[created] for something greater

LOL@me

i was coming out of mums room and their door has this habit of not closing properly so when you close the door you gotta give the handle a bit of a tug to make the door stay closed.

Well tonight when i closed the door i went to give the door a tug and fully RIPPED OUT the door handle! hahaha

now i gotta try fix it because you can’t open the door from the inside anymore haha LOL

….. several minutes later….

i have just returned from fixing the door handle.  Pretty easy job.  No need to pay 50 bucks for some door repairman to come and overcharge us.

Because the handle was literally ripped out of the door the original screws couldn’t go back in since the wood is all shredded in the holes, but luckily we have a box of screws and so i put some bigger screws in and now the doors all good!

I feel like im becoming more like Christ! not only do we share the same initials but Jesus was a carpenter before he started His minitries!

haha LOL@me

LIKE SUBWAY GROSS

im gonna have a nap. this is such a lazy day - then its time to st…. ahh… st… st-st-st-stutter? HAHA jokes

study ToT

Ok so i got one of those weird feelings in me saying “Read Shirls blog now” so I listened and took a read and low and behold there is my name.  Why…well read along to discover the fun new game which is opening the world to the weirder side of life.

each player starts off by writing six weird things about themselves before choosing six friends.
people who get tagged need to write in their own blog six weird things about themselves.

so here we go:

1. I am by nature quite a perfectionist - Yes some people may be thinking “eh no way i think Justin’s lying”  But over the years i have come to realise that I can be EXTREMELY picky when organising things.  but now some of you guys might be saying “But look at ya room, ya closet, ya bathroom … doesnt look like a perfectionist to me”  Well the reality is that something has to be either REALLY MESSY or REALLY NEAT!!!! In other words if something is only slighty out of order like one shirt on the floor i either result to the perfectionist mode of pick it up and put it away for a neat perfection or i pretty much go the opposite and add to one shirt on the floor for a messy perfection.  If you’ve seen me fiddle with the spotlights at service or the decoration on a wall… i will go and go and go at it until it is just right.  Yeap i am accepting more and more that i am a melancholy
2.  When i was born i was born cross-eyed and the doctors also had to use those metal thong things to pull me out of… well .. watch a birthing video if you dont know where babies come from.  Because i was so big and the ahh the exit was so small mum says my head was like coned shaped, i was cross eyed, had bruises from the tongs and looked like i was in a daze.  Oh the joys of the days from the womb
3. I was offered to try-out for the AIS vollyball team when i was in grade 8 along side my best buddy Conrad.  Conrad went but I bailed because that was a strange year for me.  I also made it into the schools swimming team being the 3rd fastest freestyle swimmer in my age group.  I guess i was in shock because i had never gotten anywhere in primary competitive sport and to come into grade 8 and win my 50m freestyle time trial race, swim in the final’s for my age group and come 3rd, my teams relay team (both boys and girls) absolutely smashed the 3 other teams by about 3/4 of a lap in the 50m x 4 freestyle relay and then to come 3rd in the CSAQ swim carn.  I was like what the.  And i was still very shy natured back then so the spotlight was something i avoided.  I missed a swimming training sports camp that year as well because i was to embarrassed.  Since then I’ve won… NOTHING haha
4. My best friend back in Lae, Papua New Guinea was also named Justin and he was a local.  But to stop getting our names confused we used to call him Big Justin and me just regular Justin.  But when i went back to visit with my family i of course ended up bigger than him haha
5. I got in trouble in primary school quite a lot.  Once i got a half day suspension with about 7 of my buddies because we were on the balcony spitting at the high schoolers.  We picked up trash in pairs on the school grounds during wednesday sport, but once we did that he let us just chill out together and run errands every now and then haha it was an awesome punishment.  I also go in trouble for playing spin the bottle with some mates.  I got busted for forging my mums signature in grade 6 and also got in trouble for asking a girl what sexual intercourse meant (i didnt know what it meant so i asked i didnt think my friend who was a girl who overheard would be so sensitive about it).  Something i did but never got in trouble for was buying a bottle of drink i drank as much as i could, swished it around spat back in the bottle and gave it to my friend to drink - He drank the WHOLE bottle - i never told him haha.  Got slapped by a couple of chicks.  Oh in grade 2 i stole a marker pen from this dudes desk because he was annoying the whole class by boasting about how good his marker pens were so to teach him a lesson i stole one.  He told the teacher and so the teacher did a desk search i got in trouble and as punishment she built this massive cardboard box she’d put around you so you cant see any of your class mates and only the blackboard.  I was in there for 3 days.
6. In year 3 i wrote a note to the guy who sat next to me b4 lunch saying that we couldn’t be friends because he would always ditch me at lunch time, but when we got back from class and he found the note i freaked out and grabbed the note from his hand before he read it and he kept asking what it was and i just said nothing and pretty much ate the note haha.   He never found out but then i changed schools so its ok haha.  YES I HAVE INSECURITIES =P

