acc - over: now go and do it

so acc is finished for 05, well here in aus anyway. in vancouver they are just about to get going for their first one. amazing speakers. so much to think about - and to incorporate as quickly as i can into my life right now. so many new ideas. some which are going to require some scary but exciting action. so i better get into it tomorrow as otherwise great ideas don't become anything more than that and even then they can be forgotten quickly.

numerous times throughout the week i felt like schultz (was that his name?), you know, the guard from hogan's heroes, 'i know nothing'. i'm just glad that that i know that i don't need to be able to answer all the deep theological questions to be able to get on and do what i know God wants me to do.

it's just after 2am, there was a houseful who came over to hang tonight after the meeting. they are gone now. so i am going to sleep. yay. i am not planning on getting out of bed for a while.

p.s. dad - where have your blogs gone???

acc

acc began today. box hill was pretty much full tonight. sandra spoke about how reform begins with grace. it's no good being a judgemental righteous do gooder, but we need to be passionate with love and grace.
grace is a so amazing. it's simple coz it is availalbe to anyone, but hard to understand because it's available to anyone. grace covers all our sins.

i got to see a few friends who i haven't seen for a while, always nice, and i met a few new people today as well. also nice.

luke and bart were going to stay with us this week, but luke broke his ankle when riding his motorbike, so we have just got bart. he's great value. we got home around 11, but the five of us stayed up for quite a while chatting. anyway, if you see the time that i am writing it's just after 1am and i have to be up at 7.30 so that is not that many hours of sleep. so...goodnight.

Ralph

Ralph was born at 12.30am this morning, though this precious little boy was not born alive. he is safe in the arms of God.

the sandra double

i copped a sandra ryan double today. i went to the 9.30am and 6pm services at church today and she preached at both (her husband jeff did the 11am). she really was great. her preaching was so powerful, yet her messages were so simple. to sum both of them up in one sentence - well i will try - we are here to be in relationships with people, to do life with them, not to compete with them, but to help them. of course that is a one sentence summary of two sermons. i tell you what, if you are anywhere near melbourne, get yourself to box hill this week when she's preaching at ACC, you got to get some of that!

my lovely friends rick and meredith are right now in box hill hospital going through what is probably the toughest situation they will ever face. i can't imagine their pain right now, all i can do is love them. if you do, please pray for them.

mish mash

good news today. helen and dean had a little girl - payton lane parker. we were watching the grand fianl down at cafe salvo and so dean popped in for lunch and the last quarter. i also saw val and wes (grandparents of payton) and big sister ariel (who actually informed me that her baby sister's name was payton leyton!). after a 2 hour labour, all are well.

the grand final (aussie rules footy - biggest sporting day in our country). sadly the eagles lost by 4 points. though it was a very good game. i did pick chris judd to win the norm smith (best player in the grand final) so that was a small consolation. i also got to see ben cousins and his arms on numerous occassions - beth and i have fallen hard this week for benny.

the hair got done this morning and it's great. oh, and just for the bali girls - there was some F.A. action today too!!!

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. i'm not bad at some of these, but others i still need to work on a little - well probably a lot really. i've always got a lot of love, joy and peace. patience - does that include when the boys don't clean the house??? ha ha. ok, i want some honest answers...what (if you know me that is) do you think is my best one and my worst one? (i promise i won't be offended, more than likely i'll agree with you! LEAVE A COMMENT!

not the greatest day

it's been a strange day. first thing i spoke to mum. kez arrived at their house and so i spoke to her again - we had talked last thing before i went to sleep last night. that was good, as always, to speak to them.

it's been a sad 48 hours. some of my good friends received some devastating news and it's been quick a shock for all.

however, on a happier note, today i spoke with the greatest guy in the whole world (was that what you told me to write???). lincoln and i haven't spoken for about 4 years. we worked at the same camp when i was in the states 4 years ago. we have emailed randomly since then, but ended up talking today. it was great to hear what he's up to and how God is using him. my camera was next to me when we were talking and at one stage we had to hang up and recall, and while i was waiting i was fiddling with my camera, so when i picked up the phone i took a picture. here it is...



tonight i went to the movies hoping to see a good comedy. we saw deuce bigalo. bad bad bad. boring and way over the line. please don't waste your time, money or brain cells on that movie (though it still ranks above my all time worst movie - open water - but if you have been with my blogs from the beginning you would already know my thoughts on that movie). i got home and all the boys - well aaron, brad, steve, adam and dustin - were here and they had just started to watch friday night lights. so i watched with them. it was a way better movie than deuce. the lesson to be learnt - you don't need to win to be perfect.

anyway it's very late - or early? and i have to get up to get my hair done in the morning! goodnight.

paul borden and big ross

i got to go to a conference today. i got to hear paul borden twice in one day. what a wise man. he had so much good stuff to say. i admire greatly people who are wise. i want to be wise. he talked about the essentials of a leader. passionate was the first one. just the other day i was talking with someone about what kind of a leader my father is. my father is passionate. about God (and the adelaide crows). i want to be passionate.

me

so what i was trying to do was to get this picture to be next to my name. just like how daz has a picture of himself on his blog page - though i don't have a mohawk or a red jacket. but it appears that i am not that clever. oh well. this is me. i'm going to sleep now.

