Pr Dave Online

Here’s a little poem from year 10. (with a story)

We were given one period to write a page of poetry or a short story. The only requirement was that we fill a page. I sat there until the class was nearly finished struggling for a topic. Finally my dilema became my topic. On my page I wrote:

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Confusion

A thought came in then slowly faded
Another hit but drifted away
Thought after thought through my mind paraded
I wish just once that one would stay

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We all turned our pages in at the end of class and received them, with a grade, the next day at the beginning of class. My nearly empty page was garnished with a 10/10 in red pen across the top corner. She understood. And, I like to think, she smiled.

Have you ever said something that came out differently than planned? I am an expert in this department—especially in my personal relationships.
For some reason, when I stand up to preach a sermon (my vocation) I can present my thoughts with clarity. But when I am in a personal conversation I often utter things that leave me befuddled and my conversation partner dismayed. My wife asks, “Why is it that when you are doing ministry you have such wisdom but when you enter this house you turn into a halfwit?†I just tell her it’s a gift—one I’m happy to share with her.
One particular conversation will remain current in our relationship forever because it is eternally quotable and uncannily useful. But it was an accident.
I can’t remember the conversation before but I do remember that I was in trouble—lots of trouble. I had said or done something insensitive (probably a combination of both) and was not doing well formulating an apology.
Paul tells us, “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry†(Ephesians 4:26). Well, it was too late for that. We were laying in the dark, in silence. And I knew it was my turn to say something. Something helpful.
What should I say? She clearly had the upper hand because I had been the dolt who had opened my big mouth before consulting the wisdom centre of my brain (which, as previously alluded to, is only open during business hours).
Thoughts were racing through my mind. I remember feeling very disappointed in myself for treating my wife so poorly. I didn’t feel like a very good person at all.
I also knew that the words I had said previously had been very hurtful. As had my attempt at an apology thus far. I hadn’t meant to say what I had said and I was sorry. But I couldn’t figure out the best way to say that.
Finally I decided to just say, “I am sorry.†But as I began to let the words out, I thought, sometimes I am such a useless person. So, my planned words and my unplanned thought combined to fill the dark void with the immortal words, “I’m a sorry person.â€
I heard it come out of my mouth, so I knew I was the one who had said it. I felt it going wrong but I was already committed to making a statement and so I had to finish. But it was not what I had meant to say. Great, I thought, I’ve done it again. That didn’t help at all.
Then I heard something very unexpected from my wife. It started as a bit of a sniffle, turned into a giggle and soon she was convulsing with tears of laughter. When she was finally able to catch her breath, she said, “Truer words have never been spoken.†Then she went back into hysterics and I joined her in tears of laughter and relief.
There is something very healing about a good laugh. It has the power to turn bitter tears into sweet ones. And that’s just what happened that monumental night. The tissue box was still being used on my wife’s side of the bed but for a very different reason.
I say monumental because both my wife and I have a new technique for disarming potential setbacks in our relationship that involve me blurting and her hurting. Upon hearing me say something bordering on insensitive she now stops, turns and says, “You know, you’re a sorry person.†And I gingerly step across the eggshells I just dropped, wrap my arms around her and say, “Yes. More sorry than I can say. I love you.â€

Last Thursday night my wife and I didn’t sleep. Cyrus, our 9 year old, was in an induced coma after fitting sporadically for over an hour. Jenny had watched him fitting but I had only seen him afterward—he looked asleep.

I sat next to him in the Children’s hospital waiting for him to wake up. The doctor had been in and said, “We’ll let him wake and see how he goes. If he wakes without a problem, we’ll let him wake up fully. But, if he starts to fit again . . .†The doctor paused, “Well, let’s just see how he goes.â€

Cyrus had a breathing tube in his mouth that went into his lungs, breathing for him. The nurse said, “When he wakes up, he is going to want that tube out. We’ll have to hold him down so he doesn’t remove it.†She was right. As he woke he fought. His fighting caused him to start breathing for himself. He fell back asleep and the nurse said, “He’s breathing by himself, we’ll ask the doctor if we can take the tube out before he wakes completely.†The doctor said yes and the big tube came out.

There was another tube—a smaller one—that went in his nose and down into his stomach. “He’s not going to like that tube either,†the nurse said. “But, we can’t let him take it out.†She taped the hose to his little nose to make sure it stayed in place.

In the next hour, Cyrus woke bit by bit. He tried, many times, to open his eyes and make sense of his surroundings. We talked to him; told him where he was, told him we were with him, told him we loved him.

