Another ANZAC Poem

I'll admit to having tears running down my face as I post this after reading it, I can't explain the feelings I get on Anzac Day

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Grandpa, What Did You Do In The War?
I’d been mowing the lawn and pulling some weeds, and slipped inside for a breather
I picked up the paper and turned on the news, not paying attention to either
When my grandson came in with a look on his face and a question that hit me full bore
An innocent question, no intention to hurt, “Grandpa, what did you do in the war”?

My skin went all creepy, I had sweat on my brow, my mind shot back fifty years
To bullets that thudded and whined all around, to terror, to nightmares, to tears
I was crawling through mud, I was shooting at men, tried to kill them before they killed me
Men who had wives and children at home, just like mine, just like my family.

“What did you do in the war?” he had asked, a question not meant to cause pain
But it brought back the horrors I’d left far behind in a deep dark recess of my brain
I remembered the bombs being dropped from the planes, the explosions, the screams, and the loss
Of a friend - or an enemy - but a life just the same, replaced by a small wooden cross.

The visions attacked me of tramping through jungles, hot and stinking, with leeches and flies
Of orders that seemed to make no sense at all - of distrust, of suspicions, of lies
I lived once again all those terrible storms, the dysentery, fever, the snakes,
The blisters that lived with me month after month, all those blunders, and costly mistakes.

But how could I tell the boy all about that, ’Twould be better if he didn’t know
It’s a part of my life that I don’t talk about from a good half a century ago
So I gulped, took a breath and tried to sound calm, and bid him to sit at my side
Then opened my mouth to say a few words, but the tears welled up and I cried.

He cuddled to me with a look of concern, and I mumbled of feeling unwell
Then took hold of myself, blew hard on my nose, while I thought of some tales I could tell
“What did I do in the war,” I began, then the stories began tumbling out
And they flowed with such ease I felt better again, and got over my pain and my doubt.

I told him of how I had made many friends, how I’d trained and had gone overseas
Made a joke of how seasick I’d been on the way, almost dirtied myself when I’d sneezed
I told of the joy of the letters from home, of the hand-knitted socks and the cake
That I got for my birthday but three weeks too late ’cause it went somewhere else by mistake.

We talked about mateship and what it had meant to trust someone else with your life
And of when I came home to my family again, to my kids, Mum and Dad, and my wife
Of the crowd on the wharf, the bands, and the pomp, and the pride I felt in the parade
But I’m not ashamed that I hood-winked the boy, a decision I’m glad that I made.

He can grow up without seeing fear in my eyes, or know of the terror I knew
For he’d not understand - and neither he should - all those memories that hit me anew
But maybe some day when he’s older than now, I will tell him what war did to me
But with luck he won’t ask me ever again, about wars that never should be.

Jeff Cook

ANZAC Day

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

~Lest We Forget~

Surrounded By His Love

Ever have one of those moments when you're totally washed with the love of God? Suddenly you are overwhelmingly aware of how much God loves you, how simple, yet deep and everlasting, that love is. You can be leading a hectic life, worrying about so many things, even dwelling on matters of faith when all of that is pushed aside as God turns up just to tell you He loves you.... and that's really all that matters.

Driving home last night I had an experience something like that. I'd had a real bad day - work was crap, so many things had been put upon me I really didn't want to do, and I just felt the whole work day was like trying to crawl through sticky mud. Driving home I was listening to the tunes on my iPod through the car stereo and kind of venting and trying to sort out where my life was heading.

I noticed a new song starting, one I'd heard many times before, but I didn't recognise the intro. It was a nice simple piano intro that for some reason out of all the music I'd been hearing, and not really listening too this really caught my attention.

It was a song by The Lads called "Call My Name"

Lord I have failed you every day that I remember
I've brought upon you shame, and tarnished your good name
Lord how I've betrayed you, every day that I remember
But you don't seem to care, you just love me standing here

Anyone but you, would walk away
Oh if they really knew

You call my name
You call my name
You call my name
And I'll never be the same

Nothing I can say, could ever make you turn away
You're constant like the ocean, refreshing like the rain
Lord, I want to take you as my saviour and my King
You don't ask to much, you just want my everything

Take what I've broken
I leave it all with you and start again

You call my name - I have nothing
You call my name - I can give you
You call my name
And I'll never be the same

You call my name - I have nothing
You call my name - I can give you
You call my name
I can't take this love away

Every single day
I'm carried and I'm taken by the way

You call my name
You call my name
You call my name
And I'll never be the same

The at the end they change into "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever" and then Mark Millard reads from Romans 8;

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God..."

I was totally drawn in to the whole emphasis of this song (one I'd heard many times before but has never really had any effect on me before), and God just seemed to be sitting there in the car with me telling me He loved me.

Just a simple idea, with such an amazing consequence and strong passionate feeling of warmth... God loves me!

The crap I'd been through in my work day suddenly seemed insignificant and something I could handle without much effort at all. The guilt of sin lifted, and bitterness faded away. God's love really does fix everything, it's as simple as that - we just need to be in a place to receive and understand it.

And yes - I really could sing of his love forever!

Bio-fuel? Good for the environment, bad for the people that live in it.

Saw this on Vawz's blog, thought provoking isn't it.

Weekly Photography Assignment

The assignment topic over on the Digital Photography School forum this week is 'Circles'.

Suddenly I'm noticing circles everywhere!!! Especially at the drag track on Saturday, here's this weeks submission...

Some things some people just shouldn't do

A prime candidate for Funniest Home Videos here!

The Stand

You stood before creation
Eternity in Your hand
You spoke the earth into motion
My soul now to stand

You stood before my failure
Carried the Cross for my shame
My sin weighed upon Your shoulders
My soul now to stand

So what can I say
And what can I do
But offer this heart O God
Completely to You

So Ill walk upon salvation
Your spirit alive in me
This life to declare your promise
My soul now to stand

So what can I say
And what can I do
But offer this heart O God
Completely to You

So I'll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the one who gave it all
So I'll stand
My soul Lord to You surrendered
All I am is Yours

So I'll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the one who gave it all
So I'llstand
My soul Lord to You surrendered
All I am is Yours

So what can I say
And what can I do
But offer this heart O God
Completely to You
The Stand ~ United Live

I've often wondered what "My Soul Now To Stand" means, but as I look at the song as a whole, and my mind revolves a bit around the upcoming remembrance of ANZAC Day I think I understand. I have such renown and honour for the men who have fought to keep Australia safe that I can do nothing but stand in silent remembrance of them on ANZAC Day. I feel such passion for the legacy of their heroism (even though most of them wouldn't call themselves heroes), and it really does force me to get up and stand to my feet... nothing else seems appropriate.

Translate that into your soul's reaction to the grace of Jesus and it pulls a really nice parallel I think. I love the joy of the third verse of this song, my heart always seems to float as I sing, "So I'll walk upon salvation, your Spirit alive in me..."

That salvation that's been given to me to walk upon... it gives me that same feeling as when I look at the graves on the Kokoda or see the sun rising on an Aussie flag in Gallipoli... my soul can do nothing but stand in grateful remembrance.

A little change, a big difference...

Saw this on a church bulliten board while driving round the other day....

"The price of sin has been reduced"

I dunno where they're getting that Biblical truth from, but I think it's undermining the truth of the grace of God in which the price of our sin has been paid.

The new digs

Roz and Rodney asked me to take some photos of their place and email them so they can show their family in Canada and Mexico their home

So I thought I'd throw some up here too to show you all where I'm living at the moment.






Woop, second load of washing for the day is done... gotta run...

There goes another week

Amazing how it's suddenly Friday again, my working weeks have been flashing by so quickly. This week I've had to deal with fax machines, had a Dell trade conference (which was awesome, but I'm not really able to say what it was about!), thought I was driving to Kingaroy but ended up going to Dalby instead.