Salvation Army Grid::Blog

as i sometimes do - while reading a blog posted by someone i know, i click on their links and end up reading a blog written by someone i don't know. while doing this today i found gordon's blog and decided to join his idea of a salvo network. that's the explanation for the title.

whatelse have i done today? not much. went to the gym. had a meeting with matt. hung out with cath. visited beth at work. that's it. things were going beautifully till i got some sad news.

i like it when things work out, i like answers, i like plans, i like seeing results. i don't like it when there are things i can't understand, things i'll never get an answer to, things that just don't make sense, things that aren't fair.

i am thankful that at times like this i can talk to God. there doesn't have to be any game playing. i can tell Him it sucks. i can tell Him i don't get it. i can ask for His help. i can ask for His supernatural power to come.

so i look to you

happy birthday mum.

happy wedding anniversary kez and hil.

as i type this, i am listening to the latest united live cd. i love it. i can sing loud and dance around my house to it - i am on holidays - i love it. as i type, marty sampson and the gang are pumping out 'so i look to you, so i look to you, no one else will do, no one else will do'. i love it. who else can you look to but God to find meaning for life??? i really don't know.

to more serious matters. i have a new love in my life. that's right. ben cousin's arms. gee they are great. for those of you who are unsure, ben cousins (from the west coast eagles) won the brownlow medal on monday night for being the best and fairest player in the australian football league this season...and his guns are the greatest.

next week at church we have ACC (agressive christianity conference - for those of you thinking do they literally get agressive and bash people with bibles, no we don't, the title comes from a book that catherine booth - co-founder of the salvation army - wrote). it goes from tues night to friday night. i am looking forward to it. there are a few international speakers coming - geoff and sandra ryan and jeff lucas and russell rook. i am looking forward to it immensly.

money

tonight i had dinner at sharon and nath's house. we had four courses. all were GREAT. we had a nice time. very relaxing which pretty much sums up my day. or maybe not. all i did was go to the gym, clean the bathroom, watch the footy and go to dinner. the gym wasn't very relaxing and either was the footy - unfortunately we, the crows, lost by 16 points.
anyway, as i lie here in my bed writing this, i can't help but think of people in the world who are hungry tonight. sometimes i feel so helpless as to how i can do anything. i was disucssing the other day with a friend from school how great Australia is as a country and though of course we aren't a perfect country (which country is???) but we are blessed. i often think about how i'd like to save enough money to one day buy a house. the way house prices are here at the moment that's going to take me a while. but there are those in the world who'd just like to have some food. i have a responsibility as someone who has money to use it wisely. it doesn't really matter how much i have, but if i can afford a place to live, to run a car and to eat, surely that means i have enough to use wisely for the benefit of others. i pray that God will help me to use any money i have to help those who need it. i don't want to be caught up in how i can spend money on myself, which is an easy and fun thing to do, but instead be able to use it for a greater purpose. imagine if all of us in the worlds top 10% earners (and i think according to the stats, that's anyone who earns $100 Aus or more) made a conscious effort to help those who had need. imagine that.

here's one way
www.salvationarmy.org.au/childsponsorship
it's only $25 per month

that's way less than a tank of petrol...

think about it

and now for something fun...

this is merf, jode, me - holding Heath, and tamara. he's the cute one who is one week and one day old today!!!

nearly there

so i am counting only one more sleep till school finishes for the term. really there is two more, but friday is only parent teacher interviews in the morning. then i'm done. i really can't wait for these holidays. the last few weeks have been quite busy and draining. bring on the holidays.
i can't really think of much else to write tonight.
so instead i'll include a new photo of my nephew, kez just sent me some more today. his name is officially daniel, but since the beginning, we have also called him little buddy or buddy pants, a lot!!!

mountain biking, Heath and touch footy

so i haven't written in a while - still due to no internet at home, but that should be fixed by later today. so here's a quick update on what's going on.

last thursday, friday, saturday i was on moutain bike camp with school. 15 boys and 4 teachers. it was a good time, even if i was a little chicken, i went a lot slower than some of those boys down the runs, but i made it, with only a few bruises, a lot less than some of those crazy ones too! anyway, while i thought i was working hard, i later discovered that jodie (from school) was working harder, she gave birth to Heath Ashby Fletcher on friday night. mum and baby are healthy. tamara, meredith and i are going to visit after school today. i can't wait. yesterday i had my touch footy grand final. we won 4-3. i got a trophy for that. then i got another surprise and got another trophy for female player of the game. good on me.

well, that's just a quick update. i will hopefully get back on track with my blogging now!
oh, i was discussing blogging with someone the other day and they just thought it was weird, to write a kind of diary on the internet for anyone to read. i obviously don't agree. thanks to sonia and wendy who unknowingly encouraged me with my blogging!