Party Party Party

I'm relatively sure i can safely post this next blog without anyone involved reading this. However, i know this is a public blog and i can't stop anyone from reading this, i'm fully aware of that!

It's 2:31am and no, i am not online chatting to anyone. I've just come home, changed into comfy PJ's and am reflecting on the past 5 or so hours with very mixed thoughts.

Tonight i went to a mates birthday party. It wasn't one with musical chairs and pass the parcel, although there WAS a birthday cake, ha!

I have a very mixed and varied bunch of friends. Some are full on Christians, living their lives passionately for Jesus, others are not involved with church, others are on and off Christians and some just don't know Jesus and others still couldn't care less.

Then there is me. Stuck in between all of them. The full on Christians inspire me but also annoy me at the same time. Sometimes they seem to live on their own little cloud and yet i love their passion for God. And the people who don't wanna know Jesus break my heart because their lives are so out of control that they don't care or don't even know it!

As i sit here and blog, the contrast between the worlds is so blatantly obvious. I went to another mates 21st a few weeks back and the difference between the two parties was incredible.

I am in a prime place in my life right now. God has me there for a reason and yet sometimes i don't know what to do with that amazing opportunity but i know full well that it's there, that it's an open door i can step through at any given moment. But it's like not being able to walk, you don't know which foot to put first.

I didn't intend on staying long at this party tonight because i knew i would be so far out of my comfort zone and i was right. But i stayed til almost the end. I helped diffuse a fight, i sat with a sober friend and chatted, i sat with a passed out friend and made sure he was alright and i was there for the party person as a good friend should be. And perhaps God had me stay longer than i wanted to for a reason, who knows?!

But there were so many young lives there putting all their faith into alcohol and other things when there's so much more to life than they think. Twice during the party people said to me, 'you don't drink, you don't smoke, so what do you do?' It was as if that was all there was to having fun or to partying or to life itself. I have to be honest and say that it broke my heart. I saw all the good in them, their potential, their personalities and characters and just felt so sad in my heart that this was all there was to their life.

The hardest part to all of this is that they don't care. To them it's fun, it's what a good time is made of. They're happy doing what they do. I can't change them and nothing i say or do will change anything. I have to leave it with God and trust that his power will break through to them at some point before they die.

I felt like i was a red frog person all over again - realised how much i missed it. Red Frogs has never been personal for me. They're kids i've never met and aren't friends with and so i've never felt as sad as i felt tonight. These are people i know and love, and it upsets me so much more. It's true what the pastor at church said on Sunday night, actions speak louder than words and most often people will hold what you preach against you but they'll never question your actions. He said that our actions speak more truth about who we are than our words do.

To the people at that party who broke my heart into way too many pieces, you are precious and you are loved. Tonight at this early hour of the morning know that i am praying for whatever circumstance you are facing and that this prayer is for every single person i spoke to tonight.

The Sydney Apple Store

PS: I know a ps usually comes at the end, but i apologise for the widescreen savings - it slips my mind to save in standard mode rather than widescreen sometimes - sorry!!!

Camp Del Oro 2010

I JUST FOUND THIS AS A DRAFT!

I HAVE NO IDEA WHY IT WAS NEVER PUBLISHED!

The time has come again to go back to the place i consider my second home!

Camp 2010 is just around the corner and it's very exciting and very nerve-wracking at the same time!

Everything's mostly organised and i'm ready to go but i always have last minute second thoughts about everything i do, perhaps it's more cold feet than second thoughts.

Camp this year is something i've put a lot of prayer and consideration into and have desired to do since a couple of months after last year's camp. I know that this is where I am meant to be this year and never have i had doubts that i should go.

I'm really excited because not a lot of people i know will be there this year and so it's an opportunity for me to experience camp fresh, as if it was my first year again.

I think i went to camp last year without having prayed about it much at all and i also went in the shadow of people which are big mistakes to make when going to camp. Camp is not about who you know there, it's not about going to rekindle friendships with other staff, that stuff is a bonus and i think it can become a dangerous trap to fall into.

This year there are a few reasons i'm going. The most important reason i'm going is because the ministry with the teens at this camp is so crucial and it's something i neglected to think of last year. But those teens look up to you and this being my third i know alot of them. I have an idea of where they come from and what pushes their buttons. It's a positive investment into their lives that should be considered a privilege and not something taken for granted. So having said that, that is my main reason for being at camp this year.

The solitude that can be found there is also a motivation. It's time out from life to reflect in nature and draw closer to God, with the intention of gaining more of an understanding of who he is.

I'm excited because I want to draw strength from him and solely rely on him for all that i need which, as i said before, is how i came to camp the first time.

Triple Digits

~~~~~~~*HAPPY DAY 100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*~~~~~~~

Today is significant. Today marks 100 days since the last time i used facebook. It's been a weird ride. Some days i don't notice it at all and other days my fingers are just itching to log in!

What better way to celebrate this 100th day than to receive in the mail a tshirt i bought online! It's too small, but i sent them an email to return it in exchange for a bigger size, and they said not to worry about returning it but just keep it to say thanks for shopping with them. How generous and on what better day for generosity than my 100th day of no facebook! It says hug me! I feel hugged by cafepress.com.au

On a whole it has been a relatively boring day and less exciting than i would've liked but hey, 100 days is done now!

So i have 265 days more to go. See you on facebook in 265 days!

Die Pigeon, Die

My bedroom is on the second floor of our house, upstairs. Outside my window, is a ledge that is the roof of downstairs.

For some reason, the pigeons love to sit on my window ledge and murder my soul on a saturday and sunday morning, the days i would prefer to sleep in than hear them cooing.

I got so fed up with this weekend occurrence and i was at my wits end and decided to come up with a plan.

My initial plan was to buy a gun and shoot them dead, they are THAT annoying!!! But due the illegalness of this plan, I had to come up with something equally as effective, preferably not as destructive.

And then it came to me. I would buy a water pistol. Similar to that of a gun but just not as deadly.

I wasn't sure if this plan would work and i feared that the pigeons might actually enjoy this and think of it as a morning shower but i would try it nonetheless!

So this morning. I was laying in bed waiting for my first pigeon victim and suddenly, i hear the dreaded sound of cooing. I reached for my pistol, aimed it out the window and bam, i fired the water from its nozzle.

The bird, startled, fluttered it's wings and immediately took flight - SUCCESS!!!!!

Pigeons won't mess with me anymore now that i have my glorious water pistol!

Stage Two of No Facebook Withdrawals

I'm three months into this No Facebook New Years Resolution and i think it's safe to say i've had just about enough of it!!!

My thoughts of:

"How many friend requests will i have" and

"Will they be randoms, or long lost friends or people i don't wanna add?" and

"How much blood money will i have in vampire wars?" and

"How is my cafe in Restaurant City doing and how much money will i have?"

...all keep entering my head, not to mention all the anticipated comments, emails and events i hope to receive!!!

Lately i haven't been able to sleep too good. I stay up late at night completely and utterly bored but not wanting to go to sleep and i have a theory about that!

I think it's because i'm waiting for something exciting to happen on the internet and nothing ever does and so my conclusion to that theory is that it's because i am going through stage two of facebook withdrawals!!! The first stage was not opening the page anymore and being extradited from 'the loop' and now this next stage is where my body is failing to understand that i can't entertain my boredom with facebook anymore.

I've stopped the mental status updates, which i am thankful for. I've even stopped writing them down in my status update log. Now i just put status updates on skype - which, by the way, i have and i think you should add me - just a bit of a plug there GET SKYPE!!!

Anyways, it's late and i guess i probably SHOULD attempt this sleep thing people overrate!!!