Da mi ne Zaboravim

I think its because we forget. We don't remember the things that God has done for us resulting in our ungratefulness.

I forgot what He had done, I must admit. Truly I had forgotten when I became dissatisfied with the way things were going; with the way things are going. Did I forget He died for me? No. What I did forget, however, was the day when I was a child, scared of the dark. I cried out to God and He comforted me. I forgot the times when I had no money and in some way, I ended up with all I needed. I forgot the moments when I needed wisdom, and it came. I forgot the times when I was exhausted and He gave me more than enough strength for the task ahead. I forgot the times when I needed a father and He humbled himself to become dad for me. I forgot what it was like to stand on a mountain and see all that He had made for me. I forgot what it was like to be carried in those tough times life loves to swing our way all too often.

Da Mi Ne Zaboravim

This random cluster of words is seen on most memorials. It is Croatian for the more common saying, "Lest we forget" or 'if we do not forget.' I used to love hearing how elaborately people would incorporate this tag-line as such into their Anzac Day speeches. It was slightly entertaining as the next day, those speech-givers would have most likely forgotten.

But can we blame them? I mean I forget. Constantly! I hate it. It is definitely something that I would love to change. But unfortunately I am still forgetful after so much reminding.

That is why I read the Bible daily. There are so many promises given to us through God's Word. Here are some of the verses from Psalms alone. Packed with promises and still only the very least of them:

Psalms

5v12; 9v9; 22v24; 25v8; 27v14; 29v11; 34v7, 9-10, 17-19; 37v4-5, 39-40; 63v8; 68v5 etc.

Maybe the reason why we strive and work out of our own strength is because we find we are always trying to receive these promises on our own when it is only by the grace of God we obtain them. We become impatient for a promise that God has not yet fulfilled in our lives. Then out of our anxiety we move from trust in God to trust in humanity and our own strength. But what we forget is that GOD IS FAITHFUL. He is not human; unreliable and flaky. Ponder this for a while:

"As the rain and the snow

come down from heaven,

and do no return to it

without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

So is my word that goes out from my mouth:

It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

and achieve the purpose for which it was sent."

~Isaiah 55:10-11~

All too often we sit at home frustrated at why the fulfilment of God's promises have not come. Yet we forget that even though He has promised something - He will fulfil it. He can be trusted. When things aren't turning out how you planned, He can be trusted. When things in life turn against you, He can be trusted. When you get left alone, He can be trusted and not one time will He disappoint you because HE CAN BE TRUSTED.

Trust can be calculated in the mind, but in the end it is the heart that must lead. It is a fruit of the heart and not of the mind. I find it hard to trust because of people in my life disappointing me - but this is God. He is not a parachute in a bag. He is the wings of an eagle. My experience with man does not determine my trust in God. They are two different beings. When does one say, "The shower was faulty, I will never have a bath." Never. If anything you would turn to the alternative (the alternative for the shower being the bath for clarity).

Proverbs 3v5-6 we know well. Trust with everything! Trust for the things that are being worked out. But also, trust for the things that are to come and when things begin to turn to custard - cross your arms across your chest, close your eyes, and throw all of your weight upon Our Faithful God.

-JP

No Ordinary Sun

This was written by one of my favourite New Zealand poets Hone Tuwhare.

Tree let your arms fall:

raise them not sharply in supplication
to the bright enhaloed cloud.
Let your arms lack toughness and
resilience for this is no mere axe
to blunt nor fire to smother.

Your sap shall not rise again
to the moon’s pull.
No more incline a deferential head
to the wind’s talk, or stir
to the tickle of coursing rain.

Your former shagginess shall not be
wreathed with the delightful flight
of birds nor shield
nor cool the ardour of unheeding
lovers from the monstrous sun.

Tree let your naked arms fall
nor extend vain entreaties to the radiant ball.
This is no gallant monsoon’s flash,
no dashing trade wind’s blast.
The fading green of your magic
emanations shall not make pure again
these polluted skies . . . for this
is no ordinary sun.

O tree
in the shadowless mountains
the white plains and
the drab sea floor
your end at last is written.

Double-double, cheese-cheese, burger-burger please!

Lemon detox diet, Acai and Colon Cleanse, Atkins Diet, Weight Watchers and all the rest of them: How on earth are we suppose to cope, choose or live through all these different weight loss programs? The markets for such programs are HUGE! Weight watchers alone is in 30 different countries. As for the others, few are actually effective whilst the rest are scams, taking money from people's credit cards because they can. People are that desperate, they'll try anything, from anywhere!

