1. Keeping up with the Joneses is futile. No matter how much I tell myself I know this, a part of my mind tries to convince myself it’s possible.
2. I’m seriously thinking that If I own anything over the value of $500, and I’m not using it, I should sell it. You might think that this is common sense. In the same vain as the point above, my mind would like to tell me otherwise. I’m going to set myself an ultimatum to make this happen!
3. A good kitchen knife is underrated. For the first time in my life, I cut an onion without crying. That’s what a good kitchen knife does for you.

What is it that you want in order to keep up with the Joneses?

I heard about Seth Godin’s book The Dip, and while it’s been out for a while, I thought it might make an interesting read.

Of course, being an 80 page book only, why not read it quickly on my computer? I figured I could save a few dollars by buying it in electronic format. How wrong was I! While I found prices as low as US$5 for a hardcover copy (unfortunately the shipping cost to NZ takes out that option), the cheapest price I could find for an e-book version was US$11.66 (about NZ$15)!

When I can buy books for NZ$2 from a secondhand store near my house, why would anyone pay 7 times that for an e-book with a fifth of the amount of content in it? (Unfortunately the said secondhand store is unlikely to carry the book in question at this time).

Have you ever purchased an e-book? When you consider the cost of distribution saved by purchasing an electronic copy, was it reasonably priced?

1. Garlic bread has to be one of the tastiest foods known to man. There are many different variations one can include (cheese, mixed herbs, etc). However you prefer it, it’s certainly one of those moreish foods.
2. I wish I had a personal assistant. That’s a sentiment I’ve shared with many of you before, but today I had a brainwave: If I had a personal assistant, I’d have to think about how I streamlined my workflow on different things, in order to make best use of having a PA in the first place (otherwise they’d sit around doing nothing all day). That led me to: If I just streamlined my workflow in this way, maybe I won’t need a PA because I’ll be more efficient? Now I just have to figure out how to do that streamlining…
3. Great thoughts don’t always come in groups of three, although that would be convenient.

If you could have a PA, what would they do for you?

The end of year ball is a well established tradition for Student Life at Auckland University. It’s a way to celebrate the year in style with the students who have been involved with us. This year’s theme was “Cultures of the World”, 80+ students dressed as someone from a different culture, the staff dressed in Indian theme and composed our own bollywood dance! It was a bit crazy but fun! I was in charge of food for the event, we went with foods from 12 different cultures. I spent 4 days in the kitchen preparing, which was a challenge I enjoyed! (Although slept through most of the following day). The evening went really well; some students commented that it was the best ball they had been to!

Photos are available online.

I’ve decided to make good an idea that I’ve mentioned before: starting a food blog. Problem is, I need a name for it!

I had a couple of ideas, but nothing which I’ve settled on:

• Nothing Weird. I often see recipes on TV or in magazines and think “That’s Weird, who’d want to eat that?”. But then I do enjoy trying new things; inevitably I’ll end up posting a recipe that is a little weird. Probably not a good long-term name then.
• Messy Chef. You know, to describe my cooking style. Already taken though.
• food.digitalfishbowl.net. Functional, but a little boring.

Ideas?

It’s no secret that I think evangelism is a good thing! I’ve been thinking about the message that was given at church on Sunday by our new vicar, Iain. He raised some good points that I think are worth discussion.

Iain is currently walking through a series on the book UnChristian; it talks about how non-Christians perceive Christians today.

Iain started off by saying (and this is my paraphrase) that he hopes his life will be one that reflects Christ’s. We should aim to have our lives reflect his. This reminded me of some things that Roger Hershey spoke of at our student conference earlier in the year. One of Roger’s sons, Brett, died a few years ago, and at his funeral, one of his friends said something to the effect of “I’m not a Christian yet, but if there’s one thing to be said about Brett, it’s that he wanted everyone to know the Jesus Christ that he knew.” I hope that this will be true of my life!

Iain talked about how there are a range of different perspectives that people have about Christians/Christianity, from those who are closed off to it, to those who are cautiously open. However, according to research in UnChristian, 70% of those 16-30 years old think Christians are too focused on conversion, and don’t genuinely care about them.

This is certainly a provocative statement, but to be honest, I’m not really surprised by it. When I talk to people on campus, I hear stories of how Christians have tried to force the gospel on people, or bad experiences people have had with Christians in their lives. Often, a person has heard how their friends perceive Christians, and their perception becomes a reality to them (Iain mentioned this as well).

