Ryan on loving your enemies:

"If vengeance is a currency then someone has to come up empty handed."

I thought it sounded quotable so I quoted it.

Helen has lent me her car for a day or two so I can get around. It's very nice of her. Now I won't have to contend with nearly so many buses.

Thanks Helen.

Train's the way to Go

I had to catch public transport today to and from work. From the time I first left work for home it took me almost an hour and a half to catch a bus. I read timetables wrong, other timetables were wrong, I waited at bus stops where there were no buses, missed buses and had late buses. I'll tell you, I'm not smart enough for buses.

Birthday

It was good. I spent a lot of time with people today. Presents with Parents and Hannah, coffee with Kaye, lunch with Jamie, Kid's Club with Kids, Youth Group with Youth, dinner with the leaders. It was real nice seeing so many people.

I think spending my birthday night with the youth group was lots of fun. We launched the year and it was smashing. We played games, had a laugh, prayed, sang. It was a good way to start the year. I really do love being a youth minister.

The leaders went out for dinner afterwards, which was also fun. I do like the leaders.

The day has ended on a rather sad note. But it's not news for the blog.

I am happy for the Gospel.

Thinking Big

I ate breakfast with Mil today. That was fun. I was walking home today after visiting the bank and reading in the Library, wondering what the big thoughts are that I'm thinking at the moment.

Incarnational Evangelism

I've been thinking about Evangelism and how best to do it. I've been listening to a series of talks that Mike Frost gave at Cooma 2002. He's talking about the need to do incarnational evangelism. That means doing evangelism where you go and join people in their lives and culture rather than inviting them into yours.

Which is in many ways the opposite of what we do in my youth ministry. We get people to invite their friends into the culture/community that we have created. When people are immersed in a loving community they'll want to hang around. That's the idea. Frost says that we should go out into the communities of non-Christians and live like Christ there.

Which is also part of our strategy. We designed a ministry that tried to free people up so they can participate in the social lives of their peers. We don't have small group go too late on a Friday so people can go to parties. We don't provide a full calendar of social activities so our young people are building social lives with their non-Christian peers, we hope.

Then again, Frost also says we should be building our own social "nets" outside the church to "catch" people in. I guess in some ways to a degree we also do that.

Anyway, it's been challenging to keep thinking about how to best to do evangelism. It's a challenge to work out how best to connect. I think probably we need to find a combination of both being "out" and inviting "in". Because without both we probably don't have the ability to meet all types of people and all types of needs.

What has interested me is the challenge to make sure I'm not living in a Christian bubble. To be living with people who aren't Christians, joining their clubs, drinking where they drink, eating where they eat. We should not just be where they are, but building relationships with them so that we can love them as Christ would have us love them. That is definitely something I am up for. I need to be making space for it. I wonder if there is a movie watching club in Sydney I could join. I love movies and then I might meet people who also like movies. And we could be friends that'd be fun.

It's always interesting thinking about evangelism and how when you talk about it often feels like you have relationships with people who aren't Christians purely because you want to convert them. That shouldn't be the case and more huge amounts of Christians it's not the case. I want to meet more people who aren't Christians because they have all the same potential to be my friends as Christians do. In fact in many ways I'm more interested in being their friends because Christians are a little boring. We have too much in common. I know too many of them already. Although I love them all.

Oh well.

Images of Salvation

I'm also thinking about images of salvation, themes of redemption, stories to invoke a yearning for wholeness.

We're working on the story for new Breakthru' Artz major project. I've been having images, scenes and scrapes of stories floating around my head. I want to figure out how to create a theatre/film/dance piece that creates a space for the Gospel to be told. I want to find a way to tell a story that will stand alone, but will create a resonance in people when they hear about Jesus. It's a hard task to do. At the moment I have things I want to do, but I'm waiting for the magic that brings it all together or creates something new.

But then, my idea may not be used. Matt and I are both coming up with ideas so we could use Matt's.

Boxing

I'm also thinking about how I might be able to go see the Anthony Mundine and Danny Green fight that's on during Soul Survivor. It's looking difficult at the moment.

I just finished my mail out. Only 1 day and 6 hours later than I'd planned.

Monday night was made for TV.

This Given Sunday

It was my first Sunday back at Church today and it was a good one.

I was commissioned to tell a story before the sermon this week. Originally Beck had been asked to do a drama about a military camp, but that evolved into me telling a story about my male science teacher in year 8 who I thought was pregnant. It was a little weird, I stood up and told a story before the sermon. It was kinda like Sally had outsourced a sermon illustration. Oh well. People seemed to like the story. Especially the 10am crew.

I went to lunch with the Young Marrieds (and soon to be marrieds). They're a fun bunch. Smart, mature, funny. I enjoyed myself, and felt rather young.

I went to the Pub before Church tonight with Matt. It was good to have a pre-Church beer. I think I might change the location for youth group to the Pub. I'm sure its popularly would soar.

I did my story for Sally again at night in Church. I also got to do the announcements. I'm never sure if I do a very good job at telling information, but it's a good chance for a bit of silliness, and what's church about if not silliness?

Sally preached well today. Both services.

After Church I visited Maccas with the youth. The great thing about being the Youth Minister is that you get to hang out with the youth. They're all good fun. Maccas with the young people is always a highlight.

I'm looking forward to the year.

"Violence is the last resort of the impotent."

Many have said it. I wonder it it's true.

I doubt it.

Munich

I went to see Munich with the boys.

It was a good movie. The movie was rather brutal. It was violent and it wasn't dressed up and polished. It was mostly un-Speilbergish. It was shot quite gritty with a lot of handheld, high contrast shots. Unlike his usual squeaky clean style. Although I like Spielburg in all his forms.

It was nice to see Spielburg asking questions, and answering them more quietly than usual. There was plenty of time given to the Palistinians as well as the Israelis. The terrorists were humanised. And the Isrealis often seem just as terrible as the Palistinians. There was one bit where the Prime Minister said: "Every civilisation finds it necessary to negotiate compromises with its own values" which led Israel on a trajectory of violence, assassinating the people who hurt Israel. Israel would not compromise on having its power threatened, but it would compromise on the values that give legitimacy to that power.

I found it interesting that in the last scene of the film was shot across the river from the UN Headquarters with the building in the background while the characters talked in an overgrown playground probably symbolising lost innocence. And the very last shot was of the twin towers. As if Steven was saying “We need to work towards peace because violence just gives birth to violence.” Really he wasn’t saying anything new. But as is often the case with truth it gains more currency when you have gone on a journey to find it.

“We are supposed to be righteous.”

From Joshua

I just got this email from a person called Joshua:

Hi there lovely,
I was searching the net few days ago. I am new to this thing.
and saw your profile. I decided to email you cause I found
you attractive. I might come down to your city in few weeks.
Let me know if we can meet each other in person.
I am attractive girl. I am sure you won't regret it.
Reply to my personal email at nice@free4mail.info

I don't want to meet any attractive girls called Joshua, especially with such bad English. Joshua might steal my kidney.

Martin is Hot

Happy Birthday Sister Jo for yesterday.

I said it to her yesterday, I just didn't blog it.

Bad Brain

I used to never forget appointments. In the past five weeks I've forgotten to turn up to a store I volunteered on, forgotten a production team meeting in Chatswood, I've almost turned up to a camp meeting on the wrong day and I forgot to turn up to a Kid's Club meeting today and took the day off instead. I don't know what's wrong. I used to do so well. Now I'm flaky and keep letting people down.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

I figure it has happened ever since I started using my organiser. Now I put meetings in my phone and so I don't put them in my head. If I don't put something in my phone, it doesn't happen. Bum.

