[snowboarderTim]

Hey, my email is tim@ghits.com Feel free to use it (anyone...) Just don't bombard my mail box, you don't me stalking you (especially if I just spent alot of money to fly halfway across the world ) j/k You get the point

Tim

[beanie]

Well, well, well. (Just a warning: this is a long one, and I have no idea if it's worth the read.)

It’s been a nuts couple of days.

Friday – the photo shoot was a whole stack of fun and crazyness. I had to have fun chats with people so they could get shots of us laughing. In one, I was on top of Mikki’s shoulders and I haven’t done that kind of thing for yonks!! Ah, fun. I wouldn’t mind my own copy of some of those, even if they don’t get published.

My brother came and picked me up and we went to Subway, as we do every Friday for lunch. We had great talks about all kinds of stuff and it was just so good. Last Summer (December) when he was home for Christmas we just were not getting along… some bits of our personality clash. But I have just loved hanging out with him… sometimes we don’t talk much and go to the movies instead. Last week, we talked a lot and then went shopping. I didn’t have money, but he does and he brought me some black pants for work. Not that I have a job, but they’ll come in handy for interviews and stuff – I wouldn’t want to rock up at an interview in my ripped jeans and frog-man t-shirt.

Friday night and Saturday I was at Perichoresis Conference and it was amazing. I had a struggle getting there though… I caught a bus, but I’d never been much out that side of the city and didn’t know where I was. I wanted to be on this one road and then the bus turned and I was like… ahh! I have to get off. So I did. I get off and the bus drives away and then I read the road sign and it wasn’t the road that I thought it was and another bus didn’t come from ages, and when it did, it didn’t go as far as I needed to go down that road. Blah, blah, blah. I go there – on time as well. I was pretty angry, waiting for another bus, at God I think… wondering what the heck he thought he was doing! Then, I went and stayed at my friends, just down the road from where the conference was being held, and I told her about the hard time I had in getting there and she goes, “It’s amazing what the enemy does to try and prevent us from going places.”

I hadn’t thought of that. I don’t know if me getting off at the wrong stop was the enemy, but I know that I shouldn’t have yelled at God and gotten momentarily bitter about the whole situation. Another lesson…

My brain was so fried by the end of it (the conference) – I didn’t even stay till the end actually. I was the youngest person there and I met a heap of older ladies with some incredible stories and what the conference was doing in their lives. I took 8 pages of notes. My brain exploded and my heart was overwhelmed with all that I was hearing about the Trinity and how he loves and works and invites us in and what the 3 parts (Father, Son and Spirit) do, but how they can’t do any of it without the other two. It’s just so incredible. It changes the way you look at everything. Well, at least, it should! I just had so many revelations and God-things just … boom! straight into my heart.

On the Saturday in the early afternoon, I went to a workshop about the Parables and the Trinity; what they are really saying: about us and about God, our response, and the times… That was possibly the most incredible time in the whole conference. I just learned sooooooo much, and hopefully, I’ll have the opportunity to share some in the future.

I came home at about 5pm, absolutely wasted. Jon called and he was wasted too. And you know how when you are tired and you hang with tired people you just go crazy. Well, we didn’t go really crazy, but we had some fun, but not too much (we don’t want to overdose, right.) I just went to sleep after that!

Sunday - I got up and lazed around for a bit, went over the notes I took and painted my nails. Mark came at 11:30 and off we went to the footy. It was okay. The best thing was that I just felt no attraction (romantically) for him at all, so I wasn’t even tempted to go back to what it used to be like or anything. We had a pretty fun time. In the member seats, where we were cos his family are members; they are all like, up themselves or something. I didn’t feel comfortable with cheering and screaming and jumping out my seat. It reminded me of what I thought watching polo might be like… you just sit back with your legs crossed and tap your hands together quietly when they play a good shot. It was a pretty exciting game, and Crows (one of the teams from my state) won by 4 points against some pretty crappy umpiring, so that was lucky! And I didn't bite any nails in all my excitement.

I think I would still much rather just be a regular fan and sit closer to the oval, instead of miles away, even if you can see a lot from up there. One thing I hated about the members seats, and this would be enough for me to never become a member, is that the seats folded up when you stood up! And you had to stand up and let people through all the time! This also made me not what to jump up and cheer, because you always have to put your seat back down! If you are just a normal (not elite) fan, you’re out in the open, close to the oval and with a heap of other psycho fans who are drinking and cheering like their life depends on it and it is sooooooo much fun! Not that I drink…

Sunday night my church and all it’s related churches joined and had one massive service in the Adelaide Town Hall and it was awesome. Good music and rad preaching… it was about … living, I think. (hoho… I didn’t take notes, so I’ve forgotten!) Afterwards, I went out with half of the Kowald family and the half that was not there was made up of hangers-on, like myself! We went to dairy Bell for ice-cream and then to the Australian Pizza place for cheep pizza (regressive dinner!) It was so much fun and I just felt like such a part of the family … such a blessing.

