New Zealand Makes International Headlines, again...

...and this time it has nothing to do with HRH Helen or smacking...

'Flaming debris' nearly hits jet
The pilots of a Chilean passenger jet reported seeing flaming debris fall past their aircraft as it approached the airport at Auckland, New Zealand.

Lan airline said the captain "made visual contact with incandescent fragments several kilometres away".

New Zealand and Australian media suggested the debris was from a Russian satellite expected to enter the atmosphere later in the day.

But the US space agency Nasa said it was more likely to have been meteors.

'40 second margin'

The Lan Airbus A340 had just entered New Zealand airspace as it approached Auckland's airport when the debris shot by.

The pilots reported the near-miss to air traffic controllers, reportedly saying the noise of the debris breaking the sound barrier could be heard above the roar of his aircraft's engines.

The New Zealand Herald newspaper calculated the debris missed the jet by a margin of 40 seconds.

The plane landed safely and continued to its final destination in Sydney, Australia, a short while later.

Initial media reports in New Zealand said the debris was thought to be the remains of a Russian satellite.

New Zealand air traffic control officials had been warned by Russian authorities that a spacecraft was due to fall into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday.

But the debris was spotted by the pilots 12 hours earlier than the time advised by the Russians.

An orbital debris expert at Nasa told Associated Press news agency that he had checked with the Russians and that their vessel - a spacecraft resupplying the International Space Station - had fired its re-entry rockets 12 hours after the Chileans reported the near miss.

The Nasa expert, Nicholas Johnson, said no other space junk was expected to be re-entering atmosphere at that time so the pilots probably saw a meteor.

Solitude

Brett was talking about solitude tonight, so halfway through his sermon I got up and went for a walk in the quiet of the winter evening.

It was very refreshing.

Hopefully I didn't miss the point of the message.

Aimeeism

Tonight we had Scott and Liz over for dinner. Aimee naturally found it a little harder to go to bed, and was up and down for a while.

After a few tries I had managed to persuade her to stay in bed, until five minutes later she comes screaming into the lounge, freaked out because the pencil was drawing a picture.

Of course there was no pencil and no picture, and as I type this it seemed funnier at the time. She was scared because the pencil was drawing a picture.

I guess you had to be there.

Blooper Reel 1

Support hope here.

I'm Totally Depraved.

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 64% Emergent/Postmodern 61% Classical Liberal 43% Roman Catholic 36% Neo orthodox 29% Fundamentalist 25% Modern Liberal 25% Reformed Evangelical 14% Charismatic/Pentecostal 14% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Obviously, I've been hanging around Rhett too much.

An End-Times Novel I Might Enjoy...

Mark Hogan has it all. The job. The family. A position on the board at church. All he’s missing is a boat. Not just any boat—a 2008 Bayliner 192.

When Reverend Daniel Glory announces that the Rapture is taking place on October 17 at 5:51am, Hogan realizes his boat–buying days are numbered. So he does what any man in his situation would do—he borrows a load of money from the mob.

Not that there’s any risk involved: After all, when the Rapture comes, Hogan will be long gone. The mob will never find him.

But when Jesus fails to come back on schedule, Mark Hogan finds the mob is in no mood to discuss the finer points of end–times theology...

For My Wife....

Ditto.

Just Got Back From Mars Hill…

…where Rob Bell was speaking from Luke 17:7-10

“When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come in and eat with me’? No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.’ And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’”

Interesting stuff…

Funny thing is though, and probably not surprising to any of my readers is that I haven’t actually been to Mars Hill.

But thanks to Apple iTunes I was able to down load some stuff from Mars Hill, including a couple of Rob Bell sessions.

Sweet.

I’m loving Apple.

Hope For Kids

Check out her blog here.

The Idealist

You Are An INFP

The Idealist You are creative with a great imagination, living in your own inner world. Open minded and accepting, you strive for harmony in your important relationships. It takes a long time for people to get to know you. You are hesitant to let people get close. But once you care for someone, you do everything you can to help them grow and develop. You would make an excellent writer, psychologist, or artist.

What's Your Personality Type?

I don't really like these things, but it seems to be the trend recently with Vania and Aimee doing them...

For Rhett...

Thought this might help you write some good old Rock 'N' Roll songs for The Velcro Missiles...

What Donut Are You?

You Are a Caramel Crunch Donut

You're a complex creature, and you're guilty of complicating things for fun. You've been known to sit around pondering the meaning of life... Or at times, pondering the meaning of your doughnut. To frost or not to frost? To fill or not to fill? These are your eternal questions.

What Donut Are You?

What Colour Is My Brain?

