Day 304: Hallelujah, Not Halloween

Today was October 31st. I don't need to explain what normally happens on this day. However, there was quite a lack of people walking on the streets dressed up like God knows what; turns out Halloween isn't as popular out here. That's fine with me though; my day was very enjoyable. I served in choir this morning, and it was amazing; we sang one of the more recently new songs for the upcoming album recording, and so far every new song that's been introduced has been great. It's truly amazing to see the dedication that goes into every song. After that, I worked on assessments all afternoon and evening while hanging out with the guys. There was also a special birthday party for one of our good friends, so I was able to wish him a happy birthday; he's a really cool guy, and he definitely deserved the attention tonight. God's just so good man... just realized I have 4 weeks left of my first year of college.... oh man..

God bless,
Steven

Day 303: Touching Heaven, Changing me

Sometimes I wonder about God. There's only so much I'm going to be able to know about Him while I'm here on this beyond microscopic portion of the universe He created. It's like He's opened wide the doors to His awesomeness so we could get a chance to be in His presence, but we see ourselves as so tiny that we don't get the courage to even get to the doorstep. Some people are exceptional; like they're so close and synced with God, they're all in, but then there's the people like me, where I want to go inside but can't because of the limitations I've put on myself. Today, I felt like God brought my attention to the door. I got to see a glimpse of the potential I could have if I just walked through the door. For some reason though, I just couldn't find the strength to do that. Don't get me wrong, if there's one thing I want, it's to go through. But then insecurity pops in. Guilt of the past comes up. And all desires of my heart start to get a bit smaller in my mind. It's a constant struggle for me; I want to grow, but this tiny annoyance called my flesh gets in the way. It makes me wonder why life can get so difficult when we make it that way. We can choose how to make our day, but sometimes we just worry too much. The most important I got out of today (possibly even this week) is that I serve a God of peace. I don't have to worry. I have someone mighty right beside me, and that should be enough to strive for more. I'll let you think about it; I have the rest of my weekend to do the same.

God bless,
Steven

Day 302: The Transition

This week has been nothing more than tremendous. God has been so gracious to me; the way that I've seen blessing after blessing after blessing, I just couldn't thank God enough for what He's done for me. Today was no exception. Originally, I was supposed to help with TV, but since I served on Tuesday, my leader switched me with someone else so I could sit in chapel. I couldn't have been happier, because chapel today was amazing. Seriously amazing; the worship was incredible, and Mark gave a great message on not putting yourself down (which is something I've been getting a lot of encouragement about). After that, I had lunch with my good friend Lauren, just catching up on life; it's gonna be sad when she leaves, because she's one of the strongest leaders here. Our songwriting lecture was amazing as well; Matt Capper gave us different perspectives on melodic rhythm, which was great. After that, I just got to lay back and enjoy the rest of the day. I feel super blessed to have amazing friends that I can just chill with; it makes me think back to high school, when I could do that with my classmates. Well, that's about all for now; I have stuff to do tomorrow yo!

God bless,
Steven

Day 301: Being Prepared

Today was amazing, just like the rest of the week so far. Sisterhood was loads of fun this morning; our team did an excellent job of staying together, and it's definitely one for the record books. The core chapel team meeting also went great; we discussed the few major upcoming events within the next two weeks, and there's a lot of preparations being made for them. Today's major activities was video editing: I received a mass amount of clips for a Misterhood promo, and I am currently editing and reviewing the new episode of 223 (to be released this weekend). One cool highlight from today was the amount of prayer I received from people; it was really cool to just be amongst hundreds of people and have good friends of mine just pray for me. It really empowered me for the rest of my day. Not to mention Team Night was phenomenal; we got to hear from Reuben Morgan talk about the differences between a house and a home (very inspiring word). Now I'm off to bed for tomorrow's stuff, which I'm assuming will be amazing as always.

God bless,
Steven

Day 300: THIS, IS, SPARTA!!!

