I ♥ my snuggie!

When I first saw this, I thought it was ridiculous.

Then I saw it at Kmart for only $7.

Now I am wearing my snuggie and I LOVE it! I don't know how I ever got through without it!

am I lukewarm and lovin' it?

Watched this sermon on the weekend and it convicted me. Definitely a lot of things to think about here...

my bank is cool

My bank is cool because of this...



Make your own here! Hours of fun for the whole family!

mum's the word

Happy Mother's Day!

Here's a tribute to all the Mum's out there, just a bit of Momsense...



And then the sequel, Dadsense...

5 june!

Heard on the radio this morning that The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is opening in Australia on 5 June! I'm so excited! Now, I am not a hardcore Narnia fan by any stretch of the imagination, I have never read any of the books, but I did see the last one twice at the cinemas and loved it! So I am really looking forward to this one.

The great thing about Narnia is that it is written by one of my favourite Christian authors - CS Lewis, and because of this, it illustrates beautifully some really great parallels to the Gospel. For a 'Christian' movie, it is also really really well made. So thank God for that!

Here is a trailer I found online... Can't wait to see it! It looks awesome!!

good friday

King of my life I crown Thee now
Thine shall the glory be
Lest I forget Thy thorn crowned brow
Lead me to Calvary

Lest I forget Gethsemane
Lest I forget Thine agony
Lest I forget Thy love for me
Lead me to Calvary.



Above all powers
Above all kings
Above all nature
And all created things
Above all wisdom
And all the ways of man
You were here
Before the world began

Above all kingdoms
Above all thrones
Above all wonders
The world has ever known
Above all wealth
And treasures of the earth
There's no way to measure
What You're worth

Crucified
Laid behind the stone
You lived to die
Rejected and alone
Like a rose
Trampled on the ground
You took the fall
And thought of me
Above all

toddler on the tube

This little guy is a whole bunch of cuteness in one pint sized package!! Apparently he is a bit of a celebrity in South Korea because there are a whole heap of other videos of him in TV shows. Anyways, hope you enjoy the vid...

a new soul

Man I love this song. It's so happy and catchy - every time I listen to it, it makes me smile. I hap'd across her video and I love it... Have a squiz :D and don't come after me if it gets stuck in your head too :D - Oh and yeah, it's that song from the Mac Air ad hehe.

testimony on the tube

I came across this testimony of a serial killer in New York named David Berkowitz. I started watching this video thinking that it was just a short video but it was surprisingly interesting, and even when I found out that it was 3 videos long, I ended up watching to the end. And, posting it up here for anyone who is interested too.

God can change the hardest heart.

This video was a reminder to me to never write off anyone because they are so into their sins that they won't be interested in the Gospel. It may be that the person we are thinking about sharing the Gospel with needs to know about God much more than we'd ever imagine.

welcome dinner

Thank God for the Welcome Dinner tonight. There were so many people! Thank God also for the opportunity to serve in chairing for the program. Yorkie, HengLee and myself all had a good time - especially when filming the video (they are pretty talented actors hey?). We played this video at the beginning of the program to help lighten the mood a little bit before the program kicked off.

I thought it would be good to give the video a longer life by blogging it onto here for the rest of webdom. Caleb did an awesome job of making our video come alive with awesome editing and filming - I've said it before, and I'll say it again, that Caleb is one talented little fella.

Enjoy the video!

community service announcements

At Bubble Tea tonight, a few of us were working on the Australia Day tract and we somehow got talking about a few things that brought back some great memories of the good ol' days...

One of them was the Community Service Announcement ads that they used to screen on Channel 9 in the 80s and 90s. They were pretty educational and the vitamins one helped me through a Human Biology test on nutrition when I was in High School. These ads were just so clever and have had such an impact in our childhoods.

