Im Offically and Old Man Now!

Well it finally happened! Today I spent the better part my early afternoon waiting in a small glass-walled room for Mackenzie Cheryl Nichol. Mackenzie is the youngest of three beautiful daughters all born on the same day, September 11th! I sat with several other parents all waiting with baited breath, (including one that could easily have been Jennifer Aniston’s twin sister just a few years older) for the soon expected return of our children from the examination room. At various intervals throughout the allowed 30 minute test a drama was being played out. It was communicated with sighs of relief, smiles of delight, smiles of proud parents, smiles from the happy clerk behind her massive desk, and even a few smiles from the other expecting parents. That's when the page waving, skipping, smiling MacKenzie came zipping around the corner with an "I-just-past-my-learners-test-for-driving-kind-of-smile" stretching from ear to ear. And it hit me right at that moment, it hit me like a ton of bricks and I felt old. Very old! Like where did the time go kind of old. Two weeks ago I was handing over the keys to the car to Danae and watched from the end of the driveway as she zipped away to her friends place for a birthday party all on her own. I shot a prayer up to the Lord to protect her! And felt old! What do you do when you feel old? You tell yourself you're really not that old yet! There are plenty of people older than me, right? I still seems like I’m in my twenties so I can't be that old! Any way, congratulations to Mackenzie on the passing of your learners test I'm proud really proud of you and congratulations to you Danae on getting your drivers license on the first crack. Way to Go! So all that’s left is Paige, she still has to go for her drivers examination. Hopefully it will take her a while to get it done… I need to recover from the last two! Here's a couple of shots from these recent events…enjoy!

School, Soccer & such

This week i spent most of my time nose deep in my books over at the Bible College of New Zealand library. The paper this time is a 5000 word essay in commentary format on a parable of my choice. I chose the Good Samaritan and have I ever enjoyed my in-depth study of this well known story. I am almost finished and should have the final touches done by next Wednesday Sept 12th.
I’m not bloging as much because of over use of face book. It seems to have taken over my life. I have way to many contacts and I can’t possibly keep track of them all. Oh well. Once in a while I get a poke or a note from some of my old bible school friends or somebody from the Okanogan. I like that very much.
One of the best things that has happened to me since we got here was spending 7 full days and nights with 2 teachers, 3 moms and 16 teenage girls all kiwi folks. I finally got a good look at the inner workings of the kiwi world. Not to mention I had a lot of fun too. It was full immersion baptism and I loved pretty much every second of it! My roommate Tony, the physics/science teacher is a great guy and we led the team on and off the field together. Much fun and even a few slender chances to engage in a couple of light hearted conversations regarding faith, morals and other religious type conversations.
I have decided to just upload a few pics for you to enjoy of our weekend in Taupo. It really did remind both paige and I of peachland. Situated on a lake, homes going up the hill, long beach along the main drag; Only difference was the two massive volcanoes in the distance. (Which we got a peak of on the way into town and on the last day because the weather was nasty!) Anywho, here are some photos of our experience.

bOy DId wE hAVe fuN

Well it has been a month since I last checked in here. My Facebook activity has really taken over my "blogging" life. Plus I am writing papers for my masters and of course leadership talks and sermons. I like blogging because it gave me a chance to reflect, share stories and more and in a way it relaxed me but now it seems like a chore to keep up with.
Any who, we had a fantastic 3 weeks with Bruce and Niki Hildebrandt. Let’s see what would be a bunch of words that simply describe our time? fun, sun, beach, mountains, hiking, walking, caving, zoo, koalas, kangaroos, early morning cockatoos, iguanas, woodstove heating, brisk winds, gondolas, steep railway, rain forest, tour buses, Hillsong, free shirts, card games, orc killing, walking around Auckland, Mt rangatoto, aquariums, museums, movies on the big screen, road kill, hot water beach, bondi beach, eastern beach, bucklands beach, piha beach, huge waves, starfish, photo shoots, shopping, gift giving, parking lot fun, malls, parrots, boomerangs, stalagmites, stalactites, stars, killer tomatoes, George Clooney, ice cream, ferry rides, rain, exploding coconuts, music, singing, more orc killing, late night chats, left-hand driving, sharks, Monterrey’s, platypus’s, boomerang to butt, Red Rooster, cold winds, sunny days, and much much more. And here are a couple of photos to go with it!

The Zoom Zoom Affect of Living Busy

I would have to say that of all the months since we have arrived here in NZ the month of July has ZOOMED by. A simple breakdown of the month will reveal that two weeks of School, a major 6000 word paper for my leadership class, John and Carolyne taking the month off, prison ministry, a two day retreat, 3 planning and strategic church meetings,
and of course Kelly and Jen and Jason and Chelsey all going back to Canada in the middle of the month lead to some extra party type stuff going on, has kept us very busy!
The class I took was called interpreting the parables with Dr. Craig Blomberg and it was very enjoyable. I was a late addition to the class so it caught me off guard especially since there was a pretty hefty book that needed to be read prior to class beginning and with a written review. But it was great timing as I am preaching through the parables in ICC right now so it greatly enhanced my understanding of the stories of Jesus. (If you want to hear them online you can just go to twango.com and type in kevin nichol and it will take you to my message site) My paper was due in on the 20th but i had to get a weeks extension to finish it so I handed it in today. The focus of my paper was the metaphors that both Jesus and Paul used to describe leaders and leadership. I even had my sister give me a hand with some of the sentence structure and English stuff. Thanks sis! We had some good friends offer me there batch out on the cormandel peninsula so I could have 3 days of solid paper writing. It was just what I needed to get this monster off my back. I am so thankful. Here is a shot of the mountain that the cabin is located on. We are in the middle of making some massive decisions about ICC. Currently it needs some serious work especially financially if we are going to stay open for business. Could use your prayers regarding this as I think some tough decisions are looming ahead if our current plans do not encourage growth both numerically and financially.
John and Carolyne both came back expressing that they had a fantastic time away and are feeling much better. They will be retiring from the church leadership in February O8 and our leadership decided to let do whatever they have a passion for in the fellowship over the next 7-8 months. Our objective is to believe God that they will finish well here and that God will provide wisdom for the next steps in his journey for them.
Well this is getting kinda long so I will shut it down and throw on a few pictures of my month.
God is Good All the Time!