Ok so now that i’ve told you 6 weird facts about me time to tag the next 6 victims.  First names that come to head are

Mei Goh…Li Tan…Rosie…Mae Tan…Chris Bee…Mark Westall…

Ok bloggers i expect to see your 6 answers VERY SOON haha

btw GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE UNI STUDENTS FOR SWOTVAC and EXAMS AFTER THAT!!! LETS PARTY IT UP ON THE HOLS OK!

This is for all us computer game nerds out there!  A guy named Marty Oum or something made this animation of Final Fantasy vs DOA (Dead or Alive).  It is one of the most AWESOME videos i have watched in a LONG TIME!

Nice ABS.  Is that what people are saying when they come and visit Ablaze Service for the first time? 

In life people often aim for that perfect 6-pack of abs (8 if you’re blessed with the muscle gene) but the abdominal region has actually more importance than just physical appeal.  The abdominals are an important part of your core strength.  Here this cut and paste from an article I just read should explain it in a much more professional way.

Your abs attach to your spine and pelvis, helping balance your back in good posture.   Often times, when your back is not supported in the correct posture by your abdominals and back muscles, back pain occurs.  Without abdominal strength, you will have difficulty sitting, standing and walking.  Your center of gravity is located at your sacrum or roughly just below your belly button.   Therefore, your abs play an important part in keeping you balanced at your center of gravity. 

So your abs are important for pretty much bringing balance and stability to the rest of our bodies.  So you’re probably thinking, cool Justin thanks for that whole heap of information but what is the point?

Well I was thinking to myself if we are to imagine the body of Christ, and we know that we ourselves make up the body as well, (Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12) and if the body of Christ is the Church.  I’d like to think of our ablaze service as the core strength of everything else that we do (camps, LG’s, fellowship etc) because if our Friday night service isn’t stable and strong then that will reflect and effect the rest of the body because these things are directly attached to our Friday night service as well (much like the abdominals and the spine).  So is our ABS (get it haha) flabby or is it ripped and defined?  Are we working hard has the other parts of the body to build strength, not just in our evangelism (legs) or the things we do practically (arms), but are we working hard to build the core strength of who we are as ablaze, our service?   

I wanna challenge everyone reading to remember that we are all working together to build up our service, the core strength of our LG’s and events and if our core strength isn’t as strong as our arm or leg strength then we will lack that balance and stability to support them.  So let’s continue to build up our service.  How?  If your serving, by keeping the vision and purpose of God for Ablaze in your heart at all times and allowing that to outflow into everyone  around you.  If your just attending, by bringing that excited, joyful, God -honouring spirit and allowing that to outflow into everyone.  By encouraging and spurring on each other to look to God in every situation.  To respond to God not just at alter-call but everytime we hear a convicting word preached, shared or testified shout out AMEN and claim that word for yourself!

This optical illusion is AMAZING! SERIOUSLY!

I am still tripping out after seeing both sides of the optical illusion.

Basically this is a simple illusion to show whether you are dominantly Right Brained (Creative) or Left Brained (Logical)

So click on the link below and watch the girl spin around.

If you see her spinning in a clockwise direction than you are RIGHT brained (creative)

if you see her spinning in an anti-clockwise direction you are LEFT brained (logical)

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/41127/

What i am baffled by is the fact that i can’t at will change the direction i can see her spinning in, but its really weird, while shes spinning in the background while i chat to people on msn she changes direction based on WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT! When i am talking about things like the ABS roster and how things are run she moves in an ANTI-CLOCKWISE direction, but when i start to just talk about whatever she goes back to a CLOCKWISE direction (which is what i see predominantly). But i know it isnt rigged because she has moved in one direction then halfway through a rotation switched back to the other then swtiched back to what it was originally.

