I Choose

I choose FAITH over FEAR

I choose LOVE over HATE

I choose COMPASSION over INDIFFERENCE

I choose OPTIMISM over PESSIMISM

I choose HOPE over DISPAIR

I choose SELFLESSNESS over SELFISHNESS

 

LORD please help me remain faithful to my choices

 - Until tomorrow morning

   - When I will have to make my choice all over again

 

Review - STAR TREK (2009) - Spoilers

Warning - this review contains spoilers.

As anybody who reads my blog will know - I have been waiting in earnest expectation for the new Star Trek movie for over three years. That kind of wait always puts a lot of preassure on a film to deliver - so did it?

The story

I have a lot of faith in the people behind this film so I was expecting good things in the story department. I wasn't disapointed. When a movie makes you cry before the title even comes up you know you're in for a story with genuine heart. The movie started with a bang. Immediate special effects and action abounded, but the highlight of the teaser was the powerful final interactions between Kirk's parents, before George sacrificed his life.

It didn't let up from there. Director JJ Abrams is known for putting a lot of character depth into his story telling and this was evident all the way through.

Historically, we Star Trek fans have often complained about the 'reset button' storylines, where significant changes occur, but they always get re-set back to the norm by the end of the episode. Time travel tales are especially guilty of this at times. This movie present what is possibly the boldest story anyone has ever dared to tell in the Star Trek universe. Not only does the film tell of the destruction of Romulas in the 24th century, but through Nero's interfearance with history, we see an incredible change - the destruction of Vulcan and a completely altered time-line in the 23rd century. The practical upshot of this, of course, was that they could tell a prequel story without loosing the suspense because we know these characters will all survive. If Vulcan can be destroyed, and Spock's mother die, then we know that we can't take anything for granted.

This story really did have it all - a good science fiction angle, a nice tie-in to the Next Generation, an origin story for our characters, major character development, and a theme showing the horrors that can come when people hold on to revenge.

There were plenty of easter eggs in there for devoted Star Trek fans. My wife and I sat in the cinema and laughed at subtle references, when nobody else was laughing. We did the same thing in Superman Returns. It's so much fun being a nerd.

The Music

The musical score in Star Trek was beautiful. The new theme is simple yet strangely haunting. Giacchino paid tribute to the Alexander Courage theme from the original series, but what I was really hoping for was a tribute to the theme from 'Star Trek the Motion Picture'. That music - to me - IS Star Trek. It is the theme of the Enterprse, and was so, long before it became the theme of The Next Generation. Even the Star Trek fanfare seemed absent - although listening to clips of the soundtrack I realise it may have been in there somewhere. In any case, I plan to buy the CD so it obviously impacted me.

The Actors

All the actors did a fantastic job. It was wonderful to see our own Eric Bana play the villain Nero. He did so with wonderful passion. The suprise to me was Chris Pine. I had always seen Zachery Quinto as Spock, but it wasn't until I saw the movie that I realised what a good casting decision Pine was. He really did make me believe that he was James T. Kirk. In fact, in the end I found Pine's Kirk even more convincing than Quinto's Spock.

Simon Pegg's Scotty was hilarious, giving some good comedic relief in the later part of the movie. While I thoroughly enjoyed this use of the character, I am hoping that future movies might show us a more serious side of Scotty's character.

Karl Uban did a wonderful job of portraying Dr. McCoy. He made me believe. Uhura, Sulu and Checkov seemed a little different from their former counterparts, but each became an interesting character in their own right under the guidance of their new actors.

Special Effects

What can I say but....WHOA!

Canon

Here it comes, the all important Canon. Well, the alterations to the time line certainly gave the writers an excuse to mess with canon - and mess they did. Slightly more than neccessary, at some times, it seemed. Pretty much every change can be explained by the new timeline if you think hard enough so I'm not overly worried. In a future post I will delve into nitpicks, and my attempts to rationalise them. In the short term however, let me just say that the movie was so good I'm willing to just let go of those concerns and enjoy what was a very very enjoyable ride.