So long, far well, to our Canadain friends...

The Lord did us a HUGE favour by bringing out some really terrific folks to help kick start our Kiwi journey. Kelly and Jen (& Mateo) and Jason and Chelsey have been a wonderful source of encouragement to us these past 6 months. Did I just say 6 months… wow time is going fast!
Over the course of the next two days these friends will be boarding planes and heading back to Canada. The Nichol 5 will all greatly miss them. Their presence here has often lifted our hearts, their encouraging words have blown wind in our sails, their fun loving ways have kept things light hearted, their shoulders have helped in making the load lighter and their prayers and support are ongoing and sweet as honey to us. Like I said, God has shown us favour in allowing us to get started with such a great team of people around us.
Thanks brothers and sisters for being here, connecting with all of us and just generally being FANTASTIC!
I already miss you and the next couple of days of good byes are going to be sad ones. Thanks for the memories and the many blessings you have brought to our New Zealand world. I look forward to reconnecting with you some day in the hopefully near future!
God is Good All the Time.

Well, this week went by so fast. John and Carolyne are off on a much deserved 1 month break. This will work well for both of us. Having them away has forced me to get into the guts of this church, ask a few tough questions, seek a better understanding of how thing run around here. I also got a last minute invitation to attend my second Master Class on Preaching the Parables with Dr. Craig Blomberg. It has been quite informative and such good timing as i am preaching through the parables in the Sunday morning service at ICC. (If you are interested you can follow this link to it) http://www.twango.com/media/kevinnichol.public/kevinnichol.10006 I also took two days and three nights to attend a much needed retreat with a couple of my Canadian buds at Capernwray bible school conference lodge. It was so worth going, we were well feed in every sense of the word and we had great times of conversation centred mostly about how the speaker personally affected us. Today we went to MOTAT (Museum Of Transportation And Technology)with the girls and Chels and Jas. We sure are going to miss all these wonderful Canadians who have been sooooooooo supportive of our ministry here. We thank God often for them and we will miss then greatly when they had back to Canada July 15th. Tomorrow, I will be going to jail. I have been invited by the local prison chaplain to come with some fellows from our church and lead the prison service. I have no idea what to expect and thankfully the two guys I am taking with me have gone several times in the past. I will depend on their wisdom and experience. And finally we spoke with Niki today on Skype. We are all excited that in 3 weeks we will be spending 3 weeks together. We are all keyed up for it.
God and Good All the Time!

When your kids say they're homesick!

When your kids say they are homesick what can you do?

Really there is nothing that can be said or done to make that feeling go away. I think it is just a nicer way of saying that they are grieving. And when someone is grieving you just be there for them, embrace their sorrow, and pray for their comfort. Not much else you can do!

It does help to have talks in between greiving that make it a little easier when those times do come. A good verse is that the Lord is close to the broken hearted to remind us all that this sorrow is not ignored nor is it pampered by the Lord who was greived and sorrowful as well.

But in the end, no amount of sermonizing can stop grieving nor should it try to do so. The inbetween talks and verses from scripture or just wise sayings are meant to simply encourage before, after and during hard times.

Good to know that God is Good all the Time!

The Friendliest of Experiences

It suddenly dawned on me the other day that our hopes and dreams are directly connected to our fears. I wondered if there is a single hope out there in the universe that doesn’t have a fear or a few fears attached to it. Sort of like the two sides of a coin, one side is the hope you hold out for something and the other is the fear that that hope will not work out. Think about it for a second, what is one thing you are hoping for right now? Now, is there a fear attached to it? I would be surprised if there would be a single person out there that would deny the presence of fear hiding somewhere in the shadow of a hope.
My hopes here are of course that all would go well, that our family would thrive even under all the various stresses of moving here. I hope that our finances will be provided for us, our church will grow with new believers, and strong Christians who are moving to the area and need a good church. I hope for health and strength emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually to meet the challenges that each day brings. These are just a few of my hopes in a long and over worked list of hopes. But each one has a "what if" kind of fear that is lurking around the corners of my heart and mind. It seems to try and eat away at my faith and my hopes.
How do we deal with such fears? Move on, pretend they are not there? Sometimes I suppose, but what about prayer? I prayed that God would take all my hopes and dreams and each fear I could think of that was associated with them all and surrendered them to Him! The fears left and the hopes grew stronger. I think prayer has got to be one of the friendliest experiences of a human beings life. Conversations with a God who is your friend and has your best interests in mind. What a great faith we have. Cast all your cares on him for he cares for you.
God is Good All the Time.

sermons online

I went to preach at a friends church this morning and he showed me how to put my sermons online. He recorded mine from today so that I could put it on the website called "Twango". On the side of my blog I now have a link you can follow to this site if you want to hear my sermon or you could just click this link and listen here to the sermon. I will be trying to put more up as the days go by if you are interested in hearing what I am preaching these days. The next step for me is to figure out how to go about recording my sermons at ICC so I can put them on this website. Hopefully I will get that done soon.
God is Good All the Time! OOPS! I guess you need a password to get into my sermon site. type in kevinnichol in the ID slot and then peachy07 in the password slot and you should be able to listen to the sermons. If you get lost just type in nichol in the top search bar and it should take you back to me.

Ministry and Money

I guess one could say that the penny has dropped and now we are fully aware of what it meant to leave Canada with only a small portion of our needed funding. I wish we could just not have to think about money and the raising of it but that is not the reality we live in. This week during a few unguarded moments I was having a bit of a pity party. I can’t remember when we have ever really brought in a decent wage. I have worked my butt off for more than 20 years of ministry and most of that time we have been well underpaid. But I suppose it is part of the world of church and ministry we live in. Making money is not why I do what I do but sometimes ya just gotta wonder. Money makes the world go round and it certainly cost lots of money to minister the word of God. I wonder how those TV guys get away with making millions from their TV preaching programs. There is money out there in the kingdom for that kind of ministry. I suppose I could go on gripping about this whole thing but it wouldn’t help one little bit. I have to ruthlessly trust that God will provide regardless of how I feel in my unguarded moments. I guess that discouragement is on the other side of this feeling if I don’t guard my heart for out of it flows the wellspring of life. There now that just feels a bit better! Sorry if you had to read this I guess I should have put the disclaimer at the beginning of the blog. Caution: Dangerous whining in progress!
God is Good All the Time!

