8 days and counting....

Gee it's been a while... I dont blog when i get busy...
At the moment this is the calm before the storm though...

So big news... In 8 days... The Eastwood clinic I work at will be MINE!! I will own it!!
What a scary thought... and all i've been doing for the last 6 weeks has been running around getting a loan, getting contracts drawn up, interviewing for an associate to work with me.

So exciting but so scary at the same time. I just pray for God's guidance and provision at this time cos I have noooo idea what is going to happen. If you're reading this... please pray for me!

Quad Biking is fun!!!

Feb 18th: Quad Biking at Stockton dunes, Anna Bay

Heaps and heaps of fun!!

I must admit i was pretty scared at first... Going down hills, ur meant to just go straight down and not try to go down diagonally. Just lock ur back brakes and go straight down... soooo scary... but major adrenaline rush.

It was fun in the end... My major accomplishment was to roll my quadbike... how did i manage it?? Well... i was hooning around the sand dunes... and all the sand looks the same really... sometimes it's hard to see the contours... So i was going really really fast and didnt realise infront of me was a straight drop... So i managed to go flying off a straight drop. My mind wasnt thinking well enough to jam on the back brakes so... but anyway... i hit the dune nose first... got flung off my bike... it went rolling... i went rolling and it landed semi on top of me at the bottom... Felt like such a fool... but i guess u gotta have those kinda accidents to make it all memorable...

Anyway if ur reading... dont be put off... it's mad fun!! I'd go again!

The group of us that went up... i got the blue bike!!

A posed photo at the meeting place before our quadbike ride. I thought it looked cool...

Quad Biking is fun!!!

Feb 18th: Quad Biking at Stockton dunes, Anna Bay

Heaps and heaps of fun!!
I must admit i was pretty scared at first...
Going down hills, ur meant to just go straight down and not try to go down diagonally. Just lock ur back brakes and go straight down... soooo scary... but major adrenaline rush. It was fun in the end...

My major accomplishment was to roll my quadbike... how did i manage it??
Well... i was hooning around the sand dunes... and all the sand looks the same really... sometimes it's hard to see the contours...
So i was going really really fast and didnt realise infront of me was a straight drop... So i managed to go flying off a straight drop. My mind wasnt thinking well enough to jam on the back brakes so... but anyway... i hit the dune nose first... got flung off my bike... it went rolling... i went rolling and it landed semi on top of me at the bottom... Felt like such a fool... but i guess u gotta have those kinda accidents to make it all memorable...

Anyway if ur reading... dont be put off... it's mad fun!! I'd go again!

Melbourne... a month later...

Well it's well into the new year now...
I've kinda been either busy or lazy so havent posted for a while.

So... what's been happening...

Well in January I went to Melbourne for a week. This is my week:

Sat 13th Jan: Flew down on a saturday morning, dropped bags and checked into the hotel and then went straight to Kooyong for the final of the AAMI classic.
My favourite player has been Andy Roddick for a while and so it was good to be able to see him play Roger Federer in the final.
Erica (my friend whom i went to melb with) likes Safin and we were both treated cos we got to see the play-off for 3rd and 4th between Andy Murray of England and Marat Safin.
Was a great day cos Andy beat Roger in 3 exciting sets.

Sunday we went to Victoria markets where i bought heaps of earrings!! Walked around melbourne city and Docklands for a bit and then went to dinner at the Sofitel.

The restaurant at the Sofitel is on the 35th floor and boasts a really nice view over the Yarra and tennis centre, MCG etc... Also nice that I get 50% off there so i ordered the seafood platter... mmmmmm!!


Monday - at the tennis. Took heaps of photos... First match was Mauresmo and then Roger played. Since i'd seen them before, i wasnt really that fussed and didnt really stay in centre court. Went to go cheer on Ai Sugiyama who is a Japanese player i know from when i worked at the tennis... she's prob the only player that remembers me from my days at the tennis. Sat with a bunch of Japanese ppl and i think i might have been one of only a few that called out encouragement while she was playing... the Japanese ppl just sit there politely and watch. On the other hand, the swedish supports (her opponent was swedish) were very vocal!

