Wet Weather

The sound of rain on our tin roof yesterday and today has been fantastic. I was unwell all weekend so the constant drumming of rain was quite rhythmic while I was lying in bed trying to feel better.

I was surprised this morning how good traffic on the road was. It seems Ipswich Road is terrible all the time these days, and I thought with the rain with would be chaotic. It was actually better than most days. It's good to see everyone slowing down a little and being sensible in the slippery conditions.

The one thing I did notice though was that it seems the storm water drains around the place are clogged up because they haven't been cleaned out for ages. Water was pooling on roads everywhere - it's a shame it will evaporate from there and not be used where it's needed.

Our tank is full, the grass finally has a slight tinge of green to it - and hopefully all the farmers in our area have nice full damns now too.

Praise God for his provision of rain!

Come on Channel 7

5 Episodes of the new series of Las Vegas and now you're advertising a new show at that time next week? It's only been running 3 weeks, 2 episodes the first week, 1 the second and 2 last night....

What is it with the stations these days showing the start of the season then leaving it a couple of months to show the rest of it????


I'm not watching too much TV these days, but when I saw Las Vegas was coming back I thought I'd follow the season through... Thursdays are my veg night.

I'm not too interested in the BBC documentary series you advertised at the end of last nights episode.

Off on another Work Trip.

Rockhampton, Yeppoon and Emerald this week.

Plane flight at 8:30 tomorrow morning... yew!

See you all on Wednesday or Thursday.

To those who prayed...

Thanks heaps - Brett's come through his knee reconstruction really well. He stayed overnight in hospital Thursday and came home Friday.

He's been in relatively little pain, and was able to come to Youth Group Friday night - even if he just sat around for it all.

He's on crutches and will be for weeks to come, but his spirits are high, and he's pretty mobile. It's a lot better than what we were expecting.

God is good.

My lil bro

Hey all.

When you read this today (09/08/07) can you just lift my little bro brett up in prayer.

He's in hospital about to have his knee reconstruction - surgery is scheduled for 10am.

Thanks

Was Obadiah Courageous or a Coward?

Elijah and Obadiah
1 After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: "Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land." 2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.
Now the famine was severe in Samaria, 3 and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of his palace. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the LORD. 4 While Jezebel was killing off the LORD's prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.) 5 Ahab had said to Obadiah, "Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals." 6 So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another.

7 As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, "Is it really you, my lord Elijah?"

8 "Yes," he replied. "Go tell your master, 'Elijah is here.' "

9 "What have I done wrong," asked Obadiah, "that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? 10 As surely as the LORD your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. 11 But now you tell me to go to my master and say, 'Elijah is here.' 12 I don't know where the Spirit of the LORD may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn't find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the LORD since my youth. 13 Haven't you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the LORD I hid a hundred of the LORD's prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. 14 And now you tell me to go to my master and say, 'Elijah is here.' He will kill me!"

15 Elijah said, "As the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today."


Well what do you think he was?

Positive Influence.

Alrighty then. A mate of mine Rodney Olsen has started this pretty cool little craze. So much of the blogging world is about complaining, questioning, debating and pointing out something that's wrong.

Rod wants to see some more positive stuff flooding the blogosphere. I agree with him... so he's asking people to join the 'Thumbs Up - Accentuating the Positive' revolution.

Go here to read how it works.

Well I feel led to post this blog today highlighting the Positive Influence a friend had on me last night. It was through a simple MSN conversation - on the topic of my previous post on Job. We wandered to a few different life topics and I was really encouraged by her wisdom and grace.

So thanks Amy for being the Positive part of my life and helping me grasp some of the stuff I’ve been thinking about.

Oh and just as Amy encouraged me last night – let her encourage you by going and reading Proverbs 3:3.

Job

I’ve been reading Job of late and to be honest I didn’t understand the majority of the discussion between Job and his 3 mates.

I get the general idea of the book – that even through his suffering Job won’t give up on God… but he does question him quite a bit. His three mates are convinced Job’s done something wrong, and I think overall they just miss the whole mark on who God is and how he treats people.