Driving with Boy in Car!

Danae is really working hard at becoming a proficient and safe driver. In fact yesterday she came marching into my office and announced that she was sad and needed some cheering up. She followed this up with, "So dad, take me driving ‘cuase I need something to do that makes me happy." So off we went. We cranked the tunes and I shot a couple of pictures to mark the event. ENJOY!

Preaching in Chinese

Last weekend I was invited by our sister church the Chinese Christian Alliance Church to come and preach in their English and then Cantonese services. I had so much fun. The first service was full of mostly young people with a few adults thrown in and the second service was a real treat. I really enjoyed both services and will take away a couple of great memories from the experience. The first thing I remember as I look back on the experience was the moment in the Cantonese service when they all stood and said the Lords prayer in almost perfect unison. The second would be the fun of preaching through and interpreter (or interrupter as he called himself). It was such a blessing to serve these churches with the gift the Lord has given to me. I hope I get to do that some more. The picture is of me and my “interrupter” Steven.
He was a terrific young guy and we really hit it off.
God is Good All the Time

Shared Thoughts From School

This week has been such a great blessing to me. I am like a dry sponge soaking up everything moist around it. I am so into this class that I start at 9:00 and end at 12:30 and it goes by so fast it seems like a blink. Dr. Mark Strom is our instructor and his easy going approach and story/narrative way of handling the material along with all the insights that are coming from the students makes for such a sweet time. I am sad when it is time to go home and face the awful Auckland traffic. Our topic is timely for me. The class is called Leadership: Ancient and Modern, and the essence of the class is to move today's leadership back to a basic understanding of Paul's view of leadership. That being to move leadership away from the ancient philosopher’s Plato and Aristotle's approach of rank and status. Rank means to understand your place and status means the prestige of the Rank that you held. He believes that the current church "system" is based on this rank and status approach and is nothing like what Paul had in mind for leadership in his writings. In other words it is a very "top-down" driven system. Leadership is based and rank and status, the top down approach that is created to keep things under control at all times. The basic instrument of change for all of this is something he terms "Naming" and also "conversation." Giving people and or things new names or new language in order to have new conversations that are meaningful and lead to new ideas etc.
Anyway, before I bore you with to many more details I just wanted to blog out the fun that I am having at school. I am grateful to the Lord for his provision that allows me get some more education.
God is Good all The Time

Off to School...

I went to school today, I was a bit nervous and for the most part felt a bit intimidated by the whole scholarly road to a new and hopefully better you. The nice thing about it was that there we're several students there who were older than me and quite a few younger. I found myself in the middle which i guess was a small bit of comfort.
The drive from my house to the school took one hour and fifteen minutes. It is almost from one end of the city to another. I sat at one traffic circle for almost 15 minutes. I sat beside a young lady who lives not to far from me so she gave me some "short-cut" directions that I will be taking tomorrow.
I really enjoyed myself today. It was fun to be back in a learning environment. A real live Prof. with real live students and real live papers! I have to write to 2000 word papers and one 10000 word paper. That all should prove to be very interesting indeed.
Well, I go back tomorrow for round two and each day Monday through Friday for the next two weeks. My class is called "Leadership: Ancient and Modern" and so far I have enjoyed the reading and now I get to enjoy the class work. And best of all Cheryl prayed for me as I went out the door this morning that no one would bully me... and it worked. I even learned that bullies are really just cowards! SO THERE!
God is Good All the Time!

When it rains "KD" it pours "KD"

WOW talk about the healing power of Kraft Dinner! Today we recieved another package in the mail from Canada. One complete case of 12 Kraft Dinner individual packages. I've got EMS on standby incase one of the girls goings into shock upon seeing the lasted delivery! Wow when it rains it pours around here!
God is a fan of Kraft Dinner!

The healing power of Kraft Dinner

Facebook has opened up a whole new connection with friends I had not heard from in some cases years. I am finding it a delightful way of just quickly reconnecting over simple things with quick notes that just carry a conversation on for days that in real life face to face stuff would take a few minutes.
MSN has kept me well informed from our friends in china as well as my family back in Canada. This week has been great as I have had some great talks with my brother Cam and then stumbled onto a semi family gathering happening out at Chris and Jamie's place where mom and dad had gone for a visit. I could sit in the comfort of my office chair, and see my cute little niece and nephew and say hi to everyone almost like I was right there. Ain't technology grand!
Just in case you haven’t heard the news yet, Paige broke her wrist during a soccer game. Somehow got mixed up with one of there players and ended up on the ground with a fracture. It was all a bit hazy, the ref didn’t see any infringement etc. but Paige is now sporting a cast. We're all hoping it is a simple fracture that does not require too much cast time so she can get back out there and play the game she loves so much. Poor kid!
Anyway, She decided to stay home today, she was quite down this morning as she tried to emotionally catch up to the whole thing. While sitting in front of a movie a long and much anticipated parcel arrived from one of her good friends in Canada. God's timing on those kinds of things just couldn’t have been better. It brought all kinds of joy and we shared a nice meal of Kraft Dinner together. It really brightened her whole outlook on life. YA GOD!
God is Good All the Time.

