Push'n To The Max!!!

Post At Last!

2005-11-10T23:18:00.000+11:00

Whoa...has it been over one month since our last blog?
oh man..! We arent doing this page justice..haha

We'll great news from me and my family. The power of prayer is amazing, and constantly God finds ways to place me in awe of his glory especially when i expect things to turn out not so good.

Exams were great today, even though i dont think i deserved doing so well in this chem exam, its like God selectly removed the questions for the stuff i didnt study for... hhaa, and i just prayed that His will be done, and not mine, and that this exaqm will bring him glory. Well, GLORY TO THE LORD!!!, for he is infinitely graceful, and loves us more than we can imagine.

Also... today my mum approved of me taking Owen to EYF...it just came out of the blue..=)

I love the way we never have to worry, since God's timing is best, even though we are a bit impatient sometimes.

God Bless all!

JoEy

Idle musings by the idealist...

2005-09-30T23:05:00.000+10:00

'ello 'ello all!!! =)

This is kinda interesting, my first ever blog blogged halfway across the equator from my home city. Japan's great, but really missing Sydney, especially come Fridays and Sundays, and also when all you sightsee are temples and shrines and go to a Buddhist retreat, it gets to a point where i feel that there's definetely something missing on this trip...

But! we went to the Church of Light a few days ago. For those who are unfamiliar with this landmark, it's a church designed by reknowned architect Ando Tadao (or is it the other way around - Tadao Ando??? I was never very good at Japanese...) for the local Church of Christ. Anyway, I thought it was good, but perhaps not too great. Thought I'd share the musings I put in my reflective journal with you guys on our max it out blog...

--so it begins--

I'm at a loss at how to express my thoughts on this church, so I guess there really is no better way to begin than to start with first impressions, eh..?

So, first impression - surprise at its location!! Even as we were emeandering our way through the hilly, narrow, residential neighbourhood, it never occured to me that I shall find the famous CHurch of Light located smack in the middle of a surburban area, because it's so different from how textbooks and reference books depict it. From the books in which I've seen the church I always get the impression that it is set amid a hugh site that's pretty sacred and santurary like.

That couldn't be further away from teh truth, and I like it better and appreciate it more this way, because it is literally set on the street level, as opposed to at a snobby place or atop a pedastol, making it more inviting and accessible to Christians and non-Christians alike.

The way in which it is slightly set back from teh streets, and the choice of material and its finishes (mainly concrete and some glass and recycled timber i think), also makes it more humble, which constant with our Christian ways, adding to its integrity as a space that is dedicated to serving Christ Jesus.

HOwever, i must say I was not so impressed once I entered the space. I didn't find the church as spiritual as I thought it's be. Maybe it's because it's a designer designed space? and the fact that the incongrous combinations of its humble, simple timber furnishing with the modern (post-mod??) use of concrete and the division of space that made it less spiritual?

But then again, the reason why I was not really feeling the Christian spirity may be because of the company I was with (a host of non-Christian uni ppl) and the purpose of my presence there (or a design trip/tour). BUt then again, that doesn't make too much sense coz a good, well-designed spiritual space should be able to inspire spirituatliy and a sense of connectiveness to the Godly sublime in all who visit the space. And personally, I have been to temples and cathedrals in the past without any particular religious belief, and was still able to experience the sense of awe and reverence that the space inspires for the god(s) they worship.

So i guess I would attribute the reason(s) why the Church of Light isn't so 'successful' (in my personal opinion) to a rather unfortunate combination of post-modern architectural design (which drew attention away from the space being one of worship), and choice of material (the concrete and glass do make it rather stark!!), and also the commercial aspect of it (it being such a touristy destination for its design as opposed to it being a church). Admittedly, many churches and places of worship can ascribe to the above too, but perhaps the difference that differentiates one successful place of worship from one that's not is the ages and the context in which it was established? But that's just a sweeping generalization really - More research needed to back up arguement!! =)

So I suppose I could've just summarized my whole 5 pages of reflective 'blurb' into the single phrase : 'Religion + Capitalism = Incongrous yet interdependent'...

