Missing Posts

Well, then, it seems that if you miss something once, you'll most likely miss it again... and again, and again, until it's completely forgotten about. At least that's how it seems. Especially considering I didnt have the net to be able to blog while I was away, and now that I've been back for well over two weeks and this is the first post I have to show for it... or is it? Almost.

Well, in the last couple of weeks I've been involved in some interesting situations. Oakden Bible Group took a turn or two, given that some members had a hard time coming to grips with the concept of open discussions meaning varying points of view would be aired. A lot of conflict broke out and in the end I have taken a step back from the whole thing because I find it difficult to interact with people when they're less than willing to actually listen to what is being said. I find it even more frustrating when people take your comments out of context, or worse still, twist them into something else so that it serves their purpose. I've had enough journalists do that to me in my short time to never want that to happen again.

I also lost my employment at DHQ. It seems my services are no longer required now that I've got them back up to date. It's a little distressing that I don't have that regular, albeit small, income appearing in my bank account like clockwork. It has meant that I have to make some serious changes with the way I do things at home, and have to now implement some stragies to increase my mortgage broking income to supplement. So I've been working on business card designs, layouts for websites, newsletters, etc. to develop a better system for client communication and to generate business. It's full steam ahead, and I have a short time to acheive it. The down side of finance broking is that what you sow today you don't necessary reap tomorrow, or the next day, or the next week, but rather in three or four or five months time. Any loans I write today, I'll have to wait til they settle and then I get the income from that two months after that. It's a long and drawn out process, but one that it very beneficial once the ball is rolling.

Better get back to it. No time to waste. Time is money!

Crossway, Creative Kids Camp and Sleep Deprivation

Well I haven't posted a blog for the last couple of weeks because I've been away with no internet access. I have to say I had a great time, but I'm certainly ready for a rest. Unfortunately there's no time. I'm working today, got an assignment due by the end of the week and I'm madly hunting down an exam venue for November. I've also got 2 music assessments right on top of each other this week and next, which will require much practice.

So Crossway...

Long days and far from home, but it was fantastic. It was an eye opening and heart focusing event that showed me a thing or two and brought about an epiphany or three. Hearing Edmund Chan speak, along with Paul Borden and Danny Guglielmucci was fantastic. All three tied in very, very well. They were clearly on the same wavelength. Ann Chan, wife of Edmund, was equally as insightful.

The sessions learning from the Creative Ministries pastor, Tim Piesse, were incredibly beneficial. They were very thought provoking and gave me a foundation to be able to put together a few ideas for our own worship team to implement down the road. At the same time, it was great to interact with the members of Crossway's worship team to discuss various issues and directions. Tim also asked me to email through copies of the songs I've written, so I'll have to get to that as soon as the mixing is completed... hopefully by the end of this week.

It was good to be able to spend some time with other members of the church that I don't know as well as I perhaps should. So that was also beneficial. The drive home was a good chance to debrief with Brad & Katrina.

Home for a few days... painting a building at Mackala's school on the Monday public holiday, which wrote that day off, and then shot down to Victor Harbor for the Creative Kids Camp. Thankfully, my family were able to come down with me for a few days, so I actually got to see them... kind of. I was pretty busy while I was down there with performing my duties as a leader, so I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked with them, but it was nice for them to be around and to be able to give my kids a hug and play with them for a while when I could.

I got a bit up tight at one stage, but I kept relatively calm... and after that it was all good fun. Most of the kids put in while they were down at the camp. Of course, one or two stragglers tagged along, but on the whole they were a good bunch of kids. Even the "not so good" kids were good, they just didn't know how to relate very well. It was good to see some of those kids being able to make a connection with some of the other kids or some of the leaders.

I was most impressed by a little girl named Piper who would only be about 9 or so. She tried her heart out in the vocal electives and in her dance elective. It was beautiful to watch the surprise come over her face when she was awarded the Return Scholarship to the camp next year at the camp concert on Friday night. She was just so happy and humble about the whole thing, it was really beautiful. Her cousin, Coco, who doesn't attend a church, tried her heart out in my vocal elective and so I felt compelled to give her the vocal award. I hope she is able to go along next year. It'd be great to see her get along to a church and build a relationship with church folk and then Jesus all because of a life changing experience she had at a camp that I had a part in.

