the time for war

Ecclesiastes 3:8

If only the world could stay in perpetual peace. But then, what would that kind of monotony look like. What will peace be if there was never a war to begin with.

Is war a necessity?

Why even the wisest man in Bible says there is a time for war.

God's followers have been waging war all the time in the old testament... 

But when Christ came, He said we no longer wage it with this world. But against principalities...

There is something more than just meets the eye.

Fight the war that's worth fighting,

Not the one that the world just sees.

the castle of happiness

Just like the king trying to prevent the son from knowing the truth about the outside world, sickness, suffering and death..

So it is not healthy to just only have happiness in a child's life. As they will soon one day need to face the reality of the world.

https://youtu.be/o9xFySZ1tx8?si=nnNqJwY_a0XeVvdd

when I was a kid

I sat at the dinner table and made a mess

The adults would clean up,

Bending down under the table to pick up the spilled food.

And I would jaut continue sitting there,

Eating without a care....

When I became an adult,

My kid makes a mess at the table,

And now I have to clean it up.

One day dear son,

You too will stop making messes,

And start cleaning up after others,

Continuing the cycle.

You won't just stop making messes of food... But also in relationships, finance, philosophies and beliefs, time and energy, bills and taxes, 

But for now... just be a kid.

And love doing what you do,

No matter what you do,

You'll be loved by adults.

So that one day,

You too as an adult can love 

The kids that make a mess.

Death is not the end

 Death is what awaits us all at the end of the road.

and there's only one God that has conquered that.

Jesus Christ

He is beautiful, wonderful and powerful.

More than any other in this world

becoming a parent

Becoming a parent,

Is not just losing oneself.

It's not that we no longer live for out own desires and needs alone anymore...

It's just that, we have become someone else's entire world.

But it's also important that that little human knows what it is to be a functional adult as they look up to us to learn about how to navigate this thing called life

We can't lose ourselves entirely and make them our whole world (although we are to them in their eyes). There's a much bigger world out there then ourselves or even themselves, and it's important that they know that...

The world doesn't revolve around them (after some point at a certain age.. of maybe say 3? Or later... ). And we need to role model that in a healthy way for them, for their little minds to pick up on in it's formative years. Cause it would be a life long thing after that as their subconcious inner child in their adulthood.

Don't want them to have to deal with unwrapping any trumas later on in life... there's so much more that can be done if one has the right platform.

That's why pointing them to God is a good thing. God gives purpose. He is .. after all the Way, the Truth and the Life.

neck pain

From sitting down and using the computer and learning my head/chin on the left hand on the table too much.

Sigh

Need more movement.

need more structure,

more exercise

more routine

such a waste of time,

which btw, is the MOST important resource that any human has

more than money, people can't buy back time even if they had a million bucks

but with so much time, what comes with it?

responsibility to use it wisely

kids listening

The way we speak to our kids becomes the way they speak to themselves. 

Let's speak with kindness,

Because they are always listening.

-sarah

the meaning of life

To send as much time as one can with loved ones.

hold with hands

I rather hold the ones I love with my hands,

Than the phone

more reliant

We should not become less dependent on God as we grow older... 

Not in our wealth or security or achievements 

No

We become more and more dependent on Him as time passes

Even when life is smooth going.

Look up and cry to the Father, just as Jesus did 

rituals

God doesn't oppose rituals,

He just doesn't like it when we worship any other thing other than Him.

Yes our God is a jealous god, 

He is after all the God of all gods,

And the King of kings.

So even if there may be others out there...

There is only One true God to worship, whole heartedly.

Christianity isn't polytheism,

One can't follow multiple gods and expect Jesus to be okay with it.

commanding others

When losing the ability to command others,

There is one person left to do so,

One's ownself.

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24th May COld icy

 

24th May

Left the car outside from last night Friday, thought we’d not be using it early on a Saturday morning. Had job logged late last night and needed to attend it. Windscreen was frozen over…

Started up the Rav4 and blasted the heat to Hi and windscreen only.

Went back into prepare and get the kid out, by the time it’s done the ice had melted. Great.

So early in the year it’s getting so cold down here compared to nice warm Auckland. Owh well, different season in life. Learning to embrace it.

Thoughts on buying something

 Thoughts on buying something

So you want to buy something of interest, you search google, the market on FB and TradeMe, what’s next? If not in a rush, don’t buy on impulse or urgency.

Sleeping on a big purchase or having time away from it is good, it’s meant to be it’ll be there the next day for you to pick it up. No regrets if you miss out on a good bargain, it’ll come around again in the future. If it doesn’t life will just move on with one less thing cluttering the house.