Quiet

It's been rather quiet in the office today, which has meant I could make it loud. I've spent most of today listening to music. It's been nice. I do like music.

I've also managed to send 17 emails which could be a record for me. Probably not for others though. Not for email freaks. My office is also looking even cleaner than yesterday.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

I have to go to bed soon because I have to go to work tomorrow. I went to work today too. Wow, two days in a row I'll be at work! This full time work thing, I don't know, it's like being back at school. After 6 years it feels like the holidays have finally ended.

Or maybe it felt like this 4 weeks ago before I went on holidays. Not quite sure, it all kinda blurs into one.

Yesterday I did manage to spend most of it lying around. I finished my book Preaching Without Notes which was mostly a waste of time. For all you budding noteless preachers out there, I'll sum up all 132-pages for you in a few easy steps:

1. Write Lots of Notes
2. Write a Sermon Outline
3. Memorise it
4. Rehearse it
5. Preach it

Anyway you can borrow it off me if you want. The people who visited Amazon liked the book, so that's ok. I'll let them like it.

I went back to TCBC last night. It was fun. I felt rather comfortable, except hot. I missed my church though, going to church makes you miss church. I wanted to go to maccas and hang with all the youth.

I almost didn't go to church last night because I was feeling lazy. It occurred to me "Sometimes this is how people who don't work for the church feel." I felt almost like a normal person.

During church the guy beside me said "Is this your first time?"

To which I replied "Second"

"Well you're onto a winner" he said

I think he thought I'd joined the church. Or perhaps it was his subtle way of getting me to join. A good try too. Unfortunately my church will pay me a couple of thousand dollars more to attend theirs.

After church we played a bit of Balderdash. And I watched the cricket. I got rather excited. I'm not sure I could sit through a whole day of it, but 30 mins worked quite fine, even if we did get demolished.

Today at work I had lots of meetings, tried cleaning my offices but made it messier, and a had a planning meeting by myself which made me appreciate that planning with another is more fun than planning alone.

Which reminds me Happy, Happy, Happiness to Helen and Jon for their lifetime ring exchange program. Well done! I look forward to coming over for vegetarian barbies!

Lazy Days

Today I've decided to have a sit/lie around kinda day. I'll read books, type stuff, eat stuff, listen to music. And tonight I'll go to church.

It's the last day of holidays so I figure I should try and do very little.

I watched the making of Batman Begins (what a cool movie) today. That's a good dvd that one. So much juicy bits. I throughly enjoyed myself.

I'm so happy to see summer has come back. Hooray for the sunshine!

Dancing after Breakfast



Dancing after breakfast should be done regularly. You look stupid, but it's good for digestion.

High Productivity High Country

I'm off to Katoomba today. Mitch, Graham and I are going to visit Gus the Animator Newsagent Manager.

I've had a very productive morning. I rang up about getting deaconised, rang my Big Sister Big Brother case worker and applied for an ABN. And now I'm off to eat a lonely lunch in the food court before Graham arrives and we head for the hills.

The great thing about going on long drives is that I've developed a habit of burning mix cds for the driver. The driver may not like it, but I have a good time.

Sometimes life feels like many small victories and big defeats. The defeats are always with you, but the victories you must look back to find.

Yesterday Hannah and I went to Hungry Jacks in Dural for some afternoon tea. She thought it was lots of fun. We had the whole restrurant to ourselves. It was good but the food wasn't.

Perhaps today we'll go up to the park and play with my remote control car.

Actually while I'm on the topic of movies, I'm real excited about X-Men 3. Wolverine is just the coolest. Who wants to be his best friend? Me!

I watch Murderball tonight. It was cool. It's about Wheelchair Rugby in North America. Most of it is pretty sporty and macho, but they followed this one guy who was a new paraplegic to show how he coped with it. He wasn't too happy until he was given a chance to have a go in a rugby wheelchair and his face lit up. He was so happy to find something good about his new life. It warmed my heart.

I'm not actually quite sure what a "dirty ripper" is, but I like the saying. I think I might use it. Except perhaps it sounds like "dirty stripper".

Chris told me a rumour last night that Peter Jackson is planning on releasing two more Kong films. It was a rather depressing idea.

Thankfully I Googled the web high and low and found nothing about it except for a few fan boys having an intense discussion on discussion boards (who would have thought!)

But now I have gotten to the bottom of it. Here is the source. My old friend Harry. Harry at Ain't it Cool used to be a daily read for me. Now I'm rarely there. Anyway, notice the date of the post and then you'll understand the reason for the rumour.

In other news The Superman Returns Video Blog is a dirty ripper. It's fantastic. I want to make films!!!

Hooray

Sony has just joined iTunes

Camping

Going on camp with a youth group who you don't know is a little daunting. Especially when they all know each other. You feel a little like the odd one out, which I was. But it was ok.

The camp was fun. The young people were all aged between year 8 and 11. They were a good bunch, fun and friendly.

I did a series of talks which were adaptated from the series I did in June last year (which I am about to start posting on the Preaching Blog). People seemed to be happy and challenged. It was hard adapting for a smaller group (about 30) as you have to be less note reliant. So I spent a lot of time speaking from memory.

On the Sunday Night we had our Gospel night. On Sunday afternoon I felt like I should prepare a new talk instead of doing the one I had planned. So I quickly put it together using old stuff and new stuff. It was a little stressful, but I felt calmer about the talk when I had done that. I guess that's what you call listening to the Spirit.

The night went really well. After a night of worship, speaking and contemplation, of the young people that were there all but one of the them came down the front for prayer. By the end all but one or two of them were in tears. It was a pretty special experience, you can't ask for a much better response (not that I'm claiming the credit!) I felt privleged to have been there.

The camp had high ropes and a giant swing. They were lots of fun. I'd like to do more high ropes and go as fast as I can. That'd be cool. Perhaps I'll build my own high ropes course with all my fantastic construction skills.

The youth group had been to Soul Survivor last year. It was funny, some of the campers were pretty impressed that I was Donny Jaffa. When I sat next to one of them at breakfast they said "I'm sitting next to a famous person." I enjoyed that. Although I don't think she really thought I was all that famous. One boy asked me "If your famous, how did they get you to come on this camp?"

Now I'm home and happy.

I was going to blog well tonight about the camp but now it's late and I want to lie in bed.

I did watch The Contender while having an extended stint on the couch tonight. It was fun. Boxing reality tv show. That's what we need more of. Apart from the silly "drag a log up a hill" challenge I enjoyed the show. I would have liked it to have been more documentary and less "reality" (it's funny how reality means gripping music with people doing things they would never really do in a hyped up American-network TV way). I would have liked to have seen the full fight rather than the edited highlights, with lots of Rocky-esq slow-mo. Anyway, I shouldn't complain, I enjoyed it. I like boxing.

I'm home from camp number 2 now.

I'll probably fall asleep on the couch now and be buzzing later. Then I'll blog.

Big Spiders Break Legs

A 19-year-old leader on a camp at the campsite I was at last week for Dirt Bike Camp has broken his leg trying to kill a Huntsman Spider. He said it was the biggest spider he's ever seen. SMH worte a story about it.

I saw that spider, it lived behind the exit sign in the Dining Room. It was big, it scared me. We all put in effort to keep the thing alive. But now it's dead. Poor spider. I hope the guy's leg heals.

