I miss you...

Lately I've been hearing a lot of talk about missing people. I guess it has to do with the season. Its made me think again about missing people. I don't know why and I don't understand it but I don't miss people. I don't miss people. I used to miss my family all the time as a child. I remember crying myself to sleep in Iceland missing my grandparents and then in converse I would cry myself to sleep when I was in France missing my parents. I've spent my entire life (save one Christmas when we were all together) away from someone I love. This is not something I'm bitter about, just a reality I've lived with for 26 years. I don't know anything different. And now that I live in Greece I'm away from my entire family and friends all the time. Also working with Hellenic Ministries I've seen a lot of people come and go. Some I have come to love and others whom I've merely enjoyed their company, but everybody eventually leaves... or I leave. As a result of this knowledge I don't invest myself fully in the people who are around me making the separation easier. I think this is a TCK trait. I've heard other TCKs say that. I'll be open and cheerful to everybody and I love people easily but I don't allow the roots to go too deep. Maybe it's not real love then? I don't know. Yet I would do anything for a friend in need.

All I know is that I live in the moment. I cherish my past and look forward to the future when I can be reunited with friends and family. To love, speak and cry together once again. Leaving was easy when I was younger as I knew I'd be back soon but now it has become a difficult thing for me as I never know when I'll be back to a specific place. Also a reality I face every time I leave is the question of whether or not this is the last time I see a person. Especially for my family as they are not believers. That reality scares me more than anything. When I leave believers I have no doubt that I'll see them again and take solace that we'll have all eternity together. But when I leave a place I'll experience excruciating pain and cry a while but then it's over and I go back to the phone. I take comfort and solace in a digital image and VoIP. And then it's all about the moment again. What I'm doing now. Yesterday was wonderful, today is amazing and I never know what tomorrow will hold.

I'll have nostalgic moments like everybody else but they are only fleeting moments. If I want to talk to somebody I know I can always pick up the phone and call. Facebook and Skype have made it easy. If I think of someone I go to their facebook page and drop them a quick line. Or I use skype to call. The internet has made the world even smaller than before... something I'm infinitely thankful for.

Please whoever you are friend, know that I love you. This does not mean that our friendship is any less real or deep. It just means I have a coping mechanism that is different from yours. If I allowed myself to miss anybody I would have to miss everybody and I don't know if I could cope with that.

A weekend of disasters

I'm part of the Morning Star crew. I go up on weekends to take care of teams that want to come for a night or two on board. This includes cooking and taking care of the basic needs.

This time was no different except that our team was a group of 20 teenagers and Neil, their youth group leader. Piece of cake, right? Except for one little detail... the boat is made to cater to groups no bigger than 16 people... including the crew. In this instance we had 24 people including crew... as you can imagine that might create certain... challenges. The first is getting such a large team up to the boat. Everything was organized. We were going to load everybody up into three vans. Jed was supposed to drive a van we've lovingly dubbed the 'Brown Bomber' while I was supposed to drive HM's van and Neil would drive his. So far so good...

The day started off great. I got all my work done and left the office in good time to make it to the Bible School by 17:00, which was our meeting point. As I drove into the parking lot I noticed that the HM van was nowhere to be seen. This didn't worry me at first as the 'Brown Bomber' was there and no Jed so I just assumed that Jed was on his way with the other van. 17:15 and Jed was still not there. As I was about to call him one of the kids told me that he was inside. Now I was worried. Jed came out and looked utterly bewildered at the fact that I didn't have the HM van o.O uuuuhhhh What?!?!?! Since Andrew was supposed to have made sure the van was there, I called him. When I told him what was going on all I could hear was silence and then an "Oh shoot!" A few phone calls later we found out that the van was actually at Alex's. So we piled everybody into the two available vans and my car and drove up there. We switched cars and everything was great again.

We all left in convoy, Neil at the head followed by Jed and then me. At a t-junction Neil turned left but Jed having arrived moments later turned right! And since I was following Jed I turned right. As we arrived at the bottom of a hill Jed called me and told me he had no idea where Neil was and which way to go. So we called Neil and found out that he was back at Alex's and waiting for us there! He'd realized he lost us and turned back. Well, we had a slight detour to make as the street we were on didn't allow for any left- or U-turns. We were forced to drive down a ways before we could turn back. 15min later we got back to Alex's. At this point we were an hour behind schedule, not great since we like being on time. We drove down some back roads and picked up another kid at a fuel station. Finally we were on the road! An hour and a half behind schedule! Oh well.