I somehow fit quite nicely, thank you, amongst those desperate people.

Healthy eating and exercise are two things that specialists would advise you to do in order to lose weight, yes? Well, for me, these two things are rather rare and shunned in my life. This may be the reason why I am struggling to lose weight. Despite the fact I'm not incredibly overweight, I just don't like the size I am at, at present (then again, when am I ever?).

The first year moving to Auckland to study was the worst year for me. I had come from my final year at high school feeling rather proud of myself. These two factors for weight loss were second nature in my life. I maintained a healthy 71 kilograms all year, which to me was really good considering I LOVE junk food. This lifestyle I had kept quite religiously soon dissipated. In the wake of my first year at University, I swear I made up for loss time. I easily added 11 kilograms to the scales within 6 months. HORROR!!!

Casting off all restraint, I embraced food like big noses to breath; not a second thought given. I couldn't stop myself. The responses I received from my family and friends were a mix of shock and horror, sighs from thinking what I used to look like when I left. I guess they didn't really recognise me. They most probably thought this thing standing in front of them had eaten me. It was quite embarrassing to say the least.

Yet I am not the only one who struggles with this problem. Why don't we take a look at the statistics for eating disorders. Over 1 in 150 people in the world suffer from Anorexia Nervosa. In America, 1 in every 100 people will suffer from Bulimia Nervosa. These are serious. Much more serious than our decision to have that chocolate bar or not. Much more serious than deciding what milk we are going to buy: Full cream or non-fat. These are decision of life or death. 60% of these people come out of it, 20% will maintain a job and some relationships but still strictly diet etc. The final 20% will not come out of it. They will continue to refuse food in their bodies and most, if not all of them, will die prematurely.

Going over this research, I got to thinking about how immature I was being about this whole issue of living a healthy lifestyle. Exercising and healthy eating is not some marketing scheme to get people to buy the most expensive food (which they generally are). No, they are experts advise in order to keep us alive. Knowing that my frequent and temporary whims for junk food may prevent me from ever meeting my grandchildren is beyond belief. It's one of those things you have to think into the future about. How great are the consequences? How important are the temporal things I receive, compared to the benefits I will receive in the future if I were to withhold from them. Crazy right?

Think over it. I wonder what lifestyle changes you will begin to make when you really take time to think about these factors are to LIVING.

I know I have MANY to make!

Until next time.

~JP~

Once upon a December

Yes, I am aware that it is not December. However, I know it is winter and this song is always reminiscent of those cold nights when I was a young one cooping up in front of the fire, watching Anastasia. I hope this song tickles your fancy while the winter winds keep you in. Enjoy...

Although its in Russian, there is an authenticity about it seeing as though it is a Russian legend.

Here are the lyrics:

Kak uzor na okne.
Like a pattern on a window.

Snova proshloe rjadom.
The past is near again.

Kto-to pel pesnju mne.
Someone sang a song to me.

V zimniy vecher kogda-to.
One winter night sometime.

Slovno v proshlom ozhilo.
As if coming alive in the past.

Ch'ikh-to bereznhykh ruk teplo.
The warmth of someone's gentle arms.

Vals izyskannykh gostey.
The waltz of exquisite guests.

I beg lihikh konei.
And brave horses running.

Val's kruzhil I njos menja.
The waltz spun and carried me.

Slovno v skazku svoju manja.
As if beckoning in its tale.

Pervyj bal I pervyj val's.
The first ball and the first waltz.

Svuchat vo mne sejchas.
Resound in me right now.

Zerkala v jantare.
Mirrors in amber.

Moj vostorg otrazhajut.
Reflect my delight.

Kto-to pel na zAre.
Someone sang at dawnbreak.

Dom rodnoj pokidaja.
Leaving her cherished home.

Budesh' ty v dekabre.
You will be, in December.

Vnov' so mnoj, dorogaja.
Again with me, darling.

Ken Duncan

Moth's Wings

Love. I used to imagine it as an illusion given by the great storytellers of old. History tells not of it. Its story was in myths and legends of gypsies and soothsayers. When spoken of, it carried an ethereal angst about it. Like an ancient Mayan city, something to behold, it was undiscovered and rare. However, my concept of love has rather evolved.

