Yesterday, Jan 1st 2009, I released the all new God’s iPod. http://GodsiPod.com

This is a ministry I started about 4 years ago that podcasts “following Jesus” content to all that want to hear. It has been a paradox for me, first it’s a real blessing to be so honored to be able to do it, but it’s also cost me so much in the ay of time, and real money. I have asked for donations, and I get more people telling me off for daring to ask than any donations I have gotten. I guess people are just used to some big ministry supporting things like this.


So the new God’s iPod is quite revolutionary. You can now get your podcasts 3 different ways, versus the old single method using iTunes software. Now you can subscribe to anything via your email. This is quite amazing. A podcast in your email! This effectively take us from the teens that know how to use iTunes, to EVERYONE. Even Linux users :) And it gets better. Every email has a button that can be clicked to email that podcast to a friend. So if you think someone you know would really enjoy or benefit from that day’s podcast, click the button, enter their email, and they’ve got it too. I am terribly excited about this. You just could not do any of this with the former God’s iPod. And the 3rd way, btw, is that you can now view the podcasts on the website! Yes, all very very cool. If I do say so myself.

Years ago, God called me to use my talents to build and strengthen the Kingdom through the digital realm. And so that’s what I have been doing for nearly 4 years now. Many Christian Podcast sites have come and gone during that time, but God’s iPod keeps on keeping on thanks to you, our listener and ministry partners.

If you are not familiar with God’s iPod, go and take a look and subscribe to something!!

It’s been a long time, over a year, since adding anything to my testimony. Well, I am going to start working on it again...

Go to the My Story page for context...

Things were about to get from bad to worse. My grandmother who had no desire to be looking after me, received notification from the Department of Social Welfare, that I was being returned to my guardians care. Now, my legal guardian of course was my grandmother, but since she had no desire to be looking after a 14-year-old teenager, she deflected all responsibility to my mother instead, and informed me that I would soon be on a plane to Australia to live with my mother. Of course this is not what I wanted. My mother was abusive, a drug addict and dealer, and had gone on to have several more children to yet another father. I knew full-well that I was not going to be welcomed by my mother with open arms and a loving smile.

I was bawling my eyes out as I sat on the plane on my way to Sydney Australia. All that was going through my mind was that God had forsaken me. Just six months previous I had surrendered my all to him. And yet here I was sitting on a plane having been sent from one that did not love me to yet another. I could only imagine what would be waiting for me. Rejection hurts.

I walked out into the passenger arrivals area and looked out for my mother. I remember raising my head and seeing her. But the moment she saw me and recognize that I had recognized her, she turned on her heel and started walking out of the airport. Her boyfriend Dale, introduced himself to me and helped me with my bags. We walked out towards an old green HQ Holden car. Dale was trying to make conversation with me, all the while my mother remained absolutely silent.

It's a three hour drive from Sydney Mascot airport to the suburbs of Newcastle. We stopped on the way at KFC, and had lunch. Even at lunch as I asked my mother a question she refused to respond and Dale responded for her.

We finally got to the house. It was a housing commission house, built by the Australian government for low income or unemployed families. Every other house in the street looked quite nice except for ours which was surrounded by dead cars and assorted rubbish. This was the wrong side of the tracks. It was a far cry from spectacular Auckland, New Zealand where I had harbor views just walking to school.

to be cont....

OK, for some of my new pre-believing friends :) Allow me to indulge in some beautiful faith and the power of that faith in Jesus to heal.

Today was my birthday. Thank you :)

Almost 2 years ago I was "sold a bill of goods", and for all intents and purposes, left standing at the altar by a girl that had set off so many red flags, those closest to me had warned me not to ‘go there’. I didn't listen, and I paid a heart-breaking price.

At the time it happened, a rock group I liked, Newsboys, had released a new single called Something Beautiful. The lyrics which I’ll paste below ripped me apart and made me a limp mess every time I heard them on the radio or on my iPod as I had just bought their latest CD. You can see why:


NEWSBOYS - Something Beautiful

I wanna start it over
I wanna start again
I wanna new beginning
One without an end

I feel it inside
Calling out to me

It's a voice that whispers my name
It's a kiss without any shame
Something beautiful
Like a song that stirs in my head
Singing love will take us where
Something's beautiful

I've heard it in the silence
Seen it on a face
I've felt it in a long hour
Like a sweet embrace
I know this is true
It's calling out to me

It's a voice that whispers my name
It's a kiss without any shame
Something beautiful
Like a song that stirs in my head
Singing love will take us where
Something's beautiful

It's the child on her wedding day
It's the daddy that gives her away
Something beautiful
When we laugh so hard we cry
all the love between you and I
Something beautiful

It's a voice that whispers my name
It's a kiss without any shame
Something beautiful
Like a song that stirs in my head
Singing love will take us where
Something's beautiful

It's the child on her wedding day
It's the daddy that gives her away
Something beautiful
When we laugh so hard we cry
It's the love between you and I
Something beautiful

Something beautiful


Today while listening to iTunes on random play, it played. This time I had a different reaction. I turned it up. Loud. Really loud. AND THEN I PLAYED IT AGAIN. It's playing right now.

There’s a passage in the Bible that talks about God turning around what our enemies meant for evil, and making something beautiful of it. I can say 21 months later, God HAS made something beautiful out of something just plain bad. I get this weird compliment/insult fairly often. Someone will ask, Israel, how can someone so smart believe in a loving God? Today the Lord gave me a birthday present I never asked for, but so badly needed. And that is why, I believe in a real and loving God. He’s something beautiful.

Preview or buy the song on iTunes here.

So lately I have been playing with my food. A lot. Drying things, preserving them, inventing marinades that will prolong shelf life, all sorts of things. As an ex-chef, it's ironic that I am learning more about food now that ever before. God gave me this weird gift; to be able to mix and pre-taste flavors in my head without actually doing it. So, when I think of 3 flavors, I can taste in my mouth how it will taste. It's weird, but very useful.

Lately I have been experimenting with a pressure cooker. Never used one before. It's a fairly bland way to cook, so I am working on making amazing tasting food from one. They use very little energy, and it's a very clean way to cook. Winter is fast approaching, not thanks to Global Warming. Pfff... And winter means thick heavy hot meals. My soups, again, made from scratch, are killer.

Yes, I am different to most guys :) After 15 years in high technology, I am discovering the finer things in life. I am on a mission to radically simplify my life. I still have my travel bug, and there's so many places I want to go, but funding such travel becomes a problem. Simplifying my life saves money, and enables me to travel more. It also enables me to actually SEE the world. If that makes sense? I mean, when there's so much on your radar, it's hard to see the really important things in life. That's why I am getting more and more involved in politics. Because there's this group of people that want to control our lives, and if let them, they will. And my younger friends could not care less about politics, and think I need to just get on about Kingdom work. But that's thing thing. I am. Politics is really important, because it touches everybody.

Been thinning the site down. Old stuff, not updating it, not much point. Want to try and focus.

Yesterday I tried my hand at making jam. Real jam from real blackberries in my garden. I ended up making 7 full jars. It is darn good stuff. I don't like to buy American jam because it has so much sugar in it, and often it's high-fructose-corn-syrup not sugar anyway. I made this semi-sweet. Gosh it's goooood. Ingredients, blackberries, sugar, pectin. Yum. Just like they make it down under. :)

I am also drying bananas too. I have been experimenting with making different sweets with pureed banana. Put them in a dehydrator, and living long-life snacks is the result. The last lot was banana, toasted coconut and toasted sesame seeds, and some apricot with maple syrup to sweeten them. So cheap to make, and you can't buy anything like it for any price.

