merry CHRISTmas

In a time where being politically correct is the expectation of society, and being a bold Christian is discouraged, even abhorred, by the world - I just want to wish all who read this post a very Merry Christmas and God's blessings for the New Year!

This year, Christmas has been good (and technically, it hasn't even begun yet). Coming back from Melbourne, and then diving into Christmas activities has been a real blessing. From the Christmas Family Dinner, to Carols in the Valley, decorating the Christmas tree, making a gingerbread house, carolling on Christmas Eve, and much more to come tomorrow, it's been a nice lead up to Christmas 2008.

Here's a few pictures from Carols in the Valley and of my little gingerbread house...

Merry Christmas once again!

the dome

waiting to light our candles!

the girlies

the crowd (there were HEAPS of people)

ranga baby who played with us

the white stains on the walls are me learning two things... A. don't over-do decorations, B. icing is not very forgiving when trying to decorate gingerbread.

spiritual family

Tonight was a special night. My church held a Christmas Dinner / Praise Night which involved a Pot Bless Dinner (a.k.a. Pot Luck Dinner, only as Christians, we believe more in blessings than luck, hence Pot Bless), games, skits, carol singing and an exhortation. Though we have done similar things to this in the past, tonight, I dunno, it was different. It just felt as though we were like one big family.

After we had dinner, we had some games where some of the older adults joined in too. We shared a lot of fun and a lot more laughs. We were split into a few groups and we later had to perform a skit, based on the Bible, which had to include three random objects that we had chosen earlier - the catch was that we were not allowed to speak, but we could make sound effects. The stuff that people came up with in the 10 minutes provided, had the lot of us (older adults included) in hysterics.

Some of the young people prepared a skit (this time with slightly more prep time than 10 minutes!), which was done so very well - and again had a lot of us in stitches. God has given so many people in this church such great talent!

Earlier today, I was incredibly hesitant to go tonight because I had to chair the program and I just felt as though my heart wasn't in the right mood to do so. With all the church stuff that had been going on, I guess I had been feeling a bit overwhelmed about it all and felt too 'down' to be a cheerful chairperson. I reminded myself, that though these feelings were plaguing me, God is still on His throne, God still loves His bride the church, and God will always be there for us - even during trials.

In the end, I really do thank God for the opportunity to serve Him as a chairperson tonight. Standing at the front of the sanctuary and watching as everyone sang together in unity and in praise to our God, was an indescribable encouragement to me. God reminded me what a true blessing it is to serve Him.

Tonight, I really thank God for my church and how trials have helped to strengthen it more and more. Though many more trials seem to be on the horizon, I take comfort in the fact that God will never leave us or forsake us, and I thank God for the blessing of a spiritual family.

hopeless love - fact not feeling

At the National Youth Conference, Pastor Barlow shared with us two messages that I thought would be good to summarise here. Not only because I will have to do a quick sharing on them for the Camp Echo, but also because these two messages were the ones that I think, impacted me the most.

Hopeless Love

The scene was set at Jesus' crucifixion. After a few years of watching Jesus perform countless miracles and learning from His great ministry, all appeared to be over as three women gazed up at their Teacher, Lord, and Friend, hanging lifeless on the cross. Joseph of Arimathea chose to honour Jesus when He was silent and dead, and unable to acknowledge the kind gesture of funding a tomb. The three women continued to show their love for Jesus going to His tomb to anoint His dead body. Though they were doing the 'right thing' they failed to realise that a risen Saviour would not need His body anointed, or a tomb to be laid to rest in. The dedication of the three women and Joseph of Arimathea was loyal and involved, but lacked one very important thing - hope.

The hopeless love that they had did not believe that Jesus would rise from the dead. They lived, like so many of us today, on the wrong side of the resurrection. But as we realise the truth of Jesus' resurrection, as Christians, we can believe this and have hope that He not only has redeemed us, but that He is coming back again to bring us to Heaven.

Fact, Not Feeling

Jesus lives, despite what we feel in our heart. His resurrection was God's approval for the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins - without the resurrection, Christianity is just another human way to get to God. But why should we hope in the resurrection? Is there much proof for it?

The Sabbath day was changed by the early church from a Saturday to a Sunday ('the first day of the week')to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus (which happened on a Sunday). There would be no change in Sabbath Day if it weren't for such a miraculous event.

People often believe that enemies of Jesus, stole His body so they could foil any resurrection attempts. But if this was the case, all they would have had to do would be to bring out the dead body of Christ from it's hiding place to disprove all the perceived rumours that Jesus had resurrected.

Some people believe that the disciples of Christ stole the body of Jesus. But this was too unlikely as they were already feeling so defeated and discouraged that He had died. Moreover, if they had hidden the body and they knew 'the truth' they would not have died for the cause of Christ later when they faced martyrdom for being Christians.

It is often thought that the whole 'tale' of the resurrection is one that was thought up and written down as a narrative to give Christians hope, but if this was the case, why would the first eye witnesses of the resurrected Jesus be women - who were known in that time to be un-credible witnesses (not even the disciples believed them when they were told! Luke 24:11).

However, despite the evidence for the resurrection, some people will still choose not to believe because of the moral implication - that they will be accountable someday to a living God who will judge them for their every action. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (John 3:19).

Regarding disappointment, disappointment comes from expectations not being met. If our expectations are wrong, we can be disappointed - even by God. We should therefore try to have our expectations in line with God's will. When disappointed, don't give into the temptation of isolating yourself from church - you need good christian fellowship to help reprove, rebuke and exhort. These things will help us grow!

what's hot, what's not

I ♥ these things...

The ♥ symbol! It's sooooo handy!

