Paul Long's Ramblings

Only four more days and I'm finally off to Cambodia. It has been a hectic preparation but I think I have got all the things I need to sort out on the church side completed so I can take my trip with peace of mind. I still have matters related to Cambodia not completed yet but I still have some time and I have an overnight stay in KL which should give me time to work on last minute matters and review my notes. Today I work on the magic part of my trip. Been too busy to really do much. Tonight I attend a farewell dinner (sad) of a friend who is returning to Malaysia. Saturday I have a lunch appointment followed by a missions team meeting cum practice and then a special youth meeting at night. Sunday is of course church and another missions team meeting to finalize some matters. After that I just want to chill and not do anything much so I can have a good rest before I fly off.... especially since over the last couple of weeks I have been feeling very tired (especially my eyes) and ...

Got these via e-mail. There's a sermon illustration seed in each of them.  On an unrelated note, for me it is officially winter now. Feeling the cold. Going to be interesting to fly into very hot weather next week.... Office Party   The workers in a large office were making secret   plans to stage a big office party for the 70-year old   cleaning woman who had spent the better part of   her life with the company.    Somehow the secret leaked out and the woman got   wind of it.    Much perturbed, she rushed to the office manager.   "Please  sir," she cried, "Do not let them do it! Do not   let them do it!"   "Oh, come now, Mrs. Smith, you must not be so modest.   After all, they simply want to show how much you are   appreciated."   "Appreciated, my foot," exclaimed the woman. "I am not   going to clean up after a mess like that!"   Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Conan ...

Just posted up this Sunday's Pastor's notes. To read, click HERE.

Food for thought ... for me at least ... Let the Children Come A couple of decades ago, in a sincere attempt to make our churches more accessible and welcoming to children, some of our churche s adopted an innovation: the children’s sermon. Today the children’s sermon is, to my mind, a prime example of a noble effort but an unfortunate strategy. I’ve heard lots of children’s sermons. Tried a few myself. For what it’s worth, here is my assessment of children’s sermons. I sometimes say that I’ve only got two objections to children’s sermons: they are not for children and are usually not sermons. They are not for children.  Any child younger than older elementary age (who usually avoid coming down for children’s sermons) cannot possibly comprehend the complicated analogies and object lessons of most children’s sermons. When an adult says to a preacher, “I get more out of your children’s sermons than your regular sermons,” this is not a compliment to children’s sermons but a critici...

An excellent article by a Muslim Where to point the finger of blame in the flotilla incident   by Tawfik Hamid   www.tawfikhamid.com     The recent interruption of the flotilla ship that was supposed to carry food and medicine to the people in Gaza has resulted in global anger and strong reactions against Israel. These reactions included many demonstrations against Israel and denouncements by different governments and government officials (1).   The question that came to my mind when I saw such demonstrations is why we have not seen many in the Muslim world until today reacting in such an angry manner against the terrorists who actually killed thousands of their fellow Muslims. If we can see tens of thousands in the Muslim world an Europe demonstrating against the killing of the pro-Palestinian activists    we should wonder why we do not also see similar powerful reaction against the Islamists who conduct terror acts nearly on daily basis and res...

Some photos I took with and of some superstar magicians during the 30th NZ Magic convention With Whit Hayden before the International Superstars show.  I had a great time interviewing him and getting off topic simply because he is not just a magician but very knowledgeable in the subjects of theology, philosophy and psychology. He once studied to be a pastor! :-) Then with John Carney, and later with "Mr. Mysto" backstage before his performance. It does pay great dividends to be asked to help backstage and to agree! :-) And of Paul Romhany in his "Charlie Chaplin" - also backstage as he gets ready for his opening act. He's one of the top NZ performers and a really nice person as well and as well as a photo together before backstage preparation. And last but not least, a photo with Paul Daniels himself and of him and the lovely Debbie McGee!

Empowered to Pray Prayer is the gift of the Spirit. Often we wonder how to pray, when to pray, and what to pray. We can become very concerned about methods and techniques of prayer. But finally it is not we who pray but the Spirit who prays in us. Paul says: "The Spirit ... comes to help us in our weakness, for, when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions for us in groans that cannot be put into words; and he who can see into all hearts knows what the Spirit means because the prayers that the Spirit makes for God's holy people are always in accordance with the mind of God" (Romans 8:26-27). These words explain why the Spirit is called "the Consoler."

I have to repost this which was sent to me. I find this despicable! Will this be simply"swept" under the carpet? Reuters under fire for removing weapons, blood from images of Gaza flotilla News agency rejects charges of biased coverage, says it reverted to use of 'original set' of images once cropping discovered. By  Natasha Mozgovaya Published 01:12 08.06.10 Latest update 01:12 08.06.10 http://www.haaretz.com/news/ diplomacy-defense/reuters- under-fire-for-removing- weapons-blood-from-images-of- gaza-flotilla-1.294780 The Reuters news agency has been accused of removing images of activists wielding weapons and bloodied and wounded Israeli naval commandos from photographs taken on board a ship headed for Gaza during deadly clashes last week. An image of an IDF soldier being attacked by passengers on the Mavi Marmara ship, with a passenger's knife, the hand of a wounded soldier and a pool of blood cropped out. Reuters An image of an IDF soldier bei...

Just posted up this Sunday's Pastor's Notes. To read click HERE ... An interesting "coincidence" that the timing of this devotion is just before our team leaves for Cambodia ...? Hmmm....

May not be blogging much for a while. Busy! Busy! Busy! leaving in 2 weeks for Cambodia and so much to do. Lots of meetings and projects to complete before I leave. A few planning meetings, mission trip practices, lessons to fine tune, a number of magic tricks to work on (for Cambodia), packing -always a minor challenge as I have so many resources to bring and I need to pack light since I want maximum space and weight to bring stuff back from Malaysia after Cambodia.! Then there is the church admin stuff to sort out so that all is well covered when I am away. Of course there are the other pastoral matters to see to as well. Almost feel over whelmed. I am so glad I am not preaching these next 2 weeks ... though I need to prepare for 5 sermons in 6 weeks when I return! *scary* So I need to get at least my outlines for the first two ready before I leave or risk spoiling my week's break in Malaysia. Taking leave last weekend from Friday to Monday for the NZ magic Convention has c...

Just posted my weekly Pastor's Notes. To read click HERE

I met Paul Daniels last night ... and the lovely Debbie McGee. And it was a pleasant surprise as I almost missed meeting them. I was so tired last night and had a headache as well but I dragged myself out (an hour early too) to a teenage friend's house to help him with this routine for an upcoming magic convention, and then drove over half an hour in cold foggy weather to my local club meeting feeling lethargic. But was I glad I came out as we had a few surprise guests. The place was packed with visitors as well. Paul Daniels and the lovely Debbie McGee had arrived a few hours earlier and insisted on coming from the airport to the club to say hello to us all. That was really nice as they were clearly tired. And to add to the mix, we had another two surprise guests - Steve Valentine and TC Tahoe. TC Tahoe was not too big a surprise as I knew he was coming for the magic convention but not Steve Valentine. At first, I did not know who he was - he looked so familiar as did ...