Summary

All in all, the movie met my every expectation. It was a fantastic ride that never lost its energy. It has given the Star Trek francise an amazing new lease of life and I, for one, absolutely can't wait for a sequel.

Thankyou Mr. Abrams.
Thankyou Mr. Lindelof.
Thankyou Mr. Orci.
Thankyou Mr. Kutrzman.

One sleep to go

The new Star Trek Movie has arrived. As Nero would say, "The wait is over." I am going to see the movie tomorrow night for my brother's birthday.

In celebration of this special event I present the following silliness:

The roof will Cave In

I'm sure you've heard the expression before. people say something to the effect of "If I were ever to enter a church, the roof would cave in on me." I've heard it plenty of times. I was thinking this morning about this statement and something occurred to me. People who say this are so much closer to the truth than they realise. Do I mean the roof really will collapse on them? No, of course not. But here is what they are really acknowledging by saying this:

1. There is a supernatural power. If the roof were to collapse then there must be a God of some sort, whose wrath they fear. That's a big first step.
2. They are recognising their own sinfulness. The implication is that the roof would collapse because they are unworthy to be in the presence of a Holy God. This is also true - in fact - none of us deserve to be in His presence.
3. They are just missing one thing...

The people in the Bible understood God's righteousness and Holiness. They had a fear that if they ever saw God face to face they would die instantly - because He was so good - and they were so lacking in goodness. There are many wonderful people in the world, but if we are honest, we know that the greatest of us pales in comparrison to any holy God worthy of the name - because we know that we are flawed beings. As the Bible puts it: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

So - if God is so good - and we are so lacking - why doesn't the roof collapse? Well this comes back to the one thing that is missing: God's mercy and grace. He poured out all that punishment onto His own son, so that we could be forgiven.

No, the roof doesn't collapse in on anybody's head - because it already collapsed on Jesus' head; and that was enough.

A Children's book that makes me nostalgic

The guys at Plinky.com have given me another thought-provoking prompt.

The book "The Door on the Dragon's Throat" reminds me of our caravan at Ulverstone when I was a kid; Laying on the bunk bed reading books all day. This book had an Indianna Jones feel to it. It may have been my first introduction to Christian Fiction.

Thoughts on the Ellison Star Trek Lawsuit

Entertainment sites have been reporting the recent news that Harlan Ellison, writer of 'City on the Edge of Forever' is suing Pamaount Pictures over the use of elements from his story such as The Guardian of Forever and the character of Edith Keeler.

Harlan Ellison is clearly a very good writer of Science Fiction. 'City on the Edge of Forever' is one of my all-time favourite episodes, and Mr. Ellison was also influential in the groundbreak series 'Babylon 5'.

I do not know the legal situation, or whether Mr. Ellison has any valid claim in this case, but I would like to share my personal thoughts on how I think this should be.

I think that when you contribute writing to a franchise like Star Trek, you are, in a way, partially foreiting your ownership of the story. Mr. Ellison was playing in Gene Roddenberry's backyard. Should Ellison have had to pay Roddenberry for the use of characters such as Kirk and Spock? Once the episode aired, the Guardian of Forever and Edith Keeler became part of Star Trek canon. The story was part of something bigger than itself.

If Mr. Ellison wins this case I believe it will set a disturbing precedent that could kill off the concept of continuity in fiction. No longer will writers or producers dare to make mention of characters or events that took place in previous episodes. It would simply become too expensive.

As an ameteur writer I can understand Harlan Ellison's possessive feelings over 'his babies', but the thought that subsequent writers, be it novels or episodes, would want to reference his story is a testament to the power of his writing.

Maybe I don't fully understand the situation, but that's my thoughts.

Balancing Family and Work

The guys at HighCallingBlogs, FaithInTheWorkplace and Laity Lodge Family Camp are asking the question "How do YOU balance family and work?", and giving away a free family camp (http://llfamilycamp.org/family-fun-time-giveaway/).

