The Paper Kites

Recently I took Kirsty to see Josh Pyke play at the metro in Sydney. I bought her the tickets for her birthday.

Josh Pyke’s music has a special significance for us. The last time we say him play was the night I asked Kirsty to marry me.

The night was great, the music was excellent.

One of the things I love about live music is hearing the great support bands that come before the main act. This night was no exception.

Supporting Josh Pyke was a band called The Paper Kites. We loved seeing them for the first time, and we bought their EP the other day. This is a video of my favourite song on the EP. It’s called ‘Featherstone’. Kirsty’s favourite song is called ‘Bloom‘.

Check them out. They might just be the band that we listen to over summer.

Who really invented OS X, Android & iOS?

If you use OS X, Android or iOS you shouldn’t be thankful for Steve Jobs or Google. Well not entirely anyway. Sure, they played a big part in their respective developments. But there is one man who played a much bigger part.

OS X, Android and iOS are written using a programming code called ‘C‘. Two other programming codes are used for OS X, Android and iOS are C++ and Objective C (they are basically just later versions of ‘C’), but ‘C’ has been a foundation of both of these operating systems since their beginning.

Anyway, to get to my point. C was invented by a man called Dennis Ritchie. He invented it while working at Bell Labs between 1969-1973. Dennis Ritchie passed away this past week at the age of 70 in his home.

No-one really heard about his passing. Dennis Ritchie was a huge player in the personal computing world. I especially like this quote about him.

“As the news of his death spread throughout the computer science world, historians and computer enthusiasts compared the bearded, introverted Dr. Ritchie to media-savvy Apple co-founder Steve Jobs“

And this one.

“It’s sort of ‘apples’ and oranges,” said Paul Ceruzzi, a Smithsonian historian and expert on the history of computers. “Ritchie was under the radar. His name was not a household name at all, but . . . if you had a microscope and could look in a computer, you’d see his work everywhere inside.”

Dennis Ritchie was a big player in the development of the computers, mobile phones, iPod’s and media centres that we use today.

I am thankful for him.

Have Faith. An update.

One of the reasons I started this site was to keep our friends updated of how life was going while Kirsty and I go through Bible college. (Kirsty isn’t actually studying at college, but she is still heavily involved. If you catch my drift. Hence, we are both going through college)

I wanted to write an update to tell you how things have been going recently for us. So here goes. Sorry, this post is long and doesn’t have a fancy video.

College has been busy, much busier than I had thought it would be. Managing college work, seeing family, seeing friends, church work, secular holiday work, starting tyro designs and spending time together as a married couple has been a steep learning curve. I don’t pretend to have mastered this yet, but our friends are gracious when we can’t see them, and our families are even more forgiving when we seem absent or exhausted. We are extremely thankful for this.

At the same time as being busy, this year has been excellent. The stuff I have learnt this year will prove to be valuable into the future, and the friendships we have made at college have been a real encouragement to us both. Our Church this year has been a real highlight of our ministry together. Ministering to the people of St Ives Family Church has been a delight and a privilege, and we have been greatly encouraged by our brothers and sisters there.

One of the most difficult parts of this year has been the status of Kirsty’s job. Kirsty works in the public health system, where she is a Speech Pathologist, helping young kids speak. Kirsty got the job at the end of 2010, and it has been a blessing. Both financially and relationally (She is working as a locum for another speechie on maternity leave). A difficultly presented itself a few months ago when we heard the news that the woman Kirsty was replacing was returning to work. Because of this Kirsty’s job looked like it might be terminated. The prospects of this were scary. We were tentatively making arrangements to move back in with one of our parents.

In the midst of this, there was a slight prospect that her job might be extended for a period of time, but we sat in limbo for weeks. Not knowing what the outcome might be, we did what we have always done in times of uncertainty. We prayed. We prayed, and trusted that God would work the situation out in the way that he wanted. Trusting in and having faith in God is not something that is foreign to us. In faith, Kirsty and I have made all of our plans in the last few years focused on God and based on what we think God would have us do. There have been numerous times that these decisions have caused stress, mostly financial stress, but still stress. This was another period of that. God has always worked things out for us. Wether it has been where we are going to live or work, God has always provided for us.

