My Jarrol Spot

Gold Coast 600

2011-10-30T17:18:00.004+10:00

Beautiful place the Gold Coast

Amazing speed and I can't think of anywhere else you get so close to it.

The 'Official' viral video promo for the Gold Coast 600

2011-10-15T12:37:00.002+10:00

Pretty cool

Team Vodafone Publicity - Brisbane CBD

2011-10-13T18:17:00.000+10:00

How'd they get away with this... especially the doughnut at Adelaide St and the burnout with people so close.

Would have been a buzz for those who have never got themselves into pit lane before. I have, yet still found this pretty cool.

I'm hopeless

2011-10-13T14:47:00.001+10:00

Jesus' brother James, who ended up an elder of the church in Jerusalem during the period of the book of Acts, was so gifted at what he did he was given the surname 'the Just', and it is recorded in the tradition of the church that his "knees had become callous like a camel's" from praying.

I wish I could live up to a point where people could attribute something half as amazing to me.

How do Churches really know what the right decision is?

2011-10-12T22:44:00.002+10:00

I'm writing a theology essay on Church Governance at the moment. It raises a few questions to my traditional ideas on how we make decisions in our congregations.

Here's a quote from Page Patterson's paper in "Who Runs The Church?"

Even regenerate congregants are still not infallible in discerning the direction of the Holy Spirit. Worse still, some churches such as Corinth in the New Testament era exhibit more than a little carnality among infantile saints. Even more debilitating, everyone knows that unregenerate people hold membership in churches, and this paradigm gives less than mature Christians and even unbelievers a voice in the affairs of the church.

How do you think we get around this?

Bathurst 2011 Race Day

2011-10-09T22:11:00.002+10:00

With much eager anticipation I awoke at 5:45am this morning to begin the live telecast from Mt Panorama. I wasn't disappointed. The Touring Car Masters race was great, so many historical US and Australian Muscle cars roaring around the track. Plus Glen Seaton won, giving him his first ever win on a Sunday at Bathurst (kind of corny but funny and warm hearted knowing the history Glen has at the mountain).

Then after a few more support races it was time for the big one. Garry Coleman's prayer before the race brought a tear to my eye in the simplicity and completeness in which he presented the Gospel.

The race itself was the closest, most intense and hard fought I think I can remember. For the entire 161 laps there was no clear leader, always two or three fighting it out for first place. There was the customary big crash (David Besnard in the #17 Dick Johnson Racing Falcon), the customary co-driver mistake (Luke Youlden crashing the #6 FPR Falcon at the end of a safety car period), the customary hard luck failure (Jamie Whincup's alternator then flat battery - costing him the race win), the customary unlucky fortune (Mark Winterbottom being caught out by the safe car for Jamie Whincup and missing the pits being pushed from 2nd to 6th), and the customary come from no where lucky buggers (Greg Murphy's third place finish).

The race had it all. With a clincher of a finish, Craig Lowndes hunting down Garth Tander in the dying laps, only to finish 0.2 of a second apart. Such a great fight - and I never thought I'd be sitting there cheering on a HRT car, but I wanted Garth and his rookie co-driver Nick Percat to come out over Triple 8 Racing (I don't like seeing T8 win anything these days, let alone when Mark Skaife is part of the driver line up).

The biggest talking point is obviously the crash of David Besnard. Firstly it shouldn't have happened. These guys should know by now to pump the brake pistons back out in the pits after a pad change, but also the dramatic fuel fire, and the speed and ability of the fire marshals to get that fire out so efficiently. David was fine, the most discomfort he had was from fire extinguisher powder getting in his eyes.

Well that's another year of the Great Race done with, I enjoyed every moment, even with a Holden victory. The sport and the track make it such a great event - I'm already hanging out for next years.

Bathurst 2011 Day 3

2011-10-08T18:50:00.000+10:00

Exciting day at the Mountain today.

For the V8s it was all about the Top Ten shootout, leading up to that though were a few support races that were pretty intense.