In all of this, I had hardly any sleep... and now I've got a massive headache and the threat of a coldsore on my upper lip. It's just sitting there ready to explode into a fuly fledged sore at any given moment. I'm trying to knock it on the head early, but without much success I'm afraid so far.

Refresh My Heart

After the extremely long and hard yakka effort last weekend, with Brooke being away and all, I think I'm starting to really get tired very quickly. I fell asleep this afternoon, after having looked after the kids all day... again. Hay fever is kicking in, in a not so pleasant way. It's just hit me like a punch in the face. Taken control of my head and now has wrestled with me to get control of my chest as well, giving me asthma issues.

I'm just sitting down to have some dinner and thought it might be a good idea to just take some time out for a little refresher. I've been madly searching for music today for this camp coming up. I go away tomorrow, get back on Friday and then the camp is on Tuesday, with the public holiday painting session in between. Unfortunately that leaves me little to no time to get things organised for the camp, and I only have the two tunes sorted for the Massed Vocal and one (maybe two) for the vocal elective with no backups in mind yet. I'm extremely underprepared.

All of this coupled with the fact that after I go away (including the camp) I only have a week up my sleeve to do an assignment that I haven't even contemplated studying for. Fortunately, I have printed off all the relevant notes and I'll take them away with me. I don't think I'll get much done while I'm away but the drive over and back should present me with some opportunities to get a few topics under my belt... I hope.

Anyway, back to the refresher I mentioned earlier. I think it's time to just relax and unload on God. I could use some divine strength right about now. Life is such a blur at the moment, I need someone to just stop the world for a minute so I can catch my breath.

Painting Time

Just got back from the school across the road. Our Connect Group has agreed to put on a little working bee style day where we'll clean up and paint one of the buildings across the road. As part of our outreach activities, we're painting the wall and we'll have a bit of a barbeque in the middle of the day.

We've sorted out the equipment issues, so now it's a matter of man-power. I hope we get a good turn out, and not just because it'll be hard yakka doing all that work with just a handful of people. I'd like to really have the opportunity to make a real connection in the community, but to do that we need people to come along.

Long Time Between Drinks

Well, as the title says, it's been a while since I got myself into gear and posted a blog. With Brooke having been away since Thursday and being caught up at work trying to finish off end of year things for different cost centres, it's been a busy time.

It's been interesting these last few weeks. The Oakden Bible group has created some significant discussion on many levels about various topics. Each has been fairly intense. Discussion about evangelism, creation, roles people play in the church, etc etc. With broad ranging opinions and solidarity amongst those opinions, it's made for some intriguing discussion. The only hope is that it doesn't create division. That would be the last thing that we would want, but naturally Satan would be rubbing his hands together at the prospect.

Interestingly, a number of points I have made found themselves weaving their way into the sermon on a Sunday morning. It's nice to know that things I've said are useful, and more importantly that I'm on the right track in my thinking and beliefs. It's more of a confirmation that I'm going down the road that God wants me to lead, rather than that which I have "planned"... and anyone that knows how my life has gone from about 2000 til now will know that my plans, while theoretically sound, always seem to take a dive at the last moment through no fault of mine. What has me concerned, though, is that in each of the plans the only real common denominator throughout is me. So, further confirmation that the path I had "planned" wasn't what God had in mind.

On the Creative Kids Camp topic, I was originally asked to take the Vocal elective and the Massed Vocal core unit, but the person doing Concert Band dropped out and so I was asked to take that role on. Now that the applications in there seems to be another issue. The number of camp attendees that selected concert band as an elective was.... wait for it.... wait..... here it comes....


A BIG FAT ZERO.

So Ben has had a chat with Nathan Rowe, who he had asked to take on Vocal since I was now doing Concert Band, and we agreed that I'd do the Vocal units again and that would free Nathan up to do a few other things, including work on some stuff for his Corps (Semaphore).

