Christmas in Ausralia on a Scorching Summers Day

Last night we had our Aussie Christmas Carol Service at our church. This is a tradition in our church, on the Monday before Christmas each year we have a carol service that is devoted to Australian Christmas Carols that don't talk about snow. That would be entirely inappropriate as we have Christmas in Summer and even in winter most of Australia doesn't get snow.
We usually do have some traditional carols as well but non of the ones that talk about snow. One of my favourites that we sing is called See The Sun.
See the Sun Leigh Newton © 1988

1. See the sun ride high across the blue,
See the summer eucalyptus hue,
See the jacarandas all in bloom,
Signal Christ will soon be here.

2. See the star that points the way to life,
See the kings who travel through the night,
See young Mary riding in her plight
With the child still in the womb.

3. Praise the child we now await to come,
Praise the boy born as the Father's son,
For this baby is the only one
Who can lead us back to God.

Bridge
But the summer knows that life is cruel;
His pain will not be easy.
When the bushfires roar across this land
His life will then be given.

4. But for now our child will soon be born,
Born our brother in the early morn,
Born a servant who will calm the storm

I like this because it uses Australian imagery that I can relate to at Christmas time, and although I have not been personally affected by bushfires I know people who have and it is a reminder to us of the reason that Christ came which we should remeber even at Christmas.

Another of my favourite Aussie Carols is a more traditional one called A Christmas Lullaby or The Silver Stars
The Silver Stars Are In The Sky
Words John Wheeler Music William G James
The silver stars are in the sky,
The red-gold moon goes riding high,
O, sleep my little one sleep!
Once long ago, against her breast,
A mother rocked her child to rest,
Who was the Prince of Heav'n above,
The Lord of happiness and love.
O, sleep, my little one sleep!

The boobook calls across the night,
The brown moths flutter in the light,
O, sleep, my little one sleep!
In Bethlehem long, long ago,
When roads and paddocks gleam'd with snow;
On this same night, that mother mild,
Lull'd into dreams her royal child.
So, sleep, my little one, sleep!
Sleep ...

I like this one because it also brings in The Aussie imagery and it reminds us that Jesus came as a baby like we did and had a loving family like us.

The service was really good we had glow sticks and it was really fun.
God be with you and your family this Christmas and remember the real meaning of christmas.

Gravity

Let’s start at the beginning of this story
I was just a boy with nowhere to call home

There I was building houses on the sand
I could see that I was only running circles in my mind
It just goes on and on and on until it finally catches up to me
Like gravity it takes me round and turns me upside down

That’s when it all came screaming back

Just like gravity, what draws you to me
Someone I didn’t know I needed
It’s like gravity, and it’s stronger than me
I need you here

There you were in your perfection looking on
You see that I can only run in circles for so long
You just press on and on and on until you finally catch a grip on me
Like gravity you take me down and turn me upside down

That’s when it all came screaming back

Just like gravity, what draws you to me
Someone I didn’t know I needed
It’s like gravity, and it’s stronger than me
I need you here

When will you be able to see past your own hands?
I’m taking down, empty pictures that we used to hold close, before you…

That’s when it all came screaming back

Just like gravity, what draws you to me
Someone I didn’t know I needed
It’s like gravity, and it’s stronger than me
I need you here

Here is a song from anothe of my favourite bands The Fold. I think that this song is about how we go about living our lives the way we do and then we realise that God is there and he pulls us towards him because 'like gravity, [he's] stronger than [us]' and we need him to help us through the things in our lives. We don't always know that we need him but he throws us little things to show us that we do so that we don't become self reliant. But he is always there to help us. Remember this because God loves you.

