Paul Long's Ramblings

A nice inspirational story. A Promise Kept By Kristi Powers In a world where so many lives are being torn apart by divorces and heartaches, comes a story of a father and a daughter, and a promise that was kept. My father was not a sentimental man. I don't remember him ever "ooohhing" or "ahhing" over something I made as a child. Don't get me wrong; I knew that my dad loved me, but getting all mushy-eyed was not his thing. I learned that he showed me love in other ways. There was one particular time in my life when this became real to me... I always believed that my parents had a good marriage, but just before I, the youngest of four children, turned sixteen, my belief was sorely tested. My father, who used to share in the chores around the house, gradually started becoming despondent. From the time he came home from his job...

Interesting article from Christianity Today. ... What to Do about Unbiblical Unions African churches seek a better response to polygamy than in years past as western churches address new same-sex marriages. Susan Wunderink | posted 6/25/2009 10:09AM Jacob Zuma 's recent election as South Africa's fourth president since the end of apartheid was a foregone conclusion. The question that captivated observers has been which of the Zulu traditionalist's several wives would be first lady: The media-shy senior wife? Or the middle wife who responds to reporters' questions with "Jesus is Lord"? Zuma's election has raised the profile of polygamy, a mostly rural practice that has long been a challenge for Christians in Muslim nations, some parts of India, and many parts of Africa. Traditionally the practice of rich men with the land and money to support a large family, polygamy is now practiced by middle-class and poor men, said Isabel Phiri , a theology pro...

Just posted my Pastor's Notes devotion . This one is an article by the late Fred Smith, entitled "Don't Call it faith " and some comments on his article, the man himself and mentoring. I am glad that his daughter has a website up that has lots of his articles and thoughts. It's called Breakfast with Fred .

Something light and fun to start the day with ... got a lot of visitation today so that is nice :-) Presenting the winner - Charlie Caper ... a magician!!!. :-) This I think is his first round performance. I like his signature moves. Great fit to his personality and smile. Semi-finals performance Finals performance

A little disorganized this morning as too much seems to be happening at the same time. Not major things but too many little things that are like flies and mosquitoes buzzing around my ears. Very distracting. So ... its time to breathe in and out and do a little re-centering.... and blogging :-) My new modem was waiting for me at my office doorstep (arrived in the mail and I had a wee bit of a problem setting it up. Now ti is obviously up and while the connection is not what it should be, at least I have enough speed to at least open my e-mail properly and can even blog. My phone line still has background static. Headache as I know this means that I may have "cranky internal phone lines" as sometimes connection is good, and at other times it is poor. It is hard to logically troubleshoot and eliminate one problem at the time when I am tired. On Monday I came in to open up the church for the AV guy to check out AV system. Had some kind of blow out a few weeks ago and everything ...

Got these photos from Andrew. After posting my last post I remembered that I asked him to take some photos last week when I tried yet another style of seasoning. Mmmm... I love roast pork - makes me think of Obelix :-) I took good advantage of Jennifer's absence to indulge in my cooking experiments ... and oh, Jennifer came back yesterday. so we are all readjusting to our normal schedules. Ah life is good.

Some more photos from Vincent. When he arrived I took him to Jennifer's favourite restaurant. A small place called "KL Cafe". Had to have him try Malaysian food Auckland style. Then for tea, I had him try NZ pork. This time cooked by me. One of my handful of roast pork experiments. Doesn't it loo good? This one is spicy roast pork using as part of the recipe some tandoori style spices. We took a very quick drive to the local mall where I normally frequent so he could buy some manuka honey for Yit Min and Cheng Lok . And we shopped the way we both like - get in, find what you want and get out! Super efficient :-) I like the LynnMall - small but has most of what I need. That was not the Manuka honey we bought though. The request was for 5+ so we bought 5+. The 16+ is very expensive stuff. Then for dinner we planned to go to another Malaysian Restaurant, Bunga Raya . But it was closed so we walked across the road and tried out a NZ restaurant (Denny's). ...

Vincent kindly sent me the photos he took while he was in Auckland and Hamilton. Thought I'd post some of them up over the next few days starting now since I have 15 minutes before I have to got to church (AV repairman coming over). The brown patches of grass is due to a recent frost. Wonderful bus stop right outside. Only bad point is rubbish tends to overflow and often flies into the yard. The side road in one of the pictures leads to my neighbour's house which is behind mine (originally same lot - sub divided property). We have very nice neighbours. A GREAT BLESSING. You might notice too that we have no front gate. Most houses do not have gates.