So my first week out on my own has been spent mainly at work. Have enjoyed the independence that house sitting has given me though, cooking, cleaning, washing and all that... the first week has been enjoyable. Nothing too exciting or disasterous to report, had some grilled cheese burst into flame in the griller last night - I've been cooking grill cheese toast since I was 13, but I think there must have been something old on the tray that burnt enough to light up - which was a worrying moment, but nothing serious.

Good news on the Wilson front, it seems he had a tummy bug, and Mum had put his hip out giving him a bath, those two things at the same time made Wilson look like he was a lot worse than he really was. He's eating again (a lot as usual) and he's limping less.

So it looks like his days of chasing a ball are over, but at least he'll be around for some time yet :-)

Wilson

End of the week

It's been a pretty full on end of the week and weekend.

Friday I moved out of home, it's only for 4 weeks as I house sit for some friends who are travelling overseas, even so moving out and getting set up here has taken a fair effort.

The house is only 5 minutes from my parents place, so that makes things slightly easier. I went shopping yesterday and realised how much groceries can take out of your wallet. I'm really enjoying it though, being on my own, living independently and all that. I did do this 4 years ago when I lived in The Gambia, and had planned on moving out when I got home, but after being in Africa for 5 months staying at home just seemed like a sensible and right thing to do at the time. I think I've left it too long now though, I'm certainly ready to be out on my own again.

Though I called in at home today to learn some pretty sad news. It seems my dog, Wilson, is dieing. It's such a bummer, and I can't begin to explain why Wilson means so much to me. He's a 13 year old cattle dog, and I know he's old. He's been slowing down a lot in the past year, but last night he stopped eating and it seems like he can hardly walk. He ate a bit while I was there today, but he just seems to be slowly stopping.

Wilson isn't a work dog, he's a family pet. I'm lucky enough to only had 2 dogs in my lifetime, both having lived a long time. We got Wilson in 1995 as my previous dog Sol had aged to a point where we knew he only had months to live. Wilson came into our house a 6 weeks of age, a little bundle of fur, and all through out my highschool years and beyond he's been my mate.

Dog are there as well I think to teach you responsibility, and looking after Wilson really impacted my journey into becoming a man. I think now that he seems beyond all help it is the hardest thing to handle, that I've been responsible for him for so long, now I can to nothing but watch him slow down.

Some people don't really get attached to their pets, I don't know why, but maybe it's just me but I've felt Wilson has his own unique personality, slightly different to every other dog out there. In highschool and even through uni and work when things really pissed me off I use to go right down the back of our yard and just sit by myself and let myself vent. Most times Wilson would either follow me or find me out and just sit there with his head on my knee... so it always seemed he knew how I was feeling. It's those times you don't need someone to preach at you, teach you or even say anything, they just need to be there... and as shallow as it sounds Wilson was always just there.

It's hard too cause it seems as soon as I walk out of the house for 4 weeks suddenly Wils takes a turn for the worse, and suddenly all I wanna do is go back and spend every moment I can with him. Mum will do anything for Wilson, he's been her baby for the past 13 years, so he's had it good. I just hope he's not actually in too much pain, and even today he was able to get up and put his head on my knee.

I'll miss him real bad though...

Weekly Photography Assignment

Assignment: News

It doesn't matter if your Black or White.

A Michael Jackson impersonation contest turned ugly last night when a white man caused animosity by dressing as an 80's version of Jackson.

Michael enthusiasts claimed that this was not a correct portrayal of Jackson from that period and if Brisbane resident Cameron Smith wanted to enter the competition he should have dressed as a 90's to present version of the famous singer.

"I didn't think much of it," Mr Smith says; "Thriller is my favorite album of all time, and I spent weeks learning the moon-walk [famous Jackson dance move], I just wanted to be part of the show."

Official judges of the competition allowed Mr Smith to participate in the competition, but as an exhibition dress up only, even so, many members of the Michael Jackson fan club booed and threw their white gloves onto the stage as Mr Smith walked on.

The eventual winner, South African Jackson fan Lammin Moray said "it's all in good fun, but I would have been annoyed if a white 80's Jackson had beaten my original Thriller dance act."


Cameron Smith shows off his moon-walk

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P.S - so I made up the news story to go along with the assignment this week. But it sounds like something one of the local newspapers would run, with that type of photo so I thought it met the assignment with a bit of fun along the way.

The photo is of an 80's dress up night on the City North YA camp, thanks to Mostyn for dressing up as the 80's Michael Jackson, which gave me this idea...

Back in the Groove (a funky funky groove)

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago about drumming for the first time at City North. I felt pretty bad about how I played that night, a unfamiliar drum kit, playing with people I hadn't before just left me feeling like I hadn't found a groove or played very well at all.

Well we had the City North Young Adults camp last weekend (post and pics to come) and I was asked to take my kit up and play in the music team for the weekend.

It was great! Just 3 of us, an acoustic, a bass and myself. But we really rocked out! Then I was on for the Sunday night service last night so was able to use my kit straight from camp.

I played with an old mate Ben King (some may know him from bands like The Last Resort, or The Smashing Bumpkins) who worship lead. Ben has an awesome way of leading a service, and we did some good old choruses like "I Walk By Faith" and a "Celebrate Medley" (I Will Celebrate, Come on and Celebrate and Celebrate Jesus Celebrate) which we overly rocked up...

Needless to say I think I found a very funky groove last night and played really really well. It's so good finally feeling at home in a group of people, feeling accepted, and finding ways to use my gifts for the betterment of the group as a whole.

Zimbabwe in Crisis

As if it already wasn't...

But as I said in a previous post, I didn't think an election lose would be taken by Robert Mugabe. It couldn't be that easy, he wouldn't just leave.

Unfortunately it seems I was right. The Mugabe government has called for a recall of the votes... to which the opposition is apposed as they are accusing the Mugabe regime of having stuffed ballots with false votes since the election seemed to be going the wrong way. It seems a recount will give a false result, all be it hugely in Mugabe's favour.

While this is happening some of Mugabe's old stale warts of military leaders have again tried to push white farmers off their land. It seems like an attempt to throw the country into even more of a crisis and allow Mugabe to get away with what is essensually a coupe.

Pray for this nation - particulary that this diesese Mugabe would be stripped of power and order can be restored to the nation of Zimbabwe.

Paul Colman's Brisbane Show

Last Monday night I went with my father, brother, sister and brother in-law, as well as one of my brother's mates to the Paul Colman solo gig at the Princess Theatre.

I enjoyed the show - Nainby opened for PC and they did an awesome job, thoroughly enjoyed your set girls (if you read this ;-p) and Paul did a lot of the old classic PC3 songs. I did kind of feel it lacked some of the enthusiasm and spontaneity of the old Paul Colman gigs. He was still funny, sang well, but didn’t seem to improvise as much or play with the crowd as much.

But boy can he play the guitar!

He was slightly upstaged at one point though, the battery in his amp ran out and he asked the crowd if anyone had a 9volt. One of the techies ran one up, but Paul was kind of hoping someone else could change the battery in his guitar for him. He asked if anyone in the crowd played, a young bloke in the row in front of us put up his hand. Paul called him onto the stage and sent him backstage to swap the guitars amp battery. Paul proceeded to kill time with a story but Chris (the young guitarist) was back within 3 or 4 minutes with the job complete.

Slightly shocked it had been done so quick Paul commented he must be a pretty good guitarist, to which Chris replied “I am”, so Paul jokingly said “Well why don’t you play one of my songs then??”

