Monday, September 29, 2008

Indeed

“A Bloomberg survey found that 55% of Americans thought the government should not bail out private companies with taxpayers’ money even if their collapse could damage the economy, while only 31% thought it should. A Pew poll found pretty much the opposite. It all depends on how you ask the question.” (The Economist, ‘The Candidates Intervene’, 27/09-03/10 2008, p.58).

Indeed.

Posted by Fi McKenzie at 13:41:28 | Permalink | No Comments »

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Your chance to vote

Brought to you by the letters “E-C-O-N-O-M-I-S-T-.-C-O-M”

Here’s a bit of fun for your Sundays - play a bit of politics and vote in the upcoming US Election. While your vote will be completely meaningless, the good people at the Economist have been good enough to create an electoral college system for the whole world so you can be assured that it’s very fair (or as fair as the electoral system is). The hypothesis is that if the world was in charge of voting the next man in, it’d be Barack Obama.

Give it a go - you might have to register but it’s free and really quick and easy - it’s the closest many of us will come to a US ballot.

You can make your choice at www.economist.com/vote2008 - go now!
Posted by Fi McKenzie at 23:51:23 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

A light in the darkness

There is so much bad press about Christians and Christianity but this story is the complete opposite. This family are amazing.

Austin Hemmings’ wife and children are planning one last family trip together - to Israel, where they will find a sacred spot to scatter the ashes of the man they adored.

“He wanted to go to Israel,” his wife Jenny told the Sunday Star-Times yesterday. “He just wanted to see where a lot of the Bible happened. Walk where Jesus walked. So he’s going to be cremated and we’re going to do that trip for him.”

Hemmings, 44, died in central Auckland on Thursday, moments after a 45-year-old man, whose name is suppressed, allegedly stabbed him in the chest.

Hemmings was trying to help a woman the man had punched and managed to dial “11″ on his phone before he was stabbed. The man had allegedly gone in search of the woman after she ended their relationship. 

Motives make little difference to the family Austin left behind - Jenny, an art teacher at Takapuna Grammar, daughters Meghann, 19, and Jessica, 17, and son Gareth, 16.

They forgive the man unconditionally. They would like to meet his family, “for their sake” and would be happy to meet the woman too.

The extended Hemmings family is gathering at Austin and Jenny’s hillside home in Devonport. After nine months here there is no thought of a move back to Hamilton, Jenny says - this house is where their strongest memories linger.

“He just loved being at home, lying on the couch, playing with the remote…” Recently Austin had started to cook the occasional dinner - fish pie was his specialty, and of course “meat - red meat”, Meghann laughs.

She has raided her father’s wardrobe, and looks very small in one of his shirts.

Meghann says she spent a lot of time with her father over the past few months - the family’s shift to Auckland meant lots of coffee dates, long talks, and walks on beaches.

Jenny is planning Austin’s funeral, talking to police and poring through photo albums - and inviting reporters in, sure that her husband’s death will inspire others to find God.

“I want everyone to be talking about Austin… We have got too much violence in our society. The only way to change that is to change what’s in our hearts.

“One of the greatest wishes in Austin’s life was that people come to know God. And he had to die to get his message to the nation,” she says.

Austin’s funeral will be at Holy Trinity Church on Wednesday at 1.30pm, just down the road from the family’s home.

It is 25 years since Jenny first spotted Austin, “this fantastically good-looking man”, sitting across from her in his father’s church. At 20, he had already decided 25 was a good age to get married; after meeting Jenny he realised 22 was even better.

Every day he told her she was beautiful. “He said that what makes a woman beautiful is how much she is loved… I haven’t quite let him go yet, but I’m nearly there. I need to touch him. I need to talk to him. I need to remember.” She is looking forward to dressing her husband for the funeral.

The 25-year-old woman whom Hemmings died trying to help was put under armed police protection after the incident, until the next morning when the alleged assailant was arrested.

Her adoptive father said last night he had been praying for everyone involved in the tragedy. His daughter had been staying at the home of a friend since the incident.

