dcannon1965

2259 : I had two dreams during the night. In the first, I was in what appeared to be the Caribbean or somewhere in the Americas; I was on the shore, looking around the coast at the luxury buildings set in the idyllic landscape. I was feeling very emotional, though I do not know why. The words "Highway of Hope" came to me.

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In the second dream, I was back in Wellington, specifically, in Crofton Downs. With YK in the car, I drove up Silverstream Road but missed the sharp left turn into Spencer Street. Knowing that Spencer Street could also be accessed from the other end, I continued up Silverstream Road, where, I recalled, a farm used to stand at the end. "I once rode a horse there," I told YK in my dream (although in fact I never did that; there were horses there when I was little, but I never rode them). In real life, the farm was subdivided and built over in the 1980s, but in my dream, it had been turned into a kind of park. YK and I got on the back of a tractor, whose driver took us on a fast ride around the place. Lacking seatbelts, we had to hold on tightly, but we made it.

Romans 1:16-17 : For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it righteousness is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith."

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1218 : These verses cannot be divorced from the context that follows. Paul outlines how mankind has abandoned God and his ways and delighted in wickedness. Mankind is doomed. But there is a way back. Paul knew the transforming power of the gospel in a way that few others ever did. His one passion was to see it transforming others.

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The righteousness of God, as we have come to know him, is a progressive transformation, from faith to faith. As we grow in our knowledge of him, our faith grows, and with it we grow in righteousness.

Genesis 2:2-3 : By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

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1147 : God sanctified the Sabbath. He set it apart. It was not a part of the mandate that God gave to Adam, and therefore not a part of the dominion that passed to Satan in the fall. Commanding Israel to observe the Sabbath gave them entry into a realm that it was outside of the dominion of the devil. That was an early step in God's programme of redemption for the human race.

1359 : I dreamt this morning about driving over a Gateway Arch. I was following my GPS, trying to find some location in West Auckland (although it did not "look" like the West Auckland I know, in the dream it appeared to be that). The GPS led me to a huge arch bridge that resembled the Gateway Arch in Kansas City. The road led not through the arch, but up and over it. The ascent was so steep, almost vertical, that I wondered how a car could possibly go up at all, let alone go up without falling off. But cars ahead of me were making their way up, and none came to grief. I followed and began the ascent. I was surprised that I didn't have to "gun" the engine.

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The scene changed. I had arrived at my destination, and was now inside some building.

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I don't know quite how to interpret this dream. I do know that while we were looking for a house out west, we saw a huge rainbow arch over the land to the west of Lincoln Road, and the words came to me : "Gateway to the West". That, I believe, is the name of the Gateway Arch. Right now I am in a period of transition as I seek God about where to turn to make money. I don't know what to look for, or where, or how. But I will follow the GPS. That may tie in with the song I awoke to in my dream the other day — "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" — a song that I knew 25 to 30 years ago, but had long since forgotten. The puzzle is starting to come together.

The first three chapters of Barnabas lay out the theme that he unpacks in the rest of his letter: that the sacrifices of the Law are not merely obsolete, but were not God's purpose in the first place. I think I can see why this book ended up being excluded from the canon: it denies the divine authorship of the Mosaic Law, instead spiritualizing it.

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While I see much in the epistle of Barnabas that has merit, I nevertheless see how it reflects an early tangent of Christian theology, one which found its culmination in replacement theology. That tangent appeared quite early.

1256 : Woke up this morning, hearing in my dream the chorus "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." That chorus is part of a larger song, which I did not hear in my dream. It was a much richer and fuller choir than the one I used to listen to on the tape — around 25-30 years ago. Until this morning, I had forgotten that the song existed.

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In times past, I used to wake up to angelic choirs singing once in a while, but this is the first time it's happened to me for several years now.

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Unu leganto, puraj aŭdantoj en la eklezio.

10 : Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and he would have given you living water."

— Jesus told the woman that he had living water that she knew nothing about. He also told his disciples that he had food they knew nothing about.

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14 : But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.

— Kiam Jesuo donas al in la akvo por malsekigi kaj sati nin, ne nur nin ĝi satas. Ĝi fariĝas en ni fonto da akvo ŝpruciganta, kiu elfluas kaj superfluas el ni, portante vivon kaj sanigon al aliuloj.

