Shaped!

Earlier this week I received the email that every internet user dreads…

“You have exceed your download limit”…

Doh!  Now I’m back to dial up speed at home during peak hours for a week til it all resets.

flickr

I’ve finally started to get some of my better photos posted up on the web. I’ll progressively add to them as I get to it, but at least I’ve got a few good shots up there at the moment!  I’ve added a few of my PNG photos, some of my New Zealand shots and eventually I’ll add a couple of the best from China, Borneo, Tasmania and some more local shots of the countryside.

Anyway, check out my flickr; site and some of the photos that I’ve taken recently!

New Year

It’s a new year. Well, what can I say. Glad last year is over. Hopefully next year is better. I don’t understand why people think that everything magically fixes itself at the stroke of midnight on one particular night, but I guess that’s as much mental, or attitude, as anything else. But enough of that.

Caught up with a couple of friends tonight, including one that I hadn’t caught up with properly for quite a while – perhaps 3 or 4 years. But it was good to slip back into the old ways and spend the night laughing. We caught a movie first – PS I love You, then went out and had Chinese for tea. It was nice and quiet in the restaurant until we arrived! It didn’t take long before everyone knew we were there! Time flew and what was going to only be an hour or so turned into 3 or 4! It was a good night. Then I dropped in on a few friends later in the evening and we saw the new year in fairly quietly with a few party poppers and… well that was about all!

All the best for the new year.  Try and dream big and take some steps to see them come to pass.

Just enough light

Just enough light for the step I’m on – Trusting God in the Tough Times, by Stormie Omartian.

I bought this book for somebody else, but of course I had to see whether the book was ok before I gave it to them! So I’ve read most of it and found it quite enjoyable actually, especially where I am at the moment.

I particularly enjoyed the chapters about the call of God, when we’re overwhelmed and the waiting bit. We need to be expecting God to call and waiting for His call so that we’re ready to answer. Here’s a few good quotes from the book:

“Every day you have another opportunity to affect your future with the words you speak to God. Each prayer sets something in motion.”

“Going through a waiting period doesn’t mean there is nothing happening, because when you are waiting on the Lord, He is always moving in your life.”

“When the circumstances are so overwhelming look to God and see His awesome power.”

“We are walking in the spirit when we use God’s word to guide us. We are walking in the Spirit when we ask God daily for direction, guidance and revelation. We are walking in the Spirit when we commit every aspect of our life – relationships, work, decisions, thoughts and actions to prayer instead of leaving it all to chance. We are walking in the Spirit when we determine each morning to worship God and set our mind on the things He has called us to, not on the things that have happened in the past.”

“If life as you have known it and the path that you have walked seem to be ending, draw especially close to God ad He will reveal what your next step is to be.”

If we’ve committed the situation to God in prayer and we step out, we have to trust that He is right there guiding us, even if it doesn’t look like it. We have to trust that what we’re doing will turn out right because we’ve surrendered it to God. We have to trust that as we give Him our plans, dreams and desires that if they’re meant to be, they’ll come to pass, in His timing and the way He plans. As I struggle with a few of the decisions that I’m making at the moment, I have to trust that the way I’m stepping is the correct way because I’ve committed it to prayer. What will happen, I don’t know. But the way it will happen will be through nothing I do.

As I surrender to God, I’m going to let Him sweep me where I need to go. I just have to trust that where I land will be where He wants me. In the meantime, as it looks like everything goes backwards and will never happen, I have to be patient and enjoy the waiting time and let God cultivate His dreams and desires in me.

Billy and Steve

I’m not an animal person, but when I saw a galah on the ground as I drove into church one day, I couldn’t help but be moved. So I took a few photos, then gave a lady from work a call. She came and got him (I presume it is a him) and has been hand rearing him. Of course the galah, who I have nicknamed Billy is coming to work, so we have a galah walking round the office. Thankfully he can’t fly yet, but it won’t be long, so Billy may not make another appearance at work before he heads off to his home.

As if helping one bird wasn’t strange enough for me…

Outside our office I saw a little baby bird that had obviously fallen out of it’s nest. It was laying there with no feathers, little frame that will one day become its wings, and heart still beating. Well it needed to be put out of its misery, so I called one of the other ladies at work, coz I wasn’t going to do it!

Anyway, I just presumed she would’ve done that and I heard nothing more about the bird… That was until I got asked to take place in a little bet that we were all having: what kind of bird is the baby bird? The lady who I thought was going to put it out of its misery had compassion on it was hand rearing it and had christened it Steve! So now we have two birds in the office.

You wouldn’t get this in the city!

Update! 9/12/2007 – Steve is a sparrow!  That’s right, we have a pet sparrow in the office!

long time…

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged.  I haven’t put anything up about my PNG trip.  I wanted to post some photos as well, but I haven’t.  I don’t know if now’s the best time to actually try and blog something though because it would probably all be negative.

So anyway, plenty going on as always.  Still playing the guitar.  Most days, not all, but most, I get in a few minutes practice.  I can play a fair few chords, but I just need to practice changing between chords because I can’t do that very well.  I borrowed a different guitar last Sunday and ended up playing that for nearly an hour and a half.  I get lost and it’s just me and the guitar.  It was a nice guitar though.  Much easier to play than mine, but if I hadn’t done the practice on mine, I wouldn’t be able to play that one easily.

