Archive - February, 2005

Live Album Recording

Wow!!!

Okay so last night (Sunday Night) the whole church gathered at the Sydney Entertainment Centre to record our latest live album!

It is awesome to have our church in one place at the same time worshipping and praising God. There are some beautiful new songs and a great atmosphere of faith.

We had a great time in the children’s program… a long night for our kids… but loads of fun and a huge amount of our leaders who just went above and beyond and created an awesome atmosphere for our kids.

Praise God for nights like these!!

Comments Now Available!!!

Finally got the commenting system working…

So feel free to comment on any of the post made so far…

Get your thoughts out of your head and into the Blogosphere!!!

Comment… Now… Go On… It doesn’t hurt!!

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An act of God?

Did you know that 28% of Americans believe their prayers are always answered and 44% believe their prayers are sometimes answered?

- When asked where people pray, 96% of respondents stated they pray at home.

- More than half of Baptist respondents stated that they pray one or more times each day; while 13% of Catholic respondents do not pray at all.

- The majority of respondents who pray stated that they pray for health, family members and to give thanks to God.

- 26% of American respondents felt that the Tsunami was an act of God.

- One in ten Catholic respondents and half of the southern Evangelical respondents in America believe the devastation caused by the South Asian Tsunami was an act of God with religious significance.

Stats from GMI (Global Market Insite), a leading market research services company.

Linguistic Auto-Pilot

"Thousands of people who do not know Jesus Christ attend church each week. Most of these people never received the Christianese Sunday school training that began with large felt boards. As preachers deliver their messages and the members back-slap each other with approval, a lot these visitors walk away without any clearer understanding of Jesus Christ."

Drew Goodmason writes at the-next-wave.org
How much more should we explain our lingo for children!!

Every christian concept MUST be explained and given meaning.

We can (our image/explanation) be the reference point for the child discovering the things of God…for the rest of his life!!!

Are all moral issues equivalent?

Chuck Colson argues that not all moral issues are equal…

"We oppose abortion because we respect the fact that all humans are made in the image of God."

Are issues like poverty, social justice, abortion, AIDS worthy of our equal attention?

Or should the christian rightly focus on abortion?

Think… then read… HERE

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Joke #2

I hate these hoax warnings, but this one is important!!!

Please send this to everyone on your email list.

If a man comes to your front door and says he is conducting a survey and asks you to show him your bum, do not show him your bum.

This is a scam; he only wants to see your bum.

I wish I’d got this yesterday. I feel so stupid and cheap.

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Product Warnings

More Jokes… OK… well these are funny… Product warnings for those commen every day things…

Product Warnings

Due to lawsuits the following warnings are now required:

- On a cardboard windshield sun shade: “Warning: Do Not Drive With Sun Shield in Place”

- On an infant’s bathtub: Do not throw baby out with bath water.

- On a package of Fisherman’s Friend(R) throat lozenges: Not meant as a substitute for human companionship.

- On a Magic 8 Ball: Not advised for use as a home pregnancy test.

- On a roll of Life Savers: Not for use as a flotation device.

- On a cup of McDonald’s coffee: Allow to cool before applying to groin area.

- On a refrigerator: Refrigerate after opening.

- On a disposable razor: Do not use this product during an earthquake.

- On a handgun: Not recommended for use as a nutcracker.

- On pantyhose: Not to be used in the commission of a felony.

- On a piano: Harmful or fatal if swallowed.

- On a can of Fix-a-Flat: Not to be used for breast augmentation.

- On a Pentium chip: If this product exhibits errors, the manufacturer will replace it for a $2-shipping and a $3-handling charge, for a total of $4.97.

- On work gloves: For best results, do not leave at crime scene.

- On a palm sander: Not to be used to sand palms.

- On a calendar: Use of term “Sunday” for reference only. No meteorological warranties express or implied.

- On Odor Eaters: Do not eat.

- On a blender: Not for use as an aquarium.

- On a revolving door: Passenger compartments for individual use only.

- On a microscope: Objects are smaller and less alarming than they appear.

- On children’s alphabet blocks: Letters may be used to construct words, phrases and sentences that may be deemed offensive.

Astounding Hotel Rwanda.

We received some free preview tickets to see Hotel Rwanda last week. So myself and Beci trundled off, anticipation high in our hearts and a very nice ‘power smoothie’ high in my stomach (Blueberry, Raspberry, Yoghurt, Protein Powder, Milk… something else).

I had heard about this movie a month or so before when it was shown at various film festivals around the world and had been looking forward to it ever since.

The movie was brilliant, no real gore and violence just "implied horror" and thousands of Rwandans are slaughtered in the name of revenge. Unlike hack and slash Hollywood blockbusters this is surprisingly more horrific.

