Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Keyring

My cus Talia Carbis posted this idea on her blog and I thought that I would do the same. A fun idea.

My keys are pretty full, car key, house keys, postbox key and two keys to a couple of padlocks. My favourite thing on my keyring is the square ring, it says 'Warning...In case on rapture this keys will be unnecessary' I think that's funny but it is also a reminder that no matter what this world is not the end. The purple thing is actually a pen from Smiggle that I was given at Christmas last year, the metal dog shape is K9 from the Doctor Who series. My husband is a huge Doctor Who fan and I just fell in love with K9.

My keys have alittle weight to them and all the strange things make it pretty easy to find in the depths of my handbag.

Week in my life Day Seven

Thought I would share my finished layouts for the final day of this 'Week in my life' project.

Sunday was ANZAC day, instead of going to our usual march & service in our home town we attend a special service at our church. My husband's worship team was singing and our Pastor had prepared a special sermon. It was a very moving service and I was able to have the opportunity to wear my Great Grandfathers war medals. I don't know much about my Grandparents on either side of my family, they all passed away fairly early in my life. So I really only have vague memory of one Great Grandmother and one Grandpa. So wearing those medal made me feel linked to that part of my family that I never met.

Also being ANZAC day nothing much was really open (as it should be), so after church we went home to have a lovely lunch on our veranda in the sun and did some gardening. Lovely to see the sun and to be able to soak in up (and I got to use my new garden cart!).

I have really loved doing this project, all the work I put in before hand with making the templates really paid off. Each night I just sat down uploaded my photo's and placed them into the template. The number of photo's I took varied ALOT each day, some days I only need the main page & the collage page and other days I added two multi photo pages. I have been printing at home so everything has come together easily and quickly. Defiantly would participate in 'Week in my life' again.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Week in my life Day Six


Today can be described in one word....pain. I think all the carrying of Malachi around yesterday pulled my neck muscles on my right side. This is not something new, I get this pain alot during the cooler months. But this time I am not completely aware of when I pulled the muscles. I can only guess as I didn't know my neck was in pain till I actually got out of bed, very unusual. The pain made everything alittle more difficult today.


Saturday means market day, for the last two weeks I have been buying all our fruit & veg at the Farmers Market at the Big Pineapple in Woombye (Big Pineapple is a tourist attraction). I am starting to look forward to my trips to the market, everything is so fresh and you get free samples. Also the prices are excellent. I bought apples, bananas, carrots, broccoli, celery, capsicum, snow peas & ciabetta bread all for $30, much cheaper then what I would have gotten in the supermarket. And most importantly everything just plain tastes better.


I am hoping that tomorrow the pain will be alot less and I will find things alittle easier.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Week in my life Day Four & Five

Wednesday
Rain, rain, rain....oh how I wish that it would stop. Really want to get back into the garden. Today was also a phone day, loads of phone calls, phone was running hot. Mostly sales people and Alan. We also sold the buffet which was great, now just waiting to organise the pick up.
Baking was my biggest achievement for the day, truth be told the achievement was not eating all the cookies as soon as they came out of the oven.
Heaps of birds decided to come sing and play in our big tree in the backyard, Curios really enjoyed sitting on my finger infront of the back door singing along, listening and preening himself.
All and all a quite day, I like some days like that.

Thursday

Malachi day. I babysat for my husbands parents (they are looking after our nephew for his parents while they are away for their anniversary), we hung out at home, had a play date with a friend of mines kids and visited my husbands work. I always feels so warn out after a day with Malachi, think that it is all the carrying he is becoming a big boy!

Today was also my first ANZAC service, my brother (who is in the RAAF) was asked by our old primary school to give and talk at the school's ANZAC service. Very proud of him and of the parts of my families military history that I found out about today.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Week in my life Day Three





Already finished the page for Wednesday, so sorry no journaling. The highlight for today was defiantly the Switchfoot concert that we went to in the West End in Brisbane. Such a late night, but sooo worth it.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Week in my life Day Two


Cheap Tuesday! Every Tuesday I try to get petrol, it is the cheapest day in the petrol price cycle. But oh my gosh! Were some people rude, I pulled in and someone pulled into the tiny space next to me and tired to sneak in ahead of me. And the same thing happened at the library, I stopped at the crossing to let people cross and someone went straight through ignoring the people and straight into a carpark. Not a good day.