Chris and Paul playing The One Thing

And Chris plugged the guitar in and ripped into The One Thing. It sounded awesome, almost better than how Paul had played it as the opening song of the gig. Paul’s saving grace though was that Chris, though he shredded the guitar part, didn’t know the lyrics… Paul promptly provided printed lyrics and helped him sing.

Hmmmm I admit to feeling a little jealous of Chris’ skills, and his chance to stand up and play and sing with Paul Colman.

In the end it was a really enjoyable night of music and laughter… was totally worth squeezing into such a tight venue.

P.S: Thanks to the Paul Colman forum members who have posted up some photos from the gig, I didn't get a good enough seat to take any shots. www.paulcolman.com

It can't be this easy...

Robert Mugabe has lost control of the Zimbabwe parliament following the national election this week. It seems the opposition has taken a majority of seats in the countries parliament.

If that's the case it should kick off a presidential run-off between Mugabe and Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

I say should because I find it hard to believe that Mugabe will allow this process to run smoothly or fairly. Already he is dismissing the opposition's claims of victory, in fact the results of the election would have been known on Sunday - yet they haven't been made public as yet. He has already warned this could be regarded as an attempted coupe...

Kind of shows what type of 'democracy' there is in the Mugabe government - when it look like he's loosing a fair election he claims a coupe attempt!

I pray that Mugabe goes... he is one of the worlds biggest political tyrants - unfortunately the USA and other nations don't seem to be as worried about him as they are about the middle east.

Maybe we need to uncover oil fields in Zimbabwe?

How Rude...

Walking down a walkway wide enough for 2 1/2 people - why do the people coming the other way think they can keep walking 2 a breast and make you squish up against the wall to let them pass.

For some reason it's happening alot round the office this week and I'm finding it so annoying!

Weekly Photo Assignment

This weeks topic is "My Morning"

So the idea is to take a photo that shows part of your morning ritual.

My phone is my alarm clock - it wakes me every morning at 6am... as it gets closer to winter, the darker it is at 6am... and the darker it is at 6am, the harder it is to get out of bed.

April fools

There were some good ones today.

Obviously below, Google gets into the April Fools day spirit every year, this year's was a tab less believable than other years, but the futuristic search engine did catch a few people out.

Red Symons was got on ABC Radio in Melbourne, believing that all women's events in the Beijing Olympics would be run 2 weeks after the men's.

Sydney Radio was buzzing with news that the new stand at the SCG would be named after Warwick Cappa (sorry mate not true :-P)

I think the best one however was Virgin Blue, who ran full page newspaper ads advertising No Chair Fairs... they cost half the price of regular fairs, as long as you're willing to stand for the entire flight. As a bonus if the flight is more than 2 hours long you get a complimentary calf massage.

I really wonder how many people rang up trying to get one of those :-P

So did you prank anyone? Or get done yourself today?

Inspirational Poster... makes you think.

Respect goes two ways I think

I had a great time up at Easter Convention over the past long weekend. There were times of fantastic teaching from John North and Rob Whittaker, as well as good times catching up with mates and just chilling out.

There was something that really bugged me though - and I want to blog it, being careful not to sound too offensive though...

The services at the convention had some pretty ordinary music - well that's what I though - but what I really struggle with is the attitude of the elderly people at the convention.

Personally I don't see the point of having someone special come up the front and take over the band just to sing a hymn... to conduct the congregation, wave arms around, set the timing and pitch with hand signals and stop the song every verse to give some conductive criticism. It's not the way I can really express myself to God in worship. BUT I'M NOT COMPLAINING ABOUT IT - I'll endure it willingly, because I know that's how some of the elderly people really connect with God, it's how they were brought up and it's what they know.

HOWEVER; God forbid drums start playing, or the tempo pick up in any of the other choruses. Then the old people are up in arms, complaining that it's not right, that it can't be worship, that people couldn't possibly have any purpose for playing like that.

The complains and plain whinging I heard from elderly people last weekend was on the verge of sickening. It only took 1 song, where there wasn't a standard drum beat, but more of a lead on the toms and we basically had old people sitting down or walking out of the hall. (Just to note, I wasn't playing the drums, and the guy who was did it much quieter and sedately than I would), how many hymns did we sing, how many times did we get conducted in a way we weren't use to, but did the Young Adults and teenagers complain? No! (well maybe there were some comments made, but only after elderly people had rudely commented on the other styles of music, and not directly to the elderly, or in front of anyone but ourselves).

Rob Whittaker actually took some time in one of his messages to focus on the overwhelming superstition in the church these days, that so many things are done just because. That there are things that don't really matter in the big sense of it all - and we should be able to let go of them.

It seems the young people can - but the elderly can't.

One woman my mother talked to had even left the building and was complaining the drumming was upsetting her heart! Please show me some medical proof of that one, otherwise get over the mental and emotional superstition you have and realise the only problem is in your unwillingness to allow other people to express themselves in worship.

Now I know these people are great believers, that we should respect the elderly, but what I'm saying is that I think the young people do - yet there is still the issue of older people being so rigid that it is them holding the congregation or church back.

The other thing Rob called people to was to "Say what you see!" so to not gloss over things that are hurting the church. I think that's my intention here - I'd love to see the elderly compromise on their way a service is run, just as the Young Adults have already done to still allow the older way of doing things to be a part of the convention services.

Weekly Photo Assignment

This weeks assignment is "Construction".

I thought I'd try something different.

Learning about marriage

Just out of coincidence I heard two Focus On the Family broadcasts over the last two days.

96.5 play the same broadcast at 10am and 10pm. I worked doing UPS battery testing at RACQ's two main Brisbane sites last night. I finished right on 10pm and hopped in the car just as Dr James Dobson was introducing his show. Then because of my late work last night I got up late this morning, ducked into the Ipswich RACQ branch to fix something and right on 10am hopped in the car to drive into work, hearing the follow on program.

Both were on 'The first 5 years of marriage', revolving around a new book the Focus On the Family counselling crew have put together after their extensive experience in taking calls and dealing with issues in marriages.

As a single guy I kind of wondered how beneficial it was to listen in, but I did anyway - and I kind of wonder if God had somehow woven all these events in the past few days just so I'd be available to hear these messages.

As Dr Dobson and another member of the team took phone calls from people with questions a couple of things really stood out about what a healthy marriage is all about.

• - Today's society (even the 'Christian' society) gives this impression that we will find a 'soul mate' in the sense of once we meet and find that one person they will complete, and just mix into our lives and everything will be grand. The reality is that true love is not about finding someone that just fits with you, it's about working together to become unified and one. You don't just suddenly become 'one', you have to work together and go through some stuff before that will happen. Love keeps you going through good and bad to really create that oneness over time.
• - To have a successful marriage you literally have to give up that Hollywood (or even Preached) version of marriage and really take stoke of what Biblical relationships are like.
• - It's a complete U-Turn on society today. So many people claim 'falling out of love' as a reason for divorce... it's more a case on giving up on love, and not really understanding the full meaning of love that is the cause.
• -Love is all about 'dieing to self'. Just as Christ did for us, a pure love between a man and woman will consist of each of them being willing to die for each other. That means emotionally, as well as physically (maybe not in the sense of jumping in front of a bullet, but more so in giving up something for the other). I think the emotionally one is the key, you have to have a complete change of mindset once you have a wife. Suddenly there is someone else who must be thought of before yourself.
• -Everyone says 'There will be tough times', but that's kind of a blanket statement which doesn't help at all. There are some good books out there (check out http://www.families.org.au/) that really delve into resolving conflict, and what conflict really means in a marriage.

I guess as a single bloke this is all head knowledge with no actual experience. But I think for other single people out there this gives some good advice as well, especially when you think about who it is you may marry. I mean how many single people are out there waiting for God to show them the 'perfect one'! I don't know if God does that too often... but it's through building relationships that you then grow to a point where you can decide to make that commitment to marry start the process of becoming completely unified.