REALLY TRIPPY THIS ONE IS

Leave a comment - WHAT ARE YOUR? LEFT OR RIGHT?  Or both?  Can you switch from clockwise to anti-clockwise at will?

The past couple days my love for acoustic covers and covers of songs you wouldn’t think would be covered let alone sound so good, of songs has been re-ignited. I have been searching the youtube airwaves for popular artists covering other artists songs and adding their own twist, or unplugged versions of their own songs. But the covers that i love the most are the ones done by budding musicians with great guitar skills and awesome voices!

So this post is to reveal to the world the untapped potential of youtube! Enjoy.

Trace Bundy Covers [Backstreet Boys - I Want It That Way] - Just a solo guitar but this guy has some major guitar skills! & the crowd work the song pretty well

Trace Bundy Original [Hot Capo Stew] - Ok this video is for all you GUITAR PROS (sean, chris, john, tim) - Just 4 words you need to know FIVE CAPOS, ONE GUITAR!

Alejandro Manzano [Rihanna - Umbrella] - this is an interesting cover i think coz his voice is slightly off sounding but it makes him so unique and original

Alejandro Manzano [JT - Lovestoned/I think she knows] - Love this cover… and this ones for you MAE AND LI! Love the guitar as well

Passion ft LeeJay Cover [JT - My Love & Musiq SoulChild - Just Friends] - LeeJay is a beatboxer but this is a collaborative effort. Just Friends what an old school sound. i Love it

Passion ft some chick [Usher & Alicia Keys - My Boo]- love his guitar style and so much skill to play like that and sing at the same time

Passion ft some guy [Destiny's Child - Cater 2 U] - love the guitar in this, and to play and sing this is full hardcore!

OrtoPilot [ Muse - Time is Running Out] - One of my all time favourite songs, this ones for you rock people. This guy has awesome guitar skills! And a good singer as well

Kai [John Mayer - Neon] - Not the worlds greatest singer but you gotta respect his guitar skillz and that fact that he can sing and play this song at the same time and keep in time!… plus. ASIAN PRIDE

Zach Pincus & Simon Cole [Britney Spears - Gimme More] - Ok it is a bit weird that two guys are covering a britney song but you gotta respect the effort and their pretty good harmonies. (sorry for the language)

Matt Weddle [Outkast - Hey Ya] - Who woulda thought this song could be turned into a ballade kinda song!

Jay Padua [Fall Out Boy - Thnks fr th mmrs] - this guys got a pretty good voice

Good Charlotte Acoustic - The River - awesome

Mandy Moore [Rihanna - Umbrella] - She makes the song actually listenable and likeable for more than a week!

Travis [Britney Spears - Hit Me Baby One More Time] - another one of those unexpected covers

Switchfoot [Beyonce - Crazy in Love] - Haha fun!

Well that’s all the good ones i’ve found so far. Haha yes my quota like disappears so fast… DAMN YOU YOUTUBE! haha and DAMN YOU MY SHORT ATTENTION SPAN AND INABILITY TO FOCUS!

well if you watch them all then enjoy! Im still looking out for more covers! I wanna see an acoustic cover of FOB - the take over, the breaks over.

till then… LATERZ

A couple of nights ago my mum and told me that today tonight had done a story on Hillsong Church once again.  But this time it was in affiliation with the ever boring show “Australian Idol”.  She told me that they were saying 5 of the contestants are members of the Hillsong Church but she couldn’t remember the rest.

So i did a bit of searching online and read the articles regarding this matter and boy is it a big laugh.  Basically the Australian Idol producers were freaked out by the high number of ‘Christian’ contestants in the top 12 and apparently assumed all were members of Hillsong so he contacted today tonight to dig up dirt on this ’scandal’.  Basically they accused the church for rigging idol and skewing the votes to the ‘Christian’ contestants and telling their congregations to vote for the christian contestants.  the five contestants are

Matt Corby
Tarasi
Mark Da Costa (voted out last week)
Daniel Misfud
Benji Mac

But apparently none of them even attend Hillsong Church but are under the AOG and pentacostal umbrella.   Man the media need to get their facts straight before they air lies.  I really don’t understand how they can be allowed to say things that are untrue or not the full story.

