This thought dawned on me today as we watched yet another mass shooting in the US happen. So much has been written and reported about them. Lines drawn, sides picked and blame assigned. Most of the time it has fallen along political lines. But really who cares, that’s cold comfort to people for whom a loved one was shot dead.

However, there’s a demographic that’s missing here, a really really small one for whom nothing (or that I am aware of) is said about. Not even a demographic really (thank goodness) but I had to call it something. And it goes something like this.

In the past 15-20 years, there have been some quite big natural disasters in the USA. Mostly around hurricanes, wild fires, floods etc. Then at times occasionally (& I use the word occasionally intentionally) soon after the previously mentioned event some person (usually a middle/old aged white male) who is known as a Christian will roll out some “I-heard-from-God-On-This-One” statement that (Insert city/region here) is suffering or had this natural disaster occur because God was judging them. In most cases, they (well let’s face it…he) draws parallels to Sodom & Gomorrah from the Old Testament and makes a connection between the natural disaster and the “Sins of that city”. Usually pointing at the amount of gay people or to use an old word promiscuity in that city. 1000’s believe them and we assign that event to that city’s evilness and move on, putting all our stock in the “fact” that this guy heard from God on this one.

Here’s where the wheels fall off for me. If these men are soooooo in tune with God and heard from God on some connection to this horrific event or that horrific event, why don’t we seemingly EVER hear from them on mass shootings. I could be wrong and this is a total anecdotal observation. However, the pulpit is empty, the microphone silent, the podium vacant, the crickets are chirping when it comes to these so-called men of God who regularly hear from God on evil making a connection between “that town” and “their sins” lead to this happening. They remain silent when it comes to making a connection between a weapon that is designed only to kill humans being used. We don’t hear them saying such & such a town or city is bad and had this mass shooting coming to them when it comes in the form of a gun. We don’t appear to hear much from them tying the “sins of that city” lead to this mass shooting at the hands of an assault weapon.

Why can they tie natural disaster to a city and its so-called “sins” but not a mass shooting and a city’s so-called “sins”

Where are you Mr. Preacher-man? I didn’t hear you today making connection to that poor town of approximately 400 in Texas, guns and its “sins”.

Just sayin…

Today was one of those days. No not a bad one but perhaps a perfect one. The day started amazingly with this view.

Then we decided to get out as a family for the day. Which for us means something active. Before we left Pittsburgh we bought a 2.5 person sit-on-top kayak and today was actually the 1st day we used it. We drove over to Akaroa and had an early lunch then hit the water.

Both being water people it has always been a hope for Robin & I that Moana would love the water. While her name means ocean certainly helps, we are certainly doing all we can to encourage her. Between swimming lessons for almost over a year and a half and today this wee girl loves the water.

I’ll get out of the way and let the videos do the talking. A Humphreys family day is an active one for sure. But knowing that she had so much fun today on a sit-on-top. Our backyard “boat yard” (as Robin calls it) of numerous boats is sure to be well used.

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of being part of a staff development trip with some of the staff from Adventure Specialities. An organization that SU works closely with.

We drove a short distance out of Christchurch to Glentui Bush where we spent the morning looking at various flora from a herbal & medicinal perspective and its relationship from a Te Reo/Tangata Whenua perspective. The outcome here is that as we work with youth in various programs we can pass on knowledge about the food value and medicinal value of many of NZ indigenous plants. Their properties offered remedies in everything from Asthma to Heart Disease, hormonal balance, stopping infections and dysentery and more. It was very informative.

The highlight of the afternoon was that we got to go and make our way through a canyon. This included 2 abseils (rappels) numerous slides and lots of jumps into pools of water, some of which were very high. We were certainly dressed for the water with wetsuits, paddle jackets and helmets along with all the appropriate climbing gear. The abseils were amazing as we inched our way down into some fast flowing water falls, behind and alongside.  We spent about 2hrs in there and it was certainly a highlight.

I have done various canyon trips in South Africa and France as part of some adventure races however it wad good to do one back on home turf.

Here are some pics from the day,

Last weekend was Labor Day weekend here in NZ. And while many got to take Monday off. I had to work.

And when describe work you might just roll your eyes.

I got to help plan & particulate in a 5 day rafting trip down the Clarence River, essentially from source to sea. A river that starts high up in the mountains and ends in the Pacific Ocean. One of the truly great wilderness & remote adventures in NZ.

