WEC Highschoolers Camp Photo Site

As a spin off to WEC Camps this week... I was asked to put up a site for photos from camp.

I did this back in 2003 and was surprised to find the site still active - check out www.geocities.com/wec_photos

I don't have the time to create a site from scratch like that one... so what better to use than blogger, and flickr!!!

I whipped this site up in a couple of hours... http://weccamp.blogspot.com so to see photos from Camp check it out - I think I'll put a link to the flickr account on my side bar as well.

I'm also hoping that the campers will make use of the c-box I put on the site to keep encouraging one another now they are back in the 'real world'.

Here are a small sample of some of the camp A photos... HOW AWESOME IS THAT ICE SLIDE!!!


Camp Bornhoffen, nice quite place in the middle of the mountains!

Riding a Boogie Board down the ice slide, nice!

A little style on the Ice Slide

See the ice fly

Bush Dancing

The cool drummer boy!!! (me :-P)

Group shot of Camp A

WEC Camp 06 - Great Cabin Group

I had a great group of grade 10 guys this year. We learnt all about the missionaries in our chosen country (I need to be a bit secretive about which country it is due to its political views on Christianity).

All I can say though is that the couple we learnt about come from Southport on the Gold Coast and are doing amazing work where they are. They've been in country for 3 years, have learnt the language and are now working on building relationships with the locals and ministering to them so they can see you Jesus Christ really is, and why it's the true religion, not Islam!

Camp was so much fun, we had an ice slide, bush dance, video hits competition and as always the room inspections. My cabin did well, coming second and only loosing by 2 points to the girls cabin from India. We nailed our memory verses (Psalms 139:14, Ephesians 2:10, 1 Corinthians 10:13 and 1 Corinthians 6:19,20) and our Field Focus' were creative and informative.

On Thursday we were doing our bible study sitting on the grass, I was bitten by what I though at the time was a green ant on my toe, painfull but not really a problem I thought.

By the end of the study I felt a pain just above my left eye, I could feel what I thought were more bites on my eyelid. Strange, but I just asked one of the guys for some sting cream cause I thought I must have been bitten there too, and it was quite painful. Well when I realised that my eye was puffing up big time, and I was getting blotches all over my face, arms and back I got a bit more worried.

It turns out I had a pretty violent allergic reaction to whatever bit me, or it was a poisonous spider or something. I took some antihistamines and went to bed. I felt pretty crook for the rest of camp, but all the swelling and most of the blotches went away after a couple of hours. I still have a big red mark on my toe where I was bitten though.

I've just found out they need someone to help out on Camp B for general leading and music stuff so I'm taking next week off work as well and heading up to Mt Tamborine for another week of WEC Camp!

Yeehaw!

Weekend roundup.

OK so it was a BIG!! weekend, but unfortunatly I don't have enough time to write it all out. I'm off to WEC Highschoolers Camp tomorrow, my 8th camp (6th as a Leader).

Vanessa's wedding was priceless! Just a totally amazing day, check out my flickr account for a whole heap of photos. I'll be getting nicer ones, but this is the best I can do for now. There were lots of tears (including me), but the day was just perfect, everything went to plan, and Vanessa looked gorgeous.

Anyway I have to go pack for camp, and get all my leading stuff together... see you in a week.

Round of 16 - Aussie Aussie Aussie...

5am and another early morning up and at it to see the Socceroos take it to the world. This time Croatia were our targets.

I got up a touch late and was just stumbling out of my bedroom when Croatia scored in the 2nd minute of the game, not a good start.

Again I think the referee was terrible, we should have had a penalty for that Viduka hold in the box... and the handball late in the second... I couldn't believe the ref missed that!

But we made good use of the penalty we got, with Craig Moore hammering the ball home. After Viduka's two misses in previous dot shots it was good to see someone else step up.

Then there was tears when Kalac fumbled the ball and let it dribble in for Croatia's second point. Luckily Kewell was able to slot one in to equalise (though at the time I wasn't too excited as I was sure he was offside, but I'm glad luck finally went the Aussies way and the ref missed it!)

In the end the 2-2 draw was all we needed and we're into the knock out rounds, next game Italy. It will be a tough one, but with soccer you never know how it will turn out.

(pictures from www.worldcup.com)

Wedding Update

Well the big day is this Saturday. Vanessa and Andy finally tie the knot. It's been a busy couple of weeks organising so many different aspects for the day.

2 weeks ago they moved their gear into a little rental flat with the hope of buying a removable house and putting it on some of Andy's Mum's property at the end of the year.

The online gift registry has worked really well, and is significantly smaller than when I posted it up, which hopefully means Ness and Andy get a lot of the stuff they need to start their lives away from home.

So pray for a nice day Saturday, I'm driving one of the brand new Nissan Maximas for the bridal procession, and I'll post up photos after the event.

Aussie Pride

2am... Australia v Brazil.

It's now 3:15am, 10 minutes after half time, and Brazil are up 1:0

Come on the Socceroos push it back!!

SYG 06 - Whitehill Army Rocks Gatton

An Awesome weekend. State Youth Games QLD was a huge success. The largest attendance numbers ever for Qld SYG, we even had about 250 people complete the fun run, how sweet is that!

Whitehill came second to Springwood again!!! Ahh well we'll get them next time, it was good competition all round though. Whitehill won the Netball (B Grade), Soccer, Womens Team Fun Run, Touch Football (A Grade) and Volleyball (A Grade) so we did all right. We were also runners up in the A Grade Netball and B Grade Volleyball, so we OWNED the netball and volleyball courts!!

The volleyball semi final between Whitehill and Springwood 1 would have to go down as the greatest SYG sporting moment in history. They were the 2 finals teams from 05, (Springwood beat us last year) we played for 20 minutes and at the end it was a draw, so we had to keep playing until one team won by a 2 point margin. The game went for another 15 minutes!! So full on... continueing point for point.

By this time the whole Whitehill team, and Springwood team plus pretty well every other church were lining the court (there was probably 150 people watching the game, cheering and yelling war cries and stuff), the atmosphere was electric and on the court it was so intense I felt like I was playing an International game or something! We fought so hard and finally got the 2 point advantage to win the game! Unreal!!!!

