In a recent conversation with God He reminded me of a verse that Lisa shared with me during an impromptu prophetic session at ALC.

Ps 119:9

⁹ How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.

I struggle with God at times because I don’t always get that same feeling of instant satisfaction/gratification/pleasure/excitement/stimulation/relaxation, whatever you want to call it, that I can get from something like large amounts of junk food or watching TV for 4 hours or just lying in my bed day dreaming about procrastinating or do I dare say it… pornography.

I got thinking about how do I fill that bottomless pit that I have in my life?  Why do I fill an infinite void in my life with finite things?

Well to fill and infinite void you need to fill it with an infinite thing… and the only that that has and will be here for eternity is God Himself.

I have seen a major change in my life since camp.  I have made an effort to run to God first through prayer, reading the Bible, listening to praise or singing a Worship song.  Other practical things have been turning off the radio, walking away from the internet, watching a documentary instead of a movie or going for a walk.

Just as Ps 119:9 says…The Word of God has lots of tips for beating sin.  Gouging out your eye or cutting off your hand.  Fleeing rather than fighting temptation.  Renewing your mind… pray, pray, pray, pray and pray.  Having friends who you can share your sins with.  Having friends who will pray for you.

While I don’t always get instant release from how I’m feeling straight away…  I know that God is building a resilience in me… His thickening my skin and equipping me with stronger armour.  I always remember year 9 and 10 business where we learnt about delayed gratification.  The idea of Pay Now Play Later… I believe that is how God works.  His an oven not a microwave.

I used to blog so I could get attention from others, then I would blog because I had and assignment due over the next couple of days and for some reason I am more aware on life…

on that note… I procrastinating right now so… new updates coming soon…

That’s right… i have neither an exam or assignment due tomorrow or on monday … why.. coz i decided to finally put up a point against procrasination

so right now the standings are!

1729182 to procrastination : 1 to justin doing his assignment before the night before

Quite a good feeling… actually more like GREAT feeling!

and with that i am one assignment away from completing ALL my assessment and then its time to put on a dress, a funny hat and GRADUATE!

But I really wanted to blog about my time reading through the book of Matthew.  As a life group we agreed to read one chapter of Matthew a day and then write a little note about that chapter.  It could of been a verse that stuck out, something we didn’t know but do now or even if we didn’t find the chapter very interesting… why…

I recently read through Matthew 25 which has:

• The Parable of the 10 Virgins
• The Parable of the Talents
• The Sheep and the Goats

I definitely knew the first 2, and the 3rd parable has the famous “whatever you did for the least of these you did for me.”

At the core of these parables are the principles of being prepared and ready, using the things God has given us to get more and to serve others.  But what I never realised was the full context of these parables.  In Matthew 24 Jesus talks about the Day and the Hour Unknown and chapter 25 follows on directly from this chapter and all the parables actually refer to Jesus telling his disciples that no one, not even the himself know when He will return.

I started to think that these parables are guidelines for the kind of questions God will ask us when we meet him.  He will ask us how ready we were for him.  The recent death of surfing world champion Andy Irons reminded me that no one, not even the most elite sportsmen with celebrity status is in control of their life.  It’s not about knowing when you’ll die or when Jesus will come back and then running out and figuring out your salvation… its about being ready now!

He will come back expecting us to have done something with ourselves.  Isaiah says that God knitted us in the womb, that he formed us and Jeremiah tells us that God has a plan and purpose for our life!  God is the ultimate programmer, he knows exactly what we’re good at, what we’re not good at.  He chose the country, parents, socio-economic status, school, circle of friends, accidents, trips everything he did for a purpose!  This parable reminds me that God’s isn’t looking for a 100% return on his investment in us… he is looking for us to do something with our lives and bring a profit to our lives so that he can celebrate with us.

Lastly the sheep and the goats is all about people.  It’s about God’s heart for those in need and serving others.  I’m thinking… we feel good when we selflessly help others because Jesus can feel it and he probably shoots us some love our way… When we meet God his gonna ask us when we served others in need.

I think these three parables sum up the greatest commandments

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul

Love your neighbour as yourself

The first parable is about our Spiritual lives, loving God always and anticipating his return

The second parable is about Stewardship and using what we have to bring a profit to God because we love him

The third parable is about our neighbours and serving them as much as we would serve ourselves.

The Bible is so practical at the end of the day Jesus wanted our lives to move on from the practices and live out the principles.