The minister of Fetu Ao Samoan Methodist Church, the Rev Ioane Tuupo, said the woman was a lifelong member of the church and he relied on her to lead a youth group. Church members prayed for the wellbeing of the Hemmings family, as well as the accused - at a 9.30pm service on Friday.

He planned to ask the Hemmings family if he could take part in the funeral.

Police say finding the knife used in the assault is “vitally important” but won’t stop them pressing further charges in relation to the murder, as well as to the assault on the woman. The accused - who is known to police - lives transiently. He has recently stayed in Mt Eden, Otahuhu and Auckland’s CBD. Arrested on an assault charge, he is expected to face a murder count when he reappears in court on October 17.
Posted by Fi McKenzie at 21:32:20 | Permalink | No Comments »

Question

Would it be better if I just gave up and came home? Or just easier?

[Edited 10 minutes later - The answer is, of course, no, but sometimes giving up seems the obvious and simplest solution . . . you understand?]

Posted by Fi McKenzie at 00:22:21 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Friday, September 26, 2008

Call to Prayer

“Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.” (Ghandi)

From my Pastorate leader Rohan:


Please keep India, its’ believers, all those serving God there today, in special prayer. 

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST!
Dear beloved sponsors and friends of Good News India

We have never seen anything like this.

We knew that Orissa was the most resistant and hostile State in India as far as the Gospel is concerned. And we brushed off the continuous threats and harassment we faced as we went about His work.

A militant Hindu priest and 4 of his attendants, who were zealously going around the villages of Orissa and ‘reconverting’ people back to Hinduism, were gunned down by unknown assailants in Central Orissa last weekend. 

Immediately the Christians were blamed. The cry rose up…’Kill the Christians!’ 

And the horror began….
 
In the past 4 days, we have first hand witness to hundreds of churches being blown up or burned and many, many dozens of Christian tribals have been slaughtered. For no other reason than they bear the name of Christ. 

Night and day I have been in touch with our Good News  India Directors spread across 14 Dream Centers in Orissa… they are right in the middle of all this chaos.

In Tihidi, just after the police came to offer protection, a group of 70 blood-thirsty militants came to kill our staff and destroy the home. They were not allowed to get in, but they did a lot of damage to our Dream Center by throwing rocks and bricks and smashing our gate, etc. They have promised to come back and ‘finish the job.’ Our kids and staff are locked inside and have stayed that way with doors and windows shut for the past 3 days. It has been a time of desperately calling on the Lord in prayer. More police have come to offer protection. 

In Kalahandi, the police and some local sympathizers got to our dream center and gave our staff and kids about 3 minutes notice to vacate. No one had time to even grab a change of clothes or any personal belonging. As they fled, the blood thirsty mob came to kill everyone in the building. We would have had a mass funeral there, but for His grace. 

In Phulbani, the mob came looking for Christian homes and missions. The local Hindu people, our neighbors turned them away by saying that there were no Christians in this area. So they left. We had favor. The same thing happened in Balasore. 

All our dream centers are under lock down with the kids and staff huddled inside and police outside. The fanatics are circling outside waiting for a chance to kill.
 
Others were not so fortunate. In a nearby Catholic orphanage, the mob allowed the kids to leave and locked up a Priest and a computer teacher in a house and burned them to death. Many believers have been killed and hacked into pieces and left on the road…. even women and children. 

At another orphanage run by another organization, when this began, the Director and his wife jumped on their motorbike and simply fled, leaving all the children and staff behind. Every one of our GNI directors that I have spoken to said: ‘We stay with our kids…. we live together or die together, but we will never abandon what God has called us to do.’


More than 5000 Christian families have had their homes burned or destroyed. They have fled into the jungles and are living in great fear waiting for the authorities to bring about peace. But so far, no peace is foreseen. This will continue for another 10 days…. supposedly the 14 day mourning period for the slain Hindu priest. Many more Christians will die and their houses destroyed. Many more churches will be smashed down. 

The Federal government is trying to restore order and perhaps things will calm down. We ask for your prayers. Only the Hand of God can calm this storm. None of us know the meaning of persecution. But now our kids and staff know what that means. So many of our kids coming from Hindu backgrounds are confused and totally bewildered at what is happening around them. So many of their guardians have fled into the jungles and are unable to come and get them during these trying times.