We then proceeded to beat Springwood 2 in the Grand Final by 35 points. We were so pumped from the last game nothing was going to beat us.

Even though there was some rivalry and competivness the sportsmanship and team spirit was awesome, all churches cheered for each other - Whitehill once again won the team spirit award, which is the award we always really want to win.

The camping was exceptional, the Whitehill team became family! It was cold, but we burnt a heap of stuff and kept warm, we were tired and sore so there were massages all round, and when we got hungry we ate like kings!!! (thanks Craig and Marion!).

I've got so many photos, I'll have to create a flicker account to put them all up, so keeps your eyes peeled, they'll be online soon.

Such a great weekend... Qld youth leaders, plan to get your churches involved next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lifeshapes - Pentagon

Ephesians 4:7,11-13. But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it... It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

I've noticed so much emphasis on Spiritual Gifts in the church recently. I see Youth Groups speaking on how teens should find their Spiritual Gift, so they can serve God whole-heartedly, and Churches running courses in how to define your gifts. But before we define out gifts, we need to see what Ministry Role God is calling us too.

In the above passage God doesn't give us our gifts, but gives us to a certain Ministry Role. There are 5 Roles within Christ's family.

• Apostle
  An apostle is one who is 'sent out'. They are visionaries and always pushing into new territories and ministries. In fact the Apostle 'touches' the other 4 roles in some way. Paul from the Bible is a good example of an apostle.
• Prophet
  Prophets hear from God. Sometimes it's just from standing back from a situation and get a clear picture of what is happening. Having this clear vision of what God intends allows for creative solutions, things that other people wouldn't see.
• Evangelist
  The bringer of good news, and the ability to speak it with clarity and understanding. Evangelists love spending time with un-believers.
• Pastor
  The pastor seeks needs, provides comfort and encourages others. They spend the majority of their time with Christians, helping them grow and encouraging them. They feel the burdens of other's problems and have a knack for speaking the truth in love.
• Teacher
  Teachers are able to explain things in a way others can understand. They understand they hold the truth, and are excited to share it. They enjoy reading and studying the bible and sharing it with others.

So find your Ministry Role, decide what your here on earth to do, then define the gifts God has given you to do it. Don't try and cover all 5 roles, you'll just burn yourself out.

Lifeshapes - Square

4th week, so obviously our program today is sponsored by the square.

"We all look like sheep from in front and shepards from the back"

I Love that quote! It's a true picture of what us Christians should look like. Jesus looking back sees us as sheep following him in total trust and confidence, yet other disciples and un-believers look from behind and see us as a shepard to follow and learn from.

If you're a Pastor or not, a Worship leader or a pew warmer, we're still all leaders in some regards.

There are 4 levels or stages of leadership and discipleship, we reacte to each as both a leader and a disciple, and through different stages of our lives move through the stages.

Level 1 - I do, You watch.

Mark 1:16 - Jesus says "Come follow me", the fishermen put down their nets and follow. Jesus leads, and people follow. We watch while Jesus teaches, we learn, without activly doing anything except listening.

Level 2 - I do, You help.

As Jesus teaches his disciples he starts getting them to activley help him in his ministry. The bring the children to him, Peter, James and John are witness to the transfiguration, and the disciples interact with the crowds Jesus speaks to.

Level 3 - You do, I help.

The roles reverse. Instead of the leader doing the work, the disciples are doing the majority of it, but with the help of the leader. Goals are set by the disciples, people recognise that they are responsible.

Level 4 - You do, I watch.

Jesus sent out his disciples on their own 'mission trip'. He gave them words of advice and then let them go on their way. They returned 72 days later and reported all that had happened to him. Jesus watches and the disciples go out to grow the kingdom of heaven.

Wild Bucks Night....

Well I'm a bit late posting this up, but I've had so much stuff to blog about recently. Saturday night was my soon to be brother-in-law Andy's bucks party. It's still 4 weeks to the wedding, but there are so many things on at the moment that this is the only night we could plan it for.

So 14 of us headed down to Kingston Park Raceway for a night of hardcore go kart action. I haven't been karting in 3 years so was really looking forward to it, and Andy's brother (Marty) is a fantastic driver and always good to be on the track with.

There were three guys who were leagues ahead of the rest of us, Marty and Ben were pulling consistent 56 sec laps, fast enough for them to qualify for the twin engine karts! My best lap time for the night was a 59.445, not bad considering I was the heaviest guy there.

The only thing I wanted to do that night was beat Dad, and I'm happy to say I passed him 3 times over the 3 races and beat his lap time by 0.6 of a sec!! There were also some spectacular accidents, most of them caused by my brother Brett, but hey he had fun :-)

Marty was taken out in the third race by some crazy WA driver, don't know how they get their licenses over there! Nah it wasn't Ben's fault, he came around the hairpin to find Marty spun right in front of him and there was nowhere to go (except straight into the side of Marty's kart).

North Qld

I spent the last week travelling to the Cairns branch, and then driving down to Townsville. We're currently rolling out brand new PCs to all branches in Qld, and I was sent up to Cairns and Townsville to set up their branches.

I've never been to Cairns before, so was looking forward to seeing somewhere new. My flight left at 9am Monday morning, and though I made the flight in plenty of time, my co-worker just missed it. So I traveled alone, and Josh caught the next flight an hour later. Once in Cairns my luggage wasn't on my plane, so I had loads of fun filling out forms about that, but luckily when Josh arrived on that next flight, so did my luggage. The baggage guys in Brisbane just put my bag on the wrong flight.

We then grabbed our hire car, a brand new BF Falcon XR6! Hopping in the car I saw the odometer reading - 15k's... so it certainly was brand new!

Work wise, the trip was a bit chaotic. We had 1 less computer than we needed in both branches, and some of the PCs had the wrong software on them. We spent way too much time reorganising, and the work went so slow. My sprained ankle made things pretty hard. I limped everywhere all week, and carrying stuff was a nightmare.