We got to the boat and while Andrew and Jed were getting the team settled I started cooking. Jed had done the shopping and told me that I was to make hot dogs and french fries... except he had forgotten the fries. No problem! We had a whole bunch of instant mash potatoes on board and so I just planned on cooking that instead. As I was poring the powder into the boiling water I noticed something crawling around in it. There were bugs in our instant mash!!! Shoot! That went overboard! Upon inquiry Jed told me that there wasn't supposed to be any salad with this meal. So I had no salad, no fries, no mashed potatoes and 20 hungry teenagers with only two hot dogs per person. Andrew and I looked at each other and said, 'pop corn!' So that's what we did. We served hot dogs with pop corn. The kids had a field day with it. They were putting them in their buns and just really enjoyed themselves. Few! Saved. After dinner, when I finally got to my stuff and found the menu I realized that I was supposed to have made a salad with the meal!!!! Which, as Andrew said, would have made it a meal! What else could go wrong???

After dinner the team decided to go for a swim! It was 1 am, freezing cold outside, in the middle of November! They were crazy!!! Well if Neil said it was fine, it was fine with us. I boiled some water so that the kids could at least rinse off with something warm. As I was getting the bucket ready I accidentally pored boiling water on my hand... AAAHHH! The rest of my evening was spent with my hand in a bucket of cold water. Later that evening as I was trying to fall asleep my hand felt like it was on fire, quite literally. I tossed and turned till 4:30 trying to 'forget' about my hand. By the end, in total desperation and in an attempt to forget the burning sensation, I started playing video games on my cell phone. Hallelujah it worked. I finally fell asleep at around 4:45.

Breakfast was perfect. We compensated beautifully for the previous night's dinner. Neil led us in devotions and then I got started on lunch. I must admit that I'd never cooked for such a large team on board before. Cooking spaghetti for 24 people in a small kitchen is not as easy as it sounds.... I burned the pasta. Who burns pasta?!?!?! For crying out loud! Praise the Lord we had a second team coming the next day and Jed had done shopping for both teams at the same time. I grabbed the next day's pasta and cooked that instead... in two pots. Needless to say lunch was an hour late. LOL! Praise the Lord, this was the last thing that went wrong as we left an hour later... LOL

So we all messed up at some point that weekend but as a team we worked great together and kept things together. We had a blast and in the end we have a great story to tell! :D If you actually read the entire story, I'm impressed and hope you enjoyed it :o)

The unexamined life is not worth living...

So many times we go through life without ever stopping to think abut it. We just go through the motions and don't stop. I am as guilty of this as the next person. So many times I wish I would take the time to breath. To take the time and look around me, to notice God's beauty all around me. To take the time to stop and frame that perfect shot and thus hold a memory in my hand for time to come. To take the time to write down my thoughts. To take the time to go for a coffee with a friend every once in a while. Why is it that we always need to be running to the next thing? Why do we always need to be productive? We have lost the art of being silent. We need the noise. We come home and the first thing we do is put on the TV or the radio just to have some background noise drowning out the silence for fear that the silence would take over. What is it that we don't like about being silent, of stopping to think a little, to breath, to fully appreciate life and the things we have been given to enjoy? Is it because we would then have to finally face ourselves? Face who we truly are? Face the pain? The regret? The sorrows? The brokenness? Or is it the need to keep going, to never stop for fear of being left behind. The world is moving so quickly we barely see it. It becomes a blur as we travel through it. I want to slow down, to enjoy, to savor life but I don't know how to. How, when I've been running for so long, do I stop running? How do I start pacing, strolling through life again? I want to breath. I want to stop and feel the sunshine on my face. I want to stop in the middle of the street when it's pouring rain and feel the raindrops on my face. I want to live, to love, to laugh, to savor life. I want to learn the art of being silent, of examining my life, of savoring it. One of my favorite verses is "Be still and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10 - Lord this is my desire, to worship You, to be still before you, to know You more and more each day. Teach me to be still before You and know that You are God.

A normal visit to the chiropractor.... or is it?