The whole ordeal was more stressful than I can ever explain. The thoughts in my head were at war. I wondered if he would wake at all, if he would fit again, if he would be paralysed or brain damaged. The other side of my brain yelled, “Hey! Stop those horrible thoughts! He’s just asleep. He’s gonna wake up and be just fine.†I sat, watching, waiting and hoping.

Slowly he started to cry. “My nose hurts,†he said in a slow drugged voice. My heart did a backflip for joy! He’s talking! He’s not fitting. He’s whinging! Cyrus is back!

When I told him later how happy I was to hear him complain, he looked at me like I was very strange.

“Just to hear your voice,†I said, “to know you were alive and well. Those three little words told me so much!â€

I wonder if that’s how God feels about our prayers. He knows we are hurting. He knows what we are going through. But just to hear our voice . . . it must mean the world to Him.

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousands words. There is a collection of pictures on your computer that represents your programs. They are tiny pictures, so maybe they are only worth a hundred words but they certainly save a lot of time! Those pictures are called icons. Each icon is a visual representation of a program with a hidden link that will open the program if you double click on it.
A blue W leads you to Microsoft Word. A blue “e†with a lopsided and fallen halo (that should tell you something about the product!) leads you to Internet Explorer. Or, for a more net-savvy and friendly experience, a blue planet embraced by an orange fox leads you to Firefox. Icons are our friends! Without them we would struggle with the vast collection of material on our computer.
Imagine that you were designing an icon to represent yourself—so that other people would be able to contact you with the press of a button—what would your icon look like? Mine would be one of those cartoon speech bubbles that show the words of the character. And inside the bubble would be the words, “blah, blah blah†to show that I am a communicator and will talk about nearly anything—just get me started! What would your icon look like?
Now imagine you are an icon. When you get double clicked, what do you open up? The word icon (or Eikon in its original Greek) has been around for thousands of years. It means “image.†Just like on your computer an icon is an image that represents something else.
Jesus was once asked by his followers, “Show us the Father†(John 14:8). Jesus was taken back—they could only ask such a question if they didn’t realise who He really was. “Have I been with you all this time,†Jesus replied, “and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!†(John 14:9). Paul explained the nature of Jesus by saying, “Christ is the visible image [eikon] of the invisible God†(Colossians 1:15). Paul was saying, if you double click on Jesus He will open up the Father—every time!

I’m comfortable with that idea
Jesus being just like God the Father sits well with me—it makes sense. But Paul takes the whole icon (living in the image) idea a bit beyond my comfort zone when he says that Jesus “makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.†(2 Corinthians 3:18). It was Paul’s belief and teaching that the more time we spend looking at Jesus, the more we become like Him.
In another place Paul writes, “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him†(Colossians 3:10). Paul wants everyone to realise that when people are looking for Jesus, they should need to look no further than His followers. When people double click on a Christian they should have Jesus open up before them!

now I’m uncomfortable
Paul, always one to push things to the edge, put it boldly when he stated, “You should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ†(1 Corinthians 11:1). I would be very hesitant to say that as boldly as Paul did. Even though I have been a follower of Jesus Christ for more than 25 years I shutter at the thought of other people following me because they are “sure†I am following Jesus. It sounds like arrogance, until you realise that Christians aren’t trying to be like Jesus—Jesus is making them more like Him.
It’s a world of difference, and Paul understood it. Followers of Jesus are more like Him with each passing moment as they keep their eyes fixed on Jesus. So, it’s not the Christian saying, “Hey follow me, I’m like Jesus.†It’s actually Jesus saying, “If your faith is struggling to see the invisible God, double click on one of my icons!†Every person on Earth is an icon which, when double clicked, leads to their passion and pursuit. True Christians are icons of Jesus. Double click on one, and they will lead you to Jesus—every time.

double click a Jesus follower
The Jesus that one of His true followers will lead you to, will not be a judgemental Jesus or a condescending Jesus—because that’s not who Jesus really is. People who have been looking at Jesus’ pure and lovely nature will lead people to freedom from such self-righteous attitudes. “Whoever is a believer in Christ is a new creation. The old way of living has disappeared. A new way of living has come into existence. God has done all this. He has restored our relationship with him through Christ, and has given us this ministry of restoring relationships. In other words, God was using Christ to restore his relationship with humanity. He didn’t hold people’s faults against them, and he has given us this message of restored relationships to tell others†(2 Corinthians 5: 17-21).
What an amazing promise! Jesus is calling all people to Himself so they can be made new, not so He can tell them a list of bad things about themselves. Jesus isn’t in the business of fault finding. He’s in the business of restoring relationships. And, the primary relationship He wants you to have in full strength is one with His father—God. “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him†(John 3:16,17).
When Jesus came as the visible image of the Father, He presented a picture very different than what people expected in the Messiah. He said, “God is Love†(1 John 4:8). And He modelled that love with his actions, stories, life and death. The Icon didn’t look much like God—at least not what people had been told God was like. But Jesus was who he said He was and the Image He revealed of the Father stands today. God is a loving, forgiving, accepting and inclusive God that wants all people to know their Creator cherishes them.

