Its beautiful

Its beautiful, you can turn mistakes to miracles. The way that you still love me after all, Its beautiful.
So help me God forbid I never take for granted this endless love you give.

This song from eleventyseven encouraged me when i made a mistake that hurt someone else, but i God is bigger than my mistakes.

On a bus

Just riding on a bus. Across Thailand, its been more than 7 hours i think there is another 6 to go. Its good though, its the first time i've felt like i've had time to just stop and reflect. Things have been hard preparing for the wedding, but God has got us through so much of it. Yet it seems there are still a couple big road blocks seem to be present. Our bus today had to creep through on coming traffic, as the road had been blocked off. But eventually we got through with several near misses. Feels a bit like the current situation. But i know God will get us through even if its not the route we had expected. Praying for some miracles.

on my way to get beaten

I'm off to ChiangMai tonight which I'm looking forward too, as I haven't been there for a while, and its the place I feel most at home in Thailand, will be going there to meet the Sepak Takraw team which I was a part of starting in Perth, Australia. They have been touring Burma, and I'll be joining them for the rest of the tour of Thailand for the next ten days.

Then will be back to Korat to finish preparing some more things for the wedding. Then off to Bangkok to meet up with my family. Shane and Kim will be down from ChiangRai. Mum, Dad & Sis will be here for Oz. Then its not long till the wedding after that. Things have been pretty crazy busy with that, thus the reason for the lack of updates, also no high speed internet where I am is also another big reason.

Anyways thats all for now...

Fw: His ABSOLUTE protection

This is the email, that i received from my mum about what happened to my sis just a few days ago. God is good

Hi family.
Thought I'd fill you in on how the accident happened (as far as I understand, anyway)
It had been raining, the car slid across the road, starting spinning, and then heading backwards. The only thing that stopped it rolling down the embankment was a very large tree stump that the car crashed into. The car came to rest on its side. The back was pushed right up to the front seats.
After some difficulty and confusion, Camille and Erin got out of the car. There was no phone service in that area, and they were not able to call the emergency services. Everything seemed against them, except for one thing - God is on their side!! Camille heard a car, so she rushed up the embankment to wave it down. The driver caught a glimpse of her arm waving, and of course stopped. He administered first aid, and then sat with them for about an hour while others tried to get phone service to ring an ambulance. When this didn't happen he took them to a hospital, about an hour away. They stayed there the night. Camille had 2 stitches to her forehead and was treated for concussion. Erin was treated for a broken collar-bone. They are both now back home. Camille is bruised and a bit sore. Erin is still in a lot of pain and will need further treatment. I know she would appreciate prayers for her recovery.
Both girls definitely have experienced God's protection in this situation, and for this we give Him praise. He showed me today that it is His ABSOLUTE protection that He offers us. God is good!

Love,
Mum xoxox

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My eat

My favorite donut ever. It has a marshmallow topping

P Benz + P Golf

P Benz + P Golf

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Me

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Random grad pic

My girl at a friends graduation

My girl at a friends graduation

From my phone right now. Well yesterday anyways

My girl

My girl

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out of control

I hear the brakes screaming, I feel the car swerving ... I wake up and instantly I feel my world spinning, it appears as if I'm about to crash, *how stupid I am to have fallen asleep while driving* ... I'm panicking ... I'm helpless ... everything is out of my control and all hope of getting through this time seems to have gone!

then I take another moment to process whats really going on, its not that bad. Its not scary anymore ... the reason being I realize I'm not even the one driving the car, I'm the passenger and the person who made the car is driving. They know the car inside out. Even better than that this driver is also the same person who paved the roads we're driving on.

Why was I scared?

helpless, but not hopeless

I feel so utterly helpless right now, there are way too many things out of my control ... weddings / lack of finances / lack of time / lack of understanding / too many trips to pay for / too many things to organise / too many unknowns.

If I do the maths, it leaves me with negative time, negative money, so it doesn't look like it should work out... and I know I cant make it work... but there's a power greater than mine at work.