--end (sorta...)--

I feel sad coz i think that's quite an unfortunate relationship..but I'm running outta time to use the internet so hey, we can all talk about this the next time i see you all =)

much love,
~ness

Cut that hair Jesus! Cut that hair! ><"

2005-09-28T12:12:00.000+10:00

Finally, the Cut That Hair Weekend photos have been put up! The story of Cut That Hair can be traced in the following email. Enjoy, friends!

Yeah mine's getting pretty annoying too..specially at
the back...
Cut that hair Jesus! Cut that hair! ><"  --- JoEy  wrote:

> 
> Man...
> I feel so hairy in both ways
> JESUS IS THA FRIGGIN KING ...DAWG!
> 
> --- Daniel Au  wrote:
>      > > Hey guys,
> > 
> > 1st of August, only one more month to go!
> > Just wanna encourage you guys to keep it up;
> > My hair is starting to feel long now, but
> > so long as we keep up the pact, we'll be
> > wookies before we give up!!!
> > 
> > MAX IT OUT! RARGH!!
> > 
> > blessings,
> > Dan
> > 
> > p.s: In many respects, making a pact for
> > growing your hair until a specified end time
> > is a lot like growing as Christians together.
> > There are times when we'll feel hairy and sinful,
> > but through Jesus, we hold true to ourselves
> > and strengthen each other through the bond
> > of fellowship. The day Jesus' return, therefore,

> is
   > > a
> > lot like the Day when we go to get our hair cut.
> > Heaven is our barbershop, man; and Jesus is
> > the barber!!!
> > 
> >     > 
> 
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam
> protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com

Thank You!

2005-09-23T18:11:00.000+10:00

Been a bit quiet lately. Spooky....

Got a bit of good news though and just wanted to share.

With my parents only knowing Club 5 as a "Christian conference", and having only a week and a bit left before heading off, I wasn't in the best of positions to raise the issue of full-time ministry. But I just couldn't go off to some conference that so strongly looks to promote full-time ministry in the future with my parents not knowing that I'd been thinking about these sorta things...and thinking that it's only a short and sweetened version of MYC or KYL. It just didn't feel comfortable...they're my parents...they should know...right?

I'd been struggling with the question for a while now, thinking and praying over how to approach them and how they'd react to this sorta news. It was like table tennis...in my head...? Anyway, so last night I decided to talk to them, Dad first, Mum second, it wasn't something I could keep avoiding, they would have to know sometime...for me I was guessing the earlier the better.

Eventually it turned out great by asian standards I think (thank God), especially with my mum being non-Christian. My dad was quite cool about it. If I wanted to do it later on he'd be fine with it, as long as I thought about it and didn't go into it like straight out of uni. My mum was completely cool with it...although she treated me like a 4 year old kid who hadn't really thought through which piece of candy I really wanted...which sorta explains her reaction, as if I was just going through a phase, though in the end her final comment was that she'd be fine with it if that was what I decided to do later on.

Thank God that I have been blessed with parents that I can be open with (and all the more now!) and who are understanding of me and my life.
So happy. So relieved. Thank you God.

joey

Message from Golda

2005-09-07T10:03:00.000+10:00

Hey guys,

I've been asked by Golda to post up a very special message from her.
Thanks for the encouraging email, sis. I'm glad that you've had some very uplifting experiences during your time in Sydney and HK.

Max on!

-Joyce

Hey Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How's eveything? I just got back from hk ... and each day, I've been thinking about everyone of you ....anywayz... through out the whole summer...I felt lost and realized im living in constant fear and realized I don't have purpose for this holiday...until Doctor Choi(Philemon Choi) prayed for me at a youth camp in hk... it was really amazing how he just looked at me and just comment "you have fear in you, you had it really rough, your parents...." and i was just about to cry in front of him but i didn't ...and i knew he was right.

After that day and that moment, I realized that God, my dad really really loves me, and that he has everything planned for me even if i didn't ask for it. As days come and go, I felt better about my self, and slowly recovering from traumas that happened in the past. Two weeks later,I had this really strong feeling that something really special was about to happen and it did. Doctor Choi, a very very well known speaker and counselor specifically asked to come up to Mei Foo(where I stayed in hk) and prayed for me and talked and stuff... and man! He was good! I mean WHOA!! Before i said anything, he said there has been many episodes of bad memories recently in my life.. and i was really taken aback and really felt the spirit of the Lord...

