http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog One Antipodean view - some thoughts from Down Under. Sat, 17 Jul 2010 04:33:43 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Ten years ago I suffered an acute auto-immune illness which "came out of nowhere" and had me very unwell for much of a year. With all the numerous tests required for diagnosis at the time, the doctors discovered I was suddenly producing a less than normal amount of insulin, the ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/07/17/a-medical-success-story/ The month of June has passed me by but July now finds me with a new computer, a faster one with much more memory. No longer must I suffer the 10 minute wait for each browser window to load, or keystroke to register. If nothing else, it was a lesson ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/07/12/as-winter-bites-down-here/ On a recent visit back to my "home town" we visited the parish church we used to attend many years ago. Back then we went to Evensong every Sunday evening, and the church was always packed to over-flowing. It is true that we had an extremely popular Vicar, a wonderful ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/05/27/out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new/ Psalm 23 is an old favourite and so many of us can recite the words, almost as many as can remember those to the Lord's Prayer. But I wonder if you had noticed the use of the pronouns in this wellknown psalm? This psalm of King David is a literary unity ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/05/18/take-another-look/ Crossing Cook Strait on the Aratere is not my most preferred way to spend an afternoon. However, the Marlborough Sounds do offer picturesque scenery for tourists, and the Strait itself can bring added excitement those days when strong cross currents and high winds combine to make it one of the ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/05/08/when-it-matters/ Today is a special day for Kiwis. New Zealanders consider 25th April to be an important national day of commemoration - not of war and the horrors of war, but of bravery and valour, "brotherhood", and nationhood. Indeed, for many of us it is considered now to be the day, back in ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/04/25/anzac-day-2010/ When I sat down at my computer this morning, my eyes still blurry with sleep, something looked not quite as I remembered it ought. My keyboard seemed to be different, as though it was trying to tell me something. Perhaps it was just that I was half asleep, for I ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/04/17/has-it-really-been-that-long/ Hubby and I had been pouring over computer specs all day and we needed an airing, a visit to a local café for our customary "two long blacks". One each, that is. They were duly delivered along with little slips of paper bearing conversation-provoking messages. Mine read "Never believe in ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/04/15/absolutely/ The Last Supper that spoke of the new covenant of God with His people, the anguish of Jesus in Gethsemane, the horrendous Crucifixion, and then the glorious Resurrection, are all profoundly meaningful and moving for followers of Christ. Jesus was faithfully obedient to His Father right to the victorious end. ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/04/06/easter-and-onwards/ There is a connection, but these days it is often forgotten, not known, or deliberately ignored. The secularization of much of Christianity, from the promotion of a social gospel (without Gospel) to consumerism (with Santa) at Christmas, includes the concentration on chocolate to mark the celebration of Easter. In the ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/04/04/the-neglected-connection/ He asked his disciples to watch with him and pray. Instead, they fell asleep. This was the night of terrible anguish and agony, knowing as he did what was to come. Just the physical pain on its own would have been enough. The flaying with a whip, its sharp pieces ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/04/02/the-vigil/ It is a matter of relationship... the children of God are those whom He has adopted, those being the followers of His Son, Jesus. The other evening our son came round for dinner, something he often does when his pay packet doesn't quite stretch to cover the entire week. He ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/03/31/a-parents-love-for-a-child/ The other day somebody asked me my name. I answered with the one that most people call me. "Interesting," my enquirer said, "did you realize that St Jude is the patron saint of hopeless and desperate cases and lost causes?" Well, I hadn't prefixed myself with any such title, but ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/03/26/jude-on-jude/ As part of our family folklore, my brothers and I enjoyed the mischief involved in how it came about that our parents first met. We were told they had both been co-opted into teaching Sunday School at the local Anglican Church. It seemed that my Dad had his eye on ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/03/23/the-billionaires-pact/ "Are you OK?" my husband asked cautiously. The concern in his voice caught my attention. I fumbled about and managed to prick my finger. "No, not really," was my slurred response. I managed to get a glucose lolly into my mouth. "But I will be soon," I tried to say. ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/03/07/a-matter-of-balance/ Last night I happened to mention that it was Fat Tuesday. "What's that?" asked my son. I told him how, in the liturgical calendar, it was the day before Ash Wednesday which is the first day of Lent. He thought I was speaking a foreign language since all this was ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/02/17/giving-up/ Those things that a man can not amend in himself or in others, he ought to suffer patiently, until God orders things otherwise. Think that perhaps it is better so for thy trial and patience, without which all our good deeds are not much to be esteemed. Thou oughtest to pray ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/02/07/of-bearing-with-the-defects-of-others/ Throughout my Journal, and on other pages of this website, I have written of my personal spiritual journey so that others who are interested may read of the road along which I have travelled in my faith in God. I have gathered up those vignettes, ordering chronologically the development of ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/01/29/judahs-journey/ I asked the Lord that I might grow In faith and love and every grace; Might more of his salvation know, And seek more earnestly his face. 'Twas he who taught me thus to pray, And he, I trust, has answered prayer; But it has been in such a way As almost drove me to ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/01/14/its-all-about-a-relationship/ Clicking back through my Journal posts on Christmas I came across one for which I can claim no credit as the author, but the message is as meaningful to me today as it was back then... even more so. Some of the words caught my eye... "that which is good ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/01/05/on-with-the-journey/ I'm not really much of a gardener and weeds do rather get away on me. But the Roses are prolific, the Geraniums sure know how to climb, and the Bourganvilia might have managed better had they not been so smothered until just the other week. Luckily the Marigolds, Snapdragons, and ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2010/01/01/happy-new-year-2010/ My favourite NZ native tree... the Pohutukawa, metsiderosis excelsa, is known as the New Zealand Christmas Tree. This is exactly the time of year that it comes into blossom, and together with its supposedly Christmas colours of red and green, it is not surprising that it is given that name. ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2009/12/31/christmas-2009/ Just recently I read in the newspaper of an incident that happened between a father and son in the city of Detroit, Michigan. Because of the appalling nature of it, this news item took me deep into the horror of our human condition and haunted me for the rest of ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2009/12/01/those-troubling-images/ While becoming absorbed in Psalm 139 and allowing those ideas to lead and guide my current journey, its words becoming like the winding roads on a map of the countryside through which one is travelling, I turned some pages and found myself "by chance" in the Song of Songs. This ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2009/11/26/the-song-of-songs/ Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23,24) It is not a good idea to ask God to do something if you do not really mean it... but a ... http://www.visiblesoul.org/judah/blog/2009/11/24/a-most-daring-prayer/