This morning, after a whole lot more bus confusion, I eventually got to Tabor just in time for the start of my Doctrine lecture. I didn’t really pay much attention cos of… well, stuff. I don’t really know what, but that guy just talks so fast and you can’t write much and if you don’t listen for a second then by the time you do, you have no idea about the point he is trying to make. Kez was funny today. We sat together at the back, next to no one, cos we have no other friends, and the lecturer (the American one) was going on and on and on. Kez made this big sign on her page that said “SLOW DOWN PLEASE ”. Then he read it out from the front and everyone laughed, but he didn’t slow down. Kez and I had some chocolate, so that was awesome.

I spent an hour with Phil in his office after the lecture and it was just good to catch up and touch base about what’s going on in the course and also in various peoples lives. I learn a lot from Phil and love hanging out and just talking with him. We don’t do it much cos he’s like the co-ordinator of the course and has 50 people to look after and other being-a-lecturer-busyness, but it’s rad when we do. We prayed at the end as well and it was just good.

Now I’m home. I just had a bit of pizza that was left in the fridge. It was thin crust and I rolled it up like a burrito. Yum. I like pizza. And I’ve been writing this up. I hope you’ve liked my “little” update.

If you remember crazy people on the internet that you just run across sometimes, like myself, in prayer, I’d love you to just pray with me. I really really need a job. Money is tight. Last semester, I didn’t really really need one, but stuff has happened in my life (possibly bad choices, but God lets stuff happen so we can learn) and also stuff with my parents back home… So, just keep us in prayer with that.

Money “stuff” isn’t a new thing for us. Mum has told me countless stories of scenarios they’ve been in (with the farm etc) and what God does in such situations. Even though I do get a little income from the government, I still have to manage it well with all my expenses and make some tough choices. I was careless with what money I did have last semester and I guess you could say that I’m learning the hard way. At the same time, I’m not worried at all. Yes, I have to take a bit more time to make calculations, but I’m not worried. I know that my God will provide. Just cos I suddenly don’t have the money I used to have, doesn’t mean that He has changed – He does. He’s ever faithful, ever constant, ever Jehovah. I’m not saying that I’ll win the lottery next week and money will just rain down from heaven (even though that would be kinda cool), but I know He’ll supply my every need.

In conclusion, never pass up an opportunity to go potty.

Peas, Bon

[beanie]

So, anyways, the doorbell rang as I was writing in Josh Barton's blog and I just thought "What kinda goose is going around selling stuff at this time of night?"

Then, I hear voices and I think every kid, no matter their age, can tell their parents voices!

MY DAD JUST CAME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, he just dropped in to say hi and he's on his way to a meeting. It was so cool. The first thing he said, naturally, was: I think, my dear, that you've lost weight. He just hugged me a lot and couldn't stop going on about how beautiful I was looking. Then he had to go to the conference thing he's over for.

I love my dad.

[living for God]

that's so sweet

[beanie]

Mum wrote me a letter. We write to each other every week (which reminds me, I should write to her). She just catered for this camp over the weekend (cos she’s like, the greatest cook in the world) and shared some of what the guest speaker spoke about.

In Leviticus 23 it talks about all the Feasts that the people of Israel were to do in the new land. Some of them are yet to be fulfilled.

A brief explanation of the Feasts:

Feast of Passover – Held on the 14th day of the 1st month. A family chose a lamb, made sure it wasn’t blemished and killed it, signifying Jesus, the spotless lamb, acceptable for sacrifice.

Feast of Unleavened Bread – This was celebrated 24 hours later and signifies the going down to the grave, when Jesus was presented before God and was accepted as the sacrifice.

Feast of the First Fruits – could occur between 2-6 days after the Bread Feast. If God accepted the first fruits then the rest of the harvest was accepted. This is the picture of Jesus being the first fruits of the rest of us that are following on now. Because he was accepted, we are accepted.

Feast of Pentecost – occurring 50 days after the First Fruits. In the OT, it happened when the children went through the Red Sea and the 10 Commandments were given. It signified Jesus going up to heaven and then 50 days later the Holy Spirit was given.

After this there was a long time called the No Fast Period. This was to show that there will be a long time before Jesus comes back to fulfil the last 3 feasts. We are now in the time of the Gentiles and at the transitional times, what God calls “in those days” or “at that time”. This is the time we’re in now.