We talked and prayed and worked out some issues I had and it was amazing and I finally felt loved like I was being held by the Lord, it was very comforting... before the talk, i was scared and in constant stress, but after, I felt raw peace and love, warmth and joy, I wasn't scared anymore, I knew the Holy Spirit was and is with me and His hand of love is always on me.

The first time I felt true love other than my family, was from you guys. There are million of verbs or nouns I can list about you people.. you are more than friends to me. To me, you' all part of my family and I will and forever I will love you all. Thank you for your shoulders and thankyou for your ears to hear and to let me cry and talk and to share about my life in Canada. I will never never never forget the laughs and the encouragements i've received... I am very blessed to have you and everyone of you brothers and sisters to be in my life.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and I might come back within two years.. i have no idea..but i will keep you guys up to date.

W/ LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF LOVE~

-Golda

Prayer Answering - Express

2005-09-01T11:22:00.000+10:00

It's September. Only 3 months left in the year. Only 3 months left of 2005...
Next year there's going to be "change". People coming, people going.

One of these changes is that I'm going to be starting full-time work at some company, and there was a possibility that I would get assigned to a job in Canberra that would require me to go there 5 days a week and come back for the weekend for x amount of weeks.

And recently I've been thinking about what I can do next year in ministry. Or what do I want to do. I want to continue to be involved in EYF next year, but it would be pretty tough to prepare bible study or meet ppl because I'd possibly be away during the week...
--------

Anyways, so last night Enoch comes to my house for prestudy and we chat and study the bible and jam a bit. Then we talk about my "issues" for next year, what I want to do, and what can I commit to, and what can I do if I really do get assigned to that Canberra job.

So we pray about it.

And lo and behold, this morning I check my email and get this from Vicky (who works at the company i'm going to) from out of the blue.

"Great news to brighten up your day....u don't have to worry about chances of you being booked on Centrelink/Canberra next year, I've checked retained, and you're not on the job! "

*victory music starts playing*

thank you God!

-ed

How God maxed out my Sunday

2005-08-21T22:44:00.000+10:00

As you guys know, everyone in my family is non Christian other than me, and ive been praying about my Lil Brother and worrying especially about Owen, the one in year 10. Today I was hoping to bring up the topic of religion with Owen during our usual car ride together wen i pick him up from tutoring at 3pm. I got there 30min early after lunch with you guys at Eastwood, and i ended up falling aslp in the car.
zzzzz...
I wake up and my mum is outside my car, and i had no idea where i was?!?!? My mum should be at home but they came to pick up Owen to goto a table tennis event. I had know idea, so went back home by myself in dismay that i could not have a rare talk with my lil bro.
So i went to bball at Carlo half courts to meet up Jeremy Lung, and i met Andrew Chung there too. There i owned myself by killing my ankle. I twisted it bad, rekilling a previous injury. That effective prevented me from going to the final round of the volleyball comp that i goto every Sunday evening.
I got back home think, man what a screwed up day, all that iplanned to max out didnt happen. Sigh...So i go home and have a shower...
.....
Owen then knocks on the shower door, he goes "Hey, can you take me to Apple's church"...i was like..what>!?>>! "Apple asked me to goto her church, its like now, can u take me?" I thought...thats amazing, God killed my plan of talking to my liL bro, and twisted my ankle, just to give me sumthin even better. Owen and I made sum ground, and he revealed sum of the things he thought of Christianity, which is sumthin we nva talk about.
GLORY TO GOD!!! I felt so special that God does all that just to give me sumthin that so good, i would nva have imagined that it would happen.

God maxes our lives out more than we could eva try to ourselves alone.

Joey

Old Testament Rap Up

2005-08-20T20:08:00.000+10:00

Yo G's, thanks to my homies Joey and Dan for helpin' out wit the rap. Hope it helped. We should do it again sometime...except without the crowd responsive reading at the end. hahaha. Hey, heres a copy of the rap. A rap is really just a poem said quickly, so u gotta read it quickly with a beat in your head!

