more about nothing

Right now i'm sitting in the metro listening to the first support band for 'something for kate'. They sound pretty good actually, albeit a bit muffled - oh hang on, that's my ear plugs! I'm going to try hard in the future not to complain about the volume at youth!

on our way to the metro, my friend and i had to walk past a movie cinema, which of course was showing 'the da Vinci code' - a new movie out this week, you may have heard of it?! The fact that the movie was screening meant that we had to walk through a wall of protestors - we think they were catholic. Flyers were being handed out, prayers were being read, banners flown and songs sung. A guy tried to push a flyer of some post into my hand, which i said no to. I think it must have been a flyer about being a catholic/christian, because when i said no, he replied "it's better than you think". I hope he was talking about christianity and not the movie!

two responses came to mind: the first, a casually loud comment to my friend, suggesting that we go see the movie before church on sunday, (which i did actually say!), and the second was this "sorry, i'm too busy at church to have time to be a christian".

however, i didn't say that one you loud. Maybe God whispered that one in my ear for my own benefit? Sadly, that statement is all too true for all to many of us, too much of the time - myself included.

how many times do i not read my bible because i'm tired after creative rehearsal? How often am i busy learning a new song instead of spending time with the One whom the song is about?

even the protestors outside the cinema challenged Me tonight. At least they've got the courage to make a stand for what they believe in....even if they are protesting against a work of FICTION! (Seriously people, it's a work of fiction! Even dan brown himself admits that much in the preface to the book!)

back on track...the protestors are out there, facing ridicule, just to defend their faith, and ultimately to defend Jesus' reputation. And what am i doing? Ignoring it? Somewhat gloating over the reports that the critics didn't really like it? Maybe even considering watching it?

Well it's been a while since I posted about my current listening and reading, so here goes:

Reading:

I'm still reading Mere Christianity, which is fantastic. I haven't got time to go into it now, but if you haven't read the book, go get it and read it!

I've just started a new book called "God of the Possible" by Gregory A Boyd, which is about predestination and the open view of God. Interesting stuff.

Listening:

I've been listening to Shawn McDonald's new album "Ripen". It's more mellow than his previous two albums (Simply Nothing and Live in Seattle), but it's incredible none the less.

Hillsong London's "Jesus Is". Just picked it up the other day, and so I'm still listening to it.

Hillsong United "United We Stand". I've had this for a while now, and it's still good.

At work I've been listening to "The Second Chance" soundtrack, featuring Michael W Smith. It's an excellent soundtrack, with a great mix of urban, instrumental, and classic Michael W Smith.

Abundant Life Church in the UK have released a new album, and I can't remember it's name. Google for it, and you shall find! It's great. Mark Stevens (ex-Hillsong) has never sounded better!

Originally posted 11/05/06

Can someone please explain to Me the purpose of finger-less gloves? I know that when my hands are cold, the coldest parts of my hands are always my fingertips. So to have everything covered except for the tips of your fingers?

on a different note, i'm actually starting to enjoy my early starts! I've always preferred winter over summer, so i love the brisk cold in the morning. I'm actually contemplating getting up 30 minutes earlier and going for a quick walk to get Me started for the day.

for those interested, there's an article over at 'this man falls down' (the link is in my side-bar) about how to become an early riser. (edit: here's the link)

Wow what a week for news! I woke up this morning to the fantastic news that the two miners were now out of the mine. What an emotional day it's going to be for them - especially with their workmate's funeral to attend.

also at the front of my mind is little sophie. If you don't know who sophie is, last year a car crashed into her child-care centre and she caught on fire, which resulted in her recieving severe burns to most of her body. (I think she may have had her legs partially amputated, but i'm not 100% sure at the moment.) She was also in hospital for quite some time. Well last week she was hit by a car while crossing a pedestrian crossing in a pram. At the moment she is in a medically induced coma, and doctors are unsure if she has any brain damage.

but you know what makes Me more angry than the unfairness of the accident? It was the response of one of my flat mates. I commented to him in passing about how it's so sad, and he replied that they should have let her die the first time she was in hospital - his reasoning for that is that she will now be having skin grafts until she stops growing. I couldn't believe my ears. So what that she'll need constant surgery until she stops growing. At least she's ALIVE! It made Me wonder what his opinions are on things like abortion and euthanasia.

on a lighter note, we had Pat mesiti speak at insight on friday. He's our guest speaker at our upcoming Getaway, and it's going to be a great weekend.

also, my friends and i discovered a fantastic restaurant in darling harbour on saturday - it's called Sumac, and we think that it's most probably Moroccan. We actually decided to eat there because it LOOKED good. How girly is that?!

oh and if i don't post before the weekend, i'm off to see Lano & Woodley at the Enmore in their 'goodbye' show, which should be fun. And happy mother's day for sunday!

Just like Bruce over at hismethod.com (by the way, congratulations to you and ruth), I've been in a bit of a Blogging funk. It's now been over a week since my last post - and i didn't even do that when i went overseas!

I've been holding off because i wanted to post some pictures from our trip to Canberra on ANZAC day, but they'll wait for another day.

our trip to Canberra was interesting, to say the least. The plan was to leave at 9am - so we were on our way by 10.30. We arrived in Canberra just before 1, and had lunch at a park by the lake. Shockingly, it was warmer in Canberra that day than it was in sydney! We played games and lazed around in the sun for a few hours before we headed off to the war memorial. We arrived at the memorial in time to see the changing of the guard. Then we looked for relatives names on the memorial, and i think i found my two great-grandparents' who fought in Galipolli.

i was in the Cenetaph looking at the tomb of the unknown soldier, when it was time for the changing of the guard again. Being inside the Cenetaph for the changing of the guards was strangely moving. Did you know that the inside of the Cenetaph is completely tiled - mosaic style, and the tiles are smaller than 10mm x 10mm!

after our second changing of the guards, we headed into the museum. We spent a long time in there, and it was only enough time to browse through the world war one exhibit. There are plans in motion to go back purely to go to the war museum.

After spending the entire afternoon at the war memorial, we headed off to my friend's sister's house for coffee. That's another story all on it's own - one which, unfortunately, i'm not going to share here.

However, in the process of 'having coffee' my friend 'lost' her car keys . i say 'lost' because we were all highly suspicious of a visitor who arrived around the time that the keys went missing, and again, That's another story.

after all 8 of up searched the house top to bottom for over 2 hours, we managed work things so that one car load of girls was able to stay in Canberra overnight, and the other car went back to sydney that night.

the keys were found first thing the next morning, on top of a bush in the garden. This only helped to heighten our suspicions of the visitor i mentioned previously, as we had gone through that garden with a fine-toothed bomb many times the night before.

but apart from all the drama, we had a fantastic time. It's not often that you get to spend an extended period of 'down time' with such a great group of girls :-)