downshift

when you enter a corner u need to figure out what speed and gear you can take it in to power through with best speed.. too high of a gear and travel too fast may cause you to overshoot the turn, too low of a gear and ur probably going too slow..

gotta slow it down with people even though it demotivates me..

Champagne Supernova

i ended the week a bit drained while at church.. maybe it was the 2 days of playing PES with my mate.. or the late night watching the soccer.. and having to drive to fairfield from the city and back home ..and then some more driving the day after..

monday morning came and i was still feeling blue.. i was skipping thru my music on my mp3 player.. i played my fav hard trance song..but i wasnt feeling it. My stop had come..wynyard station..and i decided to put on some good 'ol champagne supernova ... my spirits were lifted again. I felt so much better.. on a music high..

I just wonder why this track gets me so carefree..it must be the lyrics..and trying to relate to it..but somehow to only some degree.. or not even..

Someday you will find me ...<-- somewhere off to the side
Caught beneath the landslide ... <-- gutted down in substance
In a champagne supernova in the sky ... <-- being high

im so looking forward to spring..

7:32am express to the city

ive found myself this week reflecting again.. abt the things that bug me and put me down.. this "heavenly man" book hasnt helped either.. but i enjoyed wednesday nite HG social games. I spoke to another newcomer who mentioned his struggle of finding it hard to get to kno ppl at church.. and asked him what he enjoyed most this year at church..him mentioning was HG..

i think wat ive enjoyed most this year is really getting to kno ppl on a closer lvl..or just listening to them open up.. ive been listening to a lot of Alanis..and on many occasions as of late it has just put me into this negative mood..

on a plus side im getting to kno some of the guys better in the group.. with them opening up.. i find it hard with guys at church.. i think wif some guys i prejudge them as boring (even just judging by their looks..which sounds so shallow!)..maybe coz id feel i wouldnt get along due to diff environment upbringings or interest.. but now i remember wat brought me to these other guys in my HG was their open-ness.. i thank God for blessing me so much this year.. and if these guys werent like this.. i wouldnt be like what i am now..

pig riser

*dreaming sometime in the wee hours of monday morning*.. schweinsteiger collects the ball..taps the ball in, scores!!!!!




i was getting ready for a shower this morning and i hear my mum running, yelling "wait a minute!!!"..i minded my own business and my daily shower b4 work..


i got out of the shower and found this on the dinner table.. it was a parcel that my mum must've collected in the morning..and i was suprised that a delivery came so early at around 7! and here it was.. my parcel from deutschland..

i had finally recieved my Bayern Munchen away jersey.. came quicker than i thought as well.

i had actually purchased this not along ago and felt really guilty after it..it was true from earlier at houseparty that once u start buying u feel the need to buy more.. and while on the train home i read this in the briefing..

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for youselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where theives do not break in and steal - Matthew 6:19-20

uuuughh

its such a miserable feeling to only do something after you've been TOLD. And i mean..TOLD in capitals.. just like the way we are towards God and/or family/friends..

i pray to Him that he trains me to have more initiative..

Chasing the Dragon

I must say the following book is one of the most touching books ive ever read in my life. And at many times reading this on the train i was feeling very emotional..even feeling teary.Here's a blurb of the book..

Until it was pulled down the Walled City was Hong Kong's most foreboding territory. It was a lawless place, dominated by the Triads, and which the police hestiated to enter. Strangers were unwelcome. Drug smuggling and heroin addiction flourised, as did prostitution and pornography, extortion and fear.

When Jackie Pullinger set sail from England in 1966 she had no idea that God was calling her to the Walled City. Yet, as she spoke of Jesus Christ, brutal Triad gangsters were converted, prostitutes quit, and Jackie discovered a new treatment for drug addiction: baptism in the Holy Spirit.

And the following is a bit in the book that i found touching.

Chapter 8 - Chasing the Dragon (pg 99-100)

In the earth i drew three crosses. 'I know this sounds silly, but I want you to imagine that you could actually see all the wrong things that a man has done. We'll use this lap-sap (rubbish) to represent them,' I continued as I collected up some bottle tops, dirty and waste paper lyring around. 'Now when Jesus was crucified two men were nailed on either side of Him; they were thieves, probably murderers.' I placed a heap of litter o nthe outside crosses leaving Jesus' cross empty. 'Do you know why the middle one has no lap-sap?' I asked Ah Ming. He looked rather bored and replied, 'Yeah, Jesus never do no wrong so He got no sins on Him'.

I became a story-teller, pointing on the crosses. ' "So You're the Christ, eh?" mocked this man. "Prove it. Call on Your henchmen to save you now. Come on then. You save Yourself and save us too while You're at it." He was dying himself but he still had plenty of spit.