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20 : "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."

— Two attempts the woman made to fob Jesus off. She couldn't deny that, having "prophesied" about her life correctly, he must be a prophet — but she cast doubt upon his credentials over a theological and communal dispute. When that failed, she passed the buck by saying that she'd leave it to "the Messiah" to sort out when he came. Little did she knew whom she was talking to!

2346 : I'm sitting in the sixth-floor apartment in Orewa's Nautilus Hotel, into which we checked after driving up from Taupo this morning. The last 80 hours or so have been action-packed and have had a wonderful therapeutic effect on us.

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Friday 23rd — Having had to vacate our Ocean Inn motel in Northcote on Friday morning, we motored down to Taupo after YK got away from work at 4pm. Parking the car at Richard's place, we then spent an unbelievable three hours getting as far as Papakura. Traffic eased up after that and we stopped for a bite at Wendy's in Hamilton. We finally arrived in Taupo close to 11pm. The manager had kindly left our unit unlocked with the keys inside.

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Saturday 24th — Two-hour lake cruise on the Ernest Kemp. Saw the Maori rock carvings beyond Acacia Bay. Lunch (Lamb Bhuna) at the Indian Delights restaurant — this one beats Bolliwood, Massala, and NiteSpice any day. Car trip to Turangi. It felt homely, but at the same time strange, to be there without Dad. I wonder whether there is anybody remaining in Turangi who has any memory of him. The last time he (and I) were there was in 1989, less than three years before his death. Dinner at Daikoku, a Japanese restaurant owned and operated by a Korean.

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Sunday 25th — Spent about an hour looking around the amazing Craters of the Moon thermal park at Wairakei. We then visited the Huka Falls before heading off for lunch, once again, at Indian Delights — Lamb Rara this time. Dinner (succulent seafood) at the Lazy Trout.  The waitress was Italian, but had no idea about the Italian history of nearby Turangi.

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Monday 26th — Checked out. Visited the Huka Prawn Park and had breakfast; also looked over the adjacent Wairakei power station, on which Dad worked in the 1960s. I well remember seeing it in much more rudimentary form as a boy, with steam billowing out from its pipes. Lunch at Oporto in Hamilton, in the central food court. . Emails to Bertha and Nive. Phone call from Nive when we were just north of Huntly. Finalized details of our mortgage conditions. Arranged to see Bertha tomorrow to finalize transfer of ownership. Arrived here around 5.30.

1103 : I'm sitting in the MacLaurin Chapel. It's an old haunt; my first memory of it dates back to mid-1984, when I was a student at ATI, as AUT was then known. It was my regular hangout between 1987 and about 1993. I've paid only a few visits since, numbered probably in single digits. The kitchen has had a nice upgrade, making the offices of the chaplain and his secretary more private. The carpet looks new, and the desks have been replaced, as have the chairs and most of the couches. The huge oak tree that I loved to climb still stands outside, but many of the branches that I used to hold onto have been lopped off, making it difficult if not impossible for me to climb now.

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I'm here, waiting. I have to pick up the clothes from the Glenfield Laundromat after 12:30; subsequently I have to collect YK at 4pm and then head south to Taupo, where we are staying for three nights. We have to return on Monday in order to sign our legal documents on Tuesday. The house went unconditional a couple of days ago and we now have to get everything ready (money paid and all) for the final settlement next Friday.

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This is a shift unlike any other that I have ever experienced. All previous shifts have been seamless — we always left one house with another to move into right away. I well remember the shifts we had in 1972, 1981, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2012, and 2014 — apart from the 1981 shift, which involved an overnight stop in Te Awamutu en route from the Kapiti Coast to Auckland — they were all over in a single day. But this time, we moved out, with nowhere to go. It is as if God has put not just a seam, but a wall, between our past and our future.