After gathering with 16 other friends, colleagues & Board Members from Scripture Union, Arocha & Adventure Specialities we drove the 2.5hrs to the put in.

Logistically this trip was massive with 17 people on 3 rafts for 5 full days with enough food, personal gear, cooking gear, tents & safety stuff. A lot of thought was given to it all. Not to mention the transportation challenges of getting us to the put in. Then arranging how we were going to get home. That part was an 11 hour bus ride. Double what it should have taken us. But due to the kaikoura earthquakes almost a year ago & 100s of road slips meant frustratingly that we were really close to the now reopened section of road but far enough away that we had to effectively drive north before we could drive south.

Meanwhile we got on the water around 330pm Friday afternoon & paddled until we ran out of daylight around 8pm settling for a less than ideal campsite on the side of the river.

We all slept well after a good dinner of beef stir fry that was conveniently “thawing” on the top of one of our rafts as we floated down stream. That first afternoon had its fair share of decent rapids. 

Saturday morning came after a really good nights sleep (in a tent of course) Which after 4 nights one gets really good at putting a tent up, especially one thats not personally yours.

Each morning we aimed to be up around 700am. It was quickly established that I was the designated coffee person. In part because I like it strong, and my argument for strong coffee is that you can always add hot water to weaken it, but when it comes to weak coffee and making it stronger… insert the crickets chirping here. We have a lot of big coffee drinker or coffee snobs and 3 big plunger pots therefore each morning around 700am there was a flurry to get the date on the gas rings or the recently lit fire and “get the coffee on”.

Packing up camp each morning is quite a task. Pulling down tents, packing our big blue waterproof barrels (2 people/barrel). They are the barrels in the picture above. Eating breakfast, cleaning up, loading all that gear on 3 rafts for 17 people. We were on the water by 930am each day. which didn’t leave for much idle time. A big pot of porridge/oatmeal was made each morning and dutifully consumed.

Saturday was our first all day paddle and the chance to enter the first of 3 big canyons on the Clarence. This trip has so many highlights however one would have to be a amazing and dynamic geology and demonstration of tectonic forces (nerd alert!)on show. The rocks had some incredible faulting and folding lines that often ran parallel to one another creating a plowed field look yet no where near straight in their appearance.This often found us looking up as much ad enjoying the rapids of the day.

Our 2nd day ended with a sweet campsite of river right, a little up from Muzzle Station where as we were paddling into camp a farm worker from the station was heading cattle with ….

A HELICOPTER.

Tells you a little about the terrain and its inaccessibility. See video below and look hard and listen.

This camp site provided good shelter from the forecast gales that were predicted and we were kept up to date on each day with our daily Sat phone check in. On this night we also sat and had a facilitated discussion about Faith Formation and what that looks like in our context. And you can imagine with 3 very intentional faith-based non-profits and a faith based funding group there was lively conversation.

Day 3 saw continue continue our float to the ocean as we began to float through the middle of the Seaward Kaikoura’s to our left and the Inland Kaikoura’s to our right. The later have peaks that are much higher including one of my favorite mountains in NZ. Tapuae-o-Uenuku, or known as Tapi. Having climbed to its summit and been denied its summit more times than I care to remember it was good to see “an old friend”. Click here for more info. This mountain is the first real mountain Sir Edmond Hillary Climbed and from there got the bug.

This brought us to our 3rd campsite but not before some drama. On November 14th last year a violent 7.8 earthquake shook this region. Creating all sorts of destruction and damage. Including State Highway 1, which to this day is STILL closed from 100’s of slips and the.  Click here to read more stories about the quake. One of the lesser known effects were on this mighty river. A series of huge slips blocked the river and created a lake for some time until the power of the river punched through the rock wall to continue its path to the ocean. It would have been impressive to see the rock fall and blocking of the river (from a safe distance of course) and then even more so when the river punched its way through. Well anyways we saw the effects of the landslide and the river reasserting itself. As we paddle this section there were house-sized boulders all around and still little slides and slip going on. Couldn’t help but feel very small at that point and put in our place in the universe. A good reminder of the sovereignty of God too. This video shows us rafting through this new section that none of us had paddled before. Rafting this section was optional for us, of course I said yes, and we “lined” the heaviest raft through the rapids for fear or it flipping with people and all our heavy gear aboard.

Just below this piece of God’s handiwork we found our next campsite and set up for the evening. This time to enjoy a pasta dish and peach cobbler for dessert. Yes we ate well. Before dinner that night I got to take a wee run up towards Tapi and stretch my legs after effectively have them sit in a raft for 3 days. It was good to be running and even running uphill.