Then God shows up and basically says I’m the man, why are you questioning my actions Job, and you three… get your act together.

I’ve heard Job used in many sermon illustrations always as an example of someone who got deal a bad hand but kept following God.

He sure did that, but he was still such a human, down to earth character. He questions why it’s happening to him, what he’s done to deserve it – and maybe even as far as to say God didn’t have much right to do that to him.

I think that’s sometimes left out in the telling of Job, and also that God does eventually answer all his questions (maybe not with the answers Job was expecting).

Also God makes him even more well off in the end. By the end of the book Job has more cattle, more land and the most beautiful daughters around. God blesses him so greatly because of his faith.

We never seem to hear about that in sermons as well. God giving Job material possessions as a blessing for his faith. Where does that fit in our consumerism doctrines?

So Job? Some more in depth explanation would probably do me good – but that’s what I got out of reading it this time round.

Am I right? Nearly there?? Or completely off the mark???

Road Trip

Life on the road. This past week I’ve been to Gatton, Stanthorpe, Dalby and Kingaroy. I’m putting new computer systems in, which can be trying and time consuming work, but in the end I really just enjoyed the trip away.

I got to go places I’ve never been before, and drive roads I haven’t experienced before. Unfortunately I took our RACQ Commodore Wagon which isn’t exactly the most exciting vehicle to cruise the Darling Downs in, but just getting out on the road by myself makes me feel so free.

I stayed in Dalby on Tuesday night (after driving from Brissie to Stanthorp and then to Dalby (which also took me through Warwick and Toowoomba).

The highlight of my trip was Wednesday. I finished my computer set up at about 12 noon and the only other task I had for the day was to drive to Kingaroy. When I found out it was only just over an hour’s drive I decided to take a detour and head to the Bunya Mountains.


The first time I went to the Bunya Mountains was when I was 11. It was my Grade 6 camp and I loved the place. It’s funny how 14 years later I get to the Bunya Mountains park and I remember all the stuff we learnt that week on camp. I could tell the Bunya Pines from the Hoop Pines… I knew the names of the different types of ferns… I knew where I could find the trapdoor spiders but I didn’t go looking (obviously the fear of spiders has kicked in somewhere since Grade 6). It made me realise just so important school camping trips are – that Grade 6 camp is one of my fondest memories.

I decided to do the 4km Scenic Loop bushwalk, I needed some exercise after sitting in the car for so long and eating so much (RACQ paying for all food of course :-p).

I loved the bushwalk. It’s been a while since I’ve done a hike and I know 4km isn’t that long but it was perfect for the time I had (especially since I was technically still working). The Bunya Mountains are so beautiful – and the Scenic Loop took in so many of it’s different aspects… rainforests, eucalypt forests, lookouts over valleys, waterfalls, rock faces, wallabies, bush turkeys and so much more. Doing the walk by myself probably wasn’t the smartest thing, and I only passed a couple of people on the way. But I loved being out in such magnificent nature all by myself.

I did have my camera with me (as you’ve probably realised) and was able to enjoy doing some photography – and also finally figured out my remote control so got myself into a couple of the shots as well.

About 3 k’s into my 4k walk I met some school kids coming the other way, and would you believe it the supervising teacher was an old high school teacher of mine. What a place to run into one of the guys who had a real impacting role on my life while I was at high school. There was no time to chat, but it really just made my bush walk experience that little bit more special.

I made it to Kingaroy in plenty of time – and just felt totally rejuvenated. It’s been a tough couple of weeks at work, and I was in need of a break – I got it that day.

I fell in love with Kingaroy, it’s such a beautiful country town – with the big peanut silos in the middle of town, the train line, the old country pubs and wide streets. Something about the place just really grabbed me. I think if in the next few weeks I hear about a chaplaincy job or something in Kingaroy it’s God, who’s already preparing my heart by just loving the place so much.

The trip home Thursday was good too. Again I finished up the installation at about 12, grabbed some lunch and hit the road. My GPS told me to head towards Nanango then through Yaraman and down to Blackbutt, Esk and then into Ipswich. I tell you what this is the first trip I’ve done with a GPS unit and it was brilliant! There’s no worries about getting lost… I could cruise wherever and even in the remote places on the Darling Downs my GPS had me safely headed for home.

