For those of you who aren’t a friend of mine on Facebook I thought I’d give you a little catchup on what’s going on in my life.
Have you ever thought there aren’t enough hours in the day, but then come to the deep and meaningful realisation that there are more than enough hours in the day…the problem is trying to do too much!? Yeah well that’s kinda like where I’m at! Super busy with a new job at Australia’s leading health retreat working in the creative/marketing team, slowly building my own creative company, trying to avoid being murdered by various clients because their jobs haven’t been completed yet (if any of you are reading this please be understanding ), trying to have some sort of social life with friends and family – cause life’s no fun without friends, trying to be all things to all men and coming to cognisance of the fact that 99% of the time it’s impossible to placate, mollify, conciliate (and a whole bunch of other synonyms) 2% of the 10% of people you’d rather not have to deal with more than 0.000000125% of the time – you figured that one out yet? No neither have I. :p Oh and I just started the last three items in my rather unordered list with trying…yeah, I’m trying! Also when I get some free time and money enjoying making slow progress on Safara – my long-term project Land Rover Defender 110. On that note two weeks ago I drove down to Sydney (2500km round trip) with my dad tagging along for an awesome weekend 4wding in the Blue Mountains, and it looks like I’ll be heading back down there this weekend – flying this time! Lastly, as of two months ago my last grandparent died – my grandma…really miss her!
So there you have it. A very haphazard encapsulation of my life the last few months. Even though it may not sound like it I’m really enjoying life at the moment. It’s an adventure, every passing day leaves me wondering what is going to happen next, how long I’ll be able to keep my fast departing sanity as I face wave after wave of work and personal related stress, realising that I need God more than I ever have before, and standing in awe of His goodness and faithfulness to me each and every moment of the day. Yes, life is good because God is good. All the time!
I love awesome quotes, it’s almost an informal habit of mine to collect them! So I thought I’d share a few of my recent favorites…more along the philosophical line:
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Sir Winston Churchill
“To be an atheist requires an indefinitely greater measure of faith than to receive all the great truths which atheism would deny.” – Joseph Addison
“If two men agree on everything, you may be sure that one of them is doing the thinking.” – Lyndon Baines Johnson
“Intimidation is an acknowledgment of the weakness of your point of view” – Desmond Tutu
OK, I’m mostly a vegetarian and can’t imagine elephant stew would be very nice at all, and I’m definitely not condoning the killing of elephants for stew, ivory or any other such reason…but I came across this a couple of months ago and thought it was funny – hence I’m putting it up here! So, if you ever have 3,800 people coming over for tea and don’t know what to serve them! :p
Cut the elephant into bite-size pieces.
(This should take about 2 months.)
Cover with brown gravy and cook over kerosene fire about 4 weeks at 465 degrees.
This will serve 3,800 people.
If more are expected, add 2 rabbits.
Do this only if necessary, as most people do not like to find hare in their stew.
The dictionary defines unashamed as: acting openly and without guilt or embarrassment.
In a world that is trying to oppress and tyrannize Christians who believe in any absolutes – especially those based on the Bible – there are few willing to stand up and be counted. I came across (which in turn came from here) one such young girl this evening, and I’m both praising God and challenged myself from her example.
A quote I came across last week is ringing in my head, “If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified.“ - Leonard Ravenhill. For far too long we’ve been too concerned about what the world thinks about us as Christians. And this has led to only one thing – the church conforming to the world…not the other way around. If Jesus is to return in our lifetime this has to change. We have a message to give a world – and it’s not popular, it’s not going to win many friends and it may even get us killed. This quote from Spurgeon hits the nail on the head to use a cliché:
“After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the church had a prayer meeting, but they did not pray, ‘Lord grant unto thy servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are.’ If they ceased not for preaching Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They ‘turned the world upside down’ (Acts 17:6). That is the only difference! Lord, clear the church of all the rubbish the devil has imposed on her, and bring us back to apostolic methods.” – C.H. Spurgeon, “Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?”
I’ve been meditating on Paul writing to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:6 talking about Godliness with contentment is great gain – I might post my thoughts on it someday, I’m coming to believe a correct understanding of the concept Paul is talking about adds an extra dimension to victorious Christianity!
Anyway, here’s a quote related to this that I came across this morning in my personal study time:
“Pure religion brings peace, happiness, contentment; godliness is profitable to this life and the life to come.
That unrest and discontent which ends in fretting and complaining is sinful; but the discontent with one’s self which urges on to more earnest effort for greater improvement of the mind for a broader field of usefulness is praiseworthy. This discontent does not end in disappointment but in gathering force for a higher and more extended field of usefulness. Only be ever balanced by firm religious principle and a sensitive conscience, having ever the fear of God before you, and you will certainly prosper in becoming fitted for a life of usefulness.
We should live for the next world. It is so wretched to live a haphazard, aimless life. We want an object in life–to live for a purpose. God help us all to be self-sacrificing, less self-caring, more forgetful of self and selfish interest; and to do good, not for the honor we expect to receive here, but because this is the object of our life and will answer the end of our existence. Let our daily prayer go up to God that He will divest us of selfishness. . . .