The garden is coming along well. Got it going very late in the year, and with global cooling coming upon us, the temperature is far colder than it should be for this time of year. Unfortunately, as the world cools off so rapidly, we're seeing these massive storms. Hopefully soon the global warming liars will admit their errors fraud and tell people how to prepare for this new radically colder earth we'll soon have. I doubt it though, they'll find some way to blame the cold on global warming too. Meanwhile our spring was 2 1/2 weeks late and it's looking like this winter is going to be early. Not good.

The massive Ron Paul sponsored Rally for the Republic is being held this week in Minneapolis, 9 miles up the road from the Republican convention. 10,000 tickets have already been sold to this massive event designed to stoke the fires of constitutional rule in America and a return to the values of freedom and liberty.

Oh and what about Sarah Palin hey. It's slowly coming out that Trig is actually her then-16-year-old daughter's son, not her own as she has been telling people. Seems like a good woman on many fronts, not so much on others, but much better than McCain. I wonder if they could swap positions? The tokenism of her selection is a little insulting though and I expect it to backfire. Obama is likely to win by a landslide. Roll on Communism.... It's sad so many Americans are just so angry at Bush that they choose something so un-American as Socialism. Obama may be the lesser of two evils, but when it is the lesser of two very very evils, it's STILL evil. Anyway, more talk about the Communization of America on the ia report in weeks to come.

I met someone in Whole Foods tonight and told them about my old Butter Chicken cooking video. So here's a flashback from about a year ago.

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The studio is pretty much done. The camera I have is sub-standard for what I want to do, but it will have to do for now. The website is live and ready for the first video. The requests for syndication have been coming in. All in all, the ia report is shaping up real well, even if it has taken longer than I would have hoped. I hope to be filming tonight or tomorrow. The first video will be online soon after. I have so much to put into the first episode. I hope to keep them to 3 or 4 minutes, but the first one is going to be about 10 I think. This is going to be fun!

Here's the site: the ia report

Today I thought I'd share some random stuff from my last few days. Why? Why not!

Return #1
So bought this tan sports coat in California a few weeks ago from Gap. I decided to return it at Flatiron Mall, Broomfield. I did not have the receipt, but they were able to look up the transaction using my credit card. Hmm... Anyway, the guy asked why I was returning it. The reason was the fabric they used. It was terrible. It was only a $99 jacket, but even for the price, the material was very sub par. I said to the guy that I wore it just once and yet it looks like it's a year old already. He looks at me and tells me I can't return it if I've already worn it. This surprised and amused me. The item, in my opinion was faulty. How could I know it was faulty unless I had already worn it? So you say your car's engine is blowing smoke? Oh, so you drove it already then? You get my point. So I quipped back, well in that case I never wore it. The guy then huffs and calls his manager and has her refund my money. Um, ok.

Return #2
I also bought a pair of cargo shorts in California. My first purchase ever from American Eagle Outfitters. Likely my last. The pocket on one side just came apart at the stitching, and the zipper had no auto-lock on it, so it would be down every time I checked. Not good. AEO was just next to GAP. I walked in, and it was busy. Sale. No receipt for this one ether, and they could not look up my sale on my credit card. They said I could exchange it, and I looked, but the place was full of 14 year old girls shopping on daddy's credit cards and I gave up. I asked for a refund instead. No receipt, no refund. Ok, but they offered a gift card. OK, so I was asked to step back to the end of the line. Um... ok, line was 20 people long, only 2 people on checkouts. I just left. Came back an hour later, didn't remember me, but finally got my gift card. I guess now I have to go back. Sad.

The notable part of this is that the people in these stores were so rude you'd think they were working in high fashion not commodity level clothing stores. Of course, the mall junkies, kids with credit cards, have no idea about the economy and so have not stopped buying. Crunch time coming. Then what will you wear? Oh no, you might just have to wear something from last years collection. OH MY GOD!! :O

Garden
I am planting a garden. I am renting a room from a delightful empty-nester. We have a timed irrigation system which is handy. I am planting spinach, coriander/cilantro, chinese cabbage and some lettuce varieties. It's a bit late for Basil, but I am going to try from some mature seedlings. I am part of a community farm and they blessed me with the seeds and seedlings. We have a few other things in the garden already and I'll be tidying them up too. We also have many fruit trees and a massive blackberry bush. I just have such a passion for growing my own food now.

Apple
So I am now on my 5th iPhone. It goes something like this. #1 went right back after buying it because there was dust under the screen. #2 went back because the speaker volume was 1/3rd the volume of other iPhones. #3 went back because the proximity sensor was failing and the screen was not turning off during a call which meant my cheek kept activating the mute button on the screen. #4 went back because the sleep/wake button was intermittently not working and after the 2.0 update I could not connect to WiFi. So now I am on my 5th iPhone. All replaced under warranty of course, but still, the quality of these devices is poor at best. Someone offered to buy my current iPhone if I was upgrading to the new 3G iPhone, but they have even greater issues, so no, I'll be holding onto this one for quite a while.

I have had some other problems too. My MacBook Pro that is now getting a bit long in the tooth, had a failing battery, even though I have not really used the computer on battery except the 2 months when I was traveling. The computer would shut down with 70% charge left. Not good. And it happened while I was in the Apple store backing my iPhone up before they replaced it. A girl there saw me utter some grief at the computer and asked me what was wrong. I explained my battery issue. She got my serial number and told me my machine was out of warranty. That I knew. But I'm going to replace your battery for you anyway. Wait... Well, I guess Apple is making more money than any other tech company on the planet right now, and my meagre 7, yes, seven, shares did very well this week, but was very surprised at this and very grateful. I am sure this battery is special, because I have been using it now in Starbucks for 2 hours and I still have 74% charge. Apple has much better battery life than those smelly PeeCees though :)

Random: I hate Subway. Everything tastes the same no matter what you order. And Jared, you can NOT lose weight eating so many carbs. Gosh. People believe anything.

Oh, and more on Apple. My iPhone headphones were deteriorating. So now a week later and in a different Apple store, I show the manager the rubber coming away from the ear buds and ask if there's anything they can do, fully expecting him to apologize and maybe give me 10% off a new pair. Instead, he told me that they are not actually covered under the warranty, but I'll just replace them for you anyway, and explains that I should not leave them in tight pockets. Go Apple...! Yes I had problems I should never have had. Every flaw was the result of sub standard manufacturing, and yet they stood behind their product and took care of me.

The ia report
I am setting up my lights. A switch burnt out on one and I can't run without it, so that set me back, but I will fix that tonight. The first episode will be really simple. I am going to explain why a New Zealander is so involved in this cause of freedom, and I'll be reading the first part of the Declaration of Independence. Because people need to hear it.

OK, I think this is enough for today :)

Smelly PeeCees... yech...

In the Bible there is a character called Joseph. He had a very colorful childhood full of really bad circumstances. One day, Joseph explained what he saw, a terrible famine that would sweep to every corner of the land. Joseph had the people store food over the next few years to prepare for this famine. Those that prepared by storing food survived the famine and it made those people the wealthy ones. Those that didn't, became slaves to those that had, or died.

OK, so I'm trying to tell you all that I am the reincarnation of Joseph. Ha ha ha... ok not really. I tell the story though, because the prevailing attitude of my Christian friends is to smile and say with such arrogance faith, "God will look after me". God looked after the people above by sending someone to warn them of impending danger and how to prevent becoming a victim to it. The people listened and prepared as Joseph said to. Today, believers don't seem so smart. God usually works in the most practical of ways.