It would be cool if we could so a similar gospel ad - but maybe instead of advertising it on TV, we could be cheap and just put it on Youtube? heheh we'll see.. enjoy the videos - a taste of the ABC way-of-life!


about safety when playing

about vitamins & minerals

about nutrition

about germs and hygiene

Oh and I also found this... This is a bit embarrassing, and yeah Jesus is still alright with me, but dc talk I don't think will ever be alright with me.

revival hymn

Transcript can be found here.

This touches me every time I see it. This part in particular was the clincher for me:

Christianity says... "The end of all being is the glory of God."
Humanism says, "The end of all being is the happiness of man."

This is the betrayal of the ages!!

And it's the betrayal in which we live and I don't see how God can revive it!
Until we come back to Christianity.

Isn't man happy?
And God intends to make you happy. But as a by-product and not a prime product.

Now I ask you, what is the philosophy of mission? What is the philosophy of evangelism? What is the philosophy of a Christian? If you’ll ask me why I went to Africa, I’ll tell you I went primarily, to improve on the justice of God. I didn’t think it was right for anybody to go to hell without a chance to be saved. And so I went to give poor sinners a chance to go to Heaven.

Now, I hadn’t put it in so many words. But if you’ll analyze what I just told you, do you know what it is? It’s humanism. But I was simply using the provisions of Jesus Christ as a means to improve upon human conditions of suffering and misery.

And when I got to Africa, I discovered that they weren’t poor, ignorant, little heathen running around in the woods, waiting for, looking for someone to tell them how to go to Heaven. That they were monsters of iniquity. They were living in utter and total defiance, of far more knowledge of God than I ever dreamed they had. They deserved hell because they utterly refused to walk in the light of their conscience and the light of the law written upon their heart and the testimony of nature and the truth they knew.

And when I found that out, I assure you, I was so angry with God that one occasion in prayer, I told him that it was a mighty, little thing He’d done, sending me out there to reach these people that were waiting to be told how to go to Heaven and when I got there I found out they knew about Heaven, didn’t wanna go there. And they loved their sin and wanted to stay in it.

I went out there motivated by humanism. I’d seen pictures of lepers. I’d seen pictures of ulcers. I’d seen pictures of native funerals. And I didn’t want my fellow human beings to suffer in hell eternally, after such a miserable existence on earth. But it was there in Africa that God began to tear through the overlay of this humanism.

And it was that day in my bedroom, with the door locked, that I wrestled with God. For here was... I was coming to grips with the fact that the people I thought were ignorant and wanted to know how to go to Heaven, and were saying "someone come and teach us" actually didn’t wanna take time to talk with me or anybody else. They had no interest in the bible and no interest in Christ. And they loved their sin and wanted to continue in it. And I was to the place at that time where I felt the whole thing was a sham and a mockery and I’d been sold a bill of goods. And I wanted to come home.

And there alone in my bedroom as I faced God honestly with what my heart felt, it seemed to me I heard Him say, "Yes, will not the Judge of all the earth do right? The heathen are lost and they’re going to go to hell not because they haven’t heard the gospel. They’re going to go to hell because they are sinners who loved... their ..sin.. and because they deserved hell. But, I didn’t send you out there for them, I didn't send you out there for their sakes."

And I heard as clearly as I’ve ever heard though it wasn’t with physical voice but it was the echo of truth of the ages finding its way into an open heart. I heard God say to my heart that day something like this:

"I didn’t send you to Africa for the sake of the heathen. I sent you to Africa for My sake. They deserved hell but I love them and I endured the agonies of hell for them. I didn’t send you out there for them. I sent you out there for Me. Do I not deserve the reward of My suffering? Don't I deserve those for whom I died?"