Honestly I think I know a number of girls who at this point could possibly be someone I'd like to take my relationship further, but I think I need to stop waiting for the one to pop up, and maybe just focus not on building a relationship, but just sharing with people over time, and maybe finally one of them will decide that I am someone they'd like to build a unifying relationship with.

Paul Colman - One Night Only

Well I have my ticket, so now I'll advertise it to the rest of you. Only 400 tickets so be quick! Best musical concert you'll go to all year!!!

Quote

If you aim for the moon, you'll hit the fence... but if you aim for the fence you'll fall in the mud. So aim for the moon.

Arnold Baills.

Hmmm Freedom of Press... Isn't that a must for a 'just' nation???

Just looking to put a link to the Freedom Newspaper in The Gambia for that last post and it seems that the Government has shut down their website and threatened to shut down the paper if they don't stop writing about the government.

There's been a lot of prosecution of journalists in The Gambia recently - it seems the Government doesn't like all their nasty deeds to be put out there for the world to hear. Blocking a website allows them to stop the international audience from reading what's really happening in the country.

Not really the sign of a democratic nation is it?

Check out http://allafrica.com/gambia/ for news stories from The Gambia - however some of these are written by government influenced news agencies.

HIV/AIDs Farce is getting sickening.

I really feel this is my soapbox to preach on at the moment. I have a passion for the Gambian people and seeing them exposed to such prideful stupidness really hits me hard.

I've posted on this numerous times in these following posts...

Gambian AIDs Cure...
Jammeh's AIDs Cure Condemned
AIDs Patients Blaming Jammeh for Crisis

These posts started all the way back in February 2007 - and President Yaya Jammeh is still claiming to heal AIDs patients, thought it's becoming more and more obvious he's doing much more harm than good.

This article in the Freedom Newspaper on the 9th March shows a reporters first hand look into Jammeh's AIDs ward, somewhere it seems he hasn't visited himself in quite a while. It also outlines some of the suspicion the faculty have for anyone from the outside coming in.

I've cleaned up bits of the writing with [brackets] just cause you'll notice it isn't the highest standard of reportive writing. It may still sound a tad confusing, but you should get the general idea.

Two HIV/AIDS patients were finally expelled even when the women cried and pleaded with those concerned persons to talk to the president not to expel them.
One of the ladies from Brikama cried and said her children would suffer if she leaves the place.

Sources close to the hospital stated that some "toubabs" [white men] went to visit those ladies because they had been friends, during their ailments. Upon visiting them they were later asked to leave the place because they had brought people who do not believe in the president's treatment. But the white people did not have [disproving the treatment] at the back of their minds but only to see their friends that they feel sorry for because each of them have a real pathetic story.

In a separate development, the smell of the hospital is sickening. The stench shows a symbol of people dead and smelling. The place looks clean but the smell is horrible. This reporter could not bear the smell and the horrible site of [those being treated] under the medication.

Some were not looking at all well. Some had stopped taking the western medicine [anti-retroviral drugs] and their conditions have deteriorated. Looking at their situation one would say they need more food and proper medication instead of the concoction given to them. Others believe that the concoction given has created the horrible smell [and] that the President himself has avoided [the ward] for some time now [due to the smell]. The sick there need urgent attention or else the President [will] be burying more patients than he [has previously claimed].

I hope you get the idea that this treatment seems to be slowly killing HIV infected people in The Gambia. And the toubabs (white people... a name I heard quite a bit there) are treated with suspicion anytime they try and help.

Weekly Photo Assignment

This week's assignment was 'Monochrome'.

Not technically black and white photos, but one with one colour prevalent across the shot... the majority have been black and white though - and mine is no different.

I did leave a touch of the pink in it as both the vase and the wall behind it are shades of pink.

I was planning on heading out and taking some photos for this assignment, but as I was walking out the door I noticed the vase of dried wheat and took a quick shot - after a bit of editing decided I didn't need to go and look any further.

You Idiot!!

Ever have one of those moments when you think "Ahh what a idiot I am!!"... it's even worse when one of those moments ends up costing you a lot of money - or worse... 200GB of saved data!

Last night I was working on my laptop - accessing some stored files from my external harddrive. I'd worked for about 2 hours, and been periodically saving to that harddrive.

In a moment of stupidness I moved the laptop, forgetting the drive was still plugged in by the USB cable. It fell of the desk, while turned on and writing, and hit the floor hard.

My 250GB harddrive inside was instantly pulverised - and the 200GB of computer backups, videos, photos and State Youth Games promo (which I'd been working on) was lost forever. Plus the fact that drive cost me a fair bit of money - it's more the work and stuff lost that is a cause of pain!

As long as no computers at home die before I get another drive the backups won't be a worry - I'll just do them again, the videos I could get again eventually, but the SYG stuff is pretty well gone!

Just bought another harddrive online - $128 for a 400GB drive, I think that's about the same price as I paid for the 250GB drive 18 months ago... storage space is relatively cheap these days.

If only I would think more, then maybe I wouldn't cause myself so much pain.

This Week's Photography Assignment

Assignment topic = Shadows.

So thought I'd dress up as a bit of a cowboy and get the good old hat shadow sleeping look.

I think it came out alright.... I'm just glad we went to The Australian Outback Spectacular the other week - otherwise I wouldn't have had a cowboy (the Aussie kind) hat.

Burning Hot and Bright

We have a wood fire heater at home, it’s great during winter. The heater warms our entire house (and it’s a real big house), but also creates a warm atmosphere with its bright glow in the middle of the lounge room.

However the long cold months in Ipswich can take a bit of a toll on the fireplace. Usually we just keep stocking the fireplace, adding wood and letting the hot coals light it up. We keep it hot and stoked during the night, and allow it to burn down to nothing during the day. In the evenings we just add more kindling and a little paper and get it going again. However you do start to accumulate ash in the bottom of the heater.

Before winter begins, and sometimes half way through, you need to clean out that ash. Ash starts off as good healthy wood, it burns hot and the flames grow, burning bright. This breaks the wood down into hot coals, these glow hot as well, igniting more wood that you put in there, which in turn burns and becomes hot coals to repeat the process again and again. It seems like a healthy cycle of warm goodness, however; as it cools a little the coals become ash, and once it is ash it’s good for nothing. Eventually that ash fills the fireplace, and even though you can still have a fire it is slightly smothered by the amount of ash in there with it.

So it’s good to get in there and clean out the ash. That off coloured grey powder just seems so dead and lifeless as you sweep it out. It’s good for nothing, not even the garden, you just toss it away.

Then with the bricks swept and clear, you place in some newspaper, kindling and wood, light it up and get that clean warm glow heating up your house burning bright and looking fantastic.

I think sometimes our Christian lives can be like that too. We have stuff that burns within us; passions, desires, goals and dreams. Full of wonder and worship we partake in so much stuff that it makes our lives just like a hot wood fireplace, warming us and those around us.

But over time those things can start too cool, we can still have a fire in there, but it just doesn’t burn as cleanly. Theology, music, religion, service, work, relationships, expectations and just day to day life starts to turn to ash, filling us up. These things start off as good burning material, but can slowly turn into useless ash that stops us from burning as hot. We can still burn some of it in there, but it’s kind of choked by all the other stuff around it.

So at times we need to get in there, clean out the ash and sweep the place ready to place new wood. By cleaning out our lives, taking stock of everything, recommitting our core beliefs and getting back to a distinct focus on Jesus we can make our hearts ready to burn hot at bright again. New wood can then be added, but starting from a clean swept fire place that is clear from anything that could hinder the coals from burning hot.

