scars of fire

i was in sydney this weekend for a few last minute wedding things and it was interesting to once again be in a city that is so big and eclectic... i mean it was a shock, after so long in good old planed canberra, to see roadside advertising, service stations on the side of main roads and front fences!

i am both looking forward and dreading the move, i feel like the city might be big enough to engulf me but at the same time i see glimmers of hope for our very own "sin city"

i remember one time back in sydney a few years ago i was walking through an area that was decimated by one of the many fires that have swept through the bushland. as i walked through tall trees black with the scars of the inferno, i saw on the upper limbs, little green buds that were shooting out from the branches bursting out to produce the much needed life that the tree needed...

As i walked my mp3 CD walkman (the feeble excuse for not getting an iPod) loaded up this song by enter the worship circle and i had it one of those God invading moments where things connect and you just know the Lord is speaking.

You have redeemed my soul
From the pit of emptiness
You have redeemed my soul
From death

I was a hungry child
A dried up river
I was a burned out forest
And no one could do anything for me

But you put food in my body
Water in my dry bed
And to my blackened branches you brought the
springtime rain of new life
And nothing is impossible for you

a change is as good as a holiday

well because i realise that i have the same blog template as half the world (including meg) i have hacked my current template to customise it...

sort of like putting a big spoiler and plastic "mag" covers on an excel and punching a few holes in the exhaust...

stay tuned for more crazy colours and images as my blog template enters a state of flux....

the merch table is open

as i am now in the process of the move back to sydney, i was thinking about some good times i have had in sydney...

i remember back in the day when koorong opened up its big MEGA store, in what used to be the old west ryde pub, me and a few friends would go and look at all the tacky christian merch that was on offer... from WWJD bands and dogtags to a perfume called "Essence of Jeruselm" (seriously i am NOT kidding)

now that we are well and truly in the digital age its good to see the marketers of tacky christian merch have met my fav consumer goods item the iPod...














now i dont know but... you think we might be missing the point?

oh and by the way Young Life t-shirts are NOT tacky merch.... they are cool ok...

to PoMo for "church"

in response to daves comment on my being to PoMo to even use the word church... i thought i would gauge what term people think i should use....

What should i call church
faith community
bunch of Jesus people
a spiritual guidance center
the great tabernacle of the LORD

the big move

ok here it is... the big decision....

due to some family health issues, me and Emma will be packing our bags and heading to Sydney in the new year...

This decision has been really hard and not easy but i believe it is both the right decision and God is defiantly confirming this for us...

please if you know me and em please pray for a few unresolved things...

1. we have nowhere to live after the 21st Dec (we would like to stay in canberra up till the 22nd of Jan but unless we find short term accommodation it wont be happening)

2. i've got no idea what i am going to be doing job wise (i am busy applying for jobs i am in no way qualified for... but you never know)

3. we are not sure where we are going to hang with other christians and would love to find somewhere in sydney that is both "cutting edge" and supportive

so now you all know my secret reason for starting a blog... i will miss canberra people greatly... but i will make a commitment to blog every day (well most days) so that i can stay in touch and continue to share this journey towards Christ together....

peace

decisions

it is always hard to make decisions when you are trying to discern "Gods will" i mean i don’t often get that audible voice experience... nor do i believe if i make the "wrong decision" that this is going to somehow make God say "Oh great now what am i going to do..."

some thoughts...

1. have i thought about God in the decision ?
2. have i thought about others?
3. do i trust that God will love me no matter which decision i make?

the third seems simple, but i find it hard... i mean in work in school in every area of life people tend to judge us by our "decisions" but God loves us based on HIS decision... to send Jesus...

anyway stay tuned for my "decisions"

center left? or left behind?

not wanting to get toooo political but found this little quiz interesting

Click for Quiz


looks like i am a centre left type person...

what are you?

why is it that so much of the christian life seems to only pay lip service? i mean when we talk about evangelism or worship or service or social justice it seems like we only "talk"

Jesus was a man of action not just talk

Luke 7:11-17

i reread this today thinking "did Jesus do this then sit there explaining that he was a great prophet Gods Son sent to earth etc.....? "

nope he simply has compassion on this poor woman, who has lost her husband and now her son... then through his actions people start praising God!!!

how many times do we do a "compassionate act" because it might lead us to an opportunity to get the REAL message in.... what if the compassion IS the real message?

just a thought....

i havnt rocked in ages

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
let me hide myself in thee;
let the water and the blood,
from thy wounded side which flowed,
be of sin the double cure;
save from wrath and make me pure.


i thought that funking up old hymns was a bit of a new trend with the likes if Tim Hughes and the Passion Band guys reviving the old classics with a fresh feel... but i had not yet heard Al Green

i got an old school album of the "rev" and man he is kicking on the full black gospel choir, hammond organ ... its rockin!

i was thinking about this old hymn though thinking about some stuff that’s happening for me right now...

how often do we put our trust not in God but in his people?

i know that on the "theoretical" side the people of God should "reprezent" the same love and compassion of our saviour.... but you know what .... we don’t always

i think i need to realign my trust into the hands of the perfect God rather than the fallen selfish but forgiven members of his body...

of which i am the most fallen and selfish.....

doom review

last sunday as i was dragged along with emma "clothes shopping" i decided that a better use of my time other than tagging along whining, was to go see a movie... and what better flick to catch on a sunday arvo but the new DOOM movie.

First a trip down memory lane.....

i still remember the first time i played the game, it was the most amazing thing to ever flicker across my 14inch monitor. I remember we had to upgrade the PC to a whopping 486...

It was sweeeeeet it made me nauseous the first few times the intensity of the gameplay and the smooth scrolling "pseudo" 3D graphics.

So needless to say i was excited about this game being seen on the big screen

UNFORTUNATLY....

the move really didn’t stack up. It really only followed the more recent Doom3 game in plot and look and had way to much plot!

lets face it the Doom phenomena was never about a clever plot... back in those early days, sitting at that computer till all hours of the night, i didn’t care about the monsters extra chromosome or how they came to be. It was all about wasting as many of those beasts as you could while trying to stay alive!

so ok i am being a bit harsh i mean the movie would have sucked even more without the plot... but i would have paid the admission price to see just one thing... one thing that was blatantly missing....

WHERE WAS THE EXPLODING BARREL!!!!!

wedding prep vol 1

for those who don’t know i will be a married man in just 4 weeks.... wow that is close...

i tried on the suit last night, so there is no turning back... but hey the suit doesn’t make the marriage

also got a nice pic of the new renovations done at the reception venue its looking very swish..

another day in flux

perhaps i should explain what i mean by "state of flux" as a good student of physics i know that flux is defined as "A flow or flowing." and i suppose life is like that for me right now.

So why is that so hard for me?? well i was reflecting on this and i think our human nature seems to want us to form into a particular shape... yeh sure at first we are willing to be molded by God and others but after a while we grow happy with the shape we are in..

Jer 18:6 O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

See sometimes i think we get the idea that the potter has finished molding us when we reach a certin point... that we have made it....

but the clay here is constantly in the potters hand....

so what happens if our pot gets hard and we are not mouldable? as i have found out recently the potter takes us off the wheel breaks the old pot and starts again, that proccess is painfull but worth it to once again be clay in the hands of the potter

i am in a state of flux.... . .

welcome to my mind

some blog because they are exhibitionists....

some blog because they aspire to share their ideas....

some blog to exorcise their inner demons....

some blog to prove a point....

i am not sure why i am going to blog, but i wont find out till i start

look for some exciting stuff right here..... perhaps.....