Given that the theme is "transformers", I can think of no better song than "Amazing Grace" to fit in there somewhere. A song of ultimate transformation, taking a wretch that was lost and blind and helping them to see and find their way and becoming a child of the Most High, God Almighty. I'll have to have a think about what I really want to achieve out of it so that I can arrange it appropriately, and whether I do it with the vocal elective or the massed vocal.

On another subject, my grandma's piano came on Friday, along with an entertainment unit that dad sent across from Melbourne. The piano is very dear to me, as it is to most people in our family, but it is a long lasting memory of my grandmother. Many a day I sat at that piano in her house, while she hunted around for music that I might try to play, and that she could listen to me plough my way through, sometimes relatively successfully and other times not so much. She would always give words of encouragement and praise and tell me that my grandfather would be proud.

I miss her.

Being Water Wise

In the last few days there has been a lot of discussion in the media about the state of affairs concerning our ongoing water situation. The fact that water restrictions are likely to continue for at least another 10 years. The fact that the Murray will likely be dry within 12 months. The fact that there is no real rain in sight for the next 3 months or more...

I was just saying this morning that the water situation was being discussed at a Federal Parliamentary level back in the 1970's as a major issue for concern requiring some measures to be taken. Unfortunately, this warning was ignored and now look at the mess we're in.

Having said this, when I arrived at DHQ this morning and performed my usual routine (ie turn on the computer, get myself a cup of tea, read the Bible verse for the day and then my unread emails... one of which is almost always the Divisional Newsletter) I happened to notice something that I had been reading just yesterday when I was on my bus trip home from Uni.

Major Dennis Rowe had made comment about the very same issue. He first discusses our plight, which I have already mentioned above, and then goes on to say that David knew all too well the experience of drought. Psalm 63:1 clearly tells us of David's sorrow in the desert and his waiting on the Lord to renew his strength. "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water".

Major Rowe then continues with the very same passage I was reading about in detail just yesterday. He makes much the same point as the commentator I had been reading made but from a different perspective. The Scripture passage I'm referring to is John 4, where Jesus has an encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. From one perspective, it is used as a guide to develop a relationship with others and how to introduce them to the inner well-spring that is Jesus Christ. The other was simply a reminder to those of us already familiar with Christ that Jesus Christ is the "living water" that will quench all thirsts and that we need not look elsewhere to satisfy our hunger or thirst for something more, but that we simply need to look to Jesus and he will satisfy our souls, as David reminds us in the Psalm.

The concept of "living water" was so far beyond the Samaritan woman's understanding that she asked how Jesus intended to draw water from Jacob's Well, the deepest in the region at the time, without so much as a bucket. Jesus explained to her that drinking from that well would quench her thirst for a short time, but soon she would be thirsty again and again, but those who drink of the water that He provides will never thirst again. Ever.

Naturally this got the Samaritan woman's attention since it was a blazing hot afternoon, and she wanted to know more. She accepted Christ as her saviour and went on to share his message and the "living water" with her village, of which she was considered something of an outcast. She was a life-changing influence on that village because of her encounter with Christ and her passion to share the message with others. Those she did share the message with saw that she was changed and made new by the power and grace of God and they too wanted to experience that.

At the same time, it serves as a reminder that Jesus provides us with all that we need. We will n ever thirst or hunger so long as we wait upon the Lord. Isaiah tells us that those who wait upon the Lord, He will renew their strength. They will mount up on wings like Eagles.

We need to get passionate about helping others find the "living water" that is Jesus Christ, and use His example as a way to do just that. He wrote the book on delivering His message to others. It's time we took a leaf out of it.

Ego Boost

Well today I received a bit of an ego boost. I arrived at work this morning after having to be dragged out of bed, unwillingly, and taking the kids to child care. My first day back after essentially two weeks off, having been in Melbourne for the last 10 days or so. I read through all my unread emails here at the office (only 23 so it wasn't bad), and had just begun "working" when Ben Kowald from the Youth Dept came into the office and asked to speak to me in his office.

I followed... and Jen Dunkley (Children's Ministries Co-Ordinator) was in there as well. They asked me to close the door, and I wondered if something had gone down in the last couple of weeks that they needed to speak to me about. My mind was racing wondering what they could possibly be needing to discuss with me, since I work in the Finance Dept and don't really have too much to do with Children's Ministries at Oakden.