Chloe fragrance. This is the nicest thing you could ever smell - period. I bought myself this as a present and got DJs to wrap it up for me too! hahaha so sad.. I'm currently practicing temperance by not opening up my gift! (as a result, I keep going back to the fragrance departments to re-smell it while I wait for Christmas to come!).

Melbourne (see previous post)

Playing hymns on guitar - maybe it's because we usually hear them being played on piano all the time, but it just sounds so good! Holy Holy Holy is really cool on guitar [chords: D Bm A D G D, A D Bm A/E E7 A, D Bm A D G D, Bm D G D G A7 D]

Andrew Murray. The devotions we had at camp were from his book 'Absolute Surrender' and they were a real blessing.

The FTZ (free transit zone) in the CBD and CAT buses. OK this might sound stupid, but I am such a fan (especially after coming back from Melbourne where you have to PAY for trips within the city! Unheard of in Perth!). For work I need to do quite a bit of walking around the CBD, and as the weather heats up, hitching a ride in a nice, air-conditioned bus is just fabulous. We are very spoilt here in Perth!

Subway. Meatball sub on Italian Herbs and Cheese, with everything (except pickle), salt and pepper, and chipotle sauce. So satisfying (so not a healthy choice anymore).

Statement Heels. Hahahaha that one was for Julia. :P

Christmas! I can't wait! and it's so very close now! Christmas Tree is up, lights are all twinkling, some presents are already under the Christmas tree, and this year (thanks to Leah and Eugene) I have a Gingerbread house to construct! Yes, I will post the photos up when I've finished :D. But more importantly, we remember God's gift to us, His children - a Saviour in Christ to save us from the depths of Hell. Though it's great to have all the fun and excitement of Christmas and gingerbread houses, it's even better to know that because of Jesus, we have a blessed hope that in God's eyes we are forgiven and that when we die, we will be reunited with our loving Father in Heaven for eternity.

I really don't ♥ these things at all...

Hayfever. Not sure if I'm getting hayfever, but my eyes have been itchy-as, and I tend to be sneezing a lot more than normal. Why must pollen be so lethal??

My camera. Seems like my once trusty camera is starting to be less trusty. Though he still takes some pretty good shots, I fear as though he might not last very long and this makes me sad.

Hot weather. Summer has just begun and I am already over it. Bring back winter!!

Church Politics. A lot has gone on in the past few months at my church and the ugly side of a lot of people has come out in the process. Seems as though a lot of destructive words have been uttered, divisive actions have been made, and for some, it seems as though God has been forgotten in the process. It's comforting to know that God has the same thoughts when it comes to these things. Proverbs 6:16-19.

i ♥ melbourne

Thank God for a really blessed trip in Melbourne. Though today I am dead tired and feeling down because I had to go back to work, the memories in Melbourne will continue to warm my heart. It was great catching up with brothers and sisters from Hope, Sydney BP, Bethel and of course from Ebenezer. Old friendships were built upon and new friendships were made. The fellowship in Melbourne was definitely the highlight – from the straight-after-red-eye-flight-breakfast in Flinders Lane to the car trip back to the airport last night, the last 12 days have been an amazing and unforgettable blessing.

The main reason for going this time round was the National Youth Conference that Ebenezer BP were hosting for the first time. Situated in Anglesea (at the beginning of the Great Ocean Road – I think), it was a good little spot for some spiritual food prepared by Pastor John Barlow. The camp itself, though seemingly different from previous camps (still not entirely sure why this was the case), was great, but in a different way. I think it may have been because the messages caused me to think rather than convict me or fire me up. I didn't really feel a spiritual high, rather, I left Melbourne missing the fellowship and pretty keen about visiting Esperance someday to visit the Barlows :).

The messages were captivating, and raised many points that caused me to think more about my own walk with Christ, some that I had never considered before in my whole life as a Christian. There were a few times where I did feel conviction - more about things like my lack of faith in God, having false humility, and being guilty of having a 'Hopeless Love' sometimes too.

But I think the best thing about camp was the fellowship I was able to have with some of the fellow campers – the bond that we shared through Christ helped bridge the (age) gap that would normally separate me from those who I got to talk to (though to be honest, being a bit immature for a 25-year-old, the gap usually isn't THAT big). Outside of the church it is often difficult to share deeply with people you have only just met, but at camp, it was as though the bond through Christ gave each conversation the opportunity to take a giant leap past the usual pleasantries and into sharing from the heart. For me anyways :)

Our camp group was named Soli Deo Gloria (glory to God alone), and we had the blessing of having Pastor Barlow in our group. The discussions were open and many shared their struggles and experiences honestly. The discussions we had in our groups were deep and at times challenging but were also sure to include some laughs along the way. It was a great mix of people and camp just seemed to finish way too quickly.

Following camp, the days were pretty much made up of eating, drinking coffee, shopping, walking, and taking photos. The people from Ebenezer and Bethel were great hosts and it was a blessing to spend more time with them in the past few days. I'm really looking forward to going back to Melbourne in March next year!

As always, here are some photos from the trip. They are in a very mixed up and illogical order.

random dog on chapel st - so cute!

group shot outside Ebenezer BP

another group shot outside Ebenezer BP

breaking by back to pose with cakes at Bernetti

yumming some cha

random lane

tram shot

at The Mess Hall for our last lunch :(

brekky at Chapel St

brekky bunch outside Drummond (where City Gospel Fellowship is held)
icecream at Docklands
mussels at Belgian Beer Cafe
korean food with Trina and Adeline
Coffee with Bethelites and Trina
yum cha
'Noah's Ark' at camp
Soli Deo Gloria
SDG HQ
after red-eye flight (note the red eyes)
at The Garage
Docklands statue
at The Mess Hall (our waitress was a Christian!! she took this shot for us)
breakfast at Lygon St with Damo

at Melb's Harbour Town (very deserted)