Monday, October 29, 2007

Procrastinate no more...

October 28, 2007

I Don’t Feel Like It

He answered and said, “I will not,” but afterward he regretted it and went. —Matthew 21:29

Have you ever faced an unwanted chore and felt as if it were the last thing on earth you wanted to do? Mowing the lawn, doing the wash, cleaning the house, or even preparing a Sunday school lesson after an exhausting week can make us feel like procrastinating.

When this happens, my wife and I have a motto we repeat to each other: "I don’t feel like it—but I’m going to do it anyway." There is something about recognizing our lack of motivation and then choosing to be responsible that helps us follow through.

God’s value on faith and obedience can be seen in the parables of Jesus. Christ spoke about two sons who were asked to work in the vineyard. The first said no, but "afterward he regretted it and went" (Matt. 21:29). The second said yes but did not follow through. Then the Lord asked His listeners, "Which of the two did the will of his father?" (v.31). The obvious answer is the one who finished the task.

Our Lord’s illustration underscores a key spiritual principle. God is interested in our faith and obedience—not just our good intentions. Next time you are tempted to shirk your duties, why not say, "I don’t feel like it," and then ask God for the grace to do it anyway. Dennis Fisher

O help us, Lord, to heed Your Word,
Its precepts to obey;
And give us strength to quench the urge
To do things our own way. —Sper

Obedience is faith in action.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Towards Kenya

As it gets closer to my trip over to Kenya on a mission trip, I am getting more excited and looking forward to it even more. We have practically reached our target of $14,000 to build fish ponds and any more that is raised will contribute towards another project. Praise God for how it has all come together, He is at work!

I thought a good way in the lead up to my trip over to Kenya is to let you know a bit more about it. Here are a couple of the facts:

Capital: Nairobi
Official Language: Swahili, English
Government: Republic
Population: July 2005 estimate = 34,707,817
8 Feb 2007 census = 31,138,735
Currency: Kenyan Shilling


Here is the flag of Kenya...


and this is a map of Kenya...

Monday, October 08, 2007

Been busy

Over a month and I haven't made a post on here *shakes head* - not good.

In the last month a fair bit has happened including uni holidays coming and going. During these holidays I directed a kids holiday program in which we had 50 kids come along to by the last day. It went really well and the team of leaders was great. It was a growing time in our faith and a lot of fun was had.

Uni and work has definitely been taking a fair bit of my time as well.

I have been using facebook a fair bit lately too so my 'spare' time is used on it now rather than this.

Let me know if you want me to continue using this and having more worthwhile content than this post on here.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Listening to God

Gone are the days when a real person greets you on the other end of a phone call. It seems as though whenever we try to “reach out and touch someone,” we are greeted with a computerized voice.

I’m glad this isn’t true of our Father in heaven. He is always there. No voice-mail boxes, no “press 2 for more grace” and no “call waiting” interruptions. Thankfully, “Call to Me, and I will answer you” (Jer. 33:3) has not been replaced by, “All lines are now busy. Your call is important to Me. Please stay on the line.”

Yet I wonder what kind of access He has to us?

Communication with God is a two-way street. He speaks to us through His Word when we come attentively before Him in prayer and through the clear voice of the indwelling Spirit. He paid a great price to keep the lines open so that we can experience the joy of being still long enough to know that He is God (Ps. 46:10). As my grandmother’s favorite hymn “In the Garden” says:

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known. —Miles
© Renewal 1940 The Rodeheaver Co.

The joy of hearing His voice is a call you don’t want to miss! Joe Stowell

Is God getting through to you?

http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb-09-05-07.shtml

Friday, August 17, 2007

My name

I got a key ring from a family friend and it was about my name and the meaning, etc. This is what it had:

On one side it has:

Aaron

  • Meaning: "High Mountain or Exalted"
  • Origin: Hebrew

On the other side it has:


~ Aaron ~
  • generous
  • understanding and wise
  • gives of himself to all who need his help
  • his openness and honesty lead to good friendships and lasting relationships
  • can be counted on in a tough situation not to lose his cool or panic
  • one of those lucky people
  • things always seem to work out for the best

What do you think? Does that describe me well or not?

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

40 Days of Purpose

A friend of mine is doing the 40 days of purpose and is sharing what she learns and what God is teaching her through it on her blog. I recommend reading each post and then thinking about the question or point that it leaves you to think about or make a change to your life

Check it out at: http://scrapmezza.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Blackle.com - Saving energy one search at a time


At IBM, we got sent this link about Blackle and I recommend checking it out just to see what it is about but I will give you the heads up anyway.

Blackle is a Google search engine with a black background instead of the normal white one, which saves power as the screen doesn't use as much power to display the page. It has a stat on the front page saying how many watt hours have been saved. Now I am not sure if it really does save power because it still has to display black but it may true in that black is the most energy efficient colour.

What are your thoughts and are you going to start using Blackle over Google?

Sunday, July 29, 2007

The Wii Phone

...or in my case "Wee Phone" (just so you know that Nintendo aren't releasing a competitor to the iPhone).

This event took place about 2 weeks ago now in the bathroom. I was going to the toilet, as everyone regularly does, and then my mobile in my front pocket of my jumper decided that it needed to go for a swim. It fell straight out into the toilet! It took a second or two before it sank in that it was my mobile in the toilet and then came the look of astonishment (yes Jono, astonishment, I will show you the face one day).

This called for action so I reached in and grabbed my mobile out of the toilet. I am glad it was only Number 1's otherwise it would have been messy or would I have written it off and bought a new one instead??? Now comes a really ironic thing, I took the dripping mobile out of the toilet and rinsed it off under the tap which sure felt wrong because electrical devices and water don't mix. Of course by this time the water was in there, the screen had gone black and then it started vibrating because it was short-circuiting so I ripped the back off and pulled the battery out.

I then dried the outside of it and placed it on a heater to dry out as much as possible. I then bought a set of small tools to pull it apart to dry and clean it. It now has a little bit of a black bit on the bottom-left of the screen where water is in the screen and the 3 (DEF) button is a little worse than it used to be. Apart from that it still works fine.

Recommendation: Mobile phones should not go swimming - as they can't swim.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Why Aussie Internet is behind the times...

This article from The Age talks about why our internet is measly compared to other places in the world.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/wireless--broadband/why-does-our-internet-cost-so-much/2007/07/23/1185043035992.html

It comes down to money and the distance we are from others in the end...how can we get the Prime Minister addicted to the internet so that he will spend lots on infrastructure?

Monday, July 16, 2007

What a week!!!

I have been away since last Sunday (8th) doing several activities which is why I have been unable to create new posts.

Last Sunday afternoon I travelled down to Melbourne with friends and stayed the night at a friend's place. The next morning we left to go to Adanac camp at Yarra Junction as we were leaders on the junior camp that was on by OAC. It was a great camp from the Monday to Friday with lots of fun doing an amazing race, dramas, canoeing, studies, flying fox, stories, games, etc with the kids who we got to know during the week. It was great to hear about how some kids had changed perceptions as to what Christianity is, how they can live for Jesus and more.