Today was another amazing day; I feel the holy momentum Brian Houston talked about coming on!!! Today's mission was to finish as many assessments as possible; the outcome? I finished 2! That's way better than I've done before, so I consider it a major accomplishment. It was nice to get the place all to myself, since the guys were in class. Around 1, I got to talk with my family; specifically since it's my mom's birthday!! Happy birthday mom!!!!!! It was nice to wish her a happy birthday. My afternoon soon after was just chilling at home and talking with my ex roommate Tyson about a video project for Streetbeat. By the time we were done, it was time for Powerhouse, so I headed over there and helped my leader Valerie out. Now I'm here, having enjoyed what was another blessed day.

God bless YOU,
Steven

Day 299: The Light of Day

You ever have one of those days where everything is just amazing? Like, there aren't any low points, but just good ones? Well, I had one of those today, and it was awesome. In the morning, I started off what I would consider a "right way": being part of the chapel TV crew. Today I was producer (basically the person that communicates with everyone), and I had a blast. We had such a good team today; everyone was on top of their game, and the rehearsal went great. Almost right after, my class's band had a practice time to go over the songs for our worship set today. Mary, our teacher, had some pointers for us to work on, so that's what we focused on. After that, we had our Spirit Filled Living class with Tracy; an amazing class, no doubt. Chapel soon followed, and may I say it was nothing more than an awesome one. TV did such a great job; our team handled our roles with such expertise. I also wanted to bless a couple people that were short on money (as in they don't have any) by buying them lunch; Joe and Lauren are two of my closest friends here, so I consider it an honor to help them out in any way possible. The ultimate highlight was our Musicianship/Songwriting workshop class, particularly because of our worship set. Looking back at all our practicing and teamwork, this was one of the greatest things to happen all year; just the thought of worshipping as a team with songs that we've all worked so hard to put together is amazing in it's own right. I'm so happy with how it turned out and with my friends; we all did a great job. Another cool highlight was the chapel workshop after class; we worked on a new song called God Above All with all the instruments. Funny thing is I was the only bass player (for a while at least; Dave Davis eventually came to help out, and then Masse ended up trying out the bass too), but luckily I had already worked on this with Alex so I was pretty confident. I even got to sing when everyone needed cues for the run-through; it was so much fun! Now I'm relaxing at home with some good friends watching House; all the glory goes to the One that remains faithful. Thank Father; you're the best.

God bless,
Steven

Day 298: It's Been a Long One

This is ultimately what I got out of today:
No matter how stressed I can be some days,
No matter what obstacles I may have in front of me,
No matter where I have to be and why,
God remains God: faithful, true to His word, and uplifting when I can't stand for myself.
If God's been all that for you, then I'd say you're on the right track. We can't live this life on our own; we'd end up wandering aimlessly on this earth trying to find our purpose. Fortunately for us, we have a God that's included us in His plan for the world; I feel special, like I matter, you know? It's so good! Well, I gotta get to bed; it's gonna be one of the hardest weeks of the year, and I'm gonna need all the sleep I can get.

God bless,
Steven

P.S. Just so everyone knows, I submitted both my assessments on time. Now for the 3 due next week, and the other two due soon after. I still need prayer, so don't stop!

Day 297: Busy, busier, and well.... busy.

As the title suggests, it was one busy day. It continues to be busy. And it will remain busy for a while. I really can't spend much time on this, so I'll make it brief: it was a good day. Sound good? It does to me. I just really need to work on these assessments.

God bless,
Steven

P.S. Brooke Fraser's new album is amazing. Just throwing that out there.

Day 296: Way of the Assessment

Because of extreme exhaustion, I will make today's blog brief. Street Teams was fun this morning; I got to work with some new friends from the Wesley Institute, and I got to connect with an old friend in the Towers. I had to leave early though, because I needed to work on my song for the song submission assessment. I figured out the part for half the song, but I couldn't work on it anymore due to a couple friends needing my keyboard to record the parts for their song. In the end, I didn't record anything, but I consider it a willing sacrifice. The rest of my day has been working on this evangelism assessment (which I'm still working on even now). I really hope I can get this done by tomorrow. Pray for me; this is a tough one.

God bless,
Steven

Day 295: Roots.

