Ryan Adams' Stand-Up Session

Ryan Adams is quite a comedian when he is drunk... on Pepsi Max.

Nasty Critique of Emergent/Post-Modern Theology

HT to Sam Harvey for the link to this page.

Is it just me or is the "Church Denominations War" getting uglier everyday? It's about time we realised that it is the work of the devil. By keeping the Christians at each other’s necks we forget the things of vital importance, such as: being Christ's witness (from this word comes all the things that are of utmost importance: love, mercy, compassion, liberation/freedom, justice etc).

Don't get roped in on this war (especially to you bloggers out there. We are the most vulnerable ones to this kind of cynicism). It will keep you from being who you are supposed to be as a Christian. And it will suck you in if you don’t make a conscious decision to not get involved.

“Keep out of foolish arguments with those who boast of their “knowledge” and thus prove their lack of it. Some of these people have missed the most important thing in life – they don’t know God.” 1 Timothy 6:20,21

I have to admit though that actually I find it to be quite funny... I see the humor in such things.

Returning to My First Love

This is a term that many Christians use when referring to the gaining back of the enthusiasm and excitement that they once felt towards following Jesus. What happens when someone "returns to their first love", speaking from my own experience, is that their theological complexes about the Bible and Christianity fade, becoming of secondary importance, and one becomes primarily focussed on pursuing a relationship with Christ rather than knowing about Him.

This is one thing that I have felt is happening to myself lately. It is a truly great and uplifting feeling. Of course there is still an element of anxiety of screwing things up between God and me but I believe that is something that is a natural part of any relationship that is precious to one self.

I would have once said that my faith is rather deep and complicated, with many twists and tangles. But it is interesting how I always come back to this comforting conclusion - I was never meant to understand God but to know Him personally. Just because I have become content with the fact that I will never understand God does not mean that I have stopped searching. I simply shifted my mode of what I am searching for. When one is building a relationship with another person the purpose is not to try and find out as much as possible about that person but to learn what pleases that person, what the person enjoys, and what makes that person feel loved etc. Knowing how many high grades one got in high school or learning of one's drinking habits is simply studying one's profile and does not indicate whatsoever how close you are to that person.

This goes along the lines of what Jesus said in Matthew 7:22,23: "Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many works of power? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; "depart from Me, those working lawlessness!"". This verse used to scare me cause I wasn't sure what position I was in with regards to having a relationship with Christ. The first thing to remember is, I guess, that we are only saved by the grace of God and to never take our relationship with Christ for granted.

Let the Word of God inspire you.

"O love Jehovah, all you saints of His; Jehovah preserves the faithful, and abundantly repays the proud doer. Be strong, and He will make your heart stronger, all you who hope in Jehovah." Psalm 31:23,24

Everyday I am realising more and more that blessed are those who have a simple, child-like faith in Jesus Christ.

Ryan Adams Live at the Bruce Mason Centre

The boys (Brook, Joel and Kieran) and I went on a very exciting road trip to see none other than Ryan Adams himself play with his band The Cardinals in Auckland last night (15th)!!! Matt was originally gonna come with us but he couldn't because he has glandular fever (please send your prayers to him for healing). All us boys who did go would definitely agree that It was the best show we had seen in a very long time. Joel and Kieran said that it was far better than Bob Dylan! I must say the show was musically orgasmic. Ryan's voice sounds even better live than on the CD, and that is after many recent, I'm sure exhausting, shows in Australia. That says something about the guy, surely. The live performance determines how good a band is in my opinion. He played a huge set that went for over 2 hrs! It was a very very decent show. The band was so tight. They didn't actually play that many songs but Jammed for a while on each song which was an amazing ride. The vocal harmonies were to die for, the solos were so tasty, the lap guitarist was pimpin it with his white Elton John suit jacket (I would say that he was in his late 50s)! He was awesome! We were all so excited simply about the fact that we were going to see the man himself with our naked eyes, Joel commented that he would've been happy even if Ryan had just played one song, it was that good! He started with Good Night Rose, which is the opening track to his new album Easy Tiger. It was truly amazing. I hadn't heard the album yet and I had been getting mixed comments about it from people but when I heard that song live it fully convinced me that the album is a must have. Ryan Adams is definitely one of the best songwriters in the world. If you haven't heard his stuff yet I strongly recommend that you check him out. He is Rock n' Roll, he's badass Country, he's Ryan Adams. He is the man.


Here's a live clip of his song Come Pick Me Up off his first solo album Heart Breaker, which he released after his band "Whiskeytown" broke up. Check it out. It's a good tune. Catherine Popper (Hot) is still in the band here by the looks of it. I was slightly disappointed to find out that she had left The Cardinals before their Australasian tour...