Challenge to the Church

Reading a book by Dr Patrock Sookhdeo - International Director of Barnabas Fund and director of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity - called ISLAM; The Challenge to the Church.

The book gives and excellent outline of core Islamic beliefs, and customs (both religeous and social) and I am about half way through now.

But just finishing off the section on 'Compairing Islam and Christianity' I just felt I wanted to write out a bit of what he has to say.

"The real difference between Christianity and Islam lies in the core issues of their sacred writings and the persons of their founders. Christians have frequently in their long history departed from Christ’s teachings and perpetrated cruelties against Jews, Muslims and heretics. However, when returning to their source scriptures they come face to face with the person of Christ and the Gospel of love and forgiveness he preached, as well as his atoning death and supreme example of humility, service, suffering and non-violence.

When Muslims return to their original sources, they have a very different encounter. The later dated verses of the Qur’an, reveled to Muhammad in Medina, contain much that is intolerant and belligerent. According to the most commonly followed doctrine of abrogation, later verses supersede earlier (more peaceful) verses… Muslims also meet Muhammad whose words and actions, recorded in the hadith, give many clear examples of aggression, warmongering… and genocide." (Page 48-49)

"From the... comparison [given on ideals of grace, salvation, core beliefs] it is clear that it is impossible for a Christian to regard Muhammad as a legitimate prophet in line with biblical revelation or to believe that his message was authentic revelation…

Islam should therefore not be viewed as a brother monotheistic faith like Judaism with which Christians have a special relationship. The idea of three sibling “Abrahamic” faiths is an Islamic concept, not a Christian one. Rather Islam should be viewed in the same bracket as Christian heresies, Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons. To accept the Muslims’ concept of three “Abrahamic” faiths is effectively to agree with the Islamic teaching of replacement – Judaism was replaced by Christianity which was in turn replaced by Islam. The ultimate logic of this would be for all Christians to convert to Islam.

Christians must not let themselves forget the basic truth that it is faith in Jesus Christ which God is looking for, not faith in general. In a secular, materialistic culture, it is tempting to think that Muslims and Christians can be allies against the overwhelming godless hedonism which surrounds them both. But Christians must always bear in mind that Islam denies the heart of Christian faith, and that its very creed… was formulated to deny the deity of Christ and the finality of His revelation. When the muezzin calls “There is no god but God” he is saying that Jesus is not God, and when he adds that “Muhammad is his messenger” he is saying that Jesus has been superseded by Muhammad.” (Page 53-54)

A Thought

If you can't even give 10% of your income to the Church, how are you going to be able to give up your whole life to God's will?

What I like about the Church

I know I have a body of friends who I can rely on.

I have a heap of people I can ask for prayer and know they will support and uphold me straight away.

Had some dramas at work yesterday that were starting to get on top of me. Thanks to all those who I emailed and prayed about it straight up. Things turned out fine.

God Bless

Wanna give yall another shot

I usually have the creative tallent of a gnat caught in a bug catcher... but I finally came up with a funny caption for this picture.

I posted it and realised that it's about to dissapear into the nether of my blog archives!

And I want everyone to see my creativeness (Ok I'm selfish I know!). Well here's the picture below, and my caption below it. I'm sure there's people out there more creative than I, so make me laugh!!!!

"Um Dave, when I yelled 'STRIKE' that's not what I meant!"

Life Perspective

Some people just have a negative outlook on life in general.

Making my coffee this morning I said to a woman from another department;

"How good is it, we have a 4 day week this week."

To which she replied - "It would be better if it was a 3 day week."

Some people are never happy with what they get...

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

(NIV)

What's in a Name?

I gotta be honest with you. I find some of the things we’re calling our churches these days to be pretty lame and pathetic.

I can remember when I was a kid growing up in NSW, all the churches in our quiet little coastal region were named after their location. We were at Tanilba Bay Baptist, but I remember visiting the Salt Ash Church of Christ and even doing stuff with Nelson’s Bay Baptist. Obviously these churches were names after the little towns they were located in.

In Ipswich we first went to Churchill Baptist, then East Ipswich Church of Christ – again both location inspired names.

Now I look around Brisbane and the rest of Oz and see ‘Metro Church’, ‘Eternity Church’, ‘Planetshakers City Church’…. and recently on the radio I’ve heard David Evans and John James advertising their new church called ‘His Church’.

I don’t know, but this just feels weird to me. Why do we have to have some fancy name? Does it make us sound more like a nightclub, cause that will make people feel more comfortable? Does it just make us sound less religious and 'christian-y', which again will draw people? Do we really want to do that? What are our main focuses if we do that? Are we compromising if we do that?

Or are we feeding a young Christian community that is already too deep in consumerism, and caught up in the social effects of today’s Australian lifestyle? By ‘marketing’ our churches are we creating a softer, more likable, hip and cool place to go but compromising on the Biblical bases the church was built on??????

Does this ‘naming convention’ (to steal an IT term) encourage un-believers to try out church, or just it just providing a new flashy place for Christians to try out and move from existing churches?

I know there’s a lot of questions in there, and no answers. But I’ve been thinking about when you look at the history of the church, that the names of these churches really sound shallow [in no way am I labeling these churches as shallow, since I’ve only ever been to Planetshakers church in Melbourne once and none of the others, I have no real idea what’s going on in them, this is purely about marketing and names].

I'm also not really thinking about some of the 'emerging churches' in our communities. I think things like 'Forge' and ‘Upstream Ministries’ are doing something completely different to what these ‘traditional’ churches are doing and they don’t usually have an official name they project into the community.

All this though has made me take a pretty close look at my church…. Whitehill Church of Christ… and the more I look at it, the more I like it. Here’s why;:

• It is locational. Whitehill COC is located on Whitehill Rd.
• If you ask most people at Whitehill (especially our pastors) what type of church we are, they’d say a community based church fellowship.
• The Whitehill name incorporates that community feel because if you know Ipswich, you know that Whitehill Rd is one of the longer streets, it’s not a major road, but it is long and well known.
• Whitehill Rd cuts through multiple suburbs of Ipswich (none of them named Whitehill), so I like it because it’s broader than calling our church Flinders View Church of Christ (which is the suburb we’re located in). I like this better because I can remember people asking me why I went to East Ipswich Church of Christ (previous to our relocation to Whitehill Rd) when I lived at Brassall, because Leichhardt Church of Christ was closer.

When you look at Whitehill Rd as a symbol it paints a really nice picture. As I said Whitehill Rd isn’t a major road, in most cases it has to give way to many of the bigger roads it meets, but that's the symbol!!

Whitehill Rd runs perpendicular to Ipswich’s bigger roads - in a way connecting them all. It’s a smaller road (got it’s first set of traffic lights in 2005) but it is the link to many of the bigger roads that run through that part of Ipswich. I think that’s kind of what our church is – or what we’d like our church to be. Not the biggest and flashiest, but humble and effective in linking the community around us to Jesus.

Honestly I don’t think I’ve taken much time to look at why we call ourselves Whitehill Church of Christ – and maybe the people who decided on that name never thought of the points I listed – but after looking at this I think I can take a real pride in that name.

There’s a lot of meaning in a name I guess, maybe Metro Church has some good reasons for it’s title – if so I’d love to hear them – but I think the key is not to conform to the worlds new classy, market orientated ways and come up with some sort of gimmick name to be appealing, but stay humble, even if it is just Flinders View Church of Christ, and focus on serving the community of un-believers around you. Because I can guarantee you, they don’t care what you’re called, just what you do.

5000 in 1 year

I pretty well started this blog counter thing a year ago (maybe just over, end of April I think), and I've just clicked over 5000 hits.

Thanks to all of you for reading, and especially those who comment and add to this blog themselves. What keeps me writing, is actually knowing people are getting something out of it :-)

Month in Review - April

http://jarrolspot.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html

April brought many highs and lows – most of those on the AFL field. The Bombers have had some great games, great success, but also had some really poor performances (The ANZAC Day Collingwood game was terrible, great fire at the start but come the second quarter they just decided they didn’t want to play football anymore).