I don't know why we need a news report about it.

Library, Bullet and A Collapse

Ryan and I went to the State Library today to work on my new website.

I've had a plan to create a website for a few months now. I've often found that I'm at work and I have to find a speaker for an event but I can never find a speaker, or if I do find one, I don't know what they're like. So to solve that problem I've decided to make a website. It's a site that Christian Speakers will sign up to and upload a sample message of theirs. Then people who need to find speakers can go to the site, read their profile and listen to the sermon. If they like it, they book the speaker. It's like online dating except for speakers and people who need speakers.

Anyway Ryan and I sat in the Library (an Gloria Jeans) all day and did that. He did all the technical typing, I sat next to him and read magazines.

I bought Green Day's Bullet in a Bible today with a gift voucher. It's fun.

On the way home from the City a man in my carriage collapsed. I was in the front carriage and it was packed full. At Milson's Point station I noticed a commotion behind me and I looked down and saw a man's arm on the floor and thought "This train is so packed, it's a bit rude to take up space sitting on the floor like that." But when I looked better I saw a man very uncomfortably sprawled on the ground. People started saying "Stop the train! Stop the train!" So a few of us jumped out and started waving at the guards. They looked at us funny and closed the doors. We kept waving while other passengers held our doors open.

A man who was sitting on the platform said "Should we get the driver?"

I thought "That's a good idea" and ran to the driver's window and knocked. He got up out of his seat and opened his door. "A man has just collapsed in our carriage!" I said. He came out to have a look but by this stage the man was being helped off the train. He was sitting down while people were crowding around. He was saying "I'm alright, I'm alright." At this point a lady who had been on the train with us offered to stay with the man, he kept saying he was alright, so everyone piled back onto the train. I was the last on the train and the guard closed the door on me. My bag got squashed.

Diaspora

My holidays haven't been all that holiday like. I've been spending most of my time doing work for camp or being on camp.

But when I have had time to do things with firends it's been hard to find friends. Hornsby is has leaked lots of my friends to other suburbs, cities or countries. Meeting up with firends takes a lot more effort. So when you think "It's 9:20pm I might go and see a movie at 9:30" There is a lot less chance that I'll have friends around. That's why I'm moving to Newtown.

The last week of the year was easy to find friends though. I think people were on holidays and around. It was good. Did I mention that I saw 52 movies last year. I managed it. That last week had 5 movies in it or something, but it was good. I made it.

Right now I'm burning a cd of all my iTues songs so Howie can have them on his lappy.

I managed to find more things to do today.

On Monday I went and saw Broken Flowers with Ryan. It was my first movie of the year. It was good. As Bill Murray has gotten older he has certainly done the wine thing on us. It was a funny movie. It was slow too which meant that I had plenty of time to contemplate the symbolism and stuff. Made me feel smart.

I'm doing a really bad job at doing anything today. It's 2:30pm and I haven't eaten breakfast yet.

I have installed some programes and mooched around on the net. But other than that, I've been a bit of a disappoint really.

In a few weeks I'm moving to Newtown. I'll move out of this house that I've lived in all my life and into a 5 bedroom house with 7 other people. I think things may change a little.

I'm also going to get my first car in the next month or so and I'm going to start my first ever full time job (or at least go full time in an old job).

I haven't had this many changes since puberty.

Dirty Week Ended



I'm home from Dirt Bike Camp. Pwoah! What a camp. It was one of the most full on camps I've been on. We were in a meeting at 6:45am every morning and we didn't stop until about 10pm every night, no breaks. Spending that much time with boys in years 5 and 6 is a very long time.

Actually I had some breaks. There were days when I would take a session (3 hours) off to work on my talk. But it doesn't take 3 hours so I would have to sleep to fill in some of the time. Although I didn't get to do that too much.

There was lots of dirt bike riding. About 3 hours a day each in two sessions. My job was usually Crowd Control which means that I sent riders of from the waiting area to the bikes. It was fun. My conversations with the boys would usually go something like this:

"What do you want 80 or 100?...80...You're a 100? Ok... Right you take the 100...No you can't take the CRF, take the XR...Take the XR! Go!...Get yourself a helmet then you can go...You take that 80. Go!....Oi! Come back here. Did I say you can go? Sit down!...Now you can go...Ok. There's an 80. You want an 80? Go!...Who here wants a 100?...Get yourself a helmet than you can go!...Go take the 100! Now, Go!"

It was fun. I may not have had the most highly skilled job on the course but I reckon I had on of the most mentally challenging. Everyone else just had to ride a bike or watch a track. I had to juggle everyone's bike preferences, watch the bikes, mediate in the fights, discipline the people who misbehaved on and off the track, have conversations with the kids, mediate between kids and leaders, and make sure everyone got on a bike in as swift, orderly and safe fashion as possible. I enjoyed the challenge.

I did a little bit of riding. On Sunday I learnt how to ride for a few hours. I wasn't very good, the whole clutch, gears, throttle, hands, fingers, feet, brains things didn't quite gel with me. But I got better.

On Tuesday I rode a second time. I was up to a Level 2 track by that stage (out of 6 levels) and I wasn't doing very well. By the end of the session I had the track pretty much down. I decided to have one more circuit before I moved up a track. I was doing a hair-pin bend in what I thought was 2nd gear but turned out 3rd. I put in too much throttle. Instead of going around the bend I rode straight off the track, up a dirt wall and into a fence. I put the front wheel of the bike straight through this wire fence. The bike got stuck completely in the fence. When the rest of the riders found me they laughed profusely at my feat and the head bike man told me he had never seen a leader ever do that well with crashing a bike before.

I didn't ride after that. Not cause I was scared ,more because I was lazy. I was too lazy to have to learn how not to ride into fences. I figure I'll do that later.

Bikes are a little dangerous. We were very blessed we had so few injuries. Only one kid finished the camp with a broken arm and finger. Other than that it was just a few scrapes, grazes, bruises and sprains. I cut my finger too.

The weather was terrible. It was so cold some days. After Sunday's scorcher, it was freezing. I was wearing two jumpers on some days. It was like winter. I wanted my money back.

My talks (which is what I was there for) went pretty well. I put in effort to make appropriate illustrations for young boys which meant farts, poo, pus, cars and crime. They seemed to like that. And they seemed to respond well to the serious bits too, which is more important.

All up it was good. The kids were great. There were times when I was reminded of Lord of the Flies and was very glad that we leaders were around to stop another Piggy incident. But mostly they were just fun. Lots of very friendly guys who I enjoyed hanging out with. It was great to have an all male week with lots of macho stupid stuff, silly jokes and 12-year-old guys trying to beat you up. Out of all the leaders I certainly felt rather un-manly being unable to ride a bike properly and the only one still on a lower bike skill level at the end of the camp than the majority of the campers were. Oh well. They were a good leadership team.

I'm glad I did the camp. Maybe I'll learn to ride properly this year. That'd be fun. Right now I'm stuffed.

Happy New Year

Ya' bunch of blog readers.

I'm off for a Dirt Bike Camp. No introspection from me, just petrol and speed. Yeehaa!

I'll see you all when I get back.

Stuck in a Moment

I'm going on Dirt Bike Camp for boys in years 5 and 6 tomorrow (8am! Ahhh!) and I'm the speaker. Over the past week I've been writing 5 talks. It's an odd experience writing 5 talks at once. It's daunting, hard, unrelenting. You just get lost in this world of a never ending cycle of "point, illustrate, apply, repeat, point, illustrate, apply, repeat". It's so hard thinking of illustrations all the time.

