Category Archives: Spirituality

Being near water brings life.

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20121223-062750.jpgI’m drawn toward water with the same force that gravity draws me to the ground. The ocean’s pull is strongest of course, but lakes, rivers or small bubbling brooks cause me to pause, breathe and relax.

To say I love being near the water is an understatement. I love running by the water. Love talking with friends as we slowly meander along the water’s edge. Love sitting alone by water, disconnected from the complexities of life.

When I am angry, frustrated and speechless, being near water somehow brings perspective. If I’m contemplative, strategic and lost in my thoughts the presence of water often provides clarity.

I was reminded the other day as I walked that it is ‘good to be by the water’.

Water…

By drinking it, we gain life.

Being near it, refreshes us.

And Living Water, heals our souls.

∴

This Christmas … may you be drawn to water.

We are all artists

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My 10 year old checking out her art at the HeART Expo. She is a true artist.

Recently I was sitting in a group of maybe 200 people who were asked if they were artists, and only four people raised their hand.

I was one of the four ‘artists’ who put their hand up. Can I paint or sculpt or dance? No, not at all. Yet I am an artist, because at the core of art is creativity.

An artist creates.

And almost everyone I have ever met is creative in someway. Sure, some paint and sculpt and dance, but most creative people, most artists I meet do nothing like that. Most create in other ways like taking home photos or cooking their favourite food. Some create by making practical things from metal or wood. Others create by raising amazing kids. Some even create using spreadsheets.

In my heart of hearts I believe we are all artists. I believe we are all created to create. And when we create, we should pause for a moment to enjoy our creation. Our Art.

You create things, therefore…

You are an artist.

Enjoy.

Freedom is never free

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Freedom is never free

Freedom is never free.

Freedom comes at a cost. Many many people have died that we might have the freedoms we enjoy.

And one man died that we might have the freedom we where created for.

Easter and Anzac together. A reminder how blessed we are to be free.

252 |365 – CBC Elders

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CBC EldersGraeme and Campbell settle in for our weekly meeting and the crazy guy pulls out the camera and takes a picture. Graeme said he can’t understand Facebook and would never go on it. Little did he know…
 
Privilege to serve at CBC with these two brothers, friends and warriors.

240 |365 Storyboard to ‘The Prequel’

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Day240.jpgStar Wars, X-men and soon even Lord of the Rings will all share one thing in common; Prequel’s. Prequels are the story before the central story, the journey of characters and lives that connected and ultimately lead to the finale.
 
This shot is of the basic storyboard for ‘Jesus: The Prequel’, coming to a theatre near you. Well maybe not, but spent some time with Campbell and Dean mapping out the themes and stories and characters and nation that lead to Jesus. By understanding what went on before we learn so much more about God and the context into which Jesus came.
 
So that got me thinking about the prequel to my life, about the themes and stories and characters that went on before me that indirectly shaped whom I am. I realised that I know very little about their stories and I have very little knowledge or heritage to pass onto my kids.
 
Thinking ‘prequel’ could shape conversation at the dinner table of our parents moving forward.

234 |365 Partial Reflections

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Partial reflection of a treeOur lives are all partial reflections of others.
 
We all in someway reflect the people and events that have had an impression on us.
 
In some cases, repulsive and negative things done may be reflected in us. Things we would rather forget and wish they had never happened.
 
For the most part we reflect the good people in our lives. They may be parents or teachers or colleagues or friends or Jesus, and regardless of how independent we think we are, we are all small reflections of them.
 
So if my life is a partial reflection of others, how will I ensure that their reflection of me is a blessing, vivid and good?

And I thought I had problems

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So Job is hanging out at home and a messenger arrives. ‘The Sabeans have raided and killed all your oxen are gone.’

The next messenger arrives. ‘Fire has come down from heaven and killed all your sheep.’

The next messenger brings news of all his Camels and servants being taken or killed.

Finally news comes that the walls have collapsed and killed all of his children.

Job’s response? He praised God.

 

176 | 365 Salt

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Day176.jpgGrowing up in Tauranga you become accustom to salt water. You know the bitterness of its taste and feel the dryness of your skin after a day sailing. You see stains it leaves on the windows of your car, and the corrosive power of salt water to destroy objects over a period of time.
 
When you’re around salt, you can feel it, taste it, smell it and see its effect.
 
There is no escaping the effect of salt.
 
“You are the salt of the earth”

 
[176 | 365 March is salt harvesting season at Lake Grassmere in Blenheim and the salt is brought north to the Mount for refining. This is a shot of the salt being stockpiled at Dominion Salt.]
 

Gone by lunch time.

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Been learning about Samuel and Saul and Kings.

King Nahash, had a proposition for the people of Israel. They could make peace with him and then return, he would gouge out the right eye of everyone, then they could live at peace.

News spread of this peace offer and finally reached the newly appointed King Saul. He was out plowing a field. The king, out plowing.

‘Then the Spirit of God came powerfully upon Saul and he became very angry’. He called the people to follow him, all 370000 of them. The next day he took on King Nahash and his team, and “slaughter them the whole morning”. Home for lunch.

I wonder to myself, how different would my life be if I allowed the Spirit of God to come powerfully upon. I wonder what more I would achieve as a husband, a leader, a man. What things would be dealt to by lunch time.

What if the Spirit of God came powerfully upon me and I …

What would I be called to do?

I hope you rest!

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It was a beautiful evening and I left Auckland amongst the heavy Friday traffic and made a bee line for Tauranga. Well actually it wasn’t so much a bee line as a zigzag. Nevertheless I head south and choose my route carefully, using my local knowledge to the best of my advantage to reduce precious minutes from my driving time.

Everything was going well, traffic was busy but flowing and I soon found myself heading down the Kaimai’s into my home town and the picturesque Bay of Plenty. Suddenly the display on my dash popped up a message I had not seen before. It was a picture of a tree with a picnic table underneath it. Below the picture the words “Rest Reminder” appeared. A rest reminder built into a car. Handy.

I was thinking, sometimes it would be great if we could get those reminders in life. You know when you are moving at 100 mph, when even a good nights sleep doesn’t bring rest. Wouldn’t it be handy if a display popped up and said hey you need to rest.Restarea

Really REST.

Resting is more than having a sleep in or taking it easy for a day or not going to work.

You can do all these things and still have a million things or worries or uncertainties in your mind. You can take a rest physically and yet not rest mentally or spiritually.

What if really resting means something more than just having a break.

So if we have burdens and baggage, if we have been toiling and labouring hard, if we have a million thoughts and worries running around in our heads, if we have been trying hard on our own to be nice rather than naughty.

Jesus has something really profound to say to us who are like this.

He said “Come to me”, and

“I will give you rest”.

I know he means real rest. Rest mentally, spiritually even though you may not be physically resting. Rest for our souls.

After the reminder popped up on my dash, I pressed cancel and kept driving. Ironically for me physical rest leads to mental rest, leads to spiritual rest. Quite often I press cancel part way through this journey and just keep going.
 
So rest this Christmas. Rest physically. Rest mentally. Rest spiritually.

Rest!