1. Set an estimated budget. (i.e $200 for a bike, $50 for a guitar, etc)
   - it’s not set in stone, the actual price can be more of less. If more, it’s gotta be worth it, if less your lucky!
2. Buy second hand first if possible
   - often much cheaper than brand new, good for the earth and environment. good test to whether you’ll really use it often or not. if you can use it enough that it breaks (the fear of second hands), then well, you passed the test to get a brand new one of a higher grade, and you’ll know what you want in your next purchase from the experince of using it. (i.e I bought a unicycle from the flea market, never used it as much as i’d like, so thankfully didn’t buy a brand new one), or badminton rackets, second hand is good, but you’ll know when you want a brand new one, and also what you’ll want in it.
3. Go to different shops
   - So i picked up a Takamine guitar off FB market place, been looking for one for quite sometime, and finally there was a post come up from a mom that bought it for their kid when he was interested in learning but now no longer needs it around, so they just posted it up for cheap. It was a good price for a quality second hand item, one broken string. Brought it to RockShop and they wanted to charge 30 bucks for labor over the cost of the strings. Walked around the block to MusicWorks that would do the restringing for free. Found the better deal on the second try walking it. So, best not to jump head in right on the first offers.
4. Stick to the budget
   - I walked into BikeHouse that was having a garage sale today. Marin WIldcate bike for $400. A steal compared to its $800 normal retail (ex-hire bikes). But it was over the $200 budget set for getting a bike here. ALmost got pushed to walking out the store with it by the sales guy. But nah, told him I’ll take a walk to the Market with my wife and come back later if we really wanted it. Fired up google and searched about the brand and found it was a woman’s bike (no bigge), fired up FB market palce and there as a 4500 Raliegh for $70, messaged the person striaght away. If i break the secondhand bike, then maybe i’ll consider a really good trail bike. But for now, I don’t see myself doing a lot of mountain biking with the baby (yet), saved that $400
5. Middle price
   - doesn’t need to be the cheapest, doesn’t need to be the most expensive. Normally the middle ground is the sweet spot, if you really like it, go for the second tier. Top tier’s are over price most of the time (i.e GPUs, CPUs). Got the Martin Classical guitar strings that were $22 ish, just a few bucks over the cheapest at $19 ish.
6. If you want it done right, do it yourself
   - So after an hour walking in the market we came back up to pick up the guitar. Really appreciate the young chap for offering to do the service for free. However instead of trying the strings to the bridge block like how the original strings were on, he just threaded them though the holes and used the metal nuts to hold the strings in place. Also, when winding the last string on the tuner, it was spiriling outwards like the original. Small details. but i guess i can’t be too nitpicky about it since I accepted the offer for the restringing. Guess if I really wanted it do be done right, I should have just bought the strings and did it myself. owh well

So yup, these are few of the lessons learnt from today’s Saturday morning excursion in Dunedin city.

self sacrifice

There's a place for self-sacrifice,

The workplace isn't it.

chit chat

 we have to bare the consequences of our actions

think into the future, what will i do today that will affect tomorrow?

its not just what we do in the moment that is inconsequential and will have no effect on the future...

all actions have their corresponding reactions

to learn: Erik Erikson's 8 stages of psycosocial development

Human Bill of Righ

we all have things to unlearn

'no one is perfect'

lots of different ways to view that phrase

if its from a negative perspective looking at our own-selves:

i'n not perfect, no one is, so why bother trying?

another perspective looking at others:

no one else is perfect either, so they are no better than me,

no point putting another on a pedestal and looking up to them,

they are as flawed as us

no one really has it all together

another perspective:

i'm not perfect, you're not perfect, no one will ever be perfect

only Jesus is... and there's a pathway to get better in life

that's what rightousness is:

it's not the absence of sin,

its the realization and acknowledgement of the current state were in and the humility to admit we need help externally

Jesus was meek, He was humble

but He wasn't a pushover or someone without a backbone

He got angry, made a whip, flipped tables

righteous anger consumes Him,

as it should us.

noah is having HFM, so cant go to day care

with him for the next few days

terrible

The phone is a terrible device

Stop installing addictive games on it

It sucks away your life and time

the phone

Started playing balloons TD6 rouge camping

So addictive.. 

Played till 5am+

In the cold

That's how bad the addiction is...

Gee.. when do guys grow up and stop playing games

The phone is so evil

it's not found on the inside

I've tried looking on the inside

For help...

Self help books, meditation, soul searching, inner work

But it can't be found there

The only way,

Is for help to come externally.

Jesus