After the camp I went and visited some relatives for the Friday night which it was nice to catch up with them including my two young cousins who sure are growing up.

On the Saturday and Sunday I was at Belgrave Heights for the SU Director's training weekend which went well as we now have some more ideas of what to do for RSK and how to improve in some aspects, i.e. using the Bible more in the program and team life than we already do.

I then came back to Ballarat for church last night and heard Brad speak about how it is important that we should be careful what influence our friends have on us and that it doesn't mean that we shouldn't be friends with non-christians. Ballarat Family Church did a great job leading the worship with band and singers, etc.

Last night I went to bed about 10pm which was nearly normal camp bed time and then woke up this morning at 6:30 which was wake up time on camp. I think my body clock needs to sort itself out before uni goes back next week...

All in all a great week of serving God and seeing Him at work. Now time to RRR - Rest, Recover and Relax.

Friday, July 06, 2007

Lifehouse - Who We Are

I have just been listening to the new album by Lifehouse and it is another good album. I thought I had heard about a new album being released and now I have heard it, some good songs. So here is a track listing of Lifehouse's new album called Who We Are:

1. Disarray
- A traditional Lifehouse style song, good

2. First Time
- A nice catchy uplifting song, their first single release from this album.

3. Whatever It Takes
- A little slower relaxed song.

4. Who We Are
- Another traditional style Lifehouse song.

5. Broken
- A nice melodic song, one that could go into a tv episode...

6. The Joke
- This song is a little different, old style beat but 'funky' - well done, especially the earlier part of the song.

7. Easier To Be
- Another slower song but perfect for background music.

8. Make Me Over
- Again a traditional Lifehouse song.

9. Mesmerized
- I like this song and not just because it has moments where it sounds like Coldplay.

10. Bridges
- A grungier style song at points, slower paced.

11. Learn You Inside Out
- Almost a ballad this one but a nice gentle tune.

12. Storm
- A different song compared to the rest is about all I can say about this one. It has strong, almost chilling, vocals and definitely is a ballad.


Wednesday, July 04, 2007

My blog rating

Just for your interest, my blog is rated G and only contains one word of kill. Want to see what rating your blog gets:

Free Online Dating

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Blogger adds polls

I think this is a great new addition to Blogger, the introduction of polls. It is currently only available in draft blogger but it shouldn't be too long before we see it in the full Blogger system. A lot of people have wanted polls on their blog for quite a while, I know I have, without having to use a third party polling service.

You can vote: Is the glass half-empty or half-full?

RSK Team Weekend 1

Fancy no posts in the last couple of days...anyone would think that I may be busy and yes I have been.

Last weekend, Rock-Solid Kidz, had its first team weekend which went really well. We had about 10 people there for most of the weekend and they learnt about what RSK is, the vision, program, etc. We also learned how to be relevant and interesting to kids when doing the program and to recognise opportunities to talk to kids about God. We had a great weekend, filled with lots of fun, including making a McFlumpy (8 litres of ice cream, pack of M&M's, pack of marshmallows, two blocks of Aero chocolate, 1 chocolate topping bottle and 2 Violet Crumbles all mixed together. Yummy!!

The team got along well together and is looking like a great core group, good job each one who is reading this.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Upcoming Movies

There have been some pretty big movies released recently like Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Shrek 3, etc and there are more on the way like The Simpons Movie, Evan Almighty, etc.

This website at imdb has a listing of the movies that are being released in Australia in the next year or so. So if you want to find out when your favourite sequel or a movie is going to be released, check this link out.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Reward and Recognition

I went back to work today as I haven't been for about a week and a half due to exams (which I have finished!!!) and upon getting back to work was given two movie tickets! I was given this as my team leader had received feedback from at least two users I had responded to after fixing their problem. It was a pleasant surprise and although I didn't think I did anything special - just doing my job - I was not going to say no.

I previously posted about an email reply I received from a guy and talked about encouragement at work and he was one of the guys who sent the big email back as well as another person who sent one in. It is a challenge to encourage others to do their best in their job as we don't recognise the hard work and dedication a lot of people put into their work/job, etc.

Who can you encourage by giving reward or recognition to, today?


Ephesians 4:29

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

Friday, June 22, 2007

Latest World Earthquake News

I found this website on the internet which is quite good in showing the lastest earthquakes in the world. It is interesting to see how many earthquakes happen and where because we only ever hear of some of them but there are some quite big ones that aren't being reported which can be understandable if there is no damage or lives lost, etc because the news reports are all usually bad things that have happened....but that is another topic.

I have checked back on this earthquake website a couple of times now, so if you are interested follow the link below.

http://www.earthquake-news.net/index.php


Interesting to note, you can see where the fault lines are usually and then get an idea of what tectonic plates are moving.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

New Australian Monopoly

Monopoly has to be the most popular board game ever because nearly everyone has at least one version of Monopoly or more. Parker Brothers have now released a new Australian version of Monopoly and there was voting for which places in Australia would get a place. Each state has a winner or two so check it out and see what you think.

As cool as it is to have a new Australian version, it is after all the same game so it doesn't really matter which board you play on.

http://www.monopoly.com.au/

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Where are my car keys?

I searched on Google for "Where are my car keys?" but it didn't seem to answer the question like it normally can, so I have made this post to help people who check this out and search for "Where are my car keys?". (Just has to make it further up in the results)

Your keys will be the last place you left them ... if that is any help...

Wireless Charging

I had thought of wirelessly charging gadgets before I read this so to read it makes it more of a reality. We have wireless devices for the internet, bluetooth technology, infra-red which can make life easier when it comes to cords but we always have to have cords to recharge these gadgets in one or another. To be able to remove the need for this as it could sit in a cradle, etc it would make things even easier to recharge devices. Anyway this bit below is an excerpt and gives a bit of an idea of what it is all about but the full article has a bit more information as well.

How it works

There are three basic technologies for wireless charging: radio, resonance, and induction.

Radio charging is well suited for charging low-power devices at long distances -- some 30 feet away. This technology is ideal for trickle-charging advance RFID chips affixed to, say, palettes loaded with products in a warehouse.

Resonance charging makes sense for robots, cars, vacuum cleaners, and other applications that require massive power over minute distances -- essentially making contact with plastic, but not metal.

Toothbrushes now, and random gadgets will very soon, use inductive charging. This technology uses a coil to create an electromagnetic field across a charging station surface. The device then converts power from the field back into usable electricity, which is put to work charging the battery. (Meanwhile, researchers at MIT said this week that they have come up with a way to wirelessly supply power that could lead to the development of gadgets that don't require batteries at all.)

For the full article, go to: http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php?id=753334517&eid=-6787

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Paris Hilton has changed...

I have thought that there are so many celebrities that get into trouble with alcohol or drugs or depresssion, etc and that they really need God and how good it would be to be able to meet them and tell them about God. God could then use them for his glory in many powerful ways...enough of my daydreaming.

