99 Things

I'm bored. And a friend did it...

If you join in, please leave a comment so that I can read yours.
Things you've already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven't done and don't want to - leave in plain font

1. Started your own blog. Duh!
2. Slept under the stars. In a tent counts right?
3. Played in a band. A marching band no less!
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland/world.
8. Climbed a mountain. Mont Real in Canada
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo. Karaoke
11. Bungee jumped. No. But I have abseiled
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch. Making hair falls
15. Adopted a child..
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train. Do we have overnight trains in England?
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon.
28. Ridden a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person. American and Canadian falls
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors. Huh?
35. Seen an Amish community. Don't have them in this country
36. Taught yourself a new language. Gave up on Japanese
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied. Its not money stopping me being satisfied...
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo's David in person.
41. Sung Karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt..
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted. Thanks to Helena
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre. Dont have them over here
55. Been in a movie. Home movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class. Judo and Kendo
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies. Not being a Girl scout...
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Been given flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood. Not allowed to. I'm a vCJD risk
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a cheque.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favourite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar. Ugh
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous. Paul Daniels and Mary Gentle
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby. Not physically possible
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a mobile phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.

Very Americano-centric. Most of the "don't wants" are also "don't cares"

Prayer Points - January 2009

These just sent to our prayer points mailing list. Contact me if you want to receive these by email.

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Dear Prayer Partners,

Apologies that this is later in the month than usual. Summertime has it's own complex routine! Thankyou in particular to those who made contact to let us know of your particular prayers - it is greatly appreciated.

For those keen to receive news about Connections, please go to http://will-briggs.blogspot.com/. In particular there are some photos of what has happened so far over summer at http://will-briggs.blogspot.com/2009/01/connections-summer-photos-so-far.html.

Please pray, thanking God for

1) The success of our Christmas events - particularly the contacts made at Kid's Christmas on Christmas Eve.

2) The ability and opportunity of the local park - our Sunday outside gatherings have gone well with many bringing guests and visitors.

3) A qualitative growth within us - people willing to share, and pray for each other.

4) The number of those who have picked up using the "Connections @ Home" daily bible reading and journaling program. (More information http://will-briggs.blogspot.com/2009/01/word-in-season.html)

5) For the numbers amongst us getting married - a wedding was held at a local waterfall this past weekend.

Please pray for:

1) The upcoming transition out of summer - what do we do, where do we meet, how do we do it next? We are working on some options, please cover them in prayer - particularly our need for an ongoing children's program.

2) The children who have come forward for baptism and to be admitted to communion.

3) For those considering participating in our upcoming "Search for Life" discipleship program - particular for those for whom it would be of great benefit but are feeling hesitant in showing interest.

4) A continuing of spiritual growth - increased commitment to being part of a Christian community that is resident - gospel-focussed and counter-cultural - within the local community.

Blessings,

Will.

GSOH

For my sins I am a member of a dating website. It's not been very helpful in finding my one true love, but it's free, requires no real effort on my part, and has fun quizzes, so I'm not going to complain.

I was quite annoyed when I received a love note from another user that was such blatant spam that it couldn't have been more obvious if it was signed by the exiled Nigerian Finance Minister.

I immediately reported it for the scam it was, and thought no more of it.

When I logged in the other day I checked my inbox and found this message's title had been changed to "A spammy message". Odd, I thought. I'm sure it was something else. So I opened it and found this message from the admins:

There once was a spam in your mail.
We delete all such things without fail.
They just want your money.
We don't think it's funny.
We wish we could send them to jail.

I laughed aloud for several minutes.

Sundance Film Festival...

Never underestimate the power of coincidence, especially when you are at the Sundance Film Festival and surrounded by some seriously high rollers in the industry. Today's update will be short and sweet, just to let everyone know that the team is still working diligently on the Andromeda Project.

With that being said, the majority of the project completion has to do with behind the scenes paperwork and legal proceedings that will allow us to move forward. Usually when a company or project tells you that there is progress being made, they normally show you a bunch of fancy screenshots or put out a small demo. This happens not to be one of those times, as we must realize that moving forward with important milestones does not always mean something graphical or flashy. A lot of times it means that mundane stuff is being accomplished, but that does not mean that such proceedings are not important.

As a matter of fact, these boring paperwork sessions and such may actually be the most important aspect of A3D to date. Rest assured, when things become finalized, the beta team and world will know what's going on.

Until then, I trust that our beta team has been keeping tabs in the forums ;)

- The Management

Connections Summer Photos So Far

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Get your own

Word in season

Click here for pdf

Two important and substantial aspects of sharing life together as a church community are:

• the centrality of God's word
• sharing times together outside of Sunday

Traditionally these have been met through emphasising personal biblical devotions and through small group ministry. Last year, for instance, we had a number of small groups (men's, women's, young adults') and we promoted the M'Cheyne bible reading program in conjunction with a sermon series on spirituality at the beginning of the year. And while the small groups are currently on hiatus we hope to ramp them up again.