I do not talk of God's love for us or vice versa, although it would be something heavenly. No, reader, I am talking about the love of another human. I am an adolescent in the grown-up world of love as I have yet to fully experience it. It has yet to grace my presence in all its glory. I have had plenty of other feelings disguised as love, but soon the embers of that fire burned out, smothered by my discovery of their fraudulent behaviour.

I'm beginning to realise that it is not love that has evaded me, as surely it would have swept by. No, it is me that has evaded it. I find it hard to trust and thus to walk into the dark would be certain loss. Trust? Not that I don't trust others, rather, I do not trust myself. I don't have the ability to accept disappointment and therefore when it comes to disappointing; it would be beyond me to allow it. It would be unacceptable within my standards to cause someone else loss. And yet, it's fruit is all but avoidable.

At present, I am extremely partial to Moth's Wings by Passion Pit. Although I have only just recently had their acquaintance ["Holla" to Katherine van Hutten], I have completely and utterly fallen for them. My favourite stanza so to speak is:

"You come beating like moth's wings,

Spastic and violently.

Whipping me into a storm

Shaking me down to the core."

It made me think of love. I do not claim to know the meaning of this song, but as most art is left open for interpretation, I only assumed they did the same.

It made me think of how love comes rushing into your life like a flood, like moth's wings so unexpected and turbulent, not easy to turn away. It shakes every part of you; you become unaware of your surroundings because all your senses allow you to notice is the thing coming at you. It frustrates your logic; your logic trying to reason with you why it is false. Many times have you had this and many times has it proven unreal. But this, this is something different. Shaking [you] down to the core. And this is love.

From concepts past, I wondered why such a divine thing would find its way to me. With beliefs that love was the stuff of myths, how then did it inhabit my space?

Where do you go from here? Where should you allow your foot to tread? And where should you forbid yourself to go. I am here within the mix, unaware and uncertain. Love gives you no rest. It provides no safe shelter; moths to a flame. So certainly one question remains...

Does love last forever?

Ruth Lundh

Ceslovas Cesnakevicius

Disneyland

When did you first see Disneyland's theme park? Was it when you were younger? Or were you void of any childish passion till now?

I remember the very first time I saw a photos of Disneyland. It was of the the castle lit up at night with firecrackers going off. It was magical. Beyond what I could ever dream of, Disneyland ignited a flame in me like no other. I was enchanted by the visually dynamic photo. Yes, I have a deep passion for Disney and all it encompasses, but the passion ignited in me was for photography. OK, so I'm going to go ahead and get a little cheesy and say that I love how in that one moment in time, a photo can capture something that may never occur again. But you must be honest, it's so true.

Photography has the ability to enhance moods and change concepts and outlooks. It is visually encapsulating, which does something for me that cannot compare to anything else really. I am a visual person therefore, so to give me a still frame of beauty or even 'ugly', I can appreciate it because of the amount of thought that can go into such a photo. Getting it right is so hard. Although in today's pop culture, ugly or odd has become somewhat of a style and so I enjoy such art. However, it's not something that can just be caught. There is timing and effort that must go into the moment. You may take a photo and, yes, it can be a good shot. But when you can action photos from a thought or concept, it changes things. It makes the insignificant significant. And those things that cannot be changed just fade away in its aura.

SO...in the next couple of weeks, expect to see some of my favourite shots taken by some pretty dam good photographers. You will be amazed as I was when I saw them. Take a look at some yourself. I assure you, you won't be disappointed.

-JP

Amazing grace?

I'm lost for words when thinking about the grace of God.

I never quite understood its meaning. That is not the reason for my lack of words, however. I understood it to be similar to mercy. The mercy and grace of God were, to me, just God's way of showing me that I missed the mark, but I can have another go. To me, it was his way of taking me back to the default and seeing if it works again this time. Yet, in all my years up until now, I would never have thought it to be what God's Word has shown it to be.

When the Israelites were first introduced to the law of Moses, their way of doing things changed completely. With the law everything they did had a strict regime. When you stole something, you had to give back seven times what you stole. When you broke a vow, you had to sacrifice a female lamb that was pure or something along those lines. Structure had a whole new meaning. I can imagine someone thinking of doing something bad, but changing their mind because of the consequences and the work that was involved in acquitting yourself of those consequences. There was something so lacking in this concept though. That something was Jesus.

