Intimacy with God

The previous blog got me thinking about Intimacy with God on a day to day basis, so here are some of my thoughts! Since I can remember Sunday church services was the way in which you connected with God. It was simple. You compartmentalised life and Sunday was God day…well the part of the day you spent at church or with church people. But as I got more and more involved with church it wasn’t enough. I found myself short of energy and knowledge to be able to pour into the areas I was serving in, and it came to ahead this year.

Taking on my role at FITE meant my Friday nights changed dramatically. I was no longer able to just sit back and connect in the service. I started thinking about the service, how things were running, what needed doing, and most importantly I was seeking God on behalf of others, as to what He wanted to do in the service. If I was speaking I was psyching myself up to bring the message, and if I was emceeing I was trying to come up with jokes that were appropriate for FITE but also funny to people beyond myself and the leaders. The same thing changed for me on Sunday nights as I started Emceeing. Instead of just “being” in church I was again thinking of what I was going to say, what needed doing, and most importantly I was seeking God on behalf of others, as to what He wanted to do in the service.

So how have I got around it? It comes back to a day to day relationship. I’d say I’m probably reading his word 3 out of 7 days a week on average. But I’m constantly talking to Him. I’d say I’m praying daily over issues big and small. I’d also say I’m worshipping often throughout the day, as I try to move from just singing songs to living a lifestyle of worship! Sport for me is becoming a way I can worship God. I can jump onto that field and I can use the gifts and abilities, given to me by the creator, and use them for my best.

So as this whole new approach to church, God, and intimacy has come about I’ve been contemplating whether we are doing church wrong? On Sunday night Rolf discussed the early church, like pretty fresh after Jesus’ time on earth, and how they were like soldiers, they had a purpose, and when they got together it wasn’t their only “connection” point. They came into the church, they were saved, they were given a job, and they went out and did it. When they came together each week it was almost like a sales meeting. They came together to celebrate their success, mourn their losses, and be encouraged about what they were doing and in their relationship with Christ. The best part about all of this is that they didn’t have the bible in the same way we have it today. The early church had the Old Testament, and some manuscripts and letters that would later become the New Testament but they didn’t have these red letter, leather bound, printed on rice paper beauties that we have today! So why have we changed how we do church? I’ve got a theory I’m working on…but I’ll come back to it. I’d hate to let my world wide readership down with a Blog that’s too big and makes no sense whatsoever!

Who's the Grinch now?

Well it’s December 27 and the Boyd family can confirm they’ve found the next candidate for Grinch. In fact I can confirm it on my own…through this Blog I would like to announce my candidacy for Grinch of the world.

Now I get frustrated by people like most, but that’s where grace comes in. Christmas time (i.e. remembering Christ’s birth and the grace that came from his actions) is when I have the least amount of it. And I’m trying to figure out why?

Christmas frustrates the hell out of me, but for reasons related to the “modern” definition of Christmas, not the original definition of Christmas. The modern definition of Christmas expects me to double my attendance to social functions, to double the hosting of social functions, and to spend a hell of a lot of time and money running around buying presents for people who, I hate to say, I can’t remember their full name. This year it’s been particularly bad. The amount of events that have been on has been mind boggling, worse still is the fact that they’ve been poorly organised and even more poorly communicated. The frustrating part is when you can’t make them you get mocked and criticised! It’s truly unbelievable…it’s like everybody’s inner “asshole” factor comes to the forefront and if your not able to make time for them and their event then you’re a bad person!

The next part has to be the traffic. I struggle with traffic on most days. It’s why I always work 10am-6pm, because I avoid all the traffic! I don’t think that I’m impatient but it’s more that I just hate wasting time being a sheep and doing everything at the same time as everyone else. That, and I can’t drive fast.

The final straw for me is the crowds. The crowds are made up of 2 types of people. The first type of person is like me, in a rush, flustered, wishing they were anywhere else but there. The second type of person is totally unlike myself, they have all the time in the world, they walk slower than a snail, they are oblivious to the people around them, and they crawl in packs of 4 or more, often in a horizontal line causing you to practice your touch “dummie and step” to get around them. These are the people I feel I could exterminate and be considered a hero by those first type of people, and there would be no one left of the second types of people to call me a monster. Actually here is my one and only policy announcement for my campaign for the modern Grinch, I guarantee that if I become Grinch I will establish Chinese style re-education camps to teach the second type of people in a crowd some etiquette, if they don’t respond favourably they’ll be sent to mars.

Now being the type of person I am I felt a bit challenged about why Christmas is driving me bonkers so I did what I knew to do…I sought God. He didn’t say a heck of a lot until he used Jonny on Christmas Eve. During this service Jonny spoke about “snuggles” with God. My first thought was to take his man card off him but the concept plagued me. I guess the reason it plagued me was the fact that it was a metaphor referring to intimacy with God. Intimacy with God is as common as me saying no to a game of sport. But it got me thinking: Where is God this Christmas? To be honest, I’d locked him out of December as I was far too busy.

