Church Series: Part 2

Worship: Enter the Holy of Holies:
The situation mentioned in my last post in this series is one that most of us who have ever been to a youth service has been.
Entering a church is the first step of Worship. It is making a step into a public place where we come with the express purpose of meeting with God. It is saying to God "Here I am". Whether you come for the music, or because your friends go to the service or for whatever other reason, you are stepping through those open doors into a place where God resides and where He meets His children. Not that I'm saying that he won't meet you in other places!
Entering church for the first time can be daunting at first. Many seats, most of them empty because of the crowds of strangers that have formulated into impenetrable cluster circles. Often you may be greeted by one or two who are assigned to hand out the weekly notices. Finding a seat is easy, but finding the right seat is nearly impossible until you find the people you know and find out where they are going to sit.

Back to Front:
The seats at the back are first to go. Why is this? Why is there a tendency to slump into the back row, trying to disappear? This is the House of God isn't it? Didn't we want to be here!?
The reason for this is hard to put your finger on. I believe it comes down to one residing fact. Commitment. By sitting near the front you are committed to worship. By sitting at the back we can go unnoticed, unseen. We don't have to worry about people seeing us in tears, seeing us singing along to a song, or seeing us lift our hands in surrender to the one who saved us. Shame falls upon us.

'Till next time...

Church Series: Part 1

The doors are open.
The usual chatter of teenage tantrums rattle the walls, the thud of their shoes trample the carpet as they make their way to the rows of seats that face the stage like scales on a fish. The lights are on, but only at the front, illuminating the stage. This doesn't attract them like moths though. Instead, the seats fill from the back forward, people clambering keenly so as not to be seen as too keen by sitting up the front.
This place. This place where many seek refuge, where many seek answers. This place where those that know God and want to make Him known come, to share in fellowship, to worship their God and tell him constantly in meaningless lyrics how much they love him. Yet come the next sun rise they fall back into their seemingly busy and important life, filled with meaningless things compared with the existence of God.
These next few posts on my blog will be looking at church - especially focusing on Worship. I want to know why it is that these youth come to these events, what they look for in worship and music and what affect it has in their daily walk with God.

'Till next time...

Update // Whitecross - 20//07//08

The gale wind sauntered past his hair.
A new idea was born and the illuminated neon sign of a white cross plagued his memories of that day.
It was time for change. A time to make it real. The paint flew onto canvas and the first realisations came to him, abundant.
And with this change came about a new era. A new progression in design. Something more real, more striking, more meaningful was on the cards.
Whitecross - the new design was released today. It has two new flavours: Ghost and Plush.

'Till next time...

Life in General

Hi guys!

Well, its been an eventful first week back at Uni. I'm having big issues with the big gaps between classes, ending up in me having to travel home between times. I have 8am lectures for teaching, and then 5pm lectures for Maori studies. Not to worry though. Its only for another 12 weeks or so...
I am enjoying the Maori paper though. One of my teaching buddies is in the same class so its good to get a chance to know her a little more and have a decent chat on the way down to the train station. She has the same problem, except she has a few classes to fill in the gaps in between.
Anyway, apart from being abnormally grumpy at the sight of my alarm clock going off at 6:30am, all is swell!

'Till next time

Update // Hotere - 02//07//08

The latest theme hits the racks this week with a theme dedicated to a favourite New Zealand artist, Ralph Hotere. His word based paintings have been an inspiration to not only myself, but to many other artists out there.
I first got the idea for the theme when I came across a Wordpress theme called "Hemmingway". I thought what better than to have a theme based not on a writer, but on a New Zealand artist.

'Till next time...

You do the Math!

Where the Buck Stops
Three guys in a hotel call room service and order two large pizzas.
The delivery boy brings them up, with a bill for exactly $30. Each guy gives the boy a $10 note and he leaves. That's fact!
When the boy hands the $30 to the cashier, he is told a mistake was made. The charge was only $25, not $30. The cashier gives the boy five $1 coins and tells him to take it back to the three guys who ordered the pizzas. That's fact!
On the way back to their room, the delivery boy has a thought. These guys did not give him a tip. He figures that since there is no way to split $5 evenly into three, that he will keep $2 for himself and give back $3. OK! So far so good....
The boy knocks on the door and one fellow answers. He explains about the mix-up, and hands the guy $3, and then departs with the $2 tip in his pocket. Now the fun begins!

Remember, $30 - $25 = $5, right? $5 - $3 = $2, right? So whats the problem? All is well, right?

Not quite. Answer this: Each of the three guys originally gave $10 each. They each got back $1 in change. That means they paint $9.00 each, which times three is $27.
The delivery boy kept $2 for a tip. $27 + $2 = $29. Where the heck is the other dollar!?

'Till next time...

Break

These holidays have begun well. I am currently on a real break - no work, no assignments, no worries.
And because of this I have chosen to fill my days with painting. There will be many a drop of paint being applied in the next 2 weeks.
Since that is happening, I am also only attending to my laptop in the evenings (for other reasons too) and so replying to emails and the like will become stagnant.

'Till next time...

Bad Design?

I came across this site today.
BDT: Bad Design Threads

This is my favorite!

About BDT (from their website)
"We’re just a random group of designers that thought it’d be cool to make shirts. Mostly, we make shirts that make fun of bad designs or bad designers. Every once in a while we just make a shirt we think is cool. Hey, it’s our little company, we can do whatever we want."

'Till next time...