Went round the centre collecting various freebies... It was nice to have an American express card cos u get a free radio and also free frappes in the AMEX marquee. It would come in handy the next day when i kept going back every hour for a free drink cos it was 40 degrees.

Mon night we went to Lygon st for pasta!! yummmm. there's also this lolly shop that has all kinds of unusual lollies... yummmm.

Tue went to the tennis again. Funny story... a girl was walking up some stairs and suddenly one of her thongs came off. The stairs are badly designed and she unluckily flung her thong between the stairs to the area below... which nobody could seem to get to. At around the same time... i happened to drop my program between the stairs too! So... off to ask somebody in security to help. But i was chatting to the event staff person who helped us and mentioned i used to work at the tennis in sydney... she was really nice... and i dont know how i got the info but she ended up telling me where all the important players would be that day... like when they had booked practise courts and which court they would be on at what time. Handy info to know... took heaps more photos.


Wed... no tennis... had lunch at Fifteen, which is Jamie Oliver's restaurant - the one that has been on TV... What can i say... big plate, little food. Think I paid $40 for an entree and dessert. The service was great and the staff were so polite and even offered to take photos for us.
Trev calls Fifteen "the zoo" because "you're only going there to eat so you can see the 'freaks' (his words) that work there". I think i can say i've been there but i prob wouldnt go back.



Caught up with Cath Wan at night... it's been yonks since i've seen her... had tapas and then went out for coffee. Great to catch up!

Thursday... sleep in day... no tennis today either... but lots of shopping. It's amazing how Melbourne weather changes... on tuesday it was like 40 degrees, wed 20 degrees - freezing cold and rainy. Thursday was rainy in patches. Went down to Bridge St. which is where the factory outlets are... bought lots but mainly presents for upcoming b'days and things like that.

Friday.. went shopping again... hey melb is good for shopping... this time chapel st. It's factory outlets again but more upmarket clothing brands. Not as many bargains. At night went to the tennis. I've been a bit disappointed at not seeing Andy at all at the Aust open... he played on the Vodafone arena on the first day and we only had tix to the Rod Laver Arena. So... was great that the match we got to see at night was... Roddick vs Safin... My favourite vs Erica's favourite... was gonna be interesting... although now i think she's an andy fan... a convert!! And andy won!! GO ANDY!

Sat 20th Jan... slept in and then wandered around melb city for a bit. More shopping in the city before going to the airport and flying home...

James Blake


Roger Federer


Rafa Nadal

U2 Concert - Sydney 11th November 2006

Last saturday, I went to the U2 concert!!

I remember queuing up to get tickets at like 5am cos the first concert sold out within an hr. Was really desperate to go cos i dont know that they will tour again... or if they do... i might be past it with going to concerts...

They certainly dont disappoint. I was told by some friends who went the night before that it was awesome... and it really was AWESOME...

I dont know what it is that made it so good... maybe the 70000+ crowd, the buzz and energy around the stadium... or the fact that it was kinda the anticipation as i'd waited a yr since buying the tickets...

I must admit that they sound great live too... some musicians have great cd's but when the play live, the sound isnt great.... U2 certainly didnt disappoint me...

ARGH... AWESOME... i dunno what else to say... except i wish i could go to their last concert in Hawaii... would be great and they have pearl jam opening there too... wow...

Just had to add some pics from the concert. If you want to see the full photo album then email me for an invite!

Sometimes you cant make it... on your own...

No to poverty and persecution...

We need love & peace...

One...

Zoo station

Massage therapy

I'm gonna be contraversial and give you an opinion...

Last monday (2 mondays ago) there was a story on Today Tonight about this girl named Asha who had a stroke which she and her family are blaming on a massage she received the week before. I must admit, I have compassion but the way her story was done... it really infuriates me.

I've had a few conversations with people since, especially massage therapists as it seems to put their profession in bad light. Basically this is my understanding and my opinion on the matter but i think it's a professional opinion.