Ok so, I never realize how rich my life truly is until I start explaining it to a total stranger. Around HM'ers we all know each other, we come from various places and facilitate the Sports Camps, the Morning Star, Worship Events, etc.... we travel and basically work for the Kingdom.... and then they all know that I'm crazy and that I do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. BUT explaining all that to a person who's never met you before might be slightly overwhelming... slightly. So tonight I went to see a chiropractor. I dislocated my shoulder in August while wrestling with the guys on the barge... I know, I know but it was fun... and basically wanted him to set it right again. Plus I wanted him to have a look at my ankle from when I hurt in South Africa and my wrist - this is where things get complicated. So here I am explaining all my cases; I dislocated my shoulder for the first time while swimming as a child but again during a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class as an adult (at this point the guy snickers an okey - realizing, I think, for the first time what kind of a patient I am...) where another chiropractor set it back in its place. My ankle, I hurt badly during BJJ practice, I went to see another chiropractor, while in South Africa and he set it back in place. His specialty was ankles so I know he did a good job, I just want you to check it and see how it's doing. Now my wrist I've had chronic problems with. I used to get carpal tunnel syndrome really bad as a kid but my chiropractor in France - at this point I look up realizing what I've just said and sheepishly say "yeah I travel quite a bit" and then keep on going - told me that it was linked to my elbows. At this point the doctor (who by the way was raised in America so speaks perfect English) asks me where I'm from because he can't place my accent! Oh boy!!!! Well my mom is French, my dad is English and I was raised in Iceland.......... and I wait for it........... ICELAND! What is it like there? The classic question... if I had a cent for every time anybody asked me that question I could fly first class everywhere! So nicely I smile and give him the load down on Iceland... beautiful, no, no, there truly is no ice, quite barren landscape and definitely worth the visit....  we talk about Björk and then move on. As he's putting my body back together he asks me when I get pain in my shoulder - to which I reply.... well when I was hoisting the sail - stop - .... oh yeah I sail..... LOL oh boy! The poor guy can only say, why am I not surprised! LOL anyway so we move on to my elbow and he asks how I hurt my elbows to which he answers the question himself... wait was it while you were running away from the bulls in Spain??? LOL No, but probably from Tennis or working with the horses..... LOL by the end of the session he asking me if a fly quite a bit and asks if I might not be a pilot by any chance... LOL at least he had a good sense of humor about it all :D (If he only knew the rest...)

To us it's everyday life. It's how we've grown up. It's our pasts and our present. It's who we are. It's mundane. To everybody else... it's an amazing life. I guess it's moments like these where I realize that we truly do live amazing lives. That our lives aren't necessarily ordinary, even though to us they do feel like it because that's what we know.

For all of this I simply want to say; thank you Lord for having blessed me so richly! :o)

Christ in you, the hope of glory

Ryan Lobo photography: War and Forgiveness

I just watched Ryan Lobo's TED video and subsequently read his blog. What he tells is a fascinating story, one that includes man's desire for oblivion over humanity's misery.

War enjoys exciting press in our storytelling tradition. Photographs of men firing guns and charging forward make for great selling visuals. A Pandora’s box of pestilence, humiliation, rape, egos’, NGO’s, poverty and intensely debated editorials read by people too far away most of the time, usually do not. Our headlines are normally readable. Our images are often of the ordinary and the obvious. They reinforce our worldview and our view of ourselves. We can remain comfortable, removed from violence and its responsibility whether its 75 policemen butchered in a forest in North India or the disregard for "tribal" lives over generations. After all we are normal and ordinary people deserving of justice and the right to live peacefully.

In other words we want to watch "heroes" fight versus to poverty. Why? I believe there is this innate need for us to see people fighting for what is right (or for what we perceive to be right) versus to seeing a person struggle because of poverty. The one takes us out of ourselves whereas the other reminds us of our daily struggles. One could argue that the struggles we have in the western world are nothing compared to what some nations and people in the world go through but that's an entirely different subject. The truth is, everybody struggles in his or her own way. Everybody has felt needs, whether emotional or physical. Watching somebody do something about it - such as fighting - might give us the feeling that we too can do something about our situations... please don't go around shooting people though! Whereas watching a person bound by poverty might not inspire us as much and even, heaven forbid, make us feel bad... are we egocentric or what?! Our human nature cries out for something that we can hold on to, something that will encourage us, something that will keep us going. In our carnal nature we turn within, making ourselves semi gods trying to convince ourselves that we've got everything under control even though we know deep down inside this couldn't be farther from the truth. Or we turn without, placing our happiness in other people's hands, desperately longing to hear a kind word, a compliment or an encouragement. I mean, what good is the semi god status if we have nobody there to worship us, right?