We did one branch and one towing company in Cairns, and two branches in Townsville. In the end we got it all done but Josh and I had to do a fair bit of improvising to get there.

Our motel in Cairns was nice, comfy rooms and a good restaurant. We didn't spend too much time there and on Tuesday night we decided to head to the casino for dinner. It was a huge buffet, and we were able to sit for about 90 minutes and just have a meal and chat. Josh had just become a full time Network Support Officer after 12 months on an Industrial Training contract through QUT.

The drive to Townsville was an eye opener. We drove through Innisvale. The environment there was devastating. Forests were bare, trees with only the smallest amount of green regrowth on them made for an eerie grey landscape. All the trees and palm trees were leaning in the one direction, actually most palm trees were snapped or had lost their branches.

It took a long time to drive, because there was so much damage to the road, and we had to stop at road works every couple of k's. Innisvale and the towns around it were a mess. Even weeks on most houses have tarps over their rooves and smashed windows. The Innisvale Hotel was a wreck, and the McDonald’s had also taken a beating.

Josh and I spent the whole time pointing and expressing our shock at the devastation, and how terrifying it must have been there when Cyclone Larry smashed through the area.

Our motel in Townsville was awesome. Josh and I got side by side rooms on the 18th floor, overlooking Castle Hill and Magnetic Island. Josh was unwell so he ordered room service Wednesday night, I ventured down to the restaurant where I had a great butter chicken curry and they served nice coffee afterwards. The Cowboys NRL Leagues club was opposite our motel so I ventured over there to catch the State Of Origin. However the place was packed, standing room only, so I decided I'd rest my ankle and just head back to my room and watch it there, obviously disappointed in the result.

In the end it was a successful week, though tiring and it felt very long. I was happy to get home and rest up.

Lifeshapes - Triangle

Life is full of relationships, it doesn't matter who you are, where you live, or what you believe, you are going to have and search for relationships with others. Jesus had meaningful relationships, He chose to walk in three specific relationships;

1. With God his father
2. With his chosen followers
3. With the 'hurting' world around him

So the triangle is a good way to remember the three dimensional tier of our relationship needs. Up = Our relationship with God - In = Our relationship with fellow believers - Out = The rest of the world Jesus has commissioned us to reach.

So we need to work on keeping our relationship with God growing. Jesus said he could do nothing by himself, but only through the power of the father.

God created us as social beings, as believers we are in relationships with each other, Hebrews 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Jesus also told us to go into all the world and make disciples. We need to get out where the 'lost' are, where people who don't know Jesus feel comfortable. To fulfil Jesus' commission we need to leave our comfort zones, we are the ones who have to move OUT.

No blogging, now off for a week...

So I haven't posted in a while. I was in Bundaberg, earlier this week and on coming home have just been through the normal rush of my weekend. Usually either on Saturday or Sunday I like to find the time to sit down and blog for an hour or so, type up my Lifeshapes overview and all that.

This week I missed my weekly small group due to my trip, so spent some time looking at the Triangle of lifeshapes, but I haven't had time to throw together a diagram and summary.

Why?

Because yesterday (Saturday) during our soccer game I had a coming together with one of the blokes on the other team. We both tried to kick the ball at the exact same time, and in doing so I've sprained my ankle quite badly, it's put me on the side line for a few weeks I think, and I'm praying it won't effect my State Youth Games effort in 2 weeks time.

So I'm limping everywhere at the moment, actually I'm lucky Dad owns a pair of crutches cause I've been able to use them to keep the weight off it. I haven't been to the doctors as yet, because I have another work trip to Cairns and Townsville this week, so I'm just going to push through that and then deal with it.

So yes, off to Cairns tomorrow, so I'll see you all in a week. (Prayer for healing would be apreciated thanks)

My Life in Pictures

Well I mentioned it back in March, and finally the phone I won through the Pepsi Rock Paper Scissors competition arrived this week.

I'd been away on a work trip to Bundaberg and came back to find my brand new Nokia 3250 on my desk. So now I have a good camera with me wherever I go. So I can now document my life in pictures of the most random things.




My workmate Pete driving the company car on the way to a job.









My work computer.

Our I.T Storeman Ashneil







My fully sic ride outside the Ipswich RACQ office this afternoon.

I'm unstoppable now with my new toy, so stay tuned for the next installment :-P

Lifeshapes - Semi-Circle

A pendulum swings melodically, rhythmically and almost hypnotically at times. Like a metronome, which keeps time for musicians, pendulums swing in constant beat, spending equal time on each side of their swing, consistently moving, keeping time forever. If you trace a pendulum swing which swings from horizontal to horizontal it will create a semi-circle.



John 15:1-4 "I am the vine , and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."

These days we're so busy. I mean we even brag about how busy we are, almost trying to out do others with stories of overtime, rushing around, picking things up, and complaining we have no spare time.

God created us to work, God worked hard in his creation, and then created us in His image. So we are built to be engaged in active work, and feel at a loss if we are unable to work for a period of time.

But looking at creation, what was mans first day spent doing? We were created on the 6th day. So our first full day as a created being was the 7th day, and that was the day God rested. So our first day on the planet, we rested with God.

But God also wants us to bear fruit and use our skills for meaningful work. But the key is that his first moments of time spent with his creation was in rest. So many times we plan our working weeks, and then use the little bits of time left over to catch a quick rest. That's not how God did it, he planned a rest time, and then worked from it.
The semi-circle shows us we need to work from rest, instead of resting from work. Like a pendulum we need to swing from a time of rest into our time for work, and then consistently swing back into a rest time, so we can again move into a time for working.

Jesus rested before his ministry, and seemed to pattern rest into his ministry as we went alone to pray with his Father. He also taught his disciples to 'get away' and rest so they could then move back into their work. (Mark 1:12-13, 35-39 & Mark 6:30-32)
When we rest we give God time to prune us, to allow us to abide in God, and from abiding we grow. From growing we bear fruit. From bearing fruit we are cut back. This is the pattern of the semi-circle.

