UQ Archi Camp!

Hello all!
As some of you may know, I havn't been here for the last 2 days, and as the title suggests, I was away at Archi camp. It was pretty darn fun I'd have to say, although I did forget to bring plates and cutlery which made eating a little bit problematic. But that aside, I reckon we had fun. We went to Yarramalong, which I can hear alot of you saying "where the heck is that?" and it was indeed in whooooooopppwhooop cos it was like 40 odd minutes past Ipswich I believe. South-west of Ipswich. However I'd have to say it was pretty "back-to-nature" as there was about 3 actual buildings there which were basically tin sheds... a hall, a toilet/shower and some random cabin haha... The water to the toilets were cut after 8pm and weren't turned on until 8am each day... which caused abit of toilet problems haha and apart from hilariously disgusting spraying urinals and random crap like that it was quite enjoyable haha. Now that I've been to two Design Camps since I went to the QUT camp last year, I can say that in terms of natural exposure, the QUT camp was much closer to nature than this trip... This trip... I saw one dragonfly, a few crickets and one mouse. Last time I saw hundreds of insects of every kind, and goannas that invaded tents and all sorts of stuff... And the reason for the insects was that I have a battery powered fluro-tube lamp... and fluro tubes are insect magnets... last time I turned it on at the QUT camp, 2 mins and I could hardly see the lamp with the amount of insect swarming it... This time... 30 minutes... and not a single insect on it.

Kinda funny how all these "tough" guys seem to be afraid of these small little critters though... haha... I woulda just left the mouse in the tent for laughs... but then they'll probably have destroyed the tent :P

I got really bored on the last day and when we were packing up the stuff and destroying the shelters, I was practising my throwing skills with a big sheet of card board and some scissors :P But hey. haha...

When we got back to uni, first thing we did was go back to SLC though :P...

Frustration about Arrogance

I don't really know, but recently I'm getting frustrated so easily by possibly ordinary things... But it's not like I get frustrated at everything... but only things that people say or do that to me feels completely unreasonable or unnecessary... The other person may mean to say things as crude gestures or perhaps humour... But I just feel a wrench in the gut and wanna slap the guy across the head... Or sometimes its just people showing off or being arrogant... and I just wanna knock some sense into them... I mean I don't get frustrated at work or at people who make comments out of reason or have a reason for doing things or are simply accident prone.

But I do get annoyed at people who make comments out of plain stupidity. Dumbasses who know that everyone would've figured out what's happening or would've noticed whatever is to be noticed but noone has said anything because it wasn't appropriate to say or to avoid making everyone feel awkward but still has to spit it out without a friggin thought and I just get so incredibly frustrated its not even funny...

Other times is just people doing things or saying things with no sense of humility whatsoever. Most of the time the things done is appreciated... but the way in which it is done is plain outright arrogant. Yes, you can arrange for certain things to be available for use, and that's fine, you know people that can help, you have connections. But you don't need to boast about how cheap you got it or what not... cos sure, you may be doing a good deed... but what is ur reason for doing it... if you are doing the deed just so people can see how well connected you are and how "influential" you are... then you're a fag... If you're truly doing it out of kindness, you do not need to walk in with a friggin spotlight on you, practically saying "Look at me! Look at me! Look what I can do! I can get it better than you can but way better deal" (reminds me of he friggin 7 year old kids I teach at swimming, "Hey Vincent, look what I can do! Watch me, Watch me!". In fact if you were truly kind, you would do things without as much as simply saying "Hey, If we need this then I can help with it".

