Is anyone else going to boycott the Olympic Games?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/latest-news/outrage-over-internet-great-wall-of-china/2008/07/30/1217097331441.html

The more I hear about China and the Games, the more I have no interest in watching them. I dread to think of the ‘clean up’ measures that are currently in use over there to make Beijing look lovely to visitors. Hopefully not too many human rights violations are occurrring… yeah right. The air pollution looks terrible and now seeing that they’re spying on the media and blocking certain sites as well disgusts me. The only reason why I thought China should get the Olympics in the first place was to maybe let the world see what really goes on there, but of course it looks like they’re going to try and block that as much as possible. I think the inevtiable displays of extreme patriotism by the Chinese is going to be too much for me… I’m going to stick to mindless entertainment on E channel while the event is on!

Jabez’s Prayer

“Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!”

I just had fantastic teaching on this very simple prayer tonight and I wanted to share it with everyone as a fresh reminder. It’s so simple but powerful.

Amen

Things not to say to sick people

I’ve been thinking about this list for a while and I thought I’d share with the world (or the few random people who read my blog) what I’ve learnt about being sick in the last couple of years. I’m not complaining and it’s as much for me as anyone else to try to do things better.

• “I’m praying for you…” well say this, but actually do it. I think it’s even better to offer to come and pray (as the Bible instructs us – lay hands on the sick). I’ve had times that I’ve really wished someone would just come and pray for me – you can’t always get out of bed to church to get prayed for either so don’t say to someone “have you gone up for prayer at church” – activate your own faith!
• “Let me know if you need help with anything” – most people probably won’t know how to answer that and won’t want to say that they actually really need their toilet cleaned. I’ve asked people for the help I’ve really needed and found out that they didn’t really mean the offer so now I tend to keep quiet. Much better is to just do something. It’s safe to assume that they need food so bring some, or that they need help with cleaning – go and do it. If they really refuse at the very least they’ll get to have a coffee and a chat because you came over.
• “Go to X healing meeting” and that’s it… I think that it’s great to tell people about healing meetings, but you know what? It’s also nice to have someone empathise with you as well for a minute or two. It just feels like you’re trying to fob us off otherwise.
• “Are you feeling better?” combined with a head nod… ask open questions as it’s really hard if you’re actually not feeling better to say no, you want to die (or something along those lines… ha ha). Give the person a chance to really say how they feel if you care enough to ask.
• Don’t compare your issues with theirs in a way to make them feel better. My dad has said the worst thing people say to him when he talks about his memory issues (he used to have brilliant memory before his accident) is “oh I’m like that all the time – it’s old age”. Actually if you were not like that before it can be really hard to deal with.
• Don’t tell good news stories (or even worse the horror stories) about anyone you know with the condition that the person has unless you really know what you’re talking about. For example, I have Endometriosis and after my surgery a friend was raving on about how a lady in her ante-natal group had Endo and she’s pregnant, blah blah blah. I know it’s meant to give you hope, but actually I’m probably in the 60% of people who will be fine to have children (that’s what my specialist said) and the reality is the 40% of women with Endo are infertile, so yeah everyone is going to know someone who had a baby with the disease, they probably just won’t know those who are infertile because of it quite so much.
• Be prepared to listen – and let them have a bad day. They might just need someone to vent to. It doesn’t make them less of a Christian.
• Don’t ever make them feel like they did something to deserve it (some sort of weird karmic Christian thinking comes in here). You might think I’m joking but I have seen people suggest such things. We don’t understand the big picture always, but God does. Don’t make someone who is suffering feel any worse than they do!
• Believe for healing, believe for the miraculous, but be a friend until that happens. Go read Job too. And about Jesus more. And if things don’t work out quite how you prayed, then praise God anyway and be a support.
• Let people go through the process of grieving and adjustment. It’s normal and natural to grieve a life you can no longer live or a person who is no longer the same.
• And finally love them! Don’t hide away, work with your own talents and gifting and help people!