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Everything seems to be happening as if on cue. Josiah moved out suddenly about a month before we put the house on the market. He went south for the weekend and was supposed to return that Monday; he did not. That wasn't our planning, but it fitted perfectly. Richard moved out 95 days before we did. We hoped that Richard would be moving with us, although I had an inkling that he would not be. Despite the suddenness and the sadness of his departure, it freed us up and gave us more flexibility about where we could move and what kind of house we could choose. And students have been quitting, too. Only Joshua and Eliot remain, apart from Subin, who now studies in alternate weeks. That, too, appears to be happening as if on cue to make way for me to do something else What it is I do not know, but God, having got me this far, will put me into a job also.

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Daniel 6.17 : A stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet rings of his nobles, so that nothing would be changed in regard to Daniel.

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1417 : The tomb of Jesus was similarly sealed. It proves that nothing had been done to provide a way of escape, for the den was still sealed the next morning when they came to investigate.

Luke 7:18-23 : The disciples of John reported to him about all these things. Summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, "Are you the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?" When the men came to Him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask 'Are you the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?'" At that very time, He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind. And He answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them. Blessed is he who does not take offence at Me."

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1408 : Jesus didn't just say, "Of course I'm the one. What's happened to your faith?" Instead, he pointed to his miracles. There is more to this than meets the eye — these signs were his authentication. Not his words about himself. He didn't attempt to persuade, but rather demonstrated what John would recognize as his bona fides.

Luke 5:1-11 : Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; 7so they signalled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

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Jesus showed up when Peter and his partners had given up. They had spent the night fishing in vain; now they were over it. They had given up and were cleaning up. They were washing the nets, and were about to put them away. Undoubtedly, the only thing on their minds was getting home — and getting to sleep.

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The arrival of Jesus must have been an inconvenience. He interrupted them at a time when they were in low spirits, exhausted, and focused only on packing up. Jesus wasn't even a fisherman, and in putting out into deep water again after a fruitless night, at the word of a complete amateur, showed real faith, however rudimentary. And when they did that, they'd never seen a catch like it. No wonder they immediately abandoned everything to follow Jesus.

Luke 4:1-2 : Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.

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Jesus was not only led into the wilderness by the Spirit. He was led around in the wilderness by the Spirit; he was exposed all that time to the temptation of the devil and that was his purpose for being there.

1512 : God appears to be playing a numbers game with me.

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What are the odds of all this?

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1. A house that my mother bought on behalf of my aunt back in 1981, and which my sister and I inherited from my aunt when she passed away two years ago, was family property for exactly 13,000 days, until a couple of days ago. Yes, you read that right. It was a round number. I didn't know that until yesterday, when I actually counted it all up and ran it through a calculator.

2. Half of 13,000 is 6,500. And what was the 6,500th day? 17 November 1998 — MY BIRTHDAY. I turned 33 that day.

3. That's not all. 17 November 1998 - my birthday - was Day 203 — the exact middle day — of the 406-day period that I rented a flat down in Birkenhead.

Wow, my 33rd birthday exactly split two periods of my life — a short one and a long one.

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None of this was planned. I didn't know any of it until late last night when something nagging at me prompted me to pick up a calculator and work all this out. Coincidences like this don't just happen. But what it all means, I have no idea.

1809 : I received the notice from Bertha at 15:45 yesterday : the funds had been received and the key had been released to the new owners. On checking my bank account later, I found that the transfer had, indeed, been made.

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This brought to an end more than thirty-five years of history. Thirteen thousand days — exactly thirteen thousand, accounting for the leap years — from 30 January 1981, when we purchased the house, to 2 September 2016, when we sold it. I am stunned that, completely unplanned, it has broken to a round number.

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It was a strange feeling driving past the house today. As of yesterday, it was mine. Or more correctly, I had a half-share in it. Today, it is not mine. It belongs to somebody else. The torch has been passed.

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For thirty-five years, 15 Weetman Drive was my anchor. Yes, I moved, but never far, and we always had this house, and this town, to come back to. But now ... my relationship with the house is history. I will always have the memories — precious memories. But the house itself is no longer mine. Very soon I will be gone from Browns Bay too, likely forever. Of course I can, and probably will, return for visits. But I have a feeling that I will probably never live here again. I came to this town with great reluctance thirty-five years ago. I did not want to come. But now, I am leaving a town that I have grown to love.

