Still crocheting

My next project. Made a flower brooch thingy for Nan J's birthday coming up.
It was harder than it looks. I think I'll go for more long straight things for a while yet...
Anyone need a new scarf?

Lizzy's theological thought

It occurred to me as I looked back over our blog that there is a pattern emerging. Mothy does some profound Christian theological thoughts, and I witter about little kittens or something equally inane. Then Mothy does some more encouraging Christian wisdom, and I tell you about chutney, etc etc. Here is an attempt to rectify that.

I recently finished reading this excellent book. It was one of those, where nearly each and every paragraph made me want to copy it out and keep it in my quote book to refer to. But that would have got a bit out of hand, and probably got me in copyright trouble! I kept reading bits out at Mothy from every page, saying 'here's a good bit'. It was such a good read because it really made me think again about the culture we live in (though it is written from an American perspective, so needs a filter for NZ, or UK), and how we so often treat cultural norms as morally and spiritually neutral, when actually they're anything but.
In fact, just after I finished it I went to some motivational lunch-time seminar thing at work, and because all David F Wells' prophetic warnings were sounding so fresh in my mind, the seminar really really got me down! Certainly de-motivated me, as I was thinking about it for days afterwards. It was full of the usual sort of stuff about there being no meaning in the world - only what you choose to make; and you personally deciding on your path for life and how to get there. Everyone just seemed to nod thoughtfully and lap it all up. But it scared and upset me. It was a) completely heretical, shaking a big 'I don't need you' fist at God, and b) incredibly selfish and self-centred. I tried talking to a few people about it afterwards, but even though they're scientists who think for a living, they didn't seem to be thinking very deeply about this...
Ho hum. Now what do I do with my gloom about that???

Canterbury Folk Music Festival 2007 - Oh Yeah!

We were only there for Saturday night, but it was great fun. This is an empty stage because I didn't want to take photos and distract the performers in such an 'intimate' venue. We arrived about 7ish, and joined in some sing-along sea-shanty type songs with a guy called Alan Whitehead who had a lovely voice, (and has previously performed in Great Yarmouth, according to the programme - what a claim to fame!) Then the main concert had one USA group (including banjo - tho' more gentle than hard-core banjo), one English woman, and two different Kiwi groups. We both agreed that the best performer was Lindon Puffin. He did some of his own stuff and an inspired version of 'Baker Street' with a kazoo. Brilliant! And he's from Lyttleton just round the corner from here, so hope to see him again soon.

LUCF Easter bun giveaway

For Easter 2006 LUCF gave away Easter buns outside the library a few days before Easter, to draw attention to the reason for the undergrad holidays. They weren't hot, but did have a Bible verse printed out, stuck in the top of the bun with a cocktail stick, so before eating the bun the verse had to be at least glanced at. It worked so well that we thought we'd do it again for 2007.


So we bought more buns than last year (300 this time round) and yet they all went within an hour. It was interesting to see people's reactions when inviting them to celebrate Jesus with a free Easter bun. Some got into it (including loads of ag boys lining up to receive them!), and some said a polite 'no thanks' whilst looking at us oddly. But no one was agitated by us - the days of outright offence and indignation are over in this secular postmodern nation. 'If it works for you - good, I'm pleased for you. And if you're giving me a free feed inbetween lectures even better' - that could be the response of many.


Tui beer has a long running 'Yeah Right' campaign (if you're not familiar with it, take a look here: www.tui.co.nz/ecards.asp)
To copy that idea, LUCF did this (nice one Margo & Saki!):


Big thanks to Saki for organising us so well, taking good care of the logistics.

Please do pray that some seed of interest in Jesus will be planted, and that those known personally by LUCF will be prompted by them to question more about Jesus in the new term, or even before on the Easter field trips.

Green tomato chutney

I spent my Monday evening making chutney, to try and use up all the oodles of green tomatoes that our two plants had on them. It was my first chutney, and my first attempt at bottling stuff. It seemed to work very well indeed, and now we have four very large jars of chutney to munch through. Yummy!
It's all thanks to my colleague Geoff at work. He gave us the two baby tomato plants in the Spring, and has loaned me the professional agee jars so I can learn to preserve stuff. I feel a bit like I'm turning into the epitome of a 50's house-wife. Except that because I've spent all my non-AgResearch time doing crochet and chutney the rest of the house, and my life, is a big scrawly mess! Yeah!!!

LUCF Camp

Another LUCF camp has passed. LUCF is a special group of students, with a community and culture uniquely theirs. I'm privileged to work with them. And their camps are always a highlight. This year, we returned to Mt Hutt with great views across the
Canterbury Plains.

Things that were great about LUCF camp:

• Bible teaching 'postcards from the end'. Thanks Mark (Manawatu colleague) for teaching us about end times in a simple, clear way, that you'd clearly contextualised for the Lincoln setting. 'Real good' was the feedback from many - very high praise indeed from LUCF. And several can recall, a few weeks on, your word picture stack. Nice one! Just superb to be forced back to Scripture.
• Resource centre - for the first time I took along resources for sale, not really expecting to sell any. But, to my surprise and delight, we did. I pray that books will be read and CDs listened too as a way of keeping Bible truths learnt at camp in mind.
• Food - once again, Kelly-Jean Kerr you're a legend. I've no idea how you do such good food on such a small budget, but I thank God you do. You're a huge asset to LUCF - thank you for serving and encouraging in this way. Liz - thank you too, of course, as chef's assistant!
• Tyres - last year one of my colleagues at LUCF was amazed there was some boxing going on, this year, my colleague Mark was amazed that LUCF found an old tractor tyre on site and proceeded to roll each other down the hill in it. Mark even had a go himself - just like Zorbing but free!
• Jigsaws - I still don't understand the attraction, but plenty did, especially the wasjig ones.
• Seminars - another first, inserting three concurrently run seminars for choice:
• Telling your story as a Christian
• Overseas mission - experiences and potential careers paths (thanks Debbie!)
• Biblical and personal reflections on moving from studentville to the commercial world as a Christian (thanks Rachal and Erin!)

• Work! Great to see students on similar courses helping one another out. It's well known that a Lincoln degree is twice as hard and worth twice as much as other universities!

Thing for the leadership to think about for next time:

• The opt-in nature of LUCF camp. Far too many see camp as an extra, as 'what's in it for me', rather than a way for community to be formed for mission on campus, and to be well taught the Bible to be trained for mission on campus. I long for all to be involved, for the benefit not just of LUCF but the whole university. How can this opt-in culture be changed?
• Promotion of camp - came across as too opt-in; 'if you'd like to come to camp'. How can we be clearer in promotion of camp as a key part of the LUCF year?

It's good to blog on this, as it helps me see the sheer number of positives, when i have a tendency to focus on what needs to be done. Lizzy's great in this (and many other!) regards - she reminded me what our first LUCF camp was like: I was asked to speak at camp just two weeks before; no cooks for the first night; few turned up on the Friday and most came just for a day on the Saturday; only c25% had Bibles with them; camp site wasn't very good; nothing organised in terms of games......etc etc. All of these have improved.

So, 2007 is the best camp yet, and for that I thank God.

Scarfies

1. Students in NZ, especially in Otago.
2. Film about NZ student drug culture - typically dark Kiwi film, but helpful to understand Kiwi culture (and quite a laugh in places too, if that's not too juxtaposed with dark).
3. Lizzy's finished, first ever, crocheted scarf!

Yes, today definition 3 is the one to go for. Liz has really got into crochet of late, and is loving her new 'deep trendy turqouise' scarf. Here's a picture of her modelling it (extreme close up to show detail and Liz's neck!):