Choice as

Gah, I love these: Kiwi Psalms

Psalm 47

Give a round of applause everyone

Don’t pack a sad – celebrate!

God is awesome, ay.

He subdued all those nations that were a bit of a worry,

Kinda like what the Warriors did to the Roosters.

He gave us a hand and made everything sweet as.

 

God has come through, and the crowds are going wild.

Get the guitar out and have a singalong.

Praise him at the top o’ your lungs.

 

For God is a total beaut.

Sing to him as loud as you’d sing along to the Exponents.

God makes everything good as gold, and he’s in charge.

He has the best seat in the house.

The big cheeses from Kaitaia to Bluff line up to say how awesome he is.

God is choice.

Psalm 130:

When I’m not feeling that flash I call out to you, God
God, hear my voice
Listen up and help me out
I’m having a whinge; but I need your help!

If you, God, kept a record of my stuff-ups
I’d be up the creek without a paddle
But with you there is forgiveness
And so I respect you heaps

I hang out for God, I’d spend yonks waiting for him
His words are straight-up, aye (not like Winston)

Like I said, I hang out for God, I’d spend yonks waiting for him
More than Waikato waits for a quarter-final
More than Aucklanders wait in traffic

So, Israel, trust this God, eh?
He doesn’t pack a sad; he always loves us and that’s choice
With him there’s redemption; the full deal!

He’s gonna sort out Israel
And redeem them from all their stuff-ups.

By Sarah and Rhett Snell, respectively.  Hat-tip Jonesboy

Argh

Not shopping is HARD.   Hello, my name is Sharyn, and I'm addicted to shopping.  And eating things I shouldn't way to often.  I was so good today, eating fruit and left overs and I had a good tea - just some chicken and coleslaw and pom poms.  it sounds bad, but it's good trust me!  And then I eat Banana bread.  Banana bread is not bad, but couldn't I go even one day without eating fat and sugar?  For crying out loud!  I have a problem!

Nevermind.  It's good, much better than I've been and I guess improvement is the key.  

I'm doing this new praying thing at the moment and it is kicking my spiritual butt into shape.  It's so GOOD.  I'm really interested in meditation so it's a form of meditative prayer, where I'm empty my mind and find the god within.  Just kidding.  I have been praying a series of short prayers over and over.  And it's amazing, i have to say a whole bunch so i try to keep a move on, you know, so I get to sleep before midnight, but I just keep slowing down because very time it's fantastic!

One of them is the Our Father, the Lords Prayer and I realised as I was saying it, Jesus said this!  This actual prayer!  Not in english, obviously, but still!  Amazing, it totally blew me away.

I've read this book lately called Eat Pray Love about this woman who went on a spiritual quest for a year, it's very funny, she is great (reminds me of you Helen, if you happen to be reading).  But one of the things she said was that one of the names for the Spirit was  Beloved.  I freaking love that.  The Holy Spirit is such a urgh name.  

Read the Shack.  It's, well, read it and then talk to me (as my Mother wisely said).

To bed.

Shopping Fast

I know, I know, fasting is supposed to be secret, between you and God, but I'm distainful of "supposed to" and I need the accountability.

I've decided to fast shopping.  This is the thing, shopping and over eating are my two great faults as a human being.  There's nothing wrong with shopping.  There's nothing wrong with eating.  But I have an unhealthy relationship with the both.

I need to shop.  I think I'm addicted.  I have realised this even more because the thought of not shopping for the six weeks I've alloted makes me feel panicked.  I know, it's silly, but it's real.  Part of this the realisation that I'm rich.  I've become quite snobby about rich people.  I think they should give more of their money away and they shouldn't have so much stuff.  I realised the other day, thanks to a Mars Hill sermon by a guy called Kent Dobson, that I AM RICH.  I am one of those rich people.  When it says in the bible that it's hard for rich people to be part of the Kingdom of God, I realised that that verse is about me.

It was quite a shock to the system.  Rich people live in Fendalton or Cashmere.  Not in Barrington.  But of course, I am, literally, richer than 90% of the world's population.  Of course I am rich!  Who am I kidding?

And consumption is not bad, it's not bad to like nice things and to want to look nice.  It's just not good for me the way I feel about consumption.  So, upshot is, I'll stop shopping (excluding groceries and birthday presents) for six weeks (until the 2nd of November).  The money that is in my account I will divide up - 1/3 to pay off my debts, and 2/3 to a charity.

That's the challenge!  Scary and hard right now, but I think it will bring me a measure of freedom in the long term.

Gah!

Check this out. 

I have a serious thing for birds.  A serious thing.  I am always, always, distracted by birds.  Always curiously touched by birds.  One of the main things that always captures me is that they exist in their own world, in a parallel universe kind of. 

The other thing I like is that they are INSANE.

Check out the video above.  There's so many more. 

I know it's a terrible philosophical argument, but I cannot help but believe in God when I see things like that.

Seriously.

Mercury Rising

Irritated by slow internet.  I think we've exceeded our limit for the month or some such nonsense.  Grrrrr.  

Talked to my friend tonight a lot about singleness, a pet thing of mine.  I think I was confusing because I find it difficult to articulate my feelings about this at the moment.  Sometimes words just don't work as they should.

So I've become part of a new church community that is actually working for me.  I've moaned for so long about not being able to find a church and not knowing what to do about it, it seems only fair that I tell you at last that the good news is I have resolved that particular thing.

I don't know how much I want to blab about it on the internet for all and sundry to judge just yet, it's kind of this precious thing, but suffice to say it's GOOD and it's what I've always wanted church to be and I don't know what will be, but I've learned one important lesson in life:

Let it be what it is.

Indeed.  Anyways, just checking in really.  Just saw on Facebook that a man I once knew has just died.  Feel the weight of it right now so I think I'll leave it there.

Blogging with wireless

I have been using my lack of wireless internet as an excuse not to blog for the longest time.  Well, now I have wireless so I have no excuse.  So here I am.

I have been using moving as an excuse not to eat properly and make time for exercise.  Well now I'm moved, so I've got no excuse and it's time to start afresh (again).

The thing is, I've started afresh about 25 times when it comes to eating well and exercising.  It makes me not want to start again.  It's dis-couraging.  But I will take up my courage and start again because, in the end, what else can you do?  The only alternative is to quit and I know for sure that then I will just slowly deteriorate.  SO, onwards and upwards.

I read once this thing that there is a courage of happiness as well as a courage of sorrow.  I totally love that.  It's actually quite scary to be happy, because the happier you are the more you have to lose.  Like loving, when you experience joy you open yourself up to the possibility of pain.  

It's sometimes easy to stay in the sorrow place, because at the very least it is safe and predictable - better the devil you know.  But, of course, the better path is joy because I have no intention of living a life halfway.

I used to write a lot about being in a halfway happy place, but the last 5 years have been a focussed journey away from that place and into a place called Joy.

I think the place called Joy is whatever is after the birth that we call death, but I have been learning lately that we can bring heaven to earth same as we can bring hell to earth.

Well, heaven is on earth for me today.

Exultation

Today I could move mountains with my joy! 
Could drink the golden liquid of the sun 
Or stride the sky, or wilder means employ 
To shout aloud my gladness as I run. 
I am stretched out to endless space and time, 
There is no distance where I cannot be. 
The stars behind the starry fields sublime 
Are but the marrow and the flesh of me.

There is no measure made for me today! 
A universe has opened in my soul. 
I feel me not a part of worlds at play, 
But strangely and convincingly the whole. 
Who knows but some bright shaft from god's hand given 
Has split my mind and poured it full of heaven!

Dora Hagemeyer