Seven Ways The Hearts Will Break

Last nigh I also watched The Amazing Race. The race that they're showing at the moment in Australia is the one with the families of four. This morning when I was thinking about it it reminded me of a book that I read when I was younger.
The book was calledRowan of Rin. It is a fantasy book about a village another world, in this village strength and physical ability were the most prided things for people in the village. There was one boy, Rowan, who was weak and didn't have the physical ability of the other people in the village and so his job was to look after the herd of bukshah. One day the water supply for the village stopped flowing down from the mountain into the pond. It was decided that the 6 strongest people should go on a journey up the mountain. They were given a magical map to help them find ther way by the village wise woman and it could only be seen if Rowan was holding it and it oculd not be copied. So Rowan went up the mountain with the others. At certain points in the journey a poem would appear on the blank spots in the map. The first poem in the journey was about them setting on their way and the lines that I can remember from the poem are:
"Seven hearts the journey make
Seven ways the hearts will break"

Now you may ask "How does that remind you of The Amazing Race?
Well here's how it does.
In The Amazing Race there is a family that is a widow and her three kids, now the father was killed in a race track accident cleaning debris off the track and hit by a car, one of the tasks that they had to do on the race was to do a lap around a race track (on party bikes) now they children were saying"[Mummy]we can't do it", but they did it they found an inner strength to do it.
The other thing that happened on The Amazing Race that reminded me of Rowan of Rin was that the fast forward was to do tandem bungee jumping and one of the people in the family was scared of heights and he was saying "I can't do it, I just can't do it" In the end he was able to do the jump.
In Rowan of Rin as the poem prophesied each of the people came up against something that they couldn't face and they gave up except for Rowan he found an inner strength to keep going when he felt like giving up he had the strength to keep going - he had a real strength.

Baby Talk.

Last night on Channel 9 there was a program called Look Who's Talking. It was about the Baby Listener who discovered that babies from the time they're born have different cries with differnt sounds to communicate their needs. She said there are 5 main sounds to listen for with different meanings:
NEH = I'm Hungry
OWH = I'm Tired
EH = Burp Me
ERH = I Have Lower Abdominal Pain
HEH = I Am Uncomfortable - cold, hot, nappy change.
It was interesting and lot's of poeple said that it worked. I dont know my self if it works but it might be useful for me in my shild care work.

Man Of God

Sometimes I'm a liar,
Sometimes I'm a fake.
Sometimes I'm a hypocrite
Everybody hates.

Sometimes I'm a poet,
Sometimes I'm a preacher
Sometimes I watch life go by
sittin' on the bleachers.

But I've never been left alone
in any problem that I've known
Even though I'm to blame
There were times when things were dark
and I've been known to miss the mark
But someone fixed my aim
Sometimes I'm a man of God
Sometimes I'm alright
Sometimes I lay down,
close my eyes and pray to God

Sometimes I don't feel good
It's hard to start the day
It's hard to climb the obstacles
that sometimes come my way

If I make it, I'm a good man,
Am I a bad man if I fail?
I know I'm never good enough
so I let grace prevail

I'm ready for the night
Right now I'm alright
Right now I'm alright
Sometimes I'm alright
I'm alright
I'm alright
Thank God
Thank God

Sometimes I'm a man of God
Sometimes I'm alright
Sometimes I lay down,
close my eyes and pray to God

Sometimes I'm a man of God
Sometimes I'm alright
Sometimes I lay down,
close my eyes and pray to God
I'm ready for the night.

This is a song from another of my favourite bands, the soon to be gone Audio Adrenaline. This speaks to me because It reminds me that no matter what is happening in my life God is still there with me and he'll help me. He's there to help us be more like him. We need to remember him and 'lay down, close [our] eyes and pray to God' so that he can help us and further develop our relationship with him.
God bless you.

The End of Getting Musical

Well you might have guessed from the title that I have finally finished listening to the music on my computer right through.
So let it be known that I finished listening to all the music on 25 November 2006. I don't know how many songs there were because I gave up counting.
It was an interesting experiment and it only took me 1 month and 6 days not bad, hey?

Down in Flames

Christians-- we're all afraid of fire.
We prefer to suck on pacifiers.
Baby pacifists, we're throwing fits.
We don't shake hands, we shake our fists.

We're cannibals.
We watch our brothers fall.
We eat our own, the bones and all.

Finally fell asleep on the plane
to wake to see we're going down in flames.

We're going down, down, down in flames.
We're gonna drown, drown, drown insane.

We see the problem and the risk,
but nothing's solved.
We just say, "Tisk, tisk, tisk,"
and, "Shame, shame, shame."