I'll outline the story as told on Today Tonight (which is a dodgy show anyway). Basically Asha had a 15 min corporate massage at work by a qualified massage therapist. The massage was on Thursday. She was a little sore after the massage. Through the course of the weekend she began to exhibit neurological symptoms such as sluggishness, dizziness. On Monday she had a stroke and remains hospitalised because of the neurological damage.

Today Tonight cited that the doctor said the stroke was caused by pressure on blood vessels supplying the brain that were damaged by the massage. However, the doctor refused to make any comment on camera... how dodgy is that... i mean if you're gonna say something then support it with a specialist agreeing with it.

I have major problems about how the situation is being handled... If they are blaming the massage therapist, then why are they not sueing him? They have set up a website that asks for donations to help. While admirable, i cant help feeling that the whole today tonight thing was just more publicity and all they're really after is money.

Vertebral artery dissection is probably a 1 in a billion for a massage therapist (risk factor for a chiropractic manipulation for causing a CVA (stroke) is like 1 in 25million.) Chances are that Asha would have had her CVA whilst looking up at the sky or sitting in a hairdresser's chair. Just very unlucky for the massage therapist... still the massage was thur and the stroke was monday...

I feel for Asha but i dont really agree with the parents methods of raising money. I dont feel inclined to donate as i just feel they are slagging the massage therapist, pointing fingers and scare mongering.

Epiphone Les Paul

Well I havent written for a while but there hasnt been much interesting to tell...
But... last week... i bought a new guitar... and what a dilema...

Basically been looking at buying a new guitar for a while... was looking at the Epiphone SG... it looks wicked in white... in black it's kinda a really rock guitar but in white... looks great for a girl... so i was chasing after a white one around australia.

Anyway... after looking for this guitar for a while... and stores saying they could order it in for me... i by chance saw another epiphone... the LP100!!! wow...

So after spending all this time trying to find a SG... i ended up buying a LP!!!

mmmmm love my new guitar...

The SG


The Les Paul

Dayspring

Last sunday I visited a penticostal church in Castle Hill called Dayspring.
I guess i was just visiting because i was curious. I have been to Hillsong before and i just wanted to see what it is like at Dayspring.

I was surprised to bump into a few people i already knew from Mac uni and also CCC milson's point. These are some generalisations and impressions so they're a point of view or opinion.... if you are reading this then understand that it is from my point of view and that it may be different to what you may think.

I thank God for the experience because it actually was what i needed at the time and God really did speak to me.

First thing i noticed when i got there was that the layout was cafe style - tables and chairs around... with coffee and biscuits. Very casual. They start their service with singing. I must admit that the singing really did blow me away. I think it's great to sing praise to God and sing fervourently (is that a word?) from your heart. I think that sometimes at more traditional churches we dont clap and really sing with passion. I looked around and thought... "wow... this is a slice of heaven, God's people singing His praises - singing loudly and passionately..." i'm looking forward to that!!

The message was in a format a little different to that which i am used to. I guess at evangelical churches... we describe it as exegetical where we have a passage explained (sometimes we have topicals too). Dayspring emphases the role of the Spirit in our lives and that came out in the message. The speaker talked about living our lives according to the spirit. That as humans we are mind, body and spirit. Dont discount the guidance that the spirit gives in our lives. There were points i didnt agree with... i could understand his point but didnt totally agree or didnt agree with the way it was put.

Why the sermon hit me... I guess i've been feeling very exhausted in ministry at my church. I felt like i pour my heart and soul into what i'm doing but i guess i was getting quite discouraged by the fact that people really didnt seem to be affected in their lives. I guess i just felt so ineffective in encouraging people and that's just been so draining.

What Dayspring made me realise is that God is sufficient for me. God's love is sufficient for me. There are many missionaries overseas who never see the fruit of their labour. God's spirit and word sustains them... not the people they're ministering to or the people who are supporting them.