For the shootout though all eyes were on Will Davidson as he headed out first, being elevated from 11th to 10th due to a penalty being handed to Lee Holdsworth yesterday. Will posted a really quick time that was unbeaten until Greg Murphy came out fourth last. As Jamie Whincup warmed up for his lap the rain fell and that was it. He, Mark Winterbottom and Garth Tander had no hope of posting a fast lap as the track got wet. So the surprise of the day was seeing Murph get pole... the disappointment was seeing Frosty unable to post a time and end up 10th... and the joy of the day was seeing Will come through to end up on the front row in second spot.

So Mark Winterbottom and Steve Richards will start from 10th, but it's a long race and they are still my pick for the victory tomorrow.

Bathurst 2011 Day 2

2011-10-07T23:40:00.000+10:00

I had to work all day today, but luckily I remembered to set the recorder for the televised support race and V8 Supercar qualifying that happened today at Mt Panorama.

It was an exciting qualifying session. 40 minutes long, which is double the usual session. The track was dry, so normal slick tyres were back in play, and the lap times came down real quick. It ended with Garth Tander from HRT on provisional pole (decided tomorrow after the top 10 shootout), with Mark Winterbottom in the FPR Falcon .05 of a second behind him (so close!) - Mark's final lap was beauty and it was exciting to watch, hoping that he would take the top spot.

The final lap also saw Jason Bargwanna hit the wall quite hard. Looks like a lot of work for the mechanics to do to get his car back on the track tomorrow.

It's also not Bathurst without some controversy. It seems Lee Holdsworth, who qualified 8th, has been pushed back 5 places as a penalty for not going to the weigh area when told. This brings Will Davidson from FPR into the top 10 for the Shootout tomorrow.

Ahhh I love it!

Bathurst 2011 Day 1

2011-10-06T18:49:00.000+10:00

The V8s are hitting the track in Bathurst, and I am still in Brisbane. Things didn't pan out the way I planned this year. Dad is in Bathurst with his caravan set up in the pits at Mt Panorama. I would have loved to have been there with him, but being in my last 4 weeks of my Masters Degree I couldn't really get away.

However I have managed to keep up with everything going on at the track, I've even found a website that live streams the Race Control radio frequency - which is a novel way to keep tabs on what's happening.

The big talking point this week is weather... it looks like it will be wet for the entire event. This has put huge pressure on Dunlop and their supply of wet-weather tyres. It will make for some interesting test, qualifying and race sessions I am sure.

Many teams are running alternate liveries for the weekend, some for special promotions of their sponsor's product, others for special team, driver or sponsor milestones. All-in-all it makes a very fresh looking field.

And James Moffat may now have the best looking car on the grid!!

Today saw three practice sessions, with the third one cancelled due to fog on top of the mountain. The first two sessions were dominated by Fords, which is great to see - hopefully they can keep that up all weekend.

Genuine Friends

2011-10-05T14:03:00.001+10:00

Something I've been experiencing a bit lately has led me to wonder about what makes a genuine friend. What is the right idea of true friendship, what does that relationship include.

I've come to realise many people are not genuine friends at all, they are simply people who don't want anyone to think bad of them, so they do the bare minimum to appear 'friend-ish', to project the image that they are friendly so that you think there is a friendship connection there. But in a real sense unless you keep instigating the development of that friendship relationship it would just fade away.

I am inherently a very genuine person - I want genuine connections and interactions with others. So in taking a review of my social interaction I have noticed that many of my social interactions are only 'friendship connections' because I continually try and meet up with, socialise or develop relationship with these people. Part of my review was to have a break from my continual attempts to cultivate these connections and I found that 70% of the people I usually socialise with would not think to actually invite me out to anything they were doing - the only reason I had been socialising with them in the past was because I would do the inviting, or be asking what they were doing.

Obviously this has been quite a breaking down experience. Realising that I don't have the genuineness of friendship with many people I thought I had. But I have also come to realise who genuine friends are. They are not the obvious ones either, and this has been a great blessing. Finding out that some people do genuinely care for my well being, how I am doing, and what I am up to is worth more than my (now apparently vain) attempts at keeping other friendship connections alive.