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I now know the meaning of the dream I had a while back, the dream of visiting the Lancaster Road house and finding the green tree gone. That tree (which in real life has not been taken down) was the one aspect of the Lancaster Road house that I loved, the one detail that attracted me to it in the first place and the one detail that I have missed since I left. Thinking it might be literal, I drove round a few months ago to have a look — but it was still there. I now know that it meant something else. It was about Richard. When Richard left the nest on 28 May, I suddenly felt my own attachment to the house severed. Richard had left the nest, and I knew that it was time for us to leave it, too.

1936 : Farewell, beloved house. The contents are all gone now, except for a few odds and ends that I'm about to pick up as I go back for the final time. I saw something today that I have seen only once before — thirty-five years ago: the empty house. I saw it empty in the beginning, so many years ago, and now I've seen it empty again at the end.

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Richard came around last night to help, and to say his last good-byes. He was clearly emotional. For him, too, the house has been his anchor — as he pointed out so poignantly, we've moved around (but never far), but the house has always been here for us and we've always had it to come back to. And we only sold it after he had grown up and left the nest, although we did not plan it that way. Indeed, we never thought, when we moved back in two years ago, that this would be our laste family home. The anchor put down by my parents back in 1981 was not pulled up until my own son had come of age and left the nest.

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Richard's sentiments are remarkably similar to mine — with one key difference. For me, the house had a beginning. For Richard, it ddidn't. For him, he's never known life without it. It's something he's always had, and has always been able to take for granted.

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We've lifted the anchor at last ... the ship is about to sail. By God's grace I will put down the anchor for Richard as my parents did for me, so long ago.

Matthew 5:13 : "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

— This verse should not be divorced from its context. Being the salt of the earth is integral to what Jesus has just said about how God's blessings come in the midst of suffering and persecution for His name's sake, and what he goes on to say about his high moral demands, forgiveness, provision, etc.

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Jesus is telling us that WE are the world's last hope, and that if we blow it, the world is done for. Failing to live by the standards Jesus has laid down in this sermon makes the salt tasteless and worthless.

— Chapters 3 and 4 reveal a three-stage process that Jesus underwent. First, Jesus was baptised by John and was publicly acknowledged by his Heavenly Father. There is more to this than meets the eye: Jesus must have had John as his mentor. Second, after the baptism and the vindication came the test in the wilderness. Satan's taunt, "IF you are the Son of God..." is directly related to the Father's acknowledgement of him in verse 17. Jesus knew who he was, and that is why (humanly speaking) he passed the test. Third, Jesus's own ministry began only after John's was effectively over. The transition was long, but the time was not wasted.

4 Baruch 3:15 : And you, Jeremiah, go with your people into Babylon and stay with them, preaching to them, until I cause them to return to the city.

— This appears to contradict the account given by the prophet Jeremiah himself. It is perhaps because of historical inaccuracies like this that only one branch of Eastern Christianity has accepted this work as canonical.

Matthew 2:13, 19, 22b-23 : Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him." ... But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, "Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child's life are dead." ... Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, and came and lived in a city called Nazareth.

— Joseph heard from God through dreams, receiving very precise instructions. The first communication was open-ended: "Remain there until I tell you" — with the timeframe not specified. Joseph would just have to wait until he heard from God again. He heard from God twice more — the first time for a general direction, and the second time for clarification.

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How can I learn to hear from God so accurately?

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— prophecy about the death of Christ.

— The Jubilees account says that Canaan effectively conquered Egypt and that Canaan's king became the Pharaoh.

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This may corroborate what history tells about dynastic change.

2 Samuel 2:4-7 : And they told David, saying, "It was the men of Jabesh-Gilead who buried Saul." David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-Gilead, and said to them, "May you be blessed of the LORD because you have shown this kindness to Saul your lord, and have buried him. Now may the LORD show lovingkindness and truth to you, because you have done this thing. Now therefore, let your hands be strong and be valiant; for Saul your lord is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them."

— David honoured Saul's legacy, even though Saul was his enemy. David understood that the throne itself was more important than the one who had sat on it.

Jubilees 34:16 : And (Jacob's) daughter Dinah also died after Joseph had perished.

— This appears to contradict the Genesis account, which implies — or perhaps even directly states — that Dinah entered Egypt with her father and brothers.