When I planned it I thought "Oh I'll just rehash some talks, make them for a younger audience, cut stuff out, easy" But I've found it's not that easy. I'm basically rewriting the old ones from scratch and writing some brand new ones.

Oh well the end is in sight.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Yesterday Jo and I bought our tickets to Europe for next year. Yeepah!

I have no savings.

Did you know that it was a Belgian priest who first proposed the Big Bang theory?

It was. His name was Georges Lemaître and he did it in 1927. I think that's cool.

From here.

I forgot to say, I thought the White Witch in Narnia was excellent. She was the best character of them all. So well done. So vicious. Tilda's the bomb!

I went and watched Good Night, and Good Luck. today with Ryan, Libby and Lesley.

What a great film! It's about Ed Murrow who was a News Reporter with CBS in the 1950s. He did a series of reports on Sentator McCarthy during the height of his communist witch hunt. I first read about him in February while sitting in a park in Croydon reading my book Tell Me Know Lies. I thought he was pretty cool then. The McCarthy witch hunts have always interested me, ever since studying The Crucible in school. So it was fun to see McCarthy and Ed Murrow (or at least an Ed Murrow actor) do their thing.

The film is a very pointed critique of the erosion of civil liberties which is currently going on in the US. I thought it was interesting that The Crucible was written about the Salam Trials as an allegory of what was going on in the McCarthy era. Now the McCarthy trials are being used to take a shot at what's happening now. I hope they make a film about what's happening now in the future to have a go at their contemporary issues. Although if we have to wait 300 hundred years (as was the space between The Salam Witch Trials and The Crucible) I may sadly miss the film.

But all that said, it was good, well written, well acted and smart. The film reminded me a bit of Fail Safe but that may have just been because it was shot in black and white and had George Clooney in it.

So in light of the past few days film watching I will have to revise my Top 10 of 2005:

1. Million Dollar Baby
2. Cinderella Man
3. Batman Begins
4. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
6. Ray
7. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
8. Good Night, and Good Luck.
9. Downfall
10. The Aviator

Gravity

Gravity, is working against me
And Gravity, wants to bring me down
Oh, I've never known what makes this man
With all the love that this heart can stand
Dream of ways to throw it all away

...Just keep me where the light is - John Mayer

I watched Fun with Dick and Jane with Ryan yesterday. I was expecting it to be pretty crappy. But, alas, it was surprisingly good. It made me laugh, and engaged in a bit of social commentary. What more could you want from a bit of Hollywood fluff?

Narnynaa

I went and saw The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe tonight with the usual suspects. And what a special film it was. Oh, yes. It was sheer joy. I loved it to bits. It was well written, well cast, well shot, well acted, well…everything. I’d give it a proper review, but I can’t, it was just special.

I think Adam Adamson had a real hard job directing in the shadow of Lord of the Rings but he did it. And it came off well. It’s a kid’s movie, it’s not LOTR. It’s not as violent as I would have liked, but 7 year-olds have to watch this, so I can cope.

Aslan was great. I want to meet Aslan and hug him. Please don’t tell me I already have.

The film opened really well with London being bombed. It anchored us in the read world, and established the characters and their situation quickly.

Yeah. It was cool. I reckon I’ll buy it. Yeppers.

How’s that for a good review?

I feel like I should write about Christmas. I don't have much to say, it was rather quiet. Grandpa and Valentina came around. As tradition dictates we went to the Castle's before that. And before that I went to church at St Pete's for the one service of the year (not including weddings). And that was it.

But it was nice. It felt more like a Sunday when people came over for lunch, but that's ok. Tomorrow I'm off to the Gong for Christmas with the large (numerous, not fat) side of the family, so the fun continues. I'll try and be less tired tomorrow.

I got a tool kit. Now I'm a real man. And I got a dictionary so I'll be smart. And the new John Mayer CD, so I'll be happy. Plus other happy goods.

It was good of Jesus to come to earth, it meant that I get presents.

For your viewing pleasure

In the continuing tradition stupid photos of me...

This was taken last night after the Midnight Service.



And this is the Christmas Tree in Darling Harbour with the Novotel in the background. I took that on Friday night.



I went to 3 church services yesterday. I was almost over Christmas before it had even started, but doesn't that happen every year?

I did a children's talk in the 5pm service and it was one of the hardest kid's talks I've done in my life. The kids were noisy, and playing with Christmas presents. They didn't really seem to be understanding me very much. And every time I'd say something like "Isn't it true that one of the best things about Christmas is the presents?" they'd say "No" or just look at me like they had no idea what I was talking about. Oh well, these things happen.

Christmas Cheer

Click Here to See My Christmas Card

Happy Christmas to you all!

Oh. It's Christmas.

I finished most of my Christmas shopping today. It's a nice feeling. I did it all but 2 presents about 1 hour. How good am I?

Don't you worry 'bout your mind
Don't you worry 'bout your mind
You should worry 'bout the day
That the pain, it goes away
You know, I miss mine sometimes - Fast Cars - U2

Top 10s

Paul Byrnes has picked his top 10 and bottom 10 of the year on SMH. I don't often agree with Paul, and I don't really agree with him now. I guess anyone who spells Byrnes like that is bound to someone I disagree with.

Here's what he said and my comments on the ones I've seen:

Tops

1 War of the Worlds - Good but top? No, MDB was much better. I don't think it'd make my top 10
2 Downfall - Yes, this was good. It was depressing. This deserves a place
3 Mysterious Skin
4 Million Dollar Baby - What a film! Ouch, it hurt. Clint is a genius.
5 Look Both Ways
6 Little Fish - Well written, fantastic characters, silly implausable ending
7 Bad Education
8 The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
9 Sideways - Good
10 The Upside of Anger

Turkeys
1 Alexander - Yes Paul, yes. What a useless piece of film. They should have lengthened the men's skirts and shortened the film
2 Luther - Perhaps I'm biased because I owe so much to the reformation, but it wasn't that bad
3 Heights
4 The Island - Come one, don't we need some fluff here and there? It was fun. And Scarlett is great.
5 Bewitched - As above, minus Scarlett
6 You and Your Stupid Mate
7 Elektra
8 Alfie
9 MirrorMask
10 Elizabethtown - This film was cool.
___

Ok so it's not that bad. I agreed a bit, not with his bottom 10. Perhaps I should make my list.

Tops

1. Million Dollar Baby
2. Cinderella Man
3. Batman Begins
4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
5. Ray
6. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
7. Downfall
8. The Aviator
9. Closer
10. Oyster Farmer

Turkeys

1. Sister Hood of the Travelling Pants
2. Constantine
3. Alexander
4. The Dukes of Hazard
5. Fantastic Four
6. Raise Your Voice
7. Cellular
8. Be Cool
9. Hide and Seek
10. Stealth

I had a full day at work today but mostly it just involved sitting around and talking to people. I drank Coke, ate Thai food and drank Beer as I conversed. What a good job I have.

Kanye

Kanye West will be the Support Act for U2 in Australia. That's fun. I was just thinking while I was in the shower today that I would be interested in going to see Kanye, now I guess I won't have to. He's coming to me.

Of course I only know two of his songs, now I'll have to learn a few more if I am to fully appreciate the experience.

Angels on the Back Verandah



Yesterday was fat.

It started at midnight when I was still writing my sermon for the morning. It was a hard one to write. It only really started to feel good at 11pm after a conversation with my family. I was writing till 3am.