For me, it's a lot of little things. We often think that 'family time' has to be complex organised activities, but I think that everyday activities like getting the kids bathed and ready for bed is just as important. Some of the most special times with my children have been playing rough and tumble games on the floor after dressing them in their pyjamas.

Then there are times like today, when I took the kids for a daddy-day, doing the groceries and playing in the playground, so that my wife could do her university study in peace.

We do of course have special activities. A favourite family activity is taking the kids to the playground, or having a barbecue. As my kids grow older I'm sure we'll come up with other ideas.

Live DVD Review - Skillet: Comatose Comes Alive

I went to a rock concert last night - but I didn't leave my lounge room. I watched Skillet's new live DVD Comatose Comes Alive. I had read good things about it so was quietly optimistic. It comes in a standard CD case along with a CD recording of the live songs. Sometimes in these cases, the DVD can almost be an afterthought, or just an added bonus; but not in this case. Skillet have produced a very professional video with a lot of attention to detail and a good list of special features (video clips of three songs, plus a slideshow and behind the scenes montage).

The camera work was good and suited the tone of the event. I am always envious of those with cameras that can handle the low-light environment of a live event so nicely.

As for the music, well it seems that Skillet songs are just meant to be played live. Each one sounded fantastic. John Cooper lead the band with such energy and good humour. One suprise was the band's new drummer Jen Ledger, who stepped down and sang a solo during one verse of "Yours to Hold". She has a very nice voice which suited the song very well.

Most of the songs were from Skillet's two most recent albums, Comatose and Collide. They did have a brief worship-interlude later in the show and played 'Angels Fall Down' (which has always been a favourite of mine), and they finished with another old favourite 'Best Kept Secret'. (If they had played 'Alien Youth' then my joy would have been complete.)

The christian message was clearly displayed through the concert but done in a way that seemed to be very accesible to a wider audience. I am starting to see how a band like Skillet can flourish on a secular label, without abondoning their roots in Christian music. It is a delicate tightrope to walk but Skillet have handled it very well indeed.

I ended the experience feeling both thoroughly entertained and touched on a deeply spiritual level. This video reminded me why I quickly fell in love with Skillet and named them my favourite band shortly after my wife (girlfriend at the time) introduced me to them.

If you're the kind of person who likes to spend their entertainment budget very wisely, you will find this DVD/CD combo very good value for money.

Well done Skillet!

My favorite line from a Movie.

Having been prompted by the daily question on Plinky.com, I am going to share my favourite line from a movie.

Gillian Taylor: "Are you sure you won't change your mind?"
Spock: "Is there something wrong with the one I have?"

This line shows through Spock's misunderstanding of one of the most basic twentieth century english expressions, how easy it is for people of different cultures to take language and expressions for granted;


but most of all,
it's just plain hilarious.

Making good on my words

I mentioned in my previous article that one my spiritual goals for this year is to place a higher priority on God's kingdom and let other things take their place behind that. I have done a lot of writing about compassion and poverty in the past, but as James says "faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead" (James 2:17b).

Well, finally, after being inspired and challenged by my time at the National Christian Youth Convention, I am trying to make good on my words. I am blessed to be part of an amazing church that provides so many opportunites to change the world. One of these is Levi House. I have volunteered to help serve meals to the homeless. Tonight was my first night. It was an interesting experience and I really felt like I was following in the steps of Jesus.

I tell this story, not to try to draw attention to myself, but to show what I have learned; that to really call yourself a disciple of Jesus you must do what Jesus did. For me, some form of loving and serving those more disadvantaged than myself is becoming an essential ingredient.

My wonderful wife is also embarking on a new adventure to be the hands and feet of Jesus. She is studying to be a nurse and I am very proud of her.

Spiritual Goals for 2009

I've been challenged and have some spiritual goals for this new year. They can be summed up by the following passages:

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

with a specific focus on praying continually, and

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:32-34

(In my next article I will talk about some of the practical things I am going to do in this regard.)

