Here's a link to the very thought-provoking Blog of Richard Wesley.  See below for a sample, in which he tells us news of a trip to Ethipoia, where he is now!   Read his latest entries to see what he is doing there! 

Richard Wesley's blog:

Other links of interest:

 Following  this link , you'll find the home page of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.  There's a link there to the Book of Order, which can be downloaded as a PDF file.  There's also information on our Church's organization, its subcommittees and their work.

Follow this link, and you'll find a list of other Presbyterian Church websites in New Zealand. You can visit them, and see what they do. Maybe you'll get some new ideas for what we might do in our Church.

 Click on this link to go to the home page of a website that covers a whole range of Islamic beliefs, doctrines, and its relationship to other religions, from an Islamic point of view. Look in particular at the sub-topics concerning "women", and "Terrorism and Islam". You may be surprised.

Do you have any wise words or Christian insights to offer?  Send them in, and they'll appear on this page.

Godzone Country

That used to be a jocular phrase we used about ourselves when I was young.  But lately, our thoughts, or at least those expressed by politicians and the media, have been less optimistic.  We seem preoccupied by "catching up" with Australia, and see ourselves as disadvantaged.  Many of us emigrate there for higher salaries.

And yet the rest of the world sees us very differently.  A recent poll reported that New Zealand was the second most desired emigration destination by a variety of people living overseas.

Maybe, as Fred Dagg remarked in a song that most of you have probably forgotten or never knew, "We don't know how lucky we are, mate, we don't know how lucky we are."

I'm a Radio Ham.  I talk - mainly using Morse - to people in Europe who don't understand spoken English, but can nut it out if they write down the words.  And they have a vocabulary of a few hundred English words themselves, so we can communicate in a way we never could by speaking to each other, because in Morse you receive letters, one by one, and can write down and decipher the words that result, uncorrupted by the eccentric English pronunciation which would be unintelligible.  What I have heard, many times over the years, is a yearning expressed by many to come here for a holiday, or to emigrate permanently to what is seen as a promised land, like the one promised by Moses to the Israelites.

I also write a column for New Zealand's radio journal, which is read around the world.  Many of the readers now email me with their thoughts.  Below are extracts from several such emails, sent by my friend Andy, in Poland.

Read it and see our country in the words of somebody who envies our prosperity, our opportunities, our environment, our culture that has never been ravaged by invading armies.  And give thanks that maybe we do live in "God's own country" after all.

The webmaster.

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Well, It is Sunday here, 12pm. We are going to have a barbecue. Have a nice Sunday Gary. I think there are plenty of things to do in ZL. [New Zealand]

When I was in comprehensive school there was no motivation to learn. No views to go abroad, no passports, no foreign magazines or TV.   Thanks to ham radio I started dreaming of visiting other countries and talking fluently with others. I am a self made man Gary.

I have never had an English teacher. I spent many hours on spelling, idioms,phrasals and on SSB. Hours of chatting with Americans and British.  Also listening to the VOA and BBC In such a way I became an interpreter and I had hundred of students.  At present there are wonderful possibilities. Of course, internet, cable TV and in bookshops you can buy all foreign newspapers.

I am still learning by reading so I am always on the job Gary.  I don't understand people who don't speak any foreign language at all.  I can tell the differnces between G , VK and K English . [that's UK, Australian, American]  Also differences in Welsh and Scotish English. I enjoy it.

 Well, as to history it is very sad. I know the WW II history . I know that many guys from VK and ZL have been fighting hand in hand with us.

Many of the Poles fighting In our army in the West were killed or imprisoned after their coming back.

Half of my family was killed by Gemans and the other half by Russians.  I find it funny that Germans lost the war and Poland was one of the winners. But in Germany there was always prosperity.   Their retired people were always able to go on holidays.    And Polish retired people are very poor and usually have no holidays, even holidays in Poland.

My personal opinion is that we have been sold out by British and Americans. I still remember Soviets here and our secret police.  But my daughter doesn't even know what we are talking about. She has everything. Youngsters can't believe it. It is only history for them.

 Now we have 2 strong right wing parties.They can't make themselves understood with each other.

Many foreigners come here on holidays and Poland seems the same country as others. Only differences seem to be in salaries.

Our MPs oficially earn 2,500 Euro per month and official average salary is 700 Euro.

In fact there are people who earn only 300 Euro and also 3,000 Euro. Some people even earn 10,000 Euro monthly.  And pensions:  Miners have 1000  Euro, teachers 600 Euro and lots of people 400-500 .

 Maybe it is good to live in such country as ZL, far from everything. Maybe more cosy. Having possibilities I would emigrate at once. I am keen on spearfishing,sea kayaking and free-diving.   Unfortunately I live 700 km from the sea.   In ZL the sea is very close everywhere, I suppose. 

I wish I lived there.

Andy

Crime Novels for Christians

I've just finished reading an astonishing book, "Deception", by Randy Alcorn.  It's in the Birkenhead public library.  Get it.  It's the only book by Alcorn in the library, which is a pity.  I'm going to recommend that they buy his others.  John Graham:  How about some in the bookshop?

I often read detective novels.  Not the rather contrived "whodunnits" by Agatha Christie and others of that ilk, but modern American ones in particular.  Despite the lurid covers and breath-takingly sensationalistic jacket comments by overheated publisher's hacks, a few of them contain some of the best and most literate writing currently being produced.  This is such a one.

It starts out as just another tired detective awakened by a phone call in the middle of the night with the word that another drug dealer has been executed.  Off he roars, tired and cynical, to investigate.  No surprises there.  But I note the narrative's absence of typical US profanity, and the unusually clever dialogue.  Also, God seems to get quite a few mentions.

Then, on page 65, our hero meets a couple of collaborators for lunch:

"Their conversations sometimes bug me, but they make me think...I've agreed to talk about the Bible now and then..these guys aren't morons, and they have hope.  I admit that it seems a naive and baseless hope.  And yet.. there's a certain comfort in being around people who really believe - deep in their gut - that one day things will be better than they are now."

As the investigation continues, we hear progressively more exchanges where the Christian friends ruminate with him about their Faith, and attempt to communicate to him how it has changed them.  I am reminded of the centurion:  "I believe!  Help thou mine unbelief!" The dialogues between the cynical detective and the believers are fascinating.  They never convince him, and he's left on the last page still wondering "whether there's a God after all." 

The book ends with an appendix entitled "Discussion questions."  These are typical questions that a Christian Book-club might meet to discuss.  This is all most unusual!  "Who is this author?" I wonder.

Mr Google springs to the rescue.  I am astonished to see that Randy Alcorn's website is called "Eternal Perspective Ministries", a non-profit outfit of which he is the founder and director. 

See it at http://www.epm.org/

Check it out.  He's written over 30 books, most of them about practical Christianity and Theology.  Not, primarily, a Detective story writer at all!

Randy's theology is somewht more fundamentalist than mine, but the work his foundation does, the energy with which he pursues it, and the moral clarity and literacy of his writing are deeply impressive.  I must get some of his other books.