I have seen that those who live for a purpose, seeking to benefit and bless their fellow men and to honor and glorify their Redeemer, are the truly happy ones on the earth, while the man who is restless, discontented, and seeking this and testing that, hoping to find happiness, is always complaining of disappointment. He is always in want, never satisfied, because he lives for himself alone. Let it be your aim to do good, to act your part in life faithfully.”
- Ellen White, Our High Calling p242
French for I’ve missed my flight – something I hope I don’t say tomorrow! As tomorrow I leave the Sunshine Coast at 2:30am for a 27 hour voyage via Brisbane, Sydney, Auckland, San Francisco and ending up at San Jose for GYC08!
It’s been a very last minute thing – made possible because God worked a miracle through some amazing people getting me a new MacBook Pro (thanks again!), and also having credit card lol – picked up my tickets on Thursday! It’s going to be an awesome trip, totally looking forward to it…it’s going to be busy too: GYC, photo shoot for next years GYC branding and brainstorming for marketing, Weimartians @ GYC (reunion with people from Weimar College), shooting a friends wedding, 400 odd mile road trip up to Grants Pass, then down to Mount Shasta for Christmas with some really cool friends (it’ll be a white Christmas – just checked the weather, -12C to -2C and snowing!), then a week when I don’t know what we’re going to do! I say we because one of my best buddies Kerrod is joining me in Sydney for the trip – we’re going to have a blast…the USA isn’t going to know what hit it.
So yeah, it’s going to be heaps fun! And I’d better get packed ASAP or I will be saying j’ai manqué mon vol!
GYC book cover design – 400 page hard cover book. Really happy with the design…can’t wait to see it in the flesh!
Congo Frontline Missions website – took the website live at midnight last night, then was testing till 1:30am (yes I am crazy!)…go check it out for yourself: http://www.congofrontlinemissions.org/ This would never have been done before GYC if I hadn’t had some help – thanks Cameron!
Plus there’s been a fair bit of other stuff including something really cool that will be revealed next year – se HERE and HERE for a teaser…2009 is going to be an awesome year God willing!!
It’s a question that I’ve asked myself lots. And it’s a very important one! How honestly can we know if God is actually leading or if it’s either a rabbit from Satan or our own version of God’s leading?
My friend Philip Mills over at his blog has posted something that I think everyone who’s asked that question will appreciate – check it out HERE!
Today has been one of those days that I don’t really enjoy having. Stressful, creative inspiration not running at full steam, being mucked around by other people, and topped off with deadlines as the icing. A bit after 14:00 this afternoon I realized rather acutely that the walls of my stomach were kissing each other and set about to rectify the problem. So I’m at the sink washing some stuff and glance at some quotes that my mother has placed there…and this one jumps out at me and arrests my attention. It wasn’t that I hadn’t read it before, it was just that I hadn’t READ it before!
“God’s work of refining and purifying must go on until His servants are so humbled, so dead to self, that, when called into active service, their eye will be single to His glory. He will then accept their efforts; they will not move rashly, from impulse; they will not rush on and imperil the Lord’s cause, being slaves to temptations and passions and followers of their own carnal minds set on fire by Satan. Oh, how fearfully is the cause of God marred by man’s perverse will and unsubdued temper! How much suffering he brings upon himself by following his own headstrong passions! God brings men over the ground again and again, increasing the pressure until perfect humility and a transformation of character bring them into harmony with Christ and the spirit of heaven, and they are victors over themselves. ” – Ellen White
So, it’s back to the ministry design deadlines I go. But with a renewed awe and wonder at God for Him seeing something of worth in me and I’m praising Him for what He’s allowing to happen to refine and purify me so that I can have an eye single to His glory not mine!
Late last night (here in Australia) RED digital cinema announced a new bread of cameras – DSMC (Digital Stills and Motion Camera). If you’re in the industry you’ll be as excited as I am, if you’re not let me try and explain… It’s both a high end still camera (think SLR) AND a motion camera (think super high end above HD quality video – HD is 1K these start at 3K and will go up to 28K…that’s a 268MP image!!). The whole system is modular – meaning you can build your own camera system based on your needs; and this drastically reduces upgrading costs as you can upgrade individual components as you need to instead of having to buy a whole new camera body. Oh and they also have interchangeable lens mounts for Canon, Nikon, PL and RED mount.
), trying to have some sort of social life with friends and family – cause life’s no fun without friends, trying to be all things to all men and coming to cognisance of the fact that 99% of the time it’s impossible to placate, mollify, conciliate (and a whole bunch of other synonyms) 2% of the 10% of people you’d rather not have to deal with more than 0.000000125% of the time – you figured that one out yet? No neither have I. :p Oh and I just started the last three items in my rather unordered list with trying…yeah, I’m trying! Also when I get some free time and money enjoying making slow progress on Safara – my long-term project Land Rover Defender 110. On that note two weeks ago I drove down to Sydney (2500km round trip) with my dad tagging along for an awesome weekend 4wding in the Blue Mountains, and it looks like I’ll be heading back down there this weekend – flying this time! Lastly, as of two months ago my last grandparent died – my grandma…really miss her!
