sustain:if:able kiwi

Coldplay thanks fans. So this fan thanks Coldplay

Free download of Coldplay album.

cartoon yourself

very cool site

would you trust this man with your church?

or your student’s theological education?

2009 summer road trip music

We’re off on holiday. Yah! Which includes the pre-holiday ritual of choosing the music for the road trip. Each person in the Taylor family chooses their 2 favourite CD’s, on the understanding they show some sensitivity to the ears and tastes of other family members (No Radiohead for Dad :), no Hi 5 for kids). Always provokes good anticipation and interaction, saves some car-fights and is a good snapshot of the musicality of our family and the year gone. Anyhow, here’s the 2009 selection.

Flock, The best of the Muttonbirds
Fat Freddies Drop, Based on a true story
Moby, 18
Opshop, One day
Dave Dobbyn, Anotherland
Van Morrison, No guru, no method, no teacher
Karekare, Paddy Free
Salmonella Dub and NZSO, Feel the seasons change

Now, can anyone guess who chose what? Options are Mum; Kayli Anne = 8 year years old; Shannon = 11 years old; Dad ….

Captain underpants

I was driving back in the car from retreat thinking about children and the Bible. I have been invited to do a week long conference in Australia next year, exploring the topic of family and faith. It will require a fair bit of work, but it does give me the chance to pull a few pieces together scattered across my laptop around Bible families and inter-generational faith formation.

And in the heat of the car (it was 30 degrees outside), I got to thinking about my 8 year old cousin and his love for Captain Underpants. (And at the risk of lowering the tone of this blog considerably;

“So, what about doing a series of kids talk around the theme of “God’s big story according to Captain Underpants?”

— genesis story and the first undies;

— forming of nation of Israel and wearing the leviticus law;

— king david dancing with NO undies;

— prophets and soggy underwear for Jonah;

— Jesus first undies;

— Jesus last undies, complete with the flasher in the garden of gethsemane

— the early church, who got baptised with NO undies.

heart in my mouth

I need a book reference for a lecture I am about to do in 2 hours. I used the book in my PhD, so I go looking for my PHD on my laptop. No sign of my PhD in the usual folder. How strange.

Puzzled, I hit “search.”

Stranger still. According to “search” my PhD is in my computers “Recycle bin.”

I open the “Recycle bin.” I find over 500 of my files, waiting to be deleted. I have no idea why.

Could I have ever been that jet-lagged in the last 10 days? Could someone have fiddled with my computer (it was left accessible in a classroom a number of times recently)? Can a virus do this?

(And yes, I did backup all my files recently).

Mary Magdalene is now blogging

Mary Magdalene is now blogging. And I am part of her inspiration (scroll down a bit from here). Worth watching.

how to win friends and influence people

I love my American friends; so instant, so action orientated. So one of my American friends emailed yesterday. They need to tele-conference with me. A group is meeting and they love a missional project I had suggested to them. Could they talk futher?

Sure I said.

But they could only talk at 6 am my time.

I groan. That’s when I’m asleep. Surely it can wait.

Not it can’t.

So I set up alarm and I’m up this morning.

The call comes. And then they let it slip. Oh, we had trouble ringing you. The first time was the wrong number.

How to win friends and influence people:) At least I was up. But imagine being woken by a toll call at 6 am in the morning only to find it was the wrong number! 🙂

Google ads

Since this blog costs me to run, I’m playing with using Google ads on this site to “fund” my habit. It might take a day or so to get ads in the right zone, so in the meantime, I might not support all the ads you see.

uk dreaming

their is a missional happenning I’d really like to observe in England, UK on 1 May. it’s a long way to travel for just 1 thing. could anyone use my speaking/thinking/worshipping talents in the south of England around 1 May? if so, drop me a line steve at emergentkiwi dot org dot nz (I’d be hoping that whatever emerged would either pimp my book and/or help with my airfare:))

narnia quiz

I’m working on a Narnia Quiz for our Take a Kid to Faith service on Sunday.

Question 1. Ponder this … Who said, “Narnia is my favourite children’s book?”

a) Madonna
b) Paddington Bear
c) Shannon Taylor
d) Jeff from The Wiggles

Answer

(more…)

Monks at a Belgian abbey have been forced to stop selling their famous beer after it was voted the best in the world and was promptly sold out.

The abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren in western Belgium is home to some 30 Cistercian and Trappist monks who lead a life of seclusion, prayer, manual labor – and beer-brewing.

Link

a poorly paid writer

Today I got paid to write. I am doing my first ever commissioned piece of writing. It feels very strange.

Today I have learnt that I won’t make my fortune as a paid commissioned writer. I would need to do 10 of these commissions a week and to work a whole lot faster than I have today.

jack johnson concert

Great night at Jack Johnson concert last night. Great to hang with some other Opawa people and friends, and sway, sing, holler and be glad of being human.

A bonus was Xavier Rudd, a neo-Ben Harper. I have never seen one person make so much music and how someone can sing and play didgeridoo, drums and electic guitar in one song I have no idea.

A downside was G. Love’s forced rap, a secret best kept in the States IMHO.

a day off through the eyes of a 5 year old

“Daddy, have a good day at home cuddling Mummy.”