Mine is bigger than yours

This is my typical day here in Sydney. Wake up at 5.45. I don’t know why this happens. It just does. It’s been like this for a while now and instead of fighting it trying to get back to sleep I just roll with it and start the day off strong. Roll out of bed, do a couple push ups to get the blood flowing, and say a prayer while I’m pushing. Then go to the bathroom. Eat some breakfast at 6.15 as well as fill the water bottle and prepare something for lunch. Brush the pearly whites and put on some clothes and I’m out the door around 7.15. Walk to the train station and that probably takes five to ten minutes…probably closer to ten. Our train arrives around 7.45 and we (me, Trevor, and Eddie my homemates) stay on for two stops. We hop off the train and wait at the bus stop. Yeah for public transportation!!
It’s is really nice here just for your information. Everyone, and I mean everyone takes it. You don’t really need to worry about guns here because they are outlawed. So kids on their way to school are taking buses and the trains to school.I know that we can’t say that to be true back in the states. There are a TON of kids going to school via the buses and they all have ipods. Every type you can imagine they have. I’ve been on the bus for a little while now and I’ve got mine in my pocket and a song that I don’t like comes on. So I reach into my pocket and all the kids standing in front of me all turn and look at me and I’m wondering why. Then the person sitting next to me I can see a smirk coming on her face cause she can see my ipod and she’s thinking to herself, “HAHAHA, silly American with his puny ipod. Mine is bigga than yoaurs.” (That was my best Australian accent attempt.) But everyone knows that its not the size that matters. It's what is on the inside that counts. You can have 3 movies on your ipod and have it be filled, or you can have 857 songs like me and be perfectly content...Any who back to me:) Depending on the traffic it can take a very short time as in 25 minutes to arrive at Uni. (that’s university in Aussie speak) Or if traffic is bad it can take up to over an hour. That is why I will try to get to school relatively early just in case. Because I get here kinda early this allows me to check the email, skype if I can, you know, the essentials…so if I have your skype address and I see that you are available then watch out cause I may give you a ring (that’s aussie for call) I’m out of class on Monday at 1.30, Tuesday and Friday at 5, Wednesday at 2 and Thursday at 4. Then to get back home I take the bus back to the train station and then two stops later I hop off and walk back home. Shouldn’t take more than 45 minutes to get back home. We eat dinner together at 7 and we eat and talk about our days and joke around with each other. Shower and homework happens until about 9 and by that time I’m exhausted. I end the day with a little devo and hit the hay after that.

Welcome to Australia

If you are reading this then you are awesome…if you aren’t reading this then you’re just ok…don’t get me wrong you’re still pretty cool..but not as cool as those actually reading it. I hope you know that I miss you guys and hope that everything is well back in the states. So just so you know I did make it to Australia just fine…Other than dealing with the popping of my ears during the decent of the airplane in both LAX and Sydney. And yes I did sing Party in the USA after stepping off of the plane in LAX. Am I ashamed about it?.....I’m still not exactly sure about it. Everyone else here was doing the same thing. The people doing this program have been awesome. It’s killing me that I don’t know everyone’s name. The girls know my name and all the names of the other guys. Albeit there are only seven guys and thirty girls so it’s easier for them to know ours than us to know theirs. I’ll have them down by June so I’m not worried about it:) It is so beautiful out here and the roads are paved with palm trees and smells of flowers are everywhere…I’ll put some pics up and talk about some of the things that we have done in the first couple of days here. Miss you all more to come once I figure out where my classes are:)

Thoughts...

I love music. I love it alot.
In recent news there has been two of my favorite artists that have come into some recent problems. Tye Tribbet and Da Truth cheated on their wives. Truth did it with Tye's wife and Tribbet did it with one of the girls of his choir. When I heard this I was crushed. These two guys are people that a lot of people look to for leadership. They are frontiers men on the music front and gave many a needed understanding of theology. When I heard this news I couldn't listen to any of their music without getting discouraged. How can I listen to be encouraged by music that is made by someone that cheats on their wife????
That was in November...
After some thinking I realized that nobody is perfect. If we all had our dirty laundry out there, our lives would fall apart.
My church has said that we should ban the listening of their music. I disagree with this. I don't believe that we should leave these men when they need us most. We should gather around them in their time of need instead of kicking them to the curb.