The Feast of Trumpets – Jesus will initiate this feast, when the trumpet sounds and He returns to take us home. This leads onto…

The Day of Atonement – occurring 10 days after the Trumpet Feast. It speaks of judgements and then…

The Feast of Tabernacles – occurring 5 days after the Atonement Day.




She then went on to explain quite a wonderful phenomenal. (God is such an ideas man!) There was a rabbit who was attending his wife at a birth and while they were waiting for things to happen, he questioned her about the whole process. Now, listen to this, it’ll blow your mind. God is just so cool.

:O On the 14th day of a woman’s cycle, an egg appears – Feast of Passover.
:O 24 hours later, fertilization occurs – Feast of Unleavened Bread.
:O It takes 2-6 days for the egg to travel down the fallopian tube to implantation – the First Fruits Feast.
:O 50 days later, the embryo is a human foetus – Pentecost.
:O The baby grows and develops – No Fast Period.
:O First day of the 7th months, the hearing is fully developed – Feast of Trumpets.
:O 10 days into the 7th month, foetal blood is changed to be able to carry oxygen – the Day of Atonement.
:O 15 days into the 7th month, the lungs have developed – Feast of Tabernacles.

At the total of 280 days, COMPLETION – the Festival of Light.



If that doesn’t knock yer socks off, I don’t know what will.

In closing, be nice to your family and friends. You never know when you’re going to need them to empty your bedpan!

Bon.


2 thirds of God is 'go'....

[beanie]

Well it's awesome to see people still reading my blog.

Last night I went with Squiddy, Jordy and Moondog to Kulparra (which is your regular "in the middle of nowhere" kinda town) for a youth service and a bush dance and had quite a bit of fun.

Encounter Schoolies Leadership Training was also a stack of fun. I met some more people and amalgamated with Steve to co-lead a full YITS team this year.

Today, I'm going to a SWOT camp leadership meeting, but I'm not entirely sure if I want to be a leader. I have this feeling that I shouldn't, but I'm gonna spend some more time praying and thinking about it.

My dad and I are gonna catch up this afternoon and go to church tonight which'll be fun-bun-lun.

The tempreture is freezing and my brain is fried.

I'm going away on Tuesday. I might post before then, if I'm feeling nice. If not, I'll be home on Friday or Saturday and I'll tell all my tales then.

Fare thee well.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols onyour hands and bind them to your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

[snowboarderTim]

Originally Posted by beanie

In conclusion, never pass up an opportunity to go potty.

Originally Posted by beanie

In closing, be nice to your family and friends. You never know when you’re going to need them to empty your bedpan!

Uhh.... did I.... miss.... something? That's pretty crazy about the whole pregnancy/feasts thing pretty cool stuff You come up with some really cool stuff here in your blog, if you ever pastor a church, I'll have to be sure and visit I think that would be great

Tim

[beanie]

Originally Posted by snowboarderTim

Uhh.... did I.... miss.... something?

You come up with some really cool stuff here in your blog, if you ever pastor a church, I'll have to be sure and visit I think that would be great

Tim

Nah, you didn't miss something... or anything. I just like to add a little something random into everyday life to keep it fun.

My funnest new thing is never wearing matching socks. Stick all your socks, un'folded' (or whatever it is when they are rolled up), in yer drawer or box and take a lucky dip every morning! Try it. It's awesome.

As for the church thing... I do hope to be a kinda pastor/preacher one day. Maybe I'll marry one and be known as "the pastors wife"... Hopefully he'll be a nice one who'll let me do some preaching sometimes.

Today, I only got to half of my doctrine lecture cos the bus was late from work to town and then I needed to go to the dunny, but I ran into this guy (eep. I've forgotten his name!) and he had a cool hoody that I'd been seeing alot when I was walking down the mall. I found out it's the Adelaide Uni's Evangelism Union's (or something like that) mission week and they all wear these jumpers to promote it. It's cool. So I got a jumper too, even though I don't go to the uni.

On the front they say "5 reasons to consider Christ"
and on the back it says
1. Religion sucks
2. No fees or charges apply
3. Bad people go to heaven
4. He's not dead
5. He knows where you live...

Then I ran into Pete from Easter Camp and mate, he is so good looking. I wanted him to ask me to lunch, but he didn't. Ah well.

I did eventually go to the dunny... they are quite a ways to walk cos I only like going to these special pretty ones, the best ones I've ever found in the mall. Then I walked back through a sub-mall type thing and dropped off an application letter to a lolly shop, telling them how good I was and that they should hire me. I hope they do.