I think I did a bit of a clean out over the last weekend. I went away on Counter Culture’s Focus Camp. We spent a lot of time in worship and prayer, just focusing our hearts on Jesus.

A teaching DVD message from Louie Giglio really started my sweeping clean out. He spoke of God’s plan, really grabbing the idea that everything is done for God’s glory and not for ours. How often do we go to church with expectations of what we will get out of it? Everything that happens, be it bad or good, loud or quiet is for the glory of God. It’s all about him – God created the world and us for his glory, that may sound egotistical, but it’s not. God is God, he knows it, so he can’t be anything but God. God is all powerful, all knowing, and almighty – if God knows that, and he is truth, then he must act like it – not out of ego, but out of majesty.

I think that really refocused my relationship with Him. I don’t think I’d had anything too bad going on in my life, I think I was just feeling choked by the amount of stuff going on in it. So sweeping everything out, and then cleaning it with the knowledge everything I do is for God’s glory not mine will allow me to start putting more stuff back in that will allow me to burn clean and bright once again.

Drumming

I played the drums at City North last night for the first time. Kind of a last minute swap with Ben, who asked if I wanted to play since I was there early enough for the practise.

It wasn't too great - I felt pretty self conscious playing, didn't have the greatest foldback, but didn't ask to have it improved and spent too much time worry about noise levels.

Plus the fact I was on a different kit (one I didn't really like the sound off) with heavier sticks just meant I didn't feel too natural playing at all.

I expect it will improve as I play there more and get to know the others who play in the band.

Weekly Photo Assignment

Well to finish off a quick session of blogging, here is my assignment photograph for the week.

The assignment was "Rivers" and I was able to find a little creek that ran out into the ocean at Caloundra. As the moon rose it gave a really nice position to get a uniquely Australian River scene.

Larry Norman Passes Away

Just read on Rodney's blog that Larry Norman has passed away at age 60.

The Father of Christian Rock was someone I enjoyed listening to, though never owned any of his albums. A few of his songs have made it onto compilation CDs I've owned, and I've always loved "Why Should the Devil have all the Good Music?" let alone the amazing DC Talk version of his song "I Wish We'd All Be Ready".

Reading on his website he dictated one last message to his brother to post to all his friends around the world.
____________________________________________________________
I feel like a prize in a box of cracker jacks with God's hand reaching down to pick me up. I have been under medical care for months. My wounds are getting bigger. I have trouble breathing. I am ready to fly home.

My brother Charles is right, I won't be here much longer. I can't do anything about it. My heart is too weak. I want to say goodbye to everyone. In the past you have generously supported me with prayer and finance and we will probably still need financial help.

My plan is to be buried in a simple pine box with some flowers inside. But still it will be costly because of funeral arrangement, transportation to the gravesite, entombment, coordination, legal papers etc. However money is not really what I need, I want to say I love you.

I'd like to push back the darkness with my bravest effort. There will be a funeral posted here on the website, in case some of you want to attend. We are not sure of the date when I will die. Goodbye, farewell, we will meet again.

Goodbye, farewell, we'll meet againSomewhere beyond the sky.I pray that you will stay with God

Goodbye, my friends, goodbye.
Larry
____________________________________________________________

Thank God for such a wonderful life, which brough Him so much glory.

Blood Diamond

I finally saw Blood Diamond yesterday. What a powerful movie. To see the situation in Sierra Leone in the 1999 wars depicted on screen was something that moved me a lot. While I lived in The Gambia I lived with a Sierra Leonian family who had fled the war torn country many years before. Steven and Helen had left their homeland and been lucky enough to go abroad and study. I also lived a little while with Helen's brother Henry who had been in the city when Sierra Leone blew up - he made it out with only his life (I don't know if he lost family because he would only mention certain things about that time).

Henry was emotionally messed up, and you can understand it after the things he went through to flee on foot the country he had grown up in.

So seeing these scenarios recreated on film really impacted me. I'd heard real life stories, and seen the lives effected by the stuff I was watching in a movie. Ironically the main African actor looked a fair bit like Henry as well.

Also seeing the side of White Africans and British people using this terrible time to try and gain wealth really disgusted me. I think this also had more of an impact because I've witnessed first hand that sort of behaviour in The Gambia.

Child Soldiers, though none in The Gambia, have always been a real soft spot on my heart. To exploit the pure nature of a child and turn him into a killer seems to me to be the most terrible thing anyone could ever ever do.

Blood Diamond rekindled a passion I have for Africa - it disturbed me greatly, and left me in tears at the end when Samuel finds his son in a RUF camp, and the son doesn't even recognise his own father.

The movie does have a very Hollywood ending though, with the family totally reunited and living in the UK. It's a shame that for millions of others this was not the case.

Pray

Ashley Cooper passed away in Adelaide over night.

Please be in prayer for his family at such a terrible time.

Adelaide Motorsports Issues

You've probably seen it on the news, these accidents get a lot of media attention these days.

Ashleigh Cooper crashed his Holden Commodore in yesterdays Fujitsu Development Series race in Adelaide.

I heard from Garry Coleman last night, things don't look to bright. Ashleigh had extensive swelling on his brain and doctors could not relieve it. This morning it's been reported he is on life support, with his wife flying in from NSW and his parents already by his bed side.

Be in prayer for Ashleigh, and his recovery (a certain miracle is he does) and for his family. Also pray for Garry and all the other track chaplains at Adelaide today as they continue to minister to officials and team members who will be affected by this accident.

Channel 7 actually telecast a segment today where all the V8 Supercar drivers and teams lined pit straight while Garry Coleman came out and prayed for Ashleigh. Praise God for the work of chaplains amongst this close knit community.

Also watching the telecast this morning there was another big crash in the V8 Utes race. Three drivers are in hospital under observation, they are all conscious and aware at this time.

Garry and his team will also be speaking with these men and their teams and families as well. Motorsports Chaplains really are a integral part of the racing community these days.

Time Off

Half way through my 2 weeks holidays and I'm having a great time.

I spent Monday, Tuesday and part of Wednesday in Hervey Bay with my grandparents. It was a good time, not always relaxing up there, but I know Grandpa enjoyed going for a drive and having time to chat with me, so it was worth it just for that. I even scored some of Grandma's winnings from a very short pokies session (we gave her 15 minutes to go and play, and she made $20 haha).

Wednesday I tripped back down to Caloundra, and though the weatherman had said all beaches would be closed, Dicky Beach had flags up and I enjoyed a swim. I found a beaut little place for the night at Moffet Beach and enjoyed a Thai dinner.

Thursday was breaky at my favourite Sunshine Coast cafe in Moffet Beach and then off to Kings Beach for a swim. Big surf, but conditions meant you just couldn't get out to body surf. So I just enjoyed the salt water and sunshine.

Friday was a quiet day back home, and yesterday I headed into Brissie to catch up with a friend and enjoyed a night out with people from City North playing Table Tennis and spending some good time in prayer.

All I can say is bring on another week of rest and relaxation!

This Week's Photography Assignment

Another week has gone by, and the current assignment is "Straight From the Camera".

So the idea here is to do no post processing, but use the camera to capture a brillient shot, and then simply post it up. No colour changing, lightening or darkening. Just raw camera footage.

My shot is actually from the same shoot as last weeks assignment, the sunrise at Burleigh last week gave me so many shots, and I love this one for the lighting of the sky, and just the peacefullness that the boardwalk and water gives.

Sweet sweet holidays

2 weeks!

For 2 weeks the worries of the IT department are not mine. That is a very sweet thing. Over the past months I think work has really been weighing heavily on me, we've had so much change; new structure, new people, new managers, new roles and responsibilities... I think I was just getting overwhelmed by the volume of it all.