' "You shouldn't say that," objected that theif on the right cross; "We done wrong - we oughta die. This main ain't done nothing, " and he turned to Jesus saying. "Lord, remember me when You get to Your Kingdom."

' "Today you will be with Me together in paradise," answered Jesus.' While i said this I lifted the heap of dirty off the right cross and placed it all on Jesus. 'You feel like throwing up now?' I noticed Ah Ming looked grey and trembly. 'Well, Jesus felt like you do only even worse because as well as taking that man's sins He took all the sins and all the pains the whole world ever felt upon Himself, so that we could be free of our sin and pain.'

For some time we both stared at the ground and the message drawn there. Then i said , "The thief on that side is forgiven and now can live with God, bit why not the other one? Wern't they equally bad?' 'One believed and the other didn't,' replied Ah Ming. 'That's all you have to do. I know you don't understand, but if you are willing to give all of your pain to Him, Jesus can take it away right now. He's God's Son and that's why He died. Are you willing?'

Ah Ming was not very willing. His eyes were running and he kept sniffing as he clutched his stomach. It was still raining outsidel he was stuck in this tent in great distress. At last he could stand it any longer.

'Suppose,' he said resignedly, 'suppose I - er - well, suppose I try.' It was enough. He then prayed clearly asking Jesus to take away his pain if He were God. He asked for his wrong things to be taken away too so he could start his life again. It stopped raining...

so rich

over the past couple of months there have been moments where ive felt quite empty.. and bored. Maybe i wasnt content with my surroundings..

and then i thought back to houseparty this year..remembering that as an aussie that we're so rich.. i live in a family that owns 3 cars! i have a full time job in the city, i have so many clothes at home that i could easily live without.. i have an ADSL2 connection at home that allows me to download 30gb/month (as geeky as this may sound and not suprisingly i dont need!)!

it was 2006 February..my first night of SHUM (surry hills urban mission, feeding the homeless at central station and telling the gospel) i had come back to my car. I sat inside..looked at my mp3 stereo system and thought.. *wow* i have so much compared to these guys (the homeless).

But going back to the point of feeling empty and bored was remembering that i was so rich.. i didnt need to feel bored or empty..remembering that i was so rich got rid of this emptyness..so rich with loving brothers and sisters in Christ, a loving family and a loving God. A God that has given me direction..a God that i can pray to..a God that has given me a role to do..and that is to live his way and tell people about his Son..

!

so much more to work on ..2007 is not over yet..

SCAC 2007 group photos

Are You Extremely Sensitive?

Your Sensitivity Score: 42%

As far as sensitivity goes, you're a lot more in tune than most people.You can't help but be touched by what's around you - good and bad.But when things do get really bad around you, you are strong enough not to break down.

a night out with the SCAC's

went out with some members of SCAC (syd chinese alliance church). We initially planned to go to the Bier Cafe i think coz they had some promo but found out it was packed.. so we decided to go to the Lowenbrau. Food is so pricey there..but its also in the Rocks. On the way driving home i just realised how comfortable i was with these guys..maybe coz i know these guys are local.. and i was comparing to north shore sydney people..

Maybe its a psychological thing but even now i can't put my figure on why i got on along with them so well compared to a lot of people form CCC. Maybe these 'local' people seemed so laid back..

hmmm

Anette Luvuyi

so about 3 ppl have asked me ..."what's their name?"..and each time ive failed to answer that.. 1 has asked what country they were from..and even then i failed to answer correctly..anyways..heres some details of my sponsored child. I chose compassion.com.au over worldvision as compassion also teaches children about Christianity as well. I just wrote to her today..need to send off the paperwork tomorrow..been so lazy lately!

Country:Kenya

She lives with her father, mother and three sisters in Kenya where 1.7 mill children do not go to school because of poverty. Carrying water, helping in the kitchen and cleaning are her household duties.

Her father occasionally earns a limited income as a labourer and her mother as a rural worker. They find it hard to meet the basic needs of their family.

For fun she enjoys jumping rope, playing ball games and group games. She attends church activities, Bible class and Vacation Bible School regularly and is in primary school making steady progress where her best subject is English.

aySKE vs Wilson

i attended my friend's camp down near nowra. It was a bit late and i was in the hall just chatting with people. This girl i havnt met yet goes to me..

"lawrence, you're needed in the other hall.."

am i in trouble? i was thinking..

i enter the hall and its all cleared..ppl are scattered..wilson goes to me.. "let's battle!"

inside of me i wanted to as well..and thought..yeah, why not! it was pretty scrappy and i was barefooted too!!