It is amazing what the human race is possible of, almost a million people murdered in a one hundred day period. But the movies real strength is seemingly avoiding the blame game and concentrating on what CAN be done to heal and move forward away from the past. You leave the movie inspired to part of the healing process, not a contributor to the death and hate.

Rather than thinking ‘what can I do?’, you leave thinking maybe I CAN do something… after all this man saves over one thousand refugees from both sides of the conflict, while a small drop in the masses that never saw another day, it made a difference to those thousand!

I find myself agreeing with a review from Brian D. Mclaren at Sojourners…

"And then I realize that’s why Hotel Rwanda seemed to me an even more Christian film (forgive me if this sounds crazy to you – but try to understand) than The Passion of the Christ. It evoked in me a wave of compassion for my neighbors around the world, whatever their color or tribe, whatever their religion or politics. And I hear our Lord saying, "As you have done it to the least of these…you have done it to me."

Rather than pointing a finger at the ‘baddies’ in this picture, it just seems to inspire compassion…

Compassion: Not just for our friends and neighbours, but like Jesus says…
"For our enemies".

Being Cruel to be Kind

Well here is the perfect object lesson for proving that some times God allows pain to benefit you.

I would be praising God the next time you get hit with a bottle in a bar fight… It might just save your life!!!!

Fox news Link

Vicious Attack Saves Woman’s Life

NAPLES, Fla. (AP) · When a man struck Sally Hampton with a beer bottle last July 4, his unprovoked attack wound up saving her life.

When doctors began examining Hampton, 64, they found a brain tumor that could have killed her.

The tumor was removed, and now Hampton is fully recovered.

“It was one of the worst things that could happen to an elderly person, but in the end it saved her life,” attorney Erik Lombillo, who prosecuted her attacker, said.

According to prosecutors, Hampton and her attacker were in a bar at closing time, and she led him toward the door so he’d leave and the bar could be locked up.

“He looked over at her, smiled for some unknown reason, and poured the beer from the bottle in her face. Then he took the bottle and hit her in the head with it,” Lombillo said.

Hampton was taken to a hospital for treatment. During a test, the doctors found the tumor.

“It was basically a vicious, unprovoked attack, but the silver lining for this woman is her going to the hospital, having them discover this life-threatening health issue and making a full recovery,” Lombillo said.

· Thanks to Out There reader Harley W.

What the Entertainment Industry teaches us.

OK, I know I am posting a lot of jokes at the moment. But I really found THE best ever email. In fact I saved the sucker for over a year in my hotmail inbox, just so i wouldn’t loose it.

Here it is in all its glory, 29 things the entertainment industry has taught us…

What the entertainment industry teaches us

1. Large, loft-style apartments in New York City are well within the price range of most people –whether they are employed or not.

2. At least one of a pair of identical twins is born evil.

3. Should you decide to defuse a bomb, don’t worry which wire to cut. You will always choose the right one.

4. Most laptop computers are powerful enough to override the communications system of any invading alien society.

5. It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts — your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors.

6. When you turn out the light to go to bed, everything in your bedroom will still be clearly visible, just slightly blue.

8. If you are blonde and pretty, it is possible to become a world expert on nuclear fusion at the age of 22.

9. Honest and hard working policemen are traditionally gunned down three days before their retirement.

10. Rather than wasting bullets, megalomaniacs prefer to kill their archenemies using complicated machinery involving fuses, pulley systems, deadly gasses, lasers, and man-eating sharks, which will allow their captives at least 20 minutes to escape.

11. During all police investigations, it will be necessary to visit a strip club at least once.

12. All beds have special L-shaped cover sheets that reach up to the armpit level on a woman but only to waist level on the man lying beside her.

13. All grocery shopping bags contain at least one stick of French bread.

14. It’s easy for anyone to land a plane providing there is someone in the control tower to talk you down.

15. Once applied, lipstick will never rub off–even while scuba diving.

16. You’re very likely to survive any battle in any war unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.

17. Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German or Russian officer, it will not be necessary to speak the language. A German or Russian accent will do.

18. The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris.

19. A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.

20. If a large pane of glass is visible, someone will be thrown through it before long.

21. If staying in a haunted house, women should investigate any strange noises in their most revealing underwear.

22. Word processors never display a cursor on screen but will always say: Enter Password Now.

23. Even when driving down a perfectly straight road, it is necessary to turn the steering wheel vigorously from left to right every few moments.

24. All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they’re going to go off.

25. A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty.

26. If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone you meet will know all the steps.

27. Police departments give their officers personality tests to make sure they are deliberately assigned a partner who is their total opposite.

28. When they are alone, all foreign military officers prefer to speak to each other in English.

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