Finally fell asleep on the plane
to wake to see we're going down in flames.

Let's go!

Christians-- we mourn, the thorn is stuck
in the side of the body watch it self-destruct.
The enemy is much ignored
when we fight this Christian civil war.

We're cannibals.
We watch our brothers fall.
We eat our own, the bones and all.

Finally fell asleep on the plane
to wake to see we're going down in flames.

We're going down, down, down in flames.
We're gonna drown, drown, drown insane.

We see the problem and the risk,
but nothing's solved.
We just say, "Tisk, tisk, tisk,"
and, "Shame, shame, shame."

Finally fell asleep on the plane
to wake to see we're going down in flames.

Na na na na, na na na na.
Na na na na, na na na na.
Na na na na, na na na na.
Na na na na, na na na na.
Na na na na, na na na na.
Na na na na, na na na na.
Na na na na, na na na na.
Bana na na na, na na na

Let me pause to clarify
('cause I'm sure you're asking, "Why?").
I stand before you and proudly claim
to belong to what this song complains.

I'm part of the problem,
I confess,
But I gotta get this off my chest.

Let's extinguish the anguish
for which we're to blame,
and save the world
from going down in flames.

Let me pause to clarify
('cause I'm sure you're asking, "Why?").
I stand before you and proudly claim
to belong to what this song complains.

I'm part of the problem,
I confess,
But I gotta get this off my chest.

Let's extinguish the anguish
for which we're to blame,
and save the world
from going down in flames.

This is a song by one of my favourite bands and I think that what it says is true. Among us Christians we fight so much among ourselves about the things that we don't agree on which are usually the things that are not so important when we should just remember the important things that we do agree on, like that God sent Jesus to save us from our sins so that we can be friends with him again. I guess all our fighting might have a tendency to put others off becoming Christians. We need to 'extinguish the anguish for which we're to blame' and consentrate on the important things so that we 'save the world from going down in flames.
God Bless You All

More Not Happy, Jan

Why am i not happy? Well we have another prac coming up but it happens to be in the last two teaching weeks of the semester. What happens if we get sick and can't make it one day, or more than one day? This is very annoying!! At least the place that I am going for my prac is nice and close to my house, only ten mnutes walk away.

As for getting musical let it be noted that on the 7 November I am up to song 280.

I was on The Bill (Ha ha)

Well I wasn't really on The Bill, it just felt like I was. So what happened? I hear you ask, well I will tell you.
At around 4pm on Friday my dad rang the house to see if everything was ok because he had recieved a message from my sisters mobile asking him to call, we discovered that her phone was missing. While I was talking to my father on the landline I also recieved a message from her phone. I rang the phone and the other person (who was a kid) wanted to sell the phone that they had stolen back to us for $30. So I rang my dad again and told him, He told me to call the cops.
The police came round and got information from me and my sister. They then got me to arrange a meeting with the person. I arranged the meeting to be at Tempe Station and got the cops to go there too. I met the person who had the phone and got it back and was then told to go and wait in the car, while the cops dealt with the person (who turned out to be a girl and I had thought was a boy0. While I was waiting in the car, I heard over the radio that she had a knife on her and so they needed a female police officer to come down to do a more thorough search because all the cops down there were male. A boy also came up while the police where with the girl so I think he was also involved. Well I was glad when it was all over because as much as it reminded me of The Bill all the waiting around was a bit boring.

As to getting musical let it be known that on the 30 October I am up to song 131.

Let's Get Musical!!!

I have 45 hours, 6 minutes and 37 seconds of music copied onto my computer. I usually listen to this music with the songs shuffled, but I have decided to do a little experiment (or a big one or something) to see how long it would take to listen to all the music straight through. I don't mean do nothing but sit at my computer and listen to the music for 45 hours, I mean when ever I turn on mu computer I will play the music and see how many days it takes to get through all the music.
Let It be noted that I have started at song 1 on 19 October 2006.
I think this is another reason why I am crazy (see post entitled I am also crazy)

I've Worked Hard, And I'm Ready For A Long Vacation (Ha ha)

I have got a new job doing more casual work for an agency. I ended up working in Engadine yesterday you know how far away that is, I didn't get home till like 6:45. It's annoying especially when I didn't say that I would work that far away, but I guess they were desperate. Oh well. But anyway on top of everything else there was major trackwork on that line and buses were replacing trains between sutherland and waterfall, adding more excitement to my day.