Back to School

Well, it is official, after much thought and prayer and discussions with Cheryl, I have decided to take advantage of the Bible School here in Auckland and pursue the rest of my masters degree. So, hopefully if all goes as planned I should be done my degree by the end of 2008. I have to reapply for an adjustment on my visa to do it but I was assured from their office that it is not too difficult and will cost only $60. God blessed the sale of our home back in Peachland and we are able to use some of the money from that to pay for this rather costly venture.
I do need your prayers though as it has been a long long long time since I was a student and even then I was poor at it!
It was a little humiliating to bring all my marks in from my transcripts as most of them are at a C or C- level. The registrar told me that my twenty years of ministry experience should bump it up to the required B to pursue a masters degree with them. I laughed sheepishly! He assured me that because it is a small seminary, I would get as much help as I needed to pull this off and I must admit that did make me feel a bit better. I will be attending as a part time student and my first class starts on May 14 and runs mornings for two weeks. I then have until the end of June to finish the final paper for that class. I am a bit nervous but I am pretty sure this is the time to do this and who knows where this degree will take me in the future.
God is Good All the Time!

The Woodpeckers have got to go...!

My wife send me these this afternoon and they struck me funny bone and brought a wee tear to me one good eye! Enjoy!

Everything I need to know about life, I learned from Noah's Ark
One : Don't miss the boat.
Two : Remember that we are all in the same boat.
Three : Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
Four : Stay fit When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.
Five : Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
Six : Build your future on high ground.
Seven : For safety's sake, travel in pairs.
Eight : Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
Nine : When you're stressed, float a while.
Ten : Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
Eleven : No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting
HOW TO KNOW WHEN A CATHOLIC IS SPEEDING!


laughter is like medicine!


Hope you're all having a great day!

Move over Mormons!

We meet in the Howick recreation centre for our Sunday morning celebration services. The rec centre happens to be right beside a massive Mormon Church and for years as our other pastor John has walked by he has prayed over this "church" and against its massive deceptions that good folks have been taken in by. Well, yesterday we had a young Canadian couple over for lunch following the service. It was a wonderful reunion as they had been over in Australia for a seminar he had been taking. He told me that while he had been travelling to church last Sunday morning, they had been held up in getting there and that made them quite late for church. As they drove by the Mormon Church they were overwhelmed by its overflowing parking lot and the vehicles that lined the highway and were filling the rec centre parking lot that ICC uses as well. Then the Lord gave him a vision; that our church would overshadow the Mormon Church. He saw in his minds eye that we would one day be bigger than this gathering of Mormons right next door to where our little church meets. He had no idea that one of our young leaders had had the same kind of vision on that same Sunday. Again, I feel a bit like Mary must have felt as she "treasured up all these things in her heart." They are not come true yet but if they are of the Lord then we have much work to do to get this fellowship ready for the harvest that is on its way!
Oh ya, and one more really cool thing… Danae led us in worship yesterday. It was her first time, she lead all by herself, and she did a fantastic job (all biases set aside that is) Her is a photo I snapped of her and her PowerPoint person Mackenzie.


God is Good All the Time!

...and your young men will see visions...

4 days in Raglan, it is like an exotic Peachland. It is a beautiful beach front that goes on forever. It is a town of about 4ooo during winter and swells to 10000 during the tourist season. One big difference is that during the month of November the Orca's come into the bay; 20 in a pod to play and show off in front of the entire town. Everything closes down and everybody heads to the sides of the inlet to see the spectacular sight. I want to see that and I can’t wait for that to happen.
Things here at ICC are progressing nicely. The 4 days away kind of opened my eyes to see the "toll" this venture has taken on us all. Naps in the afternoon, lots of fresh air, cool evening, and playing cards late into the night was excellent for our family to basically regroup from the flurry that has been our lives for the past 3 months. I found myself slightly overwhelmed last week. A feeling I don’t wish to repeat. There is so much going on and I need to keep it all in perspective and in prayer or it starts to get all bunched up in my mind, if that makes sense. Anyway, the rest did us good, it cleared my head and allowed me to think through each of the different scenarios I am currently trying to lead within the church.
The addition of a Filipino pastor named Richard is nearing completion. At this moment he is making some decisions for himself whether he is going to join with us or perhaps with another group. Apparently, he has a couple of other ministries pursuing him right now. So we will just leave this in the Lords hands and trust his gracious leading hand. We will know soon as I believe as his visa is drawing to a close on May 15th. Anyway, one of our young leaders had a spectacular vision that he told me about before we left for Raglan. He said that he had been praying and pondering what the Lord was doing when in his minds eye he suddenly had a vision of 500 people worshiping God at ICC. That was pretty cool and I deeply moved by his description of what he saw. Again the cry is going upwards... God what are you doing here? We are spending the evening in prayer tonight to focus on that very thing. God what are you doing and what is it you want us to do? Please pray with us.
God is Good All the Time.
Down town Raglan New Zealand

Happy Easter Everyone

It is Easter Sunday. I’m sitting here in this house in Auckland listening to the sound of a few cars flying by on Pigeon Mountain Road, this annoying clock shaped like the "Island of Australia" LOUD ticking like a time bomb. It was given to us from a couple of students we billeted from Australia a couple weeks ago. And finally of course there is the ever present humming of the refrigerator motor in the background. I've awakened early today, it is my usual custom to be up early preparing for the Sunday Morning Service. I like to go over my sermon again, tidy up my PowerPoint and spend some time in contemplative reading and prayer. I have this phrase running through my heart and mind this morning. Something I read on a spiritual formation website. It was quoted by an author who was making some excellent comments on prayer. Her words drew me in as she made this statement..."that we will cease to be one who prays and instead begin to become one who is a living prayer." I have always wondered about this concept. In fact for years I have mentioned it here and there in conversations with others about prayer this idea that we can be living pray-ers. That our conversation that is full of grace and seasoned as it were with salt, could in fact be a the spoken fruit of a life devoted to relationship with God. But this quote was less striking to me than the quote she gave from Carl Barth. "Prayer is really our whole life toward God: our longing for Him, our “incurable God-sickness". Our incurable God-sickness. Easter stars us in the face, it practically shouts at us to become love-sick over such an amazing God. What a story, what a love, what a sacrifice, what a mighty, daring plan that can, if we receive it by faith, dare us to draw near to the creator of the universe. In fact, as I contemplate the resurrection today I feel gob-smacked with what seems to me to be my own personal incurable God-sickness! UP FROM THE GRAVE HE AROSE!
God Is Good All The Time

sorry for the delay but hey what can I say!

