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Sink or Swim?

Sink or Swim?

Life is like a great and vast ocean. It is often rough, it is most certainly turbulent and its tides take us to places that we often cannot control nor desire to land. .

  • The Church at war with itself

    There's an old Jewish proverb that speaks of holding two stones, one in each pocket on the left and the right. The first stone carries the message "For me, this world was made", and the second says "I am but dust and ashes."

  • Contentment in the everyday

    I am pleased to announce that I write this as a fully-employed woman as of July 1st. That's right, 37 hours a week, a pay check at the end of every month and a little spot in the office known as "Gemma's desk". This makes me very happy indeed.

  • The "Sin" no one talks about

    The other week I asked someone in my church to pray for me about a particular sin I was struggling with. He stood back, that look in his eye like he was imagining the worst possible scenarios, a hand on my shoulder growing firmer as if I were a leper and he was proving to himself he could touch me… it was then I realised that I really should have made myself clear.

  • Butterfly life-cycle compared to a Christian

    Butterflies are one of God\'s prettiest creatures he created. Like tiny stain-glass windows fluttering around, they share a similar growth cycle to that of a Christian.

  • Finding our treasures

    In Matthew chapter 6 verses 19-21, it says: "\"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor vermin destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.\"

  • Time to Pop the Tall Poppy

    New Zealand likes to cut down its tall poppies.

  • Church Growth: Is this the latest trend?

    Church growth strategies I see include new signage, community movie nights, car shows, op shops, play groups and many other ideas. They all have positives. But there is a "new" program a few are trying that is having lasting results. It builds momentum slowly but in a few years produces huge growth. Is this the latest trend in growing churches?

  • The End

    I remember back in 2007 when the last Harry Potter novel was released. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - the last book of the series. All the previous 6 books led up to this point! It was the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle. It was the book to end it all. It was the end of the Harry Potter story.

  • Who am I?

    'Where are you from?' 'England, like you.' 'No but really, where? You can't be from here, you don't look like it.'

  • Thoughts on a two sound desk set up

    There are several instances when you would need to run one sound desk into another. The first and most common reason is when your first desk is short a channel or two and by using a second you can expand the number of channel. Another reason could be your desk has run out of sends for foldbacks and by splitting your inputs over two desks may increase the amount of sends you have access to.

  • Music: In tune

    Before the start of every performance, an orchestra always takes a moment to tune their instruments with each other, sharpening or flattening different components in order to orchestrate a musical landscape that plays harmoniously with itself. If half the instruments tune and the other half don\'t bother, then it will sound just as bad as if no one tuned at all.