Ben began by saying there was something very important they needed to speak to me about. I must have looked concerned because he then quickly asked if I would be prepared to be a leader at the Creative Kids Camp coming up in October. They want me to lead the Vocal elective and the Mass Vocal subjects.

I have often wondered about doing something along those lines, but have never been asked to, so I was pretty excited about actually being asked to take it on. My immediate attention then turned to the date... the week after my trip to Melbourne for the CrossWays conference, which means my wife has the three kids by herself for a week. I told them that I would have to speak to my wife because I was going to be away for the week prior... and that I had planned to go to ACC in Melbourne (the same week as CKC) but withdrew due to the CrossWays conference. They were quick to tell me I could bring my family and stay in a unit by ourselves for the duration of the camp so that my wife didn't have to look after them by herself.

After speaking with Brooke briefly, she said just tell them "Yes" and we'll work it out later. Looks like she'll come down on the Monday with me as it's a public holiday and she doesn't work Tuesdays. Take Wednesday off, come back to Adelaide on the Thursday for work (have someone look after the kids for us for a few hours) and then on Friday they have child care, so it all seems to work out pretty well.

I'll have to organise myself fairly quickly and get music organised, and a schedule to teach, but I'm really looking forward to it.

The whole ACC/CrossWays timing seems to be a little more than coincidence after the events this morning. I'll have to do a lot of praying to make sure I select the right music for the job. But merely being asked to do the job was a nice little ego boost.

Supernatural

Have you ever felt like there was something strange going on around you and there wasn't anyone else there? Well, last night after everyone else had gone to bed that's the feeling I got. It was extremely windy so a lot of the banging on the walls and just outside the door could probably be explained by that, and the elastic band that was swinging on the door handle in front of me was probably because the dryer was on in the laundry and blowing on it, making it swing around the door handle. All of that still didn't make me feel all that much better at the time, although after a short while I felt a bit easier.

I've heard some strange stories from my sister about Maree saying there was someone in the house, thinking she saw someone. Upon inspection by my dad, he has returned saying he found noone. I have also been in the house at times when I have heard screaming coming from her bedroom, and when I went to investigate, I was informed that everything was ok, that it was nothing to worry about.

So, here I was working on my computer, sitting at the breakfast bar in my dad's kitchen after having watched an episode of Star Trek: Voyager with dad. He had just gone to bed, which meant I was the only person still up. I heard a few creaks in the walls beside me. Nothing out of the ordinary. Then something in front of me caught my eye. It was the elastic band swinging around the door handle. That was followd by an extremely loud bang just outside the door along side me. I walked over and had a look at the elastic band. I pu my hand between it and the opening in the door to see if there was any air blowing through. I couldn't really feel too much, but there was a slight draught. The elastic didn't really stop swinging around while I was holding my hand in place, however. So I was slightly disturbed when another loud crash sounded just outside the door, followed by a lot of creaking and a few more bangs, almost sounding like someone knocking on the door.

At this point I turned the light off, hoping I wouldn't be confronted with a face at the door, which I wasn't... that is to say I didn't look long enough to see if I hadn't noticed one immediately. I then quickly turned on my heels and went to bed, shutting all the doors behind me. By this time it was 1:00am.

Heart of Worship?

Yesterday I heard some rather disturbing news and was both disappointed and upset about the decisions that some people have made, although I didn't know all the facts.

Today, after having made some phone calls to follow up on this news, I was given much more detail about the lead-up events to the decisions that I was informed of yesterday.

Given the fact that we're talking about leadership positions and our church, I'm even more disappointed in what happened to cause the outcome of one of our leaders stepping down from their position due to a dispute that they aren't even necessarily involved in. Pressures from various parties have forced them to seriously consider whether they can continue in the position as an effective leader, and the decision they came to was that they cannot.