I believe that if I get these two things right then a lot of the things that I lost sleep over last year will fall back into their proper place and I can get on with actually doing something useful for God.

If you are reading this, I would ask you to please take a moment for pray for me in these goals, and please post a comment; let me know what spiritual goals you have at the moment because I would love to pray for you.

Scripture taken from The HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION Copyright (C) 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers

Happy Australia Day

Happy Australia Day everybody. I'm having a wonderful time enjoying the long weekend. We kicked off the Australia Day weekend by having special Aussie Burgers on friday night for tea. The meat patties were made in the shape of Australia. They were great.

Yesterday, when we walked into the supermarket and the kids saw all the Australian flags on display, Chloe announced "I love Australia." It was very cute.

So, let's all be thankful to God for all the wonderful things it means to be an Aussie. We are truly blessed in this nation.

Aussie Aussie Aussie!

Could not find adofltr.dll - Solved!

Excuse he technical nature of this article, but today I solved an annoying programming problem and in the process was reminded of an important spiritual lesson.

I was using Microsoft ActiveSync to copy data from an access application to a PocketPC CE device. This is done using the external functions DESKTOPTODEVICE and DEVICETODESKTOP. On all computers around my workplace this works with no worries. However, on a client machine I was receiving the error "File not found c:\program files\microsoft activesync\adofltr.dll"

This seemed odd as the file did indeed exist. A search of the web revealed many people with the problem but few solutions. I tried some of the suggestions, most of which involved copying various DLLs from the activsync directory into the application directory of my program and re-registering them. This did not work. One suggestion did work however.

As it turns out, there are two solutions; one of which I have succesfully implemented, and another that I plan to investigate.

1) Add the ActiveSync install directory to your path.
I added c:\program files\microsoft activesync to my path environment variable.
Note you have to do this through the properties of My Computer. If you do it in a command prompt window, it will only apply during that command session.

2) The second solution is to use an API call to determine programatically, where the adofltr.dll file is located. I have not yet tried this but logic suggests it would work - without requiring clients to change their path.
(as I learn more ab out this I will post my findings with a link from this article)


I was reminded through this experience of the value of praying over our work as opposed to trying to solve difficult problems in our own strength.

Happy New Year

I wrote at the beginning of 2008 a lot about faith. I expected 2008 to be a year of faith - and it was. My faith was tested in many ways during the last 12 months. In many ways it was a very difficult year. I've been through the fire - but through it I have learned many skills and lessons about faith.

Now, Im sure 2009 will bring its own unique challenges. Hopefully I can use what I've gained last year to move forward into new things in God.

This year starts with a fresh adventure. We are spending a week at the National Christian Youth Convetion in Melbourne (or as my daughter calls it, Nihlbon). I'm sure we will all learn a lot and be challenged. I will have plenty to write about here when I return.

On a fun note, I'm looking forward to release of the new Star Trek movie in the middle of this year. I have been waiting well over two years for this film - closely following its progress, so I can only hope it will live up to such long-term expectation.

It will be exciting to see what God does through my church this year. Last year saw the birth of Levi House homeless shelter as an extended ministry of the church. I can only imagine what will be happening in 2009.

So, happy new year.

My Challenge

Something has occurred to me over the last week or two. It seems that I have been leaving God at home when I go to work. I certainly hadn't intended to do it. I was having some good times with God in the morning, but as I got into the hetic demands of the day I left Him behind and tried to do everything in my own strength. I am certainly aware of spiritual aspect of our daily work from reading such websites as Faith in the Workplace and High Callings Blogs, but I guess I wasn't doing anything about it.

The effect of this was that I was loosing the peace of God and falling into frustration when things got hard. I'm not sure when I made the decision, or exactly what lead me to it, but I decided I was going to begin memorising some scripture. In particular, Psalm 103. I had read this recently, and had been touched by it. I had a sense that memorising this would be beneficial to me.