Through all this, I am more determined than ever to continue with our goal: the transformation of a community by transforming its children. Orissa will be saved… that is our heart’s cry. If we can take these thousands of throw-away children and help them to become disciples of Jesus, they will transform an entire region. It is a long term goal, but it is strategic thinking in terms of the Great Commission. 
 
What can you do? First, please uphold all this in fervent prayer. Second, pass this e-mail on to as many friends as you can. We must get the word out and increase our prayer base for this is spiritual warfare at its most basic meaning. We are literally fighting the devil in order to live for His Kingdom. 

The next 10 days are crucial. We pray for peace and calm to pervade across Orissa. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please pass it on and help us to get as many people to partner with us on this cutting edge effort to fulfill His mandate: Go and make disciples of all nations….

Posted by Fi McKenzie at 12:48:32 | Permalink | No Comments »

A tribute to some fine politicians

Some of my favourite NZ politicians are stepping down as MPs and have given valedictory speeches over the past few days. They have done more and tried harder than the average Kiwi gives them credit for and it is sad to see them go. 


It is with particular sadness that we note the, as always very sad, death of Brian Donnelly, who I remember as a funny man with a good sense of humour and always willing to sit down and discuss the real issues across the parties. He worked hard and was, I am sure, a fine High Commissioner in his final years.

Here are some of the final comments made by some of my favourite MPs:


Mark Gosche (for clarification - his wife requires 24 hours care following a brain haemorrage in 2002 and his son committed suicide last year) - ”I would forego a thousand tax cuts if I were able to access the treatment and services that Carol needs, and would receive if she were covered by ACC…I ask on behalf of hundreds of families like ours that efforts continue to reduce our suicide rate and to find answers so we can avoid the grief…This insane idea that we must all be available to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, has ruined family life for many.”

Marian Hobbs (she was incredibly good to me and an amazing person to learn from) - ”Politics is about making decisions, be it the laws we pass or the budgets we approve…But modern news media doesn’t evaluate our decisions in the light of which policy is best…Instead they build a web around personalities and behaviour. It’s about a smiley new face versus the one we are familiar with. The news is about decision makers, rarely about decisions.”


Tim Barnett (gave me very useful advice on LSE and living in London) - ”I’ve long ascribed to the advice that if you’re going to invite a tiger to lunch, there’s little point in pouring the sauce over yourself.” (On the Media)


Mark Blumsky (we had our run-ins on the campaign but he’s a good guy with a real, and very deep, passion for Wellington) - ”The `them and us’ feeling is stronger than I had suspected…neither of us can be exactly right and I think we sometimes miss out on the real solutions.”


Katherine Rich (an MP I respect and admire for having done and continue doing what she believes in) - ”Kiwi music brings us together as one of the glues to our society. The market will never support local music sufficiently, given the size of our country…Demotion [in 2005 under Brash] clearly wasn’t a career highlight but it was preferable than trying to explain why I, a well-paid mother with all the supports in the world, intended telling a DPB (domestic purposes benefit) mum to leave her baby in childcare to net less than half the minimum wage.”


And finally, at least for now, my old local MP, who might have had something to do with my interest in politics and the Labour party. Steve Maharey (part-time Robbie Williams impersonator) - ”Fairness and equal opportunity have long been part of the New Zealand political tradition and it led to governments putting in place institutions that made a practical difference to people like me…Members will have their own goals. Make them bold. The mistakes of the 1980s and 1990s have left an legacy of understandable caution in politics…The current economic crisis reinforces this stance. But in the midst of new times, the spectre of the past should not be allowed to get in the way of a vision for the future.”


These people, and many others that aren’t quite ready to leave yet, have shaped my perception of the way the world works and I am thankful for their insight. They might not have been perfect but they fought for things they believed in and did so in the unkind and difficult environment that is national politics. I greatly respect them and wish all the very best in their future careers and lives. 
Posted by Fi McKenzie at 00:21:50 | Permalink | No Comments »

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Hamlet and the Royal Shakespeare Company

I have just returned from a day in Stratford-upon-Avon seeing Hamlet - it was amazing! It was being staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company and David Tennant (the current Dr Who) played a wonderfully mad and sarcastically cynical Hamlet while a very villainous Claudius was played by Patrick Stewart (of Star Trek and X Men fame among others). It was completely brilliant and by far the best staging of any Shakespeare play I have ever seen. Tennant is an incredibly talented actor and the whole play had a slightly more dark humour feel to it, which I loved.


