Me, ed sheeran, 5am

The Persuit of Happiness

                                         Get on the happy train

Life is so amazing. I find myself having a few too many cheesy moments walking to uni or going for a run, looking around at the world and thinking "far out, so good!" Or I can be hanging out with my 3 year old nephew, laughing my head off at his hilarious comments and think "kids are so amazing" (classic primary teacher, I know).

On the line of being appreciative, I was listening to a guy called Bill Wiese on Youtube and heard him say something really impacting. He explained that people claim to not want anything to do with God or the 'concept' of God, yet everything good in the world is from God. People often associate God with religion and religious practices, but what we don't consider is everything we enjoy is because of Him as a perfect creator. From the gift of life, breathing, fellowship with others, food, family, music, sun shine to laughing and even human love. Everything good is from above, even the smallest things. Even when people say they want nothing to do with God and choose to live life uncommitted to any kind of solid belief in God, they say this whilst partaking of everything that is from God and an expression goodness. They say this whilst breathing, eating, seeing every colour of the rainbow, interacting with other human beings and enjoying the positive benefits of life.Whether you believe in Him or not, it does not effect the reality that He does exist. Being able to intellectually comprehend the existence of an all powerful, perfect being that has always existed is impossible. The creation of the universe through independently acting random pieces of matter is just as vague and lacking in incontrovertible evidence. Neither can be proven.
The risk is this: 
1. I'm wrong There is so God, no heaven, no hell. We die and go into the ground and the universe continues on forgetting your memory.
2. I'm right. There is a God. There is a heaven and a hell (read this). You end up in Hell.

Hell is simply the absence of God, which is absolute chaos, anarchy hate, destruction and evil (what a revelation!)Just because you can't see something with your eyes doesn't mean it doesn't exist. There's some pretty whack stories out there that'll have you wondering... But if you never want to know, you'll never find out. The complexity of the world and intricate way it functions is too crazy to be coincidental, accidental or by chance. I did about five minutes study on ecosystems for Uni and it blew my mind finding out about how even the slightest change in an ecosystem can completely collapse it.
You have a free will, and I'm such a big believer in allowing people the space to exercise this. But seeming it's my blog, I see no harm in being open to the possibilities of life and the origins of the world. Looking for answers, even if you are skeptical, is taking responsibility for your life and making informed decisions about some big unknowns (death, the idea of eternal life). Don't just say no, because if you're wrong, there might be some pretty detrimental consequences and you may just be kicking yourself. Don't just avoid it because it's confusing, confronting or hard to understand. I always say, if I'm wrong, what harm is there? I live in blissful delusion? If I'm right, what harm is there in not looking into it? A lot of harm.
As you were,
Deb :)

RESPONSIBILITY

You are responsible for where you are at today.

You will be held responsible for what you do or do not do in your life, whether it be good or bad,

In this is justice, perfect justice,

the perfect justice of God.

God gives us the power to act rightly and so to do good,

And He makes this power available to all who call.

For in His power we are strengthened through His strength,

And it is in His might that we are made strong.

In Jesus we have everything.

But it is our responsibility to seek the Lord and to speak to with Him,

To fellowship with Him.

And we start to fellowship with the Lord by studying His Word.

For the Word of God (the Bible) is from the mind of God.

He has given men words to write down in a natural way,

So we may understand,

So that His mind might be made known to us.

If we are open to the Spirit of Truth (the Holy Spirit), He can convict us of that which is truth and that which is a lie.

Men can twist scripture to make it mean anything they like,

But the convicting power of God will convict you of what is truth,

If you are open to it.

If you are not, you "will" not to hear the convicting voice of the Lord.

The Spirit of God will convict you of all truth,

if you "will" to go the Lord's way.

But if you do not, you will not receive anything from the Lord, because you "will", not to receive.

The Lord will never go against your will for He is a God of love,

And love does not force.

Love may command, but love does not demand.

It commands for your sake - for your protection, for your provision.

The Lord tells us we all have a responsibility to answer our calling, our ministry of reconciliation,

By reconciling people back to Himself through sharing and supporting the gospel of Jesus Christ and being led by God's Spirit of Truth.