Today was amazing; excellent day! Chapel was a major part in that; I just love being part of choir. It's so much fun!! Choir was especially powerful; we just really took ownership of the morning. After my Christian Doctrine class, we served in chapel, and it was great. Mark Hopkins is one super cool guy; I'm truly honored to have him as the president of the college. After chapel, I had a little bit of time before my last class of the day; our teacher talked with us on truth in songwriting. We discussed how to make songs for a congregation that were true to God and the Word without making times of praise and worship awkward for them. I got a lot from it. Directly following that class, I went to my friend Bec's place to help her with her song submission; I played the piano part she started working on so she could focus on recording her voice. It was the first time I played a piano in a while. I didn't have much time to really work on it, so I finished it in two takes. I returned to college to talk with one of my video team members about doing some stuff for the Box, and then my evening was spent in the TV room being a director for the first time. I had so much fun! I now officially love doing directing work. Throughout the day, I just really got to see firsthand how God can make your day worth it when you really give the day to Him.

God bless,
Steven

Day 294: Turning the Other Way

First off, I want to point out that in exactly a month from now, Josh will be 20 years old; a milestone to say the least.

Moving on to my thoughts on today. I had an intimate moment with God in the morning. There's been a lot on my mind (but thanks to my incredibly imaginative and compulsive mind, there's ALWAYS a lot on my mind; like assignments, obligations, concepts, ideas, cheesecake, etc.). I really just wanted to get some clarity on a couple serious personal things of mine; things that are between me and God for now. I've been fed with so much knowledge and spiritual guidance this year; probably more than I have my entire life. I've received all kinds of revelations, refreshments, and new views on the everyday Christian standard beliefs. I've witnessed God's provision and grace in new, exciting, and uplifting ways. But when I break it all down to my life, I see that out of all this spiritual food, I haven't full embraced all of it. I know this should be different, but sadly it isn't. I asked God to help me get back to the real reason I came here in the first place. I had and still have a vision for how I want to leave this place, and I know I'm not even halfway there. But I'm expectant to see God change that, as well as seeing the change come from my choice and consistency. It's amazing how easy we can go about our day and not even consider that every breath we breathe, step we take, and moment we live is a gift from God. I want to show appreciation for that more. I want to see my life become one of true spiritual significance. I want to be known for being a servant, not a spectator. I want to be a Christian for the right reasons. I want to have a relationship with God that goes beyond normal human understanding. God, I know you can hear me; help a brutha out.

God bless,
Steven

Day 293: Timeless Memory

I wrote a song today. I'm happy with how it's turned out. So this song submission required me to write a song for a specific band, using research of their writing and music styles to put a song together that I could see the band playing. I picked the Fray out of the 7 options, because I connect closest to them. Now all I have to do is write the music to it; that should be either fun or frustrating. We'll see how it comes together. I got to Skype with my family, which went great despite a couple connection problems. After that I served in Powerhouse in the evening, and after that I got here to chill. You gotta love God's never ending mercy.

God bless,
Steven

Day 292: My Inner Musician

So today was a very musical day. This morning, I was supposed to do graphics for TV, but due to a miscommunication, I ended up working camera 2 (which I didn't mind). The highlight of rehearsal and chapel was the opening item that's been on standby for the past few weeks: a performance of TobyMac's Ignition with Lauren on female vocals, Leon on the reggae style lyrics, and Alexis on rapping lyrics. They did a great job this morning. After that, I had the worship workshop for 3 hours. We made a lot of progress, but since the actual service is next week, we really need to meet up and perfect a couple things. The rest of my day involved resting here in 223 and writing a song for my assessment. Yup, that's about it.

God bless,
Steven

Day 291: Full On

Full day today, as is every Monday. The New Testament, Musicianship/Songwriting, and Spirit Filled Living/Personal Evangelism/Teamwork tutorials were awesome; I learned SO much from them, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the week's classes. It's nice to be back in action; the only thing that sucks is that a lot of my classmates are sick due to the bipolar weather. All I really need to say is that it was a good day; really, that's simply it.

God bless,
Steven

Day 290: Talk About Packed!

