Hi people,

So I was reading my bible-in-a-year verses today when i stumbled upon Luke 10:15 "You, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. " Just out of curiosity, how does Greek Mythology tie in with the Christian Bible? I'm also interested in the point of perspective of how this verse reads "will be brought down to Hades." Now for me this sounds like "come on down to our place" or "come on down to the park". It sounds like Luke is speaking from Hades?

Ok so if this sounds like its coming from no where let me explain, I've got a friend who has a theory that Hades as it is reffered to is actually Earth, and we are living here until Jesus comes again. My friend believes that those who are non believers die and stay on earth, but those who were faithful would rise again and join the party in Heaven. Just throwing it out there to see what the general response is... Please post comments and let me know what you think.

Cheers

Shelly

Valentines day was yesterday just in case anyone forgot. Did you all have a good day? did your someone special do something romantic to express their love for you?

I'm a bit concerned about this commercial holiday, and what exactley it represents, i'm in the opinion that its a good and bad idea. The good first:

1. It gives an oppertunity for those who dont do romantic things very often with their special someone, to do something seet.

2. It gives an oppertunity for someone to let their crush know they have a secret admirer.

now the bad:

1. It is afterall a commercial holiday, some people are sucked into buying expensive gifts without taking the time or the effort to really appreciate their special someone.

2. Expectations can be evil, have you ever expected something on valentines day and not gotten it?

Unfortunatley both point number 1 of good and point number 2 of bad happened to me yesterday. Me and my special someone dont often do romantic stuff, so it was a great oppertunity for me to take the time to do something special for my special someone. Unfortunatley my special someone didnt do anything special for me :'( Usually i would have sulked about this for a week before my special someone realised why they were getting the cold shoulder, now its only been 12 hours since valentines day, i'm wanting to give him more of an oppertunity than the 24 hours he had on valentines day to do something romantic.... how long should i wait before i explain to him why i'm a bit miffed? also do you think i'm justified in how i'm feeling at the moment? should i be upset that my expectations on valentines day were not met? Do you think it is reasonable to have expectations on valentines day? or do you think it should be a completley unconditional love thing?

Expectations are a cruel thing....

Hi Everyone!

Sorry its been quite some time since I blogged last, one of my new years resolutions is to post my blogs on a more reguar basis.

So whats been going on with me? well since my last blog i have bought a house (with the help of my lovely caring parents who are AWESOME!) so i moved in on the 10th of december, therefore me and my flatmates got to say farewell to our angry skin head neighbours! woo hoo! then about 5 days later i went up to auckland for two weeks for christmas and general mischief with my family, was lots of fun! Then came back here for a fantastically quiet new years eve ( i went to bed at 12.10 am!) since then i have obtained a new job - which is the main reason you havent seen me at church!

I'm now working weekends at Omega Car rentals in town! i had a choice between working partime (during the week, in the evenings) at telstraclears sales and marketing department..... not so much fun compared to working a dynamic and ever changing work day, at Omega. This time i chose to get off my arse and enjoy moving around whilst at work instead of being stuck behind a desk with your head chained to the phone with the cunning use of a headset. So yeah my work day is currently 50% admin in the office and face to face customer contact, the other 50% is sitting around talking with my weekend supervisor (who is awesome by the way) and cleaning cars (which is remarkable exercise!). Although i'm loving my new job i've definatly learnt why God wants us to have one day of rest during the week to just relax and focus on him. So far i've been doing this relaxing chilling out with God on a friday, but now i'm a wee bit worried about what is going to happen when i start back full time study at university. My life as i know it is going to be extremely full, looking at my timetable for the year i'll be at uni from 9-6 mon- wed, 9-3 thur, and 9-1 on friday.

For the past 5 weeks,i've been at summer school, just doing a chem paper, i have my final exam on tuesday next week, which i'm currently procrastinating studying for.

Right so now that you know that i'm actually still alive and your all caught up on where i have been in the last two - three months, i want to tell you about some more new years resolutions i've made.....

1. Get into tramping

now this new years resolution is a direct consequence of me and my flatmates all sitting around one night after having a BBQ probably on the 2nd or 3rd of January, sipping a glass of wine etc... we have all decided to do this together! so yeah if you have any tips for me let me know coz i'vd never gone tramping before in my life!

2. Get into Uni

Now i know what your asking "Shelly, if you got anymore into uni wouldn't you be living there?!" Yes most probably but i want to get into uni socially! i have to admit that last yea i was a social hermit when it came to joining into anything slightly fun and the possibility of making new friends. i dont know why but i was extremely nervous and shy about this! Anyway i've made a new years resoultion to swallow my nerves and get myself out there into new groups, such a curry soc! and other interesting societys.... it should be interesting, i'll keep you updated on that one!

3. Read the entire bible, cover to cover in one year.

This has been a goal of mine for quite some time but something always interupts, i have an awesome tool to help me tho, i am a subscriber of The Vine, so daily i not only get a devotional reading but it also gives me the verses i need to read each day to accomplish my goal! Isnt the computer a wonderful thing?

Now with this 3 new years resolution i've come across some interesting points that i wanted to put out there and ask the community:

In Genesis chapter 44 i was reading about the life of Joseph and what happened to him, what i want to know is what does the cup made of silver signify? why did he command that it be concealed in his brothers bag? Why did he have to go through so much trouble to decieve his brothers and then confess to them who he was? Why is it that he couldnt just reveal who he was in their first encounter? Admittedly this makes a much better story as there is a lot more emotion involved with the eldest brother not wanting to loose his youngest brother, but the end result is that they are all really happy to have found Joseph again. I'm just trying to imagine how that eldest brother was feeling throughout all that was happening, first of all he made the mistake of letting his brother be sold and lying to his father, then he is plagued the rest of his life with this guilt, and worry of what has truly happened to his youngest brother Joseph. That actually brings another point, none of their lives improved due to their actions of selling their brother and lying to their father, all they did was make their dad completely paranoid and saddend his heart over the loss of his youngest child. So now the eldest brother is feeling really guilty right? they go off to egypt and get food, eveything is going ok, then things get even better coz they get treated with all this nice food... for FREE and are sent back, but if they want to return he has to bring their youngest brother who has now taken the place of Joseph as their fathers favourite, the eldest brother must be feeling really anxious now, his father near DEATH would surely die if anything happens to their youngest brother, and f they want to live they need to get more food from egypt. So they come back for more food after painfully having to convince Dad that they need to take their brother, at this point Dad is so paranoid, last time he sent Joseph out, and now he must have to do the same with his brother? Its obvious that Dad doesnt quite trust his eldest son to look out for his son and protect him against wild beasts or people wanting buy him as a slave. So when the group of brothers leave Egypt for the second time and they get stopped and almost arrested, the eldest brother must be feeling really upset about whats happening. At the moment i'm feeling really sorry for the eldest child, i mean his kids probably wont be allowed to even date until they are like 40 years old now! Anyway like i said even thought it makes a great story, i just want to know why Joseph couldnt just reveal who he was in the first meeting with his brothers?

4. Post Blogs more often.