Though I am no Joseph, I do have a similar message. America and most of the world will soon, 2-3 years I hope, though some speculate in October, enter what I call the Grand Depression. This depression will make the 1930's Great Depression feel like a lottery win. It will be met with hyper-inflation. Hyper-inflation is when people steal your wheelbarrow and leave behind the millions of dollars you were carrying in it. It's when a loaf of bread will cost you a hundred thousand dollars.

Of course, many will deny this is soon to happen, and we have the mainstream media like CoNN and Faux to thank for that. You can put lipstick on a pig, but, it's still a pig. You can talk up the economy all you like, you can say it's all going to be fine, but the real numbers tell the real story. The dollar is collapsing, and the small boost it's receiving this week that is dropping the price of oil is not a sign that things are getting better. It's called the quiet before the storm. There is a saying you have heard before. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. That's happening. Now. The trends we see now have occurred before. The dollar is not going to recover, it's going to get worse. Oh my, MUCH worse. Many people even believe the system has been purposefully designed to fail, and when you look into the history of the Federal Reserve Bank, it's not to difficult to believe.

This is one reason among many why I have decided to create the ia report. The ia report is video. In each brief video, I'll be raising an important issue. I will be talking primarily about the Founding of America and non-revisionist history. You'll hear about economics, politics, and common sense ways to prepare for the coming crash. Current news from a non-propaganda perspective. The video will be syndicated across several news websites and will also be found on a new website I am working on now simply called the ia report. I'll link to it once it's ready.

Citizen journalism folks. It's one thing the world really needs right now. I have a friend about to start a journalism degree, and he'll be providing reports as well. If we want our freedoms, they must be taken back. We can no longer sit back and expect someone else to look after us. God gave us a brain and He expects us to use it.

Is this all doom and gloom? No. I plan to make a lot of money in this depression. You can too if you know how. Watch the ia report and you'll see how.

Oh, if you can't cook and live off of McDonalds. OK, well then I guess it will be pretty gloomy.

God Bless America, with people that are serious about freedom.

I know many people that I have met in life continue to watch my site and read my blog. I have the ability to see a great deal of info in my webserver stats. It's funny how you never leave me any messages though. Perhaps you think you're anonymous. Anyhow. In a few of the emails I have received, some have expressed concern for the direction I have taken the last year, and a few have been outright hostile that I am using my "God given gifts", their language, for so-called "secular" interests, politics in particular. I understand why some think that. I am ashamed to admit that up until about 3 years ago I was pro-Bush, pro-war, and pro a lot of other things I regret too. I was an apologist for the war. It sort of went like this. Winkie Pratney > Heidi Baker > Rob Bell > Ron Paul > Eyes Opened. It should be noted that Ron Paul is not just a Congressman, he's a incredible man of God. One that I believe is living out his calling from God, through gifts given from God.

Now, it is true that God has given me a mouth to speak. Some don't like that because my character has at times not matched my abilities. The last 3 years in particular I have worked on my character so very much, and I hope some have noticed improvement. So an interesting thing has happened. While my shortcomings have prevented me from being invited to speak in Churches much, people outside the 4 walls of the Church have recognized this gift. In fact I just opened a Freedom Rally in Washington, D.C to 12,000 people.

So I'm selling out! Wait. No. I am not selling out. Was Dietrich Bonhoeffer selling out his giftings when he spoke out against fascism and Hitler in Germany? I've never met anyone who thought so. Nor am I. Politics can not be separated from our lives. When you fill up your car or do the weekly shopping and see the crazy prices, THAT is politics. Oh I could give example after example, yet there's no need, because politics is linked to every area of our lives. My focus is freedom. Jeffersonian Freedom. Not a party, not a man, but an ideology that I, and yes, even Winkie Pratney believes is part of the Gospel message. The message of Freedom.

It is rumored that when John Adams was first given the draft of the Declaration of Independence, he looked up at Jefferson in awe and said, "this is not only a declaration of OUR independence, but of the rights of all men". This is why a New Zealander placed in America by God, has been so drawn to bring forth this message. America is fast approaching both Communism and fascism and a mighty great monetary depression that will change the direction of the world. People here have forgotten the price the Founders and their kin paid to gain the freedoms we see being systematically stripped away today. I honestly believe God has brought me to this land to remind people. It is not the first time a foreigner has come to the aid of America. Ouch that sounds arrogant I know, but understand that this is a passion burning so bright within me that I am constantly, even this very evening, asked by people, "why do you care so much?". I care, because I was once entrapped in apathy, and had bought the lie about the wars and so many other things. I see the systematic purposeful destruction of a nation. I can not sit idly by and wallow in apathy any longer. Things do not have to go this way.

God wants us to be free men. Do you?

It has been far too long since I have put anything here to annoy you with. I have been busy. No, I mean I have been buuuusssyyy... In the last month I have travelled 10,500 miles around the US spreading the message of Freedom and Liberty through my brainchild, the Freedom Tour.

At each concert event I have MCd and brought a short educational message about our dollar and the economic crisis we now find ourselves in here in the US. The overwhelmingly positive reception I have received from these talks leads me to pursue this more. Speaking, education, etc.

The ideas of Freedom and Liberty are not American, they are Kingdom. They are Principles not given to us by the Founding Fathers of this nation, but by God, and embraced by the Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. This is why a New Zealander can be so passionate about these Principles in the nation he now calls home, America.

I am not sure what happens from now. My eyes have been opened to the sad lack of education of the average person regarding Freedom and why men and women risked, and often offered up, their lives, in 1776 and at other times, in order that you and I may live free and unhindered. Sadly this era of the free man is swiftly coming to an end. Sadder still, is that most do not realize it, and tragically, do not care. I feel charged and impassioned by the words of Patrick Henry when he said those most-famous words, "give me liberty, or give me death". For the first time in my life, I am beginning to understand just how serious he was when he uttered those immortal words. Today I echo them.

Much is about to change. Hold on.

Hey all. Sorry, SUPER busy right now, but I fully intend to continue to make videos. Eventually daily. Hopefully I will have some time today (I write this at 2am). I may just show you an interesting video of John Stossel talking about global warming climate change :) And then we might talk about that for a week. We'll see. Tune in later...

It’s a sad thing I must confess to. I used to be pro war. I defended the Iraq-et war. I used to think CoNN and Faux actually told us the truth. It has only been very recently, since discovering Ron Paul actually, that I realized that I too was one of the brainwashed sheeple being completely controlled by the MSM. I am not yet totally free I am sure, but I am certainly a lot more free that I was.

It actually surprised me, that I am one that has never believed in evolution, nor anthroprogenic global warming, and yet I believed the lies about the war on terror and all sorts of other government propaganda. I am starting to see now how they control us through fear. The war on terror has got to be their most successful ploy so far. Invent an enemy, and then go fight them. How deluded I was.

So it’s no surprise to me people support McCain. What is astounding, is that it is within the Church, where we find the most people trapped in the same mindset I had just 6 months ago. It’s like that scene in the 1st matrix just after Neo had just been freed. Neo and Morphius are in the construct program and Morphius has a long monologue about freeing people’s minds, saying that many will fight to protect the very system that enslaves them. I was one of those, and the majority of us still are. The evidence for this is so clearly seen in the mass numbers of Christians voting for Mike Huckabee. Huckabee is rated by Judicial Watch as the 6th most corrupt politician in America. He has not got an honest bone in his body, clearly seen in his compulsive lies even though he has been caught red-handed so many stinking times. You do know he has now had to admit that he DOESN'T have a degree in theology as he has claimed for years don't you?