I'm Also Crazy!!!

I keep telling you that my sister is crazy, well I am crazy too. That's a good thing. I have a theory that everyone is crazy but in different ways. What would the world be like if we were all 'normal'. Pretty boring. We would have nothing to laugh at. The world needs something to laugh at especially in the current climate.
Anyway in what ways am I crazy?
I have an obsession with names and their meanings see www.crazyjedidiah-whatsinaname.blogspot.com.
I collect train tickets (I haven't thrown one out since 1996 or something)
I can't think of anything else at the moment but I will add more as I think of it.

My Sister is DEFINITELY Crazy!!!!!!

My sister had to do an assignment for school. It was to do a science experiment. My sister decided to do an experiment to see if food colouring changes the taste of food. She got the rest of the family to eat different food with and with out food dye on them then and she put so much dye on the foods that we all ended up with blue mouths. She thought it was very funny. It was funny but not as funny as she made out.

Same Old, Same old.

Well my search for employment has returned some fruit, but not entirely what I wanted. I have now got some more work however it is more casual work and what I would like is permanent work. Oh well I guess it is better than nothing and hopefully it willl lead me to some permanent work.

Lawhead v. Marillier.

I enjoy reading books by Stephen Lawhead and books by Juliet Marillier,both of which write historical fiction/fantasy, however in reading books by both of them I have noticed that by beginning at the same kind of place they have come to opposite conclusions about the same thing.
Lawhead is a committed Christian and his books reflect that view point of his - in that in his books no matter what view point his characters start from they always by the end of his books come round to the Christian view point. A lot of books that he has written are concerning druids and there is always a breakaway group of druids who come to Christ.
Marillier on the other hand is not a Christian however she grew up in the anglican church she is in fact now a druid herself. Her books also include druids however coming from her view point druids are opposed to Christianity. In one of her books one of her characters even says that they can't understand why people are turning from the old religions Christianity. Which is in my opinion not at all right because when you think about it the precursor of Christianity was the first religion ever, so in on sense Christianity was Christianity.

Here we go again

I am currently looking for permanent employment. I am having fun at the moment going to interviews. I really hate interviews. I haven't had any for a while. I feel like I always do badly and that it is a waste of everyone's time. I get really nervous and trip of my words. Which is made worse by the fact that I don't like meeting new people very much. THIS makes it doubly hard. I feel like I'm never going to get a job.

My Sister is Crazy

My sister is absolutely crazy she is very obsessed with the fact that we are going to see Pirates of The Caribbean Dead Mans Chest. She is going crazy about it. And she is very excited about it.
I like going to the movies with her becase it's nice to spend time with family. Especially just the two of us girls. We have seen quite a few movies together mostly based on books but one or two not

Not Happy Jan, TAFE on Saturdays

It's disgraceful that I have to go to TAFE on Saturdays even though I don't have to every saturday. Saturdays are for relaxing not for learning. Making Terracotta Pot drums is not going to make up for having to go to TAFE on a saturday. That teacher is like my mum on steroids - even more absolutely obsessed with music and singing (I bet she's another one who breaks into song in the middle of the street) She's even worse than my mother.

Jules is off Dancing on ice Boo Hoo.

Does anyone out there watch Torvill and Deans Dancing on Ice. If you do you would know that Jules Lund was eliminated last night. Very sad. It's not that I'm obsessed with him or anything It's just that he was my favourite on the show. He had so much personality and was so funny he even had a funny nickname - Giraffe on Skates. I will miss him goodbye Jules. I think I'll have to go for Karl or maybe Jake but definitely not LARA uuuggghhh.

White Chocolate Raspberry Bullets

I love licorice bullets and recently discovered raspberry flavoured bullets and they were absolutely delicious. Then the other day I was out shopping and I discovered raspberry bullets that were coated in white chocolate ....................................even more delicious