After 3 hours sleep, I got up, showered, got dressed, drove to work. I was there by 7:20. It was rather early. I added an illustration to the sermon then printed it out. I ran through the hard parts then headed over to the church. I was feeling pretty shot. It's a bad way to start the working day.

I preached at 8am. It felt ok. My tiredness got me a few times, I almost lost my voice, and in an illustration I said "when I was in year sex" instead of six. No one laughed at then, which was sad. I got good feed back though. The 8am congregation are very encouraging. I like them all.

10am was a rushed service, but I preached better. I'd warmed up, and I knew the sermon a bit better.

I think people liked the sermon. I only heard good comments. Lots of people came up to me and said they appreciated my honesty, and my bravery with sharing my stories, but I didn't think they were particularly hard to share.

After that service it was Back to Bethlehem all the way. Back to Bethlehem is our church's annual Carols by Candlelight equivalent. We set up our church property to look like Bethlehem (sort of) and run a market place were people can do craft and enjoy the atmosphere, then we do a nativity play. Last year I was Joseph. This year I borrowed a sheet from the Buckley's, wrapped it around me like a toga and called my self Hotus Guyus Maximus.

Back to Bethlehem was good. The market place was fun. I got to do lots of craft, and meet people. And the play was well done. Probably one of the best nativity plays I've done. They used the whole property, stables in the park, the Inn under a slippery dip, Joseph's house in the car park, Angels on the back verandah. It was fun.

After the Back to Bethlehem there was a lot of packing up and carrying to do. Finally Jon, Helen, Stephen and I retired to Big Fish Little Fish in Chatswood at around 11pm for dinner. That was very exciting. I do love dinner.

I just got booked for driving through a red light. Oops. I wasn't really paying attention. It was at Hornsby Station. I was turning left, the cars around me were moving and I didn't check the lighs.

That's $300 and 3 demerit points. But at least I got to talk to a cop and see the flashing lights. That was fun.

I think I need to learn to think about driving while I drive. It may save me money.

The Youth Ministers - 2004-2005




Tonight was the last night I did youth ministry with Helen. We had our youth ministry Christmas party. It was fun, it was sad. We said goodbye to Kristen, Rob and Helen. They're all tops. Everyone is great. I heaps of fun hanging out with the young people. They're lots of fun.

Leading the youth ministry these past 2 years with Helen has been special. She's good stuff.

It was fun. Thanks Helen.

The photo was taken in January at Glenelg in Adelaide. I figured this would be a good time to pull it out. We had a whole set of us staring into the distance attempting to look inspired or inspiring. I think this is the one that turned out best. I would have prefered Helen in the front but we did a follow up series with Helen in the foreground but they didn't work. So you'll just have to put up with my ugly mug. Sorry.

Long Kong

My life is so full at the moment. I'm having dinners and meetings, writing sermons, going to parties, sleeping, watching films. It's kinda fun but rather bulky.

I watched King Kong last night with David. It was ok. The script was pretty poor, Peter, Fran and Phillipa didn't have Tolkien backing them up this time. It was too long. We spent about 2 hours just on the island with the main characters battling overgrown animals. There was good stuff there, but way too much of it. Peter Jackson shouldn't have been given free reign. A bit like the Watchowski's and their overgrown trilogy, Jackson seems to have been let free to do whatever he wants because he's made the studios so much money.

Once the film got back to New York it got better. The scene in the theatre was so sad. But still, there was too much of New York. They should have cut it down.

Oh, well, better luck next time.

I'm home from being away in Forster. I went up on Sunday night and now I'm back. Since I left Sydney's started bashing each other and I'm disgusted. I need to go to bed but I have to go to work early tomorrow as I have no car. But I wanted to register my disapproval before I go to bed. I'm especially upset with those people who look more like me, because I guess I feel like I'm part of that group.

One of the reasons Mike Spence, the president of the California Republican Assembly, has for wanting Mel Gibson to run for Governer of California: "His [Gibson's] last movie made more money than the Governor's [Terminator 3]."

From here.

Moving to the Country

Iran's president has said that Isreal should move to Europe. What a stunning idea! Why didn't anyone else think of that? I wonder if they'd put every building on the back of a truck and drive in a massive convoy up the road?

Perhaps while we're at it, we should move a few other things. Canberra could move to Tasmainia, just so that Tasmainia can feel important and New South Wales can get the valuable land back that we lost when they made Lake Burley Griffin, and built the world's biggest round about. Australia could move to America to complete the sell-out. Guantanimo Bay could move to Mars because I don't think even international law applies there.

Oh the posibilities!

The Preaching Blog

I have been thinking for a few months about making a podcast/blog of my preaching. I have been tossing up whether it would be a good idea to stick my sermons on the net so the whole world can listen. The reason I wouldn't is because it feels like self-promotion, unhumble. But I also think if God has gifted me then I should use my gifts, and sticking my preaching on the net is a way of doing that. It means they might be able to impact more people.

So now I have made a blog and posted my sermons. I've posted four of my sermons 2 old ones and two new ones. Over time I'll add more as I go. I've also made it a podcast so that all my many, many fans can subscribe and always know when a new sermon has been posted. Hopefully this podcast will balance people's view of me a little against the me on the other podcasts.

I've also made a comment on each sermon, kinda like the preacher's commentary. I guess to justify the blog, but also because it's nice to be able to give some notes. Clarify some things, talk about what worked and what didn't. It also means I'm able to review myself and hopefully pick up my faults. So far I discovered that I really need to stop saying "Um" and "Ahh". And I finish every sermon with "I'm gonna pray".

Anyway, if you're interested (I won't be offended if you're not), here is the site: http://tompreaches.blogspot.com/

And you can subscribe to the podcast at this address: http://feeds.feedburner.com/tompreaches

As the Bible doesn't, but perhaps should say: "Preach the Word; be prepared in iTunes and out of iTunes; correct, rebuke and encourage - ?with great patience and careful instruction." - 1 Timothy 4:2

Feeling the Rhymes

I had a dream last night that I was at the park with a bunch of firends having a meeting. One of them said something offensive to my friend Graham about a close relative of his who died (I don't think he's lost any relatives lately). Graham got upset and started crying and shouting at them through angry tears. I saw this and jumped up to encourage him saying "Don't stop mate, let it out, don't stop! This is where the Hip-Hop comes from!"

Enticed

I was standing at the lights near the Botanic Gardens on Macquarie St today waiting for the lights. I was listening to my diskman and looking at the building across the road. It had three statues on the corner built into it's facade. They were called "Mercy", "Compassion" and "Justice". I found this very interesting, I thought about the fact that they were three attributes of God, wondered about whether or not they were an ideal lived up to by the designers of the building, and what they might look like up close.

As I was staring at these, the beeper for the crossing went off, so I started off towards the statues, thinking only about getting a closer look. As I walked across the road I noticed there was a black 4WD coming very quickly towards me. I thought "That person is obviously is not obeying the road rules." I looked up at the little green man and found, to my confusion, that he was red.

I looked around and found myself in the middle of peak hour Sydney, with everything driving towards me. I ran for the other side of the road, realising that the beeping had been for the other crossing next to me and feeling rather embarrassed that lots of people just saw me do something vague and stupid enough to get myself killed. Like Odysseus'' sirens, the lure of Mercy, Compassion and Justice had enticed my towards my death. But I'll tell you I forgot all about them when I was about to get run over.

So the moral to the story is: When confronted by the imminent death (or severe physical injury) mercy, compassion and justice go out the window.