It looks like Ron Paul has only a small chance of winning, but I am campaigning hard for him all the same. I believe in his message. I believe the people that reject it are those fighting the very system that enslaves them. I wish we could all reject the media’s opinion of this man, and the opinions we have because of what we’ve been told, and actually investigate Ron Paul ourselves and then get behind his message. There’s a reason the MSM fears him so much. He’s very much a Morphius trying to free our minds. I am a sheeple no longer.

Next to Syria of course.

Ok serious now. I have been so incredibly busy. A good friend of mine, Marc Scibilia and I have been busy working on this new song, Hope Anthem. It's a tribute to the Ron Paul Revolution. Check it out, it's incredibly good.

I have decided that what I need to do is get a video camera with a card instead of tape, because getting video off my camera takes so long, I just don't do it. And then, I'm going to start my own bi-monthly video show, of sorts. Been bouncing ideas of my hero, Winkie Pratney, and it just seems to be the best way to really get my ideas out there. It's going to cover many things, but with a heavy dose of down to earth sciences regarding the evolution/ID controversy and a bunch of stuff about God and Church and things like that. Sound interesting? I hope it will be. Hey, someone send me $1000 so I can get the camera I want :)

Hey thanks for some of the comments. They have been AMAZING... very uplifting, inspiring... 2006 was the best year of my life. 2007 was the worst year of my life. 2008 is going to be the greatest year of my life and put 2006 to shame. I can feel it baby!

Israel Anderson

Oh, and all you in Iowa who shamefully voted for a man convicted of fraud 5 times and rated by Judicial Watch as the 6th most corrupt politician in America, better known as Mike Huckabee, and anyone living in America, or elsewhere, watch this....

Early this morning a man entered the YWAM Denver campus, asked to stay the night, was refused, and then pulled out a rifle and shot and killed 2 of my friends. Another friend was critically wounded and is in a stable condition in hospital, and a 4th friend was wounded but is doing ok. Please keep YWAM Denver in your prayers.

I started the venerable God's iPod Christian Podcast site 2 and a half years ago. During that time, I have posted very occasional updates about every 4-6th weekend. I never put my video podcasts up there either (except for about 3 weeks before I took it back off). I simply never wanted to take advantage of what God had privileged me to do. The site was never designed for me, to broadcast me, or draw attention to me. I believe the Lord has honored that. God's iPod is without question the best known and likely the most trafficked Christian podcast site on the Internet. It is unique, and Google has recognized such by keeping us in the #1 spot for a search of "Christian Podcasts" for the last 2 YEARS. The domain name itself is likely worth a small fortune now. And as I type that, the sheer weight of recognizing all this makes me feel strange inside. So I have tried my hardest not to exploit this gift in any way. Hopefully I have done a good job.

So it was not without a great deal of consideration that I have for the very first time, created my own podcast, and placed my own mug on the front page of the site. Go and take a look, subscribe, and send me feedback. This podcast is going to be gritty, raw, real. I have learnt almost TOO much over the last 12 months. I want to share some of this with others. I hope I do the Lord proud in this effort. Please don't hesitate to tell me if you think otherwise.

Israel.

I posted that last post without proof reading and left a note to the reader to explain. I got home this evening from "Church" and began proof reading it. It near made me cry. Many times Winkie would tell me that for God to really use me, a purification by fire would be needed. The greater the calling, the greater the heat. Now I'm not claiming to be anyone great, so don't send me emails telling me I need to be more humble, just read what I wrote and not between the lines please.

And so I look back. I see how God, just as people were telling me in the midst of the darkest of times, that God will use these circumstance to turn me into a "wounded healer". It's even hard for me to type this, because as I express in words, and speak out loud as I type, as I do, the mirror is slowly becoming less dim. It's not that I never understood this in the midst of the pain, it was that I just didn't want the pain. Recently I have had a ministry tell outright completely fabricated lies about me. And Winkie just said, "you mean like they did to Jesus?". It's not all that comforting to hear at the time, but it is the truth.

Which brings me to "Church". I never feel more alone, further from God, than in a "Church" service. I keep putting the word in inverted commas consciously. Tonight I walked out of our meeting during worship. I have nothing against my fellowship, and I know some of them read my blog, including the Pastor, so don't freak out at me ok :) This is not aimed at you, it's aimed at, well, all of us.

So why did I walk out? I never feel more alone, more isolated, than I do during a "Church" service. To my spirit, it is just the most foreign thing in the world. I am going to what some would call a post-modern Church. So exactly what is a post-modern Church? The number one word used in these circles would be "relevant". I tend to see the post-modern Church differently. To me, the post-modern Church is nothing more than a different color paint job on the same old rusting car. It looks new and shiny and people stare at it as it drives past. Inside though it's the same old bomb of a car. Nothing really has changed. We have a new language, a post-modern religion-free language, or so we think. Because it's not religion-free at all. In all eras, the language of religion has progressed, changed, morphed, and that is all that is happening here. It's change masquerading as change. Make sense?

So what does the perfect Church look like to me? It doesn't look like anything. I don't believe in a perfect expression of Church. What I crave is just pure authenticity. Community. Fellowship. Whatever happened to the model of the early Church? We know what it is, we talk about it often, but why then aren't we doing it? I am talking about the simple expression of meeting together in one another's houses. Sharing meals together. Breaking bread and sharing the cup together, what communion, or the eucharist is really about. Not pasteurized grape juice and a wafer. When are we going to just all sit in a circle a few people deep, and just share our lives with others. The eucharist teaches us to be broken and poured out for one another. When. When does this happen? I want to hear about my brother's pain. I have suffered, I know a little of this pain of life, and I know others are going through pain too, and I want to be there with them. I want to embrace, unconditionally, to love on them, to be there for them, to be Jesus to them. Our current Church structure is not an environment that encourages this. We are anti-community. We come to "Church", we sit, we stand we sit again, we probably stand again, then we smile at someone when inside we're hurting and wanting to cry out for help, but we can't. We just follow the program and come back next week for a slightly altered version of the same. Fresh paint, same car. Meanwhile my brother is hurting, and I want to be there for him, and he for me, but we never ever find ourselves in a place of security and intimacy where we can be vulnerable enough to say, hey, I need help.

It's right about now the pragmatist will put his hand up and protest. We have prayer cards where you can write needs down and a pastor will call you and pray with you. We have cell groups you can plug into. We have program xyz that meets your specific needs. And though people's motivations are surely sincere when they are creating such things, they just don't realize how they are simply exacerbating the very problem. The "Church" has had to resort to programs that foster community simply because the very model everything sits on, is not community. The attempt is artificial and doesn't work. The massive turnover of Church attendees is simple empirical evidence of this. We have resorted to tempting new people with coffee vouchers. There's just not a lot to compel them to stay. In fact, recently I looked through the online photo albums of a Church I used to attend about 2 years ago. I struggled to find a picture of anyone I even recognized let alone actually knew. In 2 years, a near 100% turnover. It's unfortunately becoming more typical.

Ok, some will say we need to stop looking at the negatives and focus on the positives. Well we can do that with Hitler and his 3rd Reich too, but it doesn't serve much purpose. To fix a problem, we need to know what they are. I can't have an operation to save my life if the Doctor does not first find out what is wrong with me and share with me the bad news. So tomorrow we'll look at some suggestions for surgery. Stay tuned.