God I'm helpless, but thankyou for not leaving me hopeless.

I've had questions, without answers
I've known sorrow, i have known pain
but theres one thing, that i'll cling to
you are faithful, Jesus your true

when hope is lost, i'll call you saviour
when pain surrounds, i'll call you healer
when silence falls, you'll be the song within my heart

lyrics by Tim Hughes

livejournal

Revelation:

Its amazing what you can achieve for God, if you don't care who gets the credit

Prayer:

God all that is good in my life it comes from you, I have nothing to boast in but you. May all know how great you are! Let your strength, beauty, and love shine through my weaknesses.

Soundtrack: Oceans Above - Love break me

Love, break me now
Strip me down
May Your beauty
Deep inside of me resound
Through me be found
Come break me now
Guide me in Your truth
Mold me in your nature
Birth in me a hope
To hold on
Show me how to wait
Teach me how to listen
Be in me the strength

Calendar

The next month is a busy but exciting one

Aug 28 - to Bangkok
Aug 31 - see my darling
Sept 1 - to Chiang Mai
Sept 4 - to Chiang Rai
Sept 8 - brothers wedding
Sept 10 - to Korat
Sept 13 - engagement ceremony
Sept 24 - to Singapore (with Tuu)
Sept 25 - to Oz for a couple months

Unfortunately we only have 20 hours in Sing this time around, but I still want to catch up with as many people as possible, maybe stay up all night drinking kopi and chatting =)

One at a time:

ONE of the MANY
Photo by Kati*

We have a directive from God... a command from Jesus to go out into ALL the world. When you look at that in the light of the current state of the world it can be pretty disheartening, in fact the sheer enormity of the task almost makes you want to give up before you've begun. Its hit me before, even just thinking of Thailand itself I wonder what on earth I can do. Its a mission field, which traditionally has been very hard to see any visible fruits to one's efforts.... Its disheartening sure, but after being encouraged by God its even more exciting! to see God break through! After the past year God has AGAIN dramatically changed my ideas of missions, and even my priorities. It also seems he is continually refining my vision, giving more details as I walk along this path.

I'm convinced that even if I saw just one person come to know God's love during the time I spend in Thailand, even if its a lifetime, it would be all worth it. Jesus came to change the whole world!! but how did he do that? He didn't become a TV evangelist, He decided to impact this world firstly by reaching individuals, by meeting people. In one of my favourite books called "Authentic Relationships" the authors note that we dont have to love everyone! meaning that we aren't called to love, serve, admonish, or share with everyone. Its something we can do for one another, and it works when apllied to one individual at a time. Jesus wants us to demonstrate love freely in the moment with the people we're with.

Ever since meeting Tuu's parents, I've had a desire to spend some time with them. Even live close to them. I see more clearly now the reason God placed that desire on my heart was because God wants us to be able to serve them, to share with them, and to love them. When I think about the possible obstacles in the way it seems like a tough ask. But its not impossible, and I already see glimpses of what will happen when Tuu and I serve in whatever way God asks of us. I know that the impact will be far-reaching, far further than simply the four walls of Tuu's house. The timeframe is unkown to us, the methodology is unkown us, the difficulties and obstacles are yet to appear fully, but at the moment I'm happily ignorant just having to trust in God. If I knew the details I honestly doubt I pursue this crazy idea that we can make a difference in Tuu's house, in her village, in her district, in province of KORAT, and in her the country of Thailand.

I dont believe this is an ambitious hope, its heaven's reality that is just yet to be realized here on earth. Mat 6:10 "May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done here on earth,
just as it is in heaven". We are ALL part of that reality, dont be discouraged by the tasks at hand, dont focus on just what appears to be, but rather on what can be. Place your faith in a God who intends to CHANGE the world, and who intends to us to spark flames wherever we may be.