Hopefully these next two weeks will give me a chance to just sit back and let that all flow by for a while, and just be me again.

I've got some good books to read, "Come Thirsty" by Max Lucado, a book on Islamic warefare by Pat Sookdheo and my continuing journey through "The Lord of The Rings".

I'm heading to Hervey Bay today, to visit my grandparents, that should provide some time laying on their patio and soaking into those books, plus hopefully a bit of photography around the surrounding cane fields and coast line. Then on my way back I may call in and see some old friends in Gympie, and then maybe a night or two at Caloundra so I can get some body surfing in.

Next week is less planned, but I hope to catch up with some friends I've neglected over this busy work time, and maybe head to the Gold Coast for a night or two for more surfing.

If you're free and want to catch up, drop me a line!

Seeya!

Weekly Photo Assignment

Topic - 'Seasons'

This week over on the DPS forum, the assignment for the week is to take a photo that emulates the season you're currently in. Most of the shots are of snow and cold things.

My shot is another reason I love living in Australia! We don't see weather like that usually, and this time of year is warm while the rest of the world freezes.

5am at Burliegh Heads on the Gold Coast. The essence of summer... the bright overload from the rising sun and a guy about to jump off the rocks for a surf! I've got a bit more of a collection from that morning, but am yet to get them processed and on flickr.



Also wait for some photos from the Whitehill Young Adults camp, and the Brisbane International Motorshow... I've been doing a lot, just without the time to blog it all.

Wet Weather Take 2

Well last night wasn't too bad - the weather was wet, and there was some minor flooding.

However the radar at the moment looks as though we'll be pushing the flood warnings a little higher this evening.

The Plunger Is Back

Reading through 5 Senses' latest newsletter and they have a great article on plunger coffee. I'm a regular plunger user at work - it's the best way for me to get real good coffee during my work day without setting up an expresso machine on my desk (though always an option :-P).

So here's a bit of the article - the last coffee I purchased from 5 Senses was that Batch #004113 blend, simply the best plunger coffee I've had.

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Folks, it’s time to delve into the recesses of the kitchen cupboards. Push past the long forgotten bread maker, the pasta machine that you used once before relegating to the back of the cupboard and dust off the trusty plunger that served you so well before it was replaced by the shiny espresso machine...

...Just about any coffee can be enjoyed through a plunger but it’s the livelier coffees that seem to shine the brightest. Think a fine Kenyan AA, a Colombian, lemon juicy Ethiopian Yirgacheffe or one of the greatest all rounders ever (apologies to Andrew Symonds!), our very own direct trade P.N.G. Or … if a blend’s more you style, we’ve combined a few classics to create Batch number #004113 especially for the plunger.

Here’s what you need;

• Grinder (no blade grinders);
• Plunger (squeaky clean — try our Incasa Stainless Steel Plungers if you are plungerless);
• Electric kettle;
• Timer (oven or microwave will do nicely); and
• Quality water.

The Preamble — Take the time to prepare your coffee with a relaxed frame of mind. Allow yourself ten minutes to get it right and show respect for the people who grew your coffee and the people who roasted it for you. Most importantly, make it an enjoyable routine that rewards you with a quality coffee that you can sit and savour.

1. Flick on a kettleful of good quality water while you prepare to grind the coffee beans. It will need to be quite a bit coarser than your espresso setting. Enjoy the aroma but don’t dilly dally. The quicker you get your coffee brewing the more flavour you capture in the plunger instead of allowing the gas to escape into the atmosphere.
2. When the kettle has boiled, throw some water into the plunger to pre warm the glass. Cold glass will suck all the warmth out of the brewing water. This also allows the water to cool to just below boiling point. A maximum of 45 seconds off the boil is what we recommend.
3. Pour out the water in the plunger, give it a quick wipe dry then add a heaped tablespoon per cup of coffee required. (This is a rough guide; you may need more or less depending upon personal preference.) Pour the water in immediately with a bit of vigour. Use the stream of water to mix the coffee and thoroughly wet the grounds. You should notice a nice bloom if you are using fresh coffee. This indicates some carbon dioxide is still present and will look like a creamy mousse like substance. If you don’t have a nice bloom your coffee is a bit long in the tooth and you need to get on the net and order some fresh stuff from the good people at Five Senses!
4. Give it a quick stir to ensure the grounds are wet, pop your plunger top on, and lower it enough to submerge the bloom and bring the coffee into contact with the water. Hit the timer and wait for 4 minutes. If you have some hot water remaining you can use this to pre-warm your cups as the clock counts down …
5. Bing! Immediately depress the plunger all the way. A little finesse may be required here. Nice and steady will ensure a clean bench top! Pour the coffee into the cup. Any coffee left in the plunger and still in contact with the grounds will continue to extract flavour and will get increasingly bitter. Pour any leftover into a thermos pot for later use.
6. Drink the coffee as you like but give it a go black or just ease up on the milk and sugar a little to let the coffee shine through. You may be pleasantly surprised.
7. Relax in your favourite chair and really TASTE the coffee. Roll it around in your mouth and allow it to coat every taste bud you have. Ponder the flavours and mouth feel, see if you can pick out anything from the flavour library in your head. See how the coffee evolves as it cools and new flavours start to emerge.

http://www.fivesensescoffee.com.au/news/2008/01/30/the-plunger-is-back

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So there you go - I'm not quite that studious in my coffee making exercise, but I can attest to the quality starting to wain if left after that magical 4 minute mark. Sometimes I make a coffee and get caught up with some work - 10 minutes later I plunge, and pay the price for not putting my coffee before my work.

Oh and here are some photos of the amazing fresh 5 Senses coffee at work in my plunger...

Wet Weather

I was woken early this morning by heavy rain falling on our roof - I think it was about 2 hours before I usually get up.

I rolled over and dozed until my alarm went off. Mum had just checked the rain gauge when I got up and we'd had 76mm in those 2 hours.

That's a lot of rain!

My trip to work was horrendous – the highways had flooded in different areas and traffic was at a crawling pace the whole way.

I’m just about to leave for the day and head home, and this is the current BOM radar image.

Looks like more rain to come.

When you need a macho American, Hire and Aussie

I'm not one to just post up a whole news article, but enjoyed reading this one. I'm sure it's not true in all cases, but the limited examples he gives puts forward an interesting point.

Heath Ledger, Aussie actors and American machismo
THE untimely death of Heath Ledger has not only robbed the acting world of one of its most promising talents, it has also robbed Hollywood of one of its Australian stand-ins for American machismo.

Never mind the trade deficit, or even Barack Obama's "moral deficit"; Hollywood is suffering from a macho deficit, and it's having to turn to what many still perceive as a land of beer-swilling, sheep-shearing men in denim to find its cowboys and cads.

When Hollywood first flirted with all things Aussie in the 1980s, it was a bit of a po-mo joke. "Look at Crocodile Dundee with his big shiny knife and taste for lager, how quaint!" laughed cinema audiences. It's no joke today. At a time when American stars have been feminised, preened and plucked, it's Australia that is providing the muscle for the grittier acting jobs.

In recent years, the impressively brooding Ledger had joined Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman and Eric Bana as a real bloke who could play gruff cowboys, lascivious bastards or any other role that required the leading man to have hair on his chest. In his breakthrough film 10 Things I Hate About You, a high-school spin on Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, Ledger looked like he had been shuttled in from another planet rather than merely another hemisphere.

Where the hairless, super-tanned jock was boringly arrogant and the geek with a crush was predictably nervous, Ledger's scruffy, unkempt and slurry-voiced Patrick Verona was a complex macho character: nasty to begin with, but later opened up by the love of a good woman. The director even allowed him to keep his Aussie accent, as if to accentuate this untidy, unruly character's exoticness amid the cardboard cut-out boys and girls of a typical high-school movie.

