- My daughter phoned to wish me a happy Father’s Day.
- My son dropped in give me a cordless drill set as a Father’s Day gift.
- Ads on TV promoting all kinds of gifts from socks to stuff for DIY projects to massive armchairs with beer chillers in the arm rests suddenly stopped appearing at every commercial break.
Here in Aotearoa New Zealand Father’s Day is celebrated on the first Sunday in September, but in this household the celebrations are really about the respite loved ones get from being made to feel guilty for not buying their father expensive gifts they can’t afford and he doesn’t need and doesn’t want. It also means that those same commercial interests that had attempted the guilt trip on loved ones also stopped trying to convince me I’m unloved because my children haven’t lavished me with extravagant gifts.
Of course it will start all over again in a few months time as Christmas approaches.
Actually I told a porky above. My son didn’t call in to give me a cordless drill set like the one I’ve been hoping he’d give me ever since the one he borrowed came back with a burnt out motor and a broken gearbox. In fact he didn’t call in at all.
Oh all right. He didn’t even call. Or what’s App. Or text.
I wonder if he’s still alive…
Another Spectrum 
4 Sep, 2017 at 4:45 am
One of my sons calls and gives me a present on Mother’s Day. The other one texts me a photo of a VW camper because he knows I miss the one I had. He also tells me how poor he is and how impossible it is to buy me a present. Sigh… Love them anyway…
4 Sep, 2017 at 10:06 am
Precisely ☺
11 Sep, 2017 at 8:11 pm
Hello Barry,
Hope you are doing well.
I got a request; what is the name of the NZ christian bishop you shared with me a while back?
12 Sep, 2017 at 2:15 am
Are there non-Christian bishops?
If you’re referring to the bishop of the Destiny Church, it’s Brian Tamaki. I think he’d feel right at home among the evangelicals that seem to be the prevalent type of Christian in Kenya and surrounding countries. If you’re referring to the Anglican bishop, I don’t recall her name offhand, but I don’t think it would be too difficult for me to find out. If it was some other bishop, you’re going to have to jog my memory.
12 Sep, 2017 at 2:51 am
Not that. There is one whose views, to most Christians elsewhere , would be considered heretical.
Either bishop or professor. I just can’t recall his name.
12 Sep, 2017 at 2:57 am
Ahh. You mean my hero Professor Lloyd Geering. Google his name of you’d like to know more about him.
12 Sep, 2017 at 2:58 am
Yes, I think that’s his name