Update...

G'day, i thought i would give an update on things here in Adelaide, with me and with Gen1....
I have been somewhat busy working and hanging out on the streets. This time next week i am going to be in the Gold Coast playing basketball, in the Salvation Army interstate comp, which i am looking forward to. Then when i come back i will be in Adelaide for 1/2 a day (in which i am planning on going out on the streets for and catching up with people), before heading to Melbourne for 2 conferences... The Spirit and Poverty.... and ... Surrender... which i am fully looking forward to, as i will be able to learn some stuff from the likes of Jackie Pullenger, Dave Andrews, and also network with other salvos that are doing incarnational ministries. I can't wait.
God has been showing me more of who i am, and some of the reasons of why i have given into certian temptation in the past, and how that had affected me over the years. Christ is also challenging me to be more disciplined... which i am still struggling to be.

With Gen1 things are still happening... God is still working... which is awesome to see and be a part of after being here for 2 and a half years. There is a few changes that may be happening in the coming months with Gen1... there is talk about us not being an out post from ach, cause of the lack of support from them. So with the official side of Gen1 i am not sure what is happening, whether or not we will officially be an outpost from somewhere. However i know that i am meant to be in Adelaide, and do this ministry... So Gen1 is going to continue, whether it is offically or not.
Some of the more exciting and praise points about Gen1 is that doors are opening around Adelaide... there is a day centre down the road that is mainly for people who are homeless, and i have been going along there regularly and the workers really want to partner with us, they have a passion to see the people there come to know Christ, and love the fact that i come in and have lunch there just to chat with some of the people. We have 7 people coming to cell regularly, and there still people coming and joining us... praise God... it is awesome... and it is all the work of Christ. In our cell, there are people who we have noticably notice a difference in there lives and can see them growing closer to either recieving Christ or closer in their relationship with Christ. I thank God for the opportuniy that He has given me in being a part of this cell, and also thank Him for using me to speak into people's life.
I praise God... cause there is still more He is going to do here, i can't fully imagine the whole of it... however i am excited for the future here in Christ.

interesting cell/night

We had an interesting night at cell last night. There was 3 of our regulars, plus the mother (who could only stayed for 30mins) of Z (one of our cell mates) and Z's son plus me. At the begining of cell things were just all over the place... Z's mum was sharing about her father, and said that we could pray for him. In her sharing, we got into a conversation about children's homes and people who grew up in them, and the report that government did on the old children's homes... You see her Father grew up in a Childrens home, and he has always been a fairly controlling person, and distant from love... like he was scared to love. We talked about this for a while realising that people who have been abandoned often end up being scared to love, or let people close, cause they don't want to be hurt like that again, so they distant themselves.
After that we went on with our normal cell group stuff, and it was really interesting, people just decided to leave at different times, like Z's mum left cause she had a meeting to go to, someone else left cause their knee was hurting to much, then just before we finished, another guy had to go cause he was meeting a friend... so i got to talk one on one with Z and share with her, and answer her questions. Than as we we were praying, a lady (G) out the front (who had been asleep there earlier) was crying out for help... so we went out and sat with her for a bit and got her some food and soft drink (soda). Z had to go.. so that left me out the front sitting with this lady til her friend (K) came. However he had to go do some stuff, and said that he'd be back in 30 mins, so i sat with her, chatted with her.... She was depressed and thinking of killing herself, so i sat out side talking with her for approx 2 hours, and her friend hadn't come back... She decided to leave, i couldn't stop her. she was more coherrent, at that point than when i first went out. However she still wasn't well. I pray that Christ will look after her, and protect her.

alcohol and people drunk.

I was at a party the other day, and by the end of the night there was a few people drunk, which is a very common thing in Aus. There was someone who drunk that much that she was feeling sick, and spent quite a while sitting on the toilet floor with her head on the toilet. I don't see the sense in drinking to that extent.
At the end of the night one of the other people that were drunk went into the toilets to see if the first person was alright, and was saying to the first person "your a legend" and fully praised the person for drinking that much. My heart broke..
Also there was a number of people that seemed to be entertained by watching the people that were fully drunk... Which made me sad and angry, cause i could see that a few of the people who were drunk, were trying to escape/cover up their hurts, it was like some people just found it funny, and i really don't find people being drunk funny,
I don't know what the emusement of watching people that are drunk making a fool of themselves. And i hate how the Australian culture so readily accepts drunk behaviour and encourages it...
I See many people each week as i am on the street that are controlled by the alcohol, they spend so much of their money on alcohol, that they don't have anywhere to stay, they either sleep on the street or end up at the sobering up unit. I have also met people on the street who's life has been distroyed by alcohol. And basically it SUX's, it don't know how else to put it.
The government has noticed that alcohol is a problem in Australia, especially binge drinking among teenagers and young adults, and are wanting to try and discourage it. Which at the moment it is a hard job.... because the mindset of majority of australians has to be changed... for so many of australians it is a social thing to go out for a "drink", and then they end up encouraging each other to drink more.
When i see people drunk, my heart breaks, cause i also know that a lot of them are trying to escape from their problems, stress, hurts and pains. which works for a short time, how ever when they sober up, the stuff is still there.... Jesus' heart breaks, He longs to take their pain and problems... and bring healing.... He is just waiting.

