Five Things I'd Like to Do

Here are five things that I would like to do one day. In no particular order...

* Build the HMS Endeavour - I'd still like to have a crack at building a wooden scale replica of the Endeavour. I'm not the most crafty type guy in the world so I think it would be a challenge I would enjoy. It's a masters level project but why let that stop you.

* Write a novel – I would want it to sell well of course. I like to imagine one day sitting at the airport and seeing someone waiting for a flight, reading my book, that they have just purchused from the airport book store. Probably be better if I stoped imagining that though and started imagining what the book was about; and got writing.

* Catch a Mahi-mahi - Mahi-mahi are a type of game fish, I have heard them described as the champaign fish of the sea. I have eaten Mahi-mahi on a couple of occasions and they are beautiful fish. It would be awesome to real a big one in!

* Play golf at St Andrews - Or Augusta National or Pebble Beach. It would be awesome to have a round of golf on one of the finest courses in the world. I'd want to get my handicap down a little before I played, it would be fun though.

* Sail somewhere - I'd love to go on a long distance sailing trip, like from New Zealand to Fiji or one of the other Pacific Islands. It'd be an awesome adventure.

Five Places I'd Like to Visit

Here are the top five places I would like to visit. In no particular order...

* Portsmouth, England - In Portsmouth you can visit and take a tour of the HMS Victory. This is one of the grandest sailing ships of all time. It was Lord Nelson’s flagship and is famous from the battle of Trafalgar. It is a first rate, 100 gun ship, that was completed in 1765.

* Los Angels, USA – Although I have already been to Disney Land, I’d love to go again and take Lisa, Annamari and the rest of the family. I know they would love it. While there it would also be a grand opportunity to travel a bit further, at least around California.

* Great Wall, China – I have always been fascinated by the Great Wall of China. I think China would be a pretty fantastic place to visit as well. I’d also be interested in seeing the Forbidden Temple, Shaolin Temple, the Terra-cotta Warriors, Chengde Mountain Resort, Shangri-la and the Mogao Grottoes.

* Pearl Harbour, Hawaii - I'd love to vist the USS Missouri, it is a United States Battleship on which you can take guided tours. You'd also be able to visit the USS Arizona Memorial and check out all the other cool things Hawaii has to offer, like the Pipeline.

* Machu Picchu, Peru – Home of the ‘Lost City of Machu Picchu’ there would be plenty to see and do here. The Andes would be awesome to visit as well, especially having already been to the Himalayas. And, if you are going that far you may as well whip across to Brazil and journey up the Amazon.

Five Famous People I'd Like to Have Dinner With

Here are the top five famous people I would like to meet or even better have dinner with. In no particular order.

* Jamie Oliver - Jamie has always stood out to me as being a great guy, it seems that he loves life, loves people and loves having fun. It would make sense for him to cook dinner as well I guess. I'll bring a bottle of red.

* Bear Grylls - Bear is a legend! He climbed Everest aged 23 after breaking his back in a parachuting accident. He is an adventurer, author and motivational speaker. I'd love to spend an evening with him.

* Will Smith - Will has always stood out to me for just plain and simply being the man! He is an entertainer and action star but is obviously the absolute professional business man as well. It would be fun to hit the gym with him as well. He's massive!

* William & Harry (Windsor/Wales)- I reckon these guys are cool. Their life is crazy compared to anyone else on the planet. All sorts of pressures, expectations, difficulties that no one else faces. Also of course awesome opportunities and privileges that not many get. I'd love to hang out. I'm sure security wouldn't be an issue.

* Any of the following sporting legends; Tiger Woods, Lewis Hamilton, Andrew Johns, Matthew Johns, Steve Price, any All Blacks, any Black Caps... Hard to narrow it down...

Doing Life Together

Every fortnight on a Tuesday I have the awesome privilege of facilitating truth meets life discussions with some of mine and Lisa's closest friends. We get together to talk and journey through our experiences of relationships, faith, spiritual formation, highs & lows, questions & answers, and everything else that makes up this thing called life. It is awesome being able to do life together!