Well, where to start is the question. It has been pretty busy but and I have not taken the time to blog much of what is going on here. I need to remedy that so this is at least a fresh start at doing that.
I think i will stick with 3 highlights. The first is one that most of you who see my wife's blog will know. Our daughter Paige was Elvis in her school play. We went to it and she basically stole the show! (Unbiased view of course)
Next was our official induction as the new "Lead Pastor" of International Christian Centre. That was a great evening and it really did feel like our new home as we were official welcomed by the Maori Leadership of the Christian & Missionary Alliance in New Zealand. This Maori welcome was the first one ever in the C&MA NZ history. So that was pretty cool.
Finally, and maybe even the most fun for me. A fella in the church named Kevin (who I now call skipper!) took me fishing on the ocean. Here are a few pictures of this great adventure. I had sooooooo much fun! We went snapper fishing. It bends your rod right over and puts up a pretty good fight. It was basically "heave-ho then reel-reel-reel then heave-ho and reel-reel-reel" for the better part of the afternoon. He firgurs we caught about $300 worth of fish. Enjoy the pics...
My first ocean fish ever
Skipper caught the big daddy of the day but mine was a close second!
My Trusty Skipper Kevin Avery






Me & the Skipper caught our limit of 9 snapper each and with a bonus of 4 other fish as well. We also threw back about 6 because they were under 27mm long

A Good Fence Makes For Good Neighbours

While I do agree with this old statement about good neighbours I am writing to testify that this is not always the case. It is possible that to back into a fence and smash it to pieces can also make for good neighbours.
Last week I was heading out to a conference early on Saturday morning. As I was backing out of my tricky driveway I had to do a three point turn to get my van pointed in a forward direction. As I did that I “lightly” bumped my neighbour’s fence and what happened next made my stomach churn.
The sound it made did sound exactly like a gun going off. The wood was so old and so brittle that my little bump sent pieces of shrapnel flying through the air. I didn’t know what to do... should I be late for my meeting or should I wake up my neighbour to let them know what I had done.
I decided on leaving a note on the door step expressing my deep regret over what had happened and that I would be gone all day but in the evening would come and speak with them about it. I told them that repairing the fence was important and that I would pay for it whatever the costs might be.
As I put the note down on the door step a couple of other neighbours who had heard the gun shot came to explore what was happening most of them in their pjs. I finally got to meet a few more of my neighbours. Even though I only had time to let them know that I would be gone for the day and when I got home I would face my well deserved firing squad.
When I returned that night to my total shock the entire old fence had been torn down and in its place a new brighter and better fence was there. My neighbours were thankful that I had knocked down their fence as it gave them a reason to do what they had planned to do for months. They just needed a reason to get going and low and behold I provided them with one.
The moral of the story is, if you want to meet your neighbours and begin a great relationship just knock down the fences that get in the way!
God Is Good All The Time.

Just Stay Focus On Jesus

This weekend I attended an ALPHA training course and I was blessed by the vision and basic tenants of this program that has literally swept the world. If you don't know about it basically it is a well proven, well oiled, well respected way of helping people discover the basic concepts of the Christian Faith and offers the average church goer a way to introduce their friends to faith in Christ. It started in an Anglican Church in England some 30 years ago by a pastor named Nicky Gumble. One thing that I really appreciated was the gentle and yet persuasive way that this program inspires those who attend to seek the filling of the Holy Spirit. Gentle in that he is welcomed in a warm and most deeply authentic way and yet persuasive because he is the only way we can be and become all that the Christian is meant to be and become. Without the working of the Spirit among us their is nothing of significance that can be accomplished.
As I was sitting their during a worship time in which we were instructed to wait upon the Lord for fresh anointing I remembered significant encounters I have had with the Holy Spirit. It became clear to me that at each of those significant points, turning points, points of redirection, there was also a significant and intentional desire for the fullness of the Spirit. I knew in that moment that if their was a call to come forward for prayer for a fresh filling I was to go. No sooner had I had that thought go through my mind the leader of the session invited those who desired a fresh move of the Holy Spirit to come forward for prayer. As usual their is that initial hesitancy but I knew that I had already been prompted by God so I went, by my self, no one else came, (eventually another women did come up)to the front of the church to wait for prayer.
I waited alone for quite some time, it seemed like several minutes went by and then a women joined me at the front and then several more minutes before one of the ALPHA workers came and prayed with me. He had been introduced to the crowd as the man who had just completed a 3 year process of turning ALPHA into something useful for English as a Second Language people. I remember being quite impressed with him and was secretly glad that the Lord had brought him to me to pray for me.
As we prayed the Holy Spirit moved him and he spoke to me this word. "Just stay focused on Jesus" There is always so many things to consider in a new work and the temptation to make small personal preference adjustments is there rather than deal with root issues. So, this was/is a good word, an excellent reminder, to simply and ruthlessly just stay focused on Jesus.
It is now two days later and I am still walking in the graciousness of the Spirits words to me through this gracious man. Simple yes, but profound, absolutely. If Jesus is intentionally lifted up here at ICC then Jesus will draw all men to himself. Make it so Holy Spirit, make it so.
God is Good All The Time.