Thank goodness...

2011-10-01T17:25:00.001+10:00

Well done Geelong. 2011 AFL Premiers... and making Eddie sad :-)

Oh and did anyone else notice Joffa wasn't anywhere to be seen today?

AFL Grand Final

2011-10-01T09:15:00.002+10:00

Not Collingwood again... PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Relient K just wants to have fun!

2011-09-30T15:00:00.000+10:00

Relient K are probably one of the most fun filled bands around, and one of the most talented Christian groups out there. For years they've been producing some really deep thinking songs with great music, but on every album there's always at least one zany, wacky and fun song. I think that's great - as Christians we should be able to simply have fun, without worrying about the theological content, or social perception we portray. Let's just have fun.

Relient K's new album "Relient K is for Karaoke" displays the heart of the band's fun side. They do many covers, like this old Cynd Lauper tragic "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"... but true to Relient K form, they do a brilliant job - I think it's better than the original :-p

Oh, and if you search YouTube hard enough you even find their Justin Bieber cover
:-p

Getting Close Now

2011-09-29T13:31:00.000+10:00

Only 4 weeks of college lectures to go, 3 assignments and 1 exam and then I have finished my Masters of Divinity.

Feels good - also a bit daunting now trying to find a job. Any Baptist Churches out there looking for an associate pastor?

Still a bit more work to do yet...

Lego Ford Explorer

2011-09-28T16:54:00.000+10:00

No matter how old you are, playing with Lego is still cool.

Never Been Unloved

2011-09-27T17:06:00.001+10:00

I've been trekking in the car a bit over the last couple of days, and spent most of the time going through my many Michael W Smith albums on my iPod.

This song got me - simple but powerful - and it became a emotional prayer!

Never Been Unloved (Michael W Smith - Live the Life)

I have been unfaithful
I have been unworthy
I have been unrighteous
And I have been unmerciful

I have been unreachable
I have been unteachable
I have been unwilling
And I've been undesirable

And sometimes I have been unwise
I've been undone by what I'm unsure of
But because of you
And all that you went through
I know that I have never been unloved

I have been unbroken
I have been unmended
I have been uneasy
And I've been unapproachable

I've been unemotional
I've been unexceptional
I've been undecided
And I have been unqualified

Unaware - I have been unfair
I've been unfit for blessings from above
But even I can see
The sacrifice You made for me
To show that I have never been unloved

It's because of you
And all that you went through
I know that I have never been unloved

Regeneration not lawfulness.

2011-09-25T20:17:00.000+10:00

17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 18 and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19 and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—21 you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. 24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
(ESV Romans 2:17-24)

Replace Jew with 'Christian' and Gentile with 'the World' and I think we have a timely reminder to everyone, but especially those who are called to preach the Word of God to make sure their lives live up to what they say.

Many Christians claim to be saved through Jesus alone yet still find some kind of law to attach themselves too. I think we need to be constantly checking ourselves against sin - but not through legalistic means, but through allowing Jesus to continually make us aware through the Holy Spirit in a work of continued sanctification. This then isn't legalistic but regenerative through our relationship with Jesus.

Hopefully this would also avoid us living as we don't preach, because living by the law means we're constantly trying to find ways to work around it - thus becoming hypocritical. But by living regeneratively we simply let Jesus work in our lives everyday and there is nothing to work around.

Oh Jesus continue to change me!

Gracious Sovereignty

2011-09-23T10:22:00.003+10:00

The Potter and the Clay
[18:1] The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: [2] “Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.” [3] So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. [4] And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.
[5] Then the word of the LORD came to me: [6] “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. [7] If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, [8] and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. [9] And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, [10] and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.
[11] Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the LORD, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’ [12] “But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’
(Jeremiah 18:1-12 ESV)

What Jeremiah observes is simply the potter’s work. There is nothing out of the ordinary with what the potter does and his purpose demands that he work the clay to its best use. The observation of Jeremiah 18:4, the clay becoming marred in the potters hand so being reworked, was a common enough occurrence. Wet clay was worked on the spinning stone to make whatever vessel or pot the potter required. However, the mixture and consistency of the clay was vital in providing the structural integrity needed to create particular vessels. If at any point during his creation the potter realised that his mixture of clay was unsuitable for the type of vessel he was creating he would begin again and create something different, and better suited to the mixture he had to work with.

