Paul Long's Ramblings

It has been a while since I have been able to attend a magic lecture. And so despite having a headache and feeling tired the whole of yesterday, (and knowing that there might be a jam due to the Rugby game on the North Shore), I made the effort to attend Oscar Munoz's lecture. Thanks Alan Watson for arranging this! And I am so glad I did. Not only did having a rest from thinking about work and other responsibilities was refreshing, the magic was inspiring as was his life story. Coming from a very messed up childhood, (imagine the stereo type Hispanic boy growing up in a broken and violent home) magic was his outlet for coping and it became a means for him to survive and later make a good living. He is an IBM "Gold Cups" of excellence award winner (only seven people have been given this award since its inception - so you can update the wikipedia entry below to "As of September 2011 instead of August 2006" . Gold Cups - I.B.M. (* from wikipedia) The mo...

Another excellent piece by Tawfik Hamid Not A "two -State" but A 'two-Stage" Solution   by Tawfik Hamid www.tawfikhamid.com All attempts over several decades to create a two-state solution for the Arab-Israeli conflict have ended in failure. On one hand, the Israelis ask themselves a basic question: Why should we accept the statehood of people who shamelessly promote in their media, educational systems, and public speeches our annihilation and destruction?   On the other hand, the Palestinians want to play a trick by gaining statehood without accepting the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state in the region. This refusal lays the groundwork for a Palestinian state to continue its stated goal, since the time of Arafat, of taking over all the land of Israel.    It is this reality that has and will continue to prevent the two state solution. High levels of Anti-Semitism in all the surrounding Arab countries further impede hope for any solution, as Israe...

How Western  Tolerance  breeds Intolerance  in the Muslim world By Tawfik Hamid www.tawfikhamid.com Recently a well-known Egyptian TV show host Wael El-Abrashi invited a leading Islamic scholar   Sheick Yasser Burhani to discuss the future of tourism in Egypt after the Jan 25 Revolution. The discussion that appeared on one of the mainstream TV channels in the country was titled:  " This is the Halal Tourism that Slafi Muslims want to see in Egypt". Sheick Burhani    is well known to promote Sharia controlled country where women are stoned for adultery, gays are beheaded, and Non-Muslims are humiliated as second class citizens. On the contrary, Wael El-Abrashi is well known to be a very liberal person who believes in secularism, freedom, and equality. Sheik Burhani promoted a form of tourism that separates men from women on beaches, and prevents women tourists from wearing Un-Islamic dress and does not allow drinking alcohol. Ironically, She...

Have not blogged for quite a while. Usual reason ... busy :-) Busy with responsibilities (especially the period of 2 weeks when my wife was away for her parents 50th wedding anniversary). Busy with ministry ... church is growing, needs are growing and lots of new challenges to add to the mix. Very exciting .... But also that quite a number of things are simply not appropriate to blog about ... And generally my sleep patterns have been terrible and I wake up every day feeling tired and yawning. Then it's just  a lot of effort to get the adrenaline flowing so I can focus on the tasks and responsibilities ... and after each task or meeting, my body kind of crashes. But it is getting better and I have resorted to returning to a morning cup of coffee. But nothing with caffeine from the the late afternoon onward. Still working on my garden - but not much time and energy. Is looking pretty decent - at least the vegetable boxes are ...will post some photos one day ... Anyway bloggi...

No Pastor's notes in this week's bulletin (4 September) but a nice Father's Day prayer. To read, click HERE I found it here:  Source:  http://www.practicalspiritualwarfare.com/fathers-day-prayer.html