Paul Long's Ramblings

Ever since I saw his magic hamburger trick on youtube years ago, I have been a great Cyril fan. I love the fact that he is so cool on stage too. I can only dream of being 1% as cool :-( I thought I'd look up his stage act on youtube as I really loved the way he choreographed his act to his selected music. Sadly the original music has been removed due to some possible copyright concerns and another piece of something else dubbed in. Glad I downloaded the video with the original long ago. Anyway I am sure you will still enjoy his act even without the extra beauty of the nuances of his moves to the original music. I searched a little more to see if there might be another video of his award winning stage act with the original music and found this video entitled "Cyril vs. SG Cyril". It has Cyril's act with the orginal music but placed side by side with a copy cat act by a "Cyril wannabe" from Singapore. Nice for a change that the butt of the jokes is not that ...

My Kiwi buddy Ken send this to me ... Being a New Zealander is about driving in a European car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, whilst travelling home, grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows, on a Japanese TV, through a Chinese Sky decoder. And the most NZ thing of all? Suspicion of all things foreign! Only in NZ can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance. Only in NZ do supermarkets make sick people walk all the way to the back of the shop to get their panadol, lemsip etc while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front. Only in NZ do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a DIET coke. Only in NZ do banks leave both doors open and chain the pens to the counters. Only in NZ do we leave cars ...

This morning I went to the Immigration office and in half an hour I got my Indefinite Permanent residence permit. This means I can stay in NZ as long as I want (and can leave for as long as I want and can still return). Praise God for this!! Another milestone. ... Yesterday I had the privilege of leading someone to Christ, supported by my wife and two church members. So another milestone! This one is not just permanent residence in the new heaven and earth but alos for heavenly citizenship. All glory to God!! And now I prepare to go out for lunch to celebrate the occasion and hopefully will get to share the gospel message with another person over lunch!

A couple of days ago on "The Breakfast Show", TV presented Paul Henry joked about a female guest's (live but she was not in the studio) "moustache". Now there's a small debate on it. Interestingly while I was watching the show, I was thinking "does she know she has a very obvious moustache?" It was a bit distracting. But I doubt I would have made jokes about it. But I can't deny that I thought about it (not the joke part but the fact that she had a moustache). Anyway the link has loads of comments both vilifying him and supporting him. Makes me wonder where the line is between "saying things as they are, and being sensitive to people's feelings". I guess that some people are more sensitve than others about their looks etc. I know that for some people going bald is nothing to worry about but for others it would be a major trauma. The Bible reminds us to "speak the truth in love" . So how do we do this without being ridicu...

This is a business cum "magic" related free resource article from a blog by Julian Franklin . I found it interesting not because I am thinking of moonlighting as a part time magician but for the insight on the numerous possibilities / huge potential a simple question can have. It got me thinking of how "conversations" naturally develop and how a well thought question can change the "quality" or direction of a conversation. I thought about the the classic EE question that was so powerful in its heyday ... "If you were to die today and ....." I also thought about the way preachers / evangelists end their messages / presentations with that one final question / challenge... I thought about how some questions can be manipulative and am wondering about good honest, sincere and important questions that need to be asked but are often (?) not asked? Then of course I began to think about how Jesus loved to ask questions ... and how insightful his questions...

Newspaper report involving Anslem Roy :-) It was an encouragement for me to read this story. Taken from Thestar Online . A fun and fruitful break for kids By OH ING YEEN ABOUT 30 children from Compassion Home in Subang and Rumah Kids in Klang made good use of the recent school mid-semester break to build their confidence and discover their talents through fun activities. The youngsters took part in a three-day Young Ambassador programme that was organised by PJ Live Arts and held at its studio in Jaya One, Petaling Jaya. For the programme, the foundation collaborated with master illusionist Anslem Roy, actress Ida Mariana, volunteers from Palmspring Educentre and Elken Foundation, which was the sponsor. In his speech during the graduation ceremony at the end of the three-day programme, PJ Live Arts artistic director Datuk Zahim Albakri said the aim was to build confidence and instil positive self-esteem in the children through creative activities such as acting, singing, s...

For the sake of a few who ask me questions related to this ... My understanding is that basically "God"(Elohim) is translated TUHAN and "The LORD" (YHWH) is translated Allah. The church in Malaysia is divided on this issue. I think that Christians in Malaysia (in relation to this issue) fall into four main categories. (Hey these categories are not scientific ok? So cut me some slack on this) :-) The first are those who are not sure what the big deal is. They are basically uninformed or misinformed. This is for you! :-) The second are those who hold that we should just not use the word Allah, and instead use YHWH (Yahewh) as they either identify "Allah" as an incompatible / inappropriate word for God (due to its association with Islam) The third are those who simply do not want to get involved and "rock the political boat". For them, this has nothing to do with "us". The fourth (of which I belong) are those who feel strongly that we sho...