Lobo then goes on to tell a fascinating story about a warlord called General Butt Naked, so called because, as the name suggests, he used to fight naked. This man claims to have killed, single-handedly, over 10,000 people in Liberia's civil war, as well as using child soldiers to accomplish his atrocious crimes. The fascinating part of the story is what happens to this man as he becomes a Christian. He turns his life around, changes his name to Joshua and starts going around Liberia preaching the gospel to the people he once terrorized. He has gone back to those very people of whom he killed family members, tortured and who knows what else, and has asked for their forgiveness. Lobo expected him to get killed right away but the inexplicable happened, people have forgiven and are forgiving him. His life is now dedicated to helping and bettering the lives of the very children who were once in his army as well as preaching the gospel! I never cease to be amazed by the power the message of grace has on a person's life. This man, who killed thousands of people, is now an ambassador for Christ and advocating His message of love and peace. People aren't only listening to him, they're responding favorably to him by forgiving him! This is an amazing story of redemption, of how the Lord can take something so evil and twisted and make it into something wholesome and beautiful.

There is only one thing that we can hold on to in this ever changing world of ours. No it is not ourselves; we don't have things under control. No it is not others; people will always let you down no matter how loving they are to you today (one just needs to be married in order to know that!). The one thing that we can hold on to, the one thing that will never let us down, the one security we have in this crazy world is the Lord. Lodo said:

If someone as atrocious as the general can attempt to redeem himself, regardless of whatever idea of justice prevails or its execution and regardless of the good or bad opinion of anyone, there is hope.

The general didn't redeem himself, Christ did. He'll probably be the first one to tell you that! Redemption doesn't come from within. We can't just one day decide "Today I'm redeeming myself!" No, redemption comes from without. It is given to us freely by Christ. He died a horrible death so that people like us and General Butt Naked could one day turn our lives around and start living wholesome and meaningful lives. Lives that will echo into eternity for Christ's glory.

Christ's sacrifice on the cross, therein lies our hope.

Cockroach Trouble

OK so can I say that I absolutely hate cockroaches??? I know that hate is a strong word but what can I say... if I don't hate them then I really, really, really, really seriously dislike them.

OK so here I am, in all my innocence, about to go to bed. It's late like 2:30 in the morning, its been a long day and all I want to do is go to bed. I walk into my kitchen, which is right by my bed, to find a cockroach on my counter. Those things, unfortunately but for good cause (since most people seriously dislike them), are fearful creatures. In the 3 seconds it takes me to bend down and get my very efficient cockroach spray, its crawled under my kitchen cupboard! In one of only two cracks between my floor and the cupboard. Well, with all my haste, I start spraying profusely under the cupboard hoping, in vain I might add since the space under there, once under, is quite vast, to kill it with my spray. Semi satisfied (but more hopeful) I continue getting ready for bed. Walking through the kitchen a second time, I see my little enemy on the other side of the kitchen by the second crack between the cupboard and floor. Again by the time I start spraying it, the stupid thing has escaped under the cupboard again! Did I ever mention that those things are FAST! I keep on spraying in the crack, again hoping to kill it. I then quickly grab two towels and stuff them in those two cracks... stupid I know since cockroaches have an uncanny way of getting places they're not supposed to but hey in my defense it like 2:45 at this point. I was also hoping the fumes would get trapped and kill it. By this time it's like 2:50 and I really want to go to bed, so reluctantly, not knowing what else to do, I go to bed. OK so here I am, lying in bed, trying to fall asleep but anything that brushes up against my skin, which is quite frequent as I have long hair and a FAN blowing on me, gets me up so fast that Lucky Luke would be ashamed of his speed! Just for the record I've woken up with a cockroach in my bed before, so this is not just paranoia going on here! Ugh! For the next 15 min this show of acrobats keeps on going and I'm just praying "Please God just let me fall asleep!" by the end my prayer is "Lord I'd feel so much better knowing that I've killed the thing!" I finally get up to go to the bathroom and what do I see trapped in my bathtub? The cockroach! Once it's in there it can't crawl out so I'm thanking the Lord as I'm spraying this thing to DEATH! As I crawl back into bed, this time satisfied, a question creeps into my mind... was that the one I tried to get earlier or a second one?