Every piece of laundry in the house has now been folded and put away (yeah!), love when I can actually get on top of the laundry. It builds up so fast. As today was Tuesday I also emptied all the bins in the house and took out the recyclables, did this nice & early as I thought that we have bible study to go to but it was cancelled for the night.


Today also marks the beginning of reading my new Book Club book, this month we are reading 'Captivating, by John & Staci Eldredge'. This book is by the same authors who wrote 'Wild at Heart', one of those books that every man (and woman) just has to read. My husband has read it but wasn't really all that impressed (click here to see my first post about this book).

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Book Club - new book

Our new book for this month 'Captivating' by John & Stasi Eldredge, their are also the authors of Wild at Heart my husband has this book. He wasn't too enthralled with it, but we do have slightly different tastes in books so I am still quite open minded about it.

The subtitle of this book is 'Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul', still doesn't quite give anything way. My friend S who is also a member of the book club borrowed a copy of the book from a Mother's group that she goes to library. Which is such a blessing, as I mentioned in the first post about how I was alittle unsure about having to buy a new book every month.

This is one of those books that you hear people say it is life changing and that God has really spoken to them and opened their eyes through this book. So this could be a very interesting read.

'Captivating. John Eldgredge and his wife, Stasi, show women how to reveal their core desires - to be romanced, to play and irreplaceable role in a grand adventure, and to unveil beauty - and encourage them to restore their feminine heart. In the style of Wild at Heart, women are shown the possibilities their dreams can afford, and men are given a glimpse into a woman's soul, where they can see the strength and beauty God placed there for a reason.'

Monday, April 19, 2010

Week in my life Day One


Today is the begining of the week and the end of the weekend for my husband, Monday is the get things don't day mostly. If there is something that requires my husband then it gets done on Monday. I like to have my husband with me when I grocery shop, it is something we use to do together all the time when we first got married but somehow just ended up being something that I do on my own. I descided a few months ago to change that, I wasn't liking dragging all the bags full of groceries up the stairs by myself everyweek. So Monday is our grocery shopping day together.


Today was also Book Club day, once a month I get together with a group of friends and discuss a book that we have all been reading over the last month. The book we were reading was Planetwise by Dave Bookless (click here for my blog posts), I had read the book before and it was infact my pick for the book club. We had a great afternoon tea and a time of fellowship, I think that everyone got something out of the book which was great! And I think some minds have been changed about their attitude towards creation care.


There rest of today was filled with home, playing with Curios listerning to music (hubbie got a new CD) and preparing dinner. My husband had prepared a roast dinner with all the yummy trimmings, potatos and gravy. Gravy is something we don't always have as my husband says you can't make gravy without wine and as we don't drink wine we have to make a special trip to the local pub's bottleshop to get some.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Rembering a week of my life

One of my favourite scrapbookers Ali Edwards has this great reoccurring project called 'Week in the Life', it is about documenting a whole week of daily activities. Basically you take loads of photos of what you do during a week, whether special activities or just daily routine. I have been uming and aring about whether I was going to participate most because I have sooooo many layouts that I have to complete. But I have decided to go completely digital, that way I can work on the layouts sitting on the couch in the evening and the photo's that I take I can download them and added them straight on to the layouts. I think that this project will help me to see that my life is still full of moments that matter and help me to focus I what I do have instead of what I don't.

Below are the .PSD files that I have created for the 'Week in the Life' project, it officially starts tomorrow on the 19th. For each day there are four pages, one main page with the bulk of the journalling, two pages of photos/pattern paper & some jounalling and a collage page.