In later films, Ledger played American rather than Australian: his rugged down-under temperament meant he was frequently more convincing as a manly American than many of the prim and waxed US-born actors. He even played a cowboy better. In Brokeback Mountain, Ledger's tortured and mumbling Ennis Del Mar is far more believable than all-American Jake Gyllenhaal's Jack Twist. (In one scene in that film, Ledger and Gyllenhaal were required to leap naked off a cliff into a lake. Ledger did it, but Gyllenhaal was replaced by a stuntman because he is scared of heights. If you want an actor to take risks, look down under.)

In Todd Haynes's I'm Not There, in which six actors play characters based on Bob Dylan, Ledger's Robbie Clark is the most convincingly American: half James Dean, half Jack Kerouac. Among the rag bag of actors mimicking Dylan, Ledger best captures the swagger and sexism of the American male who has a 1950s mentality and is desperately trying to adapt to life in '60s America.

It is striking that Haynes employed an Australian woman, Cate Blanchett, to play the character most clearly and literally based on Dylan.

It seems even women from Australia are better than American men at playing American heroes.

Again and again, Hollywood looks to Australians to inject testosterone into a movie. Like Ledger, Crowe recently played a cowboy: Ben Wade in 3:10 to Yuma. If an American actor were to play Wade, a coach-robbing outlaw, he would first have to put on weight (and then give numerous interviews telling everyone how difficult it was to be fat) and then do some method-style research with menacing men who have been involved in hold-ups of one kind or another. Not Crowe: his jowls and his sense of menace are real, attributes of his Australian manhood.

Ridley Scott called on Crowe to play a hard, '70s drug-busting cop in his epic American Gangster. Young American actors seem interested in playing '70s crime-busters only for post-machismo laughs: think of the awful Starsky and Hutch remake. It took a full-bodied, croaky-voiced Australian to breathe life back into that old American character, the committed, flares-wearing cop, who was a staple of '70s TV shows and cinema.

And let us not forget Crowe's greatest cinematic moment, as General Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator, a role many said was symbolic of the true American values of valour and loyalty over backstabbing corruption. Hollywood, if you need an American symbol, phone for an Australian.

Australian men are called on to play Hollywood's edgier superheroes, too. Jackman's fearsome Wolverine, huge, hirsute and with sideburns to die for, is a spiritual leader. Surrounded by young men and women who experience their superpowers as mental and physical afflictions (all played by young American actors, of course), Jackman's cocksure and principled Wolverine is the natural American leader, the steady-minded figurehead of this band of freaky rebels. It took Bana to play the Hulk, American pop culture's most obviously tortured macho soul.

Part shy scientist, part raging beast, Bana played out America's crisis of masculinity on cinema screens, bringing his notable acting skills and his innate Australian swagger to a role that required him to be both wimp and whack job.

In our PC, flaccid, image-obsessed times, many new American actors seem to lack the personality and resources to play hard American, crazed American, tortured American or heroic American. Instead, Oz is having to send its young men to American shores to depict American virtue and fury. Ledger did that better than most, displaying a more developed understanding of what it means to be Hollywood than many of his American contemporaries. His death is a great tragedy for his family and friends; it has also lowered Hollywood's bloke quota.
By Brendan O'Neill
January 30, 2008 09:40am
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23131304-5007146,00.html

Tim Tam Slam

In true Australia Day style, last night we had a BBQ with nice big pieces of lamb, and with pavlova for dessert.

However the highlight of the night was watching 'the crew' try their hands at a Tim Tam Slam.

If you haven't tried this, I'm assured by Beth that it will change your life...

So check out what to do...

Crappy Work

Every job has that work or task that no one wants to do. It gets put off and put off until the unluckiest person (or the lowest person on the food chain) gets forced to do it.

Well yesterday I was in one of our offsite store rooms, and the 'crappy' work that had been put off for ages was cleaning up all the old computers, monitors, keyboards, mice and cables. We're currently in the middle of a huge PC Rollout - and since I've been running the whole thing I could have quite easily delegated the task of 'clean up old stuff' to one of the guys working on the project with me.

However while there yesterday I decided that I'd do it myself. So about 3 hours later, after lots of lifting, moving, sweating and organising our store room looks much more manageable. I even found a couple of models of computers that shouldn't have been there, and 3 brand new monitors that hadn't even been taken out of the box.

Anyway once finishing I felt great. I'd had a decent work out - but more so, I'd accomplished something quite visibly. The problem with working with computers is that most times you don't physically see the fruits of your labour. Well starting with cables strung across the floor... computers in piles of 2 or 3 right across the room.... monitors leaning against each pile; and then ending up with neat stacks of computers, lines of monitors and boxes with each specific cable in them is a real visible salute to the time and effort you've put in.

So sometimes the crappy work can be the most rewarding... if only we'd remember that when we're trying to palm it off to someone else.

Maybe more stuff would get done then????

The Final Count

It truely was a bumper day on My Jarrol Spot yesterday.

To show you in a more graphical way, here's a graph... :-P


That's a total of 59 visits yesterday.... and 82 page views. Quite a difference from the days surrounding it.

Is news.com.au credible these days?

You really have to wonder. I'm finding most days their headline articles are complete drivel - more like a tabloid site than anything else.

Their coverage of Heath Ledger's death is no different. Reading the New York Times website gives a different view of the whole situation.

The police said Mr. Ledger, 28, was found naked on the floor near the bed in an apartment in SoHo that he had been renting. The chief police spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said the police did not suspect foul play.

“There was no indication of a disturbance,” he said, adding that there were no signs that Mr. Ledger had been drinking. Nor were any illegal drugs found in the loft, which neighbors said Mr. Ledger had occupied for several months.

Police officials said that a bottle of prescription sleeping pills were found on a nearby night table, but that they did not know whether the pills had anything to do with Mr. Ledger’s death. Officers who checked the apartment found other prescription medications in the bathroom. A spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office said an autopsy would be conducted on Wednesday.

Mr. Browne said no obvious indication of suicide, like a note, was found in the bedroom.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/movies/23ledger.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

This is a much more informative, and less sensationalised version of the story - if you're only source of insight has been news.com.au then I suggest you jump over to http://www.nytimes.com/ for a more realistic source.

Heath Ledger dead in New York

Just as I was about to get to work this morning, all the Radio chatter suddenly turned to news of Heath Ledger's death in New York.

Reading the news it seems an apparent overdose. I guess nearly everyone will jump on the news of such a famous Aussie's death, and other's will say he's no different to anyone else why make it such big news.

It will get over sensationalised, but I think the thing to remember is that a life has ended, probably before it needed to - and that's a real sad thing.

The other point is that the so called image of having it all - fame, money, movie star status - is a farce. Heath's marriage had just broken down and now it's all ended in tragedy.

I'm feeling a little down today after hearing the news, mainly because of those things above - not cause I feel I know him, or feel some inadvertent connection with him - just that it's a public exposure to the horrors of living a life without Christ's love being the guiding force. It doesn't matter how much money or fame you have - "a life without Christ is a life that is never fixed" (to quote KJ-52).

Plus I thought Heath was the perfect choice to play the Joker in the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight. I love the new Batman movie series and was really looking forward to it.

Wow - This must be a new record

Well on my blog anyway!



52 visits TODAY!!!! Recently I've only been averaging 120 or so visits a week... I've almost halved that in a day!!!!

Looking through the links in it seems to be mostly people from the USA, and mainly from a link on a blogspot navbar somewhere. I have no idea where or why!

