Hey guys... I haven't made a new post in ages... But I would like... However, I don't know what to talk about... If anyone has some ideas, post them here...

I expect however no real replies, so don't worry if you can't think of anything. It was worth a try nonetheless...

The Bible tells us "There is no-one righteous, not even one. There is no-one who understands, no-one who seeks God, all have turned away" (Romans 3:10-12)... I've never really thought this about the Bible before but is that the understatement of the history of the universe or what...! Well, no. It captures the scene perfectly... We just often fail to grasp how bad we are...

Now I am doing a talk in a couple of weeks time at youth group, and the talk is going to start off with some stuff about war... Now, with teens it is important to keep them engaged, and I thought a few images of war through powerpoint would work quite well as i was talking about it... So I am searching through google... Do a quick search... Find the usual images, some mass graves, children with guns, etc. etc. They are all indeed gruesome pictures and horrible testimonies to the total corruption of mankind, but I was kind of desensitised... I figured, maybe I should go for a tiny bit, not much, but a tiny bit of shock value...

How wrong could I be... Tiny bit... Ha! I did a quick search on the net for things such as child victims of war, or torture victims... You know, I thought there might be a few bad photos that whilst bad, were still alright enough to use... How little I knew... I was instantly bombarded with the worst images I have ever seen in my life... I have seen more mutilated bodies of children, let alone grown men and women then I would ever wish on anyone... There is no limit to the evil we can sink to... How could someone torture an innocent child...? Literally tear one to shreds...? I saw the true effects of what explosions do to people... I saw thousands of decapitated heads lay strewn along the street... Children with no limbs because they had been chopped off... Women and men being raped to death... I don't think I will be able to erase some of those images from my memory... Ever... Some were so bad I won't even mention them... It made me want to be sick, to scream, to cry, to die...

Now logically I have decided to completely remove any shock value from my talk... I am not going to use any images of the victims of war... There is NO WAY IN HELL I would harm the children God has placed under me, let alone anyone else, by subjecting them to this... Forget it... But I personally have seen enough of the dark side of human life to last me forever... And these are JUST still images. They would be NOTHING like real life... I could not imagine the horror that the victims went through... I could not imagine the horror that the survivors go through every night as they try to fall asleep...

No. Man indeed is the worst of all creatures... God made us awesome and powerful. To be instruments of good. To rule the world rightly and justly under Him. But we turned our back on Him... And ever since we have used this great power God has given us to do great evil... And our scientific advancements have meant we simply developed more gruesome and torturous methods of killing each other...

We ARE INDEED a blight on the Earth. Agent Smith got it right in the Matrix when he said we are a parasite, a plague... Any good we may do is greatly outweighed by the constant sin...

God should wipe us all of the planet. It is no more than we deserve... (True, you and I may not have killed people, but we have rejected God and sinned in many other ways, and they are all just as detestable to God...). It would do the planet the world of good (no pun intended) to rid the world of our stench forever...

People in the world cry out for justice... For God to get rid of evil... Be careful what you wish for people... Have a long look at yourself before you ask God to remove all evil from the world... For it would indeed result in every single on of us being smote out of eternity... And indeed, one day God will do this. The Lord Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead... Apocalypse will happen... GOD IS A JUST GOD! He will not let the sins of the world go unpunished... He will not let us get away with all we have done... He will not simply let it slide... He is JUST, it would be UNJUST for Him to ignore our sin like it didn't happen or like it does not matter...

But God is ALSO LOVING. The Bible tells us that God "wants all men to be saved..." (1 Tim 2:4).Whilst He is the good judge that will punish all sin, He is also our loving creator and does not want to have to punish us, but rather that we return to Him...

Obviously, this creates a dilemma... He can't ignore our sins for that is unjust, yet this goes against His desire that we return to Him and be saved...

And ultimately, He has provided this solution for us in the Lord Jesus Christ! Sin needs to be punished. And the punishment for sin has to be death... But that great news is that the Lord Jesus Christ came to take this punishment for us... His entire life "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth" (1 Peter 2:22). In other words, Jesus had no reason to be punished... He was completely innocent. But Jesus took the sins of the world upon Himself... He was mocked, tortured, crucified. He was killed in a terrible way. And worst of all, He was seperated from God, suffering the full wrath of God... Basically, he offered himself as a sacrifice instead of us...

"For Christ died for sins, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God" (1 Peter 1:3). Jesus, the righteous one, died for our sins. He died to take the punishment we deserve. We rightly deserve God's condemnation, but He loves us enough to send His own Son to take our place so that we can be forgiven. All we need to do is trust Jesus...

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). All you have to do is trust Jesus. Accept his sacrifice, his actions, as being the sacrifice for your sins...

