Kerinthian's

Happy New Year! So the hot topic of last year's last evening was whether we now say "two thousand and ten" or "twenty ten"? Personally I like "twenty ten" because as a child of "Nineteen seventy eight" and having pronounced my years that way for the first 21 years of my life it makes more sense to say the year with such a comfortable mouthful. Let's face it, 10 years of having to say the word "thousand" before every year is exhausting, bad for asthmatics and I'm protesting! It was a fun night out tonight with friends in their happening backyard where the wind blew, we shivered in this strangely cold Auckland Summer around a brazier as we tore steak apart with our teeth, downed a few beers and blew stuff up as the clock struck 12. Highlights for 2009? Becoming a Dad, hands down. Greatest moment of this year. Nothing comes close to comparing. Second greatest moment was buying our first home since the last one we owned and the

Its 12.30 in the a.m. and I'm wondering why I am torturing myself at the desk top here? Probably because I'm notoriously lonely with my wife and baby being all the way on the other side of the trough in that wretched wasteland we typically call Australia. I have to call it a “wretched wasteland” because then I can pretend that I didn't just spend a beautiful week soaking up the sun and hitting the beaches in the QLD... especially now that I have returned to that dismal dark corridor I work in with those loud machines that feed the masses such banal rubbish everyday (I'm a movie projectionist in case you've forgotten). The second reason I have to refer to Australia in a derogatory manner is because I am a Kiwi and that’s what we Kiwi’s do, we pretend that Australia sucks, even when it doesn’t. It’s in my genes. But in all seriousness, it doesn’t suck and it’s not wretched at all. If Australia was guilty of one sin it would only be that it is insufferably hot and sti

I suppose you could say my new years revolution (because my resolutions almost always fail I will call it a revolution instead; should it succeed it really would be a revolution!) would be that I will give a better go of blogging. For lots of reasons of course, the main being that I want lots of people to read it and shower me with accolades that land gently on my ego and heal the bruises of my day job! But also because I saw that rediculous movie - Julie and Julia. My wife made me do it.... ok so I lie, I actually wanted to see it but I found the movie worthy of a seperate condemning review, so all I will say is as annoyingly girlie as the movie was it did inspire me to write. Here was Julie writing about cooking until one day someone sends her what looks like a bottle of Nando's Perri Perri Sauce and I started thinking, man if I write daily maybe eventually someone will send me some thing to eat? Anyway, enough of that, I guess its because I haven't had breakfast yet and i

So as you may or may not care, I thought I would tell you about my recent adventures in Fatherhood, or as it is known in some cultures: “that man who lives in the same house as your mom, who you ask for things when mom has already said ‘No’” Thankfully, as my title suggests, my little treasure is a tad too young to manipulate me in such a common but none the less devious way. However in such a short time she has managed to rap me around her little finger – and given the size of her little finger; that’s a whole lot of me! I think I will spare you the grisly details of the first few hours of her life because, well, I’m not in a gory mood just now… But I will say this, I thought I would be one of those husbands in the delivery room, standing well away from the scene of the crime, trying desperately not to be a witness or even a suspect but I rather surprised myself and the Midwife who later praised me for my valuable contribution to the proceedings… in fact I was ready to do it all aga

Have you ever been told off for passing wind in your bed? I have. This morning I was in trouble not just for the act but for the fact that the gas giant leaping through the sheets had “Personality” according to my lovely wife. I honestly try not to do it but it’s the morning and although I’m awake the etiquette part of my brain is still in the flickering stages of switching on. So speaking of gas here is a new addition to Kerinthians – a Donate Now box… now don’t be scared, it’s not going to bite you and there is obviously no obligation except for those of you with a weak conscience. But seriously, every writer or wannabe like myself dreams of better days when they can quit their day job and actually make a living doing the thing they love, and as no publisher would touch me with a barge poll, unless it’s to squash me, then for now I will have to settle for this little gimmick. Think of me as one of those buskers who do stupid things on the street and then holds out his hat in the h

“Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.” Matthew 25:27 We all should know the story by now. Christ’s famous parable about the 3 servants and the great big wad of cash their master had entrusted them with while he went on a long journey. To one he gave five “talents” (one talent is equal to about a thousand dollars), to another two talents and to the third one talent. He wasn’t showing favouritism either. This Master of the house knew his servants individual capabilities and so entrusted them with exactly what he knew they could manage. Then he went on his trip. Each servant goes out and does something with their master’s cash. The first with the most invests it wisely and turns it into a whopping $10,000, while the second goes and doubles his share…. But the third… This guy is of the “afraid of nothing” variety and out of fear and laziness goes and takes his measly $1000 and buries it in

The title of this article has nothing to do with what I have to say but was inspired by my wife who is standing there trying to rock my 4 month old to sleep - its not working. Of course I am being the ever helpful Husband and am sitting here typing away to my hearts content! I just wanted to touch base with my readership and apologise for my sudden disappearance from the bloggerverse. I wasn't raptured (although I wish I was) but rather my attention was diverted to something a little less creative - a video game. (which is retro slang for computer game) I'm sure to write a review about it sooner or later. I figured after 3 months of sleepless nights with a new and very loud baby I deserved to spend my tax return on something that allowed me to run around a simulated world and throw whirlwinds and lightning bolts at computer animated maniacs. Probably not the best way to spend my time but at least its mostly out of my system. Needless to say I've been feeling very guilty

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…” Genesis 1:1 Let’s not beat around the bush about it – In the beginning God created two things; the heavens and the earth. Put them together and you have a whole lot of everything and that’s a great deal! I love the way the Bible opens with this basic and yet profoundly loaded statement that slaps anyone in the face who would say otherwise. It does not begin with an opinion: “in the beginning it is the view of the writer that God created the heavens and the earth.” Or “Herein lies the theory of creation.” Nor does it start with an apology – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth which can be seen by this bone that carries the DNA of a dinosaur and this photograph of Adam planting the first acorn.” Not that I have a problem with Christian Apologetics, on the contrary, I think creation researchers are among a special breed of genius with a very important ministry, but that’s not what I’m talking about here… The