So why do we do it? Why do we get caught up in our modern concept of Christmas instead of going back to our roots? Next year I want to change this. Next year I’m buying presents for people who I would willingly give my life for. Next year I’m attending 1 Christmas event and that’s it. What am I going to do with the rest of the time? I’m going to shut the world away and I’m going to seek God. I’m going to try and find him in the middle of the season that’s meant to be about him. So sorry Mr Key, this little revolution of mine might set us even further back fiscally as the economic downturn this would cause would be unreal.

Ignorance Is Bliss

Has anyone else noticed the amount of ignorant people there are in NZ at the moment? Its the year of elections and by golly they're everywhere!

Now when I say ignorant I don't mean stupid (although both can applied to an individual), I mean someone who's heart is in the right place, but they lack the knowledge or the vision to be able to offer an opinion of value.

The best example of this I have is my grandfather. He is a ninja.That's truly the best way to describe him. He is probably the most influential person I have in my life (except Christ) but the other day his ignorance blew me away.

We had finished watching "Body of Lies" with Leonardo DiCaprio. Its a CIA based thriller about an operation happening in the middle east in an effort to curb the rise of terrorism occurring in Europe (this is entirely fictional). As we left the movie theatre I was asked what I thought. Having only had 5 minutes to process an absolutely amazing movie my reply just prompted more questions by me and my family "When and how will the growing Muslim population in NZ start to affect us in terms of terrorism?*" Its something i've pondered a lot. How safe are we? Is our developing relationship with the USA going to hurt us in the long run? Should we or are we doing anything under the radar to help the CIA and MI6?

So i'm pondering these questions and my grandfather lets out a beauty. Now Pop and I have a lot of fun with politics. We know how to whind each other up, and its good value. However he wasn't having a laugh. He suggested (and I paraphrase as my memory is more filled with shock than anything else) that "We shouldn't allow them to build Mosques". I immediately inserted my clenched right fist into my mouth and forced myself to take a breath. I responded with a question, being as respectful as possible, "Why?" He came back with "because we can't build our churches over there".

What the hell do you do with that? I couldn't have come up with a more childish reason not to allow the building of Mosques. Had he suggested for the prevention of terrorism, lack of land available, or a myriad of other reasons I would have been less shocked, but his answer took a swipe at democracy.

Freedom of religion, as established by NZ after accepting the UN charter on human relations secures religious freedom for every New Zealand citizen and guest to our country while dwelling within our borders. Which means we cannot deny any person of any religion the opporunity to practice their religion (within the confines of NZ law of course). This is because we live in a democratic society, where peoples rights are valued, and all citizens are equal. Democracy ensures these rights, especially a country like NZ where we are one of the most succesful liberal democracies in the world**. This success is what seperates us from the non-democratic states in the middle east. This is ultimately what makes us better: FREEDOM.

Pop continued to argue that the risk of terrorism comes as a cost of our freedom. Its a cost that we must be willing to accept, something we should be leading the way in. It should also inspire us as a democratic society, as citizens, as human beings, to determine how we can we rid the world of terror without war. Bombing for peace is like f*cking for virginity, it just won't work. Samuel Huntingtons work "The Clash of Civilizations" highlights the lack of understanding between the West and East, the inability to come together and understand our cultural differences to move forward as a world without war, a world without poverty, and a world without ignorance.

This is because it is through our ignorance that we will go to war, and through our ignorance that we will continue to operate this way. It is through our ignorance that we will not move forward, but remain stuck in a rut. It is through our ignorance that will bring the end upon ourselves.

*Speaking of ignorance I am NOT of the belief that every muslim is a terrorist. I recognise that the teachings of the Koran promote peace and that Jihadists are the extremists of this religion. The Muslims get Jihadists, Christians get the Pope.

**Based on the 1st placed ranking in Transparency International's Corruption Perspective Index 2007 (CPI)

Intro

Kia ora.

Well this is me. A 20 year old Kiwi guy trying to figure life out. I mean I thought I had a good handle on it, that was until I started looking at life through an IR lens. Since then i've been challenged to think to a whole different level, which has been for the best.

This blogs going to be me, thrashing it out, asking the questions, and making some frequently dumb and insensitive comments. But at the same time i'm expecting to throw some gem's out there.

Thanks for taking the time, and please get in touch. I want to expand my perspectives as much as possible!!!

*Disclaimer: I only have an American spell check on here so if the spellings a bit naf blame the yanks, they're already the scape goats for everything else!