The decision in itself isn't so much an issue for me, but the fact that there was a leadership meeting (which I attended) last week and that this issue wasn't brought up for discussion does cause me a great deal of concern. It could have been tabled and we could have come to an agreement in ways to ease the pressure that this person felt they were under. Furthermore, it may have changed some of the focus of our meeting, and impacted on some of the discussion and decisions that arose out of the meeting.

This isn't the biggest point of disappointment for me, though. As I alluded to earlier, the lead up and the way some things have been handled is nothing short of disgraceful. Leaders having children make derogatory comments on their behalf in public forums regarding other leaders is just not cricket. That's disgusting behaviour. Even if it wasn't intended, the mere fact that the comment was made at all (let alone by a child) in a public arena is despicable.

I have noticed rising tensions in the last few months, and I was hoping that things were beginning to settle down, but it seems that issues continued to simmer beneath the surface and have now come to rear their ugly head. Trouble is continually brewing as Satan tries to get a grip on the church family and create division among the Kingdom. We have to be on our guard at all times and realise that sometimes things don't always go our way. Of course, we are all only human and we'll be rubbed up the wrong way and we'll react poorly at times, but we have to be big enough to realise when we've been wrong and step up to the plate and apologise for our behaviour. Sometimes even when we are right, our behaviour is pretty poor. I know mine can be. Sometimes I can be so caught up in the fact that I know I am right about something that I let my pride get in the way and act like a child. "I was right and you were wrong" etc etc, or hammering a point home like a stubborn brat.

As Christians we are supposed to learn humility and grace. It's not always easy but it's a whole lot more satifying when we realise what has happened. We are supposed to be living examples of Christ on earth. Big shoes to fill, and something we'll never quite live up to, but something we all strive for nonetheless. We have to take a step back and remember that the Jesus Christ is the heart of everything that we do. He is the heart of worship. It's all about Him.

Sometimes we lose sight of that.

Greetings from Training College

I'm visiting Malcolm and Priah today in at the Training College in Melbourne. I've had a pretty good day today, even if the car did break down at the park when we took the kids to play in Kew (not our car, Malcolm's). I'm sitting in the library, after having had lunch and cheese & crackers up stairs on the ninth floor.

Malcolm showed me a massage chair on the first floor... nice. I need me one of those.

Anyway, since I'm just stopping in at the library quickly, I thought I'd see if I could log in. Turns out I can.

Malcolm's calling me, so I better head off. We have seven kids waiting upstiars, bugging Brooke and Priah. Might be time to rescue them.

Ventilation

I'm in desperate need of venting... Just got off the phone from my sister, which helped a great deal but still I'm a little frustrated and wound up. "It's only a game" people say... so what? I can't be annoyed with a performance or lack thereof? I have expectations and I get annoyed when they aren't lived up to. I don't like being made to look like a fool, and tonight that is just what happened.

Netball... got smashed. Cricket... lost a game we had won. I can't take the blame for the netball game. I was one of the better players, which is usually the case if I'm playing netball (even if I say so myself). Missed quite a few shots that I would ordinarily sink with my eyes shut, but still I was one of the better players in the team.

Cricket... I pride myself on my fielding. I'm usually competitive with the bat, but not outstanding, and I bowl pretty well but nothing brilliant. I'm a decent sort of all round player. Tonight, my fielding sucked, my batting sucked ... but my bowling was pretty good. Got two bowled wickets tonight, which I don't get often but I usually keep the runs down pretty well. I tend to beat the bat a lot outside off stump. Tonight I beat the bat and hit middle and leg ... and then leg later on in another over. I was happy with that.

I sat on the back net, for a couple of overs, and watched balls sailed to the left and right of me. I looked like a fool. In one over I let 17 runs past me. Noone else could field them, so it was my job. I failed. We lost the game by 9 runs. It wasn't my fault in the last couple of overs, although I did miss a runout that should have been a given. Even so, take the run for the shot and the five for the wicket, they still win by three.

I should probably go to bed because I've got a long drive tomorrow, and have to be up fairly early to go to Uni in the morning. I'm just a bit wound up and need to settle so I can sleep. I'm beginning to wind down a little now, so I might head off shortly and get organised for bed. I'm still annoyed that we lost. Not because we lost, but because I lost the game for our team. I was the weak link, and I don't like being the weak link.