However, quiet times and shared study of the Bible does not require a formalised program. And rather than re-invent the wheel, we thought we'd combine M'Cheyne with a leaf out of the book of New Hope church's Life Journal program.

Every person at Connections got a Christmas present this year - a small notebook and a booklet called "Connections@Home" which contains the M'Cheyne readings and some direction on how to go about journalling (which is what the notebook is for) as part of daily devotions - and how to share that with others.

The journalling method promoted is the "SOAP" method - write down a meaningful Scripture from out of the day's readings, some Observations about it and how it Applies to your life, and a Prayer about that application.

You can share SOAP together by getting together with people for a "20-20-20" time - spending 20 minutes reading the readings, 20 minutes journalling, and 20 minutes sharing and praying together.

A lot of our Connections people are now SOAPing and 20-20-20ing together. Twice a week I do my devotions outside a cafe in the main street of Somerset and it's fantastic to have people join me there.

God's Word is the stuff of life. I'm looking forward to our 2009.

'Twas and 'tis the season

It's now close to mid-summer and an opportune time to look back on the last few weeks - and in particular to the previously mentioned "Kid's Christmas" in the park.

The heart behind this event was very simple: to tell the story of Jesus at Christmas time to those who value some form of spiritual input at Christmas for themselves and their children even if they would not consider themselves to be regular churchgoers.

We held the event in the local park where we are currently meeting (with the surf club as wet weather back-up). We hired a marquee and set up a manger scene. The service revolved around carol-singing and using "pass-the-parcel" and the unwrapping of "gifts" to bring out props and impromptu "actors" to tell the story. It flowed naturally into an opportunity share the heart of the gospel explaining the little fridge-magnet gift - "Jesus is God's gift to us" - that each child could take home.

It was fun. We had advertised widely, in schools and shops - and we weren't sure who or how many would turn up. But a good number (about 60) did of whom many were people who we hadn't seen before or were passers-by that had come to check us out. The feedback was good, relationships were formed.

It was an opportunity to advertise "Connections Summer." The response to the question of "Where do you meet regularly?... In the park" continues to be a question that causes thought about what church is and why that matters.

A few months ago some church-planting friends from Queensland asked the question - "What is the folklore in the community about your church?" The "in the park, enjoying summer" folklore seems to be spreading. As long as it moves people to those substantial questions of what is church, and who is the God who can draw such a diverse bunch of people together and why - then it is a valuable folklore and I am glad.

In the weeks that have followed Christmas engagement amongst our members is high and it is a wonderful thing to see the Holy Spirit stir us.

Photos courtesy of Jonathan Adamczewski.

One of those review of the year thingys

January
Cold wet and boring. Nothing much happened to me

February
Once again my car drains my bank balance, but February marks the first time I visited the Catherine Wheel, and the first time I atempted cybergoth as Pandora at least. I also rediscovered my love of karaoke.

March
Yet more "fun" with my car, a bit of model making and participation in Gillian's Flickr Tranny Day (including some bad 80s fashions!)

April
New hairstyle time! I had five or six inches cut off the end of my hair and started wearing my hair in an off-centre parting with a barrette.

May
A very busy month for me. Several birthday celebrations, including my own (where I revamped my cybergoth outfit), but the big event was going out with the girls on a hen night!

June
After May I needed some time to relax, so again a month with not much going on. Although I did get to see a promotional copy of the sci-fi machinima Clear Skies with one of the voice actors.

July
Also fairly quiet. I saw some live music in my hometown's music festival, and I mused about Tranny Cliches

August
If August was an episode of Friends, it would be called "The one with all the weddings". I went to three separate events and was let down at one, and shocked by sexism at another. I also spent a week housesitting and looking after a cat, which was fun, but reminded me why I don't have pets. It is far too much responsibility.

September
My car let me down again. This time it was the battery finally giving up the ghost. But thanks to supportive and knowledgeable relatives we managed to get the car roadworthy again in time for me to attend another karaoke night at The Wheel with my friends. I also became a god-parent, and had to give a reading in a catholic church.

October
This month I celebrated the end of my first year in my current job (and therefore the one year anniversary of leaving my old hateful job!) I also celebrated Halloween as a voodoo priestess, and did more karaoke.

November
In November I released Kill It With Fire, a little solo dice game. This is my first step on the path as an amateur games designer. I'm currently working on a card game, and I've signed up for an RPG design competition on RPG.net

December
A month for ending and starting. I stated a course in Equality and Diversity for work (quite handy in the Trannisphere too!), and I ended the year with friends once again at The Wheel. Happy New Year girls!

Obviously a lot more than that happened, but that's what I'm willing to share with you lot! I wonder where 2009 will take me?