Day 4 or Monday (Labor Day) had us in the raft and off again around 930am. Into more rapids and another gorge/canyon. This is the only day we lost 2 people over board as we entered a rock-garden like section of rapids that saw us ping pong off a few rocks, some seen some unseen which caused 2 members of my raft to get thrown across the boat and into 2 other people and over he side into the river. Soon after getting them back on board, one with a throw bag we parked up to lick our wounds and stretch our legs.

One thing about this trip was a the amazing weather we had. Forecast rain never came and gale force winds never really blew. We were in a weather no-mans land though as far as reading forecasts which had us drawing from 3 different areas to try and syphon what part of that 1 forecast from each of the 3 might mean for us. With good weather on our side we were even more excited to be on the river.

If the weather was good, something had to give and that was the geological weather. Apparently we had an earthquake centered not far from where we were. The same faults that gave way here almost a year ago. This sent some family and friends into enquiry and wonder. Only to be responded with “What earthquake?” from us.

Day 4 ended as the most amazing campsite. A place called Matai Flat and oasis of old podocarp forrest on river left at a sharp left had turn in the river. Matai flat provided great comforts, the opportunity to swim, rest some and be awoke to the most amazing dawn chorus of birds. Not before landing in some strong wind gusts in the mid afternoon sun.

As we set out on our last day, we were up early to get done so we could get into that 11hr bus ride home. After the brilliance of the bird song start we were expecting to wind down for the morning to our take-out late morning.

This was not the case as we witnessed more quake devastation, mostly in the form of impacts to humans activity. Including a destroyed bridge and a major re-challening of the river. In the quake some major uplift occurred. This caused the river to find a new low point. Remember gravity and rivers a best mates. This caused the Clarence to move approximately 200m to the north and away from the old river bed as it would now we required to go uphill. The new path was cut without care or feeling across a sheep farm and multiple paddocks. To witness this and see what had occurred was again a “we are really small moment”. After seeing this new section of river we continued down stream passing where the river use to go and seeing its now dry river bed behind us joining the new channel sitting about 4-5m above us from the uplift. This old channel forever changed in a matter of moments after flowing that way for who knows, 1000’s of years.

From here we made the short rest of the way, still enjoying some big raids and long wave trains. So much for staying dry that day.

Upon arrival at the take out, a mere several hundred meters from the Pacific Ocean we took photos, high-5’d, and begun the packing up, this time for the last time.

Recently we have noticed that Moana has been adding words almost daily to her vocabulary. Then even starting to string sentences together. However perhaps the most noticeable observation I have had is the inflection in her voice.

When this occurs (in English anyway) it usually means that the speaker is making their statement into a question. I have recently seen this with Moana when I have returned from a run. She has greeted me with a “Hey….. run?”. With the inflection in her voice on the word run, to denote that she is asking if I have been for a run. Which of course I have.

Where did she learn this from? How did she pick up on this technique?

She hears it from us & others, perhaps watching her favorite… Elmo. Which makes me wonder, besides learning how to create a question (out of just one word), what else is she learning from me, we, us and maybe you.

We live in a world that appears quite polarized right now. Race… politics… sexuality… mental health… and more.

We know that from dust we came and from dust we shall return. And therefore everything else we latch onto, learn, gather or form opinions on has to be a mixture of people and experiences.

What people and experiences are we having to create not only those questions (whether they are one word or more) but perhaps more dangerously those opinions and biases on race… politics… sexuality… mental health… and more.

We aren’t born racist, prejudice, liberal, conservative, progressive, homophobic, narrow minded on mental health we learn those opinions. I wonder if we can unlearn them as simply as we learned them. A simply as a child does.

In the recent July School Holidays, I was at camp with these fine youth. Based out of Makarora in Mt. Aspiring National Park here are a few highlights from our time together.

There’s a thing called TED Talks. It stands for Technology, Education & Design. They have these big conferences around the world. And are presentations by really froward thinking people on all sorts of topics. There is a weekly email that comes to your inbox with the best in TED Talks. Anyways, its really good.

I delete more than I click on, however this past week one got my attention. It was entitled “How cohousing can make us happier (and live longer)”. That got my attention.

Here’s the link to it

I’ll let you watch it, but as Robin & I watched this around 10minute video we almost kept  yelling at the screen things like…

“The only thing missing is Jesus” or “This is how its supposed to be” or “Read Acts 2 lady” or “This is the early church” or “No, she did not just say that”.

