Yesterday was Armisitice day: called by many things in many countries, but in most o day or remembering those who died in battle. However, that is not the case in the antipodes. We recall these people on April 25, remembering a defeat in the first world war (Gallipoli). Instead, it is the time that exams start.

Burnside High (Christchurch) NCEA level 1 candidates waiting the start of an exam. from Dean Kozanic, Christchurch Press.

New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) data shows that of the 143,000 candidates participating in NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship examinations, 63,622 are sitting level 1, 55,921 at level 2, and nearly 40,000 at level 3. Nearly 11,000 are completing scholarship subjects.

Exams began on Friday with scholarship drama, and will end on December 3.

I should add that by now the University Year has ended and all good academics have finished their marking: the final year medical student on the ward is sitting distinctions exams this week, which is the final set of evaluations done in the medical school year. We graduate a new class of Doctors this Friday.

So it is a busy time here. Both boys as sitting school exams. This is minor, of course compared with the damage that is going on in the Phillipines, where thousands have died, but it is what is real in our household at present.

Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded, is estimated to have destroyed about 70 to 80 percent of structures in its path. The damage to the coconut- and rice-growing region was expected to amount to more than 3 billion pesos (NZ$84 million), Citi Research said in a report, with “massive losses” for private property.

Bodies litter the streets of Tacloban, rotting and swelling under the hot sun and adding to the health risk. People walked covering their noses with rags or old clothes to mask the stench.

International aid agencies said relief resources in the largely Roman Catholic Philippines were stretched thin after a 7.2 magnitude quake in central Bohol province last month and displacement caused by a conflict with Muslim rebels in southern Zamboanga province.

Tacloban’s administration appeared to be in disarray as city and hospital workers focused on saving their own families and securing food supplies.

Operations were further hampered because roads, airports and bridges had been destroyed or were covered in wreckage. Threatening to add to the crisis in the impoverished area, a tropical depression carrying heavy rain was forecast to arrive in the region as early as Tuesday.

(As an aside, if you are going to donate to help, I’d suggest using the Catholic charity Caritas. The Philippines is Catholic and they have an infrastructure of parishes and priests already throughout the region. And Catholic charities, like most Evangelical charities, get the money where it is needed, and do not spend it on TV advertising and at home).

Which brings us to the reading for today. The PCUSA lectionary site, which I usually use, is down: the alternatives are few and far between since most reformed groups link back to that site (and their links are down as well). So instead I looked at the Wordlive site, who have a three chapter a day “Bible in a year” resource with links. Which led to this.

Ephesians 6

6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— ³ “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

⁴ Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

⁵ Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. ⁶ Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. ⁷ Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, ⁸ because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.

⁹ And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. ¹⁹ Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

²¹ Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. ²² I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you.

²³ Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.

Yes, I have just quoted an entire chapter. Because I want to make some points from this and the entire chapter helps. Because we are going through an annual cycle of tears and remembrance in North America and examinations in the South. And because the same habits will help one deal if an emergency occurs.

• Children obey your parents… This brings me back to a comment from yesterday
  

  I don’t understand this “we can get plastered and have no consequences” nonsense. We didn’t have this brain atrophy when I was in school, we were supposed to look out for one another. (I went to a very liberal college, full of hard-core feminists).

  But stating that any actions have consequences these days makes you a Big Fat Meaniepants. -blows raspberry-

  Part of being an adult, a parent, is being mean. It is pointing out consequences, from me reminding the boys we have to study, like now, to parents in disaster areas insisting that all water is boiled. Children need guidance to be safe, and if that makes us mean, so be it.

• do not exasperate your children… Don’t micromanage. Accept that there will be bumps. Don’t keep them in cotton wool.  Grerp has this right:
  

  Still, I let my son climb trees and slide down icy hills in winter. I don’t make a big deal out of it if he get a boo boo. Cuts and bruises and scabs and scars are a part of growing up. Life is full of pains, large and small, and if he doesn’t learn to deal with them now, he’ll be too weak to deal with larger problems later. And I’d prefer that he not turn into a huge whiner who thinks it’s other people’s responsibility to shelter him from any and all adversity in life. If you let life be the teacher and hand out consequences for homework, they’ll learn some important lessons earlier on and probably be more pleasant to be around in the here and now.

  And be consistent-ish. Most of the time you do not have to do anything particularly clever. You need to make breakfast and show up. Be there, for they will want you at times you cannot predict. And if you do not care for your children, there is a very high chance they will not honour you.

• Put on the whole armour of God… You cannot get away with emotions alone. We are to love the LORD with all our will, our emotions, our strength, and our mind. We need to discipline our bodies and our minds. We need to do this when times are easier, so when hard times come we have the habits of the day to carry us through. (If you think about it, this blog is a selfish activity. It means that I read the lectionary every day, and when the PCUSA site is not up I struggle because going there is habitual. It is not an exercise of the will anymore. We need to build into our lives such habits, and weed out those that hold us, like cinnabons, down into our chairs and off our knees.
• Pray in the spirit… We need to remind ourselves, that discipline is not enough. If that was the case, we would have to bow to the Buddhists: for they discipline themselves to perfection, or the Daoists, who train their body in the search for occult power. It is the Spirit within us that allows us to change. And we have to watch ourselves, that we continue to pray, that we continue to avoid grieving the spirit of God, that we continue to turn to God, even when we have offended for for the four thousandth time this week.  Any strength we have comes from God, and is not from us.
• … that I may declare it fearlessly… That we will not be silent. That we will adapt when resources re down. That we will teach truth, not falsehood. That we will confront the spirit of this age, not fight false battles with the spirit of the previous generations.  Now, this is indeed the duty of the ministers and teaching elders of our churches. But they are al too often compromised, and us pew warmers need to hold them to account, in our congregations and in our blogs.

Let us pray for the Phillipines and give those church charities in that area some cash. And pray for the servicemen in the USA & Canada who place themselves at risk today, not forgetting the antipodean teenagers who are dealing with, to them, are high-stake exams.