I stopped at a winery and got Mum a local bottle of white wine just as something special – they had free tasting, but I only tried the white, knowing I still had to drive home. When I think holidays I usually think of heading to the beach… but I think my next road trip may be out that way again.

I also think some of the guys at Whitehill or City North should plan a camping trip up to the Bunya Mountains for a weekend. Just a blokey weekend camping, cooking our own food and hiking would be great!

Speaking of Coffee...

I've learnt a heap about true fresh coffee from reading "Cafe Grendel" over the last year or so.

All this time I've been reading about some of the amazing coffee roasters in WA. I've been thinking how much I'd love to try some of this stuff.

Well I was poking around on the Net the other day and noticed Five Senses Coffee have online ordering. So seeing as though I've heard Grendel rave about their coffee, and also about his favourite cafe Epic Expresso... I decided to order myself a bag of Epic Blend Five Senses Coffee.

It arrived the other day and WOW!!! It's just a cut above everything I've had roasted here in Qld. Maybe it was just anticipation, maybe it's all in the mind, but even my work mates have commented on the different aroma this coffee fills our office with.

I think the key is how fresh this stuff actually is. Grendel's mentioned that fresh coffee lets of Co2, and I'm noticing this even in my plunger as tiny bubbles form of the surface while I'm brewing the coffee.

I don't think I can afford to continue a constant shipment of Five Senses Coffee for my work supply, but I think every now and then I'm going to have to treat myself, just to try some of the other blends and single origin beans!

Coffee Time

Aside from Jesus.... if you could pick any person from the Bible to spend a couple of hours sitting having a coffee and a chat with.... who would it be and why???

I'm Lost with Lost

Here's a post Scotty V posted up on No Guarentees... my feelings exactly mate

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-So, Hurley is a hero.
-Jack's Dad, Christian, is alive in the 'flash-forwards
-'Who is in the coffin?
-Who is on this boat off shore?
-Are they (on the boat) 'real' bad, 'badder' than the 'others'?
-Could the boat people be the original Dharma people or their support crew coming to find out who killed all their scientists?
-In fact who are all these people Ben teamed up with?
-Who the hell is Jacob? (some spirit man? The devil?)
-What is that dark smoke stuff?
-Is this quantum physics?
-Chaos theory?
-Fractals ?
-Why does Locke want the boat NOT to be called?
-What the heck is with Walt coming back into it?
-He is no ordinary boy, was he real, was he just made up?

From the moment we’ve met young Walt, it’s been easy to see that he’s no ordinary boy, as he appears to possess some odd telepathic powers. During Michael’s flashback, we see Walt get angry when his parents ignore him. As he snaps, the exact rare bird he had just been reading about smashes into the living room window, dying instantly. On the island, Walt often read a Flash/Green Lantern comic book featuring polar bears, until Michael threw it in the fire in a fit of rage. An hour later, both Walt and his father were attacked by a polar bear. The ‘luckiest’ man alive, Hurley, owes him thousands in lost backgammon gambles, and Walt seemed to be able to read Locke’s mind, warning him not to open the hatch.What the????

It finishes in 2010 - Hang in there folks
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Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Sad Day on Windy Hill

After 27 as coach of Essendon, today Kevin Sheedy was told his contract wouldn't be renewed at the end of the year.

It's a sad sad day when the AFL's longest serving coach is cut so blatantly.

He's the 4th coach this year, and the 3rd this week to be axed (but the only one finishing the season with his team). Do we expect too much from coaches these days, and as soon as there are some poor performances we don't give them a chance to work though but just go looking for a quick fix elsewhere.

Sheeds was at the end of his career, but the Bomber's will never look the same again - especially to me... Sheedy has been coaching Essendon since before I was born, and all my memories as a child of Dad talking about his beloved Bombers always had some tale of how awesome a coach Kevin Sheedy was. As I grew up and started following the Bombers myself (after a short stint as a Melbourne Demons fan) Sheeds was always the hero, the legend and the Essendon Bombers icon!