The Wins Continue

Whitehill Div 4 wins 3-2!!!

Great game, though a bit dirty from the other team. 2-1 to Whitehill at half time with the opposition scoring very early in the second half.

Another great goal by out WA draftee Mr Zambra sealed the win for Whitehill. I was able to put a lovely through ball in for Ben so he could take on the goalie 1 on 1 and score our winning point.

We're becoming a real team, our communication is getting better and we're learning how everyone plays, I think we can only get better.

Whitehill Wins!

Well it's the third round of the season and my division 4 Whitehill soccer team won it's first game!

We played Raceview - another local Ipswich team - and I have to hand it to the guys, we held it together pretty well. Right from the start we pushed hard, and really worked on our offense, attacking their full backs and the goalie pretty intensivly. The first goal came from an own goal, which was lucky, but we created our own luck by pressuring their defence. Our second and third goals were scored off some great running by our forwards, and good kick placements from our mids. In the end we won 3-1.

A real confidence booster for all. Even though I spent the whole game nursing a swollen ankle which I'd twisted at Amped the night before and am still trying to recover from.

Lifeshapes - Circle

Eight shapes... eight different life lessons. Whitehill started running the lifeshapes program this week, using simple shapes to set examples on God's teaching. The first week is the 1 sided shape (a circle), week 2 is a semi circle (2 sides) and so on as the weeks progress.

The Circle

Kairos is one of several words which in Greek mean time. Another is Chronos, as in the passage of time (i.e chronology), kairos is a specific point in time, a moment which will be memorable for some reason or another.

We can use these kairos moments, and the shape of the circle as a lesson on choosing to learn from life.

In the diagram above the arrow is our life. The 'x' is a certain kairos moment, it may be something small (i.e spotting a beautiful sunset, a bible reading or a chat with a friend) or something more impacting (new job, death of a family member). The idea is that whenever you realise you're in the middle of one of these kairos moments there are things to do so that you learn from the experience, and make it a life changing moment for God to help you grow that little bit more.

Two things to do - Repent, and Believe. The word repent comes from a Greek word that means to change your mind or have a change of heart. Once we change, that will effect the outlook on the rest of our lives.

First thing to do in repentance is to observe our thoughts, reactions and emotions to the kairos event, then to reflect on why we reacted like the did, why we feel like we do and why this particular event brought on these emotions. Then we need to bring someone else in on the process, and discuss you reactions. Other's will have a completely different outlook on what you're going through.

Just because we experience a kairos moment doesn’t mean we learn from it. The only way to bring change into our lives is to take action through belief.

Again there are three parts, planning from your observations and reflections, finding someone to be accountable too (probably the same person you choose to discuss it with), and then you need to act on everything you've learnt and complete the change in your life.

Our lives are about connecting all the events that happen to us. In essence that's linking all the kairos moments in our lives. We have so many opportunities to learn and let God stretch and grow us.

So keep a lookout for kairos moments this week, and use this process to grow your relationship with God, and change your life.

What's going on!!

OK seriously, what a woeful start to the season. This weekend's game against Hawthorn just clinched it for me. COME ON BOYS! I thought the first round was great, we absolutely trounced Sydney, and Lloyd kicked the first 5 goals.

5 weeks later and looks what's going on. Lloyd's gone for the season, and we haven't won a game since that first week. Last weekend was horrific! 1 point!!! ahhh! I mean with all the controversy about the Freo v Saints game ending, I'm almost wishing the Essendon game went for an extra 30 seconds... we may have won!

Anyway, not loosing faith, just venting some frustration, let's go boys... make it like the 93 season... loose the first half, and finish with the premiership!

Weekend News

Well I had a GREAT long weekend!

Saturday I played soccer. It's the second game of the 06 season, and man, 90 minutes of football is a hard slog! We're playing division 4 of the church leauge this year, and having only ever play div 6 and 7 (bottom 2 divs) these first two games have been an eye opener!

Plus we played 1 man down for most of the first half - and were not able to make use of the new unlimited interchange rule at all, cause we've never had a reserve! 90 minutes of footy, and i'm buggered hey, time to work on that fitness!!

We lost 6-2 which sucks cause it was 2-2 at half time. We have the most lucious fields this year, Ipswich Boys Grammar school are letting us use their fields for free - they are awesome... I did the most excellent slide tackle and saved a goal in the dying minutes of the game.... it felt so good to get something exactly right, plus it's so easy to slide tackle on these fantastic fields!

I went for dinner at Ben and Julie's with Scotty, and had a great time. Watching young Elijah roll all over the cat, and having a push up competition (which I lost!).

Sunday was church, and lots of drumming. I played the morning and evening service, at night a strange thing happened. During the bridge of a song I was mainly working the Toms and snare for about 32 bars (for the musos out there), and when I finished my 10" tom fell clear off my kit! I must have loosened the grip screw holding it on, so it slipped off. Never had that happen before!!

I spent the afternoon pushing a lawn airator around our lawn, in the glorious pouring rain!

Monday was a good quiet day, set up another blog for Vanessa's wedding register - so people can check out the register email what they want to take off the list and have it removed. It saves her having a Myer one which forces people to buy only from one store... and more freedom for the 'little' things, like garden hoses and stuff.

The hours

7.23pm!

It's 7.23pm and I'm sitting at my desk at work, in an office building completely empty except for myself. I have 15 computers stacked beside me, and I've finished building 13 of them, so only 2 more to go. I am taking a drive to Toowoomba tomorrow to give the branch there brand new computers.

I find it slightly ironic that I'm going to Toowoomba tomorrow, after only having just come from there after AGMF - and am wondering if it is some cruel joke on the part of the guy planning the new pc rollouts.

I put so much time, so many hours, into working at this job, and what do I get out of it? Well the answer to that is money, but I feel that only getting money from the long hours I spend here isn't rewarding enough.

Why do we work so hard for money? I know we should see our workplace as our mission field and that should give us the motivation to continue in our workplaces, but there are times when I feel I could be doing so much more with my hours!!