So in the beginning, God is the creator,
In a word, it was good, perfect like the maker.
Made man in His image, special relationship.
God was their ruler, but things are bout to flip,

Sin entered the world, through the rebellion of Adam,
Wages of sin is death, paid to both sir and madam,
But our merciful God had it planned from the start,
A promised serpent crusher, now isn’t that smart!

Cain and Babel and the Flood, just to name a few,
Endless cycle spinning down like water down a loo.
God’s promise to Abram, blessing, de-scendants, land,
A promise to set things right again, reassure us of God’s hand.

So we rap here today about God’s masterplan,
With Nathan and Joey and our Homie G Dan.
We see over and over, the sinfulness of man,
God is just but has shown mercy ever since time began.

Same promise was passed down to Isaac and Jacob,
Though in Egypt at the end, Joseph was sure that God would keep it
Egyptians made them slaves, but God did not forget,
Using Moses, plagues and miracles, every promise met.

But even in the promised land, they still continue to sin,
Sin, Judgment and then Mercy, round and round they spin.
Worse of all they rejected God, who is truly king,
Demanded a human one instead, an Israelite Dang Xiao Ping.

King David was actually pretty good, God promised in his line,
One to build a house for God and to rule them for all time.
But even David stuffed up lots, those after him even more,
Just look at poor old Solomon, the fool with wives galore.

So we rap here today about God’s masterplan,
With Nathan and Joey and our Homie G Dan.
We see over and over, the sinfulness of man,
God is just but has shown mercy ever since time began.

The Kingdom was ripped, out from Solomon’s hand,
But in God’s mercy, He left him with one clan.
Idols, Ashera poles, the list goes on and on,
Israel chomped by Assyria, Judah: Babylon.

Last week we learnt that God is full of mercy,
Returning Judah out from exile, an exodus from the Persie’s.
The city is rebuilt, they are submitting to God’s word,
Reading from morning until noon, doing everything they heard.

So is everything all perfect? As rosy as can be,
Is the problem of sin dealt with? The reversal of Genesis 3.
Is the sin, judgment, mercy cycle finally now killed?
Is the promise to Abram and David ultimately fulfilled?

So we rap here today about God’s masterplan,
With Nathan and Joey and our Homie G Dan.
We see over and over, the sinfulness of man,
God is just but will show mercy for all that time will span.

Cool, catch youse all later.

Maxing it out for the glory of God alone,

YBIC,
Nate

Maxin it out Archi style!

2005-08-18T12:41:00.000+10:00

Wow...So this is what the world of blog looks like...newblet as I am...

Finally recovering from the lagging fatigue that resulted from working up until 4am on Monday morning. Some would call this maxing out. Others would call it craziness or shortage of life-span. Though I just like to call it...architecture, along with really bad time-management in this case, though this semester for me is far better than the last. In lieu of this...

Freedom mission on campus has been awesome this last week or so with the talks and events, CBS has been maxing it out big time, and I've been tagging along for the ride. A few of my friends wanted to get into the debate, but sadly heaps of people were turned away at the door because it was full, even so it was such encouragement to find out that these people were actually interested in learning more about Christ.

Last Wednesday, FEVA held a BBQ outside the Red Centre and it was great (Ian, the HOT one and I) walking up to people and telling them about the FREEDOM events. Not to mention screaming out "FREE SAUSAGES!" to people passing by on the main walk. The talks have been great for starting conversations with friends in archi, even the titles attract them enough for the opportunity to ask them to come along. Just today I had a conversation with a friend about the Da Vinci Code, then her thoughts on Christianity and Buddhism...didn't quite reach the gospel cos she had to leave, but it's awesome the opportunites that we are given.

Verse from 2 Timothy that really challenges me to push it to the max, which Paul reminded us of last week:

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

Max on bros and sis'!
joey

Duracell Bunnies

2005-08-17T22:03:00.000+10:00

Hey y’all,

Just finished reading through 2 Timothy and man, if you wanna talk about a guy who should change his name to Max. I. Tout, it should be the Apostle Paul! Listen to what he writes:

“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” 2 Tim 4:6-8

Whoa man, this is what Paul’s saying to his little apprentice dude Timothy on his death-bed, and what a max-ed out life of ministry he’s had, working tirelessly for the gospel til the end, for that great prize in heaven waiting for him!