Sure enough, the next day I wake up and what do I see lying dead on my kitchen floor... another cockroach! All I have to say is ignorance is bliss!

UPDATE: The following evening I found a third cockroach!!! This time INSIDE my cupboard.... with all my CLEAN plates and cups I might add.... I have now proceeded to re-clean all my previously clean plates and glasses as well inside the cupboard itself... a task I thoroughly enjoy.............. not!

Oh well, c'est la vie! :o)

Psalm 23 (for the workplace)

The Lord is my real boss, and I shall not want.
He gives me peace, when chaos is all around me.
He gently reminds me to pray and do all things without
murmuring and complaining.

He reminds me that He is my source and not my job.
He restores my sanity every day and guides my decisions
that I might honor Him in all that I do.

Even though I face absurd amounts of e-mails, system
crashes, unrealistic deadlines, budget cutbacks, gossiping
co-workers, discriminating supervisors and an aging body
that doesn't cooperate every morning, I still will not stop ---
for He is with me! His presence, His peace, and His power
will see me through.

He raises me up, even when they fail to promote me.
He claims me as His own, even when the company threatens
to let me go. His faithfulness and love is better than any bonus check.
His retirement plan beats and 401k there is!
When it's all said and done, I'll be working for Him a whole lot
longer and for that,

I BLESS HIS NAME!!!

LOL who says Scripture isn't relevant in our daily lives??? :op

Neanderthals, Humans Interbred—First Solid DNA Evidence

Neanderthals, Humans Interbred—First Solid DNA Evidence

OK so I just found this article and I find it quite comical for several reasons, and I quote;

"The study uncovered the first solid genetic evidence that "modern" humans—or Homo sapiens—interbred with their Neanderthal neighbors, who mysteriously died out about 30,000 years ago. What's more, the Neanderthal-modern human mating apparently took place in the Middle East, shortly after modern humans had left Africa, not in Europe—as has long been suspected."

"... all modern ethnic groups, other than Africans, carry traces of Neanderthal DNA in their genomes, the study says..."

""But the fact is that Chinese and Melanesians are as closely related to Neanderthals" as Europeans, said Reich, a population geneticist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University."

So the basic premise of this article, as far as I understand it (please correct me if I'm wrong), is that the Neanderthal and modern humans are two different species. The Neanderthal is supposed to be part of the missing link between chimps and us. Basic biology people, different species can't interbreed... that's the reason they are considered a different species. If they do interbreed their offspring is infertile. E.g. a horse and a donkey, when they interbreed it produces a mule, which in turn is infertile. A horse and a donkey may look alike, their basic makeup may be similar BUT they are not the same species... what they look like doesn't change that. So, if the Neanderthal and the modern humans did interbreed, as DNA evidence suggests, what other conclusion can we draw but that we are the same species, we just look different. All we need to do is look at modern man and all the different races and colors we have today; black, white, yellow, red. I don't look Asian or African because I'm white. Does that mean that we're different species? No! Of course not. Not to compare man to animals but look at dogs. Who, looking at a fossil , would assume that the bones of a Great Dane and a Chihuahua were in fact the same species but just of a different breed?

LOL Nobody!

My conclusion? The Neanderthal was just as human as we modern men are today but just of a different race not species. What archeologists and scientists have found is not a missing link between us and whatever else but in fact other human beings, Homo, sapien, sapien just like you and me.

Why is it that in biology books they tell us that species can't interbreed yet when it comes to "proving" evolution they conveniently forget to remind us of that fact?

Meaningful

“Meaningless! Meaningless! Says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” Ecclesiastes 1:2

This verse is at the very beginning of the book of Ecclesiastes where the Teacher, commonly held to be Solomon, is trying to understand the meaning of life. As he goes through all the stages of our existence, he realizes that we are just here for a fleeting moment, just a vapor in the wind and that, ultimately, we are all nobodies. For the non-believer this is a very depressing thought because for the non-believer this holds true. Their lives are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. They work, they toil and try to earn money but to what avail? To give it to their children? Then what?