But I'm a little chuffed so many people have visited my little part of the Internet today... I know some who read this who have huge hit counts, but for me this is kinda like getting a glimps at the big time..... I ahhh wouldn't have minded a comment or two out of those vists though ya know.... :-P

Honestly struggle to see how this could happen!!

A story on news.com today tells of an 81 year old man who woke up at his own wake...

I'm really wondering how an elderly man could be put in a coffin and dressed without waking up... plus, why did they only call a funeral director, and shouldn't a death certificate been issued (even in Chille)?

I really struggle to see how this could all have happened...

Man wakes up at own wake

AN 81-year-old man in the small Chilean village of Angol shocked his grieving relatives by waking up in his coffin at his own wake, local media said today.

When Feliberto Carrasco's family members discovered his body limp and cold, they were convinced the octogenarian's hour had come, so they immediately called a funeral home, not a doctor.

Mr Carrasco was dressed in his finest suit for the wake and his relatives gathered to bid him a final farewell.

"I couldn't believe it. I thought I must be mistaken and I shut my eyes," Mr Carrasco's nephew Pedro told the Ultimas Noticias newspaper.

"When I opened them again, my uncle was looking at me. I started to cry and ran to get something to open up the coffin to get him out."

The man who "rose from the dead" said he was not in any pain and only asked for a glass of water.

Local radio also surprised listeners by announcing a correction to Mr Carrasco's death announcement, saying the news had been premature.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23083166-13762,00.html

Ghost Who Walks

A couple of times a year I buy a Phantom Comic, just for a bit of a chill out. However I do purchase their annual special every year.

In January Frew (publisher of the Phantom Comics) release a giant 10 story comic book. Usually they include the old classic stories written by Phantom creator Lee Falks. Falks was a true comic script genius, and the Phantom was the world's first masked hero when Falks started writing the newspaper strip in 1936. Falks already had the Mandrake the Magician comics in publication and his two characters have become the longest running newspaper comic strips in history. He continued writing Phantom and Mandrake comic strips until his death in 1999 (with someone having to actually finish the strips he was halfway through at the time of his death).

I loved The Phantom all through highschool, and am a pretty well-versed buff when it comes to Phantom history.

I purchased my 2008 annual special the other day but haven't had a chance to dive into it yet... I'm looking forward to it as there are newspaper strips from 1943, 1944 and 1946, as well as a series of stories from the 70's.

I love the art work of Sy Barry - and there are a few of his stories in this edition, yet another thing to enjoy.

The Phantom has always portrayed such a high sense of moral justice, characters hardly ever die (in original Lee Falks stories) and in most cases The Phantom only uses his guns to disarm thugs and bad guys.

If you have kids who like reading comics, get them hooked on The Phantom, it's probably the most wholesome comic series around!

Continued News from Kenya

Here's a post from a few days ago over on Pure Christianity. We need to continue to pray that God will provide a forgiving heart to the people of this hurting nation. Tribal racism and hate is such an indwelt and long running thing, it's something that the entire African continent is struggling with. Tie that with a HIV crisis, and Africa is a part of the world that needs our help and attention.

There are still fires burning in and around Nakuru. If you ask those that set them why? They cannot answer. Hatred needs no reasons, it just hates. Even though fires are still being set, life is returning to normal for us. Thankfully we did not lose our home or family members.

There are many displaced people here in Nakuru and the rest of the country. We have been able to feed around 300 families so far. There are many more, and we pray for the ability to help them out.

I pray for love to replace hatred. I pray for those who are killing and burning. Please see that you are hurting innocent women and children.
http://purechristianity.blogs.com/pure_christianity/2008/01/nakuru-why-must.html

Radical Works

Great sermon tonight at City North, I thought I'd write up some notes while it's all still fresh in my head.

From Luke 5:1-11 (The story of the miraculous catch of fish and the calling of the first disciples).

We need to discover how God wants to work radically in our lives, to step out of the ordinary and into a life set apart for something specifically special.

Our lives are like clay in the potters hand, God wants to build character, strength and endurance to our lives through his craftmanship, so that he can continually use us.

God is calling us to...

- Radical Worship

• Worship really happens when we actually realise exactly who God is - we become gripped by his majesty, awesomeness, forgiveness, grace and love.
• Radical worship is that point when we are so enthralled with God that we can't help but continue to worship him (look at Romans 12) - we are drawn to God no matter the consequence to us.

- Radical Obedience

• (From Luke 5) - take an example from the fishermen, who obediently took instructions on fishing from a carpenter.
• Peter learnt that day that when Jesus speaks you obey, even when you think you know better.
• There may be times when Jesus asks you to do something that defies common sense. Understanding may only come after you obey.

-A Radical Lifestyle

• (John 4) Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman - Jesus didn't do what a 'good' Jew would do in that day would do. He stepped outside of the 'norm' to reach a lady in need.
• Jesus was more interested in the person than the culture.
• It was ok for Jesus to defy some of the petty rules that the religion of the day had put in place.
• Sometime to reach a person, to show them Jesus, to live radically in Gods plan we need to put aside some things in our culture that have become 'rules'.

-Radically Depend on God

• We are only Christians because of the grace of God - not through anything we have done our selves.
• Our forgiveness is dependant on God's everlasting love.
• We can't do anything in our own strength because the basics of our faith is such a huge dependency, therefor we shouldn't try doing our own thing but remain dependant on God to do good works.
• The Holy Spirit within us is a sign and an action of our dependency - as Jesus left he sent the Holy Spirit to work through us, and to be a channel to God for us.

Jesus was a radical. He wasn't conformed to the ways of his world, but he stepped up to live a life that would 100% glorify God. Jesus calls us to be like him, and to step from the moulds of our society (and these days our churches as well sometimes) and be someone who will go that extra distance to bring glory to God in every aspect of our lives.

Birthday

26 today - feels kinda weird

Kenya

Unless you've been living under a rock you'll have seen the violent riots and ethnic cleansing going on in Kenya at the moment.

Rodney from The Journey pointed me towards this post at Pure Christianity.

I've been on a bit of a search of the blogosphere to find some missos in Kenya, and thanks to Rodney I've found a first hand account of what's going on.

The end is no where in sight. I am sure we will see the violence in the cities end soon enough, police and paramilitary units are being deployed in large numbers. This past week has left scars that I think will take a generation to heal.

You see this fight is not political. The fighting is about what language you speak. Racial hatred is the root of the problem, the faulty elections were just an excuse.

Our ministry will respond, but the scale of the damage is massive. There are at least 30,000 displaced people. New orphans have been created. Poverty has been intensified. The bottom of the ladder has just become much more crowded, not that there was much room down here before this past week.

"http://purechristianity.blogs.com/pure_christianity/"

Pray for everyone in Kenya, for those who need God's protection as their lives implode around them, for the missionaries and aid workers in the country that they can provide what is needed to get Kenya back on its feet, and for those causing all this trouble, that their hatred and intolerance can be muted by the grace of Jesus.

Lord of The Rings

As a bit of a chill out in this new year I've started re-reading the Lord of The Rings series. I have one of those paperback 3-books-in-1 volumes so means I just start at the begining and read through the Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers and Return of the King all in one hit.

I love the books (read them initially after seeing the Fellowship of the Ring in the movies and then re-read the series while I was in The Gambia in 2004), and am finding delving back into the world of Middle Earth a good downtime seeing as though I haven't taken any holidays during this summer period.

The deepness of the writing, the analogies and metaphores not only consume me into this fantasy world, but make me question and ponder our world, it's current state and the faith we put our trust in.

I've never been a big fantasy buff, but LOTR has a unique quality of feeling a direct link back to the real world. J.R.RTolkien wrote a true masterpiece, and I'm looking forward to learning new things as I get round to reading the series for a 3rd time.