Your Brain is Blue

Of all the brain types, yours is the most mellow. You tend to be in a meditative state most of the time. You don't try to think away your troubles. Your thoughts are realistic, fresh, and honest. You truly see things as how they are. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about your friends, your surroundings, and your life.

What Color Is Your Brain?

Face Recognition?

Thanks to Rhett (the professional blogger) I decided to add some coolness to my blog by doing this celebrity face recognition thing. Only I decided to go one step further and test to see if it's more to do with face recognition, or what you're wearing...

So a rollin my eyes, don't want a photo taken, makes me look like...


Alternatively, wearing a hat and a smile on my face I look more like a woman??? Not that any of these women have a gotee.... hahahahahaha


And why, oh why, doesn't it scale to fit my template...

Brainless Hunters

Warning: Violent, obsessive and stupid behavior may offend.

Sleep As Worship

Apparently sleeping is an act of worship.

So the next time my boss catches me sleeping on the job, I'll just say 'It's ok brother, I was just worshiping God."

Sweet.

Thanks Melissa.

Fast Sex

Ok, so not the best post title, but it got your attention, and it does cover the two points I'm writing about.

The first being that I've scored myself a copy of Sex God, so after I've finished Though A Screen Darkly, I'll be onto some more Rob Bell...

Secondly, I'm looking at the need to upgrade from dial-up internet at home to broadband, and was wondering who other people use or recommend. Basically I want enough speed and data allowance to be able to keep my numerous blogs updated, and still have plenty left to be able to get addicted to YouTube.

Oh right, and my lovely wife will be wanted to download plenty of teaching resources etc...

And then there's the kids...

Oh, and did I mention I'm only paying $9.95 for dial up at the moment, so I'm a cheap arse...

Through A Screen Darkly

I soon found that I could even learn something from the films of Woody Allen, Quentin Tarantino or that troublemaker Oliver Stone. I could gain insight by watching films from other countries, from pagan cultures where the characters didn't speak English.

Why did this surprise me? The psalms, the staple of my daily devotion time, had been composed by David, who as a king would murder, betray and fornicate, then write the psalms out of deep, heart-tugging confession. This deeply flawed individual was called a man after God's own heart.

Perhaps the wisdom of Sunday School and the wisdom of worldly art were not so seperate after all.

Jeffrey Overstreet
Through A Screen Darkly

WMD

Apparently, the humble Television is EVIL, possibly part of the Axis of Evil, and is much sought after by UN Inspectors and Gun Totin' American Troops, all tasked with the glorious job of ridding the world of the Evils of Islam, um, I mean Terrorism, by the Almighty Bush.

Self Centred Sacrifice?

It seems that one of the perks of having worked at the Baptist National Center is that now I've left, I get sent the monthly newsletters, including Coffee Break by the National Administrator, Kelvyn Fairhall.

In his most recent newsletter, he makes a comment on lent:

One of the disciplines of lent is to give up something for the duration [of Lent] as a symbol of sacrifice but it is really only effectual if one in like manner also gives out to others. Without doing so the "sacrifice" is somewhat self-centered - that is antithetical don't you think?

The comment got me thinking about what some people do for Lent; give up coffee, give up TV, etc, etc. But seldom do you hear of people saying that they are going to give up coffee and give the savings to charity, or give up on TV and spend a couple of hours a day helping out in the community.

Do we for the most part only take part in Lent so that we can feel good about ourselves?

It's not a question I can really answer as I have never given up anything for Lent - I have never seen any tangible reason for doing so, until now.

Giving up something and replacing it with servanttude towards others seems like a tangible reason for observing Lent. I might have to re-evaluate my Lenten response.

Viva Piñata

Raw Juice

Ok, possibly I need professional help. Tell us something we don't already know, you say. But I do have a reason for starting a new blog:

I've decided to start putting some of my work in progress up online for everyone to look at, and hopefully, give there three cents worth in the comments section.

So what bought me to this desire to showcase my work in progress?

My latest gift voucher designs.

You see my latest gift voucher designs are a departure from the usual designs I produce for gift vouchers. There seems to be this unwritten rule with Christian culture: If it's a bookmark or a gift voucher it has to be flowers or landscape images.

I've gone for a more retro/stylistic approach, and I'm not sure they will get past the approval process.

But seeing as I like them, and I feel the need to stroke my ego, rather than let them be vetoed before they ever see the light of day, I'm posting them online for the whole world to see.

They everyone will gasp in wonder at my creative mojo.

Alternatively, everyone might think they're crap and laugh at me. Life is all about taking risks.

So, hey, go take a look would ya!

Reality vs Stereotype

A carnival in Düsseldorf is known for poking fun at stereotypes and taboos: This picture shows figures of armed Mullahs with signs saying "reality" and "stereotype"

Full story.