Saturday, April 17, 2010

Planetwise prt 10

To see the other posts click here

Living it out: Mission as if creation matters

Call to action! As Christians we are called to fill the Great Commission, which appears in all four gospels with slightly different wording, Matthew 28:19-20 is the most commonly used. There are two important parts to the great commission; go and make disciples, discipleship is about leading people on a lifelong journey with Jesus, conversion is only the beginning of the journey. Everything I have commanded, Jesus also cared about the issues of justice and the environment. Mark 16:15 version of the great commission expands into the importance of creation "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation". Our God given great commission, includes the whole of creation, not just people (again we are not the centre of the story).

Though I know of the great commission given to use by Jesus Christ, I didn't realise that God had also given us a great commission way before Jesus's time in Genesis 1:28 'ruling over and caring for creation'. We have to follow both as they are as equalling important.

I loved this statement: The whole gospel is about Jesus transforming a person's relationship with God, and their relationships with other people and the world around them.

Questions
1. If the command to reflect God in caring for creation is 'the first great commission', how is it reflected in your priorities?
Probably has come second, but I have never been comfortable with that, as caring for the environment and creation is something that sits well with me and I have a real heart and passion for.

2. Do you and does your fellowship or church, support each of the five marks of mission (page 137) through praying, giving and practical action?

5 Marks of mission:
  • to proclaim the good news of the kingdom
  • to teach, baptize and nurture new believers
  • to respond to human need by loving service
  • to seek to transform unjust structures of society
  • to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the earth.

I think that my church does pretty well, we have a few missionaries in various fields, and support and regularly pray for those missionaries. Baptisms are a regular fixture during the year, and the congregation is always encouraged to get to know new people not only to the church but to the faith as well. If there is a need then something is done about it, meals are cooked, help is given, prayers are prayed, visits are made etc..The last two I am not so sure of, we do do regular features about sex trafficking, etc..and are encouraged to do our part. In recent times creation has been coming up, and I hope to be an active part of this new part of our church life.

3. How can we keep a full biblical understanding of mission, including creation care, without neglecting the importance of sharing the good news of Jesus with individual people? Does the work of A Rocha (see www.arocha.org) offer some helpful ideas?

Plantewise prt 9

For the other posts click here

Living it out: Lifestyle as if creation matters

This chapter is full of the things that Dave Bookless and his family have done to be more creation minded in their daily lives, I really like it cause this chapter is very practical. Though Dave Bookless does say that if you take stock of your lifestyle you would probably think that there is no hope, you couldn't possibly fix everything, but that is ok. Just take things one step at a time, make one improvement at a time and things will happen alot easier.

Prayer is still very important, pray to God about the areas of your life that need fixing and he will show you where to start.

Questions
1. 'One step at a time.' What is your next practical step in your lifestyle change?
Starting a compost heap or worm farm, we produce alot of organic waste (not just through food, but through general garden maintenance too), and it is something that has been in the back of my mind for a long time. I am going to endeavour to decided which would be best for us and go ahead and get started.

2.The chapter talks about 'behaving, believing and belonging'. Behaviour and belief are address in this book and many other places, but what about 'belonging'? Are there others you know who could join in exploring living lightly?

3.What would you want your lifestyle to look like in five years time? Is this a sustainable vision that honours God, includes justice for the poor and cares for creation?
I would like to have a productive garden going, with organic waste recycling (in some form), to know exactly where and what has gone into the food and resources that we consume. And I would really like to be an active member of A Rocha in Australia, having a group of us who meets together regularly to support each other, pray for creation issues and does practical things within the community. I think that this quite a sustainable vision, but I will be continuing to pray about the decisions that we make.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Planetwise prt 8

For the other posts click here

Living it out: Worship as if creation matters

Dave Bookless used the word WORSHIP as an exploration of how we can worship God as if creation matters:

W Wonder at God's creation
O Openness to God speaking through creation
R Rootedness in the place where God put us
S Sabbath rest and re-creation
H Hands-on involvement with creation
I Integration of all our relationships
P Prayer for God's kingdom

This chapter starts with a reminder of the importance of worship, and not just the worship in church with singing and dancing etc... or even regular prayer and bible reading. But worship is something that should happen everyday, in everything that we do (driving, working, etc). And it is something that we should do in creation more often, outside enjoying what God has created.

