A place for my random thoughts, anecdotes and reflections of what I see and experience in this lifetime.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Paperwork, Paperwork

Inundated at work, inundated at home.

30th June stuff to complete, Qld Blue Card Applications and Letters galore.

The tally so far for Blue Cards being held up in processing due to missing information now stands at four (4). This is the first time this has happened, and strangely enough, all the culprits have been male :)

What is frustrating is that 3 out of the 4 forms submitted have been held up due to the applicants not specifying whether they had a middle name or not. All they have been asked to do is sign another form which states 'they do not have a middle name' and then send it straight back.

As for the 1 out of the 4, this person forgot to sign the application form altogether :) oops!

Paperwork aside, it is W's brother's wedding this weekend :)

Friday, June 19, 2009

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

This probably isn't something that I should be bragging about, but it's really made me honestly think alot.

I have recently had to attend 3 funerals in the past month alone; with all 3 being quite different to each other.

Funeral 1- Great Aunt

This was one of W's great aunts, aged 84. She became their maternal grandmother when her sister (W's blood grandmother) passed away 32 years ago. She was probably one of the more vibrant characters I have met from her era. Although she had 2 leaky valves in her heart plus a pacemaker, on Boxing Day about 2 years ago she was seen playing an electric shock game that W's brother had got as a Christmas present. It was on the lowest setting and she was really enjoying it too!

That is to say that her funeral was a rather light-hearted and happy celebration of her life, at the local Uniting Church Hall.

Funeral 2- Client's only son

About 2 weeks later, we got a phone call at work from one of our clients to say that his son had a seizure whilst playing sport with his mates. He was only in his mid 20s, working in the family business and was about to takeover the business in the next 6 to 12 months.

Needless to say that this was a sombre and rather sad affair, with so many young people, family and friends mourning the sudden departure of a young, healthy man who's adult life was only beginning. The funeral was a Catholic one, with the usual bells and smells.

Funeral 3- Workmate's parent-in-law

Just today, I attended the funeral for the mother-in-law of one of my workmates. This was also sombre and grieving due to the fact that she had not been well for a number of years, after suffering a stroke. Whilst the family was not religious in any way, they chose to have a service at the crematorium with a Catholic priest and sung Amazing Grace during the funeral.

The words spoken were based around the notion that Jesus Christ came to die for us and that he loves us and will look out and care for us. After mentioning the Footprints story, the conclusion was that Christ loves us so we ought to love one another.

Thoughts of mine:

- What about sin? How does the understanding of sin change the view of Christ loving us?
- Calvin vs Armenianism (check spelling)
- What is the best way that we as Christians can offer support and prayers to those who do not know the Lord? Especially explaining that there is a Heaven and a Hell?

We share in their grief, but we also need to tell them that there is hope for those who truly believe that Jesus Christ is their Lord, and the foundations of the faith that has been given us.

Friday, June 12, 2009

RICE Brisbane 2009 Goes LIVE Today

Check it out:

http://www.ricebrisbane.org/

6 weeks of craziness is in store.

Pray for the many, many leaders that have been working extremely hard for the past 8 months behind the scenes, to get this up and running today.

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Should I go to a music festival?

I'm in a dilemma....well sort of....but not sure.

Believe it or not I have been following quite closely "Empire of the Sun", an Australian electro-pop duo comprising of 2 men: one from Sleepy Jackson and the other from PNAU.

I've been waiting for their tour announcement for months. Whilst the answer has been provided, the environment of which this is to happen is somewhat not what I expected.

They aren't actually doing a tour, but performing at a music festival later this year called 'Parklife'.

http://www.parklife.com.au/

I'm clearly not a die-hard music guru unlike some people I know, hehe, but when I think of music festivals I think of:

- Young Girls (wearing skimpy tops)
- Young Boys (wearing more sophisticated 'wife-bashers', checking out young girls wearing skimpy tops)
- Sunburn
- Dehydration
- Alcohol (and lots of it)
- Rowdy Crowds

Think Big Day Out, Splendour in the Grass, Sound Relief, Sunset Sounds, V Festival and Good Vibrations.

To sum it up- rather Non-Christian environment.

Being the person that I am I will feel quite out of place, but I would really like to see this group perform live.

*scratches head* What should I do?

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Throat Exercises

I refuse to watch horror or suspense movies, purely on the basis that I'm simply too scared and terrified of blood and guts stuff. I can't scream very well and fake screaming is just wrong :)

This rules out things like Saw, Scream, Nightmare on Elm Street and Final Destination 'type' franchises.

In my younger years I would have also added Doctor Who to that list, purely on the basis of the spooky opening sequence music.

However, the exceptionally brilliant David Tennant has made me realise how great this 'not so little' TV series (first broadcast in the 1960s) is.

I've been slowly working my way through seasons of Mr Tennant's portrayal of the Time Lord, and came across the episode titled "Blink" from Season 3. The crux of the episode was how this bunch of 'Weeping Angel' statues come to life and start stalking you and move closer to you, every time you look away or blink your eyes. Once they reach you then you die.

This is definitely the most terrifying and spookiest episode I've watched yet............to the point that I genuinely screamed 3 times in a row within 10 seconds.

Even after rewinding the 10 seconds so W could see what I was screaming about, I couldn't help it but scream again because the episode was just genuinely creepy to the point of being a suspense movie.

"Whatever you do, Don't Blink. Do not look away from them or they will come for you. No matter what you do, just don't blink. Good luck".