Interesting offer

I’ve just had an interesting offer from our CEO to do a 20 hour a week job at our business information office (so I wouldn’t be working in my area at all anymore). The job itself is a huge step back and is not really an area I’m passionate about, but quite frankly I don’t think I’m capable of much passion right now anyway. It would be for six months and then I could come back to my job. It might be an option, just got to find out what ACC think as I’m sure they want me back to full time work before too long. An advantage of this is that I was sort of thinking I’d only be in this job for another 8 months so maybe it’s a chance to get the lovely girl I work with trained up in my role while I’m still around? Hmm… going to pray about it.  The plus is the role is quite close to where I live (pretty short bus or train ride) and I wouldn’t have to take any work home with me.

Without vision the people perish…

I made it to church this morning (though I wished I had earplugs – that’s the trouble with going to a “relevant and modern” church) and had a fantastic message about having vision, which is something I’ve blogged about recently and I’m really going to focus on in the week ahead. I know I need to have some focus, even if some of my dreams are a bit scary to admit.

I’ve spent today mooching around at home (well I made chickpea and leek soup, did numerous loads of washing and cleaned my house) listening to the new Hillsong CD and spending time with God. I’m praying that God breathes new vision and imaginations into my spirit in the next few days and I’m asking Him to speak to me clearly about a few things I have questions about.

How do you renew your vision? What are your dreams?

Seriously?

Is it just me or would you have also been tempted to punch Matthew McConaughy in the head if you were giving birth to his child? His girlfriend must be a saint if she put up with him during the birth. I love his use of the word “we” too… “we found a great rythym”, yeah easy for him to say – he wasn’t trying to push out a watermelon!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4631107a1860.html

Sad

http://christianpost.com/article/20080725/son-of-evangelist-greg-laurie-dies-in-accident.htm

I just heard Greg Laurie’s son was killed in a car accident this week, leaving behind a wife who is pregnant and a small child. I have never met him or his family, but it feels very sad for those he left behind.

His death got me thinking about life and eternity and stuff – I know God has a plan and knows the big picture and at times like this it can seem difficult to see what that is. All things work together for good for those who love the Lord….. bad things do happen in life, but it doesn’t mean God loves us any less. It’s hard for us without the view of eternity to understand but I know God will be glorified through this situation. And this is the same for all of us, regardless of whether we come from a famous Christian family or not.

It’s the thought that counts

In my job I help a lot of people find meaningful employment and as a result when they go overseas they tend to buy my presents to express their gratitude. It’s really lovely, but I have noticed lately I’m getting a very random collection of things that I don’t quite know what to do with from both the people I help and friends. As someone who is seriously thinking about emigrating next year I start to get a teeny bit anxious about accumulating too much stuff, but I thought for amusement value I would share with you some of the “best” presents I’ve recieved lately….

This fellow came from my friend Grant…. Luckily I know he has a good sense of humour and it’s meant to be ironic

The socks are a present from my godmother… of a NZ Native bird! Very pretty and the replica of the Twin Towers in KL takes pride of place on my desk (mainly because I got it from a colleague).

Ah, something useful – chocolates! This was a lovely present I got recently. I don’t eat dairy so I just give them away!

Random stuff I have done….

I have been thinking about all the stupid things I have done since the accident (because before that I was the epitomy of sensible of course) and thought I’d write a list for the amusement of others…

• Driven home down the motorway in my rental with the lights off the WHOLE way, in rush hour, in the dark….
• Almost walked into poles several  times while out walking and trying to text, I used to be able to multi-task….
• Actually did walk into a branch and made my ear bleed
• Have lost my credit AND my eftpos (debit) card at moment – have no money and no idea what has happened to them…
• Lost the garage door opener… found that yesterday under the seat of my car… phew
• Misplaced the key to the letter box, luckily that turned up a few days later in my dressing gown pocket
• I’m pretty sure I tried to dial my boyfriend (with a phone card) while half asleep and high on painkillers… thankfully he didn’t answer
• Forgotten names of people that I really should know the names of (like people I work with)
• Almost yelled at shop assistants in an electronics store who were turning the stereos up really loud
• Called ACC to discuss my claim and treatment and was on hold so long I forgot for a minute what I called about.
• Gotten lost driving somewhere that I have driven to many times before

I’m sure there are other things I can add to the list, but that’s all the embarassment I can handle right now! My philosophy on losing things is to just go with the flow and wait for them to turn up… it seems to be working for me so far.

