RICE 2009 Review

Well RICE is over for the year... I guess I haven't documented any of it on here really... but yeah, it was an amazing experience of what God can do and watch Him touch and change the lives of people.

There was this kid wondering the streets outside the church during BDO, and apparently he heard the music and he came in to check it out. And he heard the gospel preached... I'm not sure if this was the kid that said he became a christian that day at BDO but man, it was amazing to see God working. I mean the kid was not with any adults or anything... just this lone kid in a stripey shirt all by himself. I mean only God knows the reasons why he was there that day but it was truly amazing that God did bring him there and intended for him to hear the gospel.

and then at the Rally. It was just amazing to see so many kids, 292 of them gathering there to listen and here the gospel, some of them for te first time. Some 32-40 kids said they wanted to know more about God. That night, something inside them stirred, perhaps we'll see them again next year at RICE 2010. 16 kids that night said they wanted to become christians, that is, to dedicate their lives to Christ. For those who don't know what that means, it means that they have recognised that they are lost in this world and lost to this world and that they wanted Jesus to save them. There is no amount of emphasis at the joy it brings to us to see even just one of those kids there to choose to follow Christ. For those who thinks that this is just silly superstition then I'd have to say, go hear the gospel for yourself before making any bias judgements. But yeah, to see God working and transforming these kids is just truly amazing and a massive blessing for us leaders. Last year I was one of those kids in the seats and yeah, the reality of the gospel hit me harder than a sledgehammer could ever hit me. I'd have to say RICE played a huge part in my own walk back to Christ.

But the God's blessing wasn't just in the events... It was amazing how everything we did just came together, even when things weren't going as we intended or imagined, in the end God was the one in control. This was God working through us, our eyes couldn't see what God could see. In the end I, personally, was stunned by how everything no matter how inadequate it felt just fell together.

Our God is truly amazing... anyways enough of this rant.
Go RICE! and I pray that God will keep working through RICE to win over the city of Brisbane! RICE 2010!

Weird Dream II : Talking Mice...

You know you have strange dreams when you start dreaming about pet mice that talk and cause trouble all over the place... lol... why (or perhaps how is more appropriate) a mouse would be on roller blades and tripping people over in public places is beyond me lol... I tend to have crazy dreams... Before I woke up from the weird dream I was saving the mouse from playing with a mousetrap... by sticking my hand in the mousetrap instead... lol and normally you wake up from your dreams just before your about to have a painful experience right? or maybe just me... but strangely enough it felt pretty convincing in my dream for some strange reason and I didn't wake up from it, then I snapped out of it and realised that I was late for Uni haha...

Altho it isn't nearly as strange as my gokart driving, skateboarding, and lightsaber 2v2 duel against sith drug dealers in a state school with Obi Wan Kenobi on my side... now that was a WEIRD dream lol...

People Dying.

So I heard from someone and from facebook that 3 people in Hollywood died today. People make such a big deal over it, "O I'm so sad, MJ is dead... The prince of pop is dead" or whatever. But really, is it really that much of a deal? When I heard it I just went "meh..."... Because I mean, people are dying every minute anyways so is it really anything out of the ordinary that some famous guy dies as well? Famous people are just as weak as us non-famous people, we are all gonna die anyways. Sure if your a personal friend of someone who dies then mourn. If your wife died then yeah, mourn because a part of you died with them. But I mean, tomorrow could be your last day, and while your reading this, some homeless guy just died somewhere out there. Do we feel sad or affected? Perhaps I'm just a cold-blooded, heartless person, but one of my grandfathers died when I was a kid, one of my aunties died when I was in grade like... 6 or 7? and one of my grandmother's died last year. I never shed a tear or felt sad, I mean everyone's loved ones will die eventually, so is it so special that one of my own family members died? Perhaps I see the bigger scheme of things beyond the immediate impact the death has to myself, I dunno. Or perhaps I'm just special, and couldn't care less... But I don't think that's the case. Perhaps I am just desensitised somehow...

But yeah... I dunno... I guess its because it was a natural death... all of my extended family died of natural deaths... stroke, breast cancer, lung failure. But perhaps I would be more affected if they weren't natural, but probably more so if it was because I couldn't stop the unnatural cause, ie. died from getting mugged. But yeah... anyways... That's what I had to say for today.