ANZAC Day is always special to me. I grew up with a Dad working in the RAAF, so ANZAC Day always included watching him march or going to a dawn service. After the East Timor crisis I learnt first hand what it was like to have a father called away to active duty. Even though he never left Australia, he was called away from home urgently and was away for over a month.

The ANZACs are the true Aussie heroes in my books. What they did for us defies belief, and they truly deserve our respect and a whole day set aside to remember them.

Easter is always a special time as well. Tamborine Convention this year was brilliant. Definitely the best camp I’ve been on all year. I’m still getting stuff out of what was spoken on, and finding new applications for it in my life.

Blog wise I’ve been slightly sport orientated with AFL and Motorsport taking up a fair bit of time. Also I found some great short videos from when I was in The Gambia – if you haven’t seen those check them out!

We also said farewell to Audio Adrenaline – sad times – and remember some of the great music they’ve brought to the Christian music scene!

Check out this link to read all the April posts.
http://jarrolspot.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html

How do you relate to this????

"What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

James 4:1-3

Adios Audio A

This weekend also marked the end of an era. Audio Adrenaline who have been around for as long as I can remember played their last concert!

Audio A were like the younger, cooler, sillier DC Talk - and they are part of what's made the Christian music industry what it is today.

I've had the privilege of seeing AA live twice, at two different Sonfest festivals. The second time they were the only band that could draw me back into the crazy moshpit! (But hey I'm getting old).

Actually talking about age - we had a Adios AA party on Saturday night, and I showed my age by claiming "Bloom" as my favorite AA album, when most of the other people at the party were too young to remember that one!

In that vibe though, here's the song that made them a hit - off the Bloom record I might add!!! Big House

Will miss ya guys, loved it all!!! Even The Hairbrush Song!

Time Off

ANZAC day on Wednesday gave a great opportuinty to take 2 days off and end up with a 5 day weekend. I'd sort of planned to sit down and write down some of the thoughts that have been swimming around in my head, but instead I just chilled out and had a real 'break'.

It was great, I watched a couple of DVDs, caught up with some friends and even went for a bit of a Hot Rod run, something I haven't done in a very long time.

Saturday was the National Tin Top Titles out at Willowbank, and this weekend was also Whitehill's family camp - which Dad went to leaving me as the sole chaplain at the drags. It went really well, not having Dad there gave me a chance to build my own relationships with the guys at the track, and we had a good day.

Maybe I'll write some of that other stuff up soon... but it's funny, when you think about a whole heap of stuff to write, sometimes it just doesn't fit the mood you're in when you come to blog.

Right now I just feel like updating you all - but I heard an amazing speaker - Dr Sookhdeo - at City North Baptist last Sunday and I want to tell you a bit about that. I bought two of his books as well so I might leave it until I've finished to delve into what he's on about.

Anyway catching up with people is great, so let me know what you've been doing - and on that note I read today a mate of mine in WA. Craig, has been pretty ill. So please just pray God with continue to hold his hand as he recovers.

Thanks

Off

Working in Towsnville and Cairns the next few days, catch ya on the flip side....

Old Videos ~ Good Memories

Was checking out some of my stuff from The Gambia tonight, and came across a couple of videos Phil and Erin took while they were there. I loaded 2 of them up, causeI remember each moment so clearly, and it was just such a great time.

Here have a look.


In the Banjul markets, these guys were trying to sell us a drum, they were pretty impressed when I picked one up and played with them... pity the video wasn't still rolling.




This was our welcome to Jarrol. The whole village had come out to greet us and were running along with the Geli-geli (Bush Taxi).

I miss The Gam so much!

Berry insightful.

Here's a story and some good life changing stuff I learnt from Ray Andrews over Easter.

Out in the African desert, there is a pretty primitive tribe. The land they live on is harsh, and does not produce food. The only food they can grow is a plant that has very bitter leaves. This is the only food that they have which is a good source of nutrients, but it tastes awful.

The tribe are forced to eat this unpalatable food, simply to stay alive. The key however is a small berry bush which will also survive the harsh conditions.

The tribes people take a small berry and with every meal they first place the berry in the corner of their mouth. The extremely sweet taste of the berry overpowers the bitterness of the other food and they are able to contently eat the nutritious leaves, which taste so horrible.

No matter how bitter the plant or leaves are, they take on the flavour of the small berry.

So here’s the question… what’s your berry? What is it that you can place in the little corner of your life, so that everything good or bad – bitter or sweet – unpalatable or lovely – takes on the flavour of that berry. The simple fact is that ‘unpalatable’ things are going to happen in life, the loss of a loved one, a frustrating day, an annoying child on the train… but if you keep a berry in your mouth all those things (though painful at the time) can be dealt with through the flavour of the berry.

Ray shared this, and then graciously shared his berry as well – which I like a lot – and it comes from Romans 11:36

For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his
glory. All glory to him forever! Amen. (NLT)

Jesus is in everything, nothing can come without him knowing about it, or the ability to do something about it. He is in all, through all and by all… I plan to keep that berry in my mouth no matter what comes. Spitting it out at hard times is only going to make things worse for me, no one else.

What’s your berry? You can have mine if you want.

Catching up with Friends...

There’s 2 people I’d really like to mention that I just had the best time catching up with over the Easter weekend.

First off, for those who’ve read my blog for a while you may remember my mate Jono. Last year he had a motorcross accident and broke his neck. Doctors said he’d never walk again, but he proved them wrong in just over 2 weeks – it was amazing to see him recover so quickly and I was able to visit him every week of the 3 months he spent in hospital. But I’d only seen him once since then until last weekend.

If you didn’t know Jono, or hadn't heard about his accident you would have no idea that he’d ever broken his neck (especially in the last 12 months!) He’s back out in Chinchilla working as a School Chaplain and still loving it. It really was a blessing to get a chance to hang out with him, and even kick a footy with him.

The other person is someone I haven’t been able to see a lot of for the last few years because she’s been living so far away – for the last 18 months Wendy has been teaching at Hebron School in India, and before that she was teaching in Bowen. I grew up admiring and being encouraged by Wendy (who is 3 years older than me), she was always the girl at Youth Group everyone looked up to, and personally her Christian walk was something I always aspired to follow, just because she was such a servant-hearted person with a deep relationship with Jesus.

Wendy’s home just for 10 days, Carol, her sister, is due to have her first baby so she’s come home to hopefully be around for that. Just seeing Wendy is a joy, but to get a chance to sit and have a good chat, and a pretty competitive game of Taboo was probably the highlight of my weekend.

Something Rodney said over on his blog is so true…

After all the years I've been on this earth I'm still amazed by just how good it is to catch up with friends. We spend so much of our time trying to achieve things that will never satisfy and we leave less and less time to connect with the people that are important to us. I hope you took time out over the Easter long weekend to reconnect with friends.

Well Rodney I did, and I appreciate their friendship so much it made my weekend (and year!!!) to see them again!

Easter 07

Oh yeah what a weekend!

This year I went back to my roots, by passing Toowoomba and the Australian Gospel Music Festival and instead heading up Tamborine Mt for the Easter Keswick Convention.

Keswick’s ‘Convention Statement’ is “ALL ONE IN CHRIST JESUS” – and this weekend I really felt we lived up to that, it was the best time I’ve had in a long time socially, as well as some awesome teaching from two great preachers.

Eis Van Dijk from Austria (originally Dutch though) and Ray Andrews from Coffs Harbour (originally Irish) were the speakers. Simply – they were awesome! The messages were focused on Jesus, wanting to be part of our world, Easter was a great backdrop to these messages for the obvious reason of it being the time when he did actually become part of our world physically and totally change it forever!

