A Fallen Man's Praise

Wow striking the keys to this keyboard sure seems so unfamiliar. Then again, I haven't been home for far too long as I'd like.

These past few weeks have been as close to the jetset lifestyle as I can get. Or maybe trainset.

Adelaide to Canberra to Melbourne to Adelaide to Melbourne to Sydney to Melbourne to Adelaide. 20 hours on trains, 6 hours on planes, thats more than a day gone just being on the road.

But i really enjoyed my travels, not so much for the destinations and the foreign locales, but for the people that I traveled with and met on my journey. I'm pretty much one month shy of being away from home and the reality of it all kinda hit around Christmas when I realized this was the first Christmas I would spend away from friends I call my family. Pictures on Facebook were cool, just that I wasn't in them, in fact I haven't been in their facebook pictures for nearly a year now, which is a little weird to put it bluntly.

Melbourne was heaps fun, the first leg because I got to hang out with David and Sunny together. It was so funny seeing David at his place for the first time. Amanda Tham walked me up to their place and I walked into the door seeing him on his laptop, I said hey, he said hey and it felt like no time had passed at all. I thought that was really cool and affirmed my believe that distance can be overcome and compensated for. Being in the British Pub drinking and chatting with them would be the highlight of my trip. When men get together and do manly stuff like talk about life and whatnot.

Christmas was incredible. Spent it in Sydney with Anne and her family(shut up Sunny, shut up) and although the weather was crap(read: it was drizzly from the moment i touched down to the moment I left) and I caught a bad cold from getting drenched in the rain it was great. This pretty much sums up the entirety of my year. The best part of my Sydney trip was not going to the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, getting lost in the streets of cosmopolitan and highly dense city that is Sydney, it wasn't even the fact that I was holidaying with Anne but it was because God delivered the biggest slap I've had in my life. Right to my face. Point blank. Without warning. It came, like a proverbial slap from up above. It stung, oh boy did it sting like hell, I had it coming but well... I was never happier it happened.

See, on Boxing Day me and Anne stayed up till about 5-ish am just talking about our day and stuff. One thing she didn't appreciate was my usage of swear words and we were talking and debating about it. Which is fine because it happens all the time. I've been cautioned, sternly warned and rebuked by heaps of people because of my liberal usage of words that are deemed unfit by society too many times, if someone doesn't tell me to get in line, something's amiss. Never by God till that day. So after heartily talking about it and stuff the next day was church at Hillsong. You can probably guess where I'm heading but the message that was preached was... hey what'dya know, it was about language.

I've been slapped many times this year. This takes the cake.

Seriously, I was just rooted to the spot, dumbfounded by what just happened. So yeah that was a tough pill to swallow but at the end of it, it was the highlight of my trip, God coming through to me in such an incredible, personal and powerful way. After the service I had to rush to the airport which meant a bus ride to Central Station and train ride to the Airport, I didn't have my earphones... so there was a lot of thinking and mulling over to do on the way.

This is why I love what me and Anne somehow have. The reason I thank God for her and us constantly. I love that for all the silly shenanigans that we get up to, jokes aside, God is in our relationship and he directs us. This is why I'm so in love with her, because I know that whatever happens, my first love is also present and His position is far from being compromised. This is why I can point to her and say, "yup, she's the one".

Anyhoo, yeah Sydney was good, very scenic and stuff. Would've appreciated better weather, but I take what I can get. And Boxing Day Sales? Insanity would not even come close to describe the madness that went on the 26th. We went shopping for like, 8 hours? I got a lot of cool stuff which is always nice, but really, the disgusting amount of people at Pitt St Mall, lines everywhere, lines to try on stuff, lines to pay for stuff, lines to even choose merchandise was crazy. A huge line to get into Myer. Good experience though!

Oh and the only thing this Christmas that was familiar was my Christmas Blend from Starbucks :)



Tomorrow's New Year's Eve and this blog needs a change of name, as per usual.


Listenin' to : Speeding Cars by Imogen Heap

Loop De Loop

I've been looping this the whole night. Hum dee dum.

Tomorrow is good. Why? Because you'll be there :)

Next Wednesday I'm off again. I hope it works out and I won't be left on the street.

Can you wrap your life up in bubble wrap?

The trip to Canberra and Melbourne was good.

One thing I've noticed about myself when I'm under a tight deadline, like if there's a production, event or impending assignment due date coming up, I see everything in days. Time slows to almost a crawl, and I see everything in days which helps me to better organize and plan out my time remaining.

I'm going to be leaving Adelaide for good on the 10th of January.

Idon't see everything in days anymore.

I see my time in hours.

For the first time in my life, I understand the value of each hour.

Listenin' to : Speeding Cars by Imogen Heap

there there baby its just text book stuff
it's in the ABC of growing up

Better to die of thirst than drink from the cup of mediocrity.

On so many occasions I've felt powerless. Weak, feeble, stuck in a perpetual rut. I've never been able to exercise much self control in my life and for all the battles I've won, there was at least a hundred where I've fallen.

The most amazing thing to happen to me this year is contrary to popular belief, not meeting Anne but regaining a part of myself that I've severely doubted I would be able to recover. To be able to reclaim so much lost ground in my life, to be able to be free and really be free from possibly the ugliest part of me has just been such a tremendous tremendous experience.

Pastor Mark's message on Sunday about our old selves who die when we forge a relationship with Jesus and suddenly being able to find a new nature within, something that was never there from the beginning but after being born again cannot be denied spoke oodles to me.

The sermon on Sunday really imparted so much life into me. I was dying a little, like how Pastor Ashley spoke about diagnosing ourselves, whenever we fail to receive fresh revelation from up above we start to perish slowly but surely. I was in danger of that and was struggling so hard because I knew that I was treading on thin ice. A good word always does that for you, it leaves you leaving church feeling well fed, and you know that you have sustenance to give you strength and help you go through the coming days. Because more often than not, and I swear I've been observing this trend in my life one too many times that after you receive such a huge care package from God, next thing you know you find yourself in the desert having to stare down the ancient enemy.

But this year, its been different. I am no longer the same person I was, and now I recognize who is He who dwells within me. I am now aware that salvation is not something you ask for again and again but it is something that has already been done. I am now alive.

Listenin' to : Come Holy Spirit by Planetshakers

Solitude. Altitude. Intrude. Exude. Dude!

Tomorrow. Climb mountain.

Today I Learned A Red Alarm Clock Is A Synonym For Rooster :D

Edward Cullen isn't even half the vampire Bill Nighy was.

And for the record, Brian Littrel is a hotter werewolf in the Everybody (Backstreet's Back) music video than Taylor Lautner could ever be.

Wham's Last Christmas is still the best version ever.

Game. On.

Was talking to Aunty Jo earlier. She audited me for a bit. It can be done. It can be done. It can be done.

No One Gets Ahead On Their Behind

I like that I have post-its littered around my room, not to remind me of bills to pay, travel plans or stuff to do, but that remind me of you.

I like that your text messages make me smile.

I like the fact that when I look at my watch, it doesn't tell me the time as much as it tells me how soon I will get to see you next.

I like the snatches of your scent that arrest me in the most random moments and places in my room.

I like that when I close my eyes, that smile(you know which one) is all I see.