Community, authentic relationship, friendship and people that will journey with you should never be taken for granted. It is amazing the strength they add to your world. Here are a couple of things that I think make our group a highlight every fortnight.

1. Commitment - there is a real sense of commitment amongst our group. Commitment to the group as a whole, to each other as individuals and to being the real deal with each other. As well as that everyone is committed to winning and helping each other win in life; it is easy to trust that others in the group have your best interests at heart.

2. Humility - no one in our group pretends to have all the answers or know everything thing about everything. There is a genuine openness to hearing other people's stories, opinions and experiences with a genuine desire to discover God's truth for life.

3. Honesty & Trust – our group is willing to share with each other, be honest with each other, be vulnerable with each other and trust each other. It sure takes discussion to a whole new level of authenticity and meaning.

4. Fun & Laughs – we are committed to having a good time, to enjoying each others company and having a good laugh from time to time. We don’t just laugh with each other either, sometimes we love at each other (literally, it’s life, you can’t help it) and allow others to laugh at us, (we do, think, say, and go through some pretty amusing stuff from time to time).

5. History – we’ve been doing this for a while now, there is a sense of history. With a sense of history there comes a sense of partnership as we look forward to the future together and all that it brings.

Doing life together is the only way to really live life to the full! Proverbs warns that a man or a woman that isolates his or her self seeks their own destruction. Don’t isolate yourself. Build community into your life and remember it is possible to be in a group with others but still be isolated; take a risk, open up. It is well worth the effort and the investment to build authentic relationships and genuine friendships.

The Great Feeling of Being Uncomfortable

When was the last time you did something really uncomfortable? Not uncomfortable like said hello to a stranger in a lift or like as a guy told another guy you loved them, not in a man-crush way, just like in a genuine great friendship way. (I thought of this because my cousin Israel yelled that he loved me across our crowded work office the other day, I just yelled the same thing back, I didn't feel uncomfortable though).

I mean uncomfortable in the sense of physically uncomfortable. Like walking home from town in the rain, or pulling out some tree stumps with your office hands, or going for a swim at the beach even though it's the middle of winter. (For all my readers in the States, I know it's summer where you are, and for my readers in the UK, I know too).

There is something awesome about doing something that just makes you feel physically uncomfortable and miserable every now and then. Normally its the hot shower that follows, or the ice cold drink, or the massive feed, or the sense of accomplishment. Its a great feeling though. One moment you were feeling miserable, cold, exhausted, tired, drained and wondering why you did it, the next moment everything is all good and you feel great, and you are glad you did it. As we grow older we tend not to put ourselves in these uncomfortable settings. When we where kids the rain was an excuse to go outside, as adults and excuse to stay in doors, as kids relaxing meant running round or building a fort, now it means sleeping in or reading a magazine with a flat white.

Life's to short for that all the time though. Do some stuff that's really uncomfortable every now and then and enjoy that awesome feeling afterwards.

Here is a couple of these experiences I've had recently...

* Ran 42km, really, really uncomfortable, awesome feeling afterwards.
* Laid some cobles at a local kindergarten, it was awesome to do this and I loved it. Doing it in the rain and wind and freezing cold though took it to another level.
* Worked with my brother in shorts and a t-shirt in the pouring rain, like pouring rain, making artificial damns and brooming water for 1.5hours trying to stop our house from flooding.
* Filled a one ton trailer with two ton of dirt, tried to drive through town but was losing absolute control of the trailer and had to get second trailer and re-shovel one ton of dirt into new trailer on the side of the road. I was one with the spade!
* Sky dived, 10,000 feet!!!

Here is a couple you should have a go at...

* Run a marathon
* Jump out of a plane
* Walk a few km in the rain to the hot pools and then have a swim
* Work on your yard or someone else’s for a full day, you'll be amazed at the results
* Go for a massive hike, make it an overnight and camp out
* Climb a mountain
* Grab some friends and enter a community sport relay event of some sort

Don't spend your whole life in doors, at cafes, in front of screens or warm and relaxed. Get out there. Live a colourful life!!!