Ok so now I've racked up 3 hours of overtime - it's now 7:30 - but do I want to be here? No! If I had planned my day better, I probably would not be here, but I had so much on my plate these computers kept getting put off, and now I have to get them done before tomorrows trip.

I guess also today - to make me more mindful of my attitude towards my job - we had a small mishap in our area. One of the guys (who could probably think a touch more before he acts,) had a freak issue with a network switch. Suddenly the switch on his desk created a 'loop back' and was broadcast over the entire network - effectively taking the whole of the company's computers offline! No small feat!

Unfortunately he did it a second time when trying to figure what the problem was. Now we have management looking closely at our work practices, and it looks like some of the privileges we've had to make our job easier will be taken away.

All this has made me think, is it time to give it all up and try something else? Bible College has been knocking on my mind for a while, but I just don't know whether God really wants me there.

Your prayers would be appreciated.

Well I've just finished the last PC (thank goodness for dual screens so I can blog and work at the same time) and Prison Break is on tonight so I'd better get home....

AGMF Pictures

Benz, Scotty and I leaning up against the Mighty XR6!

The Main Tent, including the SU Cafe and Merch area, what a huge tent!

Our tent in the backyard.

Mike Frost and the Icemen (Chris Poulsen on keys)

Scat at the Fancy Pants Ball - White house paint suits (sorry about the quality, was a mobile phone camera shot)

USQ Main Stage (Thanks to Bec for this pic)

AGMF 06

What a weekend.

Great music, good food, and awesome mates. I headed up to Toowoomba for the Australian Gospel Music Festival with Scotty and Ben on Friday, we set Benz tent up in the backyard of our senior pastors brother's house.

I've never been to AGMF for the whole festival before, there was so much good music! Actually there was so much that I missed some acts I would have loved to have seen.

The Chris Poulsen Trio was the one band I really wanted to catch, having never seeing them live before, and knowing Chris and loving his playing in Scat and Mike Frost and the Icemen. Unfortunately I forgot the time they were on, and we ended up going to a break dance workshop instead. However Scat were unbelievable! Chris absolutely burnt up the Fender Rhodes, the man is the best piano player I have ever seen, or heard! Scat always put on a good show, but they had an energy this weekend that was above and beyond anything I've seen before. The Fancy Pants ball finished off AGMF on Sunday night, and Chris had this idea that Scat should buy second hand suits and paint them completely white (using house paint). They looked amazing, but as Craig (lead singer) said many times during the ball it would have been mighty hot inside a stiff thick painted suit, shirt and tie!

Chris Poulsen has become a AGMF and Christian music scene star, as soon as he hopped on stage with any band he pulled huge crowds. It's great to see a good friend of mine enjoying his music so much, and sharing it with so many people, I'm sure he has a very prosperous future ahead of him.

Newsboys were the headline act, and they didn't disappoint. Ben, his niece and I ended up in the back of the mosh pit, enjoying the atmosphere and music from one of Australia's best Gospel rock groups. Having Paul Coleman as lead guitar was weird. It's almost a shame that a man with so much talent ends up playing guitar and doing backup vocals. But he is happy, and he still put on a great performance with the rest of the band.

Rebecca St James was good - well the part I saw anyway, we only caught the end. I was even able to get her autograph afterwards.

Other highlight bands were Half Way Out (Chris' brother Dave is the new saxophone player for them), The View (Sydney band I hadn't heard before, but were really impressed by), Rhubarb (haven't seen them in ages but woohoo!!), United Band, MIC, Soulframe and 24 Feet.

In other areas sharing the weekend with Scott and Ben was great. We went to Hog's Breath Cafe for dinner one night, and the Coffee Club another. We drove around in the XR6 and shot people with supa soakers, ran through the Bush Dance at full pace and sang unashamedly in line for Rebecca St James' signature.

I'll post some pictures in a second

12 months of Blogging

Well when I started my blog I created a few back dated topics just to get a heap of stuff on my site, but as of this week my Blogs been online for 12 months.

And it's come a long way.... looking back at some of the stuff from last year I can't believe it all happened 12 months ago!

Amped/Whitehill update

Hey well it's been a while since I've put something up here. My life has been pretty busy, but nothing too serious.

Amped is going great so far this year, we have two major nights running in conjunction with other outings and service events we do. One night is called Nexus - which is a night of awesome praise and worship music, teaching from the Word of God and time in our small groups which we call D-Teams. The other major night is Delta which is where we spend the whole night in our D-Team having a group discussion on some aspect of becoming Christ Like.

Amped's vision statement is to be a Christ Centred, Servant Hearted, Outward Focused Youth Community. We've been acheiving this by focusing on what the Bible tells us Christ was like, working in the community to serve as Christ served and looking to school friends and others to bring into our youth community. Recently we spent the night at a local Aboriginal Church painting their youth hall and sanding back furniture so they can decorate them themselves. It was a great night of service and the youth really enjoyed getting out and doing something productive.

Last week at our Evening Service, we ran what is known as an Open Space Technology conference. Anyone can post a question/topic for discussion on the topic of "The Church". It probably wasn't received as well as we hoped, but I found that the people who put the effort into the night all walked away having learnt something new. I myself enjoyed the night a lot, I posted a topic Why Do We Do What We Do? and had some awesome discussion about what the Church is all about, and why we do some of the different aspects of services. It made me and others think about the meaning behind our Sunday 'worship' services and what role they should take in our lives. I also visited a topic on Is there division between youth and older people in our church?, and What is the Church?

This weekend is Easter, and unlike other years I've decided not to go to the Keswick Convention on Tamborine Mt, but instead to head up to Toowoomba for the Australian Gospel Music Festival.

A New Year Begins

Well the year hasn't really begun, until the new season of the V8 Supercars starts. So even though I know this blog seems to be turning into a rev-head blog, the Adelaide 500 is a weekend I've been waiting for for some time.

And even better, good old Craig Lowndes won the first race, and he sure looks good to win today's race as well. But the whole field looks so good. New colours, new sponsors and new drivers has really made the whole V8 series look and feel so fresh for 2006.