Are you happy?

i walk into another night shift.. another 12hr night shift.. my manager greeted me..in his brit-esh accent.. and it then went on along the lines like

manager - "lawrence, are you happy?"

i thought about it for a second...

me - "im happy if you're happy"...

it was a verse that was familiar..that's right..it was something he used on me before.. the truth is..is that when i said it i didnt really mean it.. it must be like when ppl just say, "pretty good" and leave it at that.. im like that as well on the telephone.. i wont lie to ppl but just say "yea..im ok".

My thoughts were around this for a while.. Was i happy then? At the time i thought being happy was a temporary thing that lasted for a day or maybe less..maybe from having a good day or scoring a new job.

I was asked again tonight.. "are you happy?"

i thought about it for a lot longer now. I reflected in the past 2 weeks about ppl asking how i've been. I was telling people that was I doing 'pretty good'. Now i say..'awesome!' At the time of 'pretty good', i regarded as 'awesome' as something spectacular..full of fireworks celebration (figuratively speaking) but now im thinking.. it doesnt have to be in that sense!

i looked back this year and the end of it and realised what has made and will make it so 'awesome'

• trip to HK/china and being able to see my relatives. Also being greatly challenged after reading somebody's blog
• Getting to know some great people
• Getting a new job, one that isnt rotating roster but a standard roster
• looking forward to my baptism and hoping my non christian friends/parents can come and watch
• trip to spending more time with people

So the answer to that question.. im extremely happy..why? I'm happy that i will be doing my last shift at FUJITSU tomorrow and that being my last, I kno ill be able to spend more time with friends and family..ill be able to get out and do things which i havnt been able to for the past year.. and more importantly i think ill be able to grow more in HIM!

AMEN <3

Wakefield Park Race Day

4th of Jul

6:10am..my mobile alarm wakes me. Ok. Time to get out of bed for a quick shower. It's 6:20 and i just recieve a call from Edi to enter on the rose st entrance at our meeting point of punchbowl park. I enter the street and see the Mazda 2 noted from the forum and there i saw edi's evo9. It was very subtle..it must be coz of its dark blue colour.

We head onto the motorway for our 2hr drive to goulburn.. i dont think ive ever driven so far in my life! The drive was a bit tiring, mainly just holding the wheel and we end up gettin to Goulburn and having maccas for breaky. We get out of maccas and it starts drizzling.. o crap! Racing in the rain = slippery race tack = no good = no fun! Anyways we keep driving.. the rain does get a bit heavy and having to turn on the wipers on the 3rd lvl (strongest/quickest setting) means trouble. We keep driving and the rain eases a bit.. i turn down the wipers to lvl 2.. hope

A bit more driving.. i turn the wipers down again to lvl 1.. now its getting better. We turn onto the entrance of the track and we get there around 9.. theres only 3 of us and an actual race car..looks something of late 60s.. i find out it some Fiat car.

So we set off onto the track, its still a bit wet.. and the amaze of street tires on a race track is horrendous...*EeeerrrrRRRRrrrr* goes the tires and im there sliding through every bend! The car is badly struggling. I must've spun out 5 times on the track in the first 20min session. Was still getting used to the track. Scariest thing of the day was on the straight, coming into the 1st bend somehow the car just slid and i was going sideways into the sandbank/tires. CRAAAAAP, lock on the brakes...NOOOOO...rumble doof rumble.. i shred the grass and land in the sandbank..my car has now turned into a rally car!

it was good later to see more cars on the track being a , wrx, levin, camry, clio, worked 350, s2000 and civic. The day did get better. The sun came out and the track was dry. I really enjoy driving when the sunlight is out. Yes..ive got a love for sunlight! Best moment of the day was riding in edi's evo9. The rush of the torque (torque - the pushing feeling you get when riding in something e.g. a powerful or aeroplane) in the turbocharged car was amazing! Your insides just feeling as if they're being burnt.. that tingling sensation!

the day ended around 3:30..we had our fun and i was bored of my car. It just wasnt fun being in automatic and with street tires. I was running on near empty.. about 2 clicks from the E (empty) line. I saw the signs passing by... 100km till Sydney and thought id be able to make it before having to fill up again at my local petrol station. And then the empty fuel light lit up! What made it worse there were cars piling up! TRAFFIC! i was panicking in my head.. would i be stuck in this traffic and have the fuel drain away.. would i be stuck out here.. i needed to find the nearest exit and look for the closest petrol station.. rolling, rolling at 10km/h coz of the traffic i found the nearest exit being the Ingleburn exit.

I wondered how long it would take to find a petrol station... driving, driving...going uphill.. *thinking more petrol is going away!*..and there in the distance i saw a green sign...and there was BP...*saved*. I filled up half as they only had standard and 98 octane (1337 petrol) so i went for the uber petrol. I ended up getting home around 6..i was buggered...my car had turned into a rally car and i came to a conclusion that im never taking my car to Wakefield ever again!

Photos to come soon..

wateva..