My New Family Doctor

Finding a new Doctor is a vital part of any move. It is so hard to find one on your own and for us anyway, it was largely determined on the word of mouth of friends who have lived here for a few years. So, yesterday we found ourselves a new Doctor.
He is a terrific guy, we hit it off almost immediately and he was very thorough and very encouraging to both Cheryl and I in regards to our continued battle with the bulge. We both instantly felt comfortable with him and he was gracious but firm with both of us regarding what we could do to continue our downward progression towards a good weight.
After taking my blood pressure he declared that it was so low that I needed to go off of one half of my medications! That was such great news. So now I am only on what is affectionately called a "water-pill"; as in, take it and you find out just how much water you can get rid of in a day! But, there are two things about this little pill that I like very much. First it is really really inexpensive, but the doctor in Canada gave me enough to last me about a year and a half so expense wont really matter for now, but secondly, if I control my salt intake and continue to lose weight there is a very strong possibility that I can go completely off of my medications all together. All very exciting news to me!
Anyway, please continue to pray for us her as the whole transition and new place and many different stressors have caused both Cheryl and I to move up and down the scale over the past couple of months. We need your prayers regarding this simple yet difficult thing.
God is Good All The Time.

the value of good leadership

The longer I serve in the church the more I am convinced that absolutely everything with in the church rises or falls with the leadership. The leadership guru John Maxwell has said this in as many ways as it can be said and in as many situations as it can be said. Without the God given gift of leadership nothing would ever get accomplished in any fellowship anywhere!
Today, I was able to get into the heart of this little fellowship called ICC. They have a group that meets monthly to approve financial reports and give some general direction to the affairs of church called the Executive Committee. Today, they met and I really enjoyed being with them. They seemed very eager to bite into a bit more responsibility than they have had in the past. More of a say in what is going on and the ability to influence those in the church towards using their gifts and how to we should conduct our Sunday morning services. Everyone participated, lots of great ideas came tumbling out and we had an hour and half dialogue that literally zipped by. It was just enough to wet their appetite and leave them hungering for a bit more.
I enjoy leaders. They are often belittled and they frequently are kept back from launching out in faith to offer their incredibly valuable insights. Unleashing them to their full potential has its challenges. Often I find they need some mentoring in how to use the influence they have in a gracious way. But mostly they are eager to use what God has placed inside of them.
Lord give us more gracious Godly leaders in our churches. AMEN!
God is Good All The Time

Tiz the Season...

Tonight I was reminded that this Sunday is the first Sunday of Lent. It is to be a 40-day time of reflections, prayers, fasting and sacrifices as we journey with Christ towards the Cross. I found an interesting website that includes some excellent writings and takes a thematic approach to this season of preparation for the most holy of celebrations on the church calendar, that being of course Easter Weekend. Good Friday, Resurrection Sunday and Easter Monday. For me the timing of this event could not have come at a more pivotal point. We are smack dab in the middle of beginning a new work here in Auckland and if there was ever a time to remind myself just how weak and frail and sinful and dependant I am upon the work of Christ for me it is now. There are so many things that need to be worked through, restarted, renewed, rejuvenated, reinvented and even a bit of rubbish that needs taken out. At times I don’t know which way to go or even which way not to go.
Two of my girls and I had an interesting talk this evening about how much of their faith (the girls) is really “knowing” God or is it more like knowing “about” God. They figure that they need to strike out and find their own way and make this great faith their own journey. I was blessed by their keen insight and I will now be praying that this transition from riding on the shirt tale of my faith to making their own way will be successful and full of joy.
Anyway, it is getting late and we are having a few men over for breakfast tomorrow morning so I will bid you all a good day. Here is that link I mentioned regarding the Lenten writings. http://mustardseedjourney.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/a-journey-into-wholeness-lenten-series.pdf

God is Good All the Time

Working at Half Moon Bay

I enjoy working from time to time in a cafe. I love the buzz of the activity in the shop, the low mixed voices of folks sitting around the tables chatting up the latest and greatest information. Sometimes it helps me to think of them when I put together a sermon series, it helps me to be sure that I address their needs in the message should they ever decide to walk into the doors of our church. Finding those places is not always easy. It cant be too busy or be frequented by folks who know me and would want to sit and chat. It also just has to have the right feel to it.

Well, this morning I decided to venture out and went down to half moon bay marina. Cheryl and I had stopped for coffee there a few nights back when the girls where attending a youth group. We liked it and I made a mental note to go back something during the day and try and do some work there. I must admit that this morning flew by and I got a lot done. My mission was to finish up my current series "His-Story In My Life" and start scheduling the next 6 months of sermons. Before I knew it, it was 12:30 and time to head home for some lunch.

I think I will be going back. Oh ya, here is the view from my coffee table. Totally awesome eh! I also found this view from the air on the internet. It has the Volcano we climbed up a couple weekends ago, Mt. Rangitoto
















A couple of other interesting things that happened today. There was and earthquake here last night. Cheryl said she was reading on Paige's bed around 9:00 PM and felt the bed shaking. Also, the girls had their first of three drivers education experiences this afternoon. They did well and the lady that took them around was very friendly and they really enjoyed her.
God Is Good All The Time.

Afraid to go out naked!

With all the preparation, prayer, planning and personal propagating that I am doing these days in regard to our churches mission/vision of gathering the nations I sometimes get discouraged. The other day I was out with some fellow believers and we went to a local coffee shop. While there I engaged the two workers in a conversation about church and faith, which ended in an invitation to come out to church Sunday and check it out. One of the friends with us just couldn’t believe that I had done that and with emphasis on the fact that I obviously really enjoyed it. That night I was recalling the incident to mind and just how often I had heard those words from other believers. Now I know that certain personalities are more able and I am also aware of a gifting that the Lord has given to me, however, each of us in our own uniqueness can present the gospel. I loved the old saying, "Share the gospel everywhere you go and if you have to use words." In other words, live it out, and then when the opportunity presents itself give a reason for the hope that you have. Anyway, the other day I came across this story that made me laugh but it also carried a pungent point that I did appreciate.

The father of Origen, a third century theologian, was arrested for being a Christian. Origen, then only 17, was aflame with the desire to follow his Dad and share in glorious martyrdom. His mother pleaded with him not to go, but the headstrong boy did not want to listen to reason. His quick thinking mother did what she could -- she hid his clothes. Though Origen stormed and protested, she wouldn't reveal where they were hidden. He couldn't leave the house, and so he was unable to volunteer for martyrdom.

Isn't it interesting? Origen was brave enough to be martyred, but not brave enough to go outside naked. Stepping outside without clothing would have sped up his arrest and imprisonment, but it was a step he was unwilling to take.
In a sense, I suspect that talking with a friend about our faith is, for many of us, the equivalent of going outside naked. It makes us uncomfortable. We feel exposed. We declare that we will give our lives for Christ if he should ask it, but to risk a bit of embarrassment for him seems to be beyond our level of discipleship. How sad. The disciples were willing to forsake everything including the esteem of their friends.