Eis and Ray never compared notes, they’d come from opposite sides of the earth, yet their messages followed on from each others like a single sermon series – it was truly amazing, and God inspired! I think Ray missed his calling as a stand up comedian, because he had us all rolling off our seats in fits of laughter – his mannerisms, quick whit and funny accent (Irish :-p) were enough to make everyone in the meetings laugh till they cried. Eis was a funny bloke too – and the routine of them paying each other out became a bit of a highlight of the weekend.

To be honest my most enjoyable moments of the camp weren’t the speaking (though it was great), but just a real chance to catch up with a heap of people I don’t usually spend a lot of time with, and meeting a whole heap of new people. I didn’t go to bed before midnight all weekend – we stayed up singing bad 80’s songs and playing guitar, or playing Monopoly – or on the last night sitting up at the Beacon and being a part of the greatest prank I’ve ever seen!!!

A group of us had decided to go up to the Beacon (a lookout off over the inland plains of the Gold Coast and Beenleigh), a mate got there a little before myself and another guy – he was able to make the most awful animal in pain sort of noise I’ve ever heard. He had David and I for a moment before he showed himself and we had a good laugh – then we heard the group of girls coming along so decided to try the prank again on them. It worked a treat – mainly because of Grant’s commitment to the prank he stayed in the bush for over an hour, throwing his voice to sound further away and spending about 30 minutes in silence to make the girls think the ‘scary animal’ had gone away.

It all ended with a loud cry, rustling leaves and Grant running out towards us… and 4 terrified girls running up the road in panic. 20 minutes later these girls still had the shakes and Grant, David and I still had the giggles. It was AWESOME!

Anyway that aside – lots of fun was had, we led the youth in a Songs of Praise chorus night with old Sunday School favourites like "Father Abraham”, “Be Bold”, “Blind Man” and some other golden oldies – as well as some modern choruses like “My Redeemer Lives”.

Nothing like those old time praise songs though, sitting round singing those with a whole heap of old and new friends was better than any of the music AGMF could have offered me :-)

"Um maybe we should have studied..."

Well if you don't know the answer, you might as well use some creativity.


I wish I'd had the guts to do something like this at school...








Haha I love the hang man, how many times did I feel like that in the middle of a Maths exam!

Month in Review - March

http://jarrolspot.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html

Wow, looking back over my March blog posts, it's hard to believe I've packed so much into 31 days!

The one thing you've all been waiting to hear is the results of the RACQ Coffee naming Competition. Well after submitting some RACQ themed names I was cut down by the winning name of 'Fusion' - pretty lame if you ask me... maybe I'm just bitter I still have to pay for my lunches :-P

Dad and I had our first race meet of the year, and unfortunatly our first fatal accident. We are still working through follow up and counselling, so your prayers for the Willowbank team are still appreciated.

The sporting year kicked off with the V8 Series starting and AFL as well. The first 2 rounds of the V8s have gone to Holden, so not much to talk about there :-P - but I have been really impressed by the Dick Johnson racing team, their speed this year is a vast improvement - good to see my favourite team getting better! Same goes for the AFL with the Bombers notching their first win (though that was April 1st).

Camps have been a bit of a theme as well - and with Easter this weekend I'm off again to Tamborine Mt - can't wait. I think that's all prompted some really thinking on my faith, and just who and what we are when we're part of the body of Christ. I've learnt a fair bit - hopefully I've been able to share it in a way that you have too.

Again if you missed any, they're all right here - http://jarrolspot.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html

Good camp - and some blood.

I was waiting to get my photos off the camera before I mention the City North Baptist Young Adults Discipleship Camp.

That was last weekend, and I had a great time. However in true Deano style, I managed to have a pretty spectacular spill.

We were kicking a footy on the field, and the ball was heading towards the edge into the bush – I managed to chase it down and stop it just before it started down the slope… however I didn’t stop.

It was pretty steep, and there were rocks half sticking out of the ground. With my bad ankle all I could think of was avoiding those rocks. Suddenly the bush was all around me and I felt a vine grab at my ankle, acting like a trip wire, and I face planted…

… right into a heap of Lantana vines!!!!

My momentum carried me into the middle of the vines and I just couldn’t get up, everywhere I put my hands thorns dug in, and I couldn’t push myself up. In the end I half rolled, half crawled out of the vines and made my way back up the hill. It was only when I got to the top I realised I’d cut up my legs pretty bad.



I had 4 more grazes like that over both my legs. But worse was my hand, I’d put it out to stop my fall, and cut it up a bit. All my joints were cut, and it swelled up a bit, it hurt but it all got better pretty quick.

So all last week I was in pain cause my skin was stretching over the grazes or my pants were catching on it… this week I’m just itchy as they dry out and start to heal.

Apart from that it was an awesome camp (though the ‘accident’ allowed me to meet everyone… if you don’t know many people on a camp, walking out of the bush bleeding is a quick way to have everyone know you :-P). Ivan Bowden spoke on The Holy Spirit, and I enjoyed most of what he had to say. Sometimes I wondered how solid his arguments were, but that’s just prompting me to do some further study – which isn’t a bad thing I guess.

We also did a photo scavenger hunt thing, and I’ll throw a few photos just cause they’re funny.



The camp was at Luther Heights in Coolum Beach - beautiful spot. Here's the view I woke to each morning.

Blog Stats

I've had Site Meter keeping an eye on my blog since April last year. UNtil recently I didn't know it had a whole heap more stat other than just a count...

This graph shows how much the viewing of this blog has grown in a year. I think it looks pretty positive.

Thanks for reading everyone - make sure you let me know what you think of what I write.

Keep rocking...

When will it all end?

Do you find yourself just wishing that today will be the day Jesus comes back?

I know we're always to be ready and looking forward to His return, but sometimes I find myself thinking "I've had enough, Jesus come back now!!!"

One day I just want to be driving down the Ipswich Motorway when suddenly trumpets overpower the music from my stereo… all the cars stop as all eyes turn to the sky where clouds are rolling back, and the source of the trumpets is seen. A tear appears in the sky and a light brighter than the Sun baths the earth in a warm shadowless glow.

Suddenly the sky fills with Angels, lining the horizon as far as the eye can see. While they sing praise, and play trumpets a rider on a white horse appears from within the bright light.

Everyone on the motorway falls to their knees, and wether it’s in an exclamation of pure worship or a statement of realisation every single person, man woman and child proclaims that Jesus Christ is Lord.

What a day that will be. Even when things are all good, and my life is going great guns, that picture of Jesus’ return excites me so much!

Maybe I just long for it more when things are going a bit tougher.

Where do I really fit in?

All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough

You are my supply
My breath of life
And still more awesome than I know
You are my reward
worth living for
And still more awesome than I know

All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough

Powerful words, I love this song. But do I really believe what I am singing? All of You is more than enough for all of me? But what about those other things I can't do without?

It's easy to say - I can do without my car if I have God - and I believe I could. He's more than enough for me that I don't need material things.

But what about loneliness? With Jesus I feel so much love, but without meaningful relationships with other humans I feel intensely lonely. Do I move churches to fill that loneliness gap? Or is ‘all of You more than enough’ so I can stay put where I am, do God’s work and stay with the social loneliness?

I know Jesus fills every hole in our heart, and I really think that if I was in the middle of Africa I could be by myself and be completely filled with God’s love and not feel lonely. Yet here, when I see the deep friendships and relationships others have and know I could have that too, I feel like I need more.

The church is Jesus’ body, his workmen on earth. If I’m somewhere and feeling like I’m all alone, but can go somewhere else and feel supported and cared for, should I move? Or rely on God being more than enough and continue doing the work God’s already got me doing where I am?

Does the church become part of the ‘all of You’ which will be enough for ‘all of me’? So if one part of the church isn’t enough… another part could be?

Confusion and long chest tightening thoughts here…………

Song Lyric Quote for the Day.

And if I am his reflection
With all my imperfections
Well I can't call myself
Anything but just forgiven

Paul Colman - Pray.

Understanding Paul's race a little more...