It was a full day today. I woke up at 9:30 to get ready for choir (our call time changed to 10:45), and before I knew it, I was on stage singing praise to He who is worthy. Just before the service started, I got a message from my good Danish friend, Henrik, asking if I could help with TV for the evening services (turns out Laz couldn't help, so I was pretty much the last hope). So I agreed, and after getting lunch and catching up on some strategizing, I came back to church for the rehearsal. I was reunited with my good friend Camera 1 after weeks of not using it, so I had a blast making some creative shots for the service. I love being on TV; I can't for next year when I actually get to build up the new team!! Tonight was extra special, because a group of friends came together to celebrate our friend Andrew's birthday (for those of you in America, you may recognize him as Mysterio's enemy in the 223 series). It was office themed, as in the show the Office (so I randomly put together a fake office suit for the party; I really didn't mind how ridiculous I looked). He had a blast, and I'm glad he did. It was a great end to the weekend. But now to real business, as in the start of a new week. I have some super important things to do, so keep me in prayer please!

God bless,
Steven

Day 289: Reliving Childhood Pastimes

I only realized until today how many things I experience here in Australia take me back to so many good memories of growing up. I remember being a part of ministry since I was 3; the first things I can remember doing was playing Noah in a little play for the church (I still remember the extremely itchy paper beard with cotton balls glue stick-ed in front... never doing THAT again..) I could give you hundreds of examples of times I had in ministry, but that doesn't need to be expressed; what matters is that today, more than 15 years later, I'm still doing it. Ministry was such a big part of my life that it just became one of my default passions. So when I get up in the morning, regardless of how tired or lazy I can be sometimes, I look forward to Street Teams. I never know what to expect, but that's what so great about it; it's for God to know and me to find out! So after knocking on 48 doors only to get 5 responses, I wasn't upset; I left with a satisfaction of serving God in one of my favorite ways. Right after that I went by Aaron's place because he and Josh were making pancakes in honor of our dear friend Andre (who you may remember as the guy that would make some of the best pancakes of mankind every Saturday morning). It was fun to watch them recreate the masterpiece, and it was even more fun getting to eat some of them. After that, the guys wanted to go to EB Gams to look at options for future purchases (I went just to look at how the gaming world has advanced.) Aaron traded one game for another new one, and then we visited Toys R' Us (because it's another place "where dreams come true".) And I tell you what, it made a tiny, tiny dream of mine come true: I found Legoland for PC. A long time ago, when my family was the proud owner of a Compaq computer, one of the most precious things in my possession was a game where you were a park manager of Legoland, and you had to design and manage the park to be awesome. Well, it just so happened that I found it in the games section of Toys R' Us. For $10. So without hesitation, I got it (sorry mom.. I couldn't help it!) That as pretty much the rest of my day haha. So... I'm grateful for where God has taken me from, because it's shaped me into who I am.

God bless,
Steven

Day 288: Producing, Learning, Uploading, etc.

Today was the official full day back from break. It started bright and early to help my oversight leader Vanessa with producing; it was the first time I actually did something as producer! the rehearsal went well for the most part, and afterwards I got some time to return to home base and chill for a bit before my first class. So as I mentioned yesterday, instead of having Christian Doctrine, we had New Testament this morning, and may I say it was a very good class. Then it was time for chapel, which was.. quite the interesting experience. There were a couple malfunctions with some of our material, but our amazing team managed to pull through. By this time, I was a wee bit tired, and that affected my attention level during the songwriting lecture (but I will say, what I got from the class was great.) The rest of my day had to do with the fourth episode of 223 and uploading it. For some reason, every time I try to upload a video on Facebook, I have to make at least 3 attempts before it actually does it. Today's funny moment was when I waiting for the video to upload: Facebook gives an approximate time until the video is fully loaded, and today I saw a number that I hoped I wouldn't ever have to see. The number? Infinity. I couldn't help but laugh! But now it's on Facebook, so I hope you enjoy it!

