TeamVodafone No. 1 again

What a weekend everywhere you look fast cars and half naked ladies.

Last weekend I took Em to her first (and I would doubt, the last) V8 Supercar Race.

We headed down to Sandown Motorway for the running of the 10th annual Just Car Insurance Sandown 500.

We started our day off nice an early and headed over to Darryl’s house (just because he has the nicest Ford we know and you can’t turn up to the V8’s in a 2 litre, 4 cylinder 1992 Toyota Camry, or a 2.4 litre, 4 cylinder Saab. The big 4 litre, V6 Ford XR6 was a much better choice.

We headed in to Sandown and had a little bit of a look around the course and the team tents and Super Transporters. We headed down to the TeamVodafone merchandise tent, little did we know this would prove to be a real turning point in Em’s life.

As we were walking out of the tent, we spot Craig Lowndes just before his autograph session; he was signing someone’s dashboard of there XR8 Ute (very nice Ute). We watched him and as he ran past the guy in front of Em put up his hand for a high five and Craig obliged, but all I saw was Em standing there, Frozen to the spot. She was within touching distance from Craig and she froze with some form of school girl crush overcoming her entire nervous system, there she was, on the spot with jaw hanging open.

After Darryl and I picked ourselves up off the floor after rolling around in laughter, Em finally found the courage to take close to 100 photos of Craig and Jamie (she thought that Craig smiled at her, I don’t have the heart to tell her it was the grid girl behind her, joking, he really did smile at her after she had made a fool of herself). I have a feeling that that story might come out at the 21st.

We got to our sets and watched qualifying and of course, TeamVodafone with the fastest practice lap and then qualifying strongly to start 5th on the grid for the all important race the next day.

Sunday, it was race day, Em’s first real day, and you wouldn’t believe it but she slept in, I was expecting her to be up at about 6am getting ready but No, as I went up stairs to go have my shower, Em runs from her room into the shower. We got away on time and even got a good park at the race track that we could quickly slip out of at the end of the race.

After Drift Cars, F-A18 fly-bys, Burnouts, Motorbikes, Grid Interviews, Grid Girls, Promotional Girl, Team Girls, Insurance Girls, Bigpond Girls, Drivers Wives and Wanna-be Drivers Wives (Em), we finally started the racing.

I won’t go into details about the race because if you cared you would already know what happened. Todd Kelly didn’t poo in his seat, Skaife didn’t race and Murphy deserved his drive-thru, but all that really matters is that Jamie and Craig won the race and have a good showing for Bathurst on October 7. I can’t wait.

All that is left to say is that ‘TeamVodafone, No. 1, again’

Last night I skipped going to band and went to something I thought was far more important. I turned down 2 gig’s (one paid), 3 rehearsals and game up the only night I could have had a break this week, but it was possibly the most important thing I could have done for years and will hopefully change the course and direction of peoples lives that are very important to me.

I took a trip into the city to Richmond Assembly Of God to hear and take part in a session called ‘Bringing Home the Prodigals’. It was lead by a guy called Rob Parson who is the author of the book by the same name. It is based on the story of the ‘Lost Son’ in the bible.

It was a really good night and I really felt challenged and I know it sounds a bit cliché but I really did feel as though God was moving amongst us that night. I have every confidence that with prayer and love, together God and I will bring home my prodigals.

Just wait and see!

I'm not Dead.

Yes although it has been suggested that my blog is dead i beg to differ.

I am back, i just don't have as much time as i want to do things like this, it is made extra hard by not having internet at home for a long time.

Nothing very exciting is going on at the moment, i still dislike uni, i am hardly ever at home just sitting around, and i am still really tired.

I have placements coming up again in a few weeks, which i am really not looking forward too but i have no choice, if i want to pass my course i have to go and do them.

If i think of anything to write about i'll get back to you later, until then, just remember that i am not dead and my blog will be revived soon.

Upside down, topsy-turvy life

Well it has been a long time since my last blog, but my life has turned upside down since I last blogged.

Em and I broke up, the crying still hasn’t stopped but we both agreed that it was the right move for now. It’s really hard to be ‘just friends’ with someone you have loved for so long. But we are going ok, I miss her terribly but we will get through it. I would prefer her to be my girlfriend again but for now we are ‘in the friend zone’ and that’s better than nothing.

I got my results back from Uni, scrapped through (and I mean scrapped through), 50% for one of my subjects, I honestly think I would have quit if I had to do that subject again. But I got through.

I’ve moved out of home (and back in, and then out and now I’m back in with mum again, but I will see how things go at the weekend, I may try out again). I am living just down the road from where I used to be. It’s a nice house and I have control of everything, I like being a big boy and playing house by myself.

Life is going along well, it is a little bit different than before but still going along.