I do think that we need to be intentional about sharing our faith. So how do we do that when non-Christians perceive us in this way?

I don’t pretend to have all the answers about how to solve this problem, but I do have a few ideas:

• Be prepared to have a conversation when you talk about spiritual things with someone. Having a conversation means it’s a two-way event, and that involves listening. I’m not trying to blow my own trumpet in any way here, but I’ve had people say to me “Thanks for taking the time to listen to what I had to say when you shared with me.” I hope that this is something I can always do.
• It’s OK if you have a spiritual conversation with someone, and don’t get to share the entire gospel. Whether you’re using a tract of some sort with a stranger, sharing your testimony with a friend, or talking to a group of people, it’s good to get them sharing their thoughts. If the person you’re talking to walks away from the conversation with a positive experience, then the door is potentially open for another conversation in future. Not everyone is ready to receive Christ the first time you meet them.
• Be prepared to say sorry. If you talk to someone and they’ve had a bad experience in the past with a Christian (or even think they have), then I believe it’s OK to say “I’m sorry for your past experience, and any pain we as Christians have caused you.” The fact that it wasn’t your personal fault doesn’t really matter to them at this point.
• I really like what Bill Bright said about sharing the gospel. “Successful witnessing is taking the initiative to share the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit, and leaving the results up to God.” I know for some of you this is like preaching to the choir, but when you leave the results up to God, you don’t have to worry about converting someone, because you know that you can’t! I honestly believe that if we were all able to live this out all the time, then non-Christians wouldn’t have many of the perceptions which they have about us now.

Iain challenged us to look for a “Truly prophetic imagination to see and express the alternative reality we seek to live by.” For me, this means I need to rely on God’s Spirit to help me live in a way that honours him, especially when it comes to non-Christians, as the way I live represents Christ to them.

What are your thoughts or experiences on this?

We recently had our first guys retreat for the students here in Auckland. (In the past we’ve had a leader’s retreat for the guys, this year we opened it up to all). The retreat was three days, and a great opportunity to connect with those who have got involved more recently. Specifically we:

• Had four talks given. I spoke on “What it Means to be a Hero”, a study on the character of Daniel.
• Spent time getting to know others over meals (we ate plenty) and games.
• Challenged the guys to grow in their walk with the Lord, and build good community to support each other in doing so.

The retreat was a success, and looks like it’ll be something we’ll do again in the future.

After many hours of coding in my spare time, I’m pleased to announce the public launch of inConversation!

inConversation is an aggregation of blog posts related to Campus Crusade for Christ International. It’s a place where:

• You can keep up to date on what’s happening around the world in CCC.
• Get in contact with others who share the same passions as you.
• Add your own blog to those that are aggregated.

We’ve just finished setting everything up on the new server, but you can expect more blogs to be added to the site very soon! Word has it that there may be some influential CCC bloggers signing up, why not join them?!

The site is user-drivern. Check out the wiki for documentation and upcoming features, etc!

I’d like to say a special thank-you to Keith Seabourn and his team at the Global Technology Office for encouragement and resourcing to make this happen!

Canon 24-105 F4L IS, with hood, pouch and filter (Marumi DHG). Filter on since day 1.

This is only 4 months old, was part of a kit. I have the original receipt (this is NZ new) and will provide a copy to the buyer. A few small marks on the lens hood (you probably know it’s very easy to mark the Canon lens hoods). The lens itself is in excellent condition, no scratches, fungus or mold. Selling because I decided to buy a different lens.

Date code is UX.

See photos taken by this lens.

Inspection welcome. Asking price is $1500!

Update: Sold!

An important part of what we do in ministry both on and off campus is evaluation. Last week we took three days as a staff team to do just this. Specifically:

• We looked at what activities do we do each year, and how important they are to the ministry (If we stopped them, what effect would that have on our mission?)
• We rated how much energy is required for these activities. Mostly the energy required was in line with how important each activity was, but we identified a few areas in which we’ll change things.
• We spent some time in personal evaluation, thinking about things like our walk with God, how we feel we’re doing in our roles, etc. I found this very helpful in identifying a few things to tweak in my own life.
• We were able to spend some time having fun and relaxing with each other as a team, something we don’t always get a lot of time for.

These are all helpful things as we go into the last term of the year, and into the year ahead.