The night was November 16th, 2009... Not only was it the evening of my Mother in Laws birthday but our Pastor had asked me to share my Testimony with the rest of our Church... Part of the reason I am posting this is because I haven't been very prolific lately on account of my acquiring a new computer game... but Testimonies are also the ultimate form of Love Story - the retelling of how we met the most important person in our lives, Jesus Christ... I hope you enjoy this true life tale and that it blesses you with a deeper relationship with the Lord... but also that you will be encouraged to pass it on to friends and family who aren't Christians, because when all is said and done, after all the arguments for and against Christianity, after all the skepticism and attacks, NO ONE can deny the true story of YOUR relationship with the Author of Life... Regards K P.S. I apologise for the split Youtube format... if anyone can tell me a better way to upload audio I will be forever grea

I've been pretty stoked with all you faithful "come along every dayers", who have checked on this blog space out of curiosity or the opposite of contempt to read me musings... This week you may have noticed the rapid decline in my prolificy but rest assured its not due to lack of topics or inspiration but rather to my trying to organise my priorities in such a way that I am not burning the candle from the middle as well as at both ends! I will now restrict my posts to night's before a day off which are every second Wednesday and Thursday and every alternating Friday... occasionally I might be able to squeeze a few more in but I found that I became a man obsessed with posting blogs at whatever cost, which usually involved me falling asleep on the couch, work or while driving... plus I have some serious study commitments this year and had been neglecting them... But I am still committed to this site and have a great deal many more delightful bits and pieces to post befo

Joseph - King of Dreams I recently raided my nieces DVD collection and discovered a little Dream Works treat that didn't involve cross dressing fairy tale characters and big green ogres preaching the feel good PC gospel of tolerance and the message of "its ok to be a freak if it makes you feel good" for a change! The movie - Joseph King of Dreams, and we sat ourselves down for an evening of entertaining cartoonery. Joseph, as you should know, is the prequel to Moses - Prince of Egypt and tells the story of how the Israelites came to live in Egypt before they became the slaves of the Exodus. The original story of Joseph can be found of course in Genesis Chapter 37 and onwards. It is one of the most riveting and movie worthy stories of the Bible. Why this story has only warranted an animated feature and an Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical is way beyond me, it's replete with Jealousy, favouritism, betrayal, temptation... there are even cool things like Dream Interpretation an

I was recently humbled when someone wrote to me the below question and I said, "Sure! I'll get right on it!" That was two weeks ago. I've been procrastinating... The question was: Why is it that in the christian church do you have such a lack of the power of the Holy Spirit?I know people hear from God and sometimes here and there people get healed but I mean, what happened to people raising the dead and wicked signs and wonders we can show off to non-believers... has the Devil been trying to snuff out that power in the church?Or do people just not want all that weird stuff happening to them? Why is there such a small amount of the Holy Spirits power in the church?And what to do about it? So not being in any way an authority on the matter here is my attempt at an answer... One passage of Scripture that really jumped out at me when I was thinking about this was from 2 Timothy 3:1-6: 1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lo

I have a particular friend who wears her heart on her sleeve, and as you can imagine a heart on a sleeve can sometimes raise a few eye brows. A few months ago, while both her and my wife were expecting their first babies, my friend posted a pro life article on her Facebook. Fair enough, one would think, after all, I’m pro her choice to believe in such a thing; the fact I happen to be pro life myself doesn’t fact either, even if I was “pro choice”, I would think that surely I would still support a pro lifers’ choice to disagree? Apparently not. The fervent protest s against her post was extreme and intense. Never before, on something as trivial as Facebook, had I seen an instant out pouring of pseudo-moralistic passion. Pro-choicers on the left of me, Pro-lifer’s with me on the right; but the curious thing was the loaded cannons were on the left had, ready, aimed and firing. While we on the right were concerned about the lack of choice of the unborn, all the protestors were concer

For the first time in ages I seem to have drawn a complete blank. Its not conventional writer's block, its just Australian Idol is on the telly and therefore I've just experienced my first Black Hole. I think it was the Asian guy singing "Imagine" who started sucking the gravity out of the room and now five minutes later all my brain matter is tinkering on the event horizon of complete mindless ear pillaging tripe. Maybe I'm just jealous there is no New Zealand Idol, but even if there was I would never go down that road again. I'll never forget... actually scratch that, it seems I've intentionally forgotten the day I queued in the rain behind thousands of wannabe Australians at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium just to be told, after hours of umbrella holding and fantasising about blowing the judges minds with my vocal whips, that there were too many contestants and to come back tomorrow. Which I did. And I sucked. I had spent the whole week strolling down

My own internal reaction to this film was so exciting that I completely forgot that I had hit a bollard with the side of my car on my way to see it! Thankfully, like the film, there were no dents to be seen... This is one of those flicks where you see the trailer and you think, WOW I HAVE to see this movie... usually you see such a film and you walk away realising you have fallen for the same boring old story, retold a million times by Hollywood film makers. Not this time. District 9 disembarks from Hollywood regurgitation, it is wonderfully disgusting in its satisfyingly realistic view of Human Nature and portrayal of alien weaponry that turns a human into instant splatter puss. Not since the very first Predator Movie or Alien have I seen such a stirring and blood curdling piece of sci-fi story telling. There is nothing ordinary about this legendary piece of work and the bar for Science Fiction has been raised forever. This is certainly a film for grown ups. Director Neil Blom