To cut a really long story, long. Once again God has answered our prayers by once again providing Kirsty with work in the form of an extension. Her contract has been cut from 5 days to 3, but it is still some work. The health sector is a really difficult area to find work in at the moment, so we are thankful for the 3 days she has been given.

I have written this, not to make you think that we are excellent Christian people. Instead I write this so that, if you are a Christian, you might be encouraged by God’s goodness to us in a time where we had faith in him. If you are not a Christian, I would love to encourage you to check out 2 ways to live, in it you will discover that God has done so much more than just provide materially for Kirsty and I. He has done so much more than that for people who have faith in him.

 

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for reading it.

Love, Tim and Kirsty

From thirteen three: Pray for Youcef Nadarkhani

I am a Christian, and therefore I care deeply when fellow believers stand up for their faith in Jesus. I care all the more when they are persecuted for doing so. This is a story that I saw yesterday.

This post originally appeared on the blog of thirteen three. It has been reproduced with permission. Thirteen three is the youth arm of voice of the martyrs.

Iranian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani is facing execution after refusing to renounce his faith during court hearings held this week.

In July, the Supreme Court instructed the Revolutionary Tribunal of Gilan Province to review his case to verify whether he was previously a practising Muslim. At the recent hearings, the court in Rasht ruled that Pastor Youcef was not a practising Muslim before becoming a Christian. However, he remains guilty of apostasy because of his Muslim ancestry.

According to sources, when Pastor Youcef was asked to repent in court, he said:

“Repent means to return. What should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?”

When judges told him to return to “the religion of your ancestors, Islam,” Pastor Youcef responded, “I cannot.”

Nadarkhani has used up all his chances in the court. “We hear some rumors that he could be executed literally this week – that he’s had now three days which is called for in Islamic law to reconsider his decision, and he could be executed at any time,” reports Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs USA.

MORE INFORMATION

Check out this news report for more information about Youcef’s case.

 

URGENT PRAYER NEEDED

Please share this story with your friends and family and ask them to pray for Youcef Nadarkhani and his family.

  • Please pray that Youcef will be faithful even to death so that he will receive the crown of life (Revelation 2:10).
  • Pray that Christians around the world will take swift and decisive action on Youcef’s behalf.
  • Pray that all charges against him will be dropped.
  • Pray for all Christians in Iran, that they will keep their eyes on Jesus and not be fearful. Pray that persecution will only increase their passion for Christ and their willingness to share their faith.
This post originally appeared on the blog of thirteen three. It has been reproduced with permission. Thirteen three is the youth arm of voice of the martyrs.

A solution for a Christmas carol problem.

I know it is only September, but the shops have started selling Christmas stuff so I thought I might be able to get away with this post.

I love Christmas. Unfortunately I don’t really like Christmas carols. I don’t exactly know why, but I haven’t loved them for a while now.

It could have something to do with my need for things to be presented in a fresh and exciting way for me to be engaged with them. Of maybe it could have something to do with the fact that my ‘style’ of music does not incorporate Christmas carol (I don’t see any of my favourite bands doing Christmas albums any time soon).

Last year, to the delight of my wife (she likes Christmas carols), I discovered a Christmas album that I really liked. The sound was loud, passionate and fresh. There were old songs, new songs and some thought out new/old mixtures. This album caused such a change in me that Kirsty often finds me listening to it… during the whole year.

The album in question is called ‘North Point Christmas’. You can listen to the whole album here. But you really should go an buy it here.

Don’t waste your money buying silly ornaments at MYER.

9/11: Recovering, Remembering and Rebirth

I wasn’t going to write anything about 9/11.

I have never really felt the loss of someone that was close to me, and I have never really been affected my any disasters.

I just felt that anything that I could say wouldn’t be appropriate. Mainly because I don’t know the kind of pain that people feel after an even like this.

That being said, I felt compelled to recommend an excellent documentary that we watched on Sunday night. It is called Rebirth. Rebirth is a documentary about the individual stories of of people and how their lives have been shaped by September 11. The basic premise was to interview the same 5 people each year after 2001 to 2011.

It is really a great documentary. Seeing how each of these people were affected my the loss of husbands, mothers and best friends brought Kirsty and I to tears on more than one occasion, and seeing how they moved on with living was even more moving.

Here is the trailer. If you are in Australia you can watch it for free on iView.