All this searching has just reinforced two things... That people are complete and utterly unrighteous, sinful, and deserve to be punished by God... And that God truly is the most loving and awesome God. For how else could one give up your own, innocent Son just to bring such sinful creatures as us a way to come back to Him. Praise be to God the Father and our/my Lord Jesus Christ! Their steadfast love endures forever!

So before I embellish this tale (unintentionally of course) into such a fabrication of lies and deceit that only a few strands of truth remain woven into the story, I would like to tell you of what happened to me on Friday afternoon... A tale of woe and intrigue. A tale of mystery and revenge. A tale of death, life and love. A tale so terrifying that it sends shivers down the very spines you are sure you do not have, such is the ferociousness of its telling. A tale that....

Wait, hang on a minute. I am already embellishing it. No, this will not do. But seriously, there was an interesting development that occurred to me as I walked home from uni on Friday. It is not that amazing but something I would like to share for the records anyway…

In the heat of the midday sun, I walked along the open dirt track between Kingswood Park community centre and my backyard. Beads of sweat slowly rolled down my forehead and the warm breeze dried what remaining moisture remained in my mouth. By a fool’s chance I was wearing a new pair of thongs that day. A pair, which being new, meant that the rubber was slightly to tight on the inside of my shoes and was causing a painful blister on the inside of my left foot. As I shot a quick glance down towards my feet, my right foot stopped suddenly on the ground. There, 5cm from my right foot lay a 2m Eastern Brown snake. If you know anything about snakes (and luckily I know a little) you would also know that the Eastern Brown snake is the second most deadly snake in the WORLD. It has a highly neurotoxic and hemotoxic venom and has killed more Australian’s than any other snake. And worst of all they are vicious when they attack, often biting repeatedly.

It lay there almost invisible if it was not for the slight movement it made as I looked in that general vicinity. Its long, slender brown body lay indistinguishable from the hard, dirt path beneath it.

Now this was probably the 20^th encounter I have had with snakes within my 20 years on this earth. And if experience has taught me anything, it is simply that the best thing to do is stay still… So stay still I did. I had never been previously bitten. And I knew that even it did bite, I was only 100m from home and only a short trip from hospital anyway… I remained perfectly calm, not worried at the slightest, and we stared each other down. Our two bodies faced each other under the glare of a hot sun, reminiscent to every cowboy shootout you have ever scene. I believe we both stood there for about two minutes, with similar thoughts running through our minds. Each of us said to the other “I can kill you… But you can kill me… Hmm… What a dilemma we face”. If it was any other situation both parties would have just turned and went their separate ways, but fate, perchance, did not take into account the close proximity between us (or maybe it did)…

Anyway, I was in the middle of an sms conversation with a dear friend of mine and was getting slightly bored. I was hoping that it would just go away so I slowly got my phone out and started replying to my friends along the lines of “Hey, guess what, there is a snake 5 cm from my foot…”. However, I was quickly in need of changing that to “Hey, a snake is trying to bite me”…

Within a minute, the snake must have felt it was in a no-win situation… The close proximity allowed neither party to retreat safely without risky attack from behind… So all of a sudden the snake reared back in the typical S fashion, flattened its head and starting hissing wildly, similar to the actions of a cobra (and not surprisingly why it is often called the false cobra; along with many Australian brown snakes). Okay, it was getting serious. All of a sudden it lunged and attempted to bite me. I jumped back and swung my backpack in front of me. Luckily it missed and we both calmly retreated in opposite directions. I was lucky that it decided to retreat actually, because they often will chase their victims for many metres so that they can ensure they deliver enough venom through many bites to render their opponent dead…

But anyway, we both left unscathed. I walked home calmly and calmly told everyone what had just happened. It was a funny experience… But I am thankful to not be dead I guess… Would have been a bit of a downer… And anyway, my blood is poisonous enough without your assistance thank you very much Mr Snake!

Well I always find those personality tests interesting. And one of the oldest on the net is the Jung Personality Test. And my profile cam back saying i am introverted, intuitive, feeling and judging (INFJ) in the 4 categories... This type is roughly 2% of the population apparently, placing me in a very small group. Whilst i disagree with some of the outcomes, i guess in the end it is pretty close. Here are some excerpts from my test:

• moderately expressed introvert
  
• moderately expressed intuitive personality
  
• moderately expressed feeling personality
  
• moderately expressed judging personality

Beneath the quiet exterior, INFJs hold deep convictions about the weightier matters of life. Those who are activists -- INFJs gravitate toward such a role -- are there for the cause, not for personal glory or political power.

INFJs are champions of the oppressed and downtrodden. They often are found in the wake of an emergency, rescuing those who are in acute distress. INFJs may fantasize about getting revenge on those who victimize the defenseless. The concept of 'poetic justice' is appealing to the INFJ.

