New

My grandmother has Alzheimer's,
and although we have been staying with her to try and help
that isn't what she wants

My wife's aunt has cancer
and it is killing her
but she is such a strong woman
and has fought it so hard

my brother is moving somewhere
he and his wife will be much closer to us

my friend is returning from overseas
and she can have her baby blankets back
plus i really want to see her
and hug her
and hear her crazy stories
about life in Germany

it is christmas time
so for those of you who celebrate it
do more giving
and for those of you who don't celebrate it
do more giving

when you see

often there is nothing to say
to address the past
to acknowledge the events
and accept responsibility
without aggravating and inflaming

polite chit chat seems
to be a human way of handling these situations
asking questions about others
indirectly seeking some neutral topics
that allow a dialogue to begin
and peace to be offered

maybe it isn't so complex
and the polite appearance is an instinct
born of preservation and protection
because who wants to be vulnerable
neither do I

all of our lives are characterised by
crisis and victory-
the ups and downs-we call them
admitting that I was present and a creator
of both the good and the bad
in my life
and the lives that I touched
is a beginning

and maybe when I say it
the dialogue will continue

A little late!

I haven't been doing much blogging, and so this announcement is noticeably late...

My little brother is getting married!

I am so excited for him, and can't wait to meet my new sister Adalia when Ash and I get back to the states!

And just think, if it wasn't for me, none of this would be possible.
How, you ask?
Well, Ryan is only alive because of me.
No, not due to some heroics or intervention that saved his life...
No I mean he is only alive because as his older brother
I let him live.
Seriously.
C'mon if you have a little bother...I mean brother, you know what I mean.
Really.
I think i should be getting some nods here folks.
Let's hear it for the restraint of the older siblings.

Love you Ry.

Persecution

A song and a video for you

Go America

Latin America that is.

Some of these points sound a little familiar...

I think there is a religion that I know of that agrees with many of these ideas.

Funky Jewelery

Ladies...

Check out this site for some truly awesome stuff by my girl Jess.

Earth Hour 2009

Go here
Make a commitment...
Make a difference.

Air Mail

PO Box 106125
Auckland City Postshop
Auckland, New Zealand
1143

Please try to refrain from mailing me your dirty socks

hi there

In the past year I have visited a few different cultures, and repeatedly seen how little I really know about what is “right”. It has been a time of growth and change, totally eclipsing the period prior to it in realizations and wisdom. And still I wonder, will learning continue like this? Does what I know now always increase what I learn next? Will today’s beliefs and ideas simply serve as the stepping stones to the next truth I am to discover?

Over and over I read of a repeating idea…that I-that all of us, all of mankind-already possess the answers and the truths inside of us. That we ask questions and search for knowledge-but that the external sources we find are simply reflections of what we carried with us all along. Bill Wilson and friends wrote that “…deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or the other it is there. For faith in a power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.”

Over and over authors and scholars of our times have repeated this idea…even as I type this I feel a sense of deja-vu, as if I have written this same idea before, maybe even in this blog. Nevertheless, it is powerful and liberating. My current belief, for what it is worth…I don’t need any “new” books or teachings. I can go back through the ones I have read before and recognize truths that I couldn’t the last time I read them. I don’t need a new mentor, parent or counselor. The ones that I have already can teach me more if I change how I ask, and how I listen. I don’t need a new relationship, I simply need to recognize that God is inside of them as well as me.

Hadn’t written anything in quite a while, but if you are reading this than I love you-and the God within you too.