UPDATE
After posting the above, I received an email. I am posting it here with their permission. May it encourage more conversation, send in your own experiences, and I will keep them anon if you wish. Email me, servant@ this domain, or use the comment link just below to the right.

I don't know what I would put on a blog if I had one. You are really willing to put yourself out there!

I have long been feeling exasperated with the church I attend. It is absolutely nothing like the one you are at. It's not at all modern. We are using the same hymnal from 1950 or something. And there are people attending who have been there for 40 years or better and it is very very small. But I don't think people really know each other that well. Or maybe people put you in a box, because they have made up their minds what you are like and that's it.

In my Sunday school the teacher often asks me to read because I am not afraid to pronounce the names. I feel like that is the extent of my being appreciated, and that maybe not even either, it may be resented.

There is a small group of people who gets together to eat after church and evidently at other times. I mostly have not been included in this group of several families. When I was included a few times I didn't really enjoy it.

I don't have any friends. Lately that has been bothering me very keenly. I have been crying constantly. Even in church. Does anyone ask me what's the matter? No. But, what if they did? I feel pretty pathetic. I wonder if it is my lot in life to spend my life alone most of the time? It's because something is wrong with me, I'm not good enough... I think somewhere out there is a place where someone would care... but maybe I am not being fair, do I care?

These are the thoughts that have been running through my mind lately.

The past year, 2007, has without any doubt been the hardest of my life. And in the truest sense of irony, the previous year was unquestionably the very best year of my life. I have learnt many lessons. I began by responding to certain circumstances in the most Godly way, only to lower myself and begin responding in a manner not worthy of my calling. To my friends I offer my apologies for that. Life's lessons never cease.

I recall Joyce Meyer once asking God why she was going through so much crap in her life when she believed God had shown her big amazing things for her life. God answered like this. Joyce, you asked for a lot, its going to cost you something, do you want it or not? Sometimes I feel way to familiar with that. In looking at the lives of so many people that have made a difference in their world, the price has usually been very very high. Greatness does not come without first going through the lowest of places and finding humility and selflessness. Only then, can God raise a man to great heights. And even then, it is His prerogative alone to do so. And He may not, but we can't allow that to hold us back us from a worthy obedience.

In the last few weeks, things have been seriously looking up. I met a person that God has given the same unique missions-vision as I have. This was exciting and inspiring. I have since taken the time to explain this unique concept in a flow chart diagram. If you're involved in missions or would be interested in helping to fund something very unique and very effective, ask me to send this to you.

I feel a lot lighter than I have in recent months. My prayer life that had seriously suffered, is again something I look forward to. The pain and the sorrow was all too real, yet it has taught me much. Much about the love of Christ for us. Much about Grace. About finding God in the midst of real pain. About how very few people are really your friends when it comes to the crunch. About how we in the ministry so often just pass those that are hurting over to some program or course instead of offering them what they really need, love, acceptance, belonging. And then in the most bitter reversal of the Gospel, it is God's own people, not the world, that rejects the love of our Lord and shuns and rejects, causing all the more pain and hurt. This, I have experienced first hand. It makes me embarrassed to say I am a Christian. Embarrassed about Jesus. oh no! Never. Embarrassed of others who call themselves, His.

If you have not read what I recently put on the front page of this site, let me paste it here for you.

I am not a Christian, I am simply one who has discovered there is a God that loves me and sent His Son Yeshua, Jesus, to this earth to teach us how we should live and give us hope for a future lived in harmony with Him through His perfect sacrifice. I find most who call themselves Christians to be the most horrible unconscionable people I meet. For the last several years I have associated almost exclusively with people in the "Church", and it has nearly killed me. In the last few months, I have associated almost exclusively with non-Christians, and it has truly been a revelatory experience. It has been a real eye opener. Indeed, I have found most non-believers to be walking through life in a closer image of how Jesus told us to love one another than many many believers I have met. Of course, there always exceptions.

I believe that.

I like your Christ.
I don’t like your Christians.
They are so unlike your Christ.
Ghandi

OK, this post is not turning into a Western Christian bashing post. Just read Tozer, Keith Green or others for that. I do feel though that I understand Ghandi's perspective in a new, real, first-hand way. If I shared my pain with a Christian, the response was usually something like, "You know God has a perfect plan for your life. Can I pray for you?" From non-believers I would usually get something like, "man, that's crap. Do you want to hang out on Wednesday? You know if you ever need anything..." And so I don't want this label anymore. "Christian". I want to be free from the labels. I AM free from the labels. I want to lean against the Lord as Peter did at Passover and just relax in the depth of that security. That's where it's found. Not in prayers, not in the Bible, not in Theology, but in Jesus. In Him. In Him. Its so simple, yet all my life, I have tried to understand this and failed, until now.

More later, I need to go...

At the start of our Summer DTS, I got the guys together to create a pledge to the girls in our DTS. YWAM Denver has strict rules on starting a romantic relationship during your DTS, and I wanted us to all honor those rules by getting our hearts together and writing our own pledge to the girls. The girls never knew we were doing this, but every night we would get together for prayer and repeat this out-loud. We all wrote some bits of this, but Eric Davis did such a fantastic job of his, that about 85% of the iPledge was his writing.

Fell free to use this for your own DTS altering ts as you see fit. It would give me a HUGE buzz to know someone else is using this, so send me an email and let me know if you do.


iPledge

We the men of the YWAM Denver Summer DTS pledge this before God and each other.

We pledge to honor all of you as our sisters in Christ and show our desire to be unified with you in one spirit, under the Lordship of Christ.

We pledge to respect you and not make inappropriate or sexist jokes that demean you.

As your brothers, we also desire to protect you - whether it be protecting your hearts or protecting you physically wherever we go.

We will pray for you continually, interceding for you all before our Father.

In addition, we promise to to be pure in thoughts, motives and actions toward each and every one of you and promise that we will not enter into a romantic relationship until the appropriate time at the end of DTS and then only at the Lord's leading.

We also desire to be strong leaders, leading by example and in humility in all that we do.

Moreover, we want to serve and encourage you all as Godly women, spurring you on to love and good deeds and making use of the unique gifts and abilities God has blessed you with.

Most importantly, we want to love each one of you in everything we do because of the love Christ first showed us.

This is our pledge. Amen.

So it's easy for you to get inside my head. You just have to read my blog. You can see I am pretty independent in my thoughts (I hope). I am not afraid of having opinions. So I speak pretty openly about myself and things I encounter in life. What about you though? Who are you? I get a lot of traffic on this site, and a lot of regular visitors who come back several times per week. Introduce yourself. Say hello and tell me a bit about yourself. I'd love to get to know you. Israel.

Hey, no posts for a few days. I went on a 3 day technology fast. Well, sort of. I still used my iPhone. Actually it was only because my laptop was in the shop being repaired. Was just to replace my wireless card which was acting up, but they broke something and then had to replace pretty much everything. Lucky it's all under warrantee.

OK, so expect something hopefully intelligent later today. More than likely I'll have something to say about Ron Paul whom I have been researching for the last week. This guy is on fire. More soon...

So I want to review more items. I am going to be adding them to my wish list, see the button in the sidebar. So here's what i thought I'd do. If there's something there you want, then why not send it to me, I'll review it, and then I'll send it on to you. Just a thought. And failing that idea, I think this year was the first year I have never received anything for my birthday, not even a card. What a sad indictment :(

Well, bad news came out today about the potential availability of iPhones in New Zealand. Vodafone has chosen not to negotiate with Apple over having the device. Seems a bit odd if you ask me seeing as Telecom just announced they will be rolling out their own GSM network in years to come. Vodafone runs the risk of losing the iPhone to Telecom. A move that would certainly pull Telecom back into the #1 spot for marketshare in New Zealand. Currently Vodafone has a small lead.