Last month I did a Paris Hilton uncovered post which was basically attempting to get more hits to this blog and used pictures of Paris (the place) for Paris and Hil (a hill) and the ton as a cricketer scoring a ton. It didn't draw more hits but since Paris has been in jail, out of jail and back in jail she has come out with some interesting comments.

After having to go back into jail she contacted a journalist and revealed about how God has given her a second chance. (Jesus does give us second chances)

"Imprisoned hotel heiress Paris Hilton believes God has given her a new chance and says she plans to stop acting dumb and to instead put her influence to good use."

Now I am not going to lean either way because it could be a publicity stunt to make her seem a 'nice girl' and boost her reputation and sales but on the other hand she could be telling the truth that she 'feels more spiritual' and that God has given her a second chance because we cannot limit God.

If it is a publicity stunt then it will blow over not long after she is released but imagine the impact if she really is going to "help in the fields of breast cancer or multiple sclerosis, diseases that her grandmothers suffered, or build a "Paris Hilton playhouse" for sick children" and drop the 'dumb act'. God can use anyone and anything for his glory and maybe this will point more people to God.

For the full story from The Age: http://www.theage.com.au/news/people/hilton-drops-dumb-act-in-jail/2007/06/12/1181414254197.html

Saturday, June 16, 2007

That time of year again...

It happens usually twice a year for people at school or uni - exams time. At Ballarat our exams are in the next 2 weeks and other places are already half way through or finished theirs.

I have an exam on Thursday and Friday of Week 1 and then on Tuesday of Week 2 which means that they will be over and done with fairly quickly. This coming week will all be revision, revision and more revision.

For those who still have exams I hope that your exams go well and that you get good marks (as long as you know that you did your best, you should be happy with that) and for those who have finished, enjoy the break and take time out to relax ready for next semester!

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Get sick to get MeTime

The other week I was talking to a friend of mine and I was telling her everything I was doing and it was quite busy. She asked me where I was giving myself some time for myself and it made me stop and think that I don't get a lot of 'MeTime'. In the following week I tried giving myself more MeTime and I found that I wasn't able to as uni was busy and with other meetings, etc.

This week has been more relaxed after State Youth Games but it is also because I am sick. I usually only get sick once a year and I think this is it. I sort of wore myself out over the last week and especially the weekend which made it much easier to get sick. I am glad that I am sick though because it is forcing me to have MeTime and after it I will be more thankful again for being healthy. It is good timing too because I don't have major things happening this week compared to last week with SYG and next week with exams, etc.

Through this sickness God will restore me and help me to gain a much better focus on life again - that is what I find from getting sick anyway.

As the same friend mentioned this bible passage today, Psalm 23:2-3 - "He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake."

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

State Youth Games - What a weekend!

This last long weekend I went to Lardner Park for the annual State Youth Games. I went with York Street Church of Christ and we did alright for a medium sized church. Our church won Ultimate frisbee B grade and Dodgeball. We made it the semi-finals in netball.

It was a great weekend as the weather was brilliant as normally SYG is quite wet but it was only wet Monday morning rather than the whole weekend. It was great catching up with so many friends and meeting new people as well. I am very glad that I went even though I am feeling quite sore and a bit tired sitting here at work.

If you want to hear a story or two from SYG, like the frisbee commitment, just ask me and I will fill you in and might even make a post about it here on my blog.

Anyone else go to SYG??

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Almost a K.O.

I was playing squash last night as I like to do at least once a week with my mates. We were playing one game and it was a handout of a match as the score sat at 1-2 for ages. Anyhow my mate was winning after a while, 6-4. Then the game took a different twist when we were both watching the ball and not being aware of where the other was on the court.

Of course you might have guessed, we collided and both fell over backwards. My mate Jonny was quite shocked to be hit as he didn't even see me coming and so was recovering from shock more than anything. I on the other hand took a bit more of a hit because my head hit his shoulder, and the part of my head that hit him was close to my temple so that was very close. I lay on the ground a bit longer than Jonny but we finished the game. Of course I didn't put a good finish in as I was pretty wrecked.


I am just glad that both of us are alright, I feel a bit sore and worn out from it so hopefully will have enough time to recover before State Youth Games this weekend.

This robot is in need of an overhaul rather than a service...

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

You get what you give (and sometimes more)

The other day I caught up with a friend who I hadn't seen in quite a while and so we got to chat. Anyhow he was going to buy some food from the food vending machine but he was short 20 cents. So I gave it to him because 20 cents ain't much and it was for his wife and so I didn't think any further of it.

Today I was walking past the same machine and there was 20 cents left in the change slot! What I gave, I didn't expect to get back. Maybe we should be more generous to others and if we get some of it back, then that is a bonus?

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

The Century

Yes I made it to 100 blog posts!

To celebrate this milestone for my blog it has been kitted out with a new design. I liked this design because it wasn't too dark or light in colour and contrasts, and it has giraffes on it which is what I will get to see in Kenya when I go there in January next year on a mission trip.

Just to give you an idea of some of the things to come in the near future:

  • More information on what is happening with the Kenya mission trip as well as Rock-Solid Kidz
  • More sermons as I create them of course
  • Entertaining/Interesting sites, news, etc that I have found or heard of
  • Possible help articles (how to...)
  • and the usual mix of stuff!

What do you think of the new design? Like it or not? Love to hear your comments and thoughts about the design and any suggestions for future content....

Thursday, May 31, 2007

400th visitor and almost 100 posts

I put the post out there and it took until visitor 405 to make a comment.

As a 'reward', they will receive this post about them with links to their blog.

It was my mate Jonny who visited and left a comment. His blog is found at http://thisisjonny.blogspot.com


He updates his blog every so often and has some great posts. Some of my favourites include:

http://thisisjonny.blogspot.com/2007/05/good-day.html


http://thisisjonny.blogspot.com/2007/05/corporate-machines.html

http://thisisjonny.blogspot.com/2007/05/but-then-you-assure-me.html

http://thisisjonny.blogspot.com/2007/05/upstairs-living.html

It is worth a visit and a regular check back to see what is happening.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Check out my blog

When you type check out my blog into Google it will return with 191,000,000 hits. Of course none of these actually have that complete phrase of check out my blog. When you use "check out my blog" you get 637,000. Seriously has no one thought of using this phrase as a draw-card.

I have had 18 visitors today from Sweden, Greece, Brazil, America and of course from Australia. Thanks for visiting as it is almost at 100 posts and have nearly had 400 visitors. If you notice that you are the 400th visitor, please leave a comment. If not then the first person to comment after 400 visitors will get a post publicising their blog with a link and all. It's the least I can do.

How to add an RSS feed of this blog

You may find that you have to keep finding the link or visiting this blog just to see if I have updated it or not. Did you know that you can keep track of whether this blog is updated or not, quite easily?

All you need to do is add it as an RSS feed. If you are using IE7 or Firefox 2 it will be easy to add because they support RSS feeds much better. If you aren't using Firefox 2 yet, I strongly suggest using it as it has many benefits.