So bring it on, can't wait for the Qld events so I can see em in person. And GO FORD!!!!!!

Soccer Continues

Well we had another game today, played another division 2 team, and only went down 1:0. So another good result, our team is developing, working on our fitness and getting ready for the begining of the real season just after Easter.

For those of you who know Ben Zambra, our WA friend came so close to scoring in the first half, he cleared the goalie and smacked the dead centre of the goal post, very unlucky.

For the upcoming season, I've been placed into the 5th Division team, so am looking forward to the challenge of playing up a division this year, and I get to play on the same team as my brother, and Ben.

What a Morning

Well here's something you don't expect while sitting stuck in traffic on Ipswich Road. This morning just before I left home I SMSed in my code for the new Pepsi "Rock, Paper, Scissors" competition, I sort of did it as an afterthought just before I walked out the door.

Well anyway; I received an SMS while I was stuck in traffic telling me I'd won the half hour competition, so I now have the choice of $500, 2 iPod Nanos or a Nokia 3250 phone as my prize! I already have an iPod, and my current mobile phone is dieing a painful and frustrating death so I'm pretty happy to get a brand new mobile, especially one as good and with so much stuff as the 3250!

Nokia 3250 Information

I love my Mountain Dew, and my addiction has finally paid off, I hardly ever enter these competitions, but with my phone dieing I thought I may as well have a go cause I need the new phone. Now I'm sure glad I did :-)

Bending It...

Ok so maybe linking this post to David Beckham is pushing it a bit, but I had my first game of soccer for the year last Saturday.

Lucky for us it's just the pre-season, meaning the games is only 20 minute halves (making the entire game shorter than one half of a real game), but it's a good way to build yourself up to the start of the season.

Anyway; after only one training session we were all still pretty rusty, and we were playing a Division 1 team. Amazingly we were able to keep the game 0-0, which means we didn't score, but it also means we didn't let them either - GO WHITEHILL!

After the rain we've had the field was pretty soggy, and some full back decided to perform a perfectly executed slide tackle on me so I ended up with mud all over me.

However I really enjoyed the game, felt pretty good at the end of it, and am looking forward to the coming season.

Oh and one more thing I learnt creating this post, if you type in Beckham and do an image search on Google, there are not many pictures of him actually playing soccer!

Nostalgia Drag Meet – 26/02/2006

I love old muscle cars! And I have absolutely had my fill today. Willowbank Raceway was packed with pre-1972 cars from both Australia and the USA. There was over 100 in the ‘Show and Shine’ competition and 75 race competitors, and it was the best day of racing I’ve seen since starting the Chaplaincy work with Dad.

The Willowbank team were running on a skeleton crew today so Dad and I ended up helping on the track (and in the process build relationships with the blokes we were working for). Dad was the ‘water boy’, basically using the hose to leave the start of the track wet so the cars can do their burn out before their run. I kept an eye on the cars doing their burnouts and made sure nothing came off the cars or spilt on the track while they were doing it. So that meant Dad and I were on the start-line all day, and it was fantastic.

I’ve never inhaled so much smoke and been covered in so much rubber; even after showering I’m still picking pieces of rubber off my arms. BUT IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!

Some of the highlights of the day were the twin turbo 351 V8 Mustang, a superchargers 1932 Ford 3 Window Coupe and a 1968 Pontiac Firebird. Unfortunately that Firebird’s day ended in the wall, it was a pretty sickening crash and it destroyed one of the most beautiful cars at the event. The driver was fine and walked away, but it was a horrific crash.

Also on the start line I noticed a 1947 Anglia backfire and the exhaust on the top of the carbie light up. I was able to stop the car before it took off, and the fireman simply blew out the flame and once the car restarted he was still able to do his run.

So I had a great day, and we were also able to build our friendships with the rest of the guys working on the start-line.

**There’s no substitute for cubic inches!**

US Muscle 4x4

Um yeah... is this a waste of a beautiful 1968 Pontiac Firebird? Or a clever and unique idea for a hot rod?

Read more about it at this site here. It seems like a serious muscle car, and a serious 4WD. I think it's slightly weird, but cool at the same time. Tell me what you think?

Anti-road rage

I was driving to work today, and as usual the traffic on Ipswich Road was pretty awful. It took about 20 minutes to travel from Dinmore to Gails where I get off onto the toll road for a relaxing commute down an almost car free road.

I'd sort of been following this guy in a Toyota Camry while stuck on Ipswich Road, and passed him just before I took the toll road exit, which he also took. In the light traffic I was able to reach 100km/h and use my cruise control for a nice easy drive the rest of the way to work. Obviously the guy in the Camry had his cruise control set slightly higher and was catching me consistently over a distance. Another car was speeding and overtook him and me. As this other car was passing me we caught up to truck doing about 80k/h I had to disengage the cruise control and coast until the car passed me, the Camry was also out to over take me and the truck, with a semi trailer coming up behind him.

The guy in the Camry actually slowed down and let me merge in front of him so I didn’t get caught behind the truck doing 75km/h and waiting for the other semi to go past as well. I was able to overtake at 100k’s then move back into the left lane and let the Camry pass me. As he passed he gave a little wave (which I returned) and off he went.

A nice experience of sharing the road, especially when we see so many occurrences of Road Rage these days.

LIVE Camp 06

Well I've just come home from Whitehill's first LIVE Young Adults Camp. What a fantastic weekend. I think there were about 39 of us, and we spent the whole weekend at Luther Heights Campsite at Coolum Beach. It was a beautiful location, overlooking the beach, close enough to walk down, and a short drive from patrolled beaches.

The trip up was a touch stressful, with traffic a nightmare in Brisbane, and then a friend was unlucky enough to be behind a truck when its tyre blew and ran over the steel rim. So we spent quite a while on the side of the highway, making sure the car was drivable and getting all the details off this truckie.

Once we finally got to Luther Heights we realised one other thing... it was extremely hot... and unbearably humid. I haven't felt humidity like that since I was in The Gambia! The whole weekend was an effort to stay out of the heat.