Here is the link for the article

http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/ten-wary-of-false-idols-8212-and-rivals/2007/10/06/1191091426731.html

Man the enemy will use any tactic he can to tarnish the reputation of the Church, but we all know that justice and truth will prevail above lies.   What will the enemy use next to bring down his church?  The Church is full of people that are too happy, that according to medical studies no congregation that large can be that happy? hahaha funny

Reading back on my last post “blank” God has been challenging me and placing this word upon my heart

 ”Isn’t simply living a life with and knowing Me a joy bigger than any negative circumstance or emotion?”

WOW!  I thought to myself how selfish am I to wallow in my self pity.  How selfish am I to keep the joy of the Lord in my life suppressed by the craziness of my own self-inflicted sin.

My joy should be like when you hear on the news that the weekend is going to be sunny and rain-free, so you pack your bags grab a couple of mates and head down to the beach only to find out that massive black cumulo-nimbus clouds are beginning to fill the sky.  But in your heart you continue forward knowing that the sun will shine bright eventually and that the clouds are just temporary.

Much like our lives we see the storms rush over our lives and we retreat.  Our first thoughts are “how bad is this season in my life going to be? how am I am going to prepare myself to get through this mess?  How many ministries should i put on hold until the storm passes over me?  I don’t think this storm will ever go away”

But often we forget that the storms end but by the time we realise that, we’ve either concentrated so much on protecting ourselves or crying because of the stress we forget the lessons God has been teaching us throughout the process.  Don’t look at your storm and say what can i do? but look at the storm and say what can i learn?  and remember that the sun will shine eventually.

Something that Torch shared at ALC was about the end-product we will become at the end of our lives.  Take for example how a tank of gas is made (i watched how it was made on the discovery channel).  If the process of making the gas tank was.

Cut metal into desired shape -> weld together -> fill with gas -> sell to the consumer

What kind of end-product would come out?  Ok slight chance that it is 100% ok but there is probably a 99.9% chance that the end-product comes out shotty, short-lived and ultimate dangerous.  So what went wrong?  The process is to short, to many corners are cut in the process of making a 100% fully functioning a-grade gas tank.  The real process a gas tank goes through is quite thoughrough.

Cut metal into desired shape -> fire it in a massive oven -> test the integrity of the metal -> weld together-> fire it again -> place under water to check for holes -> test the amount of pressure that can be exerted internally and externally -> A thoughrough physical inspection ->filled with gas ->sold to the consumer.

So moral of the story?  If we want the end-product of our lives, if we want ourselves to be a 100% fully functioning, a-grade, integral piece of machinery for God then the important thing isn’t what we become but the process of what we are becoming.  Like the gas-tank if we don’t check, re-check and then re-check again and fix the kinks in our lives the end-product of our lives will be shotty and questionably dodgy.

Ok i will admit that personally i feel it is a mundane task but if we want to become the best for God, to strive for Christ-likeness, especially in this day and age we gotta check, re-check, re-recheck and even re-re-recheck our attitudes, thoughts, desires, relationships, fellowship, stewardship, time-management, integrity, weaknesses, strengths, pride, humility, compassion, complacency, mediocrity, love, laziness, greed, quiet time, ministries, growth… we gotta make sure we check every part of our lives never letting ourselves cut corners.  Yeap that word is back

DISICPLINE

God i need discipline in my life, like seriously need a massive boot up the bum, a massive caining with a stick, a massive punishment for my lack of discipline.  God I pray that you continue you put your joy into my life, i pray that i can find the joy of the Lord in even the most mundane situations and that i will never let my situations cloud the joy of the Lord.  Continue to refine me and give me the conviction to become discipline in all areas of my life.

my blog has been pretty blank the past weeks or month… or /s

Hmm not really sure why, i guess because i am going through a real rollercoaster season trying to battle with my selfish desires while trying to worship God and being confuzzled amidst it, i don’t feel worthy of sharing my joy when i have equal or possibly more frustration, struggles, *disappointments* and whateva negative feelings the enemy throws at us to make us doubt or become ineffective.

Reflecting over the past couple weeks i really see a slackness that has come upon me in all areas of my life, personal and ministry (my study is always slack so no need to mention that).

GAH - i say this semester will be the best, ends up being the worst!

God i am such a bad steward of all you have given me.  I am sorry.  I am even at the point where i don’t feel worthy of asking for your help, its all my fault.