To add my blog to your RSS feeds, all you need to do is go to this link: http://pi007.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

It will then ask if you want to subscribe to this feed and you will need to accept and say yes or ok, whichever is required. You will then see the title and the start of each post as they are updated. If you need any further assistance you can email me, leave a comment or do a Google search.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Should I kill myself?

Don't be concerned about me at all, I have just been thinking about what Google would return for some weird searches (mainly questions) that people will ask it to find an answer.

It is a very sombre post this one because if you ask Google "Should I kill myself?" you will get 5,870,000 results and when you start to read through some of the websites that it returns, you realise just how many people are wanting to or are thinking about committing suicide.

All I will say is to anyone considering suicide, don't do it because it ain't worth it. If that is not enough to convince you (and I wouldn't think it would be), please contact me because you can find my email address on my profile page and I am willing to talk to you about it.

You only get one go at life, don't waste it!

Giving control to God

We all struggle to allow God full control of our lives because we like to feel like we are in control when we aren't. Our decisions affect what happens but ultimately God is still in control which is why we should be obedient to Him in the first place.

The devotion today was about walking by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7)

A really good point from it was:

"When we confess all known sin and then depend on the Holy Spirit to guide us (Gal. 5:16,18), we become a powerhouse for God!" - God can use us so much more than we can imagine if we die to self by seeking His will and being obedient to Him.

Where God guides, He provides

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Proverbs 19:21 (cf Proverbs 16:9) - "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."

As much as we like to think we are in control of what happens, God is the one who directs our paths and so we should fully rely on Him. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Round 9 AFL Tips

Well, this is the first week of showing the world what my AFL tips are for the week. Since a comment was left by JB that maybe I could share my tips, I decided it would be interesting to see how many people would follow my tips and either like my tipping or hate me.

So here goes for Round 9 (my tips bolded):

Friday May 25

8:40pm Fremantle v St Kilda Subiaco Oval
- It has got to be Fremantle with St Kilda suffering a lot of injuries with a depleting side and a Fremantle coach who is really after getting into the 8.

Saturday May 26

2:10pm Carlton v Adelaide Telstra Dome
- Adelaide should be too strong for an underpowered Carlton side.

2:10pm Hawthorn v West Coast Aurora Stadium
- West Coast are on fire for another season and have won several here before. It is unlikely that losing Kerr would dent the side that much and the weather is not looking like being wet either.

7:10pm Brisbane v Collingwood The Gabba
- Brisbane should be strong enough to beat Collingwood at the Gabba if they can hold it together although the Pies could be a force to be reckoned with - close game of the round.

7:40pm Richmond v Essendon Melbourne Cricket Ground
- Richmond will have to be hungry and maul the Bombers to do any good here as they have not won a game yet for the season.


Sunday May 27

1:10pm Western Bulldogs v Sydney Manuka Oval
- Sydney are looking good for this season again after a win over the Port last week. They should be able to perform well enough for a victory.

2:10pm Melbourne v Kangaroos Melbourne Cricket Ground
- You might be thinking, what is he crazy - they haven't won a game, Melbourne have a good track record over the Roos, they wouldn't have been as worn out after last round against the Eagles compared to the Roos after a high-scoring match last week. Melbourne have to believe in themselves and go for it, it is their best possibility of winning until they play Richmond in Round 12.

4:40pm Port Adelaide v Geelong AAMI Stadium
- Even though Geelong are winning and doing really well and Port come off a loss last week, I think Port should do alright at home and with dry (not really wet) weather conditions - a win is a nice possibility. Also the fact that I want them to win because of mates who go for Geelong. :)

See how we go with these tips...

Disclaimer: I am having a good year in the tipping so far, it could fall away at any moment and I am sure to miss tips quite often. If you don't like my tipping, please don't follow it. Follow my tipping at your own risk. As a Port Power fan, I will be biased toward tipping for them more and that has been going well so far this year.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Why worry?

Reading Matthew 6:25-34

Are you worried about something or many things? I know that I get a bit worried when assignments are due and you have to get them in and you still have lots to do. We shouldn't worry because God in full control of it. I am sure that if we had a worry (or a concern) and committed it to God, then we would have a peace about it that it will be alright.

"Worry is a burden that God never meant for us to bear"

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"When you give yourself to God, all other giving becomes natural"


Proverbs 19:17 - "He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done."

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Daily Devotion

I like to read my bible every morning just after breakfast and I have found that it helps me to really grow in my faith in Jesus. However, over the weekend, I was busy doing a filming weekend and didn't read my daily devotion. Although that is bad, what it showed me was just how much I missed it once I didn't do it because I was wanting to have devotion time again more then before.

This morning from my readings I have learnt or re-emphasised the following:

  • Glorifying God means putting His character, His will, and His ways into action in all that we do - Our purpose is to show others less of us and more of Him. That’s living on purpose with a purpose! - http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb-05-21-07.shtml
  • From reading segment in Proverbs - Proverbs 19:8 - "He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; he who cherishes understanding prospers."
All of this I read and was encouraged and challenged by in about 15 minutes. I had physical food and then spiritual food which helps sustain me.

I would really encourage you to read your bible each day as the more you read it, the more you will learn about God and get to know him more personally.

Matthew 6:11 - "Give us today our daily bread."

Hebrews 3:12-13 - "See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness."

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Next G...one step closer

Telstra will be making pre-paid available for the Next G network from this Thursday which opens up the other half of the market (pre-paid) to the Next G network. It also means that it is one step closer to turning CDMA off.

Anyone going to switch to the Next G network soon or who has so far?

I know that I won't be for at least another year or so, most likely will leave it until they about to switch the old network off. :)

Who owns who?

I was reading on The Age website an article about Lihir gold and the Ballarat Gold mine.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/lihir-gsjbw-at-odds-over-ballarat-gold-mine/2007/05/21/1179601330130.html

As I was reading through it I found out that Lihir Gold bought it out this year for $345 million. I was surprised by this as I didn't hear anything about it in the news, etc. Nearly everyday there is a company who is acquiring, merging or making an alliance with another company. Especially Google, Microsoft and IBM - some of the biggest companies in the world. It would be interesting to check some of the popular or well-known companies stakes in other companies, or who owns who.

Companies these days are getting bigger and bigger in a globalised world.

(oh and don't forget Yahoo as another big company, looking at purchasing Bebo I just read)

Monday, May 21, 2007

Tipping well


I am entered into the Westnet Footy Tipping Comp and have been tipping well this year. So much so that I am currently sitting in 17th place out of nearly 10,000 people. Last week I was in 20th place so I have moved up 3 more places.

I have mainly started blogging about this because Trav is quite keen about his tipping and more importantly Geelong. Port are still above Geelong on the ladder - for the moment anyway.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Paris Hilton Uncovered

See if you get this one...