1 Corinthians 9:25 - 27
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Ok so maybe I didn’t run a race yesterday – but I did get a clearer idea of what Paul was talking about here…

At the start of the bike ride yesterday they were very clear… this was not a race – you weren’t competing against the other riders, we were out to finish this together. But you know what?? About 25ks into that ride I realised I was competing against someone, I was competing against Me.

I doubted I’d finish that 60ks, I doubted I’d make it up the next hill… at the 40k mark when I cramped and fell off my bike I doubted I’d be able to get back on.

But I knew something, that giving into that doubt would kill me – seriously, I would have felt so useless if I had not been able to finish that ride. I had to push hard to ignore that doubt. I hurt, my legs, my neck, my ankles, my chest and lungs – I was aching – each hill towards the end of that ride brought a new wave of tiredness and fatigue onto my body…

… and I wanted to give up, so badly I wanted to pull over and sit down – or as I passed the dock where the City Cat was just stopping, I wanted to go down there and hope on it, for a care free trip back to the start finish line.

But what would it have been worth to do that? What accomplishment would be made???

Finally at the 60k point – after 2 and a half hours sitting on my bike I won the prize… I wasn’t the first in… I didn’t finish in any grand style – but I beat my doubting self… I won over the pain, over the mental agony that had been pounding my head ever since that first big hill.

I won!

The sense of accomplishment I had when I crossed the finish line was so immense I laughed out loud as I coasted to a stop, my prize – the free T-shirt – and I tell you what; I’m gonna wear it with pride; cause I really felt I earned it.

The race Paul’s talking about in that above verse is just the same – we’re not competing against other Christians, fighting to be the first or the best when we reach the gates of Heaven – we’re fighting ourselves, our own doubts, our own selfish ambition and vain conceit. Our aim is to have the same attitude as Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:4 -5), and that incorporates everything else that it means to be a Christian.

There are times in this race where I feel I’m not going to make it through the next hour, let alone the day, week or year. How can I continue???

On my bike ride I had a friend. He rode with me – when I struggled up a hill he pulled up beside me and encouraged me. He was much fitter than I was – and he could have gone up the hill faster than me – but he stayed beside me, with an encouraging word.

Jesus is your friend… he’s so much more powerful than you – he was there when the world was created, yet he stands beside you, encouraging you. He gave his life so you might live, now he’s running the race with you.

When I fell off my bike I ended up on the grass beside the road, my leg cramping. As fellow riders passed me the majority asked if I was all right, and they were quite willing to stop and help me if I needed it. The church family are like those fellow riders. They are part of the race, they are tired too – but they are willing to help you up so you can finish your race. They aren’t competing against you, so they won’t leave you on the sidelines to fail… they will help you get back up, and you can finish the race together.

Paul was talking about so much more than winning a T-shirt, and if I can feel so much pride in this shirt, because of my physical achievement on a bike. Imagine how much pride and celebration there will be when I overcome my human self to let Jesus work through me, and I finish THAT race and receive a crown that will last forever…

… that’s the sort of race I long to win!

Bike Week 07 - The Ride...

Sunday, what a day. Well what a morning anyway. Some of the RACQ IT guys had decided we’d put a team in for the Bike Week 2007 ride. I must admit I was a touch apprehensive because my usual riding pattern is a 10k ride through the hills of Ipswich which takes me about half an hour.

This ride was a 60 kilometre ride starting and finishing at Southbank in the city. I wasn’t quite aware of exactly how taxing that would be. We met at the entrance to Southbank at 7am, ready for our 7:30 start – straight away I felt slightly out of place as most of the other RACQ guys had their road bikes and I knew I’d have to work much harder on my mountain bike. Luckily one of the other guys was on a mountain bike as well. To make me feel even more out of place they all decided to start with the ‘elite riders’ (supposedly able to average over 28km/h for the whole 60ks).

Well we took off and wound out way through the city, along the Riverside Expressway and Coronation Drive, and I think for that bit I would have been averaging the 28ks, but then we hit St Lucia and Indooroopilly, and the hills got me. For a 60k ride they had some massive hills in the first 10ks and I lost a lot of momentum through that area, I ended up loosing Matt (RACQ guy on the mountain bike) who seems to handle the hills better than I.

Another bit of poor planning I feel was that the first rest point was 35ks in, over half way (and the hardest half at that) and the second rest point at 45ks. So by the time I made the first rest point I was pretty dead, and then the second came up pretty quick.

However just before the second stop I came a cropper! There was a really REALLY steep hill, and I’d caught Matt again so was trying to keep up with him up the hill. About halfway my right thigh cramped badly. In the initial shock of it I lost balance and hit the gutter, performing a nice cartwheel onto the grass. Nothing hurt except my cramping thigh, which took about 10 minutes to settle down, and Matt was long gone by then, he didn’t even see me come off, got to the top of the hill looked back and wondered where I went.

Overall I think it was the most physically gruelling thing I’ve ever done. I didn’t realise exactly how tough 60ks would be – and with trying to keep up and catch up to Matt I pushed harder than I would have on a leisurely ride. I averaged 21km/h for the whole trip, which on a mountain bike is pretty good I think (for me I think it’s great!!!). Coming back into Southbank 60ks and 2 ½ hours later gave me a huge sense of accomplishment… I’d run a race, with only my pain threshold and self-doubt to beat, and I’d prevailed. I felt pretty good, even though I was stuffed.

Good confidence booster (until I heard the other RACQ guys finished 40 minutes before me :-P).

HRT on the Verge of Exclusion.

THE future looked bleak for V8 Supercars driver and Holden Racing Team owner Mark Skaife tonight as the wrangle over his team ownership continued.

Skaife met a deadline imposed by the Touring Car Entrants Group (TEGA), the governing body for the V8 Supercar Championship teams, to supply documentation.

But a TEGA spokesman said the organisation had decided to take legal advice on the situation and announce a decision before the next round of the championship, due to commence in Perth on Friday week.

If TEGA is not satisfied, HRT will be booted from the championship.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,21367789-23770,00.html

This saga has been ongoing for some months now. It seems TEGA (Touring-car Entrants Group) are questioning the true ownership of the Holden Racing Team. They have been investigating both HRT and the Toll/HSV team with allegations that both team are operating under the same owner (which is naughty!). HSV have cleared themselves, but it seems Skaifey has let HRTs ownership change without informing TEGA – which could spell the end of HRTs racing license for good.

This would impact the V8 Supercar series in a dramatic way, not only is HRT one of the premier teams in the comp, but Todd Kelly (HRT Car# 22) won the first round of the championship at Adelaide last week.

The HSV team which seems slightly involved in this too just happens to be the home of Rick Kelly, controversial Series Champion from 2006 – which leaves the whole deal feeling slightly more dirty.

[Sidenote ~ did anyone else notice Rick’s mullet during the Adelaide round! A mullet with hairy sideburns… I know drivers usually have bad hair after the helmet comes off, but Rick that’s just bad all the time! – end sidenote]

Seeing HRT banned would not be the best thing for V8s, but I guess even if it was FPR I’d want to see justice done, and HRT have already been given so many breaks to provide all the paperwork. Waiting to see what happens....



Post Script
http://www.v8supercar.com.au/news/latestnews/newsdisplay.asp?Ind=&author=&gid=32660416

Holden Racing Team have been cleared to race with no penalty. I think the rest of the field who have done the right thing have the right to feel slightly ripped off that no penalty at all has been given.

Disco Beats - Unique Venue

International Outlook, Garry Skinner and Watoto.

This past weekend I’ve been up on Tamborine Mountain at the International Outlook Conference. This was my first I.O – but I have been up to Tamborine for so many other camps it feels like my second home.

I.O is focused on Overseas Mission. It gives all of the Missionary Organisations a chance to showcase the work they are doing throughout the world, and is the perfect place for anyone interested in short-term or long-term mission work. Obviously my main involvement was with WEC and I spent a fair bit of time hanging around their stand.