While her beats are catchy and easy to dance to… her lyrics in her new song are

Got a water bottle full of whiskey
In my handbag.
Got my drunk text on
I’ll regret it in the mornin’
But tonight
I don’t give a
I don’t give a
I don’t give a

N-now we’re getting so smashed.
Knocking over trash cans.
Eurbody breakin’ bottles
It’s a filthy hot mess.
Gonna get faded
I’m not the designated
Driver so
I don’t give a
I don’t give a
I don’t give a

I find it interesting how drunkedness can go 2 ways… it is portrayed in the news as something harmful not just to yourself, but to others around you.  Laws are being introduced to close clubs and pubs down earlier and to increase the cost of alcohol…

then the other side is that drunkenness is glamourised in music… that it is something that is needed to have a good time out…

While I am not against alcohol, I live knowing that God instructs us to not be given into drunkenness (1 Tim 3:3), it makes us loose 100% control over our actions and words… which is exactly the same as “doing something you wouldn’t do sober”… obviously if you wouldn’t do it sober… something wrong has happened to our minds capacity to reason.

Anyway the point is that I am concerned that this generation is seeing glamourised versions of what used to be unglamourous.

Just doesn't appeal to me...

I am desperately wanting to win the Ted’s Camera photography competition with the first prize being 5k worth of camera stuff (i think) if not it is still a prize worthy enough of winning!

VOTING CLOSES 8th OCTOBER (this Friday!!!)

i have 3 entries linked below

http://www.photoartgallery.com/competitions/competitionholder/type/entries/compname/teds/sponsorname/teds/#28b66d1b-49c7-465d-85a0-eccf1dba884d

http://www.photoartgallery.com/competitions/competitionholder/type/entries/compname/teds/sponsorname/teds/#a3101a9c-a446-40c8-ac0d-db27a8707223

http://www.photoartgallery.com/competitions/competitionholder/type/entries/compname/teds/sponsorname/teds/#a50734c0-60b7-491f-b337-7f665330bebd

just click on a link and then rate my photo … preferably 5 stars but u can choose the ratings you want to give…

If the links dont work then my photos are

Page 291 – Third Row, 2nd Last picture
*photo of Gold Coast City called Golden Highway

Page 289 – first row, last photo
* photo of shoes with a rainbow over them

page 289 – middle row, 2nd photo from the left
*Girl dancing in the street called my moment

Please feel free to leave comments as well!

Thanks to everyone who has voted so far!  Please share this blog post with all your friends and family all around the world and ask them to vote as well!

Who am I to label you a backslider?

Who am I to think that just because I don’t see you on a weekly basis anymore that your relationship with Christ is worse off than before?

Who am I to think I am better off than you because I’m still here week in, week out?

What kind of friend am I to pray for you more now that your gone?

God forgive me more.

i
<3
cats

But the truth is life is mean to be fun. If I become a pastor I definitely don’t want to be boxed into that kinda pastor…

Here’s one video to break that sterotype

I’ve been teaching at a local state school for the past 7 weeks and have loved it… which I believe has strengthened my pastoral gifting but more on that when I actually know what I’m talking about it.

Back in March we all got involved with an event known as CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA DAY! As a high school ministry we jumped at the opportunity to give back to our community and what better way to pick up the litter that others dropped. It was a surprisingly fun day, especially when we turned it into a competition. And laughing at the awkwardness of being stared at by passer-bys and grocery shoppers and trolley boys.

Anyway beside being there, outings are best experienced on video! Check it out!

and you can find out more at www.servefestbrisbane.blogspot.com

It’s like trying to solve 10 jigsaw puzzles at the same time.

The biggest update would have to be that I have started my pre-service teaching at Sunnybank State High School.  I’ve taught 4 classes so far and they have been awesome.  I definitely enjoy the profession and can see how God’s master plan for my life really surpasses the greatest life plan I could ever concoct in this life time.

More to come on this though!

Also celebrated Mother’s day on Sunday.  All the Mum’s in my family got together and we headed down the highway to the Gold Coast.  We lined up for almost 2 hours to eat at the casino’s buffet but it was actually a pretty good time.  No one complained and we had fun just chatting… after eating we went over to Q1 and 43 seconds later we were 200+ metres in the sky looking over Surfer’s Paradise.  It was pretty awesome and one day I will own an apartment there (fingers crossed xxx)

Mum’s are awesome and no matter how much we complain and think about the horrible things they do to us… compared to the amount of love they have poured into our lives… is like one tiny raindrop in our lives.  Mum deserves a more patient son… God please help me to become that son.

Love ya mum!