Burning the Proverbial Candle?

Yesterday I seemed to be so darn tired that by the time I got home at about 5.30ish, I just flopped on the bed. Next thing I know it's 8pm and Mackala is saying goodnight to me.

I know I've been feeling a little tired lately, but that was ridiculous. At least I was resting, which perhaps can be considered as refueling time.

I haven't written in this for a few days and I'm beginning to feel like I've been neglecting something I said I was make an effort to do. We're going to Melbourne tomorrow, so that'll make it more difficult for me to write every day, but I'll endeavour to do so nonetheless.

I think the early starts (which don't really mix well with me) are beginning to catch up with me. Last week we didn't watch any old episodes of Angel (one of our favourite shows... of which I have all five seasons on DVD), but this week we've seen three or four episodes already. We've been keeping up the daily devotionals and bible reading, but some of the other things have probably slipped back in... that'snot to say we can't sit and watch an episode or two now and then. I think the late night Angel episodes and the early rises are probably buring my proverbial candle a little quickly.

We're off to Melbourne tomorrow, so most of tonight I envisage will be centred around preparing for the trip. Noone has packed yet, and we haven't really thought about what we need to take. I know I need my footy tickets... but other than that, we'll work it out tonight.

I'm hoping to get some time to do a bit of songwriting soon. I've had a song that I wrote back in December that still doesn't have lyrics. I think it's a good song (of course, I'm bias), but it's lacking lyrics (which makes it kind of hard to sing). Having recorded Undying Love already, although it still needs mixing and mastering, I'm keen to get a few more tracks down soon too... which will mean I'll be needing new material soon enough. This means songwriting is required.

Hopefully Purify My Heart will be put down next. That sounded the best I've ever heard it a couple of weeks ago when I sang it during a meeting at Oakden. I think it really needs to be done as a full-on ballad... with keys, rather than the power ballad I was initially going for. I think it works in both contexts, but the mellow version is just a haunting version of the song that can really delve deep. Looking forward to hearing how it comes out when it's finally recorded.

Not All Doom & Gloom

So last night I met with one of the client's I was talking about in my previous post. He's pretty keen to get the ball rolling, and things look pretty good for him. In saying that, he might have a default issue which will change things slightly. It means that we can't really do what we originally intended to do, but we can still make it work just the same.

I also met with Brad & John in town after Uni. We raced over to JRs to have a gander at a few different potential bass guitars that we might be able to purchase for our Corps. John and I had a look and a play of a couple. There were a few there I didn't mind, and a few that I would have loved to get my hands on... but were a little out of the price range. In the end, it was decided between Brad, the salesman and myself that the Fender Squire was the go... the P-Bass. I like the warmer sound the P pickups give, but also dig that funky, twangy J pickup sound for certain tunes. The P Bass was the most versatile and felt good under the fingers, kept its tune well and had decent factory intonation setups which I liked. John had gone by the time the decision was made, but he had looked at the J version, essentially the same guitar but not as versatile. We got it at a pretty decent price, and a gig bag thrown in. We did forget the strap though. How could we forget a strap??????????????

Anyway, back to the not all doom & gloom... In my last post I was pretty negative about the client situation. After last night, I'm pretty certain I've got at least one of them sewn up, which I'm happy about. To put a positive spin on it, it's one more client that I didn't have before last night. Now I just need to get the application forms filled out and signed. Of course, before we can do that I need to know if he does have a default against his name or not (which is why we didn't do an application last night).

I haven't had a chance to chat to the very valuable client yet. I was hoping to get hold of him last night but wasn't able to. I've managed to find another couple of ways to do what he wants to do which is always good to know. Might be the difference between taking him on board and nabbing his whole portfolio and losing an extremely valuable client with potential for a lot of work in the future. I've already lost one of those in the last 12 months and it hurts. Trying not to let that happen again.

Continued the devotional studies last night. I'm finding the things we're reading about very intriguing. Not necessarily overly relevant to my current situation directly but intriguing and applicable in other ways... and most likely directly applicable in the not so distant future.

Losing My Head?