One of my favorite quotes is from the movie The Gladiator where Maximus says “Brothers, what we do in life echoes in eternity!” For Christians this holds true. The moment we accepted Jesus into our lives is the moment we started having eternal significance. One of the verses that I keep going back to and has actually become my life verse is;

“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 1Corinthians 15:58

This is an amazing promise for us! What we do in the Lord, that is, whatever we do in terms of Kingdom building, is not and never will be in vain. We are to stand firm and not let the problems of everyday life move or sway us off our course. We are to give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord. This word ‘fully’ in Greek is περισσεύω and means to be above a certain number, to be in abundance. In other words, we are not to give of ourselves but we are to give ourselves to the work of the Lord, we mustn’t hold anything back. Also the two words that are used here for work are the Greek words έργο and κόπος. The first word έργο implies creative work, which is what the Lord does; He creates. So when we give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord, we are giving ourselves to His creative work. The second word κόπος implies hard work. As we join the Lord in His creative work we are toiling, that is, working hard to assist Him. At times we might even get discouraged because we’re not seeing the fruit of our labor, but it doesn’t matter. The promise is that whatever we do is not in vain. There was this man in Australia who, for 40 years, shared the gospel with 10 people a day, everyday. If he was sick one day or couldn’t make it another, he would make up for it on other days. The Lord started revealing this story to a pastor from England, over the course of 6 months, as he started meeting all these different people; pastors, missionaries, directors of major mission organizations – influential people, who had all been lead to the Lord by this one man in Australia. One day this pastor was in Australia and decided to find this man, he did and shared all of these different stories with him. The man was in tears and shared his side of the story. He had done this for 40 years yet had never seen or heard of anybody come to the Lord as a result of his efforts. That is dedication! He never saw the fruit of his labor, yet he stood firm and wasn’t moved, he simply believed. Two weeks after the pastor visited this man, he passed into glory.

Money comes and money goes but the Lord remains constant. As we build His Kingdom we are building and affecting people’s lives, who then will go on to build and affect another person’s life, who then will go on an affect another person and so on and so forth. Add an infinite amount of time to that equation and this ripple effect will echo throughout eternity.

Avatar

I’ve just come back from watching Avatar and… what can I say?
I am ashamed of the human race… I don’t know if you realize it but this story is actually based on true events. Did anybody else wake up during the beginning of the movie and go “Oh my goodness, Pocahontas!” ? (and actually, by the end, the Matrix came to mind too… for obvious reasons.)

Think about it, instead of the white man going to America for gold, it was mankind that went to another planet for a rock of great value… $20 million per kg. In both stories we encounter the locals, in both stories we consider them to be savages, in both stories a battle happens between the two races and in both stories our guy befriends and falls in love with the local girl who happens to be the chief’s daughter. It would be a beautiful story if it weren’t for the underlying theme… greed. At what lengths do we, as humans, go for money? The love of money is the root of all evil! We will destroy entire racial groups, nations, cultures… ecosystems, when it benefits us; the ugly truth of our fallen nature. We are such egocentric creatures. Life today seems to be all about me and what I can get out of you. I don’t care what happens to you as long as I get my due. With an attitude like that we throw out all that is holy and pure. With an attitude like that we abort babies. With an attitude like that who needs morals? They’re all relative anyway. With an attitude like that who needs God? It’s such a sad reality that we live in.

Another underlying theme, that kind of bothered me more than the fallen state of the human race, was how the movie portrayed animism as something beautiful. Contrasted with the ugliness of greed and hate, animism became something pure and beautiful and something to be desired, when in fact it really isn’t. In case you don’t know, animism is “the attribution of a soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena; the belief in a supernatural power that organizes and animates the material universe.” Every tree, plant, animal, rock has a life, has a spirit and must be respected as such. This creates idolatry as they start to worship these same objects. In the movie when they killed an animal, they gave it a rites of passage into the common pool of energy. Again when somebody died they “gave back” their “borrowed” energy to the common pool. This is nothing but a similar notion to the Buddhist and Hindu nirvana – a sort of energy pool where there is no suffering or sense of self. They believe you join in with a cloud of energy, the cosmos.

This whole worship of nature also came up through the notion of their goddess tree. Throughout history there have been two kinds of cosmic trees, both of which lie at the center of the earth. One acts as a vertical connection between heaven and earth, or the spiritual and physical worlds – a tree of knowledge of sorts. The other is the tree of life where the tree is the source of life that connects everything together. The tree in Avatar had both aspects in one, it contained all the memories of its people – the connection between the spirit world and physical world – the tree of knowledge, and it was also the tree of life as everything was connected to it. Tradition has it that the tree of life has its own supernatural guardians… well what happened in the movie? The tree, when it came under attack, brought forward all of its guardians in the forms of the animals from the forest. Also the tree was used in a rite of passage. Some cultures had a rite of passage where a symbolic death took place before the person would be “reborn” into a new status of life. It was often used for rulers. In Avatar, Jake underwent the symbolic death of his imperfect self… as he was crippled… passed through the tree of life and took possession of his new, perfect, self and became the leader of his new people.