lack of housing

Today i came face to face again with the issue of Adelaide not having enough emergency housing. Once again there is someone squatting out the front of my place, his a great guy, he has some issues at the moment, and i have had the opportunity to chat with him a couple of times, which has been cool. He needs some pray, so please pray for him.
Tonight i also met a couple out at the soup run, who are using all their money to stay in a hotel, they have had no fixed address for about a year, and have been in Adelaide for a couple of months. In the past she has been attacked and had her throat cut, so they don't really want to stay on the street... understandably.
Adelaide has 2 emergency shelters for adults, one for male, the other for female. There is no emergency accomodation for couples, fathers with their kids, there also isn't any accommodation for people getting out of prision.
I Hate meeting people on the street who have no where to stay, and i wish i lived in a big house (with others) in which i could just invite people to stay with us til they can get somewhere to live. I hate having a house with 3 spare beds, when i know people sleeping out side... majority of them guys.
Just down the road from me the Salvationn Army own a multi storey building which til recently was am age care facility, which is now empty, cause the age care moved... At the moment the building is not allowed to be used for anything, as it is not up to fire code, However the leaders of the Salvo in South Aus haven't even decided what to do with the place, there are so many ideas being tossed around, and nothing is being done, so at the moment nothing is being done about it getting up to fire codes standards. They aren't even sure if they want to spend the money to get it up to standard.
To me the decision is easy... the need is there for more accomodation... not just emergency, but also affordable... let's help meet it.....

quote

God doesn't want us to succeed, He only requires that you try.
Mother Teresa

love and our need for it...

Everyone needs to feel loved... So if we don't feel loved we start looking for it, and often in the wrong places and/or we fall into traps that have been set to pull us down. I know i have in the past, and still fall into them sometimes, but Thanks to God i don't fall as deep, He reveals the trap.
My love language is quality time* and i have falling into traps and have done some crap stuff and even put up with some crap in the past, God has been showing me that i fell into the crap because i felt unloved and i was looking for that love... However He is also showing me more and more, that when i feel unloved, to come to Him first, and spend time with Him. You see God knows the love language of each one of us, and He will speak to us through our love language. And it is so awesome when God speaks to you in your own love language...

If you don't know what your love language is, i would encourage you to find out what it is, and seek God, and allow Him to love you in that way.


*there are different ways (or languages) in which people recieve and give love. Gary Chapman put these in to 5 "languages".... being physical touch, quality time, gifts, words of affirmation and service. http://www.fivelovelanguages.com

God of all...

In my time with God today i was lead to song 30 of the salvation army songbook. It is a great reminder that God is God of all, not just spiritual and nature stuff, but even what us humans make.... He is above everything

God of concrete, God of steel,
God of piston and of wheel
God of pylon, God of Steam
God of girder and of beam
God of atom, God of mine
All the world of power is thine

Lord of cable, Lord of rail
Lord of motorway and mail
Lord of rocket, Lord of flight
Lord of soaring satellite
Lord of lightning's livid line
All the world of speed is thine

Lord of science, Lord of art
God of map and graph and chart
Lord of physics and research
Word of Bible, faith of Church
lord of sequence and design
All the world of truth is thine

God whose glory fills the earth
Gave the universe its birth
Loosed the Christ with Easter's might
Saves the world from evil's blight
Claims mankind by grace divine
All the world of love is thine.

(SASB 30, Richard Granville Jones)

Discipline.

Last night i went out to the soup run, and it was a great night, there was a few people that i have gotten to know, who i was able to catch up with which was great. Towards the end of the soup run things started to get a little interesting. A lady there who was fully drunk, started to yell at the soup run volunteers, she was yelling abuse and fully going off about the church... i have met this lady before and have had good chats with her, and this was the first time that i have seen her like this. Any way, i was going around chatting with people while praying for peace for her, and that her tongue would be bound, as i felt that that there was a little more going on than just her being drunk.
On my way home i was reflecting on what had happened, and Jesus reminded me of the scripture, in Mark 9:28 -29 and matt 17:21, where Jesus had just come down the mountian to his disciples and there was a man there, who's son had a evil spirit and the disciples tried to cast the spirit out, and then Jesus done it.... the disciples then ask why couldn't they cast the spirit out, and Jesus' reply was that "this kind can only come out in prayer and fasting ".
This was such a reminder that our lives have to be grounded in Christ, and in prayer with Him... Discipline has a great part of this, we need to be disciplined to spend time with Christ, not that it is a chore, but the more time we spend with Him, the better our relationship with Him is and then we will want to spend more and more time with Him.
It also reminded me that there is a place for fasting in this world, for fasting is meant to bring a person's focus onto Christ, and me aware of Him and spend time with Christ throughout the day.
I know in my own life, there is a number of different areas in which i can be more disciplined, and i want to be... I want to live a fully sold out life for Christ, and in the process i need to be disciplined, so that my Spirit with Christ is in control of my life, not my "flesh". Fasting is one area where i would like to be come more disciplined in. So Lord help me in this please...