It really reminds me of Dudley and Elizabeth Foord, who spoke at youth camp last year. If you look at their schedule, man, they’re a maxed out couple – still pushin it to the max even into their twilight years! When other couples their age are playing bingo and collecting sea shells, they just keep on at it, like duracell bunnies oi! They encourage me so maxnificantly, heaps more than any great preacher, cos they’re a couple who’ve maxed it out, and continue to max it out just like Paul.

So lets keep at it - max it out like Paul did! And the Dudleys!

Max it out like a Duracell bunny!!

Jeff

Max it all the way!

2005-08-16T20:56:00.000+10:00

Hey all! This is great; I'm so excited to see all these newbie bloggers - all passionately maxing it out for God! woohoo! (btw, I'm unashamedly "advertising" for my own blog if u wanna read it:
http://living4eternity.blogspot.com).

I've been wanting to write a post for some time now about maxing it out in ministry. For me in yr11, it's been a very busy year, especially since I'm doing the HSC Chem this year...but I've been sooo encouraged by all my godly brothers and sisters in Christ to stay faithfully serving God. Like at RICE; "there's more to life than HSC!!" Amen to that! (this statement was especially relevant for me since two days after RICE rally i had my chem trial! but i still went to RICE ^^).

I'm not saying its easy; juggling school and church/ministry. Especially this week. I had BSF on Monday (bible study fellowship) which was really awesome; but meant that I had no time whatsoever to do any homework. And all this week I've had to study hard for my theology exam on friday; the Introduction to the Bible course from moore college...as well as EYF and church as usual AND I'm also playing piano for sunday service...

So yeah, it's not easy; so why do I do it? Wouldn't it just be easier to give up going to this and that so I can concentrate on my schoolwork? NO WAY... because I know and understand the importance of ministry and church: it's what's going to matter and have significance into eternity. And that's amazing! The thought that we can be doing things, things of eternal significance for God, we can be helping to change people's lives, and we can be investing our time and energy into things that will last.

This is something that i've been learning, especially in sunday school..and it's so true. I pray that next year i can be a witness to my friends by continuing to faithfully serve God, not being so busy that i leave God out of the picture.

YSIC

Valerie =)

Maxing out our Sundays

2005-08-16T20:26:00.000+10:00

Hey guys!

Timetable of my last Sunday
9:15 Service on brothers and sisters being there for each other, with God as an essential part of this relationship Luke 5: 17-32
10:45 Rush to Beecroft to drop off a bday present for my ex
11:30 Arrived bak at church for bible study, missed the 1st 15mins...not good.
1:30 Went to Eastwood, Homers Cafe with Ness, Winky and Dan to share on our resources (CD's on talks on Colossians, last years CLUB 5 on James, and "The Cross Movement" hiphop CD)
2:45 Took Dan in my car and picked up my bro from Ruse. Got Dan to tok to my bro about EYF, and then dropped Dan home
3:20 Dropped my bro home, and pumped up all my tired (all were flat)
3:45 Drove to bball at Thornleigh wit Dave and Norberts guys
5:00 Left bball to pick up Peter Lok at Eastwood to goto vball at Dural
6:00 Arrived at vball. We lost a close game, and it was the semis... but i couldnt even start to think how bad we played the last set cos... I needed to rush down to Burwood and it was 7:15
7:45 I think arriving at burwood from Dural in 30mins is illegal... oh man... well Winky Dan and I had dinner with sum girls from a Blacktown church who was there to attend "Burwood at 5". Their names were Lily, Magee and hmm....i dunno the other one..haha. Dan also shouted us dessert which was generous of him. =)
Came home at 11pm.. all maxed out

MAX IT OUT!!!
Dan and Winky had similar timetables, cept that Dan preached in the morning at Lian Liang --> hardcore. =D If only Ed could come out and do sum cold turkey with me before the service...that would be max... *sigh.

Big Joey

The Anthem of the Tired.

2005-08-16T09:39:00.000+10:00

Here's a chant I've composed for all tired Christians in the workplace. Best results achieved by chanting aloud the following, while stomping around the office and beating a wooden spoon against a pot.

I'm Tired, You're Tired, We're all very Tired!
Keep your heads up, or else we'll all be Fired!
Work hard, play hard, max it ALL the way!
Jesus is Lord and will be coming back one day!