If you don't get it, the answer is Paris (picture of the city Paris), Hil (picture of a hill), ton (picture of Gilchrist after getting a ton) and uncovered (a picture of something that had the word uncovered in it)

Encouragement at work

Today at work I was going through the jobs that come through email and was fixing the issues up. I was getting through them and one had come in which I had a look at which was only a minute or two old. I fixed the issue and emailed them back saying that it should be right. Their reply below was cool, an encouragement....


If someone does something good, that impresses you, please tell them to encourage them as we don't do it often enough but are much quicker to let someone know when they have done something wrong. Just think who you could encourage each day...

Monday, May 14, 2007

That's what I like to see...


It is good to see Port Adelaide on the top of the AFL ladder. It has been a little while since they have been on top as they recovered from their 'Grand Final hangover'. Port play Sydney next week which will be a closer game it would seem than this last weekend when they played Richmond.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

New Ten Pin Bowling Record

Last night I went ten pin bowling with my youth group from church. My previous record in ten pin bowling was 171 and I thought that was pretty good until last night when I improved on that again. I went bowling the week before with some friends and got 134 and then 103, so I was hoping to at least better that.

Better that I did, I ended up getting 180 which is now my new record. Although, because I used up all my strikes, spares, etc in that first game, :) my second game was only 93 :(

It was a great night of fun, breaking my record and then also eating humble pie!

What is your highest score in ten pin bowling?

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

GodTube

Yes you better believe it, it is GodTube. You may be thinking that I am playing a practical joke on you but I think you should take a look and find out.

GodTube is the 'Christian alternative' (for want of better words) to the YouTube website. I haven't had much of a look at it yet, as videos take a fair bit of bandwidth, but I am looking forward to having a further look into it. I reckon this site should be promoted as an alternative to YouTube so let everyone know about this site.

If you want to find out more about the guy behind it and the idea, visit: http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php?id=458905736&eid=-6787

Monday, May 07, 2007

SPEM Prayer

I read Our Daily Bread each day which is a daily devotional. It is a great way of reading passages from the Bible, learning more about it and then applying something practical to our lives from it.

Today's reading was focused on prayer which is what I did a sermon on about a month and a half ago. If you do not know how to pray or what you should pray about, etc, all you need to do is talk to God like you do to your friends. SPEM gives you ideas on what things you can pray about. You can pray about spiritual, physical, emotional and mental problems/issues that you are concerned about.

Prayer does more than we can ever imagine!

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Rat race speeding up

Rat race speeding up

A new study shows the pace of life for city dwellers is literally getting faster.

Singapore's residents have been found to be walking the fastest, followed by Copenhagen and Madrid.

New York, generally considered one of the world's most frenetic cities, is eighth, while London has come 12th and Tokyo is placed 16th in the British study.

The study has found that people's walking speeds have increased globally by 10 per cent over the last decade, with the biggest increases in the far east.

In Singapore, walking pace has risen by 30 per cent and in Guangzhou, China, the figure is 20 per cent.

The most laid-back places are Blantyre in Malawi and Manama, Bahrain.

The research was carried out by Professor Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, who measured the average time it took 35 adults in each city to walk 18 metres.

"By 2040, we'll be arriving before we set off," he said

"The psychology is basically that people's walking pace is determined by how much they think they're in a hurry, how quickly they think they should be doing things.

"I believe a lot of it is technology-driven. What's amazing is that these days, you press send on an email and if someone hasn't responded in 10 minutes, you think: 'Where are they?'"

He says people worried about whether their lives are too frantic should ask themselves questions like whether they were often first to finish meals, if they feel frustrated when stuck behind others walking down the street and whether they walk out of shops if there is a small queue.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

The rains are here

As the rains came last week and gave a nice soaking to most of Victoria and SA as well, it was very refreshing for everyone, especially the dry ground. The ground which was dry is now nice and damp. I saw on TV some farmers who were very happy with big smiles on their faces as it is the first lot of rain in a long while!

We don't need to worry about climate change when God is in control of all things.

Praise the Lord!

Friday, April 27, 2007

Excellent Resource

http://www.biblegateway.com/

This is a must store bookmark or favourite reference as it is an online bible reference search and eBooks, audio sermons and much more. It is a well-created and maintained website which always works well.

It is highly recommended and if you want to add a bible verse a day display, they have the code and instructions on how to do so.

Great Turtle Race Winner

...and the winner is Billie!

Purple Lightning is still in 4th place but it is very close, many more turtles to finish tomorrow.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Great Turtle Race almost finished

The great turtle race has almost finished with the turtles less than a day away from reaching the zone but most will come into the zone within 2 days. Purple Lightning, the turtle I am backing, dropped all the way from 4th to 8th place but in the last 2 days has come back up to 4th position where she was sitting about a week ago. Purple Lightning is doing a great job.

http://www.greatturtlerace.com/

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Lisa is back!!!

I got my laptop (named Lisa) back on the weekend as my sister got her new one. It is good to have Lisa back because I can save stuff and install stuff without having to worry about having to remove it in the near future to give it back.

In total it was 63 days without Lisa, but she is back and still performing like she did. Although the future plan is to buy a gaming PC to be able to play the games and perform higher-end tasks and having Lisa as the portable and lower-end task worker.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Use Firefox


I use firefox all the time for browsing the web and find it so much better than IE that everytime I have to use IE, because it isn't installed on the PC I am using, I like Firefox even more. Firefox had tabbed browsing way before IE did and has a much nicer interface to use. Firefox has many extensions that you can install that make it even better than it already is.


I recommend that you give it a try by installing it today.

Purple Lightning still in 4th

Purple Lightning is still in 4th place in the Great Turtle Race but is closing in on third place.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Go Purple Lightning!

Purple Lightning has now moved up one place to 4th in the Great Turtle Race as she makes a zapping pace.

http://www.greatturtlerace.com/

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Great Turtle Race

This site is about leatherback turtles that are going from Costa Rica's Pacific coast to the Galapagos Islands. They have placed satellite trackers on the turtle's backs to see where they go, how fast, etc.

I am barracking for Purple Lightning so hopefully that little turtle hurtles along. It is an interesting site to check back on to see how the race is going.

http://www.greatturtlerace.com/

What an Easter week

About a week and a half since I last posted, time has gone quick.

I had a great Easter at Belgrave Heights helping OAC with the kids program at the convention. It went well: we had lots of kids, had fun, kids loved it and God was at work during the weekend in our lives and in the kids as well.

I got back home on Tuesday and took the next 3 days sort of off for a recovery/holiday. On Saturday we had a day event at Champion City in Warrnambool which went well too. We continued and developed our relationships with the kids which made it a great day.

Now I am at work at IBM for the week and doing some assignments for uni as well.

It is quite busy but enjoying it - although it would be good not to have to do the assignments. :)

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Easter

I am going to the Belgrave Heights Easter Convention this weekend to help OAC with running the kids sessions. I am looking forward to this weekend and it should be a good experience.

This means that there won't be any more posts on this blog until Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

Hope you all have a great and safe Easter remembering what Jesus did for us and how much He loves us.