The speaker for the weekend was Scott Vawser from WA. I met Scott on the Youth Vision Melbourne Ministry Tour last year, and he's a fantastic bloke. Scott is also the reason I got more serious about blogging and I regulary check out his blog here.

Scott spoke on the Kingdom of God. He used the "Truman Show" as an example of what Christians can create which he dubbed the 'King-Dome of God'. For those who have seen The Truman Show will know the movie follows the story of a man who has lived his entire life inside a huge dome, being filmed and unknown to himself, become this star of a hit TV show. In so many ways Christians have created their own dome. We have our own world where everything 'bad' and 'ugly' is kept outside our dome, and we never venture outside ourselves.

Scott has some amazing ideas on the Church - not in the sense of the little white building on a hill, but as the body of Christ - and he was able to share and really challenge all of us to live Biblical lives, not just religious lives.

One thing that really hit me was the importance of the truth behind John 13:34 and 35. " A new commandment I give you, love one another, as I have loved you. In this way all men will know that you are my disciples."

We looked at what Jesus' love is all about, things like endless, sacrificial, empowering, life giving, unconditional and non deserving. And in that passage Jesus tells us to love one another just as Jesus loves us. So as Christians we need to love one another just like all the things we listed about Jesus' love. Jesus didn't command us to go out and preach to people, he didn't tell us to run huge outreach events, he told us to love one another. So through un-Believers seeing the way we love one another, this is the greatest witness of all.

It was a new and fresh way to look at the Christian life, and Scotts stories of how he is living in his neighbourhood and creating friendships/relationships and networks of believers and non-believers were an up lifting idea for how we should spend our time instead of sitting inside a religious dome.

I came away challenged, but also refreshed. The camp gave me an opportunity to have some quality alone time with God, and really take stock of where my life is at the moment. The biggest thing for me to realise was that I don't really know where I am at the moment, and I have to spend a lot more time searching God before I can figure that out.

I guess I can use this blog to continue to search myself and express what I'm feeling at times. And hopefully your feedback can help me to continue to search God, and stretch my own faith.

Our praise times on camp also allowed us to truely worship God, and Elise was able to be tender to God's will and lead us in woshiping him honestly and humbly.

So overall it was a special weekend. Full of good fellowship, teaching, challenges and praise and worship.

Myth Busters should see this

Remember the Myth Busters episode where they tested the CD's shattering in the CDROMS? Well we experienced that at work today. One of the new university industrial trainees brought a PC back from a user and was trying to figure out what was wrong with it. When she manually opened the CD ROM she found about a million pieces of CD ROM.

I've heard of it happening, but this is the first time i've seen it. Supposedly the RMP of the drive gets too much for the disk and it just cracks, which at that speed causes it to shatter. Needless to say the CD ROM drive is totalled!

But as the Myth Buster's proved correct, nothing came out of the drive, and nothing else was damaged. Well done boys!

Kick it into Gear

Here's my new baby. I've been riding pretty regularly for the last 3 months. I had a mate help me get my old bike in order, and now that I've gotten myself into a routine I thought I might upgrade my ride.

It's amazing how good equipment can make things easier. This bike makes riding so much easier, and I've been able to extend the length of my rides, not because I'm fitter, just because the bike doesn't resist as much as my old one use to.

So yeah, I thought by maybe posting it up here I could get some accountability into keeping up with the exercise. I'm enjoying the riding, and getting out with Dad and Brett some afternoons as well. And with the soccer season starting again soon, I'd really like to raise my level of fitness before then.

Oh yeah, note the personal sponsor on the water bottle....

Finding Animals

A couple of weeks ago, my mother brought home a stray pup. She'd been at a school function and the security people had said this little jack-russel terrier had been hanging around all day. Mum said he looked pretty stressed and put out so she told him to hop in her car and brought him home.

It wasn't a big deal, he was an obedient little thing, and though our dog (Wilson - a cattle dog) was a little put out by having a visitor in his domain, Jack spent the night on the back porch. The next day we had a friend at the council look up 'Jack's' registration number and contact his owner, who was delighted to find her lost puppy.

Funny enough the name we'd come to call him 'Jack', was his real name (original hey!?). So a happy ending for all involved.

TONIGHT...... Dad and I are sitting watching Layton play in the Aussie Open and I hear a 'meow' at the door. Sure enough the tiniest little kitten is sitting at the door. Now a jack-russel was easy enough, just stick him out the back with Wilson, but if I took this little thing out there Wilson would just think I was serving him a late supper!

We are not cat people! Dad's hated cats since he was a kid, and that's sort of rubbed off on all of us. I've never really had time for cats at all, if it hadn't been such a tiny kitten I would have roused on the thing and kicked it off my front porch (not literally kicked, before any of you call the RSPCA).

Anyhow, I brought the little thing in, gave it some milk, and mum cracked open a tin of sardines, he/she/it is now trapped under a washing basket in the lounge room, we decided putting it in a cardboard box and taping it shut was a little cruel, so we used the washing basket and put a couple of pavers on top to stop any escape tricks. What we're going to do with it tomorrow is a mystery as it has no registration collar. We definitely are not cat people, and tonight with meows, scratches, and general 'cat behaviour' has reminded me why, no matter how cute the little thing is!

Online Forums

I've been involved with online forums for years. First off with the 96.5 Forum (Brisbane Christian Radio Station), and I was able to meet many of the members in 'real life' and felt part of an amazing little community.

After some issues the forum was shut down, and most of us moved onto the Gold Coasts Christian Radio Forum, or the 107.3 Life Forum. Again I've been able to meet people in the real world, and make some awesome friends.

But over the last few months I've noticed how much bickering, complaining, backstabbing, putting down, slander and jealousy there is on these forums. I wonder if because it is a 'faceless' means of communication we think we can be more upfront and direct in the way we speak to each other.

Unfortunatly I found myself responding to some of these attitudes in kind, and suddenly noticed that I didn't like the way I spent my time on the forum, and the way it made me feel.