I'm Tired, You're Tired, We're all very Tired!
Eating a muffin now that seems to be Expired!
Go strong, Sing 'a song; All that's on my mind
Is serving God's people, servin till I go blind!

I'm Tired, You're Tired, We're all very Tired!
Managers will soon regret us whom they have hired!
Ministry here, Ministry there, till we break our backs
Coz we live for Jesus and take it TO THE MAX!!!

untitled

2005-08-15T23:45:00.000+10:00

Hey there fellow maxers,
the workload for uni is getting quite crazy looking in the lead up to the 6th week this semester, theres heaps of tasks and assignments due approx. 11 from last count, and so far i've found im not totally on top of everything as of yet, but perseverence and discipline is the key im striving after.

just a moment ago Dan, Kev and I had the chance to meet up and chat and were very much encouraged and spurred on by Dan to keep in mind and bring to reality our possible futures with full time ministry. One of the big things was in short how i had been really challenged to reconsider my management of time and uni schedule, through looking at Matt 10 (i think). to the extent that i was pretty much convinced to change courses to a less time demanding one to accomodate for Ministry-Maxing-out. but the more i thought about it the more insane i thought this step would've been, (despite knowing that serving God should be the only concern and everything else is not even a pale comparison).

well i also discussed it with my parents and they presented views like "you can still 'serve full-time' through your faithfulness to God at your workplace...", "if everyone was a pastor then it wouldn't be as effective.." etc. and so on and so forth, now im quite confused and erm, yeah please pray for me about God giving me wisdom in thinking it through and decision making thanks.

by Michael Sham

I'm crankin' guys

2005-08-15T00:01:00.000+10:00

Wow, this is the first time I've blogged.. this is really exciting stuff!!

Well, yesterday has been quite a long day, have been taking it strong by going to 3 different churches!! In the morning, went to Ling Liang Church in Hornsby with Jeff to hear Dan speak. It's a small congregation, but what was cool about it was the way that they seemed to know each other so well. It's really mad how you learn more about how other churches are run. And the best thing about visiting other churches is hearing the different ways they max out their ministries. It's so comforting to know that even though we are from different churches we are all united in Christ, sharing in the partnership of the gospel.

What's more is that this encouragement from other brothers and sisters, has really been pushing me to think more about how to persevere and stretch myself in ministry for the rest of my life.

Hmm..anyway, I'm a bit crazy for blogging at this hour, I should really sleep early one of these days... Hope you all have a wonderful week. Push it all the way!!

YSIC,
Wing Kei

Maxed out!

2005-08-14T22:27:00.000+10:00

Yeh this blog is cool...
Currently recovering from my cold after maxing it out for the last 10 months planning & organising RICE. I believe in taking it strong all the way baby... even till I get sick.

To quote Big Joey at bible study last Friday's EYF:

Max it out like Jesus did!

Booyah!

- JA

Full ySic.

2005-08-11T22:34:00.000+10:00

When we Christians sign off an email or a letter with "yBic" or "ySic", we don't often give much second thought. But when you ponder it for a while longer, it really is something amazing. I awoke to this recently by our very dear Ness. Recently Ness became a Christian, and in the providence of God a situation occured one day for which she had the urge to write to a few of us about. What struck me was her signoff, 'ySic'! And indeed she was! Here's my email reply:

Wow that sharing from you was SOOO encouraging! I praise God that He gave you insight into His word that you were able to see and apply it to your everyday life! That's part of the power of scripture!

And, did you know how joyous I felt when I saw you signing off as YSIC?
Those 4 initials have not had as much meaning to me before than now, did you realise that? You see, those of us who've been Christian for a long time, often lose the importance of how priveleged we are to be calling each other "brothers and sisters". But the joy and wonder of being able to rightly call us brothers and sisters, precisely because you ARE in the family of God, where you can call God our "Father", is a wonderful thing isn't it? Or as John writes,

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" - 1 John 3:1

It's only 4 initials - but they mean sooo much, and coming from a new believer like you, it has woken me up to it. We can all learn from this. So thankyou Ness! =) Here's a poem I made up to express it all:

It's fully fully sick
to be signing off as ySic
coz we're in His family;
bought by Christ, eternally!

