Upending things January 28, 2010

It’s 11pm, and maybe that is affecting my thoughts. But also, I have been wondering some of these things for a while, so it’s not just midnight insanity.

I am going to try not to Facebook with people I can actually talk to. I don’t want it to be an excuse to distance myself from people, I’d rather use it to facilitate things and connect me with people I wouldn’t see otherwise

I am going to give the blogging thing a break for a while, I’m not totally sure why I am blogging or whether I need to write things for a largely unknown audience. I may come back. I may even forget that I have decided to give it a break.

I am going to also try to drink 2 glasses of water first thing in the morning, it is probably good for me to do that.

So thanks for being a part of the blog part of my world in case this is the last post from me.

Triple J’s Hottest 100 2009 January 26, 2010

I feel this is my duty each year, to inform you of the top 10 songs in the world’s biggest music countdown. Yesterday was the Triple J Hottest 100 songs for 2009, though I often feel like calling it the 2010 Hottest 100…anyway. Here is the top 10

Hottest 100 2009
#1. Mumford & Sons – Little Lion Man
#2. Art vs. Science – Parlez Vous Francais?
#3. Hilltop Hoods – Chase That Feeling
#4. Phoenix – Lisztomania
#5. Bluejuice – Broken Leg
#6. La Roux – Bulletproof
#7. Lisa Mitchell – Coin Laundry
#8. Lily Allen – Not Fair
#9. Muse – Uprising
#10. Florence + the Machine – Dog Days Are Over

A little surprising would be my summation. I do totally love Little Lion Man, and had no idea it was such a popular song. I had always thought about adding it to my cafe set when I get back into doing those sort of gigs. I would do the radio version rather than the unedited. In some songs, such as Paul Kelly’s “every F’n City” I think the F bomb is dropped to poetic effect. But in Little Lion Man I actually think they could do without it and the song would still hold together just as well.

I don’t know that many of the songs, and I am totally surprised Bullet Proof made #06, it seems a lot like a 104.1 song rather than a 105.7 song to me. Muse were a deserving top 10 though, as were Hilltop Hoods.

Would love to hear any thoughts if you had them. The full list can be found here, which includes 3 songs from Flight of the Conchords-class!

Connecting my past and my present January 16, 2010

When I was 16 or 17 I went on a Rotary Exchange to Gloucester for a week. I went with a guy named Todd, who I can’t remember much else about. I have never had anything to do with Rotary so don’t know how it happened, but I did like the idea of being a farmer. So the idea of being on a farm for a week sounded good. Well, in short, the bubble burst when I had to be a farmer coz I realised I sucked at it, but I still loved the place.

Anyway, I’d been meaning to go and say hello since we started coming up here. I wondered if I’d remember the place, the people, and if they’d remember me. I finally got round to it yesterday.

You can’t actually see the house from here, but John and Wendy would be embarrassed if I showed you anyway coz it’s mid renovation. But this is their neighbourhood. It’s about 15 mins from my place. I was actually a bit nervous to go there, wondering if they had any memories, of if they did whether they remembered how rubbish a farmer I was. But it was amazing, John loved seeing us and he loved Xavie. As we left he said to Xave “do you like sausages?”….Xave salivated. He opened a chest freezer and I’m pretty sure what used to be a cow was there, in the form of sausages and mince and roast meat. We left with a few kilos of real sausages, looking forward to sharing them with my father in law when he comes up tomorrow.

Only 3 days til we leave this place for a while. I will miss Gloucester. I am also looking forward to God’s plans for us this year in Sydney.

New Opportunities January 12, 2010

SONset, our evening church service, kicked off for the year last Sunday. I spoke on New Opportunities, and how often the destination looks nothing like the journey. That was the case with Moses and Israel when they left slavery in Egypt. And I reckon it is sometimes the same with us when we seek to leave slavery to different things and find freedom. It may be a battle, it may be a lot more messy before it gets “clean”. but it is worth it.

The whole new year, new beginning idea is behind doing a series called “New”. I know that a new year is nothing in reality, but I think it presents a window for change and growth, and these are worth taking whenever they appear.

So for me, I write a mission statement at the start of the year (“it’s not a memo”) with some Bible verses and challenges. Some are deep and some are shallow. Like I want to learn how to make gyozo this year. And I want my 10th year of marriage to be a wonderful celebration and commitment and re-commitment time to Sare.

Early days at the Gloucester house

It takes courage to step out into a new journey, sometimes takes forgiveness of yourself and others, and for me especially I need to lay down my preconceptions of what I can and cannot do, and just have a go. So that’s what I’m gonna step out into. I have some crazy ideas, which I will tell you more about as things become clearer. But in the main this year is going to be about coming back to Sydney and leaving this place which we will have just finished painting. Not sure what God has in store, but I reckon it will be good.

He’s just not that into you January 7, 2010

I got given this dvd as a Christmas or birthday pressie, so we watched it last night. I am not going to even elaborate. I will just say, RUN AWAY! It was more than a bad movie, it was a negative and unhelpful reflection on life and love, and wasn’t funny. Lots of well known names in there, blah blah blah.

Forgiveness through a Father’s eyes January 4, 2010

I was thinking yesterday about the part where Jesus says “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”

it’s amazing that sometimes you can read something and miss what it’s actually saying for a long time. I’m also reading The Shack at the moment (life changing book btw, really drew me into relationship with God again in a gooooood way). So with that book’s view of “Papa” and also Mack’s protective love for his own daughter, and also my own grid as a dad, I thought about this verse.

I would need a lot of help to forgive someone if they killed my boy. I love him so much. I know people who are walking through this exact situation at the moment. And suddenly I realised that was what God the father was walking through as Jesus was lead to the cross. They were killing his son. And he says “Dad forgive them”. I love what this tells me about God the father, and the nature of the Trinity. God did not lightly send Jesus to die, not callously as if He were uninvolved. i wonder if Jesus was speaking peace to his Father in this torment?

Just another way for me that I see thsi life with God is so much more beautiful than a life philosophy or religion could ever be.