You'd think after 27 years a man could have been given the option to retire, and not have the whole media circus of being sacked.

Busy Times

Well the end of last week I was sent up north for a priority job. It's made for a very busy weekend because the Qld round of the V8 Supercars was on and I was there all weekend.

Coming back to work this week I'm pretty snowed under... there are things I want to blog, but by the time I get home I just want to go to bed or sit and have a cuppa.

Maybe once I get some rest.

He shoots he scores

Someone just posted this State Youth Games video... of me scoring a goal in a basketball game.

I think it was 1 of about 3 I scored in 4 games of Basketball.



Find more videos like this on WHYSPACE

Found a New Blog... thought this was great.

Linked from Steven Curtis Chapman's personal blog... I think this is one of the best 'created' blogs I've ever read... only a man with such lyrical skills could compile such a well worked blog post. I must admit I suffer a little from what he has to say, except I'm really bad at grammar so I never quite know what I'm doing.
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I told you I can't blog (Steven Curtis Chapman)

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…oh, Hi! Well, here I am attempting to blog for a 2nd day, and doing so with fear and trembling. “What is this guys problem”, you may be saying to yourself. The problem here is that I suffer from good ole’ “perfectionism” and it’s 1st cousin, “fear of failure”. Now, I actually did pay attention in grammar class (one of the few) but it’s been too many years ago and I worry about little things like whether I should be using a comma or a semi-colon (oh man, is semi-colon supposed to be hyphenated…panic, panic), should I use “quotations” (which I know I use way too much) (and I use parenthesis too much as well) (I think) (maybe). And then (now, I vaguely remember some teacher saying to never begin a sentence with “And” and I just did…see parenthesis and quotations all in one sentence…and everything inside me is screaming, “potential grammatical violation! Pull up, pull up!”)…but as I was saying, And then, if my concerns about being a poor grammarian isn’t enough, I’m always hounded by the need to pontificate in a way that is deemed profound, profluent, propitiatory. Here we go again. I'm outta time and I haven't finished the thought. More later, unless I give up completely on blogging. :)
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Thanks Rodney for the link to Steve's blog.

Comforting Promises from the Big Man

John 10:1-21
The Shepherd and His Flock
1"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." 6Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

7Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

11"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

14"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

19At these words the Jews were again divided. 20Many of them said, "He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?"

21But others said, "These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

Blog Titles.

Do you sometimes spend more time thinking of a title for your blog post than you do actually writing the post? I have a hard time thinking of stuff so often... especially that last one.

Is who I think I am, who I really am?

I watched Batman Begins the other week. I love it, the way it’s got such a realistic feel as opposed to most comic book hero movies…

Anyway; there’s a part in the movie that really hit home to me. Katie Holms’ character is standing in front of Bruce Wayne as he’s wearing his expensive suite and driving his Lamborghini Murcielago and he looks at her and say… “All this isn’t me, you know who I am inside”

Katie replies; “Bruce it doesn’t matter what you are inside, it’s your actions that depict who you really are.”

Later on Batman has just saved Katie’s character again and as they stand on a rooftop Katie asks; “Who are you under that mask?”

Batman says: “It doesn’t matter who I am under this mask, it’s my actions that tell who I really am.”

What a parallel to our Christian lives… mine in particular. I mean we all profess to be Christians, but how many times do our actions point to something else. We say, “It’s ok I’m a Christian” but it is what we do that really depicts who we are.

I’m convinced so many of us truly think we’re Christians, but our lives don’t tell the same story, yet we are so blinded by our thoughts, we think we’re doing great, but when it comes down to it, do we really care what Jesus said how we should live our lives???

Now I’m not standing on a soapbox calling looking down on all the people around me. I’m taking a good look at my life, and seeing so much of that crap in it that I feel totally unworthy and ashamed of my heritage in Christ.