So I stopped posting. I still read the forum, and many time's I'd like to fire away a reply, but I've been able to restrain myself. I haven't posted in over 3 weeks, and I'm feeling a lot better about myself, my attitude and my Godly witness.

I'd like to contribute again, but I don't think it will be in the act of replying to posts, but mainly posting encouraging and thoughtful topics and ideas for other people to think about.

As a bit of a disclaimer, I don't think the attitudes on the forum are the fault of 107.3, it's a fantastically set up forum, and having met one of the moderators, she was able to give me an insight into how they make sure the forum stays in line. I have a lot of respect for the moderators and they do a great job. And the ministry at 107.3 in broadcasting to the Gold Coast is awesome and something I'm totally behind.

Check them out. www.1073.com.au

Holidays

I had last week off. I decided that I'd love to have a holiday over my birthday (last Tuesday), and thought I'd head down to Cresent Head in NSW with Mum and Dad for the week.

We stayed in a caravan right on the beach, and had a great time. I really didn't get up to much, was able to sit in the caravan most of the time, or walked on the beach. I had time to get stuck into a new model, a 1970 Dodge Challenger.

Also my mother's aunty owns a beach house up on the hill and her and her daughter's family we there at the same time. So I was able to catch up with Kylie's 3 kids, Lauchlan, Georgia and Jacksan. They're awesome kids, and we had loads of fun playing on the beach, making sand castles, carrying buckets of water and playing catch in the creek.

I'm sure my mother got some photos, so I'll post some up later on.

My birthday was nice, we went into Port Maquarrie and had an excellent seafood lunch by the river.

Left Behind

I've just finished reading the whole Left Behind series again. I must say I enjoyed the first few a lot, and slowly found them less and less challenging and following the 'Biblical line' and more of a fictional tall story.

That is until the last book, The Glorious Appearing. I really enjoyed their depiction of Jesus' return, and the final judgments. I'm not totally sure on their theology but the descriptive writing is fantastic,

Just wondering who else has read the books, and your thoughts on them.

Keep her in your thoughts

Hey just thought I'd ask you all to keep a good friend of mine in your prayers. Her name in Wendy and for the last 6 months she's been working as a music teacher in an International school in India.

I was lucky enough to be able to catch up with her last night at a new years party, she's home for a couple of weeks visiting family. It sounds like an awesome time, but there must be many challenges to face.

After experiencing missional life myself I love encouraging other's who are doing it as well. So keep Wendy in your prayers as she continues to teach.

Thanks

About time...

Well it's taken almost 12 months but my 1969 Pontiac Firebird is complete! Unfortunatly it is just a 1:24 scale model, but it took a fair bit of effort and I'm pretty impressed with the final product.

Merry Christmas

Well I had a nice and quiet Christmas. We had Vanessa's boyfriend's family join us for Christmas lunch, and we shared in a good quality Aussie Chrissy.

I had to play drums at Whitehill so I was up early for that, and we had a small time as a family after church to exchange gifts and then we got into our lunch with the 'extended' family. Loads of seafood and salad allowed us to become satisfyingly stuffed.

Being Ipswich it was a scorcher of a day so we spent plenty of time in the pool.

Overal a great day, nothing over the top but it was special anyway.

Remember

T'was the night before Christmas
and all through the town
Not a sign of Baby Jesus
was anywhere to be found.

The people were all busy
with Christmas time chores
Like decorating, and baking
and shopping in stores.

No one sang "Away in a manger
no crib for a bed"...
Instead, they sang of Santa
dressed-up in bright red.

Mama watched Martha Stewart,
Papa drank beer from a tap.
As hour upon hour
the presents they'd wrap

When what from the T.V.
did they suddenly hear
'Cept an ad... which told
of a big sale at Sears?

So away to the mall
they all flew like a flash...
Buying things on credit...
and others with cash!

And, as they made their way home
From their trip to the mall,
Did they think about Jesus?
Oh, no... not at all.

Their lives were so busy
with their Christmas time things
No time to remember
Christ Jesus, the King!

There were presents to wrap
and cookies to bake.
How could they stop and remember
who died for their sake?

To pray to the Savior...
they had no time to stop.
Because they needed more time
to "Shop til they dropped!"

On Wal-mart! On K-mart!
On Target! On Penney's!
On Hallmark! On Zales!
A quick lunch at Denny's.

From the big stores downtown
to the stores at the mall
They would dash away, dash away
and visit them all!

And up on the roof
there arose such a clatter
As grandpa hung icicle lights up
on his brand new step ladder.

He hung lights that would flash.
He hung lights that would twirl.
Yet, he never once prayed to Jesus...
Light of the World.

Christ's eyes... how they twinkle!
Christ's Spirit... how merry!
Christ's love... how enormous!
All our burdens... He'll carry!

So instead of being busy,
overworked, and uptight
Let's put Christ back in Christmas
and enjoy some good nights!

The Silly Season

Wow how busy does it get in the weeks leading up to Christmas!

Work is hectic, church is frantic, and I haven't had a chance all week to throw something up on here.

Biggest thing last weekend, GO FORD and GO INGALL! How good was last weeks grand final showdown at Phillip Island? I've been a Russel Ingall fan since he moved to Ford (he's always been a nice guy but I couldn't like him when he drove a Holden :-P) But to have been in the V8 series for 10 years and to have come second 4 times, he's earnt a championship win, and it was great to see him get it.

We've also started our Christmas specials at church, and here's a plug - 18th Dec, 5:30 PM is Whitehill's CHRISTMAS IN THE CARPARK, it's going to be huge, with lots of music, lots of fun and farm animals!!! Yes you heard right, farm animals! I know you're as excited as me about that!

So things are so busy getting organised for that, and with RACQ being a 'tourism' organisation work increases as school holidays arrive, and it always seems computers break during this time. So work's been full on as I keep the RACQ truck on the road with their mobile computer systems and the branches online as well. It means lots of travelling and time away from my desk. So when I get home I just crash. Which means my blog gets neglected.

So Merry Christmas to all, hope you all have a great time as we remember and celebrate the Birth of Jesus, and the reason he came.