Wonder at God's creation : As adults we have lost that sense of wonder at the world around us, the majesty and beauty that God created. We need to get back to seeing the world as a small child does.

Openness to God speaking through creation : Creation can be God's way of speaking to us when we've lost our sense of perspective. Get out and spend time with God in creation, you can really get to know alot about who God really is, and what his purpose for us really is.

Rootedness in the place where God put us : We have looked at this concept earlier in the book, we are where we are for a reason. We need to put down roots in the community that we live in, because it is these roots that help us during times of turmoil and strife, like how an established tree can with stand huge winds and storms. Getting rooted in your community is about participating and getting to know people who live around you. Developing a sense of community.

Sabbath rest and re-creation : Again another topic that we have already covered, but it is a concept that in our modern world we seem to consistently miss or dismiss. We are not meant to be on the go 24/7, physically our bodies show the consequences. Most importantly God rested after he created the earth, on the 7th day he rested! And so should we.

Hands-on involvement with creation : We are apart of creation, and we rely on creation. This is something that I have never experienced because I have been lucky enough to grow up in more rural area as a posed to the suburbs or inner city, but people do experience negative consequences of not being able to get out into the fresh air and sunlight. I find their is something uplifting and fulfilling to work the soil and grow plants, especially bringing a sick plant back from the brink of death. Get outside....live.

Integration of our relationship : If Jesus is the one in whom 'all things hold together' (Colossians 1:17) - the centre of the whole universe - than all these fragmented bits of our lives will only make sense if we put him right in the middle and do not shut him out of certain areas. Christians can live quite fragmented lives, who we are at church is not who we are at work and the same at home or with friends. We should not live this way, Jesus should be apart of every part of our lives and affect everything that we do. He is the one who should be in control, not us.

Prayer for God's kingdom : Something that is lacking in my own personal prayer life, before reading this it had never crossed my mind about the importance of thanking God for creation and about things that are happening with creation. I personally have started praying for my garden and for the work I hope to start doing with A Rocha.

Questions
1.Using the WORSHIP outline on page 99, think through which of these areas need most attention in your own worship, and that of any church or fellowship you belong to.
Rootedness and prayer are probably my own areas that need work, I think that in someways the same for my church and home group that I belong to. Though I would say that every part of of the WORSHIP outline does need work.

2.Do you see the whole of life, including shopping and lifestyle choices as worship? Are there some practical ways that can help you worship Jesus in the midst of everyday life?
I have tried to be very mindful of the way both me and my husband live, from where our food comes from, how it is produced/treated and what we do with the resources that we consume (waste etc...). These things I have never considered to be worship, and I can see that they are important if not essential parts of worship, and I will continue to do more.

3. Do you pray about the earth? Think of some environmental issues, local or global, that concern or upset you, and take these to God in prayer. If you (and your church) have a pattern of prayer, try to include prayers for the whole of creation on a regular basis.

Gardening

Since I have been reading 'Planetwise' by Dave Bookless (see posts about this book here), I have had a great longing to be out in the garden. Actually want to be pulling weeds and mulching, I think that I know have about 1/2 of our garden done now which is great as I have been battling the weeds for the last 3 months.

I have learnt that things have got easier because of the cooling of the weather and the change in the season, the weeds are not so much in a growth phase which means that I have little more time after pulling the weeds out before I have to get the mulch down. Great because I don't have a constant supply and can only buy mulch when we can afford it.