So, I thought, I have an Apple store about 10 minutes away, I know how to unlock the iPhones, so perhaps some of you New Zealanders would like an iPhone. I have bank account facilities in NZ still of course, and so I can make the transaction pretty smooth. I also have a friend in Auckland who could step in for me to make people feel safe. So, if you're in New Zealand and you want an iPhone, let me know, and we'll see what we can come up with. I know right now others in NZ are selling them at astronomical prices. Shoot me an email via my contact page, and REPLY to the anti-spam reply, and we can chat about it. I have a Vodafone SIM card here too, so I should be able to unlock it and confirm that it will work with Vodafone, though I would prefer to just sell you the phone unopened and let you do the unlocking.

Send me a hello via email or something, it will make my day :)

OK, I have this problem. I have a lot of time on my hands right now. I am going to be volunteering with several agencies here, but still I will have lots of time, and not a lot of ministry opportunity right now, so I want to study. I am already studying Hebrew, and really enjoying it. It is much easier than I thought. It is my hope that within 2 years I will be able to read, speak and write Biblical Hebrew. Then I have a desire to attend Jerusalem University and do a more advanced course in Hebrew. But I am also purchasing and wanting to purchase more resources. I prefer audio books to the printed variety. I tend to "read" them much faster and remember much more. So I thought of this. Why don't I sell them as used item on my blog once I am done with them! So this I am going to do. Once I have read a particular item, I will list it for sale right here, and you can buy it at a reduced priced from a new item. I have a lot of readers, so I am sure I will have no trouble in this. So tomorrow, I will list a few of the items I have already purchased, have here and am done with. Good job! Then I can afford to buy more, study mote, learn more! So I'm helping you and you're helping me.

Putting Chai on the back burner. Well, the Chai tea idea was nice, but there lies no commercial viability. I did my research, and Chai tell isn't exactly flying off the shelves. Americans are generally happy with the type of Chai that Starbucks sells, which is really so far from the real thing I'm surprised India hasn't launched a law suite. No offense Starbucks, love your coffee, but your Chai is crap.

So, I'll keep making my very own Chai from amazingly fresh spices, but sorry, you won't be able to buy it in your WholeFoods anytime soon. The market for genuine Chai tea just isn't real big.

So next... who knows...

One of the people I have longed to meet in life went home this morning. Gosh, I'm a little shattered. Kennedy lead a massive Presbyterian Church in Florida. I loved his sermons. Though he dressed in very traditional garb, his messages were as cutting edge as my friend Winkie Pratney. Kennedy understood the sciences and philosophy like few others, and used this knowledge the strengthen the faith of many, including me. I absolutely loved this man.

There's an excellent video of his life story right here.

“Now, I know that someday I am going to come to what some people will say is the end of this life. They will probably put me in a box and roll me right down here in front of the church, and some people will gather around, and a few people will cry. But I have told them not to do that because I don’t want them to cry. I want them to begin the service with the Doxology and end with the Hallelujah chorus, because I am not going to be there, and I am not going to be dead. I will be more alive than I have ever been in my life, and I will be looking down upon you poor people who are still in the land of dying and have not yet joined me in the land of the living. And I will be alive forevermore, in greater health and vitality and joy than ever, ever, I or anyone has known before.”
D. James Kennedy, Ph.D.

I was looking on a local Denver website tonight to see what opportunities that might have for me to volunteer in some way. I found there was a lot of need. So I got thinking... I want to let people know about the opportunities overseas, but what about locally? It makes perfect sense doesn't it. So tomorrow I will be contacting as many care agencies as I have time to and I hope they'll let me come and document what they are doing. Maybe I can get it published in the local papers too. If you would like to help me with by keeping me covered in your prayers, I would appreciate that.

I am looking for an experienced software coder for a project.

You must have experience with Mac OS X & Windows. Experience with XBox 360 and PS3 is advantageous.
You will have had experience in C, C#, C++ and Java. Experience with machine code, Objective C, Cocoa and the XCode environment is advantageous.
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Please email me through my contact form.

Well well well. Over the weekend, I allowed ALL the spices I bought to brew. This afternoon I filtered the solution. The result? An incredibly concentrated Chai extract made from very fresh spice. I diluted it incredibly into some black tea, and it was just amazing.

So now I am going to spend some time this week looking at the health regulations in Colorado, a commercial kitchen for rent/hire/lease, plastics suppliers, and interested vendors. If everything comes together, I will hopefully have this Chai spice extract on shelves. Already, what I have made here in my kitchen is superior to all the other products I have found. Others are selling Chai extract for about $1.20 a serving. My gosh, they are making some real money considering I could make this for about 15 cents per serving in a full commercial operation, wild guesstimate though I must admit. The product itself would cost about 3 to 4 cents per serve. I could either sell a much higher quality product at the same price, or compete on price AND quality.

Like most of the little ideas I try though, it's unlikely to make it to market. There's always so much red tape on food products. But maybe Colorado is different. We'll see. I have one thing in my favor, in that there is no entrenched product in the marketplace that I would need to target as serious competition. I think this could work.

I spent $18 and got more spice than I will use in 3 months. Very cheap, and it get significantly cheaper the more you buy. I have never encountered spices so fresh. The cinnamon hardly smells like cinnamon. Very strong. So I recommend this shop if you're in Denver. They have lots of nice pre-made spices too.

Tonight I have a date. Tomorrow I have a date too. And actually Monday I have another date. Is that bad? It must be the accent! :)

So sometime tomorrow I will make a Chai mixture and see about making a concentrate for commercial production. In bulk volume, the spices I bought today should cost me about $4. Yes, FOUR dollars. So this could be quite a lucrative product if I can extract the flavors well and create something people like. I hope my room mates don't mind the entire house smelling like Chai :)

Savory Spice Shop
1537 Platte Street
Denver, CO 80202
Ph: (303) 477-3322

Well put up your hand if you've ever tried Chai Tea. Chai Tea, which considering chai is Hindi for tea, meaning it's Tea Tea, is a delicious blend of so-called sweet spices and black tea. It's made very creamy, and in India the milk is often boiled until caramelized. What's crazy, is that I just can't find the authentic spices. No. I can only find it premixed, in tea bags or more commonly, syrup or concentrate. Even my favorite shop in the whole world, Whole Foods Market, does not sell just the spices. but they do sell the spices individually in their bulk spice section. here in this photo you can see what I bought.



Here we have Cinnamon Sticks, Star Anise, Cardamon Pods, Ground Ginger Root, Ground Nutmeg, Whole Cloves and very course Ground Pepper. These go into a pot of water, get boiled for 15-30 minutes, and then strained to make my own genuine Chai Tea extract. I think though that I am not extracting as much flavor as I thought I would. I may need to let it brew overnight.

At Whole Foods they recommended I go to a shop called the Savory Spice Shop. I just Googled them. They sell pre-mixed spice for Chai. But using some interesting ingredients that I have not found in traditional recipes. I will get some of their spices today and give it a go. Hopefully I can find these spices cheap enough that this will not have to be a luxury item. I think right now the Chai extract cost me about $3.00, and should be enough for 5 cups of Chai Tea. That's not expensive, but I would like to get it cheaper still so i can enjoy it every day without guilt.