The main speaker for the weekend was Garry Skinner from the Kampala Pentecostal Church (KPC) in Uganda. Garry is Canadian but has been working in Africa for over 25 years, when God called him to start an English speaking church in downtown Kampala (Sidenote ~ not such a weird notion when you find out Uganda [like The Gambia] was colonised by the English as is an English speaking nation – end sidenote) KPC was founded in 1984 and now has well over 7000 members and almost 200 cells based all over the city. It is an exciting church ministry, with such an amazing community servant hood, including Watoto Child Care Ministries.

Garry and his family arrived in Uganda amidst civil war, they have seen the country torn apart by war, and then again as the HIV virus swept through the continent. Uganda is one of the worst effected countries by HIV in the world and Garry and the people at KPC felt as the church they needed to do something to counter the effect AIDs was having on their nation.

Watoto Child Care Ministries is a response to that.

Uganda has endured brutal dictators, the scourge of civil war and the deadly AIDS epidemic. An estimated 2 million children in Uganda have been orphaned by these calamities, 880,000* of them as a result of AIDS alone. (*UNAIDS stats)

The country is still reeling from a past of corruption, brutality and oppression. The economy is improving, but still struggling. Social services are scarce, water and sanitation systems are unavailable to most, and poverty and disease are prevalent. Every day, scores of children are orphaned and abandoned in the streets. The government is not equipped to provide care for them. Private babies homes and adoption centers can't keep up and are themselves unable to provide long term care a child. This is the reality that is Uganda. The situation is dire. The need is great. But the future is changing!

Watoto was born out of this need. It is addressing this crisis and is providing hope for the nation.
(http://www.watoto.com )

2 million orphaned children! That’s the entire population of Brisbane! I love this ministry, I have a deep deep passion for what they are doing, and how they are doing it. I am excited about the fact that the whole ministry is being run by Ugandans, not external missionaries – the Ugandan people have seen the need in their nation and decided the church needs to do something about it. It’s not your traditional orphanage either, more like a Children’s Village. Each child is set up in a house with about 7 other kids and a Ugandan mother (usually a widow of a HIV victim) and that becomes their family. They are fed, clothed, educated and giving the spiritual guidance to become the future leaders of Uganda.

Watoto currently operates 3 children's villages and cares for over 1500 children. The villages include over 130 individual homes, each accommodating 8 children and a house mother. They also contain a complete school system for the Watoto children and the surrounding communities, a medical clinic, a church / community center, an agricultural project providing food, a clean water source and electrical power. The result is a self-sustaining village that serves the children while providing employment for women and teachers, and steady jobs for laborers.

(http://www.watoto.com )

Most churched Australians would have heard of the Watoto Children’s Choir which has toured here every year since 2003. Garry is a firm believer that anything adults can do, children can do as well, and the choir is the children’s way of sharing Jesus with the world. Some of the stories which have come from the Choir’s ministry are simply amazing. They truly do understand Jesus’ great commission and know that they are carrying it out while on tour. Plus it gives them an amazing look at the world outside of their country and a growth in confidence and personal abilities.













I’ve seen the choir many times… in fact the first was just before I headed to The Gambia. I fell in love with the kids - their passion, their understanding of God and their humble worship left me feeling in awe of them. They’ve all had such hard lives, loosing 1 or both parents to HIV, yet their joy and determination to make other’s see Jesus is overwhelming. Since my return from The Gambia, each time I’ve seen them I’ve been crying for the whole concert… the tears just run and I can’t help it.

Garry used all of this to speak on “God’s Answer; The Church”. Quite appropriate for the themes of I.O and I think I’ll blog on one particular message he gave in some more detail. But the main idea was that governments, and companies are not going to solve the worlds problems... why would God use governments, when he has his own people right here. The Church is God's tool to complete his will, and having millions of HIV orphans die on the streets of Uganda is not his will.

But my favourite part of the weekend was sitting down to dinner at the WEC centre and then having Garry actually come and sit next to me – he had been invited back to WEC for dinner – we had a good conversation, he was quite annoyed at The Gambian president’s claim of curing HIV (here) and having a personal discussion with him on the effects of HIV in Africa (from both of our experiences) and what the church should be doing is something I will not forget for a long time, I think God planned for me to sit next to him that night.

In fact I’ve thrown in my lot with Watoto. After speaking to the Australian director, I willing offered my I.T skills and anything else I can do to help the Watoto Australia team (based at Gateway Baptist here in Brissy). I would love a chance to meet the next choir in a more personal way, but all I really want to do is use my skills to help them with their ministry. If I meet them I know it would just be an added bonus, and though I don’t expect anything in return for what I’m doing, I pray God allows me to delve deeper and deeper with my involvement with Watoto.

Respect the Flag

One of my fond memories of Primary School was to be on 'Flag Duty'. The grade 6 kids were in charge of putting the flag up every morning and bringing it back down before we went home. We each had individual lessons on exactly how to fold the flag, how to make sure it NEVER touched the ground, either as we were lowering it or folding it, and how to carry it with dignity and place it in a special spot in the school office. It was a two person job, because of the risk of the flag touching the ground. We had a roster, and we took the job seriously.

It seemed like a lot of work, just to fly a flag on our school grounds, but it taught me a real respect for the flag, and an almost ritual way in which it should be handled to maintain that respect.

Fast forward to 2007 and I’m not sure about your local Macca's, but mine has the Australian flag flying out the front.

Yesterday when I was driving home I noticed the young Macca's worker out taking the flags down for the evening. I was stuck at the traffic lights, so sat there watching him. I was shocked to see how he brought the Aussie flag down... letting it drop all the way onto the ground, sit there while he untied it. Then he picked it up, screwed it in a ball and carried it under his arm back inside.

I was disgusted, I almost wanted to pull in and have a go at him. But it made me think, do the young people today even get taught to respect our flag? Is there anything in their younger lives that would encourage them to treat the flag with any sort of dignity… without the grade 6 flag duty would I even care???

For me it seems like a really big thing, just the utter disrespect this guy showed, but maybe he doesn’t know any better, and so I’m thinking about writing a letter to the McDonalds Brassall store manager just to see if maybe there should be some sort of information given before they are told to just ‘run out and bring down the flags’.

Maybe I’m just old fashioned and anal….

Chaplain's work after Fatal Accident.

We’ve had a real tough weekend at Willowbank Raceway. What is usually one of my favourite weekends of the year, the Nostalgia Racing meet, was marred by a fatal crash at an open practice on Saturday night.

Nostalgia racing is for pre 1970 cars and dragsters and is a one day event. However, every Saturday night there is a public ‘Test n Tune’ night where anyone can turn up and have a run on the track. A lot of the Nostalgia guys used that as an opportunity to test and dial in their cars for the Sunday competition.

One racer took his rail dragster (not unlike the one pictured) for a test. He crossed the finish line and his shute did not deploy, it seems he didn’t brake very hard and tried to turn his dragster at the end of the track instead of running into the braking sand. A rail isn’t designed to turn at all, let alone make a wide arching turn at 150km/h, the dragster rolled, and ended up slamming into a concrete barrier, killing the driver instantly.














Dad and I as chaplains had planned to be at the Sunday competition, but do not usually attend the Test n Tune nights. We were both at a friends 21st birthday party when the Track Manager called Dad and asked him to come out to the track.

The wife of the racer had been at the track watching the run, and with all the other stuff going on the officials just did not know how to handle a grieving wife and family. We had a quick conference at the party, and decided Dad would go out with the Whitehill Minister Darryl, and I’d take Mum home before waiting to see if I was needed at the track also.

I didn’t have to go out Saturday night, but during the race meet on Sunday I talked to a few of the officials who were there that night. And in letting them tell their stories to get it off their chest I ended up with a vivid and very real picture of the situation, especially from the crash rescue team who were first on the scene. Dad was there until midnight Saturday, but the body could not be removed from the car until about 3am – due to Crash Scene Investigations and Police reports. The car was removed by the Police at about 3:30am, and the last official left just before 4am. All officials who were at the crash site were back at the track early in the morning to set up for the competition day ahead. So there were lots of very tired, and very down people at the track on Sunday.