INFJs have a knack for fluency in language and facility in communication. In addition, nonverbal sensitivity enables the INFJ to know and be known by others intimately. Writing, counseling, public service and even politics are areas where INFJs frequently find their niche.

ntroverted intuitives, INFJs enjoy a greater clarity of perception of inner, unconscious processes than all but their INTJ cousins. Just as SP types commune with the object and "live in the here and now" of the physical world, INFJs readily grasp the hidden psychological stimuli behind the more observable dynamics of behavior and affect. Their amazing ability to deduce the inner workings of the mind, will and emotions of others gives INFJs their reputation as prophets and seers.

INFJs, like many other FJ types, find themselves caught between the desire to express their wealth of feelings and moral conclusions about the actions and attitudes of others, and the awareness of the consequences of unbridled candor. Some vent the attending emotions in private, to trusted allies. Such confidants are chosen with care, for INFJs are well aware of the treachery that can reside in the hearts of mortals.

INFJs are deeply concerned about their relations with individuals as well as the state of humanity at large. They are, in fact, sometimes mistaken for extroverts because they appear so outgoing and are so genuinely interested in people -- a product of the Feeling function they most readily show to the world. On the contrary, INFJs are true introverts, who can only be emotionally intimate and fulfilled with a chosen few from among their long-term friends, family, or obvious "soul mates." While instinctively courting the personal and organizational demands continually made upon them by others, at intervals INFJs will suddenly withdraw into themselves, sometimes shutting out even their intimates.

Usually self-expression comes more easily to INFJs on paper, as they tend to have strong writing skills. Since in addition they often possess a strong personal charisma, INFJs are generally well-suited to the "inspirational" professions such as teaching (especially in higher education) and religious leadership.

Counselors can be hard to get to know. They have an unusually rich inner life, but they are reserved and tend not to share their reactions except with those they trust. With their loved ones, certainly, Counselors are not reluctant to express their feelings, their face lighting up with the positive emotions, but darkening like a thunderhead with the negative. Indeed, because of their strong ability to take into themselves the feelings of others, Counselors can be hurt rather easily by those around them, which, perhaps, is one reason why they tend to be private people, mutely withdrawing from human contact.

Famous INFJs: Nathan, prophet of Israel; Mother Teresa of Calcutta; Gandhi...

For full analyses on my personality go to http://typelogic.com/infj.html or http://keirsey.com/personality/nfij.html
--------------------------------------

I hope that explained some of me to you guys... I wonder what those who know me think about... Anywho, i found it interesting, and insightful, and not a crock either (like most personality tests are... this one has a real basis, lol).

"Come Lord Jesus Come". Every few weeks as part of the more traditional family service my church holds, towards the end of one of the prayers comes the line "come Lord Jesus come". And it was a part of the prayer that always got to me. As a Christian, this part has always been a struggle for me in my walk with the Lord Jesus. I know I am to earnestly desire his return, but i do not. I do not eagerly await his return.

As I reflect I can see a multitude of reasons, pretty much all of which are subconscious. Maybe part of me is still too sinfully living for myself and this world. Maybe I am enjoying life too much, having a good time, living it up. That part of me might think, "why would i want Jesus to return; I'm having fun now". In a similar vein, I definetely do not want him to return because of my "sufferings for being a Christian". In Australia, we have it easy as Christians. Sure we get ostracised a bit, and some minor persecution, but all in all it's nothing compared to what the early church went through. They suffered immensely for being a Christian and thus had a major desire for Jesus to return and end their suffering. I know I don't have this motivation.

Some part of me, doesn't want him to return due to the multitude of non-Christians. Part of me, for pure reasons, doesn't want him to return because there are so many people unsaved around me. How, if I believe what I believe, can I desire his return when it will mean eternal judgement and damnation for so many friends and family? The sinful part of me also feels guilt for this, because I know that if Jesus came right now, there would be a multitude of these who I did nothing to warn them about the coming wrath or tell them of the amazing grace and mercy of God. Why would I desire his return when it would mean this. And finally, part of me does not desire Jesus' return because of how sinful I still am. Sure, I know we can never be sinless in this life, we can never be perfect, and that no matter how "good" i get, I will still be nothing in comparison to the glory that is Christ. Yet if he was to return now i would be ashamed of how sinful I am. Sure, i know i am forgiven on account of Jesus' death in my place; i know i am freed from the guilt of sin; i know i have eternal life; i know that God is pleased with me because of Jesus; yet that part of me just wishes i could get a bit better before Jesus returns. That part of me subconsciously thinks "I don't want him to return now, not whilst I am so bad".

Yet in my battle with sin, I have learn a major reason to eagerly desire the return of Christ (and i can thank John Chapman for adding weight to this conviction). And that reason is one of the things that God has promised us. That reason, is perfection.