My passions in life are many, but one thing that really captures my heart is photography. In preparation for my trip to India and Nepal, I bought a Nikon d40x. Nikon's cheapest Digital SLR camera. Cheap though it is, it takes extremely good shots, and the 18-135mm lens I got with it is very versatile. So already I have been putting it to use. I am slowly building a stock library which should produce some long term, small, but residual, income. The direction I am heading in though is photo-journalism. I have received much encouragement to pursue this. I am thinking along these kind of lines...

The short: If I could document care-work around the world, it would draw more people to get out of their 1st world comforts and go help those less fortunate.
The long: Initially I will need to pay my own way. The hope would be that care agencies would see the value in my work and employ me to travel to their missions, help out myself (I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty), train people in how to document what they are doing digitally and inexpensively so they have something they can do themselves, in other words, do myself out of a job (there's more than enough care-work around to last a lifetime of documenting), bring back to the west exciting footage both still photos and in High Definition Video of what it's like, and the needs that exist. Now that's one long run-on sentence. You get the idea?

So please pray for me in this won't you. God has given me skills that could really be used to benefit a lot of people, and that's exactly why I believe He gave them to me.

Well I'll be around the USA for the next little while, my trip to India fell through at the last moment. I am now done with school so I have time to get the rest of the Old Testament online on the iPhone Bible and a few more select Christian Classics.

I am also now available to speak here in the states. I have been putting together a wonderful message of hope for young people that includes my testimony, which can be found here, and combines stunning multimedia and amazing information that shows how we did not evolve from apes but were created by a loving God that has a purpose for our lives. This is a message for TODAY! Don't hesitate to ask for more info.

Israel.

Some interesting visitors to me blog lately. Not people I expected to see looking at my blog. So hello to you all! Welcome.

This morning we made a short film. It was just a bunch of us mucking around, but it was fun. The plot was Jason Bourne tracking down Rob Bell to find out who Jesus was. We had a blast. I will put some of the video up on YouTube soon'ish.

While in India and Nepal, I am planning to try some ways to stay healthy. If you're not aware, most missionaries get sick when they hit the mission field. I am not sure I can prevent sickness, but I am going to try an limit the impact. I am using pro-biotics, which are good bacteria that stays in your gut and will hopefully build a strong defense against bad bacteria. It is said that your gut is 90% of your immune response. I am also taking some powerful digestive enzymes. These will break down food my body is unfamiliar with. And then I am taking a daily multivitamin, which may sound basic, but very important. I am taking a personal water purifier built into a water bottle. It is a true purifier, not just a filter. There are other basic things we can do as well. never ever touch your face with your hands. Don't share cups, utensils etc. Inevitably though I will get sick, so all these efforts are simply to try and not get hit so hard and to recover as fast as possible. Of course, prayer is a major component too since not all sickness is from bacteria or virus.

I am hoping to create a lot of video and take a lot of photos of where I am going. I will also be teaching some multi-media skills such as photography, video editing and web design to some people in India who have requested this. I now have a video camera to take with me, and I am still needing a digital SLR camera. Please consider helping me with this need.

Ok, I am going to try to keep blogging more and more. so i am in the flow of things before I leave for India. Look for hopefully daily updates.

This training is so intense, I am left with so little personal time.

I am having the privilege of learning from some of the greatest teachers in the world. It is expensive to come here, but they do not muck around with their choice of teachers. This week we have Dean Sherman. We're learning much about spiritual warfare this week. Not one of my favorite topics, but it is fascinating. In weeks gone by, we have learnt about the Father heart of God and His incredible love for us. I have learnt much about not getting my identity fro the things I do, my skills or my giftings, but instead, finding my identity as a child of God, a beloved son, and adopted heir.

All next week we'll be at another campus high up in the mountains. I don't seem to be able to handle high elevations very well, which will be a pain in Nepal when I'm near My Everest in the Himalayas, but at least Kathmandu where I will be based is lower than where I'll be next week.

Hey guys, I need a camera. I keep forgetting to let you all know. I want to take a digital SLR to India in order to take good photos to show people where I have been, what it's like there and so forth so that it will encourage others to go and share love with these people. Someone please lend me a camera for 3 months. :) Being a bit direct, but it's for a very good cause. :)

OK, I will keep my blogging software open I think and try to get back to daily blogging. Israel.

This week has been fantastic. We (my missionary training school) have had one of the kindest most gentle men I have met, to teach us about one of the most controversial people in the universe. The Ruach HaKodesh. That's the Holy Spirit for those not on a learn-the-Hebrew-words-for-everything trip :) Actually, it is my goal to walk more by faith and hopefully make it to Jerusalem University to learn Hebrew. And hopefully sooner than later.

This week I have been very challenged to not lay down the goals and visions that I believe the Lord has given to me over the years. And I have. I have become so utterly exhausted by the enemy's attack on my life, that many of the dreams and repeated prophetic words that I have received over the years, have just been dropped by the side of the road as I roll into the ditch. I have given up. I am tired of fighting. In one of the Apostle Paul's letters to Timothy, a young Pastor of the early Church he writes, "Timothy, my child, I’m giving you this order about the prophecies that are still coming to you: Use these prophecies in faith and with a clear conscience to fight this noble war." That's advice I need to take to heart. I have stopped fighting for too many good things in my life, and I have suffered much loss because of it. So pray for me won't you, that I will find new strength and courage to pursue the calling God has placed on my life. I think I'll do a video blog about this.

Well it's 3 weeks until we go to India. We are all extremely excited. We all feel such an incredible expectancy that this short missionary journey will bare much genuine fruit. We are not going as arrogant people that think they have it all together and must bring this knowledge and power to others to make ourselves feel better. instead, we go in humility, to learn, to lend a helping hand, and to bring joy into people's lives. In the process, I am positive the same thing we want to bring to others, is exactly what we will receive ourselves. Ahh... The Kingdom at work.

Here is our school photo for you all. That's me kneeling down, far right, dark red shirt. The good-looking guy! :)


My plan is to come back and do some volunteer work and then go through an intensive 3-month ministry training school, and then continue to do more outreaches. I have a passion for Israel and Africa.

If you have never considered becoming one of my financial supporters, please pray about it. You can find more info here.

In less than 4 weeks I'll be in India, and from there, Nepal. It's an exciting time of preparation and training right now. I plan to radically step up my video blogging and normal text blogging as well. Keep me in your prayers.

It's been far too long, sorry folks.

I have so much news, but so little time to share.

I am in training for a 3 month outreach to India and Nepal in August. There's an incredible amount of preparation before going. It is my aim to bring the love of Christ into the lives of as many as I can. I will have my video blogs update from India and Nepal too. Expect to see some interesting footage. Please pray for this won't you.

It's funny isn't, how we so often need to rely on God just to get through each day. One way I do, is in social interaction. Now, this is something I have had to explain to a few people lately, so I thought I would tell everybody on my blog, since I bet many others feel the same way, and although I do not have a solution, it can be at least very comforting to know that someone else has the same struggles as you do.

So this is very revealing. I have a social anxiety complex. In other words, I find it extremely difficult to make new friends because one of the hardest things for me to do, is be with others in a social setting where I don't know anyone, or only know one or two. The fear of this scenario is more than enough to keep me from going to social gatherings, parties, cell groups, even Church, for fear that I will look like Nigel-no-friends, and end up walking out and going home to read a book, simply because I am unable to just walk up to someone and start a conversation with someone I don't know.