Because money is a big issue I have found a way of making the mulch that I do buy go alittle further, cardboard & newspaper. These are things that I can get in quite a ready supply thanks to my wonderful hubby. Normally my husbands work just throws the cardboard boxes that their orders come in into the recycle dumpster out the back. Which is great that they get recycled, but it is also good for me. Everytime they get a delivery of large boxes my husband gives me a call I go down a pick them up, remove any tape & stables and cut/rip into size. I cover the newly weeded ground with the pieces of cardboard or multiple layers of newspaper wet with the hose or watering can and then covering with mulch. I have found that the layer of cardboard/newspaper means that the layer of mulch doesn't have to be as thick and thus you can cover a larger area. The cardboard/newspaper will eventually breakdown as does the mulch, but it takes a little more time.

Can't wait to get the whole garden mulch, really hoping that I will be able to stay on top of the weeds now. Next thing is to decide what plants to put in, I am thinking about low growing guerrilla and other natives. Attract some more birds into our backyard, Curios will enjoy more birds to sing to.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Planetwise prt 8

For the other posts click here

Living it out: Discipleship as if creation matters

I liked this chapter, it is starting to get into the actions that we can take to care for creation in a way that God intends us to do. This chapter also reminds us Jesus Christ had the closest unbroken relationship with God possible, and gives us a great insight about what is possible when you follow God wholly and completely.

Questions
1. Using Genesis chapter 1 and 2 and the example of Jesus, write a job description of humanity as 'the image of God'.
To love one another, without judgement. To take care of not only other human beings, but all creations that have been hand by the hand of God. Taking care also means that you help all creation to prosper and grow.

2. Our role as disciples of Jesus is described in this chapter as being like gardeners and caretakers, tenants and stewards, prophets, priests and kings. Which of these do you find most helpful or unhelpful, and why?
I find all but the last three very helpful, because I have always felt that though we are not 'long for this world' that we have a great responsibility to look after it, not only for the next generation to come but for God as well. Because he is the one who created all of creation in the first place. I am not 100% sure why I find being a prophet, priest and king abit unhelpful. Probably because of the amount of esteem I have for those positions. From reading the bible their have been some great Prophets, Elisha, Elijah and others, and some great Kings such as David and Solomon that I just find it hard to put myself in the same ranks. Priests, other than Aaron I haven't read much good about priests, especially in Jesus's time, definitely don't want to put myself in their ranks.

3. How can we use the gifts of science, technology and business in a way that sustains and stewards creation, rather than exploiting or destroying it?
We have been blessed with the ability, knowledge and drive to do almost anything. And for those people who say something can't be done, their will be someone who steps up and gives it ago anyway. Science has opened up the world, technology has given us the answers to alot of the problems in the world and business has given us the ability to organise large numbers of people and amount of money. We can use these gifts to help rebuild habitats, increase dwindling populations, product energy that doesn't require non-renewable resources, distribute food and water to all who need it, develop vaccines and medications that can cure diseases. The sky is the limit with possibilities.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Season new

My nose is runny in the morning, I sniffle and sneeze when ever it starts to get dark. Which when added up can only mean on thing......a new season. Autumn begun at the start of April, the days are getting shorter and cooler (especially in the mornings). It also means EASTERFEST! Which I have already gone on about in a previous blog. To mark the beginning of Autumn and to say a proper goodbye to Summer me and my wonderful husband decided to go out for lunch in Montville, it was also a way of marking the end of A's holidays.

We ate at the Poet's Cafe, a place we have driven pas many times but never actually gone inside. Very glad that we did, the food was wonderful and because we sat outside enjoyed watching the world go by. My favourite part is the picture I took, think that it is just lovely (I have edited it alittle!)


Planetwise prt 7

For other posts click here

The New Creation: On earth as in heaven

This chapter is really challenging about what will happen to the earth, whether it will be completely destroyed when Jesus returns to the earth. And about the concept of 'new heaven and new earth', that the term 'new' has more to do with renewal and recycling then something completely new being created.

A great statement was made that the bible is purposely vague about what the 'new heaven and new earth' will look like, because it is not something that we need to know about. That we need to focus on our relationship with God in the here and now, not living in a time yet to come. Afterall, God is allowed to have some surprises in store for us.