I guess it's given me courage... to go back to my church and just keep going (cos over the past yr i'd been looking at changing churches) . I know that God's spirit is with me and his grace is enough to fill me. When ministry is exhausting or church is lonely then i know that God is enough, dont need to look anywhere else for encouragement.

I guess my overall thoughts on Dayspring is that i dont think it's a church i'd go to regularly. But... their singing time is absolutely awesome and i wish we could do that at church... i wish people could be passionate about singing praises to God. I think the teaching is good at my church... it's easier to listen to as i felt at Dayspring i had to listen to everything very very carefully and critically (not that i dont critique or think about the message at my church). I'd definitely go back to Dayspring and it was really great encouragement at a time when i think i needed it. God is gracious!

Been a while... Part #3 Snowboarding and more exciting... my new ANGEL 134 wakeboard

well u can tell i'm sick... and very bored in bed... although i should sleep soon cos i have to work tomorrow!!

i'll just write about my ski trip... or rather snowboarding trip.
the week before going to the snow... i was out shopping for so much stuff... eg ski pants, socks, beanie... was too tempting to visit some ski shops...

cant actually believe it... kinda an impulse buy but i fell in love with a wakeboard!! and figured since it is still winter, i can get a 2006 board for cheap before the 2006/7 season starts again. so... after shopping around for the best possible deal (i knocked $600 off last summer's price!!) i bought the Liquid Force Angel 134 with Minx bindings!! wow... love it... although the 134 is bright orange... i was looking originally at the 130 which is blue but... after talking to the shop assistants, i was told not to go below 132 for me cos under 132 is apparently kids boards... *shrug*... thought it safe to go for 134 board cos i'm riding a 135 atm... it's around the same size...

itching now to take it out...

but... back to snowboarding... well i thought that since i can wakeboard, snowboarding should be ok to pick up.... no way....
argh after 5 days i was still landing on my knees or my butt...

it's quite interesting tho... with snowboarding... ur weight is square and evenly distributed on both feet... something i couldnt do... call it a wakeboarding habit...
u use ur hips to pivot to the direction u want to go.
argh 5 days of lessons and i still cant do it very well...
came home all bruised... think i should stick to skiing...

Been a while... Part #2 TWIST

well... it's been a month since twist... i'm actually home in bed sick at the moment... have been sick all week... so this is my time to write about what's happened in the last month!!

the day after the wedding was TWIST... which is a church musicians' conference. i have to say that it was absolutely AWESOME!!!

was chatting with a friend recently and talking about the place of music in our church services... in some evangelical circles the theory is we sing to encourage each other... my thinking is that we sing to praise God AND to encourage each other as we do it together.

as i reflect on why twist was so awesome... like what made it memorable... i guess i put it down to the encouragement that i did have playing music and singing praise to God... it was great to have so many people there together worshipping in song!

bass workshop was a bit bassic! loved the band workshop... very practical with how we can play together and build the song to help people sing.

free time was excellent as it was JAM time!!! whooo hooo... so much fun... i would like to have been able to learn more from people who play guitar or bass in that time. but... i wouldnt have traded the jam session we had... there musta been 20-30 people in that room... cos nobody really had anything to do... so we played and sang our hearts out!

ps 96 says to sing to the Lord a new song... i feel excited to praise God through music... sometimes i think we lack so much passion in our church services... we sing as though we're dead... how do we get congregations to really look at the lyrics and sing with passion?? i'm challenged!

Been a while... Part #1 the wedding...

It's been a while... gee July... since i blogged...

A lot has happened since then...

Daph and Russ got married at the beginning of August. Was a very busy time... Was tiring, stressful and a lot of fun!
The tiring bit started really the day before... getting up at like 5am to go to flower markets to get flowers for the table decorations for the reception...
I was impressed that Mark and Russ' auntie managed to get up considering they'd flown in from Perth the night before and 5am is like 3am perth time...
And they didnt get to sleep all day...

Was very funny cos i had to learn to dance for the wedding!! The day before the wedding!! suffice to say on the day i stepped on the best man's toes... ow... i'm not very good at this...