Work has been interesting.  The week I got back to work after PNG we announced major downsizing.  It was a bit unexpected, so there’ll be a few changes there over the next few months.

Change all around.  Hopefully it works out for the better.

ROCK ON HAWTHORN!!!

Oh yeah!!  Hawthorn just won their elimination final by 3 points!!!  7 seconds to go and our guy kicks a goal!!  That’s just totally cool!  I don’t normally get excited by the footy, but I sure was today!  Days like this when I wish I had a tv…  Might have to go and find somewhere to watch the news tonight so I can see that kick!

Out at sea

Well, I got to donate blood again last Friday. Nothing is ever easy or uneventful when I’m around. First off my hemoglobin had dropped enough from last time for them to have to do a “venus” test (it was still within normal range though). So I had that test done first, that’s easy – they just take your blood twice. So I had needles stuck in both my arms and blood sucked out of both arms instead of just one… great. Then after they’d taken my donation I felt like I was going to throw up so I got to lay there for a while with my legs up in the air. Had a few less nurses running after me this time, so that’s good! The only good thing I got out of that was that if that happens after I donate next time I don’t have to donate! YEAH!!! Wait, I shouldn’t be so excited… Anyway, I got a key ring because I’d donated twice and the next few days I don’t think I had any after affects like last time. Maybe because I got them to take less out this time perhaps.

Here’s a few random thoughts. If you know what they mean, good. If you don’t, too bad…!

I think I’ve missed the wave and I’m out at sea. I don’t know how I get back on the wave.

If you didn’t know I was going OS again, I leave in about 6 weeks or so.

I have a guitar. For the record: I remember praying a while ago something like “God if you want me to learn the guitar you’ll find me a guitar that I can borrow”. So now I have one, it’s got strings and I’m trying to figure it out. I need that written down somewhere so that when I get frustrated because my fingers won’t go where they’re meant to (like after about 10 minutes of practice), I’ll remember that the guitar is an answer to prayer.

I’m still running, but not doing as much. The last few days I’ve been cramping up when I run and every step is jarring – dunno how to describe it really. I’m ok walking though.

It’s raining – good thing I’ve been for my run.

Amazing Grace

Took the youth to see Amazing Grace the other day. It was good. It goes for about 2 hours though – nearly got a bit slow in the center bit. It just shows what God can do through one person who is passionate about something and won’t give up doing what he’s called to do – even when it all looks like its never going to happen. I thought it was good how they showed that you don’t have to be a “preacher/pastor” to do God’s work, God uses people in everyday jobs, whatever it is. It’s not either/or, they both go together.

Here are a couple of quotes that I liked:
You only feel the thorns when you stop running. (Set in the context of William Wilberforce almost giving up on abolishing the slave trade and found all these problems that started bothering him).

Sometimes God isn’t in the lightning bolt or the storm, He’s in the gentle drizzle.

Lifeblood

In Bendigo we have a group of churches who work together, called Citywide Connections. The ultimate aim of Citywide connections is to bring the light of Jesus to the community and impact the community in practical ways. This year Citywide are running a campaign to increase the number of litres of blood donated through the red cross. Last year 2500 litres were collected in Bendigo and we’re aiming to double that to 5000 litres this year. Obviously that is only going to happen if more people begin donating blood. Which is the purpose of this post.

I hate blood. I hate the site of it. In fact, I hate anything to do with hospitals, health, doctors and anything else like that. I don’t watch any of those hospital shows on tv. I avoid talking about it and listening to any conversations about illnesses and stuff like that. So you can kind of see that me and blood donating are not a good combination!

So I finally got up my nerve and about 3 months ago a group of us went in and donated. I didn’t look at all and didn’t let the nurse explain the procedure to me. We took photos and it took me a few days before I was game enough to download and look at the photos! What happened while I gave blood didn’t help either. Just as they took the whatever it is that sucks the blood out, I started feeling rather unwell… Next thing I have a nurse there asking me if I’m still there and a couple of others running around after me – finding fans and stuff like that! Hey, call me attention seeking if you like! So needless to say I spent a lot more time there than you’re meant to. The next couple of days I didn’t feel too good – after I’d eat, I’d feel dizzy. So most people who heard my story didn’t expect me to go back and give again.

But I’m due to head to the blood bank on Friday and here’s the purpose of this story. Somebody today asked me why I’m going back. I can tell you that its not because giving blood saves lives. As far as I’m concerned, they can use somebody else’s blood to save lives!

No, the reason I’m going back is simple: For years I have prayed that the church would impact the community. Now we have a campaign, led by the combined churches of Bendigo, that impacts the community. If you’re not willing to be part of the answer to the prayers that you pray, then maybe you shouldn’t be praying them. So as much as I hate the thought of the blood getting sucked out of my arm, I know that what I’m doing is part of being an answer to the church impacting the community. I’m putting my prayers into action and doing what it takes to be part of that answer.

When it comes to being part of the answer to the prayers you pray, when the rubber hits the road, are you willing to do whatever it takes, or are you content to sit back and just pray, saying that you’re doing your bit?