For some of you, this would seem crazy. Just walk up to someone and introduce yourself, you might say. Well, if only it was that easy. For me, there's a strange paradox here. You see, I am gifted by God to communicate "Him" to a hurting world. I can stand up in front of any number of people, let it be 10 or 10,000 and speak about Him. When I do this, I am in my element. I am at home. I feel so comfortable talking about God, that I would give up anything to be able to do just that. I just love it. So there lies the paradox. How can I get up in front of hundreds and speak without even getting an adrenaline rush, and yet to be invited over to a gathering of 6-10 people strikes such incredible fear in my heart. Honestly, I don't know.

What I do know is that the fear is very real. What I also know is that others feel this same way. Ok, maybe God has not gifted you to speak in front of hundrds, but you still know what it's like to have this crazy fear of being around people you don't know. And it has this other side effect, some people will think you're just weird. Been there, done that, got the T-Shirt. Who is this Israel guy? Know one really knows him. He never seems to talk to anyone. Is he just here to perve on the girls? LOL. Hey, I might laugh, but it's my first-hand experience. I have been left out of things, purposefully not invited, seen as weird slash mysterious, all because of an inability to make new friends. Making friends is a powerful social skill that some of us just don't have. And those that can, just don't understand what it's like to not have such an ability. A Pastor I knew once would always say, if you don't have any friends, it's your own fault, just start being friendly. Sigh. Sometimes those without a pastor's heart end up being Pastors.

But wait, it gets worse. So someone spots Mr Nigel-no-friends and feels they should go talk to them. Hi, you're Israel right? Israel then launches into a breakdown of the Torah's sacrificial requirements of the Messiah and why the crucifixion had to happen the way it did and why the Jewish High Priests........ LOL... Yes, great way to make a new friend Israel. So I go from no conversation to an intensity that is sure to just freak out all but the most gifted Pastoral-hearted individuals :) Those of you that know me are probably grinning from ear to ear by now, if not rolling around on the floor laughing. Yep, that's our Israel :)

So if I can't give others that suffer from this, any solution, at least know that you're not alone! It's something I have struggled with my entire life. For me, there's little more challenging in life than making a new friend. I would rather chew on razor blades. Be my friend though, and watch someone who knows how to be truly loyal and keep absolute confidence. I generally find that the few friends I have are fiercely loyal to me once they have seen who I truly am.

If I don't have a solution to those that suffer from this, then allow me to give advice to those that do not. Keep an eye out for Nigel-no-friends. Walk up to him/her and introduce yourself. Smile. Make them feel welcome, comfortable, and most of all, un-judged. Don't be afraid of their intensity. Encourage them and let them know you want to get to know them better, and actually mean it, and do something practical about it. I try to do this to others as much as possible, that I spot, that are in the same boat as me. One tell-tale sign, is a person that only seems to hang around with older people, or their superiors. Go up to that person and invite them to join your group for lunch. Keep them by your side, and include them in your conversations. Make them feel part of the group.

I am very blessed that there's a couple of guys in my life right now that have befriended me, and are always inviting me to hang out with them, and they even come over just to hang out with me. That makes me feel very special, and is helping me come out of my shell. Thanks guys! I really appreciate it.

So if you're one that has no trouble making friends, look out for the Israels in this world who do. Not only might you radically change a life without much effort at all, you'll be doing this all to Jesus, who said clearly, that what you do to the very least of mine, you've done to me. Let's make sure Jesus is invited next time.

Shalom!

Some of my passions in life. In no particular order.

Oysters. Let me be more specific. South Pacific Rock Oysters or the famous and best-in-the-world Bluff Oyster from New Zealand. YUM!
Technology. The Apple iPhone has got to be the most incredible thing ever invented. It's hard to believe such a device exists in 2007.
The Word of God. The Holy Scriptures preserved through the centuries. The wisdom and revelation of God within the words of this collection of ancient writings can only be described as miraculous and Divine.
Marriage. The covenant that God gave to us, foundational to everything else in society. Marriage is a revelation of our relationship to our Creator. I am convinced that in marriage we learn more about God than any other way.
Raising Kids. Only in the last few years has this passion simply erupted within me. I have structured my life so that I can be a full time father to my kids. So looking forward to it. Anyone care to help me out with this one and the previous one? :)
Egg yolks. Raw. Crack an egg, separate the white from the yolk, and drop down the yolk. Oh man, that was good.
Red wine. People that get drunk on wine are horrible people :) How could you devalue something so precious. Red wine has so many Kingdom connections too. Australian Cabernet Sauvignon is the best. Penfolds 407! Oh my!
Animals. From sheep to Cockatoos and everything in between. I'm the one that dogs come to after their owner says they don't ever come to a stranger. I love them, they love me. Ohhh..... :)
Rain. So refreshing. I love the smell of rain. I love to sleep all day when it's raining outside. Leaves me feeling so charged up.
Coffee. Genuine Italian espresso made with fresh beans, pure water and lots of attention to detail.
Music. Genre is not as important as the spirit that comes through the sounds.
Worship. To abandon one's self to the care of the Father and just let go and worship with everything within. To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
Flight. Whether as a pilot or a passenger, I simply never tire of the thrill of taking off and being airborne. Love it.
Sand. Pure golden blonde sand squishing between your toes. Australia's Bondi Beach is amazing.
Bundaberg Ginger Beer. It's not alcoholic, but it is genuinely brewed from stem Ginger and is not filtered, so it's cloudy.
The Gospel. The good news that Jesus came to turn this world around and point us back towards the Garden and give us eternal life. Thank you.
Sunsets. Recently I have stopped shooting them, so I can just enjoy them.

It has been progressively eating away at my conscious lately. That is, my apathy towards the poor. Now I am no rich dude, but I have a lot more than a lot of people. And perhaps it's not just money these people need, but friendship, love, acceptance. I am curious to learn how my readers respond to this too. Will you share the ways you reach out to the poor and less fortunate. It's time for me to do something, I just don't know what. Start throwing some ideas at me.

We were both 13. Her name was Angela (The same Angie that sometimes posts comments on my blog), my high school crush and during a conversation at the school bus stop I asked her what she was doing on the weekend. Going to Church? Hmm... I had been to Church on many occasions, but it never had any meaning. That was all about to change. I was late, traveling by bus is not an exact science in Auckland, something that's true to this day. I got a shock as I approached the building. "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints". Oh, oh, my experiences with them were not pleasant. It turned out that this Church simply used an old Mormon publishing warehouse for their premises.

The name of the Church was North Shore Faith Centre, a non-denominational church on the North Shore of Auckland. I was too intimidated to enter the front doors, so finding a rear entrance, I entered. I remember what happened next like it just happened. Approaching plain white doors, wedged open, I took a step into the main auditorium and my world changed forever. I stopped. It was as if I was suddenly in a trance. My eyes swept over the crowds an then to the speaker on the stage, Pastor John Steele, when a voice within spoke to me as clear as anything I could have hear with my natural ears and spoke, "Israel, I will have you doing this for me one day".

I am not even sure if I made a decision to follow this previously unknown God that had just called me, but within weeks I was baptised, listening to Petra :) and being discipled by Mark ???? from the Church, and sharing his house with Dean Rush, now the Pastor of Christian City Church, Auckland. Mark ????, if you ever read this, please contact me, I've been looking for you for a long time.

Just some old stuff. Go to My Right Eye to see them.

Like Winkie Pratney, I'm a science junkie. Today is the Hubble space telescope's 17th birthday, and Nasa has released some simply stunning photos taken by it, like this one below showing stars being born. Click here to view more.

I arrived in New Zealand on a cold windy day, the rain was at a 45 degree angle