Wedding day was fun but also so rushed... started by picking daph up and going to chatswood for hair and makeup. Took like 3 1/2 hrs for all of us to get hair and makeup done. Took like nearly an hr to get daph's dress on and then.... we were nearly running very late... but we made it...

Then photos before, during and after the wedding... smiling for 5 straight hrs... owww cheeks are sore!! We froze to death on the beach whilst taking photos. Was strange posing for so many photos... firstly just standing in the background of daph and russ' photos... then we had to do stuff like hold hands and walk away from the camera... then turn around and look at the camera... it was a lot of fun!!

Reception... think we were all pretty tired and hungry and then we got to Curzon hall for the reception and it was time for more photos...
It's interesting sitting there in a bridal party looking out at all the people at the reception. Feel very self conscious. Food was great... thoroughly recommend the venue.. the chef even had a special dessert for the bride... mmmmm

I could write heaps on the night... prob dont want to bore you... fun but tiring!!
if you want to see photos email me and i'll send u the link for the photo album.

Funny bits - the lighter side of work...

I've been quite cranky at work lately... maybe it's cos i'm just a lil stressed out. This morning it was cos Trev (the human garbage bin) ate all my biscuits and my stomach was grumbling all morning.

So... i have to write down some funny things that happen at work... just to balance the crankiness!!

1. We had to have a laugh at the things that patients leave behind when they leave.
The other week, Trev found a sock in one of the rooms. I guess we thought it was funny... i mean... how do u leave with only one sock on and not notice?!??! The day after the sock... one of my patients left a singlet... which was promptly thrown out... ewwwww

2. There are times we have to giggle about patient's names. Sometimes you wonder how people went through childhood with their names... still i spose it wasnt up to them and i dont want to be mean. Today was a little different... our regular post contains a lot of junk mail about various chiro seminars. Anyway the guy who was being advertised was named "Donka". Doesnt seem so funny now but boy was it funny then. I'm sure he has a lot of credentials but somehow I cant take seriously a guy named "Donka".

3. I can never get past the boss' practical jokes. At least it makes work kinda fun at times. The new coke bottle (soccer edition) is gold.... so u cant see thru it... the old bottle u can see the icky brown stuff inside the bottle. This week Trev decided to drink his wife's coke (she's addicted). Anyway, i walked into the staff room to find him filling the bottle with water to cover up the fact that he'd drunk the whole bottle... he was giggling. Oh dear... well it would probably have been funny (not for her) to see her drink the "coke" only to end up with water.

Dancing on Ice

I missed the first episode of Torville and Dean's Dancing on Ice. I did hear quite a bit about it so watched this week.

Couldnt believe the number of injuries... although skating is really dangerous at times... ice is a hard surface to fall on! A dislocated ankle, injured knee ligaments and a hand laceration later... i guess the stars get that too...
I think the problem with it is... too little time... i mean it takes professionals years to perfect those moves. The lifts etc that they're getting the stars to do are really quite dangerous when they havent been grounded in the basics.

I'm really impressed with Karl and must say he's my favourite. His basic skating looks good technically and it's good to see he's building up his tricks around that.

Another thing that really gets on my nerves is the stupidity of the judges.... ok maybe not stupidity but maybe inconsistency in marking etc... Alissa Camplin is just as blonde as she seems... nooo idea about skating... just there to complete the asthetics of the judging panel.

Last week's results were an indication of the poor judgement of the judges. It came down to Tricia Broadbridge and Michael Slater. Take the personal stuff out cos i really admire Tricia. But... her skating... i'll give her marks for grace on the ice but a lot of her routine with her partner was lifts. I failed to see any great skating from her... when she skated (not during lifts), it was only on 2 feet. I thought her basic skating - crossovers, three turns, mohawks etc etc were severely lacking and fail to see how anybody who knows anything about skating would vote for her over Michael Slater. Slats, though he lacks grace at times, demonstrated some good basic skating.