The name Avatar, I believe, was the perfect name for the movie. Avatar has two main meanings. The first is “a manifestation of a deity or released soul in bodily form on earth; an incarnate divine teacher” and is chiefly associated with Hinduism. She was his teacher on practical things as well as on their divine “reality.” Also, this movie could be considered a teacher of sorts, as it is advocating for animism and New Age ideology. The second meaning of Avatar is a “moveable icon representing a person in cyberspace or virtual reality graphics” which is exactly what this movie was. A graphic virtual reality in space! Although, if you go back to the origins of the word Avatar, it comes from Sanskrit; “avatara ‘decent,’ from ava ‘down’ + tar- ‘to cross’” and we come back to our beloved Jesus and the cross :o)

So, all in all, as beautiful, graphically that is, as the movie was, and as true as it was in one sense, the ugliness of greed and the state of the human race, it had a lot of spiritual implications. Again, as believers we need to be aware of those things and the consequences they can have on us in the physical realm. There have been reports of people becoming depressed and even committing suicide as a result of watching this movie. The claim is that these people get so depressed over the fact that they have to leave this beautiful world of Avatar and come back to the reality of our ordinary world. God’s creation isn’t enough anymore. All I’m going to say about this is that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Please don’t think that I’m against the movie, I’m not. I thought it was brilliant! And I definitely want to go see it again. It’s a beautiful love story with a worthy cause of fighting for what is right. All I’m saying is that we need to be aware of the spiritual side of the movie and not take it at face value.

I’d love to hear your comments and thoughts on the movie!

Just for laughs!

I found this on the internet and... well, just read!

Funny car insurance claims
Here are some incredible, but true statements which all appeared on claim forms submitted to car insurance companies by policyholders who had been involved in car accidents.

Accidents with pedestrians

* The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.

* I was sure the old fellow would never make it to the other side of the road when I struck him.

* To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front I struck a pedestrian.

* The pedestrian had no idea which way to run as I ran over him.

* The car in front hit the pedestrian but he got up so I hit him again.

* I saw a slow moving, sad faced old gentleman as he bounced off the roof of my car.

* A pedestrian hit me and went under my car.

* I saw her look at me twice. She appeared to be making slow progress when we met on impact.

Car accidents

* I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way.

* A truck backed through my windshield into my wife's face.

* The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intention.

* I had been shopping for plants all day and was on my way home. As I reached an intersection a hedge sprang up, obscuring my vision and I did not see the other car.

* I was on the way to the doctor with rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way causing me to have an accident.

* As I approached an intersection a sign suddenly appeared in a place where no stop sign had ever appeared before. I was unable to stop in time to avoid the accident.

* My car was legally parked as it backed into another vehicle.

* I told the police that I was not injured, but on removing my hat found that I had a fractured skull.

* The indirect cause of the accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth.

* I started to slow down but the traffic was more stationary than I thought.

* Coming home I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have.

* I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment.

* I thought my window was down, but I found it was up when I put my head through it.

* In an attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole.

* The gentleman behind me struck me on the backside. He then went to rest in a bush with just his rear end showing.

* I was thrown from my car as it left the road. I was later found in a ditch by some stray cows.

* The telephone pole was approaching. I was attempting to swerve out of the way when I struck the front end.

* I pulled in to the side of the rode because there was smoke coming from under the hood. I realized there was a fire in the engine, so I took my dog and smothered it with a blanket.

* The accident occurred when I was attempting to bring my car out of a skid by steering it into the other vehicle.

Who caused the car accident?

* The indirect cause of the accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth.

* I was going at about 70 or 80 mph when my girlfriend on the pillion reached over and grabbed my testicles so I lost control.

* On approach to the traffic lights the car in front suddenly broke.

* I had been learning to drive with power steering. I turned the wheel to what I thought was enough and found myself in a different direction going the opposite way.

* The accident happened when the right front door of a car came round the corner without giving a signal.

* I had been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident.

* An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished.