Merry Chooshamoosh

--or "Christmas" for all those unfamiliar with Phillips-speak.

I'm having a break! I'm out at the farm writing this blog post on ancient dialup connection on mum's slow pooter. Mum and Dad have finally taken some time off together and are up north in Brisbane visiting Uncle Lionel and mum's good friend (and my godmother) Jean Herford.

The farm rocks! We're near desperate to get our own, but it's kinda awkward right now for two reasons. 1) Janene's on maternity leave, so it's hard to re-finance an existing loan on just my wage; and 2) we'd have to sell the house in town BEFORE we could buy a farm... well that's as far as I understand.

Any legendary homeloan specialists or financial advisers out there that can give us some hints on another achievable method?

Chooshmoosh Eve
To accommodate everyone, we decided to have an early Christmas dinner at Janene's Parents' house with her family (two sisters + their husbands + kids).

The most memorable part of that day was the rain! We had steady drizzle most of the afternoon, which really cooled things down, making it a rather unusual Aussie Christmas.

Chooshmoosh Day
Surprisingly I had to wake the boys up myself at 8am. We opened our little bunch of presents then jumped into some respectable clothing and went off for the 9am church service.

After the service we came home and had an afternoon of playing with toys etc, and generally staying indoors, since it was very chilly outside! This Christmas will go down in history, as further South they had a heavy fall of SNOW! While it might be something taken for granted in the Northern Hemisphere, it really is an extremely rare occurrence for us Antipodes. A REAL White Christmas.

I guess we were just happy that it was cold, giving the rain from the day before more time to soak in, rather than just evaporating.

Christmas afternoon we had a nice big dinner at the Radburns' house (Corps Officers), followed by some general chit chat, a few game of darts and a twilight game of cricket. I retired by hitting a few catches, after a lengthy innings of first class backyard batting.

That was my Christmas in 2006.

Happy Christmas everyone. God bless youz and I hope you experienced the genuine meaning of this season.

It's a... a...

Holy Guacamole, it's a GIRL!!
Wow, Janene went into labour tonight (15th November), just one day after Eli's 7th birthday! Her water broke at about 8pm, so I quickly contacted Sarah Radburn to come and get the boys.

I took her to the hospital, but the strange issue we were having was that even though her water broke, she wasn't having labour pains. Eventually the doctor saw her (one she didn't like and hoped wouldn't be on duty the day she had the baby) and induced her into labour.

She was induced at 11pm, and to all our surprises (mine and the nurses), Janene popped out a little baby girl just before 1am... (i.e. less than 2 hours since being induced).

It's SUCH a weird feeling to have a "daughter" now! I honestly didn't expect a girl... I got used to having boys after the first two. So when my little daughter came out, I just laughed and cried at the same time!

So who is our Daughter?

I N T R O D U C I N G
Layna Evelyn Phillips
Born 16th November 2006
Weighing 3.56 kilos
Measuring 49.5cm

Click for bigger pics




"Nice to meet you Dad!"

Worth Quoting - No.01

Occasionally I'll find verses in the Bible and from other wise sources that I'll keep record of in my blog. First one in the ongoing series follows:

1 Thessalonians 4:3-8

It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honourable, not in a passionate lust like the heathen who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you His Holy Spirit.

A Change

Months later...

Wow, yeah... it's been months since I wrote in this thing. The main reason is the huge change. I left my job as a graphic designer at Panscott Media and now I'm working full time for the Salvos as Assistant Manager at the Dubbo Salvation Army Family Store!

*GULP*

It wasn't exactly an easy decision to make, but then it did become much easier through persistent prayer. Eventually the doubts in my mind were laid to rest and I felt incredible peace about making this huge change.

The most difficult thing I had to face was the fact I'd be dealing with people. Not just business people either... a whole range of people, including those in desperate circumstances that you are bound to attract in an organisation such as the Salvation Army.

Well this is WEEK FOUR of my journey with the Salvation Army, and I am really loving it. God's blessed me here, and I'm hoping that I can bless Him in return.

Perhaps I'll find more time over the coming weeks to express more of my thoughts. I hope so!

Clayton says...

"When I get bigger, I'll grow eyebrows in my nose."

Triple T

Thanks to Pete (kewlio, chilblain) I've discovered a career path that I can see myself doing for the next 10 years at least. IF only I can get into it. Seems like a pretty l33t field.

Office Linebacker Terry Tate is the inspirational example to follow. He almost single-handedly turned a failing corporation into a booming Fortune 500 company with profits soaring through the roof. How? By "mentoring" his colleagues and keeping them in line.

Check him out. "Terrible" Terry Tate in action! "Terrible" Terry Tate

*WHUNK* "That aint yo cake Phillip. That's Simone's cake! You eat someone else's cake agin and I'm gonna give you a slice of Terry's special PAIN CAKE. And you WON'T want seconds of dat!"

SAGALA hits Dubbo

What a turnout!

SAGALA (Salvation Army Guarding And Legion Activities) has been running for two weeks now and the number of kids has been awesome! The first night there were 24 kids... 8 in my group. We started the night with a couple of crazy games, and if anyone doubted whether we had enough kids, the sheer volume of screaming and laughter would've been more than enough to convince the skeptic. They whole hall was just booming with the voices of happy kids - it really was amazing. Mine and the other leaders' faces were glowing with excitement too.

After the games we lined up in our sections with each leader behind their group. Sarah explained all the bits of the flag parade and finally I played the national anthem on the cornet while they all sang. I was way nervous and I had a burning feeling in my solar plexus, and ultimately played crap :-) I bummed every note above high D - but nobody seemed to care.

We broke off into our groups and I soon learnt that I need to prepare more stuff for the boys. Three in particular got "bored" and started acting a bit silly. The rest of them enjoyed themselves and did some nice work in their books.

The night ended with the closing flag parade, followed by a short devotion.

WEEK 2
Even better than the first! I organised the game tonight - 4 teams, first player gets two balloons and has to keep them off the ground (easy!). The second team member comes in and is given another two balloons - the two of them have to keep 4 balloons in the air. This goes on until there are 5 kids keeping 10 balloons in the air. It's actually NOT that easy! Then once the whole team is in there, I throw in an extra balloon every 10 seconds. Most teams got to about 14 balloons before one dropped on the ground. The best team set the record of 17 balloons. It was quite a good fun game (invented by meeeee!).

We did the flag parade (I had nominated Jarrad the week before to parade the Adventurers flag), then I played the National Anthem again. I prepared well this time... and I also transposed the anthem down a tone, so it only went up to high Eb. Easy! And I didn't bum a single note.

In the Adventurers group we had a good night. Two of the 3 aforementioned boys from the week before were absent, but another soon filled the spotlight as troublemaker. There was not an excuse of "boredom" this time, because I had planned things for them. I had a private chat with the guy at the end and hopefully he will come back next week with a different attitude. I heard later that his younger sister also caused trouble in the Sunbeams group. Perhaps there's an issue at home.

Caleb also came this week, and a new boy - Matthew (which makes 3 Matthews in my group! How confusing).

I'm looking forward to the 20th August. We will be enrolling AT LEAST 24 kids! Certainly a day to be celebrated in the Salvation Army.

I thank God for all these kids. I pray I can be a positive influence on their life - especially as they edge towards those volatile teenage years.

More Catalepsy

I'm convinced fatigue creates the perfect conditions in my body for catalepsy. I was very exhausted on Saturday night and several times through the night I awoke with awareness but no power over my body. I think this happened perhaps 3 or 4 times, and at least one of those times I noticed my head or jaw was shaking very minutely as a video paused between two frames.

The difference in this last experience was that it occured in other sleeping positions. Previously catalepsy only seemed to occur when I was lying on my back. However, in this instance I was lying on my stomach and on my side.

Should I be concerned at this stage? I've noticed a renewed frequency of catalepsy, and this is the first time that:

1. It has occured in these different sleeping positions;


2. That it has occured a number of times in succession;


3. It has occured during the night (where it would usually occur either at the beginning or end of a sleep cycle)


4. It has happened without warning, for which I could adjust my position to avoid it

I'll keep an eye on it!

Just... things

An entry about nothing in particular

I'm sure if I had something greatly important to announce the headline would have already drawn a large readership. However, I was just sitting here tonight pondering upon... things. With nothing else to do, I decided to write what I'm writing now in my blog.

Indoor Cricket
We played indoor cricket tonight, and most of the team were absent (as has been the case this past season). We managed to field a team of 6 against a full team of mighty Nunfa warriors (someone needs to call them that... just for encouragement). We did what we could with 6 players but we only managed 1 skin and we lost the game by about 15 runs.

God Stuff
After cricket, I arrived home in the dark driveway with Sons of Korah playing on the CD player. I stayed in the car, closed my eyes and listened to their beautiful musical/lyrical interpretation of Psalm 73. It was a peaceful time alone with God. I need more moments like these!

I took the time to read this Psalm just now - yet another thing I need more of! The Psalm is by Asaph (another Psalmist with David) and reading it rang very true with my experience and the words answered a cry in my own heart. Amazing how God works...

Psalm 73 ends with these 5 beautiful verses (though it's worth reading all 28):

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.

28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.

Catalepsy is it?

I wish I knew what this was...

(Note: there seem to be varying interpretations on what "catalepsy" really is. I haven't found any official definition yet)

I've been indulging in a LOT of reading of late. This means going to bed way past midnight and feeling rather zonked the following day. From previous experience, this state of extreme fatigue, in conjunction with sleeping on my back, proves to be perfect conditions for what I believe is catalepsy.

This morning I was lying in my bed, mostly still asleep, but slightly aware. I was still in my dreamy state and I was dreaming that I had a very old book from the early 1900s (fashioned like these old Salvation Army bandmaster's score). This booklet had a table of contents that gave suggestions for coming out of catalepsy (can I call it a "cataleptic episode"?).

WARNING! Usually if you are on the outer edge of sleep dreaming about something, it can often be something that is really happening externally. For example you might be dreaming that a tarantula is crawling across your face, when in reality your kids are tickling your nose with a feather.

So at this point, I should have realised that I was teetering on the edge of another cataleptic episode.

However, as often happens, in my dreamy state I believed this was a real book and I read the table of contents. One of the items on the list was a song you could sing in your mind to pull yourself out of a cataleptic episode.

So... in the real world I let catelepsy take hold. That's the point where I woke up and was fully aware. But for anybody who has heard about catalepsy, you know that during an episode your mind is fully active but your body ceases to respond.

Luckily, this was a friendly episode, as I was still breathing. (When you stop breathing, that's when panic can set in!) Since I was still breathing, I relaxed and waited for the episode to end (which was about 15-20 seconds later).

I could feel my jaw quivering, and that was all. I tried to talk, but could not. I tried to open my eyes and could not. I tried to tell my body to move; roll over or something! But catalepsy is like the mind is disconnected from the body. There is full awareness of the mind, but the usual cooperation of the body to the mind's commands ceases.

Occasionally in previous episodes of catalepsy my breathing stopped as well. This was quite scarey. Trying to scream with your mouth, only to hear the sound echo in vain through your mind only, is a terrible feeling that I can only liken to wanting to breath when you're underwater. INTENSE FRUSTRATION. That's the kind of thing I never want to experience again.

I am extremely fearful of one day falling into a cataleptic state and not coming out!

LINKS:
- http://www.ellenwhite.org/refute5.htm - Some person explaining almost EXACTLY what I have experienced, including hallucinations (which happened in my first experience when I was 15).
- http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/c/catalepsy/intro.htm - one of the medical definitions I found that closely match my experience.

Note to family: Make sure I really AM dead when you bury me.

Lucky Little Lambies

Mum and Dad have been keeping a mother ewe alive for weeks now, giving her injections etc and trying to keep her standing so that she doesn't die.

She was having twin lambs, which apparently can cause problems in sheep - a disease called Pregnancy Toxaemia (or commonly Twin Lamb Disease).

Well it was coming close to the due date of the little woolly nippers, but it didn't look like the mummy ewe was going to make it. If she died during the night, then it meant the lambies died too.

So tonight mum and dad had to make the difficult decision, and they shot the mummy. Dad went to work quickly and got the baby lambs out of the mum's body, and here they are... happy and healthy!



If mum and dad didn't care, the could've let the ewe die a couple of weeks ago and write off their losses. But they didn't. Now they have two little lambs to feed every 2 hours. I hope their hard work pays off and these little guys grow up big and strong.

Trapped in our Present

Arkyp Stoller

I was browsing the Blogger site for other bloggers my age. I found a guy named Arkyp Stoller.

His blog is WELL WORTH A READ! Apparently he is trapped in our Present (his Past) from the Future year of 2317 (his Present). I'm unsure of his location, and I think he is equally disoriented after arriving in 2006 last night (June 29, 2006). It would appear though that he's still confined to the room in which he first arrived. Maybe he's already made it back to 2317?

I am going to follow his blog, and hopefully find that he unravels the mystery and makes it back to 2317. Arkyp's blog might also give us some insight into the future!

Go read it for yourself: Arkyp Stoller's Blog.

I stumbled on this song

While flipping through the Salvation Army songbook, I found this song. I've never heard it sung and I don't know how the tune goes, but the lyrics are brilliant.

Song 30
God of concrete, God of steel,
God of piston and of wheel,
God of pylon, God of steam,
God of girder and of beam,
God of atom, God of mine,
All the world of power is thine.

Lord of cable, Lord of rail,
Lord of motorway and of mail,
Lord of rocket, Lord of flight,
Lord of soaring satellite,
Lord of lightning’s livid line,
All the world of speed is thine.

Lord of science, Lord of art,
Lord of map and graph and chart,
Lord of physics and research,
Word of Bible, Faith of church,
Lord of sequence and design,
All the world of truth is thine.

God whose glory fills the earth,
Gave the universe its birth,
Loosed the Christ with Easter’s might,
Saves the world from evil’s blight,
Claims us all by grace divine,
All the world of love is thine.

Richard Granville Jones

SAGALA training done!

KATOOMBA, I love you
Janene and I took Melissa and Elizabeth (twins) in our car to the Katoomba Christian Convention center on the weekend. John and Jennifer Armstrong took their car with Sarah Radburn and Adeline McDougal - that makes 8 from Dubbo!

The weekend was for training for leaders of SAGALA (Salvation Army Guards And Legion Activities) and there were about 86 leaders all up from all over the country, including South Australia, Victoria, ACT, NSW and Queensland.

Dubbo is about to start doing SAGALA again (after 8 or so years since it was last run). So we spent the weekend learning all about SAGALA and preparing ourselves for the new challenge.

I loved the cold weather in Katoomba, and also enjoyed our visit to Scenic World. I went on the railway car thingy down the side of the mountain (wasn't as fast, long or as scarey as I hoped). Then I walked around amongst the beautiful trees and ferns before catching the Cableway back up over the valley to the top of the cliffs again.

The most fun part of the training for me was probably learning to tie knots :D Next time someone falls in the river, I'm gonna be so excited! I'll grab a piece of rope, tie a rescue knot - secured with a half-hitch - chuck it in and rescue that drowning person.

I also passed my First Aid Course a couple of months ago, so I could then bring em back to life if they happened to be dead.

So anyway, being a SAGALA leader is going to be great - I think... I hope! I will be leading the Adventurers group, which is the boys aged 7 - 11. I already have my SAGALA badge and my shirt... so I'm really looking forward to decking out in the whole uniform.

It may be a fanciful goal, but I hope we can do enough fundraising to attend the next World SAGALA Jambouree. This year it will be in the Netherlands, so you can imagine how badly I wanted to go to that. :-( Maybe it'll be in Russia! Wow, that'd be cool.

Check out my select photos of the Katoomba weekend.

ANZAC Day - belated diary entry

Salvos MARCH!

ANZAC Day took on quite a new meaning for the Dubbo Salvation Army this year. For the first time in a long time (Adeline McDougall says it has been at least 20 years) our Corps participated in the ANZAC Day march down Wingewarra Street, up Macquarie Street, up Talbragar Street and through Victoria Park to the cenotaph for the ANZAC ceremony.

I was privileged to bear the Salvation Army flag and march at the front.

We were placed quite forward in the march, with only military in front of us (the diggers, Army Cadets, Air Cadets). The feeling was awesome, and the crowds lining the streets was amazing.

There was no city band in the march this year, only drums. There was a van with recordings of the pipe band behind us, but it didn't create the same atmosphere that a real band would (having memories of marching with the Paramatta City Corps a couple of years ago!).

The best part of Salvos marching was the women and kids playing their timbrels. They had quite a good rhythm going and created a lot of interest for the public that were lining the streets.

The day wasn't perfect, we were a bit rusty on protocol and later found out that no flag in your group should be higher than the Australian flag... where ours was about 6 foot taller :D (In fact, I think the Salvo flag towered much higher than any other flag or banner in the whole parade). Also, when we reached the cenotaph, the diggers and military cadets stopped to one side, which meant WE were at the front of the parade entering the circle around the cenotaph.

Amid the cheers and claps I heard two contradictory instructions "GO LEFT" and "GO RIGHT". Well we went right... and looked back as the other groups went left. D'OH! But nobody noticed (or at least nobody commented) and people were just happy to see the Salvation Army marching again.

Once we'd entered and found our spot in the circle surrounding the cenotaph, I slipped over to play hymns with the Dubbo City Brass Band - another new experience for me. It became apparent to a few band members at that time that I was involved in the Salvos. I felt no negative vibes for wearing my Salvation Army uniform in the band (I was nervous about doing it), but conversely, I did get a much warmer greeting from a couple of members that I haven't had any real interaction with previously.

Overall, an excellent day for the Salvation Army - a wonderful honor to pay tribute to our heroic diggers who paid the ultimate price for our country's freedom.

LEST WE FORGET

The Secret is out!

Well we've started telling everyone - family at least.

Nipper number 3 is on the way!!

I said in an earlier blog post, that I wanted more kids, but Janene probably wouldn't cope with more than the two we've got. Well much can change in 12 months. One day Janene basically said well if you want more kids, better have em now!. I figured out she was for real, and we soon made the final decision to have another. A couple of months later there was a bun in the oven (I won't go into details).

I guess age and wisdom played a huge role in this decision. We often comment on how a large number of "professionals" these days are likely to have a maximum of one child, many choosing to have none at all. It seems to us the family unit is of much less importance, and "parent" a much less desired title in this current generation.

I look at my family tree and see that we come from a line of big families. Family was always the focus. Entertainment was always the family. Most of the social events involved family. Many businesses ran in the family. Suddenly we've hit a generation that to me appears to be focused on something else, and I find it sad...

I observe that many people are in persuit of a different word, a different kind of asset... Financial assets... material things. Family is on the backburner, first comes Career, House, Car, Holidays, living life... and then by 35 maybe have a kid. Funny that in years gone by, some of our relatives were GRANDparents not long after 35.

Janene and I figured out something so very valuable. It's a shame many others fail to learn - LEGACY is not in your property, your business achievements, your social status... A truly fulfiling and lasting legacy is the family you raise.

Prayer:
Lord, thank you for the wonderful revelation that has led us to make this decision. Thank you Lord for blessing us with fertility and the opportunity to raise another child. Equip us for the task ahead I pray. May others see joy in the Phillips family and then be inspired to take a different outlook in their own lives.

You're an awesome God worthy of reverence and praise! Thank you.

In the name of Jesus, my saviour, I pray.
Amen.

Weekend of Learning

To Sydney!
Janene and I travelled to Sydney on Wednesday and stayed at Adam & Jeanette's house for a couple of nights. On Thursday Janene did a course through Focus on the Family called "Starting Points". It was basically a training course to prepare Janene as a facilitator to teach the Starting Points course, which is a program to help parents of kids 0 to 5 years old with parenting strategies (Christian based).

Nene said it was a good course... and she has a whole stack of books and pamphlets to read now. I think she'll be a good facilitator, cos she always was a good studier... she'll know the course content really well. I hope God will use her new knowledge here in Dubbo!

With bro...
While Nene studied, I hang out with big bro. He took me to the city for some shopping, and showed me how to be angry at everyone and everything. I don't think the angry lesson sunk in (or at least I didn't let it), but the rest of the time I had fun with Adam.

I spent some money buying books (mostly Russian language tutors), some music stuff (trumpet book, violin stand) from Allan's Music, and we browsed a lot of other stuff.

One thing I decided for certain was that I hate spending too much time in the city. It really is so impersonal, dirty and "grey". I think if I was there much more than a week or so, I'd start developing the same kind of negative outlook Adam has. In fact, Adam said to me that the city sometimes makes him hate everyone, everything and has pretty much killed off any remaining faith he ever had. Sad :-( Count me out.

Bro's Winnings
Adam got an email while I was there on Thursday telling him he'd won the FlashForward award AGAIN! He gets a big fat rubber arrow, like the last two times. I watched him work on his new movie too... interesting to see how he does it.

Collaroy...
After our time in Ashfield, we headed to Collaroy for the "Children Matter" conference run by the Salvation Army. We turned up early and went for a strole together on the beach. It was lovely, and even romantic :-) We played with the sealife in the rockpools and basically enjoyed being alone together.

Once we booked in we realised we were in separate cabins, sharing with people we didn't know (i.e. men and women were separated). I tried to stow away in Janene's cabin, but some other ladies arrived and I realised it might be uncomfortable for everyone with one guy in a room of girls... so I moved to my cabin.

In my cabin were a few other guys, including Allan Brunton. We had a few long chats, and we were alike in a number of ways. He's from a small corps in Deniliquin where Lyn Cathcart (Twells) is captain.

Sarah and Jennifer attended the weekend too, and their plane was delayed so they arrived after dinner.

The weekend itself was inspiring and gave all of us some good ideas in our various areas of youth ministry. Our challenge now is to implement what we learnt, but also not to overcommit to too many programs and just burn out.

I pray God will bless the efforts we make, and we'll see fruit in future days, months and years.

Indoor Cricket milestone

The last few days have been memorable as far as indoor cricket goes.

We've had a lot of guys away from the team. Pete was in China for a while, Dave was in China, then in USA. Tim has been all over the state (Bourke, Wellington, Cobar) working for the National Australia Bank. Ben Morris moved to Northern Territory cos of his Army training. Nathan has gone back to Orange for a couple of weeks too.

Fortunately we haven't been doing much losing, even with a skeleton team. We have a couple of strong new players. Banjo (Brendan) joined up a few weeks ago and is showing some class. Last week he brought along a friend, Dallas, who also has some good cricket skills.

Tonight we had another of Brendan's friends fill in, his name is Ivan, and he also seemed to know a thing or two about cricket.

BUT the biggest thing worth noting is the batting partnership between Banjo and I. FINALLY I started seeing the ball well and playing like I did when I was younger.

Last Thursday against Nunfa, Brendan and I made 104. We clocked the scoreboard, cos it only goes to 99 for each skin.

Then tonight, to prove it wasn't a fluke, we played a more confident team than Nunfa - Tracey's Tilers. They got a respectable score, then proceeded to defend their skins. Salvos looked a bit down, taking only 1 of the first 3 skins. Brendan and I went in to try and get our skin of 41, but the game itself was about 70 or more runs out of reach.

Luckily we had our eyes locked in on the ball, cos we got the skin, then I sealed the game by hitting a six on jackpot ball. We got 80-something, and a total of 4 game points.

SWEET!

I'm hoping that form carries through for a while. I'm enjoying hitting the ball again.

BIG weekend

Janene and I had to hurry up and do some extra work on the house, cos the bank was sending around an independent valuer to check we'd spent money on the renovations.

Our builder (and christian friend) John Parker offered to come over on Saturday and do some construction jobs (free of charge).

We put in a hard day's work, from about 8:30am til maybe 7:30pm. I did a whole lot of painting, and Janene did lots of cleaning and staining of the timber woodwork.

John spent the day putting shelving in the laundry cupboard, as well as other odd jobs, such as fixing the kitchen floor.

The valuer rocked up on Monday, asked a few questions, looked around for ages then left.

Once all that is finalised, we get to pay back the $130k!! Yay... joy!

Check out my Flickr album, I have put some photos of the painted dining room wall (first coat only).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mogsta/

First Sermon

First what?!

Yeah, after lots of coaxing and some sly tricks, Cpt. Chris Radburn finally got me to do a sermon. Of course I tried to find excuses, and up until then I'd managed to find plenty.

But I had holidays, so I had time to plan... and the Radburns needed a holiday, so us laypeople volunteered to fill in so they could have that holiday.

So I wrote my own sermon on a topic that I find very applicable in the current culture climate. I titled it Truth Revealed: Is the Bible really the Word of God?

The good thing about this exercise is that it made me study the history of the Bible and the content of the Bible itself, and in doing so, I really answered a lot of my own questions.

The message examined three categories of proof to answer skepticism on whether the Bible is accurate and divinely inspired. I won't re-write the sermon here, but the transcript (which varied a bit from my spoken sermon, since I did adlib a bit rather than read word for word) can be found here: Brett's First Sermon (note, because I refuse to buy M$ Office at insane prices, I created this file in )

So the sermon was held in a Cafe style. Instead of pulpits in rows, we held the meeting in the Youth Hall and had cafe tables with baskets of cakes etc. Lindsay brought the coffee machine from the Salvo store and set it up so people could make cappuccinos, lattes, hot chocolates etc.

Despite feeling nervous to start with, I felt very comfortable once I got started. Knowing and BELIEVING what I spoke about is what helped, as well as strength through the Holy Spirit.

After the meeting, there was a good response. I had a number of people come up to me with a big smile, saying how the sermon helped their understanding and their belief. I thought that, due to the response, it makes way for running a bible study on Christian apologetics.

Mum came along and did the Bible reading for me. She was very impressed by the message and told me how it answered all the doubts she'd been having. I believe God sent her along that day, and her spiritual needs were met. It makes me happy that I could do that for me lil ol' mum.

Dad couldn't make it because of work (he had to irrigate), but I gave him those notes from the meeting and he read them. I also lent him one of my books/resources. Paul Little's "Know Why You Believe".

There were a lot of young people that I wish could have been there on the day.

Mothers, fathers, brothers, neighbours etc... If we're Christians, we need to be ready to give an answer when people throw darts at our faith. I've come to realise that's why society is rejecting Christian faith, because there's a lack of smart Christians defending it and strongly convicted Christians presenting it... only "dabblers", such as me. I am keen to get into some apologetics and teach it.

Perhaps that's my new years resolution?

HIDDEN MESSAGE

Can you see a hidden message within this text? You need to really concentrate and wonder what it might be. Although, c'mon, stop kidding yourself. Maybe if you sit back and use your eyes, you might just realise it was staring you in the face!

Happy 2006

Well Christmas and New Year came and went pretty fast! I didn't even write about them. Here's the brief of it:

Christmas Day
We spent Christmas morning together, just the four of us. We opened all our presents and had a Christmas breakfast together. Eli got a bike, Clayton got a big table with trainset and other things. I gave Janene some hubcaps (cos I ordered some beading stuff for her from ebay but it never came on time).

Janene actually loves her new hubcaps! She'd told people at work "all I want for Christmas is a new hubcap", since she had lost one of them one day and the car lost it's appeal.

I was thrilled with my cordless drill, and soon got busy doing lots of little jobs with it, like hanging some curtain rods.

Of course we all got other pressies to play with, but those were the big ones.

Afterwards we went to Aunty Di's house and had a Christmas lunch there with all the cousins, aunties and Pop. The cuzes played some "backyard cricket". I got sunburnt, but the fact I clean bowled Michael and Craig made it worth it.

Boxing Day
I took the boys out to the farm, and along with Juanita, Ted, her boys and his two kids, we all went crayfishing with Pa. We got a couple of buckets full, we threw back the small ones and cooked the rest. There were actually more yabbies than we felt like eating.

I got more sunburnt.

New Years Eve
The regular event again, we had dinner at the Radburn's house with other church folk. It was a good time to catch up, eat lotsa food and watch illegal fireworks over the back fence.

There were lots of good little discussions going on as the night progressed, and Patty Arnis sat glued to Napoleon Dynamite. I'm not sure how much a guy from Papua New Guinea with limited english skills would get from that movie, but he sure watched it right through!

As usual too, Flo Sunderland saw the new year in. She may be the oldest church member, but she's really a stayer... or a goer... or whatever.

Well at midnight we watched the display of fireworks on TV... and imagined what else those millions of dollars could have be used for. Oh well.

We saw the new year in with a prayer led by Cpt. Chris Radburn.

RESOLUTIONS?
So, I didn't bother making any New Years Resolutions, because I still have last year's to keep. I know what they are... they're private.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!