It's funny to read the paper and messageboards about the show online. There are calls from the public to can the show cos it's just too dangerous.
I think it's fine but i think they should just work harder on more basic skating and not get caught up with the more difficult lifts. I dont think that public interest would be lost... just the health of the stars might be preserved!

Ginger Meggs

Went to visit Phil and Fiona yesterday in the hospital because Fiona just gave birth to a baby boy.
He's so cute... a very quiet baby... with reddy/brown hair... kinda like Fiona's... they dont have a name for him at the moment but phil has been calling him "ginger meggs".
Fiona said it was ok for me to post these images so here is a pic of the new baby...

It's been a while...

it's been a while since i've blogged anything.
for 6 weeks i was working a crazy 5 1/2 days... basically was really tired so all i was doing was work, eat, sleep, with church and bible reading inbetween. thank God that's all finished now.... feeling less stressed out but still quite tired at the moment.

there's a bit of sport on tv... with soccer world cup and wimbledon on atm. since i didnt need to work today, i stayed up to watch tennis for most of the night so that is also making me tired.

today i went to the independence service for the branch church (well not branch anymore) in Gordon... was extremely encouraging. there was a slideshow about how the church started. from a handful of people planting a church, it's grown into a large group. from having to drive the kids to epping to go to an english service, to having an english service of their own every week... it's really great to see how God has blessed and provided for the growth of the church - both in number and in the spiritual growth of the people.

cos i've been working so much, it's been hard to just catch up with people... was good to go and hang out with vic, joey and spamo this arvo too.

tomorrow it's back to the grind of work... fun!

The DaVinci Code

i went to see the movie today with a couple of girls from church...

my dad was meant to borrow the book from the library for me but cos there was such a long reservation list, he ended up getting the audio tapes instead. so i'd listened to the book read on audio tapes... so thought it would be interesting to see what kind of movie they make of it.

actually i didnt really like the movie... it was actually quite disjointed and i kinda wondered if somebody who had not read the book would follow it ok.
i'm thankful that a lot of the sexual references in the book were left out. and the storyline seemed different somehow... i spose for a 2 1/2 hr film you have to leave bits out.

the movie was quite believable tho... which i guess makes me wonder who will take it seriously. basically the book claims that Jesus was married to mary magdeline and they had a child... the holy grail is the documents that relate to the bloodline of Jesus. it also questions the authenticity and origin of the canon.

while i can see how the catholic church might be offended and the story might make people question christianity, i guess i pray that it might create opportunities to talk to people about the gospel. i think the movie challenged me to read more apologetics so that i might be able to have conversations with people who are interested...

as a post script... carolyn is such a cack... we were talking after the movie... and she was referring to leonardo da vinci as leonardo di caprio....
no carolyn... leonardo di caprio isnt a dead painter!

I dont know what to call this post...

It's been quite a long, busy week. My boss at Eastwood is away and i'm managing the clinic by myself. It's long hours and physically tiring... but this week it's also been emotionally tiring.

Over the past few years i've learned to leave work at work. Dont get me wrong because i do honestly care about my patients but at some point i have to leave their problems at work, otherwise i might just go crazy.

A couple of years ago my boss at Baulkham Hills was sick with cancer and eventually passed away. During that time i was visiting his house and doing what chiro i could to alleviate his pain (i couldnt do much because of his bone mets). I do remember tho that i just felt like crying all the time after seeing him. I was saddened because he wasnt Christian and also i guess it was just hard seeing him in so much pain.

This week i found myself getting so sad again. Great thing about my job is that i get to meet a lot of people and have some great chats. Over the past couple of yrs i've had great talks with one patient who is an amazing woman. Her hope is seen in her absolute trust in God and His will amidst her suffering. It's encouraged me no end.

Recently, she and her husband tried to move overseas but had to come back to Australia for her health. She told me that she was in hospital in Germany, delirious on pain medication and her husband told her later that she had been asking for me. At that point i really wanted to cry.

I guess i cant say too much but i've just been thinking and praying so much for her and her husband. In all this she just reminds me each time i see her about the hope we have in heaven. She really is such a huge encouragement for me and I praise so much God for that.