Yesterday I mentioned a few thing I had identified as areas that I could improve to improve our quality of life and relieve some stress in our family. If you don't know, I'm a mortgage broker but I haven't exactly been writing a ton of loans. The fact of the matter is that this year (2007) I've written a grand total of one, yes one, loan. Not exactly enough to live on... not to mention the bills and money owed to other people.

Yesterday it looked as though I might have picked up 3 or 4 clients, which would have been a nice little boost to the finances. I've realised that 1 loan a month will replace one of our incomes, while one loan a week will replace our entire household income, which is the aim at this stage.

Today, I made a couple of calls... and I've managed to cross at least one client off my list (which would have been a pretty valuable client). I'll know tomorrow whether I'm about to cross another very valuable client off my list... I'm waiting on a phone call from another (I'll be calling them tomorrow to follow up) and the other one is all up in the air.

So just when a ray of hope hits my desk, it looks like the clouds were just parting momentarily.

I've got an assessment tomorrow at Uni, been feeling very tired all afternoon for some reason, found out I've lost at least one client (probably 2 and maybe 3) and then went to cricket. We started off well. Batting first, our first pair made 61, which is a pretty good score. I batted as part of the second pair. We didn't go so well. Lost a lot of wickets... and made -24. Our last pair made -10.

Needless to say I wasn't very happy.

The game continued in much the same way. We were pretty average in the field, although when it came to the crunch we managed to defend our good target set by the first batting pair for the drinks. I wasn't overly happy with some of the endeavour and I let my frustration show, particularly when I punched the net (which really didn't do anything except cut a couple of fingers on my hand).

A couple of weeks ago the key verse for the sermon was "but you, keep your head in all situations" (1 Timothy 4:5a). That lesson was quickly forgotten it seems. I got frustrated and angry with myself and my teammates, although I didn't take anything out on them. I was still able to have a laugh on the court with teammates and the opposition, but during the ball by ball play, I was very uptight about various aspects of our game.

Well, on a more positive note, I kept up the devotional and bible readings last night on my journey to bed. After doing my weights, we did some devotional readings and read from Proverbs and Psalms. Just the last couple of nights have been interesting reading and learning about different things via devotional readings.

I have an assessment tomorrow at Uni, so I'm probably going to head to bed shortly.

Faith Tank Challenge

So, here I am a couple of years on, a bit older, probably not much wiser and making my first post in nearly two years. On Sunday night we discussed refilling our faith tanks, and different things we can do to go about refuelling, things like praying, reading the bible, journaling, reading books, listening to music and resting.

The challenge was thrown out there, for those willing to accept it, to start making a routine of performing activities (or non-activities... like resting) to reill our faith tanks on a daily basis. I mentioned that I had this blog that I haven't touched in a long, long time and that I might begin to use it again. After all, it was started in an attempt to get a few things off my chest in the form of journaling on a blog, so why not use it for that same purpose again, just re-direct it a little.

Well, this would be my first post. It's Tuesday. I was going to post last night but I confess I watched Media Watch and Enough rope and then went to bed. On the upside, I did do some devotional reading and read my bible once I got to bed. That's got to count for something. Part of my old routine that I let slide and am now trying to re-introduce into my day to day life.

On Sunday I made some comments to someone at church about how life was pretty tough at the moment (although I think it's pretty trivial when my problems are compared to some other people's... such as triple by-pass surgery and not having an income for 4 or 5 months while the heart and body recover) and that I'd identified things that could improve the situation for my family and I on a number of different levels. She said that she'd pray for me and that she would forward my issues on anonymously to a prayer group (that is, I would remain anonymous... at least i think that's what she meant... either way I don't mind).

Yesterday, my wife called me at work to tell me about an offer that had been made to her by a potential purchaser of the business that she manages. She was offered a 30% stake in return for committing to 2 years as manager of the store. Of course, we haven't yet seen numbers or a formal agreement that outlines the ifs, buts and maybes, but on face value it looks like a very good deal. If the figures are what I think they are then it could well be something has a similar impact on our lives, particularly the financial aspects, as the things I had identified that were areas that could be improved upon.

God works in mysterious ways.