I hope you had a good laugh and then paused to think about the application of this story. Is it true in your life?
God is Good All the Time!

Those Crazy Immigrant Drivers!

Look out New Zealand one more crazy immigrant has passed their drivers test and now is legally and officially able to navigate the "other" side of the road. Yup it’s true, I went in to the drivers place today, did some serious praying, took the test in hand, and 7 minutes later emerged having passed with a 100% on my exam. The lady in charge took a double take on the clock on the wall when she saw me emerge so quickly.
It has been a lot of fun learning to drive on the other side of the road. I had built it up in my mind as a much more difficult thing than it really is. Although, some habits are really hard to break!!! I found that out the hard way as I got a speeding ticket on this side of the road just as easily as the North American side!!! I got caught going 64 in a 50 zone by a photo radar camera just a few days after we got here! A real nice welcome to New Zealand letter came the house the other day with an $85.00 bill attached to it! I remembered seeing a flash out of the corner of my eye and when I went by that same spot the next day I noticed where the flash had come from.
Anyway, the hardest part of driving here is in parking lots where I have to back out of stalls. I still have a tendency to back out North American style and then drive away forgetting for those first few split seconds that I am not on the proper side of the road. I look forward to the day when parking lots will no longer pose a threat to my driving record and of course my life and all the lives inside my vehicle and the other guys too!
Why am I telling all of you this? Well, I would have to say that while it is difficult it certainly is not impossible to teach an old dog a new thing or two!
Ha-ha:)
God is Good All the Time

A Fathers Heart

I have never had to experience changing communities during those turbulent teen years. I was one of those rare birds that graduated with most of the same group of friends I started out with in grade one. I suppose I took it all for granted and as fun as graduation was I would have to say it was very quickly forgotten. I seem to remember thinking that graduation was only the end of something that was a lot like a cocoon and the beginning of something that was really big and really scary... that is real life!
As a dad of three beautiful young ladies who have now had to move to a far away place and start making friends from scratch I too echoed the concerns of their mother. (See Cheryl's blog "A Mothers Heart")
However, as concerned as I was for them about the coming changes I was growing even more concerned for them had we stayed where we were. As Cheryl mentioned they were definitely blessed/spoiled and it was becoming more and more apparent to me that in their blessings they were starting to feel entitled to those blessings. One of our daughters even bemoaned the fact that her life was to easy; it didn’t really have any difficulties in it. Another of our daughters had looming fears that something would happen to upset her perfect little world. In the past I have for the most part welcomed change mostly for it "shake me to wake me up" affect. As far as my kids were concerned I was more and more eager to see change come for same "shake and wake" reasons. Of course our move was much bigger than all of this but these things were factored into our desire to move.
So now we have to watch them struggle, we get to feel their down times with them and we get to show a strong hand of support and encouragement when they feel lost and lonely. We get to encourage them to trust the Lord and seek his face often when they feel like doing just the opposite. My prayer is that the lessons they are learning right now are lessons they will need to enable them in the future to become fruitful and productive in God's Kingdom.
In my view the battle for their hearts and minds has moved (for now) from the shadows to right out into the open.
For me personally, I would have to say that while I prayed often for my kids in the past my prayers have increased many fold for them as they embark with us on this new journey. At times I feel helpless even speechless (yes I did say speechless) not knowing how to comfort them but more importantly I know whom I have believed in and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until He comes again.
GO GIRLS GO!
God is Good All the Time.

Relaxing, Routines and Ruts

Just been thinking last couple of days that my inner clock is really out of whack. I believe that is mostly due to a total lack of routine in my life! I've noticed that everything is disturbed at this juncture of my life. Sleeping, eating, exercising and praying are just all over the map in my life right now. Therefore I have concluded that what is missing is a definite lack of routine. We all need relaxation time and I believe its roots come from the teachings of scripture regarding Sabbath taking. Down time, quiet time, away time, vacation time, play time, waste of time and holiday (holy-day) time are just a few of the descriptions that come to mind when we consider relaxation. However, the one down side to this down time is that it can only happen for a specified occasion before life begins to feel like it is moving towards the chaotic! Things forgotten, work ignored, roles confused, way to much TV, and the list just goes on and on...
But then I started to think about routine. We are most definitely creatures of habit and therefore we thrive when we establish a good routine. Things get done, roles work well, and priorities and values guide the course of action we take in a day. Instead of asking the "what" questions of relaxation we start from the “why” questions of purposeful routine. However, there is one thing about routine that needs to be guarded against and that is when the routine becomes a rut. A rut according to some is simply a grave with the ends knocked out! We can become so used to the routine that it effectively removes the impromptu of the Holy Spirit right out of the ballpark! We become so comfortable in our routine that we actively resist change, and change is the only thing we can really routinely count on.
So what was my conclusion to all this you ask. The answer is Jesus. He was a master of a life lived with purpose. He established his routines based on his connection with his heavenly father. He also established his time away based on his need to reconnect with his heavenly father. And as far as ruts go, you could say that there were no ruts. He managed his life so well that it was in perfect harmony with Sabbath as well as work (and I believe play as well although scripture does not mention it). Some people call that balance but I think it is deeper than that. I think it was wise redemption. “Live wisely then, redeeming the time for the days are evil”
Just some thoughts...
God is Good all The Time

Felt Good to be Back in the Saddle!

It seems as though I am in a once a week mood these days when it comes to blogging. Sorry there are few pictures yet since my computer hard drive crashed I lost them all. Boohoo:(.

Last week we enjoyed more of the new country that we get to live and minister in. We enjoyed a couple of days in a city 2 hours drive from here named Rotorua. Very beautiful and very touristy and of course that means mucho denarii’s! It helped that one of the families in the church has access to an apartment style room that took a lot of the edge off financially. We had a really good time. We did a couple of crazy fun things. One called the Lug(sp?) and the other called Zorbing. Here are a couple of photos that we took from these different events.