What I hate is when people insist on paying for you, even when you don't want them to and you have the resources necessary to look after your own bills. It's ok to shout once in a while if you have the resources to do it and the other person doesn't mind. But when you refuse to accept the other person's money even though they can and don't want you to pay then that seriously annoys me. I have a friggin job... I can make my own friggin money and I can pay for my own friggin food... I don't need you paying for me... If you do it once in a while as a kind gesture then sure ok... I get to return the favour in the future sometime... But when you do it all the friggin time to everyone... then... (and maybe I'm just being unreasonable but...) I don't think your doing it because your kind... I think your doing it so that people can see how much money you have... enough to freely chuck it away and not care about it... If you are so friggin rich then go share your wealth to the people who ACTUALLY need it... go help the homeless and support charities, make donations, just don't spend it on me... and I'm not saying this as a cruel gesture at those people and organisations because they can't help themselves, but I am saying this as a SERIOUS note... Those people rely on others to help them survive. If you are so able, then indeed, go help them. But if you are just shouting other people non-stop so that we can see how rich you are then go shove your gold-plated vault up your ass...

Now I know I sound angry... and I actually am, which doesn't happen too often nowadays... and while there is nothing wrong with the deeds themselves... its just the way people do them and how they retell and talk about these things that really piss me off... I just don't like arrogance... and boastfulness.... Sure we are all human... we all fall into the same trap of pride... and I'm certain that I'm no exception and that people probably get annoyed at me sometimes for being up myself. But I acknowledge that and I try not to be like that... and while I can't avoid at least being mildly hypocritical as I am still very human, I guess this experience tells me what other people might think of me at times... It might be simply that they don't voice it as much as I do... but... yeah...

Or maybe I'm just being unreasonable or maybe I have simply completely and utterly misinterpreted other people and their actions and choices... Which is possible... I can't say I'm particularly sharp lately.

Neways... I am REALLY tired... Architecture is draining me so badly...
Alright... Rage end...

Crazy Hectic Day...

Today has been crazy... I had an absolutely packed schedule... one of the rare few occasions that has ever happened.

Well first off... it is uni holidays and it is saturday... but I spend 10am-3pm at uni doing work.... then I went home... and had to get ready for my bro's engagement party at Rebekah's church... this is the second one btw. I left the house late at 5:25pm... I was meant to be there at 6pm... And then I got friggin lost... and ended up at friggin Mt.Cootha... cos I've never used the Hale street onramp before... and I stayed drove past it without realising what I was meant to do... and I realised far too late that I was ages away from it. And so I ended up at the Church at friggin... 6:24pm... lol... and I started the journey with 4/20 sections of my tank of fuel and finished on like... 2 sections... I was meant to be at a birthday party at 6:30... but because I was late... I was obliged to stay a little longer at my bro's thingy... so I left the Church at 7pm... and went to the city... and got frustrated with weekend street parking and ended up paying for multi-storey carparking... and I got to the restraunt at like... 7:30... which is bad... Buy the end of the dinner we went back to the Birthday person's house... and I arrived with 0/20 sections of fuel remaining... I was quite scared that I wouldn't have enough fuel to get home, or to the nearest petrol station. After hanging out for some more we all went home... and I was praying pretty darn hard all night to have enough fuel to make it... remember that my car is telling me that I have NO fuel left... and thank God that I made it to the petrol station lol... surprisingly enough I had been provided with 7.65L of fuel remaining in my tank... which meant that I could go for like... an additional 100km before my car died... Prayer work huh? anyways... yeah... Crazy day... Kinda stressful too lol...

Neways... thats my story for today...

God brings out the best in us...

Sunday just past was a special day for all christians, when we celebrate Easter and what Jesus had done for us on the cross. For a few people at our church it was even more special because that was the day they got baptised. And a wonderful and joyous day it was. Baptism is a once in a lifetime event in which you acknowledge who Jesus is and how much we need Him and how He has changed our lives for the better. We announce to the world that we love Him and will follow Him for the rest of our lives, as have the 10 people last Sunday. It's awesome to see so many people overflowing with joy about Jesus. So many people, guys or girls struggle to hold back their tears of Joy when they give personal testimonies. Almost everyone gets a shaky voice trying to contain their tears, and a lot of the girls just can't even speak straight through their tears. I think it's awesome that it is such an emotional occasion and such a joyous occasion at that, and all because of what Jesus has done for us.