And it reversed it all. It changed it all and righted it all. And I wasn't any longer working for my cup and ten shekels and a shirt but I was serving the living God.

the shadow-meister

This is cool. I remember me and my bros trying to do this whenever my Dad would put on slideshows (the oldschool type with holiday pics etc). I did a pretty mean rabbit, but it was definitely never as good as this. Now this is what I call talent!

linerider

It was 8pm. Caleb sends me a link through msn (he's next door with the door open but still writes to me saying 'its fun'). I click on that link. And with that, my eyes were opened to a whole new world.

http://www.linerider.com/play.html

After trying (and quickly failing) to make my own little line rider track, I gave up, decided that this is for all the people out there who have too much time on their hands, and instead, looked up ones that had been prepared earlier on YouTube. It's a great idea, and mate, these people are physics-whizzes, but I shudder to think how long people spent making the videos below... Still, they entertained Caleb and I and for the next half hour or so, we 'WoooooooOOOOOooOOOOOOOOOooOOooooooooooo!'-ed our way through a fair few of them.

get smart

Get Smart was one of my favourite TV Shows back in the day - absolutely hilarious stuff. So when I found out that they were gonna make a Get Smart movie - I got a bit excited. Can't wait for this to come out. Steve Carrell is totally the best guy to play Maxwell Smart too.

anger is ugly

This video shows that anger is an ugly thang.



I shared earlier about being busted by one of the girls at work. And well I guess this is a bit of a sequel as to what has happened since...

I didn't tell anyone what had happened on Wednesday - I figured enough people had the privilege of being eyewitnesses themselves - but word got round to my boss (the ops manager) and she talked to me on Thursday and asked if I was OK after 'the incident'. I was quite surprised that she had found out about it and I just told her - yeah, I'm fine. She then told me that it was totally out of line for the other girl to shout at me in front of other people and to talk to me in the way that she did. She then told me that she fully understands why I wasn't able to do that thing that I forgot to do and said that it wasn't a priority for me to do that because that is not my main job. I think she then went on to bust that chick who busted me, because later I got an apology.

Well today, I was talking to some of the other girls at work and one of them said something like - 'I heard what Jen did to you the other day, and I reckon you handled it really well' she then went on to say that people had been talking about it and that basically, they all see her in a somewhat negative light, and had noticed that I didn't return her sentiments when she confronted me. She also said that management were starting to look into the way she relates to and treats other staff.

So first lesson learnt - the office is a breeding ground for GOSSIP! (the news travelled super fast man!). Second lesson, keep doing what you can to keep that testimony for God at work or at school. Third lesson, vengeance is God's, He will repay. And lastly, anger is ugly - and it doesn't bring you respect (even if you think it might).

from the tube

This song came on my mp3 just then and I thought I would try dig up the video for it on Youtube cos it's one of the coolest things I have seen! The song (JCB Song by Nizlopi) is really cute too. Enjoy!

current reading

Bible: Acts, Job, Zechariah, Amos

Confessions of St Augustine - St Augustine

Boy Meets Girl - Josh Harris

Tired of to-do List Christianity - Scott Morton

As you can see - some books have been finished but most are still going... Hopefully I'll get some of these finished by the next reading update!

In the meantime, enjoy this video from the Tube. Veggie Tales' Boyz In The Sink sing their hit song 'Belly Button'. The lyrics are hilarious! :)



Mr. Lunt: Baby I know your eyes see right through my disguise
Boyz: (Larry, Jimmy, Junior): And no one can deny
Mr. Lunt: Baby that I’m the one whose love is no surprise
Boyz: And he can’t tell you no lie
Mr. Lunt: But there’s a secret I’ve been hidin’ I can’t keep it no more
Boyz: There’s this thing about himself he’s never told you before
Lunt: Baby!

Chorus:
Boyz: He needs to tell you something
Mr. Lunt: I don’t got a bellybutton
Oh I need to tell you something
Boyz: Have you figured out?
He don’t got a bellybutton
Boyz: Bellybutton no, oh no no

Mr. Lunt: Baby please don’t squeal, just tell me how you feel
Boyz: ‘Cause his love is for real
Mr. Lunt: And if you went away, my heart would never heal
Boyz: So to you he appeals
Mr. Lunt: There’s something missing in my middle and it’s hard to ignore
Boyz: There’s this thing about himself he’s never told you before
Lunt: Baby!

