LIVE Camp 06

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Myth Busters should see this

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

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

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

Kick it into Gear

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

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

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

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

Finding Animals

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

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

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

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

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

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

Online Forums

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Check them out. www.1073.com.au

Holidays

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

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

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

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

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

Left Behind

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

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

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

Keep her in your thoughts

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

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

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

Thanks

About time...

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

Merry Christmas

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

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

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

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

Remember

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Silly Season

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

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

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

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

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

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

I've just finished Bryce Courtenay's "Four Fires". It was an amazing read really delving into the life of a returned WWII veteran and his family. The story is told through the eyes of a younger son, telling of a poor family dealing with an alcoholic and petty theif of a father, the reputation of their family as the town's garbage collectors and the struggle for the family to gain the respect of the towns-people and feel some sort of self worth.

The story has many themes; woman's rights to study in the 60's, the Australian bush and it's harsh conditions (especially it's bush fires), the bias of the Prodestant and Catholic churches and their effects of their congregations, the amazingly tough environment Australian POWs had to deal with during the Japanese occupation of Singapore, and also the treatment of Vientnam Veterains after their return from war.

It's almost a 'Forrest Gump' type story as each member of the family strikes off to make their way in life and ends up leaving their mark on society, from Melbourne University to the Greek Olympics, from a country prison to the fashion streets of London, from Borneo in 1943 to Vietnam in 1971.

I love Courtenay's writing style, and how he can caputre you up a character so you end up seeing everything through their eyes.

Four Fires does raise a couple of questions in my mind though.

1 - The harshness of the town's Catholic church is clearly presented, and the local priest is a very self righteous and selfish man, as a church today though we may not be so visible in our self righteousnes, do we still give people that impression, and would non-Christians who read this book agree that today's church is still like this?

2 - Tommy (the WWII veteran) is an extremely messed up man, with all he went through as a POW he has become an embarassment to his children, and it is not until his son finally hears the story of the war from his father's eyes does he truely understand his father. Before that he simple thought him a weak, and pitiful man who didn't care about his family, but after the story is told, he finds himself proud of a dad who could handle such things, and understands some of the reasons why he has turned into who he is today - my question is, do we take that first image of someone to heart and not listen to their story to understand why they have become as they are? How can we force ourselves to truely take interest in someone, so we might help them through their problems, and ultimately lead them to Christ?

The book was a very mind provoking read, and the war story left me chilled! It's not for the faint hearted, but is a good secular look at post WWII Australia and the view of it's people on the church.

Good Times with the Good Old Boys

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!!!

I've gone Dukes of Hazzard Crazy! I saw the movie a few weeks ago, and it rekindled my interest in the original series. I use to watch 'Dukes' as a kid, and for as long as I can remember, the 1969 Dodge Charger has been my absolute dream car!

Then the other week I was in JB HIFI and saw that they've released Series 1 and 2 of the original series on DVD! Well I just had to have them, and I've watched the whole first series already. It's great! Love the car, the stories and the memories.

I'm glad however, that I saw the movie before I re-watched the series. Because at the time I thought the movie was pretty close to the original series and I enjoyed the movie. But now as I watch the series I see the movie actually takes a completely different style to what the original was. I don't think I'd have enjoyed the movie as much if I had the series fresh in my mind.

Anyway cheers to Bo, Luke, Daisy, Uncle Jessy, Rosco, Ennus and Boss Hog... thanks for the hours of fun you've given me this week!

Aussie Aussie Aussie

Finally! After 32 Years Australia is back in the World Cup. What a nail bitingly tense game! In fact I couldn't watch most of the second half I was that wound up by it. 1 : 0 all the way through the half, I had to change the channel and check back every now and then.

I watched the extra time and the shootout, and I think I truely scared my mother with my cheering as goals were saved by the Aussie keeper.

Yes I think the true hero of the night (as the commentator seemed to be labeling most of the Socceroo squad) was really Mark Schwarzer with his fantastic goal keeping, and two amazing saves in the shootout.

Bring on Germany!

The Wheels are Gone

Oh well, my friend decided to sell his car, with his nice shiny 18" wheels still attatched.

That's ok, with all the problems I've had recently I've lost a bit of interst in doing the Falcon up.

The Saga Continues

A day on… I didn’t get through to the service manager yesterday, work was too busy and I just didn’t get a chance to call.

But you would never believe what happened today. The car stopped again!! I went out for lunch, I had to duck down to the Christian book shop to pick some stuff up for my mother, and when I got back I had to unload some computer equipment from the boot. So I pulled up into the loading dock at RACQ and turned my car off. After I had unloaded the computers I couldn’t start my car.

So I had another visit from an RACQ patrolman (gee I’m glad I get RACQ membership for free!), who tells me it looks like the ignition module. Which is what Brian Byrt swapped on Monday!

After the car cools down it starts. The patrolman things there is a temp issue with the ignition module and coil. So when the car is hot it doesn’t create spark (yep sure, I’m a computer guy not a mechanic so I’ll believe him), when the car’s cold it will start ok.

