Inaugural Article!

An Augur was a priest and official in Roman times, to provide the life forecast of the day, mostly through the lens of avian behaviour. The solemn observance (Auspicium ex tripudiis) of Mars' sacred chickens by the pullarius for direction before a Roman skirmish was no laughing matter. Today, in New Zealand, we are in a nationwide lockdown due to the global pandemic of COVID-19. We sit confined in our bubbles, some bubbles bubblier than others, for some, perhaps exciting, others less so, perhaps twiddling up a lather between our thumbs in this wait. It becomes a daily muse, the short perusal of the news for infection rates and death tolls. "What's the death toll like today?" is almost coolly wondered, as nonchalant as an enquiry into the weather. "I wonder what the lockdown will bring tomorrow! Maybe I can put my clothes on the line."

Well! In the novelty of another Lockdown Day I have decided to begin a blog! In the midst of the horrific times and the sufferings and anxieties, I sit reading, thinking, mulling on nothing in particular, moody about things that I cannot do. Despite this, for this inaugural article on an Easter Sunday I think it is entirely appropriate to affirm the wonderful fact that our outlook is absolutely ablaze with the hope of a risen and victorious Jesus, and we need not be overly anxious about how the chickens peck their cake tomorrow or the ~25000 tomorrows (yep, that's just about all you've got) after that. Hallelujah!

I will try to share a little something here from time to time. Prose or poetry, photos or videos, thoughts and insights, rants and shoutouts, and other formats of braindumps.

Verses I liked today

"He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, a smouldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he established justice on earth. In His law the islands (including NZ) will put their hope." ~ Isaiah 42

"This is a requirement of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke...The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer..." ~ Numbers 19

P.S.: I'm trying to get comments going for this site, but who knows if it is possible or how long would that take! :0

P.S. II: Emojiiiiiiis! It is a bit tiresome to add them though, you need it to look like <em class="em em-smiley"></em> when you are editing in markdown. The complete list of emoji names are here!