There is a familiar story of an old scientist lamenting over a large group of starfish that had beached themselves on the shore at high tide. Shocked by the immense need, he stood paralyzed on the beach until he noticed a little boy grabbing starfish and throwing them back into the ocean. Spying on the old man, the boy rushed over and pleaded "Mister, you have to help me, we've got to get these starfish back into the ocean before they die." The boy went over to pick up another one and tossed it back into the waves. "Do you see how many of them there are out here?" the scientist asked scanning the shoreline. "What difference can we make?" The little boy looked down at the starfish in his hand, thought a moment, and finally said, it makes a difference to this one" Then he threw it into the ocean and reached down for another.

Perth Kangaroos

Our takraw team is coming along, we will will be going to Burma and Thailand at the end of year. We hope to be able to do as much as we can while we are there. As far as we can tell no western team is gone to do what we will be doing. Learning their game so we can go and share God's love.

Click the pic to see our team myspace

A song for my girl

...which she can't watch yet as YouTube is blocked in Thailand

For those I haven't told

Its been public knowledge for a while, but for some reason I neglected to blog about it ... IM GETTING MARRIED ... yay!!!

Tuu and I will be having a Thai engagement ceremony in September, the week after my bro gets married in Chiang Rai. At that time I will present half the dowry and all the gold to her parents / grandparents.

After spending a bit of time with her family and organising wedding plans, we will both come back to Australia, so that I can work for a while longer and attempt to save money for the rest of the dowry... saving that much money in a short time doesn't seem possible, so we'll just have to trust God for the impossible.

That will be Tuu's first time to Australia, and I think I'm look forward to it more than her .. hehe. She's a little nervous about the strong Australian accents she will encounter, but I know she will be fine. She can just do what I did when I went to meet her parents and didnt have a clue what they were saying... I just smiled =)

Then after two months Tuu will go back to Thailand, and I will follow shortly after so we can make the final preparations for our wedding which will take place in Korat, Thailand on January 11th 2008. The amount of things that we have to do before that day seem a little bit scary, things get a little more complicated when half the ideas I had about weddings are thrown out the window because of the difference in cultures. Thats ok though it means the wedding be even better, and it is our earnest hope that our wedding will be a reflection of God's goodness to us, and the diversity of the wonderful cultures He has created will shine through. Please pray that God will give us wisdom and favor with Tuu's family as we discuss with them issues such as not participating in the Bhuddist rituals normally associated with Thai weddings. We wish not to offend them, but neither do we want to compromise our beliefs. Praise God He has the answers =)

We were made for this

We were made to be givers not takers. No matter how much we get, no matter how much we take, we will never be satisfied. Something still seems to be missing. That's because God is a giver, not a taker. And because we were made for God, we too are made to be givers, not takers. And that seems flat-out backward to this world of self (Jones, The Backward Life)

Clinging To The Cross

My soul is weak
My heart is numb
I cannot see
But still my hope is found in You
I’ll hold on tightly
You will never let me go
For Jesus, You will never fail
Jesus, You will never fail

Simply to the cross i cling
Letting go of all earthly things
Clinging to the cross
Mercy’s found a way for me
Hope is here as i am free
Jesus, You are all i need
Clinging to the cross

Even darkness is as light to You, my Lord
So light the way and lead me home
To that place where every tear is wiped away
For Jesus, You will never fail
Jesus, You will never fail

Simply to the cross i cling
Letting go of all earthly things
Clinging to the cross
Mercy’s found a way for me
Hope is here as i am free
Jesus, You are all i need
Clinging to the cross

What a Saviour, what a story
You were crucified but now You are alive
So amazing, such a mystery
You were crucified but now You are alive

Simply to the cross i cling
Letting go of all earthly things
Clinging to the cross
Mercy’s found a way for me
Hope is here as i am free
Jesus, You are all i need
Clinging to the cross

[Tim Hughes & Brooke Fraser]

sensible or silly

Isa 55:8 "My thoughts are completely different from yours," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

Question....