So the responsibility to answer your calling is yours and yours alone,

And your actions will reveal your answer.

You cannot blame anyone for where you are at,

For it does not matter if people or circumstances have helped you get there.

For God's power has always been available to everyone, whether they be a bond person (a slave) or a free person.

As Christians, we should all be slaves to Christ,

For in this there is freedom and liberty.

The Truth is everywhere, whether you are at the North Pole or the South Pole,

No matter which country you are in, the truth is always there to set people free.

But it is your responsibility to find out, to ask.

So seek the Lord,

With all your heart, with all your being,

While He is there to be found.

(http://lib.crossroadsministries.org.au/?book=responsibility.txt&dir=inspirations)

Useless entertainment

MEANWHILE IN OZ...


Have taken the liberty of downloading all seven seasons of Malcolm in the Middle:
1. I was deprived in not being able to watch this, such hilarity
2. Teaching in (some) public schools actually quite closely resembles Reece, Malcolm and Dewey's shockingly terrible behaviour. I would never have guessed prior to teaching rounds.
2. Reece = familiar older, bad boy, hot brother of your friend....then I Google him to see what he looks like now (I always do that)....
3. Then you somehow find yourself looking at current pics of the spy kids female protagonist, holy smokes

....and the Lizzie Maguire characters....

...awks

Broken friendships

                                                                                          USELESS REVELATIONS # 2
You know those friendships in your past that you occasionally think about and wonder what you would say to them if you knew they would listen for just five minutes?


Not often do I reflect on my past mistakes because it doesn't do much for the present to sit and stare in the rear view mirror for long periods of time, but lately I've wondered... Even those people who say hi to you or like your facebook statuses or wish you a happy birthday...some of them are still people who you wish you could say a whole lot to. As well as those who take out their bow and arrow when you see each other in Kmart...
So To those people whose relationships with me have drifted, broken, slowly burned down or just exploded into a mess of fire and brimstone (I considered writing out some names, but that's probably mildly unwise);



Those moments where you and I and our friendship held by a thread: I truly think I could had have tried harder to rectify the situation.

There is not one old friend on earth that I would not love to reconcile with, including you. I took you for granted. I have so many fantastic memories of us together being stupid and mucking around. Any unnecessary resentment or anger I had about what went wrong I don't feel anymore because I can only think of how much you gave me as a wonderful friend. I take responsibility for what I could have done that I did not do to make the situation better both over the years when were friends and the time that we weren't, and I acknowledge my part in antagonizing the situation. I should have told you what I thought of you: that you were an amazing friend and person who had so much patience for someone like me. Don't change. There's few out there like you.
Past is past but the world doesn't need anymore hate or hurt in it than there already is.




And if you think I might be talking about you then I am.

Xbox

XBOXING WHEN USELESS   

I recently purchased an Xbox 360 which is something I've wanted to do for ages! (I know, I know...a bit slow on the uptake loser). I've never been very good at gaming, despite trying pretty hard (some sad sad times in my life). However, with a few months holidays on my hands I thought I could up my MAD SKILLZ til I was good enough to play with skillfully skilled friends. But I mainly wanted to invest my time into something that I enjoyed doing away from everyone else. Here are some of my recommendations for monkeys who are useless at playing games.

WATCH OUT I'M AN ASSASSIN

This is the sixth game that I've purchased and it's heaps of fun! I bought the first one despite a lot of people saying the second and third are much better. I find as a useless monkey, buying the first editions of adventure or RPGs give me a fighting chance to learn how to fight and survive and get a grip on the story line. It's themes are reasonably subtle but I could imagine a lot of younger people taking on some of the ideas expressed within the game in real life (punishing evil with evil, brotherhoods, anarchists etc), so avoid brainwashing if you can help it! Serving out justice by means of violence is a NO NO kids!
To people who have reasonably average gaming skills, this game is very easy BUT DON'T BE DISCOURAGED! I did find some things tricky to figure out and did die more than a few times, but I've been sticking at it and quite enjoy going on stabbing missions and taking on the identity of an arrogant american member of the brotherhood who likes to disobey the brotherhood's code of assassination! The game gives you missions and isn't all violence and non stop shedding of blood which I appreciate. You are given a variation of missions and I absolutely love climbing up walls, mountains, gates, houses etc. The graphics are pretty good too and the middle eastern location is a nice change! You can ride a horse at some stages which alone makes the game awesome :)