Kiwi-isms

This is a kiwi

As someone who is very immersed in cross-cultural communication I thought it might be funny to share some unique phrases and words that we use here in NZ in an effort to  enhance global understanding. Yes, in a cross-cultural relationship you can indeed have some big misunderstandings -”don’t you celebrate Independence Day, Canada has one” is a recent comment that springs to mind… why would we, I ask!

• Kiwi – this is not the fruit (which is actually kiwifruit - we invented the name and market it so we ARE right ok) it refers to a small, flightless bird and the people of NZ who are named after it.
• Lollies – sweets or candy
• Dairy – small corner shop that sells newspapers, milk, Pies (oh another kiwi classic) and much else
• “Bring a Plate” – when invited to a pot luck dinner… does not mean you literally bring an empty plate… you should always put some food on it first… oh how we giggle at poor innocent immigrants who get that one wrong.
• Tea – can refer to the hot drink but also confusingly refers to dinner (eaten at night) as well. It personally drives me nuts and I know is rather confusing to newcomers.
• Jandals – flip flops, thongs (Australian word)
• Togs – swimsuit
• Knickers – panties
• Jumper – ha this is a funny one. It’s a sweater here, usually wollen but I believe something really different in the States. Got a funny look when I talk about putting my jumper on didn’t I?
• Bach – beach house
• Whanau – a Maori word that sort of means family/friends/support… no real equivalent in English so used pretty widely here
• Choice – This was a word popular in my childhood that’s had a bit of a renaissance, used as in “Choice feed, bro”. Ha, that is a typical Maori thing to say… meaning “Fantastic meal my friend”
• Spunk, as in a guy is a bit of a spunk (good looking). I once said that in England at work and everyone cracked up. About a month later I figured out what it meant there and was sooooo embarrassed – it refers to a male body fluid!
• Fanny, actually I include this as an illustration of an American word that has a totally different meaning here (and is really only used by my mother now days I’m sure). I believe in the States it means bottom, here it um refers to a…. front bottom. We find it pretty shocking when people talk about fanny packs to be honest… it’s hard to keep a straight face! Please use the term bum bag around us!
• Wop-wops – mythical place in the middle of nowhere… as in “she’s moved out to the wop-wops”
• Root – means sex. We really do laugh (and get shocked) when people talk about rooting for the team. When J and I first started talking he said something about rooting for me and I couldn’t stop laughing… had to tell the poor boy why….
• Pukeroo – broken… anglicised version of a Maori word I believe
• Things are often “for Africa” as in large. For example, “there was enough food for Africa at the event last night”
• Sweet as – no problem
• Tiki tour – taking the scenic route or indirect route to get somewhere.
• Tramping – hiking. Not dressing up like a homeless person (British meaning) or acting like a tart!
• Mental health day - a paid sick day when you’re not really that sick… just needing a break away! Had to quickly make sure a dutch friend didn’t actually use that as an excuse to her work once she heard about them!
• Flat- shared house, flatmate= room mate

That’s all I can think of right now – remember all of this is said with an accent that literally butchers vowels and spoken really, really fast. I actually needed help to order a hair dryer in a hotel in Florida as we simply do not pronounce our Rs strong enough for Americans to understand them! Shame for me as my name has three Rs in it! I’m not really sure what to do about that!

Anyone else got any funny words/misunderstandings they want to share?