The word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah (Jer 18:5-6) showing the pottery scene to literally be a ‘parable in action’. “Jeremiah’s readers and hearers can use their imagination to envisage the workshop and the efforts of a potter… God (the potter) has the sovereign right to make and remake the clay as he sees fit.” Yahweh is the potter so is free to shape Judah as his clay, any way he chooses.

Yet the actual depiction of the potter represents a deeper, underlying attribute of God’s grace. “God is not only sovereign Lord free to do what he wills, but he is patient and loving, and will not let them defeat his intention to make them a people for his own possession.” The potter has every right to simply dispose of unsuitable clay and mix himself a new batch. Yet the gracious sovereignty of Yahweh keeps Judah on the potter’s wheel and not cast aside as useless mud. Though the impending destruction and exile appears a wholly ungracious and finite act, in truth Yahweh is graciously working by forming Judah “into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him” (Jer 18:4)

Chasing the Wind

2011-09-13T10:58:00.002+10:00

We've concluded our preaching series on Ecclesiastes in our PM services at City North. It was very interesting and rewarding to examine how the reflections of Solomon about life relate to us in the Gospel Centred Church today.

If you have the time I encourage you to download the whole series (from here) and listen through - though I believe there are still two sermons yet to be uploaded. It is a very comprehensive look at how we should live as Christians in a world that appears utterly meaningless.

Nathanael's Second Birthday

2011-09-12T10:20:00.002+10:00

We had some great fun with family and friends on Saturday celebrating my nephew's 2nd Birthday. We had a fireman themed party - and Vanessa (my sister) out did herself with the cake and decorations.

Nathanel had a ripper of a time, with a whole heap of other kids to run around the backyard with. And plenty of family to come and cuddle up to when things got a bit much. He loved all his toys and presents... and particularly the little jelly cups Vanessa made (I think he polished off 4 of those bad boys).

It was a lot of fun. I'm truly blessed to be involved with such an awesome little life.

Yet we call it worship.

2011-09-09T22:31:00.000+10:00

Unfortunately I think this is more true than we realise.

Secular Counselling and the Church

2011-09-02T10:34:00.000+10:00

** exert from the counselling assignment I recently handed in - I changed my views halfway through and had to go back and rewrite my introduction.**

Within the current community of Academia there is much contribution to the study, research and instruction on models for counselling. However, in the construct of pastoral care counselling plays a specific and important role, which in many cases goes beyond the boundaries of secular counselling texts. If that is the case, is secular counselling research a help or hindrance to the notion of counselling within pastoral care?

...
In one sense the mainstream study misses the entire point of pastoral care in that it encourages the client to find within themselves the answer and power to overcome their problems. Pastoral care in and of itself is almost always pointing to the fact that we alone cannot overcome our own issues, as Mark Driscoll says “…the root of every problem in the world is sin. The answer is Jesus.”

Though a client may be affected by an issue that is completely not their own doing, or a completely natural cause, the underlying reality of sin and a broken world are the very root of that issue. In many cases there is personal sin involved yet secular counselling methods appear to help the client search for an explanation external to themselves. Pastoral care cannot do this.

Even so, the positive response is that once pastoral care has the correct Biblical foundation of helping people to realise the work of God in their issues and look to him for ultimate healing. Then the practical methods from texts such as Geldard and Geldard provide a succinct, detailed and purposeful guide to develop effective and rewarding counselling relationships which will be helpful to the pastoral carer in achieving closure and healing for their client.

A Common Destiny for All

2011-09-01T11:01:00.000+10:00

I preached Sunday night from Ecclesiastes 9:1-12 which speaks about the fact that no matter the life we lead, we are all ultimately going to die. The passage presents the issue that if death is the end of all things then everything we do in life is utterly meaningless. The truth of the matter is that this is how the majority of the world lives.