Dad did a great job, caring for the family, making sure they had a way to get home, and the support they needed. He also sat and chatted with all the officials before he left Saturday and between us we met with them all again individually on Sunday (Dad being the official Track Chaplain did do most of the work, mainly because everyone recognises him and came up to start the conversations themselves.).

Something Garry Coleman (V8 Supercar chaplain) said to us when we first started, was that unfortunately it usually takes a tragedy before the people at the track realise what value the chaplains are. I’ve seen this first hand now, with the change of attitude towards us as chaplains.

The Sunday racing went ahead, and was good hard racing – but there was just a real heavy feel over the whole event.

A very silly crash added to everyone’s distress levels when the owner of a beautiful Z28 Camaro let his teenage daughter drive the car on a parade lap. When trying to do a burnout (which wasn’t suppose to happen anyway) she lost control and slammed the wall straight on (which meant she spun the car 90 degrees to the track). At the time all the show cars were just cruising down the track to show off their rides, so for a car that wasn’t even racing to crash is bad for the track, embarrassing for the owner (and expensive!!!) and just annoying to the staff! It took 45 minutes to clean up for racing again, the Camaro is pretty well a right off - and it all happened because of a lack of responsibility mostly on the father’s part.

Please pray for all the people who have been affected by this accident, especially the family who have lost a husband and father (he was over 60 so there may be grandchildren as well, I don’t know). The officials have had to deal with a lot, especially with the body remaining in the car for over 3 hours while they had to clean up around it.

Pray also for Dad and I as we continue to deal with this ourselves and others issues arising from it.

Thanks.

Month in Review - February

Wow some big things happening in Feb07!!

If claims from The Gambia are to be believed then the AIDs problem is over, we have a cure! Well that's what Gambian President Yaya Jammeh has said, but he can only cure AIDs on Thursdays, so that may be a slight drawback....

Also on my blog this month I've had a whole heap of stuff going through my head that I've whacked up here, from thinking about the pain Jesus went through on the cross to the impact of an amazing muso (Keith Green) on our lives today.

Plus we can't forget that the V8 Supercar season starts this weekend in Adelaide, and all the news coming from team swaps and sponsor swaps, I'm getting really excited about the 07 season!

Personally I've had a really busy month. We moved offices at work, and then back again after our area had been refitted, I've done a couple of regional trips to Bundaberg and Hervey Bay and we're finally completing a project which involves changing the computers in all 150 of our Roadside Assistant Patrol Trucks.

At home I've had to get use to living with my brother again, since he moved home - which subsequently led to my first tangle with Windows Vista when he bought a new laptop.

I've met some cousins from Canada who were visiting my Grandparents, and took them for a night river cruise on Brisbane's City Cat ferries.

But I think the most significant thing is finding that amazing coffee shop, Cafe Modena, in Brisbane. I have a Microsoft seminar in the city next Friday, and so I plan to visit the cafe again (and again and again) during the day.

Check out this link for all my posts from Feb is you missed any... http://jarrolspot.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html

Cheers

Help me win free lunch for a year.

We're getting a new coffee shop here at RACQ Eight Mile Plains. And the Marketing department are running a competition. Name the new RACQ staff coffee shop and win your lunch free for a whole year!

So in my total incapacity to come up with anything creative I turn my destiny of free lunch over to you, my faithful blog readers. Send me your ideas so I can blitz this comp!!!

Cafe Modena

Found a little treasure in the city a couple of days ago. Café Modena is on the corner of Creek and Adelaide St in Brisbane's CBD and it serves by far the best coffee I've ever had.

Now I'm not a huge coffee connoisseur like my mate Grendel over in WA, but I am slowly getting a taste for good fresh coffee, as opposed to the run of the mill stuff most cafés in Brisbane serve.

Modena however would probably rate pretty high even with Grendel! Alen, the owner and barista, is passionate about coffee and he’s a perfectionist! Every cup he makes (about 200 an hour he tells me) is perfect in temperature, milk, strength and personality. Alen is a real open and friendly bloke, and when I ordered a ristretto (only my second ever, and the first pulled by a fair dikum barista) he was very talkative about his coffee blends and grinds - obviously a ristretto is recognised as having some real coffee enthusiast links.

Alen gets a custom blend for his cafe, roasted fresh at Bowen Hills (a company called DiBella, which I haven’t heard of before), and he takes so much time with every coffee to make it exactly right.

The results are amazing, my ristretto was fantastic! I now understand Grendel’s comments on crema and full flavour, this shot certainly was an experience. It had a full flavour, slightly chocolaty, with a really sweet and long lasting aftertaste. Actually I was anticipating it so much I forgot to take a photo before finishing it, but I found the cup enough of a novelty to take a photo of it empty, pretty funky!

After I finished I spent some time chatting with Alen before trying a long black (I’m not really a fan of milky coffees) and again he took so much time to warm the cup, press the coffee properly and pull the shot straight into the hot water, again the crema on top was just right for a long black and the temperature was perfect! (and I remembered to get the photo!)

Really really impressed, and it’s just a shame it’s no where near an RACQ branch so I won’t be able to get there too often! While I was enjoying my long black I also was able to admire some of the scenery which graces Brisbane’s financial district (Yes that is a Porsche 911 Carrera Turbo!!!)


Read some of the reviews and check out some more photos and coffee ideas at www.cafemodena.com.au

Great Drive To Work...

So I tried something different on my drive to work this morning.

Instead of just hitting shuffle on my iPod I decided to have a bit of a Keith Green marathon. I just chose the artist and hit random play.

The music, the words, the meaning, the theology of Keith Green’s stuff drills me to the core every time. He is probably the most amazingly humble and passionate men of God of our modern era. It’s amazing how even 25 years after his death (he died the year I was born) his music still challenges, teaches, inspires and shows such a pure example of what a Christ follower should be.

At AGMF last year I saw and almost bought a shirt that had a silhouette of his face and massive hair with the words “Listen To Keith Green Music” on it. Even at a store which was purely aimed at the youth Christian music scene this shirt hanging there, a testimony to his impact on the world. So this morning with all that music creating such a Spiritual atmosphere I felt like I was in a 'God momment' all the way from Ipswich to Eight Mile Plains.

Actually this morning; the thing I really noticed was those hard hitting phrases he seemed to include in so many of his songs.

Like;

To obey is better than sacrifice.
I want more than Sunday and Wednesday nights,
Cause if you can't come to me every day,
Then don't bother coming at all.
(To Obey Is Better Than Sacrafice)

and…

Oh Lord, you said the harvest was great,
But Lord, looks like the workers are late.
It's getting hard to understand,
How they ignore your great command.
(Here I Am, Send Me)

and…

You know you're gonna find out that He's the way,
no matter which way you choose,
But I pray you find out by His love for you.

Some people won't find out till it's too late
(Altar Call)

It’s funny though, it seems before he became a Christian he wrote some great songs about Jesus and Bible stories (Prodigal Son Suite, On the Road to Jericho and Song for My Parents), and after he decided that it was Christianity that was the way (Jesus as God), not just Jesus as a good person – he wrote some songs really challenging the way the church thinks like To Obey is Better than Sacrifice, and Asleep in the Light.

Actually I think Asleep in the Light is the most challenging song of all time. It really moves me every single time I hear it! So even though I think I’ve quoted it here before, I’m gonna do it again to finish off this post… it seems to sum up Keith’s feelings about the church pretty well, and I still see it in churches these days 25 years later. It’s a shame, and I pray I will be so real, that my example can do something about it…

Asleep In The Light

Do you see, do you see, all the people sinking down,
Don't you care, don't you care, are you gonna let them drown,
How can you be so numb, not to care if they come,
You close your eyes and pretend the job's done.

Oh Bless me Lord, bless me Lord, you know it's all I ever hear,
No one aches, no one hurts, no one even sheds one tear,
But He cries, He weeps, He bleeds, and He cares for your needs,
And you just lay back and keep soaking it in, oh, can't you see it's such sin?