Man knows when they have sinned. If you don't, there is something seriously wrong with you. My self-conscious lets me know when I have stepped out of line and therefore I must correct the mistake made. However, most of the bad things we do are evidence of our humanity. Our human-ness, so to speak, stops us from doing what is right a lot of the time. But, if we are ever to attempt doing what is right when our nature is to do what is wrong then how are we ever to do what is right? Fear not, I have the answer. Freely given to me, I shall freely give to you. It is amazing. Well, more accurately, HE is amazing! His name is Jesus.

The law of Moses did what it was sent to do, but the completion of the law was seen in Jesus. The law created a need in people. The need for a saviour. There is no way that we could all live up to such a high standard when our very nature makes it impossible. Luke 1:37 says:

"Nothing is impossible with God."

This means that only with God does the impossible become possible. Therefore, as Jesus is God, when you accept Jesus into your life, the impossible becomes possible. This is where grace comes into play. You see, grace and mercy are so similar it is hard to tell them apart. Most of my life I confused grace with mercy. They are unique and yet work so intrinsically together. What is one without the other? To put it in terms easier for you understand, say you have a bank account that is $5000 in overdraft. Mercy is taking the account balance back to zero meaning you no longer have to pay the price. Grace, however, goes beyond that. Grace is taking that zero account balance up to $5000.

Grace is the outworking of the power of God in our lives. It is undeserved and therefore, we must value it. Mercy must come first, however. Jesus did that when he paid the price on the cross. Then He gave us Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is the power of God within us. Bear with me, all this will gain coherency very soon.

In Matthew 5:28, Jesus touches on the law of Moses, but then He does something unexpected. Where the law says if you lay with another woman, you have committed adultery, Jesus says if you even lust with your eyes, you have committed adultery. So now Jesus takes it up a notch. Just when you thought the law was hard, Jesus goes and throws it out of the park by raising the standard. This is where grace comes into play. What Jesus understood is that He brought grace to us. When we accept Jesus into our lives, we have access to the grace of God - FOR FREE! How does the grace of God apply? Well, just as I explained in the example above, grace goes above and beyond the call of duty. Hence, when Jesus raised the bar, He did so with a complete understanding that we could not do it on our own. Thus by His Holy Spirit, He bought grace into our lives to live at a higher level. Like I said, grace is the outworking of the power of God in our lives. Grace is what gives us the ability, the power to live where Jesus did. Now the impossible doesn't seem so impossible now does it?

Facing a challenge? Exams? Evangelising? Work? Faith? Understand that grace is the power of God that is free to all who will receive Him and receive it. Knowing that you cannot do it without God who brings grace is the beginning. Carrying out everything in our lives with the received grace of God is the journey of living at a higher level.

Now I understand that grace isn't His way of telling me I screwed up but I can do it again. Grace was God's way of telling me, "You're screwing up, now let me do it for you this time." It is undeniably the better way to do things. I am humbled by a God so powerful that He is strong enough to, not just walk besides me every day, but to take over when I cannot do it along.

What's so amazing about grace, you ask? Well I don't know if I understand fully, but all I know is this - it has saved a wretch like me.

-JP

Ruth Lundh

Le Grand Foyer

Upon the inauguration of the Palais Garnier on the 15th of January, 1875, Paris set it eyes on the most exquisite piece of architecture in all of the world. The Palais Garnier was built on the orders of Napoleon the third as a part of the great Parisian Reconstruction Project undertaken by Baron Haussman. It's monumental form stands to tell of its magnificent detail and precision, not nearly missing any insignificant thing. However, it's outside was nothing than a mere cover for what was inside. A crystal husk as it were, to the grand beauty within; Le Grand Foyer. So grand as to be compared with the Versailles corridors; its opulent neo-baroque splendour displays all that man can achieve with his hands.

Le Grand Foyer du Palais Garnier exhibits an array of chandeliers, sculpted busts of Mozart and Beethoven with a mosaic running across the full length of the ceiling.

Nothing can quite compare.

When trying to decide what to say in the very first blog, one does not just start at the beginning. One must start on the inside and work its way out to find where you had began in the first place. The Grand Foyer of the Palais Garnier was not the first part built, but it was the first thing the Parisians saw when entering for the first time.

I wish to do the same; to create a grand foyer of sorts for you. Look at the detail; the ins; the outs and, with all that aside, look deeper to see where this journey first began. The foundation of all that will come of this. Much of what I write I do so for your aesthetic pleasure of reading, but also for philosophies and debate; rich argument and communion. Let the eyes wander and the heart wonder.

This is a beginning. A grand foyer. This is where thought begins. But most importantly this is for his highest.

-JP