[Kid Inspiration]

This blog space is sacred.

I mean, I spend hours pouring over exactly the wording and content of every single post just to make sure I honour the platform and influence that this little corner of the internet has given me.

37 readers, plus my Mum is not to be sneezed at.

So to use this blog to say a big Happy Birthday to someone should be considered an honour of such magnitude that it would make grown men weep, ladies swoon at the knees and grandfathers pin the medals of their youth on this blog post in gratitude and awe.

Happy Birthday Funny Man Dan.

He turns a year older today (not unusual an occurrence obviously), a year wiser (slightly more unusual) and a kilogram heavier (one can only assume upon imagining the food he will be consuming).

But to be serious for a moment:

• There is not a man on earth I would trust more to bring laughter to kids
• There is no greater writing partner of  scripts that connect with kids
• I have have seen no greater transformation from ‘crusty student bachelor man’ to responsible, loving husband/father
• He’s a man that goes above and beyond to ensure everyone feels included
• A man who’s revelation of Jesus guides everything he does
• A husband who makes the special celebrations very special (leaving approximately 3 days in the year that are normal)
• A father that puts the well being of his wife and kids (one still womb bound) a top priority

This year was the 25th Anniversary of Hillsong Conference! It all started in 1986 in a school in Baulkham Hills, and this week we were at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in the Heart of Sydney!

I haven’t blogged much in the last week, but to make up for it here is a Happy Birthday video from Kidsong to Hillsong Conference! Blog posts maybe take an hour to write but this video took days, so show the love and retweet/share do your thing!

Thanks!

I have given myself a challenge for the next 26 days – post the complete A-Z of Ministry to Children.

Y… young, yearn, yesterday…

Y is for Yahweh - So there it is. I didn’t choose J for Jesus, but put Y for Yahweh. The bottom line is that God came into His creation to reveal His plan to humanity and you and I and the children we lead all have a place in the grand story.

Jesus told His disciples “Let the little children come to me”. You and I are called to do just that.

Amen.

*Hey, I am at Kidshaper conference this week. Welcome any new readers, make sure you suscribe in the top right.

It’s Friday afternoon, a few late nights are catching up with me and I just found this profoundly well written and honest blog post.

A lot of us are truly blessed more than we realise!

For Jessica

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine and I were talking about a study she’d just read, which concluded that dramamine sales uk people without children were happier than people with children; or, to put it more precisely, despite what conventional wisdom holds, the study found that having children did not increase anyone’s happiness.

At which all I could do was burst out laughing.  Because, well.  Duh.

Only an academic would undertake a study like this, defining happiness as something along the lines of “satisfaction with life” and “feeling rewarded by your work.” If there’s an occupation more likely to make you feel incompetent and unrewarded than being a parent, I have never heard of it.

Read on

I am fascinated with this phrase: “Attention is the currency”.

Because I think that in this age it applies SO much to our kids.

I have a LOT of choices when I put my son to bed at night… so much else I could be doing rather clavamox 375 mg than reading him a story or spending time with him. My father had a lot less choices, no mobile phone, only two channels of TV (this was the 80’s in New Zealand).

So more than ever our love is measured by time and attention.

So with the many distractions that our kids face, it is so easy to stand out in our culture. Even the bare minimum will make you stand out in the mind of a child!

Here are some very interesting thoughts from the blog of Tim Ferriss

7am this morning, awoke and made my way to someone else’s house to start filming a music video for ‘Love Never Fails’, which just may turn out to be one of the most embarrassing things I have ever done.

Love Never Fails is a song written by myself and Gio Galanti, one of our kids album producers from Hillsong London. With help from Funny Man Dan in lyrics we have created this kind of Hip Hop track that talks about the fact that love never fails.

It’s not exactly praise and worship, so we are making a music video for it and including as maybe a little bonus on the album this year. But it was a whole lot of fun check out a couple of shots from the shoot with the ever imporessive Ben Field directing!

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Ben peering into the little monitor to see what’s happening.

Dan filming last scene of day with a little help from our pro shaders