In a way I feel a need to apologise to you all, especially those friends of mine who have spent time with me lately. I haven’t been a true depiction of Jesus. Maybe outwardly I’ve seemed ok, but I’ve been struggling with so much. I’ve let that get to me, and eventually I know my actions have not been showing Jesus through my life.

Sometimes it’s the people who seem to have it all figured out who are struggling the most. I think most people think I’ve got most of life covered, so turn their attention to others who seem to need the help more. In the end I’ve been left feeling like I have to look after everyone and no one really cares what’s going on with me. I know I should be stronger, but in a way that’s lead me to let things in my life crumble away more and more.

Even at WEC Camps this year, I didn’t feel a Holy fire which for so many years has burnt inside of me. I think finally my outward actions have effect that person I am inside. I still pray, I still talk to God and have a relationship… all that’s who I am. But I’m not ministering and doing anything with my actions to affirm that.

I really don’t know what to do… I’m in a bit of a lonely place at the moment. To be honest I’m not feeling 100% at home at Whitehill anymore. I can’t say exactly what it is, but for a long time I’ve been feeling drawn away from there… I feel sometimes when I’m there that I really am an outcast, someone who doesn’t belong… my thoughts are plagued with “why am I feeling like this” and then I can’t really get into anything that’s going on… which causes me to feel even more outcast. It seems a vicious circle that I’m spinning in.

I’ve been going to City North Baptist more frequently these days as well. I love it there… contrary to many comments I’ve heard from people at Whitehill and City North I haven’t church jumped in the pursuit of a young lady (which seems to be the first though anyone has when a young guy goes to another church)… I was attracted to City North because of the passion I saw there. In their music, in the pastors messages, in their mission group and in the young people and young adults I see a vibrancy of passion that I’d love to connect with.

But I don’t feel home there yet, and I don’t know if I ever will. A Sunday service every two weeks isn’t enough to get totally involved, and sometimes I wonder if some of the people there just think I’m clinging on to something and not really committed to anything they do.

Because I’m sort of in this limbo place, it feels pretty lonely. I wouldn’t have anyone I’d consider a close close friend, someone who I could really have a honest and open chat with to find where I’m at. Truthfully I’m not sure I’ve ever had a guy friend I could do that with… and maybe that’s what’s making this time hard for me to get a grasp on.

Sometimes I wonder if I need to move totally away… make a totally clean start somewhere new. That could be commit myself to Bible training and just head to the mission field in Africa again, or it could mean just moving out of home, into Brisbane and trying to get a handle on this life I’m living now. I want to be Batman, not Bruce Wayne… I want someone to look at my actions (maybe not knowing who I am) and just know that work has been done by someone who loves Jesus.

This is pretty personal stuff, and yes you may wonder why I’m posting it where everyone can read it… well as I said I don’t really have someone to go and talk it all over with, so I’d like some prayer from everyone who reads this.

You all know what’s going on now, so all I ask you to do is pray.

Thanks

It's all true in the Old Testament

Well it seems some scientists have found proof of a part of the OT.

THE British Museum yesterday hailed a discovery within a clay tablet in its collection as a breakthrough for biblical archaeology - proof of the accuracy of the Old Testament.

The cuneiform inscription in a tablet dating from 595BC has been deciphered for the first time - revealing a reference to an official at the court of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, that proves the historical existence of a figure mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah.

It is rare evidence in a non-biblical source of a real person, other than kings, featured in the Bible.

The tablet names a Babylonian officer called Nebo-Sarsekim who, according to Jeremiah 39 was present in 587BC when Nebuchadnezzar "marched against Jerusalem with his whole army and laid siege to it".

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22060312-2,00.html

I have no doubt the stories told in the Bible, and specifically the Old Testament are true historical events. When I was in high school I had an Anglican Father teach us RE, he started by saying the Bible was a book stories and fables and that we had to understand the Old Testament was like a book of fairy tales, stories which and made up but were written to illustrate moral lessons.

I had a fun year with him, and grew in my knowledge of the Bible as I constantly tried to correct him on his obvious false teaching.

Anyway, I think because of that background, I find it really heart warming when a totally non-Biblical based study proves events in the Bible actually happened.