The latest in the ban of the use of the word "Allah" by non Muslims. Now you can't even discuss the ban? It is amazing to me that Malaysia is the only country that has this ban ... and now again a "veiled" threat of violence? A very sad situation indeed. ---------- Monday March 23, 2009 Zahid warns Bar to end ‘unwise’ online poll http://thestar.com.my/news/ story.asp?file=/2009/3/23/ nation/3535220&sec=nation KUALA LUMPUR: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has told the Bar Council to stop its online poll on the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims. He said it was “unwise” to carry out such a survey, as the move was seen by some quarters as a challenge to Muslims. “If they (Bar Council) continue to play up the issue, the Muslims may rise and if they do, the Bar should not be angry but be willing to accept the consequences. “This is the final warning for the Bar Council. Islamic religious matters come u...

I no longer subscribe to Leadership Journal so the Out of Ur blog does keep me in touch with some current clergy issues (at least in the USA context). It was interesting to read that more US clergy are more "open" in their position on alcohol consumption. I wonder if the article will have statistics of any survey done. On a side note, looks like NZ's legal drinking age is lower than US :-( From CTi's Out of Ur blog . March 17, 2009 Trouble Brewing The shifting views about alcohol among clergy. by Brandon O'Brien In the upcoming issue of Leadership (in print mid April), we’ll hear from a number of pastors—including Craig Gross , John Burke , and Matt Russell —who are committed to taking the gospel to people with addictions. We’re also featuring a couple of articles about how pastors can and should deal with their own addictions. One article I suspect will get people talking is Eric Reed’s report on clergy alcohol use. Here’s a preview: Some y...

PGLM3 Ida Mariana Interview at Istana Budaya with Roy Anslem, the founder of the magic club (Malaysia) that I belong to (The Magic Annexe!) Congrats Roy!! If you are not interested in magic, don't bother watching.

We had a wonderful church picnics. More photos (better ones probably :-)) are posted at my church website . I found some that Andrew took and most importantly, Jennifer remembered to ask someone to take a photo of us as a family. Finally ... a couple of photos of us together ... We had it at one of the nearby local parks. This is one of many great things about living in New Zealand, the lovely wide open green space. Interested to see where we went, click... Cornwallis Park. It was a BYO lunch to share event which was great as there was so much variety of food and members friends and family who would normally not come for church events would join us for a time fo relaxation and some organized fun games. Did not go swimming though ... brrrr... am amazed how some of the children can take the cold water... Games was fun as we had another "Youngies" versus "Oldies"competition - this tome a FEAR FACTOR style competition and the OLDIIES won!! Nice to know that we were eve...

Been a long time coming. We enjoyed numerous BBQs but never hosted one ourselves. We decided to wait till we got our own place. Then we decided to wait till year 2 for a good deal on a BBQ pit. We finally bought one in Nov 08 which we thought was a good deal. $240 for a 4 burner with a hood. Then we deiced we should put up a pergola for our deck (either back or front) as our house seemed pretty small for a BBQ crowd - of the weather turns rainy. Then after a couple of months of research we felt we should wait and not spend the money to build a pergola.... and finally after so much procrastinating, and lots of creative ideas and advice from friends as to how to do it with limited space and weather contingency plans we decided to just "DO IT!" ...And of course that was over a month ago and I am only now finally finding the time to look at the photos Andrew took and posting some up... But with a nice overflow of younger ones hanging out in the rooms and the sitting room, and the...

New blog ... so thought I'd embed some of my favourite youtube magic videos. I love this duo's act.... I think it is destined to become a classic.

Every month or so, a financial scam e-mail sneaks out of the spam box into my in box. This one was the laziest I have ever seen!! They did not even bother to spin a good yarn... Are these "scammers" getting lazy? --------------- You have just been awarded,the sum of £950.000.00 GBP in the Global Online Promotion, held March. For Claims email your details to:edmund.clive2@btinternet. com Names:............ Address:.............. Country:................. Age:.......... Sex:.............. Phone/cellphone........ regard Mrs Joan Thomas

Today it becomes official :-) May not be a big deal here in NZ ... but for me especially from Malaysia when the government makes it sooooo hard for church leaders to be an assistant registrar of marriage, it is a big deal. Now who wants to get married? LOL!!