Questions
1. How has this chapter challenged your understanding of the 'the end times' and the future of the earth? List any unanswered questions you still have, and (using the further resources section or in discussion with others) try and resolve these.....whilst recognising that the bible does not give neat answers to all our questions!
Probably in the way that the earth isn't going to be completely destroyed infact it will be 'renewed' and 'restored' to the way God intended it to be before the entrance of sin into the world. I think that I do have questions, mostly about timing and the recent events of the world. But I don't think that they could be reconcile these questions because I have a feeling that these questions fall into the 'don't need to know' category.

2. If the kingdom of God is both 'now' and 'not yet', what signs of God's kingdom can you trace in your experience, and in the world around?
Not sure how to answer this question......I hear and see on the TV all the events that do seem to signify 'creation groaning' and there is also the great beauty that I see in the natural world that does give us a great glimpse of the beauty of God. And I do think that that our relationship that we can have with god through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was the first step of the coming of the 'new heaven and new earth'.

3. Read some of the biblical passage that describe the new creation (such as Hosea 2:16-23; Isaiah 11:6-9; 65:17-25), and then try to write your own description of a world where harmony exists between God, people and the rest of creation.
No more death, no more toiling for no reward, where you can play with lions and snakes and enjoy their company without fear of harm, no more pain or tears of sorrow, just pure joy.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Planetwise prt 6

For the other posts click here

Jesus: Saviour of the world

Colossians 1:15-20
- Jesus is the source of creation (vs16)
- The sustainer of creation (vs17)
- The saviour of creation (vs20)

There is no hope amidst the environmental crisis we face apart from Jesus Christ.

When Jesus healed a person, he wasn't just channeling God's power. He is infact God fixing apart of his creation that had gone wrong, through the fall. Wow what a mind changing, mind blowing thought (and truth).

Luke 8:22-25
- control over nature (he created it, only he can control it)

Matthew 6
- Jesus expected his followers to be familiar with the natural world

Jeremiah 8:7
- Prophets knew wildlife well

Why an I here?
Answer: we are here to worship God in Jesus, and to live in relationship with him within his amazing creation

The above makes the question of our existence quite easy to answer, we are here for a purpose. And when you think about that purpose is pretty simple.

All things hold together in Jesus, but without Jesus all things fall apart

God made a world where nothing is wasted, and it dishonours him if I am careless with what he has made (page 68)

Colossians 1:19-20
- when Jesus died on the cross it was for all the broken relationships on earth.

Questions
1. In what ways has this chapter affected your understanding of who Jesus is? How could this influence your devotional life and you lifestyle?
Probably the statement about Jesus healing was actually God healing the mistakes in his creation caused by the fall. God and Jesus are not two separate beings, but one in the same. Probably try and focus on the fact that I am not what the bible is able, and that there is a great focus on creations place and importance. Also seeing how I treat the earth and its resources as a part of my worship and devotional time.

2. Why does the story of Noah (Genesis 6-9) seem so relevant today? List some ways in which it helps us understand God's purposes and our response in today's environmental situation.
Because it speaks of the consequences of wickedness and sinfulness of the human race. We have been repeating the same mistakes, taking the responsibilities of the earth for granted.
We need:
- keep in mind that the world and everything it it belongs to go
- don't be wasteful
- be thoughtful about where are food comes from (how the animals are treated, etc)
- work with the seasons
- be thankful for everything that we have been given

3. The cross and resurrection of Jesus are the centre of Christian faith. How do they give us hope, for ourselves and for the planet?
That God has a plan for the whole of creation, to mend the damage caused by sin and for the rebirth of the whole earth. That all the groaning that we are experiencing (earthquakes, floods, fires, etc...) are not signaling the end of the earth but they are groaning of childbirth, signalling the hope of the world coming.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Planetwise prt 5

For the other posts click here

Land: People and place in context

The old testament refers to land 2,000 times, and the New Testament 250

The Bible gives loads of instructions on how we are to treat the land, even how we are use the land for agricultural purposes. Read the books of Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy in the context of land and you get a whole new perspective. I have found these books terribly hard to read as most people have, but thinking about the land when reading them you do get alot of insight out of these books.