So I call Brian Byrt, and speak to the manager. Talking through all the issues of the last couple of days, he books me in again for tomorrow. And said we’ll ‘discuss’ the $200 I’m down. (I don’t know what that means).

But at least the car is back under that warranty contract because it seems more work is required.

Also a bit of good news from the warranty people, I can take my car to another of their approved repairers for future servicing and work, because at present I am not too impressed with Brian Byrt service!

So tomorrow is another d-day, we’ll see what happens.

Car troubles

I’ve had the roughest couple of days. Last Friday I came out of work, and my car wouldn’t start. It’s had a few issues of late, but this time it just would not go. It was a touch embarrassing calling RACQ just to get the to come to their own car park to have a look at my car. I did learn however that as a staff member I get quick service, how good is that!

Well the RACQ patrolman told me my car wasn’t getting any spark – but he was able to get it started, and I drove it home. I left it all weekend, then called RACQ again on Monday to get it started so I could drive it to Brian Byrt Ford for its repair.

Later that day I hear back that my ignition module was dead, but it was covered under the expensive used car warranty I’d bought when I got my car. All good.

Until 10 minutes later when I had another call, the mechanic told me that due to the fact I hadn’t adhered to the warranty servicing intervals and had my car serviced in a 13 thousand km period instead of a 10 thousand km one that my warranty was now void, and I had to pay for the repair.

I couldn’t believe it. The only reason I’d left my car the full 13 thousand k’s was because a mechanic at the same place told me I could leave it for 15000. I argued this with the people at Brian Byrt to no avail and had to pay for the repair on my car. The next problem was that my $700 3 year warranty was now gone after only 12 months. I rang the warranty company and explained that Brian Byrt had told me that a 15000 service scheme was ok for my car, even when I’d asked about the 10000 k issues. They said that the model car I had should be serviced every 10000k’s regardless of a warranty or not.

I was told that because Brian Byrt were at fault that they would put my car back under the warranty contract and I will be covered for the remaining 2 years, however they can’t pay for the repair yesterday.
So at least I have my warranty back, but I’m still down $200 I should not have had to pay – I’m taking it up with the service manager later today.

What do you think?

Ok a mate at work has offered me these wheels for a pretty decent price. He even photo shopped them onto my Falcon for a look.

They are 18" Crome Wheels... look nice, but not sure if they'll fit as they are coming off a Nissan 200SX.

Tell me what you think. Thanks

Thunder on the Mountain

What an awesome experience, last weekend Dad and I jumped into his trusty Falcon and headed down to Bathurst NSW, for the Super Cheap 1000.


I have been a die hard fan of Motorsport for as long as I can remember. And I don't think I've missed a Bathurst 1000 in my entire life. But I have always only ever watched it on TV. So this year, with Dad and I becoming more and more involved in motorsport chaplaincy we thought that this year we'd experience it in person.

I must admit I didn't know how I felt about breaking the TV tradition even if it did mean I would actually be track-side. The buzz of being there quickly won me over though, and I had a fantastic weekend.

If you caught any of the 4 day telecast on TV you would know one thing about this years race - it was incredibly cold weather!!!!!!!!! We froze our sweet little Queensland bottoms off all weekend.

The racing was incredible, Saturday we spent the day tripping around the track, checking out all the corners and parts of the track which had only ever been scenes on TV or the PS2 before. We also visited the Australian Motor Racing Museum, which showcased the fantastic history of the cars I've followed and loved all my life. I think this was the biggest buzz of the whole trip.

The other side of our trip to Bathurst was to hang out with Garry Coleman and check out the V8 Supercar Chaplaincy for ourselves. We hung out in the NRMA Smash Repairs Team, who house (and feed) the chaplains. This allowed for another amazing event for the weekend, when good friends of the NRMA team Dick and Jill Johnson came to have lunch. I have been a Dick Johnson fan since he was driving his Green Tuf Falcon (and I was still wearing nappies!), so finally meeting the man in an environment so laid back and social as this was just incredible.

On Sunday we were up early to get a good spot on the start line for the start of the big race. We were there when Garry gave the opening prayer before the National Anthem - unfortunatly due to programming errors it wasn't televised. We watched the first 20 or so laps there, then checked out the pits, and moved to The Chase, right at the end of Conrods Straight. We moved around for the rest of the race. I experienced a true chaplain role when I watched a pit stop for the HSV Racing Team, and Rick Kelly stumbled away from his pit crew sick as a dog. I quietly followed him and when he was sick just near his trailer I was able to offer a bottle of water, and make sure he got inside alright. I think he was so grateful he overlooked the Ford shirt I was wearing.

Again avid fans will know the outcome of the race, and the controversial crash between Murph and Ambrose. I was back on Conrods at the time, but watching on a giant screen. And able to grab a photo of the wrecks as they came around on tilt trucks.

Overall it was a dream lived, and a totally unforgetable weekend.