Cooling Down

I heard it was 38 degrees today. My body odour can testify to that at the moment. I had a fun-ish day.

It started early with a trip to my scripture school. It was my last time there this year. I'm happy with that. My Scripture class this year really didn't like me. I don't I have been so disliked by a group of people as I have by my class this year. Except perhaps when I went to Griffith and told the whole of Year 8 they deserved to go hell*. But I have never been this disliked for such as sustained period of time.

Today, though, I didn't have to teach any classes. It was Christmas Scripture Assembly day. I was privileged enough to be the speaker again. I'm the regular speaker now. One day I'll get bumped and my ego will take a bruising. But till then..

My talk was about what makes Jesus so special. It was fun because I got to talk about Jesus being really smart and creating a rocket ship out of grass and manure, or being really strong and tearing a cow in half. In the end I said that the baby Jesus didn't do any of them. He was special because he was "God with us". It was way fun. Especially the infants, they thought it was quite funny.

After the Assembly, when I was going back to my car and I got surrounded by Kindergarten kids who wanted me to tell them jokes. I tried but couldn't think of anything. In the end I resorted to just giving them high fives. That descended into 25 little kids repeatedly slapping me. I thought I was going to get slapped to death by a bunch of 5 year-olds in an horrific, Lord of the Flies-style scene of abuse and over-zealous affection. I was lucky to get out alive.

We had staff meeting after that and I fell asleep during the prayer time, so I got too scared to pray, in case I said the same thing as someone else.

The rest of the day was hot really. I mooched around the office, ate a quiet lunch with Helen and Maryanne, made some posters and some phone calls.

Tonight I went bowling with the Young Adults. It was pleasent, I enjoy the people. I was a rather mild bowler though.

And that is the day concluded.

*That sounds really bad. I tried to be as diplomatic about it as possible.

We're going to U2!

So Much to Tell You

Of course I've been a real bad blogger lately. Harry, Bible Study Marathons, Weddings. So much to say.

But it's real late at night at the moment. So I'll just share something small.

On Friday morning I paid the deposit for Jo and I to go to Europe in June/July next year with Granpa and Valentina. That was fun. I've enjoyed visiting the travel agent. I've felt all grown up doing it all by myself. And what I thought would be a big, daunting experience turned out to be rather easy. Of course there was a lot of work to find the cheapest, easiest way of getting around. But it wasn't some complex process that you have to be really smart to do. You just rock up and say "I wanna do this" and the Travel Agent says "Ok" and off you go. So fun. I want to go overseas more.

I really wanna go to America. The Mother Country!

20 minutes

Waiting for the Code

I'm a paying member of U2.com which means that I should get a Pre-Sale code for U2 tickets. The problem is that I haven't gotten one. The presale ends in 48 minutes. I called Customer Service in America yesterday and they said they'd try and get me a code. I called this morning and they said they'd send me a code as soon as they could. Now I'm waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

I'm checking my emails constantly. The stress. The stress. If I get my code in the next 47 minutes I'll have tickets to U2 today. If not I have to wait till Monday and join in with the General Public. Oi! It's not the end of the world. But it'll be the start of a whole new level special feelings if I get tickets today.

At least I have tickets to Harry Potter tonight.

Reading

Today Jem and I went and saw Elizabethtown. That was a pretty fun film. Orlando if pretty good looking. I can see why girls find him hot. He was a bit of a pansy as Legolas though. Not that Orlando's looks were the highlight of the movie, I just noticed it. In a manly, hetro kinda way.

The memoral scene was pretty special. I was impressed.

Afterwards we went to the St Mary's Cathedral to see inside. It was very impressive. I reckon the nicest church in Sydney. Better then the Anglican Cathedral. I reckon we should see if we can swap for a bit. Run a Cathedral exchange program.

We folled this with a visit to the State Library. Wow, that was cool. Last time I went I was too scared to go into the big library. But since I had a friend I made it through. I looked though the catalogues and wondered about all the information that must be in the stack. So fun. Although I wasn't brave enough to figure it out. I'll have to take Lesley one day.

I read a book called Leviathan: The unauthorised biography of Sydney. I much enjoyed the first 13 pages. I want to go buy it. He's good that Birmo.

I had Chef's Lucky Noodles of dinner. No 31 with Thick Rice Noodles. Lovely!

Burn in Hell

Last night when I started my sermon I pretended to have a good rant about the prosperity doctrine. I got to say that anyone who preaches it is "spawn of Satan!" (which I don't believe.) It was way fun. And my favourite bit was saying "Come out! Come out and stand on the Truth that God wants you to be miserable and poor!" or something like that.

I hadn't really thought about whether or not it'd be fun before hand. I just decided it was the right thing for the job. But once I'd done it I wanted to do it again. I think I need to become an angrier preacher and call down more curses. That'd be heaps fun.

It's sad I don't think it's a very good idea.

From the Dust

"Music, as well as being the most dispensable of arts, is probably the hardest to throw off. It pursues...by strange means. Music lives beneath the soles of our feet. Given no encouragement music rises from the dust itself." - Tim Winton

Mr Miyagi has Died

Pat Morita, who played Mr Miyagi in The Karate Kid series, has died. He was 73.

That's sad.

From here.

Post-Podcast Comedown

The day after podcasting is always a hard one. I live in fear that this time I've oversteped the mark. I'm going to make someone, somewhere angry. That'll I'll get angry emails from parents of people in my youth group.

That hasn't happened yet, but it certainly is a fear. I guess I realise that most of the world doesn't find toilet humour as funny as I do. And that my humour, when it's at it's most offensive (eg characters making racist comments), is usually making the opposite point than is being espoused. It's scary because you're jumping between the extreamly childish and the social commentary (which is hopefully a little more grown up, although it's probably not much). I doubt anyone really comes away thinking "Yeah that really made me think." But I do at least hope that people don't come away saying "The world could do without that sort of thing."

Podcast 5: For Angus

Well here it is. The people I would like to appologise to this time are:
Indonesians and Michelle Leslie.

I'm sure one day I'll get in trouble for this.

Podcast 5

I love Chef's Lucky Noodle. I'm having it for the second Friday in a row. God is good!

I tried writing Sunday's sermon yesterday. It didn't work. It was like trying to give birth to a echidna, which I assume is rather difficult.

Ethical Conundrum



I was walking to Community Dinner on Tuesday and I saw some guys across the road at the bus interchange, about 25 metres away (I was outside Forty Winks, they were at the Toilets near Jack's) start arguing with each other. There were four of them. I was intrigued. I'd been watching them for a little while because they looked to be doing the usual business that goes on in those toilets.

Anyway they started arguing. And as I was standing at the lights about to cross William St, they started fighting. There seemed to be two-on-two with punching and kicking and all the rest. Also at the lights with me was an old woman and a young guy. The young guy was extremely interested. He started saying "Get 'im! Just F***ing get into 'im!"

When the lights beeped instead of crossing the road this man ran across the Highway to join in the fight. The Old Lady and I started crossing road. I don't think the Old Lady noticed the fight. I kept watching as I walked because it was rather interesting.

The last thing I saw of the fight was of the guy who'd been standing with me at the lights trying to break the top off a branch he'd found on the ground so he could use it in the fight.

I just kept walking.

