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....
Remember 'Remember the Titans'?
Culture change is tough - but it is worth it!!! I was reminded of this as I watched the movie Remember the Titans. A coach dropped into a chaotic situation must bring culture change for the team to survive... but he doesn't just want it to survive he wants it to succeed, and to dominate. In a way we want our ministries to do likewise so what ideas for culture change can we take from Coach Boon?
Thinking about sacrifice
If Jesus is King, what does that mean for what we want to do with out lives? [Image by Chris Bellerophon Dotson on flickr]
Back to the Mission
Reminded again and again about what we are created for. We are created for worship! But because there are some people who do not worship, we have been given a mission... to go and show people they were created to worship! - photo on Flickr by llamatofu
Appeasement verses Satisfaction
Do we look to appease our emotions, troubles, discomforts with earthy things that may provide some release temporarily, or do we look to God who is the source of complete satisfaction? [Image by donald_palansky_photography on flickr]
Wednesday, 19 April 2006
Tuesday, 18 April 2006
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
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
Wednesday, 12 April 2006
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!
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.
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.
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