Another nice devotional thought by Henri Nouwen ... I think it is especially appropriate in view of the current economic downturn. Opportunities abound for true community to grow. Coming Together in Poverty There are many forms of poverty: economic poverty, physical poverty, emotional poverty, mental poverty, and spiritual poverty. As long as we relate primarily to each other's wealth, health, stability, intelligence, and soul strength, we cannot develop true community. Community is not a talent show in which we dazzle the world with our combined gifts. Community is the place where our poverty is acknowledged and accepted, not as something we have to learn to cope with as best as we can but as a true source of new life. Living community in whatever form - family, parish, twelve-step program, or intentional community - challenges us to come together at the place of our poverty, believing that there we can reveal our richness.

"Dr. Haiwan" sent me this via e-mail. Thought it was a "jolly good yarn" (this seems to be a common Kiwi phrase :-) ) and would pass it on. Nice "feel good" motivational story though I think the concept of using this dog to "preach that even without a perfect body, one can have a perfect soul' (???) is overdoing things. ----------- This is 'Faith' This dog was born on Christmas Eve in the year 2002. He was born with 3 legs - 2 healthy hind legs and 1 abnormal front leg which need to be amputated. He of course could not walk when he was born. Even his mother did not want him. His first owner also did not think that he can survive. Therefore, he was thinking of 'putting him to sleep'. By this time, his present owner, Jude Stringfellow, met him and wanted to take care of him. She was determined to teach and train this dog to walk by himself. Therefore she named him 'Faith'. In the beginning, she put Faith on a surfing...

I don't know how to respond to this news article I just got. It's not April 1st is it? It's an actual book on sale at Amazon.com. ... Is this meant to be serious? My only response so far has been a poor imitation of David Letterman doing his .... "What?!" "What?!""What?!" and again ... "What?!" Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Christian 'Bounty Hunters' Generate Income by Exposing Backsliders By Dan Wooding Founder of ASSIST Ministries IRVINE, CA (ANS) -- For many years churches around the world have been drained morally, spiritually and financially from the internal decays caused by backsliders lurking within their congregations. (Backsliders are 'believers' who have lost their initial zeal for the more sanctified lifestyle, have perhaps fallen back into some old sinful behaviors or maybe have even gone so far as to renounce their faith altogether.) Fred Popke But now, there's a uniq...

Aaaahhhhh! Gout attack. Been trying to stave it off for a few days but I seem to now be losing :-( Aiyoyo, foot hurting. Think I aggravated it when I went hospital visitation. Maybe a wee bit too much walking. The good part of course is, its my left foot so I still can drive :-) And I can worknow barefoot :-) Wonderful advantage of having my own office. it is still not full blown so I am hopeful my flooding my system with lots of fluids might still work. What is gout? Gout is a common type of arthritis (joint inflammation). It causes sudden bouts of pain and swelling, usually in just one or two joints (the ball of the foot is commonly involved), and which, left untreated, last from days to weeks. These bouts of acute gouty arthritis are also called gout attacks. Gout affects men (middle-aged generally) much more often than women. Gout is closely linked with the body's level of uric acid - a normal breakdown product of digesting certain foods. High uric acid levels and gout att...

I just posted the "article" below is as part of my church's "Pastor's Notes" column. Thought I might as well also re-post it here ... and add in a few more of my reflections and "ramblings". I do find this "lectio divina " exercise (even if it is "on the run") very helpful. -------------------- One book I am currently reading (about a chapter a week) is "Spiritual Formation on the Run" by Dr. Alex Tang. The reason for the "slow reading" is deliberate. It is to help me learn to apply an ancient spiritual discipline practiced in the early church called "Lectio divina". It is basically something that comprises four parts or movements. 1. Reading / listening (lectio) 2. Meditating (meditatio) 3. Praying (oration) 4. Contemplation (contemplatio) Here's an interesting chapter that has been a challenge and blessing to me. I have only ever so slightly "Kiwinized"a few words. ( Note to Dr. Alex...

Baptism service on Sunday 15th march. Photos are all mixed up and in the wrong order :-) I guess next time I need to upload the last photos first ... Thanks to Ken who took these great photos and lots more. Matt gave a special item / dedication. Max preached a very insightful sermon on baptism. Jamie read Scripture in public for the first time after his baptism. Jin Guo gave a very moving testimony of her journey towards baptism. Aalekha sang a beatiful song on being born again as a testimony, accompanied by her father Gladwyn. Various parents and friends gave testimonies, insights into the candidates and prayed for them before they entered the pool. The technical and support team prepared the sound systems /special video feed, got the pool water nice and warm, organized the smooth changing out of wet clothes into dry clothes in super time ... and practically everyone chipped in with great food for the occasion. And I had the joy of being the baptizer!