Catching up on my Malaysian news ... I knew this would come soon with all the objections on the use of the word Allah in the Bible and in Christian literature. It was the next logical step. It's a nice song, melody and simple but meaningful message. The report taken from NECF Malaysia site Selangor Bans Christian Song Imposes fine of up to RM1,000 From banning Bibles to Christian publications, the authorities are now prohibiting songs. The Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS) has banned an Indonesian song which contains the word "Allah" to "prevent Muslims from being confused". Anyone found playing or singing the song, "Allah Peduli" (God Cares), risk being fined up to RM1,000 under the Non-Muslim Religious Enactment 1988. However, the ban is confined to Selangor as matters of religion come under state jursidiction. MAIS chairman Datuk Mohamad Adzib Mohd Isa told the media on March 13 that the song by Indonesian singer Agnes Monica repeated...

UN's world refugee day was yesterday. Was too busy to post this yesterday so doing it this morning as I prepare for Sunday worship. ... To help bring it mm closer to home ... roughly 10.5 times the population of NZ are refugees and 6 times the population are displaced within their own country. God have mercy! Article from Aljazeera ... UPDATED ON: Saturday, June 20, 2009 05:47 Mecca time, 02:47 GMT OPINION: REFUGEE DAY SPECIAL Longer wars leave millions in limbo ...

This e-mail escaped my spam filter ... Looks like Nigerian scams have been exported to other African countries and taken on a "Christian" garb. *sigh* and *deep sigh* From Mrs. Celine Ogaba Address; lot 268 Rue de Bingerville Cocody Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire West Africa. My Dearest, Here writes Mrs. Celine Ogaba, suffering from cancerous ailment. I was married to late Mr. Robert Ogaba who was a reknowned cocoa merchant here in Abidjan. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of $7.5 Million (Seven Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars) with a Bank in Abidjan. Recently, my doctor told me that I have limited days to live due to the stroke and cancerous problems I am suffering from. With this hard reality that has befallen my family and me, I have decided to donate this fund to you and want you to use this gift which comes from my husband's effort to fund the upkeep of widows, orphans and less-privileged individuals. I took this decision beca...

Not the best day organizationally for me ... My broadband has been giving me problems and finally Telecom agreed to send a technician over but they would not deal with me - long story but basically an elder had to arrange the appointment yesterday and they said 12 PM. So I had to reschedule my later morning visitation and shuffle around my work plans. Then the man turns up a few hours early ... but appointments already rescheduled. Then problem fixed with 4 options given for the next time problem occurs (which are all hassles and would cost money for the church). 20 minutes after the technician leaves .... problem reoccurs. Not his fault though as I think he was professional in doing his job but frustrating that the problem had to reoccur so fast! :-( Of course I am also having horrendous problems with my MS Vista Basic. Some of my software (genuine) keeps freezing and having to reinstall . Even my firefox hangs every now and then. So had to bother my church webmaster to make a pro...

Just posted up this coming Sunday's Pastor's Notes . It's a reflection on lying (which is therefore about sin in general) Picture is of the "Lie to Me" cast

Been a while since I last posted my reflections of my Lectio Divina exercises using Alex's "Spiritual formation on the run". Been extra busy as my wife is still in Malaysia. Not too busy to do my contemplation as it is after all being done ... "on the run". :-) If you didn't get that, that's the whole beauty of this concept. You do not have to be disappear for hours in a quiet secluded place to get close to God and "practice the presence of God". But busy I have been as all the cooking and cleaning duties are now my domain so time to type is rather limited ... but more on that as it is related to this blog's reflection and ramblings. Ah ... Brother Lawrence would be smiling in heaven at hearing this .... :-) Ok, first this is from chapter 16 entitled: SHOUT TO THE WORLD Elie Wiesel writes: One of the Just Men came to Sodom, determined to save its inhabitants from sin and punishment. Night and day he walked the streets and markets prot...

Something politically incorrect and over generalized (if there is such a term) but so much truth within and so funny :-) I think that perhaps the Red --> Asians part should be changed to Red --> Malaysian Chinese !! LOL Was sent to me by Dr. Haiwan a week ago- whom BTW, I had the pleasure of spending 2 days with catching up ....(BTW he is still in New Zealand - somewhere in Mystery Creek, Hamilton.. for FIELDAYS ) Too tired to blog much about our road trip to Hamilton except to say I got soaked numerous times due to the rain. i also took 20 minutes or more to find my car (so crowded) ... and I had to do it in the rain too (for yet another soaking). But it was pretty fun in a strange way . Even bought an emu oil product for my wife .... Key: Blue --> Westerners Red --> Asians (1) Opinion Westerners: Talk to the point Asians: Talk around the circle, especially if opinions are different (2) Way of Life Westerners: individualism, think of himself or hersel...