United by His blood
Our life is not a dud
To live is Christ, no doubt
we gotta MAX IT OUT!!!!

=)
yBic
Dan

It never ceased to amaze the apostle of Love that we are the children of God. May this be so of us.

Ed maxing it out

2005-08-10T22:18:00.000+10:00

As you guys might know, I've been discipled by Ed for a while now. We've dun Two ways to Live and part of the program involves Cold Turkey. As most ppl that i know that have dun TWTL have not attempted cold turkey before, I reckon Ed maxed it out by pushing us to present the gospel to strangers.
Time: Friday 1500-1645
Location: WestRyde Busstops and train station.
Mission: Risk your life for Jesus, and follow His maxed out ministry.
1st Encounter: A korean guy who Ed swore was goin to fly kick us in the face if we got too close. Found out he was Christian and didnt no good english
2nd Encounter: We were trying to find single guys at the station, and we spotted a long haired guy wearing pants sitting on a log. I told Ed. Ed and his poor Eyesight tells me "U sure thats a guy???" I go "yeh man! thats a guys school uniform his wearing". Altho i was so sure, after we got within 20m of him, i wasnt so sure anymore (seemed like IT had features of both sexes. If there was such thing as a 3rd sex he would be exactly that.
3rd Encounter: We got shutdown by a short liL yr 7 kid. Man... he owned us baD.

Anyways...the important bit was that we got to present to gospel to two curry yr 7's from Normanhurst. Prelude:
Ed "how about them?
Joey "but theres 2 of them!"
Ed "They havnt even gone thru puberty yet. I reckon we can handle them!"

We finished the day with a CAT Fish. A King sized kitkat stuffed into a fish icecream. I think if u add a pounder to that, it would mean certain death.

Joey

In the spirit of maxing it out...

2005-08-10T18:31:00.000+10:00

Hey Guys, this is Nate. I can't believe I'm actually blogging. Never thought I'd see the day, but hey, its in the spirit of maxing it out and going out of your comfort zone, and doing crazy things ... like blogging!

I did a psychometric test today for a job and it had a question right at the end of the 318 questions which was like "Do you push yourself hard?" Oh yeh baby! Its ashame that they only had Yes and No, and didn't have an option for "Absolutely man! I crank it to the max!" Man that test was pretty maxed. 318 pshycoanalysis questions, then 1 1/2 hrs timed IQ, Maths and Comprehension questions. Crazy man. I dun think I'll get through though to the next round, I think I come across as a bit too psycho!

On monday I did a 12K run, then yesterday played cricket for 2hrs and footy for 2hrs after that. My knees a bit swollen and a bit infected cos I fell over, but I'll push it to the max on the city to surf...its not maxed out until its fallen off!

On a Christian note, I'm really enjoying maxing out my time and meeting with other christians. Bumped into Joey today and had a short chat. Then bumped into Gavin and had a really good chat over coffee. And tonight I'm meeting up with some of my Christian Ruse friends at the Macau Cafe. So thats definetly something to thank God for.

Anyways, here ends my first ever blog entry. Until next time, push it to the max!

Nate

Picture of the Year

2005-08-10T16:28:00.000+10:00

Without a doubt, this has got to be the Picture of the Year. Notice the hotness. The passion. The intensity. Here is a man who is free from the troubles of the world. Here is a man who knows his place in creation. Glancing into the sunset he is in awe of his creator God, who made him and sent His Son to die for him. Here is a man who cannot be separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Here is a man who is so hot right now.

Here is Sham.

Maxing it out

2005-08-08T21:40:00.000+10:00

Why do we need a Maxing it out blog? Well for several reasons:

1. Every day, many of the maxing-out activities are going unrecorded.
2. It is important to encourage people to take it strong in every part of their lives.
3. We need to let people know how we lived; before finally dying prematurely from eating too many Triple-Quarter pounders.

The story of Maxing It Out began a few days before a Hike. The girl (featured in the cartoon on the header banner) expressed some doubts as to whether she wanted to come on the Hike. I relayed this doubt to Big Joey, and he replied, "Yeh, tell her to MAX it OUT!!!". And so I did. Lo and behold she came, and we had the most wonderful time!