Christmas seems to have snuck up this year and caught me unawares. I started my Christmas shopping today and have met with some success, though not as much as I would like. I think you really have to be in the mood to shop, you have to be filled with the "Spirit of Giving" which I believe is a spiritual gift that I am lacking in. I think I will make my next year's reslolution to be much more organised than I was this year. So I will pray glory to God in the highest, Lord gift me with giving and shape my character to be like your son who was born and gave the ultimate gift of salvation.
Well so far I've managed to tick off a number of activities that I said I wanted to do. On Saturday I went and saw Harry Potter with Helen. I t was pretty cool, but I was a bit disappointed with "He Who Must Not Be Named". I thought he was going to be scary and he turned out to be kind of average. They also didn't show half of the cool things from the book.
I also got to see the live show of the Messiah on Sunday. It wasn't like U2 or Les Miserables, but it was still a good performance. I sat there during the second half and marvelled at all the choir and the audience standing and singing centuries old worship songs. I wondered how many of them were Christians and how many even realised that they were glorifying God? You may ask why it was in the second half that I was having these thoughts. In the first half I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. Not because it was boring, but because I hadn't slept much and I needed sugar and caffeine.
I'd like to thank my sponsors at Coca Cola for their refreshing ice-cold beverage.
I went for my first adventure into the CBD today which was fun. There are so many cool book stores everywhere, so I spent most of the time with my head inside a book. I don't think this is an effective way to see the sights of Sydney, but I've got the rest of my life to see tourist attractions.
I sat in a park today and ate a jam-filled doughnut as I watched homeless people go by...
So living in Sydney is not so bad really. I quite like the whole bigness of the place. It's kind of fun to think - What am I going to do tonight? And to realise that I finally have some options to choose from. My days are getting busier which is a good thing as I like to have creative things to do, especially when it come to church stuff.
Things that I would like to do in the next few weeks are:
Go to Dosa Club
See Harry Potter
Go to a fun party
Explore New Town
Catch random trains and buses, check out where I am, then find my way back.
See a live show (or 2)
Sample exotic foods
Watch the sunrise in my new state of NSW
Meet more friends
Tell one random person on a train about Jesus
Teach an old dog a new trick
Get a mime to speak
And more...
If the world is to be saved, it will not be by old minds with new programs but new minds with no programs at all. Why not new minds with new programs? Because where you find people working on programs, you don't find new minds, you find old ones. Programs and old minds go together like buggy whips and buggies.
Programs are sticks planted in the mud of a river to impede its flow. The sticks do impeded the flow. A little. But they never stop the flow, and they never turn the river aside.
Programs make it possible to look busy and purposeful while failing. If programs actually did the things people expect them to do, then human society would be heaven: our governments would work, our schools would work, our law enforcement systems would work, our justice systems would work, our penal systems would work, and so on.
When programs do fail (as they invariably do) this is blamed on things like poor design, lack of funds and staff, bad management and inadequate training. When programs fail look for them to be replaced by new ones with improved design, increased funding and staff, superior management and better training. When these programs fail (as they invariably do), this is blamed on poor designs, lack of funds and staff, bad management and inadequate training.
This is why we spend more and more on our failures every year. Most people accept this willingly enough, because they know they're getting more every year: bigger budgets, more laws, more police, more prisons - more of everything that didn't work last year or the year before that or the year before that.
Old Minds think: If it didn't work last year, let's do more of it this year.
New Minds think: If it didn't work last year, let's do something else this year.
I found this in a book called "Beyond Civilization" by Daniel Quinn when I was unpacking; it's kind of controversial and the type of books I used to read when I was younger. Not really sure how I feel about it now, but it's fun to think about.
Well I made it to Sydney in one piece and had a fun adenture along the way. I even managed to get to Commi Dinner on my way into Sydney which was fun. My life is already beginning to get busy again and I'm enjoying the new and interesting opportunities that this big city has to offer, even as I'm simultaneously recovering from Christmas Concert production week at my old church.
What's even better than all that is I get see see Helen all the time!!! That has to be the coolest thing ever about Sydney!
Thanks for the warm welcome all you Commi Dinner people! You sure know how to make a guy feel welcome, especially when it comes to his "Vegetarianism".