just like Jesus
It is the role of Christians to reveal this picture of God. Right after Jesus rose from the dead, one of His followers was adamant he would not believe Jesus was alive until he had seen and touched the scars caused by the crucifixion. As he was in the midst of his impassioned tirade, Jesus walked up behind him.
You can imagine the moment of absolute terror this disciple face. What would Jesus do with him and his faithless words? Jesus’ response was both unexpected and far-reaching. Jesus showed the scars of the cross to the doubting disciple. And then Jesus said something amazing—he said something about you. Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed†(John 20:29). That’s us! We have not seen the scars on Jesus’ hands and feet. Jesus wants you to know that if you find Him and believe in Him without seeing the scars, you are blessed!
That’s the kind of person Jesus is—one who blesses those who struggle to see Him. That’s the kind of God Jesus is—one that shows, through his nail-scarred hands, what God’s love really looks like. And that’s the kind of followers Jesus draws—ones who doubt, ones who ask questions, ones who seek Him with all of their heart. All who come to the Father, come by seeing the Son. All must come to Jesus. Some come to Jesus by seeing the scars. But most come to Him by seeing a living breathing icon of Jesus—a Christian, passionate to restore relationships.

What kind of story do you want tonight?†I asked my three children as they prepared for bed.
“A Bible story!†exclaimed the middle child, Mikey.
“Not a Bible story,†disagreed eight-year-old big brother, Cyrus. “The Bible is boring!â€
This was the first time I had ever heard one of my children refer to the Bible as boring. But I can certainly remember making the same comment when I was a kid! I didn’t know how to combat the statement, so I answered, “What kind of story would you like, Cyrus?â€
“A cool story,†he replied, “about dragons or swords, or something like that.â€
An idea began to form in my mind and I smiled internally. “Hmmm,†I said, “So if there was a Bible story with a dragon or sword, then the Bible would be cool?â€
“Sure,†came his confident reply, “But there isn’t one, because the Bible is true and dragon’s aren’t real.â€
“Ah, but there is a story about a dragon in the Bible,†I replied with a sly smirk.
Now, I need to be honest—I have been known to tell a fib or two to my children (and other people’s children, if I get the chance) so, the response of my three was understandable. “Really, Dad? You’re making it up!â€
“Yes, really,†I answered. “It’s a prophecy found in the book of Revelation.â€
“Tell it to us,†they demanded, convinced they were calling my bluff. The three skeptics sat back, unsure but expectant.
“It starts with a woman who was very pregnant,†I said, drawing my hands spherically over my belly to imitate a woman with child. “And she was standing on the moon.â€
“DAD!†all three kids chimed together, obviously disappointed that I had revealed the story as a hoax so early in the telling.
“It’s true!†I stated emphatically, “It’s in the Bible!â€
Raised eyebrows and crossed arms accosted me as silence returned to the room. “The woman began to have her baby and screamed in pain. When she screamed, the dragon heard her and began to fly toward the moon. With each scream, the dragon’s wings beat faster, drawing it nearer to its target—the newborn baby. The dragon was going to eat the baby!â€
All three kids were leaning forward, hanging on every word. The story had pulled them in—perhaps the most powerful aspect of prophecy!
“As the woman screamed a final scream, pushing out a baby boy, the dragon landed on the moon and skidded toward the woman. The woman reached out to catch the baby. The dragon swung his seven heads toward the boy—seven gaping mouths, with 14 rows of razor-sharp teeth, opened wide. Then, amazingly, a huge hand swept in and caught the baby, whisking Him away to heaven. The dragon was not happy. He leapt off the moon and chased after the hand, which was accelerating toward heaven.
“By the time the dragon reached heaven, the baby had grown into a man, named Michael, and was waiting on the edge of heaven—with a sword in His hands. And there was war in heaven. Michael and His angels faced the dragon and his angels, and drove them out of heaven. The fight was furious. With each swing of the swords of righteousness, the enemy was pushed, bit by bit, out of heaven. Until, finally, the dragon tumbled out of heaven and plummeted to the earth.
“When the dragon landed on earth, he saw the woman standing in the desert. He clawed his way toward her, picking up speed as he ran, intent on killing her. If he couldn’t get the baby and he couldn’t get heaven, he would kill the woman.
“Seeing the dragon catapulting toward her, the woman began to run deeper into the desert. The dragon was much faster and gained ground rapidly. Luckily, the woman sprouted wings like an eagle and flew into the air.â€
“DAD!†the kids interrupted.
“It’s true!†I pleaded, “It’s in the Bible!â€
Their scowls lessened and they settled down for the rest of the story.
“The woman flew as fast as she could but was still not fast enough. The dragon took seven huge breaths into his seven huge mouths and breathed out . . .†I paused to hear their response.