Cause He brings people to your door,
And you turn them away, as you smile and say,
God bless you, be at peace, and all Heaven just weeps,
Cause Jesus came to your door, you've left Him out on the streets.

Open up, open up, and give yourself away,
You've seen the need, you hear the cry, so how can you delay,
God's calling and you're the one, but like Jonah you run,
He's told you to speak, but you keep holding it in,

Oh, can't you see it's such sin?
The world is sleeping in the dark,
That the church can't fight, cause it's asleep in the light,
How can you be so dead, when you've been so well fed,
Jesus rose from the grave, and you, you can't even get out of bed,
Oh, Jesus rose from the dead, come on, get out of your bed.

How can you be so numb, not to care if they come,
You close your eyes and pretend the job's done,
You close your eyes and pretend the job's done,
Don't close your eyes, don't pretend the job's done.

Come away, come away, come away with Me, My love,
Come away, from this mess, come away with Me, My love.

Man at the end there it’s almost like he’s calling people away from the mess that is the modern church, he was never one to hold back to save someone’s feelings if you’re wrong you knew it with Keith.

Maybe we’re just too afraid to hurt people’s feelings these days to be truly real?

Making it count...

I was driving into the city with our storeman Ashneil yesterday and saw this.

Nice brand new Lexus - but look at the number plate....

Ok so maybe this guy is an accountant with a quirky sense of humour, but it made me think, does a car make you feel like you're worth something? I mean do you think you're really important when you're successfull enough to drive a Lexus?

It's funny where people find their self-worth. It may be in a car, or in a job, or even in a relationship. All I know is that without Jesus I don't have much self worth at all. He is the basis for all I am, I can't help but hand it to him when things get tough, or even when I end up in the spotlight, without Jesus I'm not of much use, so why take the credit when things go right.

But I do passionatly desire my life to count. "I Count" seems like something I'd love to cry out at the end of my life, with a deep relief that I have really done something worth while. But I don't think that 'something' would be the ability to own a Lexus...

Pursuing and Knowing God - the key to your future.

Pursuing and Knowing God - the key to your future ~ that was the theme for the Focus Camp I went on a couple of weekends ago. I said I was going to post more about it, and finally I'm getting around to it.

Focus Camp - good name for it, because from the studies, speaking from Graham Sercombe and just sharing with the other young adults on the camp, I have been able to re-focused my thoughts, prayer times and goals.

Hebrews 12:1-2 "...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith..."

God's plan from the very beginning was focused on creating intimacy with his creation. Genesis points to this when God says 'Let us make man in our image" and when it talks about God walking in the cool of the evening with Adam.

However the plan got messed up [sidenote: a lot of people will say God's plan can't be messed up, well in a way I think it can - because God allowed it, He realised that in creating something with free will he needed to create something that could mess up his plan, but if it chose to walk in his plan how much better was that than a being he'd created to blindly follow his plan. So God made a huge sacrifice for love, he created something that could hurt him, and mess up his plans ~end sidenote!] - yeah anyway, it got messed up when Man sinned... 'the fall'. Suddenly instead of intimacy there was self consciousness, shame, covering up, hiding, blame, pain and ultimately sin.

The gospel then fits in with God opening a gateway for us to be intimate with him once more. God's plans still showed a deep desire to be intimate with mankind all through the Old Testament, but Jesus is the final and best way God can provide a way for us to be intimate with him again.

That was the general intro into Focus Camp, the rest of the camp we looked at how to pursue God and grab onto that intimacy he wants to have with us. A way to move from our independency to a dependency on him!

I think I took a lot more from my own personal times with God than I did from group or teaching sessions. The camp simply gave me a chance to focus solely on God, and see what he has been saying to me for quite a while. Instead of just running through my quiet times like I'd gotten into the habit of doing, I really did pursue God, I sought after him, and I did find him! Sitting on the cliff ledge reading and praying, suddenly God was speaking to me again - it's like he'd been waiting for me just to actively seek him (pursue him) and as soon as I did he started revealing more about himself again.

Hebrews 11:6 "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists, and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

Earnestly seek him - see I think I'd had the faith to please God, but I'm not so sure about the seeking him earnestly bit. I'm praying God will help me want more and more of him so my passion for pursuing him does not simmer down, and through being earnest in my knowing God I will come to a new found intimacy with the Creator of all things!!!

Jammeh's AIDs Cure Condemned

As I suspected - every international news site which carries an article about The Gambian Presidents HIV/AIDs and Asthma sure is critical about the claim and the method of treatment.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6323449.stm

But Mr Coovadia said it was tragic that The Gambia had a "political environment that allows a minister of health and a president to violate every foundation of science and public health."

"The entire exercise is circumscribed by secrecy - that's not how science works," he said.

It would be impossible to measure the negative impact of Mr Jammeh's claims, but it could lead to risky sexual behaviour, instead of following preventative advice, he aid.

The World Health Organisation told the BBC it did not wish to comment on the issue at this stage.

Other sources have said that patients of Pres. Yaya Jammeh have become physically ill, with immense abdominal pain and no viable independant proof that their HIV has been cured. One source even says some patients have entered comas and familys are worried the 'treatment' will kill their loved ones.

All through this Jammeh and his health minister are praising their efforts, but not allowing anyone to know exactly how they are treating their test subjects...

Gambian Health Minister Tamsir Mbow says the herbal medicines are taken orally
and applied to the body.

"We cannot actually tell you the type of herbs we are using presently, it will be known to the whole world later on," Dr Mbow told the BBC.

It's a shame that a country's leader can lead on his people in this way, making himself out to be a hero, yet everything points to the fact he is simply lieing to make himself look good.

A coup in 1994, and he's 'won' every election since then, I think we need to pray for the Gambian nation that the people will be fairly treated with their best interests thought of.

Discussion Time

Expressing yourself to God.

What ways do you find to express yourself to the Creator of the Universe?

I've been on a camp all weekend, and had some pretty big and deep thoughts crossing my mind. I think I'll be jotting a few more down on my blog.

One of the things we discussed and shared about was not just having a quiet time, but finding ways to creatively express yourself to God. Honestly I haven't done that in a long time, my quiet times have been really good, and consistent - and I play the drums as an expression of worship - but I use to write, and I haven't done that in a long time. However on Sunday morning I found a new way I can enjoy God in a creative expression.

I bought a Canon 300D from a friend at work about 2 months ago, and have been slowly learning a bit more about proper photography.

Sunday morning I took my trusty 300D and set out on a walk. It was 6am, and the sun was just starting to peek over the trees. I was on top of Mount Tamborine, right on the edge overlooking the Beaudesert country side. I took a few photos of the view... but it was God's creation that struck me most. As I walked, I prayed, and connected with God - praising him for the beauty he has surrounded us in, and it certainly was amazing beauty. I really think God was pointing out little amazing things to me, and I took some awe inspiring photos. I think I will post some of them up at some stage, but just at the moment I feel they are very personal.

I will share my favourite one with you though - a bee about to land on a flower - the amazing design of the flower just isn't enough, think about the perfection of how the bee (such a small creature) is able to fly with such precision, and how sweet honey is created from the pollen this bee will gather once it lands on the flower.

Praise God.

Now part of this post was to share my new discovery of enjoying God, but I also want to hear your thoughts and ideas. Comment me, tell me how you express yourself to God, how He expresses himself to you, or experiences you've had when just simply enjoying God.

Please.... I really want to hear of some other experiences!

P.S - I have now uploaded a couple of other shots from Sunday morning to my flickr account. I do feel that the resizing has lessened the impact of the photos though - oh well...

Gambian AIDs cure...

Reading different news stories out of The Gambia, it seems their president, Yaya Jammeh, has found a cure for AIDs.

He's claiming that he has cured 9 people of HIV, both type 1 and type 2, using a mix of 'secretive herbs'.

