Pictures As Promised... My Orange Wonderland!

Well I did promise pictures of our progress... and in true style, projects always take longer than expected... but the effort is always worth while.

In this first picture (August - the day I received my iPhone...mmmmm) you'll note the bland colour of my office (you can either choose to look at the wall or the reflection off my head).
This was what I got going with the flow...

But alas, we must be true to the vision / dreams / goals we have... even if it means facing everyone's criticism, doubting words, disbelief, ... or even if it requires buying some sunglasses to hand out to the people who pass by my orange wonderland!

I must admit the office has a life of its own now. I'm loving it.
At last weeks music practice someone looked up from downstairs. All the other office lights were off except mine and the person panicked, "There is a fire in the office upstairs!"
Ah, yes, reminds me of the book of Acts and the Upper Room. (You gotta have some fun!)


Well I must extend a big thank you to Amy and Beth who helped me paint the office.
All that is left to do is putting up some artwork.

Feel free to visit the Orange Wonderland anytime. Our doors are always open : )


Godspeed & Kaizan
Clive

Paint Your Dreams Alive!

I have been prepping the office for painting today... tomorrow it all happens. For quite some time now I've wanted to paint my office a nice LOUD orange...
I want to feel a shower of energy when I walk into the office.
But alas, too many times in the past I was told that orange is a bad idea... go for more conservative colours...
I've never been happy!

This week I decided... blow it, I'm going orange! And once again... many people have expressed their doubts over my colour choice. But its really only fueled me! I can't wait to see the final result tomorrow!

I wonder how many times we let people talk us out of our dreams / goals. Have you let some dreams die... or at least packed them away in storage?
Pull out some of your dreams / goals... and shoot for it!
As the saying goes... when we get to the end of our lives our greatest regrets will lie in the areas of what we did not do rather than what we did do! So GO FOR IT!!!

Godspeed & Kaizan
Clive

PS: I will post pictures soon!

What Kind Of Dreamer Are You?

Well conference last week was the bomb! Ps Chris Hill was a real treat! In fact Ps Nick got so excited during one of Ps Chris Hill's messages that he went and pounded on the stage!

What a great time of refreshment, but I must admit though... I do love being back at home.
Espesially cool was the launch of our new series this last week in the 6pm called Hanging Out. (Big ups to Rebekah Powell for the amazing stage design!)

In this series we are looking at what community is all about, how to survive and thrive as we do life together.
If you missed the first instalment you can grab that from the podcasting section of the Eastside website.
(Let me just reinforce here that you don't need an ipod to download the podcasts... they are simply in an MP3 format and can be played on your PC, MP3 players, iphones, etc.)
Let me give you a great quote from Ps Simons message this last week:
"The setting aside of time and setting aside of personal wants and desires and bearing with each other means that community is hard work.
As a result many people love the idea of community more than the experience of community."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Like I said, if you missed the message by Ps Simon you will want to click HERE and get a copy of that message.


Getting back to the National conference that I started this whole conversation with... one of the speakers Ps Kumar had a few great points on 5 different types of dreamers:

1. No Dreams
2. Low Dreams
3. Wrong Dreams
4. Fake Dreams
5. God's Dreams

What really stuck out to me is this whole idea of Fake Dreams...
Haven't we all met people who:

• Want to feed entire villages of poor people in Africa someday... and yet this day they don't even feed one.
• Want to preach to thousands someday... but this day will not even run a life group.
• Want to see their community won for Christ... but won't even speakabout Christto their neighbour this day.

The list could go on... and on... and on and on!

What practical steps have you taken towards fulfiling the dreams and desires that God has placed on your heart?
Whats stopping you from taking some action?
Are your dreams simply fake dreams... or are they God's dreams?

Let me end with this last thought... could a God dream become a Fake dream... simply because we fear / refuse to act?


Let me know your thoughts...
Godspeed & Kaizan
Clive

Attitude

A survey was done trying to figure out what are the keys of successful people, here are the results: 1. Luck. 2. Talent 3. Intelligence 4. Education & 5. Attitude. The interesting thing is that the first 4 added up to 15% of what made someone successful. Number 5, attitude came in at 85%. 85% is huge!!

I've discovered that the world we live in does not devote itself to make us happy! I am responsible for my attitude, & no one can do it for me! I’ve also found a few other things: Did you know that no-one is born with a certain attitude, it develops over time. I need to choose my attitude. I have also discovered my attitude attracts or is repelling certain people.

Most days I write in my journal "How is my attitude? What attitude I am choosing today for I’m responsible for my attitude". I do this simply to remind me, for I realise that no matter what happens or what situation I find myself in my attitude is my responsibility.

Here's a few more things about attitude: Attitudes are like magnets, they are pulling you in a direction...For positive or in the negative! Attitudes on the outside reflects the attitudes on the inside! What about this one...You can direct your thoughts to work for you or againest you! Don't make your thought life your worst enemy. Be careful where you go in your imagination, the Bible says, take EVERY thought captive!!! 2 Cor. 10:5.

It's a known fact that employers want to employ people with a positive attitude. Skill can be trained, but attitude if one won't take responsibility for a good one, it's never going to happen. It's a true statement - our attitude does determine our altitude! Phil. 2:5 owards... speaks about Jesus attitude...have a read it's powerful!

Well that's enough to think about - till next time! Nick.