Chorus

Khalil: Bellybutton!
Boyz: Uh, uh
Khalil: Bellybutton!
Boyz: Uh, uh
Khalil: You say your bellybutton’s missing, there’s no reason for alarm
It’s a common thing for gourds, it won’t do you any harm
You’re technically a fruit and with that much being said;
Your umbilical equivocal is up there on your head!
You could opt for a prosthetic but of course you’d have to know
It’d be covered by your shirt, but not your HMO
Khalil: Bellybutton!
Boyz: Uh, uh
Khalil: Bellybutton
Boyz: Uh, uh

Mr. Lunt: a stylish something absent from my midriff’s décor
Boyz: There’s this thing about himself he’s never told you before
Lunt: Baby!

Boyz: He need to tell you something
Mr. Lunt: I don’t got a belly button
Oh I need to tell you something
Boyz: Have you figured out?
He don’t got a belly button
Boyz: Belly button no, oh no no
Lunt and Boyz: No belly button!

from the tube - something to do on a rainy day...

Who would have thought dominoes would be such a cack?

Alrighty.. I guess I should tie this back to the spiritual somehow! Well, the one thing that really stood out to me when I watched these vids was 'Man! These guys have a lot of time on their hands'... I mean seriously, how long would it have taken to set up those crazy domino things - especially video 2 (HARDCORE!)... I mean you would it expect it from the crazy Japanese dudes, but the hardcores in vid 2 - man o man!

This made me think about the way that a lot of us live our lives in today's world. Christians and non-Christians continue along in their daily grind hoping to work toward that next goal in their life - car, house, nicer car, boat, bigger house, 1st million, more cars, 5th million, bigger house, private jet, corporate empire... But once they die, all the things they have 'set-up' for themselves are just going to come tumbling down one after another like a set of well-placed dominoes.

NYC'06 Crosby Group Members will remember the following verse:

2 Corinthians 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

[Crosby ppl: Do you guys still remember the tune?? hehehe I don't think I will ever forget this verse! I still remember Andy's attempt at a song - that was one seriously catchy tune!]

Getting back on track, the things which are seen (i.e. material goods) will only ever be of temporal value (they will soon be gone) and the things which we don't see will last forever. So don't waste your life building up domino-empires! Sure we all have to study or work for a living, but use the time you are at uni or work to do what you can to let your colleagues know about Christ and keep shining that light!

God is just, because even a pauper on earth can be a Donald Trump in heaven!

from the tube...

Came across this during my random wanderings on Youtube. Brings back some great memories... MacGyver was an awesome show... He was like the Jack Bauer of the early 90s, with one of Hollywood's best mullets ever, and the ability to get himself out of pretty much any pickle he was in by using what was around him and improvising (he could have made an excellent OT...).

I love how he would always have like a massive bomb to diffuse and how his boss would always be around him hassling him while he used a toothpick, credit card and some chewing gum to diffuse a bomb. He would just say to the boss guy, 'I'm workin on it Pete!', and the little champion would get the bomb diffused with 2 secondsleft to spare!! The beauty of the show was that you knew he was going to get through the problem, you just weren't sure of how he was going to do it this time round. It never failed to keep me on the edge of my seat, and though predictable, it was great television.

Now I'm going to attempt to make an application about MacGyver to spiritual stuff. It may be a long shot, but here goes...

I guess in the same way, we as Christians can be like Pete in that we worry and fret about how God is going to get us out of a situation. We look at the 'bomb' we are facing and despair because we don't see how God can get us out of the pickle we have gotten ourselves into. Sometimes we even doubt and give up on the situation.

One thing I like to tell myself is that God has everything planned out for me already - He has written out my life in His will and my job is to just follow on the path that He has set for me. We all know that MacGyver episodes will always end well, and in the same way, we know that the end goal for our life will always end up for the best if we surrender our lives to God's control.

OK, the analogy has some holes in it, but the truth still remains that God is faithful and God is good - and knowing this, it makes it easier for us to trust in Him. Amen? So next time, we find ourselves bugging God about some kind of trial we are facing, we should know that He's workin' on it [insert name here]!' and have that faith to leave it in His hands!