Thank you God for sending your Son and thank you Jesus for being obedient, even to death, to your Father so that we can have forgiveness of our sins and the hope of eternal life.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Waste not want not

The article below from ABC news website shows just how well off we are if we waste our food by leaving some in rubbish so much so that the seagull population is growing. If we stopped once in a while to realise just how blessed we are, then I am sure that we wouldn't waste as much as we do. So many people have very little food, not enough to keep them healthy, but yet we have so much that we waste it.

I think that we can also fast once in a while which couldn't do us any harm. It would help make us more thankful what we have.

Potato chips fuel Sydney's seagull boom

Potato chips are being blamed for a population boom among Sydney's seagulls.

The Department of Environment and Conservation says numbers of silver gulls in the city have increased five-fold over the past decade.

Spokesman Geoffrey Ross says the birds are simply taking advantage of an unlimited supply of food which is being carelessly discarded.

The department has convened a summit in Sydney today to discuss the problem.

Mr Ross says people can help by not feeding seagulls and by being more vigilant about their litter.

"We can always improve on the way we manage our rubbish," he said.

"If every single Sydneysider made sure that every little bit of litter went straight to the bin and didn't go down the drain, and food scraps went straight into the recycle waste then that would be great."

Google Fools Again

Gmail Paper was an April Fools Day prank by Google and boy do they love doing them. Gmail itself was launched on April Fools Day a few years ago and people thought that it was just a prank but it wasn't. Each year Google come out with something for April Fools Day and sometimes it is true and sometimes it is a prank.

I had my suspicions about it because why would they want to print out the documents and send them out as that takes people labour to do so and would cost them a fair bit to do so even with the supposed advertising offset.

I wonder what they will do for next April Fool's Day...

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Gmail Paper

(Click on the header of this post for more info about Gmail Paper)

When logging into Gmail they have details about new features on the left of the login screen. They have just released Gmail Paper. If you want any of your documents printed out and sent to you, you now can. How they cover the cost of this: "The cost of postage is offset with the help of relevant, targeted, unobtrusive advertisements, which will appear on the back of your Gmail Paper prints in red, bold, 36 pt Helvetica."

It is interesting that you can now do this - will be interesting to see how many people use it.

I love this statement too: "MP3 and WAV files will not be printed" But why not?!

Saturday, March 31, 2007

End of a busy month

It is finally the end of a busy month for a post a day and we are now 1/4 of the way through the year - it sure is going quick.

I helped out today with our Kenya mission trip team as we were doing a BBQ at Safeway to raise money for the fish ponds project. We raised a bit (not sure of exact figure) which was good and it was a nice day to be outside.

I am hoping to make some changes to my blog in the near future so be on the lookout for these as there have already been some in the last month but hopefully more to come.

P.S. Tomorrow is April Fool's Day...

Friday, March 30, 2007

Check this Kenya mission out...

http://kcsafrica2007.blogspot.com/

I was given this link from my mate Jonny about a group who have now just completed a Kenya mission trip. I found it exciting to read through the posts as my experience in January of next year should be very similar. I am looking forward to going to Kenya next year.

Make sure you see the little kitty pic!

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Prayer Sermon

Below you will find the latest sermon that I have preached on the topic of prayer. I trust that you find it a challenge and also as encouraging as I have. Just remember to keep praying!!


Prayer Sermon

Thanks for the opportunity to speak here today.

I just want to let the congregation know about a kids mission that will be taking place in September school holidays, this year, in Ballarat. It is run by Scripture Union and is called Rock-Solid Kidz. I am lucky enough to be a director for this mission and so we would like to find out who would be interested in helping us out. You don’t have to be young, you just have to be willing to serve God. There are many ways in which you could help us so please talk to me for further information.

I had in mind that the next time that I speak I would like to speak on the topic of prayer. When I was first asked if I would like to speak today, I accepted it knowing that it was going to be the Harvest service. At the time I thought that they would be able to tie in and I think they do. Who here wants to go deeper in their relationship with God? Well, you better listen and pay attention because I am sure God has something for each of us in today’s message.

Prayer

We have so much to thank God for; family, friends, food, clothing, homes, etc, etc Compared to some other countries we are really ‘well off’ but are we rich in material possessions and poor in spirit – where it is better to be rich in?

God has really been challenging me in the area of prayer in my life and this was the main desire for choosing this topic for the service. Several years ago I couldn’t see the point of praying but God opened my eyes and showed me that praying was something that I won’t fully understand here on earth but that it is very important as part of your faith. (Explain fully understand) “More things are wrought by prayer, Than this world dreams of” —Tennyson

I estimate that I would only spend about 30 minutes a week in prayer which is basically nothing. This is something that I am going to do better at and so will you after hearing this sermon as God helps us.

After reading various references and resources as part of the study, I found that as Christians we aren’t praying as much as we should. Jesus shows us several times in the bible of how much we should pray. He drew aside in the morning and at night and prayed to God (Luke 6:12 – This particular verse, Jesus prayed all night!) If Jesus was praying that much and He is the Son of God, how much more do we need to pray?! The early church prayed lots and see how much and how quickly it grew. I believe that as the church, God’s people, are not praying and seeking after God as they once have, that there is a drought. You hear on the news how the state and the country are in the worst drought in decades and how we are contributing to global warming by our greenhouse gases, etc, but I believe the church itself is also suffering a drought.

If the church is the body of Christ, how can it suffer a drought if it is drawing from the eternal spring of life? This shows that the church, the people individually and corporately, are not fully seeking for this flow of life and that is the reason why there is a drought. As a result of this we have less people going to church, less commitment, less people interested in church activities, etc are results of there not being a ‘thirst-quenching’ flow in the church. Now that got me thinking of if these two ‘droughts’ could be related, and I believe they are.

In 1 Kings 17 and 18 we read about Elijah and how he prayed for no rain for a couple of years and there was no rain – 1 Kings 17:1. Ok, now who here has been praying for no rain?! It then goes on with the prophets of Baal and Elijah, and then after that in 1 Kings 18:41-45. How often do we pray for something but don’t see results so our fervour and zeal for praying about it fade? I know I do it. Elijah prayed 7 times for the rain to come. What if he only prayed 5 or 6 times? Then it wouldn’t have rained and the drought would have continued. (ODB) I am sure Elijah would have kept praying and praying for rain because he knew and believed that God would answer the prayer. We know that God answers our prayers from the bible reading – Luke 11:9-10 - "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

He who does not sow with his heart in his study will never reap a harvest for God. Devotion and prayer go hand-in-hand, they are both a seeking to get to know God better. Adam and Eve would go for walks with the Lord in the Garden of Eden and so we need to make sure that our time with God is just as exercising – spiritually. We need to ensure that our devotion times are meaningful in that our focus and attention is on our study so that we can really listen and understand what God wants us to learn. Also praying that He will reveal things to you, that He will help you apply them to your life, thanking Him for His promises in His Word and committing concerns for the day to Him. God can use both of these for encouraging and challenging us as we seek after Him. The more time that we spend in both of these activities, the better our spiritual health will be and the fruits of the Spirit will show as a result (Galatians 5:22-23) If we don’t know what to pray for, you can start by praying for the people in the newsletter, praying about current issues, etc. Sometimes when we are praying we may not be able to express exactly what we are feeling to God but that doesn’t matter because if “…we do not know what we ought to pray for…the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” (Romans 8:26)

Isn’t it funny how we use prayer as a last resort because we have tried everything else we can think of? Like you might be in a spot of trouble and don’t know what to do, so you think through it trying to figure out solutions to the pickle that you are in. After exhausting all ideas you have the last resort idea of asking God in prayer – a desperate prayer that he hears. So the next time we are worried about something or we have lost something, why don’t we remember to ask God first and go from there because He sure is capable of sorting it out. Prayer is more powerful than we can ever understand so the next time that you don’t bother praying to God about something, remember that nothing is too big or too small for Him and I am sure that He would prefer to hear us talking to Him than not. He is a faithful and a loving God who hears our prayers and answers them according to His will which is always perfect.