I have been trying to way up my options for my career and life (always a wise thing to do if you weren’t already depressed) I have been encouraged by a few thing lately, but we’ll just see where things are headed.

So I’m not sure where I am going but God is there where ever I go so it can’t be that bad.

Whatever I walk through, he is there.

Honesty

Honesty- the hardest thing that this life has (maybe it’s just me). I have been alive for almost 22 years now and for most of it I have lied about one thing or another sometimes I have got away with it, sometimes not. I lied about where I was going, what I was doing, who I was with, it was an obsession, I lied and once you lie once, that lie will never die, and through it another one grows.

The lie that has had the biggest spread for me was that I went bungy jumping. This went around almost everyone I knew, until one day I just couldn’t do it anymore and I had to stop lying, it was eating me up inside, and down goes my credibility.

For me lying was my way of avoiding confrontation, avoiding what I really thought, felt and believed, basically I am a wimp that can’t confront the truth because I don’t have the guts to not be accepted or to disagree with others. If you can’t say who you are and change for others then who are you really? Do you have the right to change someone just because they are different to you.

I am a chronic liar.

There are two types of lying that I got caught up in, lying to further myself, and lying to hide (secrets). The lies may have deferred an awkward situation for a few days but all it does is just increases the pain and suffering for everyone when the lie comes out. And all credibility you may ever have had is no more and is just flushed down the toilet.

When that day comes that everything you have lied about gets found out, your life, everything you know and everything you had comes crashing down like the house built upon the sand (Matt 7).

There are many instances in the bible that speaks of lying, and I can’t find one that says that ‘a white lie is ok’. There’s no excuse, I’ve been warned and the consequences are plain to see.

Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Psalm 34:13 (NIV)

For the sins of their mouths, for the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride. For the curses and lies they utter, Psalm 59:12 (NIV)

For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of all lies. John 8:44 (NLT)

There is one verse that really speaks to me about truth, I didn’t realise it until today but God gave me that verse at the exact time that my secrets became a big problem in my life, I was too proud, arrogant and stupid to act upon what God had told me, its never to late to change but the longer you leave it the higher the price you pay just because I listened to the ‘father of lies’.

Unfortunately, for me I didn’t act until too late, I have lost the thing that was most important to me and the only person to blame is me.

“But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” John 3:21 (NIV)

This could have saved me a whole lot of heartache, all I needed to do was be ready to listen and change myself.

Mistakes

Why is it that the ones we love most are the ones we hurt the most? Inevitably all that happens is you just hurt yourself in the process.

Pimp My Trolley

Well what an exciting night, Battle of the Sexes and 'Pimp My Trolley', it was a huge night jam packed full of fun for everyone.

The Night started off with a bit of a 'Meet and Greet' for everyone to catch up and discuss the 3 most important 'F's'- Family, Friends and Footy. After everyone had caught up with a good chat we moved into the very serious and age old question:

'Is it in fact possible, (even though highly unlikely), that females are as intelligent as males?'

So there was only one way to solve this dilemma we found ourselves in...

'Battle Of The Sexes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

It came down to a three round playoff.

1. Panel of 3: 3 Manly Men verses 3 Wimp Women, in a battle of ten questions about the opposite sex. Topics covered included Make-up, Superbowl, zodiac signs, basketball, Matthew McConaughey, footy and even different forms of shower products.



2. Movie Charades: obviously the girls won this as the boys had to act out chick-flix, which the boys had no idea about. But the girls Had really easy one that even a 2 year old could guess, (who can act out the princes diaries, seriously).



3. True/false, a game of skill, agility and knowing gossip about what goes on around Box Hill Corps. I don't even need to tell you who won this game, with that many girls in one place the wealth of knowledge of everyone else's business was overwhelming, with the girls absolutely white-washing the boys.
   

Overall it was a strong victory to the girls, but i did notice that all challenges involved talking and gossip with a distinct lack of physical and logical activities, i think the tables would be slightly turned if actual skills were involved in this challenge.

It was then time to 'Pimp my Trolley'

The girls were divided into two teams and the boys into two teams, The idea was to take an ordinary shopping trolley and 'pimp' it to make it into the 'Phat-est' ride in town. The teams were given a trolley, spray-paint, cardboard, and tape and had to 'decorate' the trolley.

The four teams all did an excellent job and the race at the end saw 4 youngsters being pushed across the car park in trolleys. With some very strong pushers behind them, those trolleys would have broken the 40km/h speed limit in the carpark of Box Hill Salvos but fortunately police had not been tipped off.

The night ended with pizza for all and the promise of more fun for all on Sunday Night with the youth going to see 'Ocean 13' at Eastland cinemas @ 6pm Sunday instead of the meeting at church.

Hope to see you all there.