RATM + Nas = Good times

Yeah! My favourite rapper AND my favourite band....touring Oz! Never thought I'd see these two acts perform!

And somehow got tickets to both of them - surprised especially at getting tickets to RATM...it sold out incredibly quickly. It was great to see the backlash against the scalpers. It really is unfair that scalpers take tickets from genuine fans.

Nas - Halftime


Rage Against The Machine - People Of The Sun

The way rap should be...

Two songs for y'all...love the vibe in these songs...mad production + good MC'ing, no booty shaking dancers & no excess bling - the way rap should be.

Jurassic 5 - Concrete Schoolyard (pity these guys have broken up)



Wu-Tang Clan - Can it be so simple

RICE Rally

RICE Rally last Saturday night was simply amazing. Amazing because God was truly at work - using the Gospel spoken through Sam Chan to cut through to the hearts of the youth and to touch the hearts of many of them.

Every year we seem to say, 'Wow, this year's Rally was awesome!' but this year, it was even more 'awesome' if there is such a word. It was really a special night and all the hard work was so worth it.

We had 4 non-Christian youth come to REEF on Friday night. The youth were separated so the regulars went to do their 2WTL studies, whilst James and myself went through 'Simply Christianity' with the newcomers. It was so encouraging to see them so genuinely interested and keen to discover more about the person of Jesus Christ.

Some piccies from the night:

RICE BDO

Awesome, awesome day. Praise God for the wonderful weather - it is really something to give thanks for...4 years now in a row (that I've been serving in RICE) and the weather has been fantastic. The talks were great, I especially thought Ian Powell's talk was awesome. The bands were pumping, Revive really got things started and rocking, whilst Playjerise proved they are onto something - their sound is really special. Watch out for these guys on the charts.










The youth? The ones I talked to all liked it alot, 'definitely an upgrade on last year' was the vibe I was getting.

Personally? I guess seeing it happen on the day makes you realise all the meetings, late nights, planning, time and effort and constant mental burden is worth it. It really is. Standing there, watching 1500 young people sitting under the Word of God is an amazing sight.

My mind is totally relaxed now...it's a huge relief. Body is aching, back felt some spasms (probably from the logistics standpoint). Talking about logistics, it was a heaps encouraging time even though it was physically taxing and a little bit stressful at times. Seeing guys who were tired, hungry, thirsty and wanting a shower come out to help even though they didn't need to come out kept us all going. Being able to form friendships and bonds with these guys is something I love about serving in logistics (one of the only things in fact).

But there definitely needs to be a change in the way it is done going forward. It can't be this way in the future! People getting home at ridiculous hours (2am), people waiting at the Overflow until 11:30pm, people waiting to open churches for drop off at 12:30am in the morning. But there's plenty of time to think about that - for now I'm just realizing more and more of how much in control God is and how little control I have (despite endless planning).

Can't wait until next Saturday! RICE RALLY TIME!

Tired...

Absolutely buggered...mentally and physically! I'll be glad when RICE is over in 2 weeks...it's quite a big burden off the shoulders. But don't get me wrong, it's something I am really enjoying and passionate about.

I guess in this time, the one thing I should be doing is always coming back to God, who provides strength, humbles, rebukes and corrects in these times, instead of relying on myself (as ultimately there'll be a point when I begin to crack).

I remember last year after BDO in the logistics and packing up phase when I was getting snappy and was flustered and pretty frustrated. I had lost a few things, inconvenienced quite a few people because I lost those things, was really short on sleep and just physically and mentally exhausted from a long few weeks.

Plonked myself on the couch at home whilst waiting for a truckload of stuff to arrive. I remember feeling sorry for myself and pretty frustrated at things, which is something that rarely happens to me and I guess that could've made it even worse! But the 15-20 minutes I spent there taught me so much and was just a time when God was giving me a little nudge and saying "C'mon mate, this is where you grow! It's a good thing to be getting tired when you are doing My work. Put things in perspective! Stop feeling sorry for yourself!". It was an extremely humbling time and basically I got up off that couch and my mindset had taken a 180 degree turn and I was completely enthused about getting out there and doing the rest of the hard yards for that night. In hindsight, I was really glad that I went through those different emotions at that time and I think God gave me a pretty sharp rebuke and it had a real impact at that time and taught me how to handle situations better in the future. I remember reading the verse below and it had alot of relevance at that time and still does to this day.

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."

Isaiah 40:28-31

I hope this encourages any of you guys who are feeling tired doing RICE, leading youth groups, preaching or just any type of ministry. Wait on the Lord!

I think tonight I'm just going to have a relaxing one...play a bit of Wii, read a bit of Harry Potter, watch some of the footy - it's good for the mind to take a break once in a while!

This guy rocks...

Yeh...big time, made for combat...

What a bad ass...doesn't matter that he's a coward, overly ambitious and usually fails in his plan. He still kicks some serious ass. And...who survives after Megatron dies in both the animated movie and the just released blockbuster movie?

This bloke ain't too bad either...









Oh yeh...really feeling the new album by 'Musiq'. His album is just another reminder that R&B doesn't have to be raunchy to be popular. It's just good old school R&B. Absolutely lovin' the single 'B-U-D-D-Y'. Listen to it here.

Only 5 weeks until RICE! Leaders Day Out this Saturday! Exciting times...for all of y'all who haven't seen the launch video - check it out here on YouTube. I reckon it's awesome stuff - loving the aerial map effects.

Nevis

One word to sum up the New Zealand trip - aweeeeeesome!

I'll keep this entry short though - a more thorough post will come later on the trip.

In the previous blog entry I mentioned that I would do the Kawarau Bridge Bungy jump (43m). Well, I didn't end up doing it.....yep we bailed out.

Instead, we took on the Nevis Highwire Bungy jump, which was a mere 134 metre dropfall (over triple the freefall of the Kawarau Bridge Bungy). We actually booked for the Kawarau jump but because of a booking error, we were 'upgraded' to the Nevis Highwire Bungy jump free of charge. After a bit of reluctance from a few of the lads, we decided to face our fears. I think it was destiny that we were going to do this Nevis Highwire Bungy jump.

Most of us were pretty pumped up as we rode in the bus up to the site and whilst we waited in the suspended jumping platform (suspended between two valleys). But once I stepped out onto that ledge and looked down the adrenaline/hype turned into pure fear. It was one of the scariest moments in my life...knowing that I would be flinging myself off into this freefall (of course with the strapping, but the thought of it just freaked me out).

After all of that, I can say that the bungy felt something like the 'Vomitron' or the 'Giant Drop' in Dreamworld. Don't get me wrong but, it was bloody awesome and the highlight of the trip. I recommend everyone to give it a go (even if they have fear of heights).

Here are some pics of others - we didn't get many good pics - the fog was heavy so photos didn't turn out well. Wanted to buy the DVD recordings of our jumps but the fog just prevented that even being an option.














Here's an awesome video of someone else doing it on YouTube. Please excuse any expletives that the person scream/shouts out in the video. It happens when you are falling that distance!

More to come on the trip!

PS - Fergburgers are the ultimate burger.