ND Women's Dinner and Talk

Well i'm writing about this more than a week later. It's been very very busy but I did want to write about this a while back.

On the 29th Apr we had the women's dinner and talk at church. The topic was 'gossip' and the speaker was my fren Reg.

I'll just say a little about her talk which i thought was really great. She'd really thought about it a lot and made very good practical suggestions on how we can watch our speech.

Firstly Reg defined gossip as talking about somebody behind their back or disclosing somebody's secrets or talking about their personal life. I guess the underlying fact is that gossip is destructive conversation. Proverbs tells us how distructive gossip is and that it breaks fellowship between Christians.

It was a good topic because it is such a prevailent thing... i mean society tells us it's ok to gossip and whole magazines rely on gossip to boost their sales. We want to gossip because we are proud of knowing something that somebody else may not. Either that or we gossip slander because we are unforgiving and we want to whinge about another person. Either way, gossip is destructive conversation.

I guess the challenge for now is to remember that as Christians, we should be looking to build up the body of Christ and not tear it down. Our gossip can cause a fellow Christian to stumble and so it is important to watch our speech. Also for non-Christians, what we say shows what is in our hearts. It is not wise for a Christian to talk badly about somebody else as it is not a good witness to a non-Christian.

There were practical examples that Reg gave about situations where we tend to gossip. I think i was really challenged and it's been on my mind since. I've been in those situations and know there is the temptation to say something that i think is ok but really when i think about it, it's gossip. It's also very aussie i think to make jokes especially pay-outs... am rethinking what is and isnt appropriate. I think the world would be a boring place if we couldnt share a joke but i guess the challenge is not to take it too far. Still learning... please pray for me.

thanks

also a little post-note.

wanted to say thanks to my frens for spoiling me on my b'day.
thanks for all the calls and prezzies and for lunch today.

so sweet...

An eventful Easter

Well it's already been an eventful easter!!
Yesterday the weather was beautiful and i went up to cliftonville with daph, russ, ngi and shannon. Last wakeboard of the summer as it's getting way to cold to be jumping in the water. I'm feeling quite good about my improvement over the summer. Did 3 good jumps to end my wakeboarding season for 2005/6. YAY!

Yesterday was Good Friday. I was asked by a friend about eating meat on Good Friday.... more whether i eat meat on Good Friday. I kinda shrugged and said yes... which shocked her i think. It kinda got me thinking about where that tradition came from. I know the not eating meat thing isnt a biblical thing... or at least not to my knowledge. I had a chat to a patient this morning about it. We're both not sure if it's a catholic tradition. I guess we agreed that we can eat meat on Good Friday but we dont if it's going to cause a brother/sister to stumble.

Last night was the Good Friday service at church. After i went home and half watched "The Passion of the Christ" (The reason i half watched it was cos when i saw it at the cinemas i bawled my eyes out and so couldnt really watch it again). At the end when Jesus dies, they show the earthquake and temple shaking. The biblical account talks about the temple curtain ripping.

It got me thinking... basically inside the temple was the holy of holies. Man is separated from God's holiness by a curtain. The high priest would go in once a year to make sacrifice for God's people but he had to cleanse himself first. Anybody who entered God's presence in a manner they werent meant to would die. So... when Jesus died on the cross, and the temple curtain was torn then wouldnt the Jewish people in the temple know something significant had happened because they were standing there in God's presence but not dead.

I wonder what the reaction of the people in the temple was at the time. What would the Jews have thought? Are there any Jewish accounts cos wouldnt the ripping of the temple curtain have been a big deal to them if they took God's holiness seriously??
Anyway... food for thought...

Today i worked... i turned up and said to my assistant "whose brilliant idea was it to work easter saturday??". Was actually a good morning... had a good chat to one of my patients who is a Christian.

Met up with daph and ngi in the arvo to look at bridesmaids dresses. Actually bought the dresses today... YAY!!

Ok now i'm really tired cos it's already been a pretty busy couple of days.