“Fire?†they guessed.
“No!†I exclaimed, “Water! A huge torrent of bubbling, gushing water—a flood rushing toward the woman. It was higher than she could fly, wider than she could see and faster than she could imagine. The wave was going to catch her.
“Then the desert floor opened. A huge chasm cracked open and swallowed every drop of the rushing wave. With the water now gone, the dragon looked at the place where the woman had been. She was gone. While the water blocked the dragon’s view, the hand of God took the woman and hid her where the dragon couldn’t find her.
“The dragon had been outdone again. Just as he hadn’t been able to kill the baby, just as he hadn’t been able to overthrow heaven, he now failed to kill the woman. This made the dragon more angry than he had ever been. He decided on a new attack—he would attack the woman’s other children. And that is just what he did!â€
I looked at my three kids, sitting transfixed. They were waiting for more. “That’s the end of the prophecy, the end of the story,†I said.
“But what about the children? Did the dragon get them?†one child asked.
“Well,†I replied, “in prophecy, everything in the story represents something in real life. Who do you think the dragon is?â€
“The Devil?†came the quick response.
“Very good!†I affirmed. “And what about the baby, or Michael?â€
“Jesus!†They replied in unison.
“Excellent†I said, “and the Woman?â€
“Mary, Jesus’ mother?†guessed one of the kids.
“Close and I can see why you would think that,†I replied. “Mary and Joseph fled into the desert, didn’t they? And King Herod tried to kill baby Jesus when He was with His parents. The prophecy could remind people of Jesus’ earthly parents. But the woman in the prophecy actually represents God’s Church—those who follow God’s Word. Both before and after Jesus was here on earth, the church has been persecuted for teaching the truth.â€
“But what about the children?†asked one of the kids. “Did the dragon get them?â€
“We are the children,†I replied. “At the end of the prophecy, in Revelation 12:17, it says the dragon started attacking all those who follow the 10 Commandments and tell the story of Jesus. That’s what the Devil is doing right now. Can you tell me some ways that the Devil attacks God’s people?â€
“By hurting people?†one child suggested.
“And by making us hurt each other,†answered another.
“Yes, you’re both right,†I replied. “Satan is doing anything and everything he can, to either hurt people who are keeping God’s commandments or cause them to stop obeying God. He hates God and wants to hurt Him. And Satan knows that God loves us. So, by hurting God’s people, Satan knows he is hurting God.â€

the power of story
Reflecting later on the prophecy in Revelation 12, I was amazed that I had never told it as a narrative before. In fact, I realised, I had never told any prophecy as a story. I had used them to “proof text†my way through the truth of the Bible and its key points. And yet, many prophecies were given as fantastic stories. How had I missed that?
I am a passionate storyteller and tell Bible stories to thousands of children and adults each year. And yet, I have completely ignored the prophecies when researching Bible stories to tell. I now tell the Revelation 12 story regularly. And I have made a commitment to learn and tell more prophecies. They are powerful narratives and deserve to be told and retold—surely that’s why God presented them in story format. Stories are remembered. Stories are shared. Stories are powerful!
Some weeks later, I was tucking Mikey into bed. That evening, while having dinner, we had been talking about what we wanted to be when we grew up. Evidently, Mikey had been thinking about it for quite a while.
As I tucked the blanket around his little six-year-old frame, he said, “I know what I’m going to do when I grow up, Dad.â€
“Really, Mike?†I replied. “Tell me, what are you going to do when you grow up?â€
“I’m gonna kill the Devil,†he said with conviction.
I was stunned, not to mention a little bit perplexed. “How are you going to kill the Devil?†I asked.
“I guess I’ll get some metal, melt it and make a sword,†Mikey replied. “Then I’ll poke him in the tummy.â€
I knew I should tell him that Jesus had already done this for us—His death on the cross took care of Satan once and for all. But I was too enthralled in the mind of this little warrior. “What makes you think you are the one—out of the billions of people on the planet—who is going to kill the Devil?†I asked in wonder.
He looked at me like I had missed something extremely obvious­—as if everyone knew, except me. He took a big breath and let it out slowly, as if he were explaining something to a child. “Dad, I am Michael, you know.â€
And that is the power of story. Mikey had listened to the prophetic parable of Revelation 12 and heard his own name in there—Michael, the dragon slayer. And his future was mapped out for him. It’s no wonder Jesus said we must have the hearts of little children to enter the kingdom of God!
Unleash the power of Bible prophecy in your life and the lives of those around you. Explore the stories in God’s Word. Tell them often. And become part of the Dragon’s bane—God’s storytellers.