In a time when if you live in the west then your country is confronting issues of mental health and suicide more so that ever before in history. And don’t worry developing countries aren’t too far behind. Every country has shocking suicide stats because without sounding cheesy, 1 suicide is too much. But people suicide for two reasons. Loss of hope and loss of social connection. We are more connected yet more lonely now than ever.

Yet if you watch this Ted Talks you can see why this form of living in so attractive. And then if you insert Jesus or parallel read with Acts 2 and Acts 4: 32-37 we can begin to understand that what we offer at followers of Christ is so transformative that who knows where it would go.

I was recently having coffee with a youth director at a church and he was telling me about the intentional community they have grown into in a quiet street. That what once started with 1 house and a few people living together is now over 20 in several houses on the same street. The challenge he said was that there were some conflicts and tension arising and asked me if I thought it was because had got too big.

My response began with asking him why he thought it had got so “big”. Rhetorical as it may sound, but what their community offered was attractive and enticing and very welcoming to an outsider. So much so that many wanted in, to be a part of it and so they joined and now it had mushroomed to several houses and 20+ people.

Remember people are looking for hope and social connection. Or should I say meaningful Christ-centered hope and meaningful social connection (don’t get me wrong, screens and social media have a place). We went on to talk about the challenge that presented itself when every outsider would join that it would change the dynamics of a house and that the community would need to establish or re-establish the guidelines/practices for living.

That it is a slow process, certainly not a quick or an efficient to do life. But people didn’t want to be in this setting because it was quick or efficient. They wanted in because it was hope giving and connecting.

As the Ted Talk concluded the speaker references studies and stats of the benefits of cohousing. These are alarming good. Imagine if that same cohousing was centered around people, families, groups and individuals coming together for whom doing life and faith was the goal.

This book has been floating around for a few months now, maybe more. The author has written numerous books. Mostly described as a fresh perspective and a refreshing yet different approach to life, faith, Jesus & relationships. His video series were also quite different too. They can be found on the bookshelves of many youth directors, pastors or people who work in ministry with youth &/or young adults.

Then there was a book entitled “Love Wins”. By now you might know who I am talking about.

Yes Rob Bell. That book essentially got him kicked off the island. The Christian island that is. And he “swam” (or surfed,  he does like to surf) in the mainline sea of being judged and cut off for over 5years. Now he is back with a new book and here it is 

Entitled “What is the Bible?”, is just that. And I just got a copy and intend reading it. So watch this space.

Today there was a article on cnn.com about him on cnn.com as he embarks on a book tour in the Bible Belt. A bit of a read but a good one, to bring you up to speed on this guy, his history and why he is still turning heads for better and for worse.

This week America provided us a reversal and confusing look at their viewpoint on guns. In summary it gave us two moments when we could have sighed and said “oh no… thats not helpful” and “whew… I’m glad those two people were there.”

By this I am referring to the 1st incident where by a self-confessed Bernie Sanders supporter showed up at a congressional baseball practice and started shooting at as many members of the GOP as he could. Yes, a passionate Democratic Party supporter (who even volunteered during the 2016 election). This is not what the Democrats needed. The party that champions the cause for greater gun control, especially against assault weapons. Here is a man who is acting with an object that the democrats are trying very hard to control getting into the hands of people just like him. UGH!

Then ‘down the coast’ in Georgia we have two inmates who manage to kill two corrections officers and escape a prison transport. Then commit various acts of stealing cars, terrorizing people, high speed car chases across two states to finally come to a crashing end and run off into the woods in Tennessee.

While the deaths of two officers is unspeakable, this story comes to a peaceful ending. Two members of the public spotted these two inmates in the woods near their house, and wait for it… GRAB THEIR GUNS and go get em’.

If it wasn’t for these two gun totting weapon owners these escaped inmates might be still running or have had a fiery shootout with law enforcement.

So, here we have a situation where the left leaning gun lobby are let down by ‘one of their own’ and we are sure glad that the right leaning protect my gun rights laws have prevented a awful situation becoming even worse.

This past weekend we had a storm that spat out of the deep depths of the Southern Ocean. Or Antarctica. It produced some massive swells or waves. 

Click the link to read all about it   

Surf’s Up.

And more
This weekend we are going to the very southern tip of NZ for a youth & children training event for churches. It will be fun to take Robin & Moana to the southern tip on NZ…. next stop Antarctica.