre 10, Placemakers and Bunnings, and the introduction of a compulsory safety harness when hammering a nail into the wall.

While the tone of the article is serious and the message is clear people need to take better care when doing work, there is a humorous subtext to the article:

DIY handymen are costing hundreds of millions of dollars in medical bills by putting up wobbly scaffolds, touching live wires and shooting themselves in the hands and feet with nail guns.

The kitchen is the most dangerous room in the house in most parts of the country.

ACC will be targeting home handymen – among others – during safety week, which starts on Monday.

Lynn Theron, a doctor in Auckland City Hospital’s emergency department, said the most common household injury she had seen was people chopping their own fingers off while cooking. Burns were also another common injury in the kitchen.

Right I thought the home handyman lived in the shed down the back garden. Not the kitchen!

So the lesson of the story is it bad to stay at home cooking, doing so means you are doing DIY and that is evil. Go out and buy some take-out food tonight – it may just save your life.

Bus lane fine being challenged

Posted on by Brad Heap

It is interesting to read today that a person is challenging the fine they got for driving in a bus lane: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10595321

The $150 question of how far motorists can drive in a bus lane before making a turn goes to the Auckland District Court next week. Motorist John Foote says the law states it is the minimum distance necessary to safely make the manoeuvre. The Auckland City Council says 48m is a safe distance for a motor vehicle travelling at 50km/h. The council fines motorists $150 for travelling more than 50m in a bus lane. Mr Foote said this policy had resulted in the law being applied unlawfully and has sought a ruling.

Being a bit of a maths and science geek I decided to work out what is the minimum distance a car can stop in when traveling 50kmh. It turns out it is 24m if the car is in good shape, the road is dry, and the driver is fully aware (Stopping distances for cars – Road Safety Authority Rules of the Road) so say for instance it is a wet day this can affect things by a factor of two hence 2*24m = 48m. And this is the value that the Auckland City Council has set.

The major problem that I have with this is it is best case scenario maths. No consideration has been given to cars already stopped to turn within that 48m area, or the amount of distance required to change into the lane, or the fact that many cars travel faster than 50kmh, it may be the limit and the law but that does not mean people actually obey it. In the interests of safety it would be better to set it at a minimum of 65m which is the minimum distance at 60kmh on a wet day to stop.

None of this takes into account just how hard it is to judge precise distance when traveling at 50kmh or 13.8m/s while driving.

I hope the appeal succeeds, it is simply not safe with the number of factors involved to limit it at 48m. 100m would be a much more sensible solution.

There’s something deep inside, That keeps my faith alive

Posted on by Brad Heap

The past few weeks have been an interesting ride for me with some changes in my life. And the future does not look that clear either, all I see is smoke and mirrors. Anyway I have been finding a lot of reflection in Skillet’s back catalogue and latest album recently. Tonight’s song is collide. The lyrics below are only part of the song but it is the part that has spoken to me the most tonight.

We have fallen
We have fallen again tonight
Where do we go from here
When they’re tearing down our lives?
When all they want is
For us to live in fear
How long can we hold on?
Can we hold on?
Hold on

There’s something deep inside
That keeps my faith alive
When all you can do
Is hide from the fear
That’s deep inside of you
Something
To hold me close when I don’t know
There’s something deep inside
That keeps my faith alive

At the moment I have many fears in my life, mainly about the future. But it is that faith that is deep inside, that trust, that is keeping me going. Last night I was a bit of a train wreck but I spoke to a friend for over an hour and got a lot of it out. Being listened to is a really nice thing.

Not a good look

Posted on by Brad Heap

I saw this image on the news tonight and at first I could see the funny side of it. The biggest problem however is we do not currently have combat troops in Afghanistan instead we have peace keepers and a reconstruction team. A New Zealand company’s logo and NZDF troops next to an American bomb is not a good look for a mainly pacifist nation.

FrogBlog has a good story on the other implications of the issue: http://blog.greens.org.nz/2009/09/04/no-limits-to-civilian-suffering-in-us-bombing/