I'm on a work trip in NZ for 11 days. I hired a midsized car on the internet, but when I arrived I was offered an $5 dollar a day upgrade - because I was keeping the car for so long. Well, Check out the upgrade!

It's a brand new Commodore SV6. It only had 1500km's on it when I got it, which I will have nearly doubled when I return it.

There's no better place on earth to test drive such a great handling car than the curvy, well maintained mountainous roads of New Zealand. I have driven the car from Aukland to Napier - and will be headed back tomorrow.

All I can say is, "What a ride!" It corners beautifully and can overtake like a rocket. I was behind a car, going up a very steep grade and anxious for a passing lane. Soon one came - on the steepest part of the hill. I switched lanes and dropped the pedal. I went from 100km's and hour to about 140 in only a second. It was stunning!

I’m in New Zealand representing Signs at the ARPA Awards. Since I was making the international trip I thought I would lengthen my stay a bit and talk to some primary students about Jesus as well as experience some of New Zealand natural beauty.

I arrived just after Midnight on Thursday morning, got my hire car (more on that little beauty later!) and drove to Hamilton. I arrived in Hamilton about 3am and slept until dawn in the car. At 9am I spoke to the students at the Hamilton Seventh-day Adventist Primary School. After chapel I told a bible story to the Preschoolers. That was heaps of fun!

Thursday afternoon I drove to Tauranga – a fantastic winding road – and found my lodging. On Friday morning I spoke the students at Tauranga Seventh-day Adventist Primary School. Another great bunch of kids! After Chapel I showed the senior students what I do at Signs. We hooked the laptop to their projector and walked them through the design process of a Signs magazine.

Friday afternoon I drove to Rotarua and found the caravan park. Then I went for a walk through Kuirau Park – a thermal reserve with boiling lakes right next to the Top 10 Caravan Park I am staying in! It’s amazing to see boiling mud and steaming lakes in the middle of a city park.

Today, Saturday, I went to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. It was amazing. Here are some of my pics.

The first thing I saw was a geyser that they coax into erupting each day at 10:15am. The guide told the story of the geyser – some prisoners who were clearing the land for a man-made forest found a hot pool.

When they got in the pool to swim, nothing happened. But when they brought their soap to have a bath, they set off a reaction — the soap lowered the surface tension which allowed the hot water underneath to burst forth into a frothing bubbling cauldron.

They decided to cap the inferno to cause a geyser, they piled stones around the edge and concreted it over. So, now there’s a geyser that shoots over 20 feet into the air once in every 36 to 48 hours. So, to make it more scheduled for tourists, they add soap every morning at 10:15am. And… Kaboom!

Then I went for a 3km walk around the thermal area. It was amazing. At the heart of the park is The Champagne Pool. The spring is 65 metres in diameter and 62 metres deep!

Its surface temperature is 74 degrees Celsius and had random bubbles caused by carbon dioxide. The pool is only 700 years old and was cuased by a hydrothermal eruption.

There are lots of different minerals in the pool including gold, silver, mercury, sulphur, arsenic, thallium, antimony and more. The various edges of the pool are caused by the settling minerals and the tilting of the pool caused by earthquake activity.

The mineral activity doesn’t only effect the water pools. It also colours the landscape. Here you can see Green—caused by sulphur and ferrous salts, and orange caused by antimony.



This amazingly coloured waterfall, called Bridal Veil Fall, has the same colours as above as well as red—caused by Iron oxide, and yellow—caused by sulphur.



The last thing you see on the Thermal Wonderland walk is The Devil's Bath. I was walking around the loop with a couple backpackers and one of them, Wayne, said it looks more like Shrek pee. I think he's right!