We have Jesus, the power of his resurrection and the covering of his grace to develop a hope for our future beyond death. Because of that it is only in Jesus that we can find a way to get any meaning out of all the aspects of our life.

I'm not sure how well I communicated that in the whole sermon, but if you want to hear more, have a listen - I'd be glad to hear your thoughts.

Sermon: A Common Destiny for All

25 ways Top Gun changed the world

2011-08-31T17:12:00.019+10:00

Here are 25 ways Top Gun has changed the world:

1. Inspired a generation of drunk men to warble You've Lost That Loving Feeling to disinterested girls in bars.
2. Began, and ended, Kelly McGillis’ career. In the decades since she played everyone's favourite tough-but-vulnerable flight instructor, she has pretty much disappeared from view.
3. If your friends call you Goose, then you’re going to die – horribly.
4. Started the Tom Cruise movie formula: Tom Cruise is a cocky guy who plays by his own rules. Loses his confidence. Meets and falls in love with a girl who helps him be that cocky guy again.
5. We all feel the need, the need for speed!
6. Aviators and bomber jackets became the epitome of cool - heck, they still are!
7. People started calling their kids Maverick.
8. People stopped calling their kids Maverick.
9. Applications for US Air Force shot up. The film turned jet fighters into sex symbols - even those with moustaches.

10. Without Top Gun, we'd never have the world's greatest karaoke song of all time - Berlin's Take My Breath Away.
11. Without Top Gun, there would be no Captain Jack Sparrow. Top Gun made producer Jerry Bruckheimer's name in Hollywood, allowing him to go on to make Pirates of the Caribbean.
12. Introduced the world to the word "wingman".
13. Sure, he'd starred in Risky Business and Colour of Money before he became Maverick, but To Gun propelled Cruise into the Hollywood stratosphere and set him on track to meet an certain Aussie actress named Nicole. (Here are some of the actors who turned down the role: Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, Matthew Broderick, Sean Penn, Michael J. Fox and Tom Hanks).
14. Gave us a new way of putting people down: "Your ego is writing cheques your body can’t cash."
15. White pants started to look pretty sexy on men.
16. Gave Pulp Fiction director Quentin Tarantino his best party piece - Top Gun isn't about men flying planes, it's about the unspoken love between Maverick and Iceman. See here to watch Tarantino in action - warning: contains graphic language.
17. Taught everyone the important lesson of why never to drink hot coffee in a flight control tower.
18. "Ma'am" – both sexy and condescending at the same time.
19. Introduced the world to an adorable young actress called Meg Ryan.
20. Took the high five and added a low reverse five to it, thus creating an awesome way for guys to congratulate each other.
21. Turns out women can be hot and in charge –whodathunk? Top Gun was a boost to female bosses everywhere.
22. When the person sitting next to you on a plane puts their thumb up on take-off, it's because of Top Gun.
23. Val Kilmer earned his heartthrob stripes after playing THAT game of volleyball. Shame about what's happened to his abs and career.
24. Men (and women) everywhere want a best friend just like Goose and Maverick.
25. "Negative, Ghost Rider, the pattern is full" – an excellent way of saying no.

Full article here

Senna

2011-08-31T11:17:00.002+10:00

Fantastic documentary about the world's greatest ever race car driver. The things that man could make a car do were incredible... a true connection between man and machine.

And Ayrton Senna constantly gave the glory to God for his talents. I was impressed that the documentary didn't water this down either, but allowed the true convictions of the man to show through as he gave testimony to God's work in his life. I think this made the story of his early death in that horrific accident even more moving.

The racing footage from the 80's and 90's was excellent. I didn't realise they had things like helmet cameras and on car cameras at that time. And the pure emotion they were able to show in the pits, and on the start grid was incredible. The story led beautifully through his life and the numerous hardships and political issues he had with the FIA. The governing body really hampered the flow of true, honest racing during that time - I wonder how much it still does today?

Even if you're not a motor racing fan, this is still something you should sit and experience, Senna was truly one of the most passionate and amazing characters of the 20th Century.