So, the second half of my lecture was pretty good. He was talking about God and what people believe and stuff. I don't know how it tied in with stuff, but it was still good. I think we have something due next week for that... Kez? Help!

Tomorrow I'll have a lovely 9 hour drive to Ceduna with fries thanks. Pray for us as we go into schools and do ministry for a couple of days. We play music and then talk about identity and how God's all involved with that. Pray for Kez too... she was pretty mad to hear that I wasn't gonna be at here for the rest of the week. I guess some people have trouble living without me.

It's still cold. I have to pack my bags. I could do with a call from someone right about now... even though I would probably cry... not for any reason in particular... it's just that emotional time of the month (which sometimes means it's best to keep away ). It would be good if we had cordless phones in this house. I might suggest it. Centrelink reckons that they've overpaid me and so now I owe them 500 something buckaroonies. I reckon they are wrong, but I still shed a tear of "heck- where-does-one-find-such-amounts-of-wealth" anguish. I'm okay. God is faithful. It seems for a moment, the finance side of things gets better and then... BAM. It just gets (what a human would term) worse. However, I've known God long enough to know that sometimes He allows stuff to get worse before they get better. He brings us to complete dependancy on Him.

Pray that I get the job
at the lolly shop
Mix up all your socks
and wear clean jocks
Kiss your mum's cheek
Have a fab week
Love the Lord
You shouldn't get bored

See you sometime on the weekend. Have fantastic weeks. I love you all much! It's incredible how people I've never met become such a support and friend in one's life. God is pretty imaginitive.



The other night at the youth service, I saw my second cousin praying with some gals. There's just an amazing sense of humbling and praise to God when you see members of your family in the ministry or just passionate in still worship to the Lord. Ewan, my youngest brother, walks/runs/rides around the farm and house singing Christian songs that's he's picked up. Edwin, an older brother, sits in the lounge room by himself and plays his guitar, singing worship to our Father. I just feel so honoured to be a part of such a family.

[beanie]

I have this weird feeling that cos I was home all last week I didn't get any (snail) mail, but cos this week I'll be gone, I'll come home to stacks of mail. I'm not sure whether I like this idea... get a stack at one time, but having to wait 4 days for it. I guess God teaches us patience in things we least expect.

I need to buy text books. Eep.

[LoOpY_cHoOk]

Oh my, Bon... Ummmm... do we have something due for anything? Oh my. That's a little disturbing... I don't really have any inclination to do anything at the moment, least of all school work. I don't want to even get up. I just want to hide from everything and everyone for a couple of months. Sorry if I seemed mad yesterday. I didn't mean to. Just that I thought you were leaving on Wednesday or Thursday, not Tuesday, so it was a little 'caught off guard'.
Don't worry about the Centrelink thing. A friend of mine was told that he lied to them, and that he had to pay them like, 4 grand, but he went in there and told them that he didn't lie to them, and then he didn't have to pay them lots of money. God's got it all worked out.
I got a message from a friend of mine on Friday, just before I got some really crap news (it was kinda prophetic), that said: "Hey beautiful. How hat [typo] your week been? i hope you have been able to find refuge & strength in God.... love you..." Just take this time to find refuge and strength in God, take a chill pill, and just rest in the arms of your loving and wonderfully powerful God. It's a lesson we all need to learn sometimes.

Hope you're all doing well.
KEz :0)

[Christop]

Make sure you get Centrelink to check they haven't stuffed up. They're always cutting or reducing my payment by accident, and it [i]usually[/li] doesn't take them to long to fix.

BTW, I've been reading your blog still, just haven't had much to say. Hope schools ministry goes well.

[beanie]

Kez - it was funny what you said about your friend and CentreLink... it was kinda like you were saying it's okay to lie and God'll give you money if you lie.

Chris - I was actually wondering the other day if you still read this. (Not that it would kill you if you didn't...) I was praying for you also. How's things?

Matt - No lolly sniggling.

I'll post tomorrow (hopefully) and tell you all about my week. The ministry was awesome. It'll be a major long post, but I have an idea that might make reading it a whole lot more... exciting maybe.

The CentreLink thing is still getting figured out but I talked to Mumzy Darling this morning and she was really mad at them cos they seem to be penalizing me for their mistakes and she's gonna go in there and yell at them. good ol' mum.

Ahh... 10:41pm... Saturday 16th August 2003...

Sweet well. Sleep dreams.

[beanie]

Oh yeah.

I got bucket loads of snail mail!


Praish da Lord.

[snowboarderTim]

Hey Bon!
I still read too, I've just been pretty busy this week :P So let's see this major post now...