I was wondering what I should have done. I didn't really like the idea of getting involved and trying to break it up, but I didn't feel particularly good walking away either. I felt like I should have done something. I decided I was allowed not to get involved because I remembered this verse:

Like one who seizes a dog by the ears
is a passer-by who meddles in a quarrel not his own. - Proverbs 26:17

But I can't say that verse convinced me not to get involved, it was more a justification of my desire not to do anything.

It makes me wonder what I would do in other situations.

The reasons I hope I would get involved:
My friends, family, people I knew, were involved
It was unprovoked/one party was not wanting to participate
They were in a weaker postion (Women, children, elderly, uneven)

The reasons I had for not getting involved on Tuesday:
I'd probably get hurt
No-one seemed to want to avoid the fight (I'd been watching for about 5 minutes before the fight broke out, both parties had plenty of time to walk away)
There was two-on-two (not three on one for instance)
The above verse

But still I felt more like a coward than someone who was morally right. I could have called the cops I guess. I'm not sure.

Jesus did say: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." (Matt 5:9). While I do know that I've spent a lot of my life attempting to make peace, I can't help but feel in this situation I only succeeded in looking out for myself.

Views anyone?

I went to KFC today with some of the Staff. I ate it just because I forgot what it tasted like. Now I remember. It hasn't improved.

Or perhaps I'm just just a lowly pilgrim.

I'd rather not call myself a pilgrim, it sounds rather like I'm subtly extolling how humble I am.

I am feeling like a traveller though because I'm in a net cafe near Central Station. It's a backpackers one as opposed to a gaming one. This one is full of people talking in all sorts of foreign languages, where as gaming ones are full of people speaking Asian or bad language. To come to this one I had to join up with some thing called Global Gossip. They gave me a form to fill out where every field was mandatory, which I think is a little rude. When it got to Mobile Number I lied and clicked the box which said "I don't have one yet". I wouldn't have lied but they didn't have have a "I don't want to give you my number I just want to use the internet" box to tick.

Anyway net cafe forms are not all that interesting at the best of times, I can't see why you would want to read about them second removed on my blog.

I've spent the day (at least the meaningful half after 12pm) preparing for my sermon. I went to college and read and wrote in the Library. I didn't start falling asleep till about 3 hours in so I thought that was pretty good effort. Better than any of my study efforts.

This morning, after dropping Hannah at school, I bought myself the new U2 dvd. I'm all set to watch it tonight after Dosas. My life is quite full of U2 at the moment.

Now I'm just mooching around on the net continuing my sermon research while I wait for Dosas to start. Did you know that John Cadbury (who owned Cadburys in the 19th Century) created the Animals Friend Society a forunner to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals? He did. (Wiki told me)

That's all I have to say.

March 31st. U2. Oh yeah.

I've been a rather bad blogger these past few days. Wednesday and now it's Saturday. Hoi! That's disgraceful.

I'll try and write about all the things that I've missed. Here we go...

Well done Socceroos.

I have my exam tomorrow. I reckon I've done 2 hours study. That's a record for me in the past few years. I'll probably blitz it with that much work.

Hey Hey, Ho Ho, I went on a another protest march-o

I went on the IR Reform protests today. They were fun. Much like every other protest really. Lots of speechs and sore legs, a march and sore legs, then more speechs and sore legs. But still fun.

My favourite part is always the march. They're noisy, look good, there's lots of police and helicopters, you can walk in the middle of the road, you get to catch up with friends and you get to stand up for something you believe in, what more could you want?

The highest highlight of the day was being able to march along and shout "The workers, united, we'll* never be deafeated!" and shake my fist in the air. It was like a real protest.

People also shouted: "Whatdowewant?!"

"Workers rights!"

"When'owewann'em?"

"Now!"

Which I thought was silly seeing as we were protesting against our rights being taken away. So we have them now, when'owewan'em? Next year as well! Although that's not quite as catchy.

I hope the Government listens.

*or is it "will"?

U2 is coming to Australia!

From U2.com:

"Vertigo//2006 will commence in early February with stops planned in Mexico, South America, New Zealand, Australia and Japan."

Yeehaa!

I'm there, I'm there, I'm there!

Straight Talking

In John 11 Jesus proposes that he and his disciples go to Judea but they react saying "Rabbi, a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?"

Jesus replies "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light."

Now if I was a disciple I would be rather frustrated by that response. I'm not particularly sure what that means and why Jesus said it there. I would have preferred Jesus just said "We cannot be deterred by fear" or "Stop being wusses we do what God wants" or "Sticks and stones may break your bones but I'm the Son of God!"

A bit further on Jesus is talking about Lazarus' death referring to it as having "fallen asleep". The disciples don't get this so Jesus puts it plainly "Lazarus is dead". That's what I'm talking about. That's the Jesus I can understand.

Today at the retirement home that we were visiting with the youth I offered an old lady my phone number. It was all innocent on my part, but I got in trouble from the youth for chatting up old women.

Brothers, Sisters, Corpse and Noodle

I had a BSBB training day today. It was interesting being in a non-Christian training environment. Especially a Children's/Youth one. It's been so long since I've been in the real world properly I couldn't work out why we didn't open and close with prayer. It was good though. Good to meet a group of people who aren't Christians and aren't all that interested in whether you're one or not. They all seemed like good people.

Then tonight David and I went to see Corpse Bride. Tim Burton is a twisted man, but probably a genius too. It was very good. Funny, charming, good story. I was impressed.

For the record, as an act of civil disobedience against Greater Union's silly allocated seating David and I sat where we wanted. I'm going to write a letter.

Afterwards David and I had dinner at Chef's Lucky Noodle. The Noodle is always great. We talked a lot about power imbalances, pastoral care, being a Christian super-hero, and mentoring. I enjoyed.

I also returned my DVD 5 days late and David's book 4 years late.

Chlorine

Last night we took the youth group to the Sydney Olympic Aquatic Centre. It was a massive logistical event. We planned all our car spaces down to the very last person, then had extra turn up and drivers pull out. I did a lot of organising on the fly. We even almost left without one person but we got them in the end.

Apart from being extremely self-conscious of having to run around in just a pair of boardies, I had a great time at the pool. Youth Group socials are one of my favourite parts of my job. They mainly just involve playing with teenagers. What more could you want? Pools are good fun.

Today, two showers and much soap later, I still smell like chlorine.

Fact of the Year

Botton is the 65444th most popular surname in the USA.

From here

A little Stressful

We had Scripture Seminars on this morning, and I went to bed last night with less than enough volunteers coming, no game to play and no speaker. Scripture Seminars always stress me and these weren't particularly turning out well. Lots of people hadn't been able to make it and Stephen, who was meant to be speaking, was sick. Basically we had no seminars to run and we had 4 periods stuck with 100 students at a time and nothing to do with them.

I woke up this morning and showered while trying to work out at what point we cancel seminars.

The thing about seminars is that they never seem to look like we can run them. But I have this belief in me that even if the seminars don't look like they're possible to run, God'll come through and we'll run them. I don't think I've had a seminar which I've ever felt like they can run. But this one is the first time I've still been wondering if we can pull out on the morning of the actual seminars.

I decided on a game and drove to the school making up a talk in my head. As I drove a got a call from one of the volunteers saying they too were sick to come in. I arrived at school feeling rather ambivalent. Only a few leaders had turned up, some were running late. I couldn't run the game I had planned because there were no doughnuts at the shops. It may not sound like a big deal but with everything going wrong it was feeling like it could be the last straw. I had no speaker, no game, and very little ability to run small groups.