Questions
1. 'God wants us to put down roots wherever we are, even if it is not the place we have chosen, or even like'. How deep are your roots into your local community and environment? Using Jeremiah 29:4-7, think about how they could grow deeper.
In my local community I suppose my roots are not that deep, even though this is the community that I grew up in and went to primary school in. But both me and my husband have lived in this community in the same way that alot of Christians live on the earth that we are just passing through. I think that we need to do more community things like attending the school carnival, book sale, markets, and buying local produce (olive oil, etc)

2. How far is it right to speak of 'natural' disasters or farming crises as God's judgement upon our sinful behaviour?
In a collective sense, yes. But not on an individual basis or that a community who has been affected by say a flood or devastating fire were sinful and brought it upon themselves that is going too far. But it the way that the whole of humanity has treated and is treating the earth and our relationship with God.

3. In 2 Chronicles 7:12-14, what does God require of the people before he will 'heal' their land? How can we translate this message into today's context of climate of climate change and environmental uncertainty?
Humble themselves, pray, seek the Lords face and turn from their wicked ways. Stop being so selfish and self centred about being able to taken what ever we want whenever we want, pray constantly for guidance and environmental issues and seek the Lord through his word and through teaching at church and most importantly turning from the evil, wickedness of the world.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Happy Easter!

Easter in our household is more than just a long weekend and chocolate.....alot more. For us it is about celebrating the real meaning of Easter, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins and then Him rising again 3 days later. Through this act Jesus Christ paved the way for a repairing of the broken relationship between us and God, and as I have been learning lately between us and creation as well.

We have a tradition to go to a Christian Music festival that is held every year at Easter time, EASTERFEST! OMG! It was so good.......good actually doesn't describe how I felt in the mosh pit screaming and jumping up and down to one of my favorite bands. This as been a tradition for a few years now, go to Toowoomba act like crazy people for three days and come home and sleep. Pretty much every year we discover bands that we have never heard before, I found one that I really like, Article one they have the coolest sound with a violin player who jumps around the stage like a madman! Though not really a particularly relaxing weekend away, it is certainly energising. Best thing is that I totally forgot about my job interviews or that I have been unemployed for 6 months, unfortunately now I am back to the real world. I hope and pray that this feeling of closeness to God lasts beyond Easterfest.

Check out the Easterfest website, they are already putting up stuff for next year. Sign up and you will get updates and will know when tickets go on sale.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Another Group interview.......my tips

Not another group interview! That was so my reaction when I got the email from a stationary store last week. I find this style of interview such an unknown entity, cause you don't know how this are going to go or what you are going to have to do. I have come up with a few tips that should help.

1) Don't stress (obvious I know, but it a group situation your stressing will be noticed and can affect the way that you come across)

2) Be bubbly and out going (essentially this is what employers are looking for in group interviews, personality)

3) Give everything a go & be first (odds on you are not going to be seeing these people again so don't worry about embarrassing yourself, always put your hand up to be first even if you don't get it right you have shown that you are willing to give anything a go and try your hardest)

4) Listen (not only to the person running the interview but to the others in the interview with you, defiantly don't stare out the window waiting for your turn)

5) Be helpful (in group tasks if someone needs help then help them)

6) Lead (At ever opportunity lead the group, leadership also means using every member of a team)

7) Enjoy (smile, laugh and at least look like you are having a good time)

As I said before group interviews are probably the worst type of interview for me because they are sooooo hard to prepare for. Generally the questions you are asked will seem very weird, like what animal you would be and why, favourite color....that sort of thing. The one I had yesterday was all about different group activities in different sized groups and working with the products that the store sells.

Good luck if you are going to a group interview, just believe that you are the right person for the role and you will do just fine.