Screwed Up World

You hear it in the news all the time, and you figured that mannn this world is going down the crapper. People getting stabbed and bashed everyday n crap, and I mean it feels distant from us until you see these things with your own two eyes first hand. I mean about 2 or 3 weeks ago I was driving home from uni at night, and I was driving along Hawken drive, and I suddenly noticed that on the sidepath was some guy getting ganged up on by 3 other guys... First thought to pass through my mind was... "Crap, should I help him?"... but I realised that I was but one man, I would not be prepared to fight off 3 other guys, sure I do martial arts, but I ain't no Bruce Lee right, and it's not like I had a weapon handy to bash some skulls in either. So I didn't get off and help him. On the other hand I should have called the cops as well. But I don't understand why I didn't, in fact I guess I was kind of afraid to stop... It was the kind of "What if they came after me?" or some lame silly excuse that comes up when your in unexpected situations like this. In hindsight I wish I was a little braver and at least called the cops... Perhaps getting out to fight them off would have been a silly idea... And pulling a baton or a non-lacerating weapon (blunt) and smacking them probably would get me in trouble as well afterwards. But I dunno ay... It's days like these that makes me train extra hard at kung fu, to ensure things like these don't happen to me or my friends... But yeah... this world is pretty screwed up... But I wonder... for a christian right... in that situation should I just simply resort to violence to (assuming I can) incapacitate the 3 guys ganging up on the other guy? I mean, in this case I would be fighting fire with fire right? I could've like hung around and helped the guy after he got beaten... which is pathetic and sad and just dude wth... or I could go in and Chuck Norris their asses... In the end people are gonna get hurt so would it be so wrong for me to be the one dishing out the pain? It's not like I hate them, I'm just stopping them from hurting the other guy right? by beating the living crap out of them. I mean the bible is probably one of the most violent books you'll ever have the good fortune to read. So I mean... doesn't that mean violence can be done for good? I mean forgiveness is something you do after something has happened... but isn't prevention the best cure? If you can prevent something from happening then why wait until after the damage is done and forgive?

My interpretation is that everything comes down to intentions. I mean the army had chaplains and they have their services and what not... You have christian soldiers on the frontline killing other people... You have christian police officers resorting to lethal force... But what are you doing it for? For me, as long as you are doing it out of "love" so to speak... ie. out of care or concern. I mean whether my actions are justified in the eyes of the law is one thing, but if I did intervene that fight and did "win" I would have been doing so because I was concerned about the situation and what would happen to the other guy... It's not like I'm doing this out of "evil" desires, I'm not there to mug anyone, or to exact revenge or to do anything apart from wanting to help the person in danger so to speak.

But that's all talk anyways, all talk and no walk. I didn't end up doing anything at all. And that makes me just as useless. The good I wanted to do I could not do. By standing on the side and turning a blind eye, I might as well have been the person beating the guy up in the first place. So I'm just as pitiful as they are. This whole ordeal just makes me a bit guilty and a bit tight in the chest... A bit disappointed in my own lack of courage... and sense of justice and urgency... It makes me angry that I was too chicken to get out and help, not necessarily to fight but to even call the police... It frustrates me every time those 10 seconds of the night resurface in my head...

I remember recounting it to some friends and even to my mum... and they all responded with "Did you help him? Did you at least call the police? Why didn't you help him?" etc... Like being poked in the side by a red hot iron rod... Makes me want to turn back time, get out of the car, and just roundhouse kick them in the face...

Neways... I need to sleep... Just had to rant a little to get this off my chest... It is a pity that violence or threats of violence are the only things capable of preventing more violence... Such is the state of the world...

Finally! Holidays! Woot!

Ahhh... holidays... couldn't start it without a few rounds of gaming lol... Now I can finally relax for a bit lol... Stress is over! and it is 3am in the morning! and I am tired... lol... I should sleep... but still! I'm FREEEEEE!!!! WHEEEEEeeeee! lol...

Aite...

Folio... All nighters...

Gah! Finally handed in my folio... Massive relief... 64 A3 pages of work... and a model as well... gah.. so tired... I did two all nighters to get it done... and saw two sunrises.... luckily i slept for like 5 hours in during the day in between... gah..

And there is some pictures of the sun out of one of the windows in our house...

so tired...>ZZzzzzzz

RICE GOES LIVE!!!

Well on Wednesday I talked about something about designing a poster right? RICE has officially gone live and entered its promotional stage so I believe I can stick my design up here now :P

so for those who were wondering what I was talking about here you go! Hope you youth people are interested in coming! The event is aimed at high schoolers, so if thats you then you should probably check out the website or the facebook page! www.ricebrisbane.org is the site to go to haha

anyways... yeah
gtg sleep lol