I started discussing with the other leaders at what stage we pull the plug. As we were talking the Acting Principal walked in and asked if we wanted the back doors unlocked to let some air into the room. I said "Yes" and chickened out of pulling out. I figured once you've had the doors unlocked there's no turning back.

Courtney rang one of her friends and got him out of bed to come join us, the rest of the leaders turned up and things felt a bit manageable. Chez thought of a game and Helen volunteered to MC the day. Once I was committed to doing it things felt a bit better. We prayed and waited for our first year to turn up.

The year sevens came in, and were as rowdy as ever, except the guy who usually shouts out "I love Satan!" was shouting "I love Jesus!" which I guess is a bit of an improvement (or a lot of an improvement depending on where you think his sincerity levels were at).

Helen welcomed everyone and we had the game which was fun. The students had to speak for a minute on a subject of our choosing without saying "um" or "ahh". They didn't really manage to do it.

Then it was my turn to speak. I've heard about a lot of preachers who have gotten into similar situations to me today. They have to give a talk or sermon at very late notice. And almost every time they say that they preached one of their best preaches then. It's funny. So I figured if I did have to talk God would come through. I preached and it did alright. I think it was probably the best scripture talk I've ever done. I got good feedback from the students and that never happens. And they seemed to come with me a lot more than usual.

My talk was about what God is like. Does he exist? And if he does, what's he like? I used the Prodigal Son because that was the last thing I preached on thankfully. And it all came out good.

Our small groups were big, but most leaders said they were productive. In the end the seminars turned into some of the best seminars we've done. "Good on God" I say. He does things like that.

Qld Premier demands Channel Ten reinstate Dan on Idol

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has demanded the producers of Australian Idol reinstate Brisbane-based performer, Dan England. Because Queensland is not on Daylight Saving Time his fans say they were not able to vote for him.

Mr Beattie said "Look we were robbed. I mean Dan was robbed...I'm asking Channel 10 to wake up to themselves to turn back the clock to Monday and give him a fair go."

It's good to see Queensland politicians have such important things to worry about.

From Here

Does it seem a little worrying that the Police/Government wants to arrest people but they can't because there are no laws to do it, so they change the laws and arrest the people a week later? Doesn't that seem a little like those kids who you played with when you were young who would change the rules half way through the game to make sure they'd win?

But as I said before I am still for catching terrorists and stopping terrorism. I just hope we're going about it the right way.

Police have raided homes in Sydney and Melbourne arresting 15 men suspected of planning terrorist attacks.

It's hard to know what to think. I'm all for stopping terrorist attacks from happening. If that's what has happened then, good. I'm a little suspicious about the timing though. It seems these raids will do well to cement the case for the need for the new anti-terror laws.

I wish I could trust my Government because right now all I would feel would be pride and respect for the work of our police. I wish things were a lot more black and white.

Sedition

Senator Andrew Bartlett has outlined on his blog the Government's definition of sedition. In the new Anti-Terror Laws you can get seven years for displaying seditious intention. Bartlett wrote:

"seditious intention means an intention to effect any of the following purposes:

(a) to bring the Sovereign into hatred or contempt;
(b) to urge disaffection against the following:
(i) the Constitution;
(ii) the Government of the Commonwealth;
(iii) either House of the Parliament;
(c) to urge another person to attempt to procure a change, otherwise than by lawful means, to any matter established by law of the Commonwealth;
(d) to promote feelings of ill-will or hostility between different groups so as to threaten the peace, order and good government of the Commonwealth. "

In that case, I'll join with him, in showing seditious intention. Disaffection is defined as "disloyalty to the government or to established authority". As long as our Government is trying to force dodgy laws on us I urge disaffection against the Government. When they will try and deprive their citizens (and those who may just happen to turn up on our shores) of their civil and human rights, I will urge disaffection. I will urge people to show their loss of affection and loyalty by voting the Government out, by writing letters, by telling their friends, by protest, by any peaceful means they can find.

There was an interesting article in SMH about how Jesus would have been easily charged with sedition under the new laws coming in. If Jesus can be charged with sedition, then me too! WWJD? Yeehaa!

Backish

I've been a rather slack blogger recently. I was going pretty much non-stop from Thursday 8:30am-2am everyday no-breaks. I slept in today but I'm still pretty tired.

The reason for all this was Impact, the Breakthru Artz concert. I was in charge of creating and running the DVDs and Powerpoints that had all the music and visual stuff for the whole show and getting the show. We had two projectors for the front and the back of the stage. I had to swap between the two making sure that either one or neither was on at a time. I had to make sure all the music started at the right time. Almost the whole show ran without a hitch. It was pretty good. We did well.

Unfortunatly the good run went to the dogs last night in church when the simple job of playing a DVD for a dance was just too hard for either me or Pete the sound man. We may have had a technological emotional breakdown.

I went to lunch with a family from Church yesterday. We had a barbeque and sat in the sun. It was rather fun as was youth group. I enjoy playing soccer but I really need to get fit, I feel like I'm going to die when I run around. Oh dear.

My Grandpa sent me this. Tis funny. He made it himself. He's a funny man.

http://muglets.com/6YBA

Up late making another DVD. My life is a perpetual DVD creating cycle.

Something fishy is going on when the Government keeps trying to rush legislation through without a chance for people to look at it properly. Like when you're in a group and you try and fart quickly and quietly so people don't notice it was you that made everything stink.

Read My Thoughts

I went and had my 2nd interview for BSBB yesterday. It was a long one. 2 hours, but I had fun. I got asked lots of personal questions about traumatic experiences, my love life, how I learnt about sex, whether I do drugs, what I think of pedophilia, things that make me angry and more. Lucky I'm not all that worried about answering any of those questions for anyone. It didn't feel all that personal, but maybe I just don't have all that much I feel like hiding.

The best bit of the interview was when I got the results of my psychological profile. The man said to me "The test results say that you were quite defensive when you did it. Do you think you were defensive?"

I replied "No. I don't think I was defensive." I thought that was pretty funny.

The guy also asked me if I was a risk taker and if I thought I had a good amount of insight. Apparently the test said I was defensive, a risk taker, had low insight and therefore an inflated view of myself.

It did strike me as a bit odd that the computer that read my test thought I had an inflated view of myself but it's never met me. I could have a completely reasonable view of myself.

I don't think view is inflated at all. I'm pretty special and everyone knows it. I'm smart, witty, good looking, strong, caring, sporty, coordinated, tough but gentle, inspiring, universally loved, simply spectacular in every
detail and damn good at spelling.

The guy also said I answered two questions with true answers that he wanted to ask me about:

People can read my thoughts and Death would be a relief.

I can't remember why I thought that people could read my thoughts, maybe because I blog. It may also have been that I feel pretty transparent and people seem to know why I do what I do. I said that death would be a relief because heaven will be tops, not because I'm suicidal.

Anyway I got through to the next stage of the program. It's a training day, probably where you have to play hand holding get-to-know-you games, have lots of sharing times and climb over 3 metre high brick walls blindfolded. Things like that.

I'm enjoying the BSBB process though. The people at YWCA are nice, they give me water. And I'm looking forward to being a Big Brother.

I don't even know where my horse went. 6th or something by my TV watching.

But that's ok. Makybe was pretty special.

Tom's Melbourne Cup Tip

Ok folks, listen up. In 2003 I picked the winner, in 2004 I picked second place. So now you're all salivating for my pick for this year's Melbourne Cup. Well here it is:

RAILINGS
No.7

Of course I'd love to see Makybe Diva win again, 3 years would be smashing, but my odds are on Railings.

Yeehaa!