I volunteered myself to be part of the worship team that day for the baptism service. And during the practises and especially after the service was over. I was really reminded of what God has done for me in my life. I remember that even at the start of 2008 I was a wreck, I was quite literally scared crapless by the prospect of having to communicate with people who were not my closest friends or even to try and communicate without someone I was really good friend around. I would not even think about even touching a microphone let alone even start to think about singing. At my worse I wasn't able to communicate with anyone at all. But when I couldn't carry on anymore, Jesus came into my life and released me from those shackles and lifted my burdens. Before I knew that my miserable state was not what God wanted me to be. But when I was set free, I became almost opposite in every sense of the human character. Those who did go to the Baptism Service and the Sunday Service at BCAC last Sunday would know that I was singing loud and proud with not a drop of fear. Sure I made a few little mistakes, but who God intended me to be standing there on the stage singing His praises and who I was 1 year and 5 months ago are so different in the extreme and I don't think I would want things to be any other way. It is only because of God's grace and love that I am who I am today, and I'm sure every person who has experienced God's grace would say something similar.

God really does bring the best out of us. There is no greater Joy than to be able to become who we were created to be and there is also no greater Joy than to do what we were created to do. And that is to live lives of worship out of freewill.

Healing Wounds

I was discussing with a friend today about relationships and what plans God had for them. Even BGRs between christians can fail, there is no arguing that, sometimes they just don't fit together well, some just undermine a good relationship from the inside. We are still fully human, fully weak and inadequate. That means that we still hurt each other all the time. We make mistakes, and we can make the same mistakes over and over again and in a way end up bringing our own pain upon ourselves by the lack of patience and self-control. God calls out to us (christians) and tells us when things are not right, when things are not pleasing to Him... And when things don't please Him, they are naturally unhealthy for you.

Humans have a habit of walking into beartraps of sin and disobedience even though we KNOW that it WILL hurt, we end up being spirtually emo in a sense where we are inflicting pain upon ourselves by not listening to God yet we feel so tempted into walking into them, you know a relationship isn't going to work, you know if you go out with that person again that it will not be better if they haven't undergone major change... You know your walking into a beartrap and you feel God calling you back and you have a feeling in your heart that God doesn't want you to do it... But... you go for it anyways, hopeful that he has changed but have no proof of it... and guess what? It ends up failing again and you are wounded once more.

These wounds bleed anger and clog up our relationships with other people, they make a mess of our emotions and we flatline our ability to be joyful. We end up hating each other, holding grudges against each other, and we always say things take time to heal. But... I don't believe that... When people say, things take time to heal it is only because they arn't prepared to be healed. They wish they were, but they are afraid of actually going to get healed. All that time it takes to heal these wounds and mend this relationships is basically people trying to build up the courage to step forward and accept the treatment. Its like a fear of needles basically...

I hate it when I see my friends who are in relationships fight over things in their relationships... If you need to be defensive in your relationships... If you need to defend yourself from the other person... Then aren't you basically hastening your relationships demise? Why fight over things that aren't important? Don't we all become absent-minded at some stage? Are you not being a hypocrite by saying "Why don't you do this?" or "How can you forget that?" and then sooner or later you forget to do stuff or say stuff? Of Course you are... Do hypocrites exemplify Godliness? no... Then what makes your relationships Godly if you continually judge each other? Isn't the aim of being Godly, being Christ-like one of the major side effects of knowing and loving our Lord Jesus Christ? Then if you are in a christian relationship, why do you fight? sure u disagree sometimes, different people, different opinions... but there is no need to be angry, to make each other guilty or to make the other feel bad for things that they do that don't agree with us... That is not Love... And Love is what God designed to make the world go round.