We travelled up to Stratford very early this morning (early enough that most of us slept on the train - except for me pestering Imran with questions about where we were). We had a leisurely lunch by the Avon, where people were dragon-boating badly, and then headed to the Hamlet matinee. After a quick drink at a very quaint thatch-roofed pub, we jumped back on the train and had another 2 and a half hour trip back to London. The travel time was definitely worth it though! We had a fantastic time just relaxing and enjoying a reasonably nice Autumn day. It was really nice!


I really do love days like today, they make the less good days a lot more worthwhile.

Posted by Fi McKenzie at 21:16:46 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Friday, September 19, 2008

Being thankful

I have realised (better late than never) that to be really thankful for what you have, you have to see what you have as a good thing.While in many ways I don’t like my job at all, I am thankful for the opportunities it gives me to pay off debts, to work at home, to travel around England, to spend lots of out-of-work hours with the people I care about doing things that matter to me. It is a blessing in a funny kind of way and it’s taken a long time to see that. I still want another job though . . .

I am thankful for surprise invitations (like going to Stratford-upon-Avon tomorrow), buses that come more often than every 15 minutes, and a city that never sleeps (with supermarkets that are always open - I am very thankful for our 24 hour Tesco Express). I am thankful for friends that send me photos of their amazingly gorgeous week-old babies, and the friends that take time to send me lovely emails from their bases in the Sollies (well ok so that’s only one friend but still). I am thankful for my lovely flatmates who put up with my strangeness and try to make me feel better by acting crazier than me. I am even thankful for the Economist and free pots of curry sauce at Paddington station. I am very thankful that I have a roof over my head and food in my cupboard.

I just thought I’d share that thought with you all . . .
Posted by Fi McKenzie at 17:17:30 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Summer turns to Autumn

Summer has faded into Autumn here and while the leaves are falling off the trees, I am musing on life and the curveballs it throws. I took a walk last night while the sun went down and took some truly Autumn light photos that I love and will soon be up on my newly created Flickr account for my most pretty photos. It’s purposefully only a small number of photos as it’s my way of keeping track of those that I really like the most…but I digress…

I muse too often and do very little…I was going to write so much more but it feels selfish and self-fulfilling so I think I’ll stop and do something worthwhile. Musing is helpful occasionally but one can do it too much.
Posted by Fi McKenzie at 21:29:28 | Permalink | No Comments »

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Blogging from Chrome

I’m blogging from Chrome. Chrome the new Google browser. It’s great to try something new and I’m enjoying how intuitive it is so far!

Incognito is one the excellent additions to Chrome, and similar to functions unveiled in IE 8. Here’s a screenshot of the incognito screen for Chrome the first time you open it (got to love the little man in the coat and hat at the top).

Also really like that when you type a search term into the “omnibox” it does the search right there and then thereby skipping the previous ‘go-to-the-search-page-with-its-answers’ step (can’t you tell I’m so up with the all the jargon on this :P). But seriously, a very useful tool. I just typed Amnesty International in, because I’m useless at remembering that their address is www.amnesty.org, and the omnibox offered me a selection of 5 or 6 top possibilities and of course got it in one so I went straight there. Brilliant Google!

No problems so far, has coped with everything I’ve thrown at it (multiple windows in icognito and not, as well as multiple tabs). Quite impressed really :o)

The home screen, made up of 9 of your most popularly visited pages, is absolutely brilliant and well thought out. I also like having a lot more actual page on my screen, the minimising of buttons and boxes within the browser is a Godsend. Have found a few bugs with some websites and there’s also no way of getting an RSS feed in the browser but so far so good. Chrome help group is up and running with loads of comments.
Posted by Fi McKenzie at 20:23:27 | Permalink | No Comments »