Why is "I" the only pronoun in English that is capatilized mid-sentence.
Is it coz I am more important than him or her, or even you!
I know I am important and special, because God made me that way ... but he made you important and special too ... so why the difference ... it bugs me a little.

Tears of the saints

This song is amazing, its hard to listen to this song and not capture the heart of God for the hurting.

Click --> LISTEN HERE

Tears of the Saint
by Leeland

There are many prodigal sons
On our city streets they run
Searching for shelter
There are homes broken down
People’s hopes have fallen to the ground
From failures

This is an emergency!

There are tears from the saints
For the lost and unsaved
We’re crying for them come back home
We’re crying for them come back home
And all your children will stretch out their hands
And pick up the crippled man
Father, we will lead them home
Father, we will lead them home

There are schools full of hatred
Even churches have forsaken
Love and mercy
May we see this generation
In it’s state of desperation
For Your glory

This is an emergency!

Sinner, reach out your hands!
Children in Christ you stand!
Sinner, reach out your hands!
Children in Christ you stand!

And all Your children will stretch out their hands
And pick up the crippled man
Father, we will lead them home
Father, we will lead them home

Thinking Backwards

What if high self-esteem was the curse and low self-esteem was the gift. High self-esteem fuels confidence in ourselves, but low self-esteem propels our need for God.

When we accept that we cannot love God and others on our own, we free ourselves from the struggle, allowing God to rip away any dependence on self (or self-help) and expose our desperate need for God-help and God's powerful love. By faith and dependence on God, he fills us, empowers our love for him, and overflows love for the others. As the apostle John said, "We love because he first loves us"(1John 4:19)

quotes from The Backward Life by Jarod Jones

THE JOURNEY IS WORTH IT - PART 1

These are my sermon notes from last Sunday night, this is the first part and there will be more to come.

journey
1. a traveling from one place to another, often taking a rather long time
2. passage or progress from one stage to another

The journey is basically what happens between leaving somewhere … and arriving somewhere. We take journeys all the time – ferry rides, flights, train trips, bus rides, even walking. Not all journeys are alike. Some of our journeys are interesting, some not so interesting … some short, some long … some exciting, and some exhausting.

In my travels in Thailand and Asia, I’ve had some very interesting journeys. Probably the craziest of them all was in a tuk-tuk. Those things can be scary at the best of times, but this one was exceptionally nuts, as our tuk-tuk driver was drunk, and he decided it would be quicker and easier to weave between the oncoming traffic on the main streets of Bangkok. It was good though, I definitely had a better understanding of God’s protection because of it. There were some fun journeys too, like riding on an elephant… well until the pain set in that is. Oh and there was another journey where I was so sick along the way that I lost control of my bowel movements (but I don’t think I’ll tell you about that one)

As different as all journeys can be, there is something that binds them together, a thread of commonality that runs through them all.

FIRST  - All journeys have a purpose, whether it is to have a holiday, or to experience something new. Maybe the purpose of the journey is simply to get somewhere. All journeys have a purpose. If there was no purpose then what would be the point in taking a journey in the first place? It just doesn’t seem worth it, a waste of time, a waste of energy, a waste of fuel, a waste of money.

SECOND - Just as all journeys have a purpose, they also have a starting point and a destination. The destination may not always be what we expected. There might even be times where we get really lost and end up back where we started, but still there was a starting point and a destination.

THIRD - It might seem obvious, but it is important that in order to reach the destination, a journey must be taken. Unless we attempt the journey we have no chance of getting there. We can’t blink and just arrive, besides we would be missing out on the journey then. I love travelling because often the journey is really interesting, especially the people that you meet along the way. Eliminating the journey would mean missing out on something. Many have even said that the “journey is more important than the destination”.

OUR LIFE
Our life is often referred to as a journey. We call it our Christian walk, and the author of Hebrews even calls it a race. I love the term journey, it really fits. Our life has up and downs, bends and pit holes, jet streams and tubulation … it’s got it all!