ESCAPE REALITY WITH A BIT OF ROLE PLAY

Fable III was the first game that I purchased after reading up about the most easy and fun role play games that were on the market. As a first game it's fantastic! I like RPGs more than anything, because it gives you a chance to create your own environment and make your own decisions without too much blood and gore. The game finishes much too quickly and I can't wait to hook up my xbox to xbox live so I can do missions with other people! I spent a few days straight (with sleep of course) playing this, getting a wife, having children and accumulating wealth and status. There's a huge variation of missions and activities to complete throughout the game and you can choose to be a moral person or a less merciful person which is cool. Most serious gamers will tell you that it's boring and it will only be boring if you a more inclined towards shooting, stabbing and throttling people. I tried to play with someone else but all their character was allowed to do was shadow me and do whatever I did with no added effect (YAWN).

GIRLS CAN DO IT TOO

I was about to buy dragon age when my sister convinced me to get this. I'm yet to play dragon age so I'm unsure as to whether I made a regretful mistake (dramatic language). I very much enjoy the graphics of this game and the anime style characters (the girls are very thin and very attractive and wear awesome outfits which is by no means relevant to any kind of reality you stupid stupid boys). I love playing a female character but she's a bit of a sook which takes the WOMAN POWER edge off a bit! I like aspects of the game which includes the fighting, which is not too difficult or too fast, and the fact that you get a score out of five stars after every battle encounter (this helps me gauge my uselessness which is apparently not that useless). The game is a bit too controlling for my liking and does not allow you to roam freely, but stops and starts with new instructions and film style clips of the story line ALL DE TIME. I haven't put too much time into this game (several hours) so might find it more enjoyable as I go along. I've gotten to the point where I'm able to move between different portals which might be interesting but I'm kind of sick of being forced to fight robots and monsters SIGH. 

QUICK GET THE KIDS OVER

So this one (Viva Pinata: Party Animals) is a Mario Party style multiplayer game, with a maximum option of four players. This is fantastic to play with friends or kids, with a massive range of mini games included in each competition. Every time I have played there has been a completely different set of mini games in the competition. You can put it on easy or hard which is awesome. The mini games are really creative and allow for people to excel in certain skills more than others, which balances out the competitors. The song is fair catchy too haha! It's a really cheap game to find (EB sells it for like $10) so is totally worth having on the shelf for babysitting time or sleepovers with equally useless gamer monkeys as you!

ESCAPE PRISON AND BECOME A MASTER OF THE BLADE OR MAGIC OR BEING STEALTHY OR WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT REALLY

I'm a little undecided about this one (Oblivion: Elder Scrolls IV) and am not sure if I should have gone with an earlier edition of the game or if I should have just bought Skyrim. However, I still recommend it for those who like a mix of killing, wielding swords and magic and running around completing other missions. The start of the game is rather gloomy and there's a lot of rat killing underground but DON'T WORRY, you get out soon enough so don't quit! There's quite a few elements to the game which includes a rather large menu box with weapons, skills, accumulated stuff and what not. You get to develop your own character and choose his/her set of skills. You can major in physical combat, magic or a load of other things. It's good to Google before you choose to find out the best skills to choose in order to help you survive (well in my case anyway). I haven't got heaps far so I'm yet to decide whether I like it or not. I do like the fact that I'm not constantly told what to do or stopped by elaborate animated mini movies about my past memories of evil overtaking the land (reference to final fantasy!)

I've bought a few other games but nothing that I've been too impressed with. The end

USELESS REVELATIONS #1

Friendship is a two way street...someone very smart once said. Sometimes you gotta put yourself out there and hope for the best! Let them do with your efforts what they see fit. People are so strange, they are rarely predictable. I try not to push a relationship with someone if they only think to text me once in a blue moon or treat random girls they're interested in better than the friendship they have with you or can't make the time. And then some people just don't like you that much!