The emblem of BCAC is what we know as the Four-Fold Gospel. It exemplifies 4 Major "roles" that Jesus has. The Saviour, The Healer, The Sanctifier, and the Coming King. Jesus is the healer... all through the bible, Jesus healed the people who were faithful INSTANTLY. Those people WANTED to be healed, and they were willing to go whatever lengths they were capable of to get to Jesus. How many times has Jesus said "Your faith has healed you" or something similar or that the text says that the person was healed by faith? More times than I care to remember. So what makes our wounds any different? Whether its a relationship under stress or your in the aftermath of a broken relationship, just come before Jesus willingly without fear and be healed. It will only heal as fast as you are prepared to allow God to heal you. Cos seriously, if you are brave enough to ask someone out, then at least have the courage and humility to attempt to maintain it. Ask God to help you, as we are weak and face it, we are pathetic, good for nothing meatbags. But through God we have strength and power and JOY. Put God as number one priority and everything will fall into place.

Having said all that, and it may seem that I am speaking very aggressively about this. And maybe I am... As I feel somewhat like J.D to a point from scrubs... can't remember the episode but he goes hardcore rant about other people and their relationship problems. And truth is it is quite easy for me to say all this as a third party observer of someone else's relationship. And I respect that when it is actually you who is standing in those shoes that it is hard to see things wholistically... Your so close to the problem, with emotional attachements and all, that it is quite hard to be able to step back and see the bigger picture. And it can all be very overwhelming and it is very easy to become impatient with God and trying to do things in other ways and end up digging a bigger hole for yourself. And again having said all that, all is only my opinion, I have no proof of this and I don't actually know how hard it is because I've never been in a relationship before myself. So this is merely based on a mental construction of relationships that exists in my head, and it could be far from the truth.

Neways... That's my rant for today

There is no Luck...

Today I went to kung fu... but that isn't the topic or reason for the post... I normally go with one of my non-christian friends to it and he studies the same course as me. I've had a few discussions about the spiritual side of life before and although he's been invited to a few church occassions, he classifies himself as atheist... Anyways...

The thing today was that on the way back to the bus station that I normally drop him off at, we were talking about him having not enough money, because of him not getting enough work and stuff... And how he was gonna try and bring his own lunch to uni to save money and stuff, etc. etc. And about a minute later, we drove over a speed bump and I saw something suddenly flutter before my car and disappeared under it. In a split second I recognised it as a $10 note. It was in a very, very small hole in the ground, and was under a few pebbles with one end fluttering in the wind. I stopped immediately and reversed (there were no cars behind me coincidentally) and I told him to get out of the car and grab it. After he retrieved it, he commented on how it was almost as if someone had placed it there, perfectly in the hole... with the number 10 sticking straight up the side of the hole in full view. And it made me think... that there is no such thing as luck or coincidence... and there is only a sovereign God who has a hand in everything... It couldn't have been pure luck and coincidence that 10 bucks was just sitting in a hole waiting for us to pick up at a time when my friend was becoming in need of aid... Of course, 10 bucks isn't very significant but money is still money.

While God cannot act in us unless we allow him to because we have free will... but God will act around us, to reach out to us... To get our attention... I didn't really say anything to him at that moment... but I wonder... I wonder what God has planned for my friend... and I wonder if I am destined/have been chosen to play any role in this plan.

Neways... as a side note, I recieved my first bruise today at kung fu... and ironically it wasn't from sparring... but during the warm up in our little soccer game, some guy pounded the ball into my right eye. And now I have a little bit of a bruise along the edge of the eyesocket.

Anyways, thats my story for today.

New Pool Heater

Woot~ They have finally installed the new heater into the pool at work haha... no more freezing my butt off for 4.5 hours in cold water! It's set to 30.8 degrees which is awesomely warm haha. Although I do feel sorry for squad swimmers and lap swimmers as they suffer in the new pool. But I guess in terms of business, LTS is much more profitable than squad... so the little kids get priority :P.

Neways I don't have much more to add.