The three points that are true of all journeys are also true of our lives
1) It has a purpose
2) It has a starting point and a destination
3) We can only get arrive at the destination via the journey

PART TWO to come: BIBLICAL JOURNEYS

Technorati tags: Sermon Journey

There comes a time

well this is that time... where I will break through the blog drought and make a blog post.

Quick update.
well after getting back from Thailand a month back I ended up with killer tonsilitus that kept me out of action for a while, since then been working alot (for my dad), preparing a sermon (which I gave tonight at church), and playing a bit of Carcassonne (awesome board game)

Home-alone 
Shane and I were home alone for a week, while mum and dad were away, we survived on microwave pizza, pies, and other easy to cook things. Although he did cook up a mean bacon, eggs, tomato brekky. During that time we also had our German friend Sonja (http://sonjajesusfreak.blogspot.com/) and her brother stay with us. That was lots of fun. They've been travelling around WA.

I've got lots more to write... but I should try not to overdo it seen as its been so long.

the ONE ...

Today is a special day, as marks the ONE year anniversary of the day which I stumbled and fumbled over my words as I confessed my love to the ONE I had been praying for, and then after a moment -- seeming like an eternity -- she broke the awkward nervous silence with words to the effect of "mmm I've been wondering... because I feel the same way about you".

On that day we decided both to prayerfully continue our relationship seeking God together for what he had for us as individuals and as a couple, that He would guide and blossom our friendship... and ONE year on from that ONE day I thank God for that friendship, I thank Him for the ONE that He placed in my life, the gorgeous precious angel named Tuu (or Tuli... or Rungtiwa Noonpolkrung). I love you! Happy Anniversary sweety!!

Bits & pieces

thought it was time I gave a bit of random update about things that have been happening in my life.


My last Semester results

I hadn't mentioned anything coz I didn't want to boast, but I realize if I do boast I'm boasting in Christ.

With my last semester at University I did really well. Thanks to God's help and also giving me a new passion for study, I ended up with 4 high distinctions... I also just found out that placed me in the top 1% of all students at Curtin which got me onto the Vice-Chancellor's list. An unexpected blessing!


Meeting the parents...and the dog

well I came to Thailand just before New Years to spend time with Tuu and her family. It was a good time getting to know Tuu's mum, dad, 3 older sisters, and her MANY relatives. It was good going around New Years because there were plenty of parties with lots of food.
After that then I spent about a week learning how to clean and bundle vegetable so Tuu's mum could sell them at the early morning market.

In the end the family wasn't too scary, except for the dog. The dog doesn't like strangers and everyone in the village is scared of him, I was just a little bit too strange for him and he bit me... on the butt. Praise God that the wound wasn't deep, and that he gave me the wisdom to turn around as I saw him coming otherwise the damage would have been worse for sure. I've had 8 injections... and counting. Praise God also that the anti-rabies shot are around $10 each instead of $100 which I think they cost back in Oz.

A Free ride

the other day Tuu and I were trying to get to the market by the usual method ... hitch-hiking. We didn't have to wait long before I saw a red-truck and thought that looks like a good one to try, the truck pulled over after flagging him down... it was a COP ... he was friendly and was only happy to give us a ride. Pretty much anywhere else in the world, and that same situation might end up resulting in an expensive ride to an undesired location ... I LOVE THAILAND.

That day we also decided to goto a waterfall, and really were amazed as God blessed us through other things, like first of providing us a lift to the waterfall with a foreign couple we met just outside of the cafe. The walk is fairly tiring and we've done it a few times, so it was cool to not have to walk this time as I was feeling quite weak that day, getting over some sickness. The strange thing as when they got to the waterfall they decided not to go in and they just turned around and went back to the road, so really there only purpose in going to the waterfall ended up being to send us. Also God absolutely blew me away when we went to pay for the admission and they decided to let me in for Thai price 20baht instead of the foreign price 400baht. Other times I've been there the least I've paid is 100baht. God is good.


ok thats enough for now ...