This week I also took a one-day retreat with John and Carolyn to pray, to seek the Lord and to simply chat and get to know one another. It was a really good time and we made plans to repeat the process for the next little while as we continue to get to know and understand each other.

And probably the biggest event for me personally was getting back behind the pulpit again. It has been a good long 7 months with a few speaking engagements here and there but this was the real deal. After 10 months of planning, praying, doubting, second guessing, finding faith to meet the demands of this process it all became the real deal once I stood to proclaim what the Lord had put on my heart. I have started with a series called "His-Story in my life." and it has been a total delight to reminisce since I was a kid the different times that God and I have had some pretty special moments, some serious moments, some fun filled joyful moments and some times where we just couldn’t seem to get along. My prayer is that the folks here will get a pretty good idea of who I am, what makes me tick, what I love and hate, what I struggle with and what I have gained victory over, and secondly I will be encouraging them to share "His-story" in their lives with each other as well along the way. I preached for 30 minutes and only got to age 8 so I figure I should be at this for a few weeks anyway... there are some things you just cant rush.














All of this good stuff was followed a wonderful afternoon at the beach with friends and then a suprise bbq when a family on the beach (who happened to notice their son Matt hanging out with us) invited us over to their amazing home just off the beach. We all had a great time. Any way, thanks for reading, thanks for praying and also thanks for giving to keep us alive and kicking over here.
God is Good All the Time!

Builder Bob and his Blistering Blundering Befuddling things of Beauty!

Well another week of building furniture and reading unbelievably difficult instructions has come and gone. The worst one was MacKenzie’s special bed. It had one picture with letters going up to v and lines and dotes and arrows accompanied by one paragraph that read something like [attach both "J's" to top of post B with screw D for right side and screw E for left side and two regular screws for foot of bed post A]. Both Kenz and I were almost ready to throw the thing out a couple of times. But the best part is that I can with confidence say we are pretty much set up as comfortably as we can be in our new home. It has left us with a bit more spare time and we have not wasted a second as you can tell from reading Cheryl’s blog. This is one of the most spectacular places to live just for its natural beauty.

This week we had a very informal get together with John and Carolyn Gummer for our first of many planning meetings regarding ICC's new future. John and Carolyn are quite tired from the past 10+ years of ministry with this congregation. It was nice to find out what they were up to and begin the process of relieving some of the burden they have carried for far too long from off their shoulders. We are going to be getting together weekly and this Wednesday we will be going to a private retreat area to pray and do some more planning together. God has graciously blessed us with this wonderful couple to work with and we get along terrific. As I see it our gift mix will work out very wonderfully and I believe the work that God has called us to will flourish under our co-operative ministry.

There is one thing that stands out so clearly to all of us about this church. It is a rare thing I think to see multi-nations coming together to worship one Lord, experience on body, and share in one baptism. Today was honor India day and during the sermon the Indian pastor spoke of his friends within the fellowship. One Chinese and the other Pakistani. In the real world these nations do not get along in fact they are warring most of the time. But in our fellowship they get along as one. It is the very thing that drew me here so strongly. The nations coming together under one roof, united and strong, praising the one God who created us all. It is soooooo cool and I can’t wait to develop this more deeply and work it for the advancement of Gods multi-national kingdom.

The fun and games will slow a bit now as we enter this week. The girls will be registering for school and I will begin preaching on Feb. 4th. Cheryl is planning a "painting the house program" and our landlord is going to be removing the old carpets and putting down either new carpets or even laminate. So that could prove to be a bit unsettling as we have to move all the things we just built and put in place. Oh well ROUND 2 here we come....

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this. We all appreciate your prayers and your financial support.

God is Good All the Time

Elvis has left the building!

We're gone, we flew the coup, we hit the road, we dug in the spurs, said all our so longs and farewells, we did it... we left our dear old Canada for a brand new adventure in New Zealand.
7 days could not possibly go by faster or busier! We have been Kiwi's now for a week and every single day has been packed to the brim. We have spent over to $20,000.00 in that time furnishing this new home and picking up a sweet deal on a 1999 Nissan Presage. Jet lag was the worst I have ever had probably because I was not flying along and had to drag, carry and push copious amounts of luggage through 5 different airports. The church has graciously given me my first two weeks off just to get over jet lag and allow us time to set up the house and do a little exploring. John and I will meet this week to start the process of our transitions. He will be transitioning to a more associate role and I will be transitioning into what looks like a more senior role. However, titles don’t mean much so it will more than likely look more like co-leadership than anything else. I look forward to our discussions and what will be coming out of them.
We have had several folks dropping buy right from the first day to wish us well. Matt Mordaunt (mission creek alliance) was able to come and help us haul our bags from the airport. Jason and Chelsey Gray and Kelly and Jen Johnston (& Mattao) have come by. Along with a few who have become internet friends Mike and Jules who work with young life as well as the martin family who had moved here several years ago from South Africa.
Timing and the Lords Grace were abundantly obvious in the prices we were able to get on everything we bought. I don’t think we paid full price for anything as most of the stores are trying hard to get rid of their Christmas stuff through some serious summer sales. We almost have everything except a few smaller items,also a bed for Danae, a lawn mower and a BBQ. Once we get the BBQ we will launch a few get togethers with neighbors and church friends and even salesmen who we have met along the way here.
The kids are doing great. This is such an adventure for them. They are starting to get a bit restless today as their are no friends yet so being bored is often in their vocabulary. Please pray for them, as finding the right friends will be at the heart of how well they do here.
Cheryl is off having coffee with a couple of ladies right now. How I thank God for her. She is such a trooper and she has been such a great person to shop with. She really knows how to move things along and sniff out those great deals.
This is getting kind of long for a blog so I will hang up the keypad for now. Bless you all for your prayers and financial support.
God is Good All the Time.

send me your links

My hard drive crashed so I lost almost all my info. (A good reminder to all of you that it could happen at any moment so be sure you have all the important stuff backed up!) Anyway, fortunatly for me i only lost a few of my latest sermons that were important. Anyway, could you all send me your blog addresses. I need to put them all into this computer.
Happy New Year everybody!
one week until departure!!!!
God is good all the time.