Tim

[beanie]

1. I was driving with the band guys in Vernon the van on Tuesday morning, having a little snooze on the back seat. Then, my mobile rings and it’s Ed, my brother, informing me that he’d just picked up “2 very special people from the airport”. REUBEN AND RENEE!!!!!!!! They came home like… a month early and totally surprised everyone! (They ran out of money after leaving Ireland that they didn’t stop for more than 3-4 hours at the airports on the way home!) All of a sudden I really didn’t want to road trip to Ceduna, but turn around and go to Adelaide to catch up with them.

2. Just out of Kimba (a small farming town whose claim to fame is “half way across Australia”), our truck with all the PA gear and instruments in it broke down. We had to go back to Kimba, wait for a mechanic and wait for the verdict. That was from about 6-9pm.

3. Bored out of my brains and stuck “half way across Australia”, I decide to call my family using the trusty homelink number, which means that they pay. I talk to mum and she doesn’t give much encouragement on the situation. I talk to Jimmy and he’s got some kind of exciting news to tell me. He goes, “I asked mum how to get Jesus into my heart.” (I had to ask him to repeat it cos I thought he said “I asked mum how to get gooses into the house”.) And so, my youngest brother, has made his own commitment to JC. I did a little jig in the servo and I was so so excited. Pray for him.

4. The truck is stuffed. It’s engine needs to be rebuilt. We drive extra slowly to Ceduna and get there at about 12am. I stay with Jeremy, the Anglican parish priest/school chaplain and his wife and their 18 month old daughter. Jeremy shows me my room, complete with a double bed, and it was wonderful.

5. Wednesday AM – 2 seminars (music and talk about identity with testimonies about God in all of that) at the Area School. In the arvo, we did 2 seminars at the Lutheran School. They fully had to improvise at the Lutheran School. The seminars are aimed at high schoolers and then they tell us that grades 1-4 are coming in. They sang songs, and told some bible stories. Then at the end they all joined in singing “Jesus Loves Me, This I know”, and it was on of the most touching momentous moments I’ve ever had. These little kids, most of them Aboriginal (native Australians), were all dark skinned and cute!

6. Thursday AM, we drove out to Koonibba, which is a small Aboriginal community 40 minutes north of Ceduna. They were mainly younger kids as well, so we did the off the cuff seminar from the day before. Afterwards, it was lunchtime. The boys played footy and basketball, and I had a fan club of about 15 kids and we spent the whole time doing cartwheels and headstands on the oval! It was so fun! They loved it for several reasons. One, not many white people go out there, or care. Two, they played live music, which is most probably a once in a life time chance for them. Three, we stayed and played.

7. Friday AM, we drove back towards home. We stopped at Wudinna to do a seminar at the school there. They were the best crew and asked really deep, God-stuff questions. It’s kids like that that just make the whole trip worthwhile. Got home at 9pm.

8. Reuben and Renee picked me up and then we went back to my place. We exchanged stories (cos we hadn’t seen each other in 5 months and the communication was infrequent) and photos and had huge laughs. It was so so funny! I just love those guys!

9. Yesterday, I went to a missions thing with some old friends of the family (my mum boarded with them when she was at university!) I heard talks from couples who are serving the Lord in Kazakstan and the Gambia (west Africa). All the time, I was going, “God, send me. Here I am. I’ll go!” Still, I just wait and pray.

10. Last night, Belle came over for a couple of hours just cos she was missing me and we didn’t get our regular weekly catch up this week. We got to talk and eat and pray and just hang in the comfyness of my house, which was different cos we always meet in the mall and it’s noisy and busy. We lit candles and ate chocolate and prayed some more and talked some more about stuff that’s going on in our lives.

11. This morning, I got up extra early to leave the house by 8:15. I walked to church! Which is a couple of kms at least. (This is my “Bon-get-fit” programme, which I’ve been thinking about the last day or so… ) I got there at 9:05 cos I was helping to set up. Church was awesome today, both morning and night services, both worship and teaching. I love my church. I wanna take all of yous to it!

12. In the afternoon, I came home and baked a yummo chocolate cake for supper and wrote a letter to my mum. Then I went to church again, but I didn’t walk cos it was raining. And I took a blankie cos it’s flippin’ cold in there!

13. And here I am. Ready to go to sleep and wake up tomorrow to go and have a pancake brunch at Keren’s house, cos she’s really nice and I invited myself over! Love you Kez!

14. My goodness. It’s a special day today.

15. Blessings to you, my friends. I love you.

16. I'll post some pictures of the kids and some other stuff when I get them developed...