Here's a news article from The Daily Observer (Banjul) from the 29th Jan.

Nine Hiv/Aids patients curently undergoing President Yahya Jammeh's treatment are responding to treatment, as their general conditions improved.

According to a press release from the Department of State for Health and Social Welfare, the patients were examined clinically and weighed before the start of the treatment.Three of them had HIV 2, while the rest got HIV 1.

Most of them women, according to the press release, came with severe abdominal pain. The male patients had severe lower abdominal pain, while two female patients suffered from upper respiratory tract infection.

Two of the patients were extremely weak and could hardly stand. Shortly after the administration of the first dose of the treatment, within 24 hours, the patients were able to walk and run. On the evening of the second day, those with upper respiratory tract infection had their chest symptoms disappear and felt better.

The patients with abdominal pains, after the first dose of medication, their pain disappeared. During the 10-day period of treatment , the vital signs and weights of the patients were closely monitored and their conditions improved. Eight of the patients showed a mark increased in weight, ranging from 3 kilograms to 15 kilograms.

The oral thrush that was noticeable at the beginning of the treatment disappeared by Day-Five of their treatment. By the Ninth-Day of the treatment, the patients showed 'a pink conjunctiva, as compared to the pale conjunctiva' that was earlier seen on their First-Day. This, according to reports, was confirmed by the changes in their haemoglobin levels.

All the patients are physically and mentally stable. Blood samples of the patients have been taken and they are awaiting results.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200701291836.html

If it's proven true it certainly is a great thing. However most of the readings I've seen have come from Government run, or Government influenced media sources. A later article (http://allafrica.com/stories/200701310835.html) claimes all 9 patients are virtually healed, with high CD4 counts. In another story Jammeh is also quoted as saying "Anyone who comes to his treatment will not die from AIDs"

These are some pretty big claims, and at this time I've only been checking out Gambian sourced media (something I like to do to keep in touch with the country I spent time in), but I will look at some more international media to confirm stories...

Coming so soon after presidential elections where Jammeh promised to make a difference to the AIDs epidemic, and then winning the election again, it seems a little too good to be true.

DJR Secures Future in V8s

Ok so it's not the best photo, but it's the only one I could find. Weeks before Dick Johnson was going to have to shut the shop on Australia's longest running racing team, Jim Beam turned up as the new naming rights sponsor.

“I can’t tell you how excited we are to have an iconic brand like Jim Beam on board. We have done it tough for the last couple of years, so it’s great to be associated with a mega brand like Jim Beam for the next three years. This is the start of a new era for DJR and I can’t wait to get racing!” Dick Johnson said.

I have been a Dick Johnson fan ever since I was about 2. I loved watching him race his Green Tuf XE Falcon and Shell Sierra, and at Bathurst in 2005 I finally had the honour of meeting him. So I was really dissapointed when I heard that DJR was probably exiting the series... so this new era of proper sponsorship is going to be exciting, especially with Will Davison's performances at the end of last year.

Full Story: http://www.v8supercar.com.au/news/latestnews/newsdisplay.asp?Ind=M&gid=30276733

Am I Worth what it Cost?

I stood on a nail on Saturday - We were raising the roof on our carport, and I just walked down to have a look bare footed, without realising Dad had begun to pull some of the nailed in clips out of the wood...

Man it hurt! It was a thin nail, and only about 12 millimeters went into my foot (1.2cm), but it took me down. I pulled it out, and simply could not walk on it. I had pain shooting up my leg, my whole foot throbbed and my soul had a sharp piercing pain right where the nail had punctured.

I sat and soaked it in Detol, and was feeling physically ill from the pain I was in. I'm fine now (3 days on) and my foot is only saw to touch right at the puncture wound. But for 2 days if I was bare foot I couldn't walk without limping on it.

Looking back now I see the pain I was in from such a small nail puncture wound, and it makes me wonder the sheer excrusiation that Jesus must have gone through to have thick nails pushed right through His wrists, and through both his feet. On top of that He was then raised vertical so his whole body weight rested on those wounds. On top of THAT He was hung in such a way that His lungs were expanded and to take a breath He had to pull himself up on thos nails to allow the air to enter his lungs.

And ON TOP OF THAT, His father, the One True God had to turn His face from His son because suddenly He was unholy, He had all of the sins of the world - even those people murdering him that day - placed on Him as judgement so that we could have a way to find favour in God's eye and live with him eternally.

That all seems to make my little nail in the foot incident so insignificant...

But is it so insignificant, because all that pain that Jesus went through was for me. Am I worth going through all that stuff for? I wonder if I am, but I do know that there is only one person who loves me that much. Jesus is amazing, unbelievably amazing.

Reminds me of a Keith Green song, one of my favourites.

Altar Call - Keith Green

Most people don't find out till it's too late, that someone has to pay the price.
You can pay it yourself (hah) or let someone else, but who would be that nice,
To pay a debt that isn't his, oh I know someone like that,
and he's your best friend, he really is, he really loves you.

Most people don't find out till their half dead, that they need another life.
You say you've heard everything that's ever been said
about The Way, The Truth, The Life.
You say you've heard lot of preaching all before, so many times,
but did you ever open up your door, give Him a chance to prove Himself?
Well He's real you know!

I hope you find out before it's too late, that there's really nobody else
You know it's breaking His heart, the longer you wait,
cause you've only been lying to yourself
Cause no one believes a thing you say - NOT EVEN YOU!
You know you're gonna find out that He's the way,
no matter which way you choose,
But I pray you find out by His love for you.

Some people won't find out till it's too late
Some people won't find out till it's too late

So yeah, everyone's gonna find out one day that Jesus is the only way, and it's because of everything He went through.

Explain it Simply....

Haha was going to post and heard a wise wise man pipe up on the TV.

Homer has such an amazing way of putting things sometimes. Had to laugh and post...

""Metaphors is when the stalk that brings the babies is shot by drunken hunters.""

Australia Day in Perth

Saw this first on Vawz Blog - but it's done the email rounds at work so thought I'd share it with you all as well - God is amazing!

God wasn't to be outdone here. On January 26, people from Perth, Australia gathered on a local beach to watch a sky light up with delights near and far. Nearby, fireworks exploded as part of Australia Day celebrations.

On the far right, lightning from a thunderstorm flashed in the distance. Near the image centre, though, seen through clouds, was the most unusual sight of all: Comet McNaught. The photogenic comet was so bright that it even remained visible though the din of Earthly flashes. Comet McNaught continues to move out from the Sun and dim, but should remain visible in southern skies with binoculars through the end of this month.

The above image is actually a three photograph panorama digitally processed to reduce red reflections from the exploding firework.

I can just see the scene in Heaven.

Moses: Wow look at all those fireworks down there!
God: Those humans think they can put on a show.... watch this!

Month in Review ~ January

A couple of days late with this one.

January was great! 2 weeks of it being holidays probably helps my perception. For me January always seems so laid back, relaxing and just a chill time (though with the last few weeks maybe 'chill' isn't the right word).

The one thing I haven't done all summer is go for a swim at the beach. Even though I spent a week camped on the beach I didn't swim because of the conditions, now for some reason my motivation to make the drive to the coast is lacking, and I'm content with a quick dip in the pool when it gets too hot.

New Years was great, there's no better way to bring in a new year than to spent time having a huge pig out with mates, and then playing volleyball until all hours of the morning. Though we could probably do without the fireworks going off under the deck and trying to blow us all into 2008 early.

My holidays gave me time to reignite an old passion - old episodes of The Dukes of Hazzard, I've watched the entire 3rd season, and am into the 4th (with the 5th 6th and 7th to go!!), so I've been enjoying some good times with the Good Ol' Boys of Hazzard County, and even modeled my new myspace layout after the star of the show; a 1969 Dodge Charger.

Blog wise I've been a bit lax, mainly just posting some funny videos, and daily experience... January doesn't seem like to time for deep thinking to me :-p

http://jarrolspot.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html