You know, in the past few weeks i have struggled greatly with sin (well, really my whole Christian life). Christian life is a constant struggle against sin. And you know, it is one I am all too often failing. For me, the hardest thing about Christianity is not just how difficult it is to overcome sin, and how rarely those victories come; but rather, how easily it is to fail and give in, and how regular it occurs. I have sinned against God in word, thought, and deed, and in what I have failed to do. There is constant, deliberate, intentional sin, even though i don't want to. I tell myself over and over "this is the last time, i will never do it again after this", yet the next day I repeat the same sin over and over. And even though I know its wrong, there are sins that I still enjoy doing. I know they are wrong, but they can just feel sooo right. I really do deserve condemnation. It's almost enough to make you want to scream "I give up! God, I can't do it. I can't handle it, even with your help. I am just too sinful. I will never be able to do it, I am not good enough for you". And to be honest, if it wasn't for the grace of God and the fact that it is Him working in me, I would give up. For I am way to sinful to ever please God on my own.

In this battle with sin, I often prayed that God would just take away my sin. That i would just never desire to sin again. That i would never sin again. But it just does not happen. It is impossible. We cannot be perfect... Well, not in this life. But God does promise us something more. He promises us perfection. That is the reason we should long for Jesus return, and it is a reason I know am starting to long for it.

1 John 3:2 says "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is". Similarly, Romans 8:29 says "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers" and Hebrews 12:10 says "Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness".

These are amazing promises to reflect on brothers and sisters. We will one day be perfect! We shall be like Jesus when he returns. We will be conformed to his likeness. We will share in God's holiness. How amazing is that! Never again will we sin. Never again will we be tempted. Never again will we give in to temptation. Never again will we desire sinful things. Sin will literally have no place in our life. We will be sinless, and perfect. We will be just like Christ.

Now that is something I definetely long for. I cannot wait for the day when Jesus returns, for from that moment I will never sin again. Upon the creation of a new heaven and new earth i will be perfect, and be like Jesus Christ. And so will you, if you trust is in Jesus. I long for Jesus to return, and eagerly await it, so that I can be free from sin forever. Free to be perfect. Free to be how God meant for me to be, and has plans for me to be. What a wonderous day that will be. How I long for it.

Yet in the meantime, we need to continue on strong. And by the grace and power of God, I know I will not give up, but strain on towards that perfection, always remembering that goal. The apostle Paul puts it succinctly when he says in Phillipians, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (3:12-14).

We need to continue to strive on towards this perfection. Yes, we will fail; we will sin. But we need to forget that which is behind. We need to forget both our successes AND failings, and remember what Jesus has done for us, relying on him alone, and remembering that we will one day be made perfect like him. Press on towards your perfection. For no matter how far off it seems, no matter how much you think it is impossible, you will get there. I admit i often see others and think "if i could be half as Godly as them I would be happy". But this is wrong. For I will be as perfect as Jesus one day, and so will you. Continue on towards this my brothers and sisters. And if you aren't saved yet, put your trust in Jesus, who died to take the punishment for you, and grant you eternal life and eternal perfection. I know this has not been the most theological or educated discussion I have ever had, and that it seems to cover two seperate topics (longing for Christ and perserverance), but I hope I have encouraged you in your walk with and in Christ. Push on and be strong friends; for perfection awaits you. And for this reason, I now long for Christ, and as always, will continue strong in him.

Dear Lord, thank you for sending Jesus to die for us so that we could be forgiven of our sins, and have a proper relationship with you. Thank you that by him, we can have eternal life and perfection. Lord, help us all to long for this day where we will reach perfection, to long for Christ's return. Yet also help us to continue strong in Christ here and now, pressing on towards the goal, and most of all, always relying on him and trusting in him alone for salvation. Help us fight sin and to not give in to temptation in the here and now, and to remember your grace and respond with repentance and faith when we do sin. I pray that you will work in the hearts of all who read this, and convict them and change them, as well as in me. In the glorious name of Jesus Christ, in whom all our hope lies, I pray. Amen.

I have never really found myself praying about sport so much before. But out at Panthers tonight I prayed for all i was worth.

WE MADE IT!!!!! AUSTRALIA ARE IN THE WORLD CUP!!!

How good was Schwarzer. 2 FANTASTIC saves in the qualifiers. A great goal by Bresciano. Great game by Chippers. And even more superb by Kewell!!! Good coaching by Hiddink.

But most of all, praise God, as He is in control of all things, and He gave us this win!!! It's amazing. I've never hugged so many random people in my life, and unless we win the world cup, I never will.!!!!!

AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL (SOCCER) WILL DOMINATE ONE DAY!!!!! W000000000000TTTTT!!!!!!