This seemed like a daunting task. This wasn't a spiritual discipline that I had practiced much as an adult. As a child growing up in a Christian School I had learned the value of memorising scripture, but the last time I had done this was about ten years ago at youth group. An entire chapter (though admitedly a short one) seemed like a lot to commit to memory but nevertheless I decided to begin, knowing that I would not be doing it in my own strength.

I didn't know what the best strategy for memorising was, so I just started with a few verses the first day, continuing to recite them back to myself all day long. That was Thursday, which was quite a difficult hectic day for me. Dispite this, I went through the whole day with a sense of God's peace. I have found a great benefit from memorising scripture. It causes you to meditate on it. I was chewing on those verses all day long, sucking out every bit of goodness that they had. I even used those verses as a spiritual weapon to attack against negative thoughts and feelings that would enter my mind. It seemed a great victory.

On Friday I added a few more verses, but once the day got started I failed to chew on them like I had the previous day. I allowed myself to get distracted by the rush of things I had to accomplish and the stress won out. The contrast of those two days has taught me something valuable about the power of memorised scripture.

Psalm 119:11 says "I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.". That is so true. A few days on and I can now recite over half of Psalm 103 word for word, and I regularly think about what those words have to say about my God. I am getting very excited about the concept and am already thinking about what passage I will memorise next. Psalm 29 is looking like a strong contender.

So, I have taken up the challenge, and I would recommend it to anyone. If you start memorising scripture I am convinced that you will grow spiritually through the experience.

Knowing God through Praise

Ever wanted to know what God is like? Look no further than Psalm 103. This is a praise psalm to God, but it is totally full of descriptions of God's character. It talks about his grace, his provision, healing, power and so much more.

Sometimes, it can be easy for our picture of God to become distorted, but meditating on passages like this one can help correct that.

Poverty - Blog Action Day

The guys at High Calling Blogs have drawn my attention to Blog Action Day which is bringing people all over the world this year to write about poverty. While in Australia, I am already a day late, by American timing I think I can just squeeze myself in.

Poverty is certainly something I think about at times. It's hard not to when you belong to a church like Door of Hope. In our current vision, our church is placing a large emphasis on dealing with poverty and bringing hope to people's lives, locally, nationally and internationally. The church aims t obe "Jesus Centered and Others Focussed"

I would like to talk about something my wife and I are participating in at the moment. Our church is taking part in a program called Kingdom Assignment 2. It didn't start with us, the concept originated in America and has been sweeping across the globe. We were challenged to sell something to raise money for a project that is dear to our hearts, the Good Shepherd Agricultural Mission (GSAM). This is an orphanage in India run by a family who left the comfort of Australia to live out their faith in a very real and practical way. The GSAM are planning to build a school which will have a long-term impact on many lives, helping give children a future free of poverty. The funds from Kingdom Assignment 2 are going to pay for stage one of this school.

It's one project among thousands that must be going on in the world at the moment, and my contribution will be small in the grand scheme of things - but that's how it works. Lots of people doing small things together. God doesn't ask us to change the world single-handedly, he just wants us to be obedient and offer ourselves.

Meet the New Kirk and Spock

American magazine EW (Entertainment Weekly) has just released the cover for their new issue featuring a full page photo of Kirk and Spock from the new Star Trek (2009) movie. This is the first time we have seen such details images of the characters in full wardrobe and makeup.

My first impression is very positive. We all knew that Zachary Quinto would look the part, given his similarity in appearance to Leonard Nimoy, but this is the first time I have really been able to see Chris Pine as Kirk. Upon initial glance I thought "Whoa, he looks like Shatner". Upon looking closer I began to see the differences, and noticed more Pine in it, but he really does give a believable impression of being a young James T. Kirk. The uniforms are very classic in appearance, yet more believably futuristic. If they can find the balance between the two so successfully with uniforms I can't wait to see how they handle it with the Enterprise sets and exterior shots.

Things are starting to heat up and we should be seeing and hearing a lot more in time to come.

See the photo at Trekmovie.com