This rich harvest of souls remained a mystery until Hudson Taylor on a visit to England discovered the secret. At the close of one of his addresses a gentleman came forward to make his acquaintance. In the conversation which followed, Mr. Taylor was surprised at the accurate knowledge the man possessed concerning this inland China station. “But how is it,” Mr. Taylor asked, “that you are so conversant with the conditions of that work?” “Oh!” he replied, “the missionary there and I are old college-mates; for years we have regularly corresponded; he has sent me names of enquirers and converts, and these I have daily taken to God in prayer.”

At last the secret was found! A praying man at home, praying definitely, praying daily, for specific cases among the heathen. That is the real intercessory missionary.

Matthew 21:22 – “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

James 4:2b-3 – “You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

When we pray to God I believe we should first thank God for what He has given and done for us, and who He is. Then we should repent any sin that we are being convicted of, and finally we should commit our activities and concerns to Him. Philippians 4:6-7 – “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

ESA newsletter

If we return to God, obey His commands and earnestly seek after Him through devotion and prayer, then we should expect a harvest like that in Amos 9:13. "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills.”

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (Matthew 9:37-38) This harvest is ready in Ballarat too, all it needs are the workers. We shouldn’t ask what God can do for us, but what can I do for Him? I am sure that there are some people here that God has and is trying to get them involved in work for Him in the fields, wherever that may be. It could be an opportunity to serve Him at school, through church, at work, overseas or on kids mission, etc. I know that some of you aren’t as young as you used to be but you can still serve God by diligently and earnestly praying for the work that God is doing.

Who wants the blessing of rain to come to Ballarat? Then let us pray daily until God sends it. We will also pray for it now.

If anyone has questions, wants notes, more study material, would like me to pray for them, please come and see me at the end of the service.

When we sing the last song we will sing is “Jesus is King and I will extol Him”. I want you to pay attention to the words and take them to heart, especially part of the last verse.

O Holy One, our hearts do adore You
Thrilled with Your goodness we give You our praise

I pray that during this week you will ask God to help you improve your prayer life and that you will be obedient to that so that you can be a worker ready for harvesting because the harvest is ready.

What Men Know about Women

How to clear fog on car windscreen

It is hard to drive with fog on your front windscreen but there is an easy way of clearing it.

If you turn the air-conditioning on and turn the heat option on in your car it will make the fog on the windscreen clear pretty quickly. As hard as it is to believe it does work because air-conditioning reduces the humidity (moisture level) in the air which is why the fog will clear.

That's a tip for the next time you get fog on your car windscreen!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Kenya Mission Session #2

Last night we had our second mission session night for the Kenya mission trip. The theme for the night was "Learning to delight in differences".

This topic covered the following:

  • It looked at the differences between our culture (Western) and Kenya culture (3rd World) and the way that we perceive each culture. It was interesting in that the 3rd world can describe us quite well whereas I don't think we can describe them as well. I will find that out when I go there of course.
  • The differences between team members and how they have been brought up and their ideas on certain things and how they go about stuff.
  • How Jesus came to earth in human form and how that was how we could relate to Him and believe what He says - How we can relate to the people in Kenya to teach, witness and encourage the people there.
It was quite interesting and the associated bible reading for the night was from Philippians 2:1-15.

Monday, March 26, 2007

A great resource

For those who didn't know about this great online resource - now you do!

BibleGateway is an online searchable bible and has many versions to check what the chapter, verse(s) are that you are looking for. It is a great resource when doing a study or when preparing a sermon. Check it out at: http://www.biblegateway.com/

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Thumbs up all round

You know when you go to the fuel station and you are waiting for other people in front and at other bowser's to finish filling their cars up that you are just sitting there; thinking about your day or what you are going to do next or how you are running late for it.

This made that whole experience much more fun and interesting.

I was sitting there waiting and filled in the fuel book (as I keep track of each fill up and km reading, etc) I was then still waiting of course and I noticed that some kids were giving the thumbs-up signal. So I thought, oh yeah why not give a thumbs-up back - so I did. Now that has started something so because I gave a thumbs-up they try and get some others to give them a thumbs-up back. They don't seem to get a response like they did from me so they try again for me and why not give another thumbs-up. Now because it was a family mover vehicle: A it took longer to fill up and B there about 5-6 kids in the car. Now this caused a thumbs-up friendly in the car and so I reckon I would have given about 10 thumbs-up to the kids while filling up.

When they were driving off they were still trying to get just that one more thumbs-up, I just waved good-bye. Now I hope that made their petrol station visit a bit more exciting than usual and that they can tell there friends that they should try getting people's thumbs-up, as they had done it once and had this big nut case giving them thumbs-up......

Previous post not valid

A comment states that the previous post I posted is invalid or should not be counted as a post for the month. I will now have to make 2 posts in one day like today because I have to make up for it from yesterday.

I have received my PDA I bought off Ebay and it is good. It is a Palm TX and as part of the bundle it has a metal carry case, car charger and 256MB SD card. I have been setting it all up and find it quite fast to use. It should come in real handy in many situations.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

One a day keeps the...

blog posts number up always. This month if you haven't noticed I have made more posts in the one month so far than in a while year and an other month alone. My target is a post per day for this month and so far I am on track.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

31 days without my laptop!

31 days without my laptop, that time has gone by quite quickly and the latest news is that Jo's laptop won't be coming in until next week as some stock has arrived in Australia but will take a bit of time to arrive, etc. Wouldn't want to be in a hurry for it at all.

I am so glad that I have been able to borrow this laptop because it has made things so much easier.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Sound the alarm

We got out of 30 minutes of work today when the fire alarms went off and it wasn't a drill. It wasn't serious however as some workmen were working on electrical stuff and must have accidentally triggered the alarms off.

Isn't it funny how it always seems to be misty or wet outside when the fire alarms are tested or go off when we have been having warmer and drier weather than normal?!

So that interrupted our work giving us 30 minutes extra break.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Refresh Gmail

I am having trouble at the moment on this borrowed laptop trying to access my Gmail account. It just keeps trying to refresh the page over and over again. It is annoying to say the least, especially as I have accessed from other machines fine, have deleted the cookies, temporary files, rebooted PC, etc. I am going to research this a bit further....

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Relying on God Sermon

Relying on God

Bible Reading - 2 Corinthians 5:16-6:13

Thank you for letting me have the opportunity to speak here again.

Can anyone remember what I spoke on last time?


Sermons-Not Remembered, But...

There was an article in a church paper entitled, "32,850 Sermons Later." It started off with a letter printed in the British Weekly from one of their English readers. The British letter went like this:

"Dear Sir,

'It seems ministers feel their sermons are very important and spend a great deal of time preparing them. I have been attending a church quite regularly for the past 30 years, and I have probably heard 3,000 of them. To my consternation, I discovered that I cannot remember a single sermon. I wonder if a minister's time might be more profitably spent on something else?

"Sincerely...."

For weeks a real storm of editorial responses ensued. The uproar finally was ended by this letter:

"Dear Sir:

"I have been married for 30 years. During that time I have eaten 32,850 meals-mostly of my wife's cooking. Suddenly, I have discovered that I cannot remember the menu of a single meal. And yet, I have received nourishment from every single one of them. I have the distinct impression that without them. I would have starved to death long ago.

"Sincerely...."

For those who weren’t here it was – commitment to serving and living for God

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today it is about relying on God

Everything is so good and everything works out so well when we rely on God when doing things – so why do we not want to rely on Him all the time?

Relying on God is similar to how a child relies on their parents to provide food, clothes, safety, education, love, care, etc – We should rely on God like a child relies on a parent

We have several examples of people in the Bible who relied on God:

- Abraham - When God called him to be the father of that people out of which Christ was to be born, God said to him: “I am God Almighty, walk before me and be thou perfect.” And God trained Abraham to trust Him as the omnipotent One; and whether it was his going out to a land that he knew not, or his faith as a pilgrim midst the thousands of Canaanites - his faith said: This is my land - or whether it was his faith in waiting twenty-five years for a son in his old age, against all hope, or whether it was the raising up of Isaac from the dead on Mount Moriah when he was going to sacrifice him - Abraham believed God.

- Job – He kept on trusting and believing in God even after he lost family, cattle and more. (Job 42:2 - "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.”)

- Paul – He kept relying on God through his times of persecution, being in prison, ridiculed, etc.

§ Acts 27:21-26 – Relying on God in faith

§ 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 – Weakness made him to rely on God

I think we are like Peter who tried to walk on water – we can rely on God to a certain extent to do great things (walk on water) but then we see all the things that could go wrong (storm) and we lose focus and stop relying on him for the strength

We are like this “For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.” (Phil 2:21)

Or maybe we are not relying on God because we are too busy thinking that we know what we need to do for ourselves and others – selfish

We should be saying however, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Phil 4:13)

This does not however mean that we should do nothing at all. Exams – I could have not studied and relied on God to see how I would go….

God has provided us with abilities and resources, etc to use to live for Him in what we do, it doesn’t mean that we leave everything up to God (A child walks for themself and learns to go to the toilet by themselves as they grow older) so it is the same in that God teaches us how to do more things and then we can do them in His strength

We should do our best with what God has given us and leave Him with the rest

Jeremiah 17:5 - This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.

Champion City example

- Changed the program at the start of the year – had over 100 local kids, we had excellent weather, we all survived with less sleep, etc

- Had a fun day event last Monday – had 54 kids, 14 Warrnambool leaders (including 2 grandparent aged leaders)

We did none of this on our own effort, God has provided us with the abilities, opportunities, kids, leaders, etc.

“Other than that (and most importantly), keep seeking God's face and
letting Him be the inspiration behind everything you do. After all,
our reliance on Him will be the deciding factor that determines how
this mission goes.”

God has also given us the armour of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:13-17):

- Belt of truth

- Breastplate of righteousness

- Feet ready with peace

- Shield of faith

- Helmet of salvation

- Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God

A lot of the time we don’t know why God is allowing something to happen but when we see it from hindsight we can see what he has taught us from it - “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)


How can we rely on God?


G
o to God in prayer daily (John 15:7 – “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you”).

- Jesus prayed to God for guidance and to determine His will


Read God's Word daily (
Acts 17:11 – “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”).
-
Jesus relied on scripture to defeat Satan

Seek God Daily

Ben Jochai was teaching a group of students about the miracle of the manna when Israel was on the way from Egypt to the Promised Land.

One of the students asked, "Why didn't the Lord God furnish enough manna for Israel at one time to last the entire year?"

The teacher said, "I will answer you with a parable. Once there was a rich man who had a son to whom he promised an annual allowance. Every year on the same day, he would give his son the entire amount. After a while, it happened that the only time the father saw his son was on the day of the year when he was to receive his allowance. So the father changed his plan and only gave the son enough for the day. Then the next day the son would return for the allowance for the day. From then on, the father saw his son every day."

This is the way God dealt with Israel. It is the way God deals with us.


Obey God moment by moment (
John 14:21 – “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”).

Depend on the Control Center

A beautiful illustration of our dependence on a solidly established base while we are moving at a distance, is the journey of Apollo 11 to the moon. A space station in Houston, Texas, was the seat of command. The three spacemen dared not disregard it as they circled around the moon and as two of them landed on its surface. Thus Paul tells the Corinthians that any work they undertake must be based on the firmness, the absoluteness, the dependability of the Lord Jesus Christ. He arose. He did what He said He was going to do. He told us that we shall rise. That is our control center. We can depend on it. We dare not disregard it. It is a matter of life and death.

As I was viewing this feat of man at the time Neil Armstrong was landing on the moon, I was impressed by the remark made by one news commentator, "These men cannot remain on the moon. They must follow instructions. They do not have only themselves to think of but also the entire project." Think of that, Christian, when you are tempted to act independently of the control center, Christ the Lord. You have not only yourself to think of, but also Christ and His Kingdom.


Witness for Christ by your life and words (
Matthew 4:19 – “Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men.”; John 15:8 – “This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”; Matthew 5:16 – “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven”).


Trust God for every detail of your life
(
1 Peter 5:7 – “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you”; Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight”).



Holy Spirit - allow Him to control and empower your daily life and witness (
Galatians 5:16,17 – “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want”; Acts 1:8 – “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”)

We must hand control of our lives over to God to be in control of rather than us trying to still be in the driver’s seat. Luke 9:23-25 - Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?

Think back to when you first became a believer or when you saw someone change their life completely, what a difference Christ made in your/their life? Remember how excited and passionate you/they were about God?

I pray that God will renew the passion and excitement in your life because we should be passionate and excited because His Word is the Living Word and as Matthew 9:37-38 says “Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field”.

Unfinished Sermon

"Is the sermon done?" asked one member of the congregation of another. "No, the preacher is done, but the sermon has to be worked out in our lives," replied the practical listener.

So by relying on God we can be committed to serving and living for God because we can do our best and leave God with the rest