God bless,
Steven

Day 287: Passion

My Thursday:
Sisterhood was converted into a Be the Change morning. I was asked last night to help lead a team, so I got to work with a couple good friends. It was one of those days where not much happened, but it still managed to be a good day. One of the tiny highlights was seeing Ben's new camera: the exact one I want to get. He told me if I'm ever interested in trying it out sometime (which I am), all I have to do is ask.
Moving on, today's class schedule was a bit different. Usually we have New Testament Intro after Sisterhood (and in my case, after the college chapel team meeting which goes after Sisterhood), but today we had Christian Doctrine, which is usually on Friday mornings. Also, many of our staff are away in a week long state conference, so instead of our usual teacher Tracy we had Anita (who remains one of my favorite teachers here at college). It was a great class; we talked about Jesus and HIs attributes. It's amazing how sometimes you need a reminder of what Jesus did for you; I really got convicted today. After that, it was resting time before setting up for the master classes. I really didn't feel like taking part of master classes, so after I set up I just went back home (only to find out later that the bass master class was cancelled because the trainer thought it was next week.). Other than that, this day was pretty good!

God bless,
Steven

Day 286: Skype Day

My last day of break. What a day it was. I relaxed some more, talked with my family, wished Hannah a happy birthday, and served at Powerhouse. Tomorrow is my return to regular college life; I'll admit, I'm excited about it. Surprisingly, there isn't much to say about today; it was just... good!

God bless,
Steven

Day 285: Bit by Bit

Today was another relaxing day filled with rest, a trip to Coles, watching Laz watch chick flicks like Elizabethtown, The Princess Diaries 2 (and later on, Mission Impossible 2. Very random choice after watching a cutesey love drama and princess flick), and cooking dinner for the boys. It was a good day; I read from Revelations and James in the morning, and I got some great spiritual food from it. The only other major thing I did today was two types of research: music and cameras. With music, I got some confirmation on bands that are personally Christians in the mainstream media, and I got introduced to some other great bands. With cameras, I've been comparing two specific cameras that have the exact potential I'm gonna need for next semester as the new TV oversight for the college chapel team.

First, there's the Canon 500D:
This one is priced around $640-$800, depending on where you look. It has all the features of top of the line cameras, but at an entry level design (basically, you get a piece of the best there is in a beginner's camera). I've been watching reviews and video tests on Youtube, and for the most part, what I've seen is very impressive. If, Lord willing, I could use one of these for next years's projects, I think it would go awesome.

Then there's the Canon 500D's competition, the Nikon D3100:
This camera has little difference with the Canon 500D, seeing that it's the first camera to be a top contender with Canon's SLR cameras with video. It works similarly, but with some separate features and a price tag that's at the most $100 cheaper (again, depending on where you look), it's definitely peaked my interest. The reviews and video tests on Youtube have also impressed me, but they've also left me in a place of confusion.

So it all comes down to one question: if I could get either of these cameras, WHICH ONE WOULD BE MY PICK?? I've asked the college's real camera pros, and they've all said to go with the Canon because it's just "the better choice". However, I got a chance to use a Nikon D5000 (which works similar to a D3100) for the last scene of 223's first episode, and for the most part it worked excellently. It's a tough call; I'm gonna need to pray on this one, for sure.

God bless,
Steven

Day 284: Bass Hero

I only have 2 days left of my mid-semester break. Sure went by quick (but then again, this semester is almost 2 months shorter than the previous one, so it's understandable). I didn't really have any plans for today, so I decided to just "go with the flow" on this one. I had some personal time in the morning, which was great for me. In the afternoon, I got intimate with something called Guitar Hero (Donny says it helps calms the nerves), and it really took my mind off of other serious things going through my head before. It's actually a lot of fun; I don't mind saying that it was my first real time playing it in it's several years of existence (When I think about it, I probably would have wasted hours of my high school education period playing that game if I owned it...). Eventually, the guys came back from work and errands and we've been hanging out the rest of the day. It was a nice day; relaxed, fun, and inspiring.

God bless,
Steven

P.S. A while back, my friend Breanna recommended a guy called Sufjan Stevens (pronounced "Soof-yon") to my music world. It wasn't until a couple weeks ago I finally got to hear through a couple of his CDs online. All I have to say about this guy is that he is one blessed musician. When God puts this much talent in one man (he plays around 15-18 different instruments in his albums!), you know it's going to produce some amazing sounds. I found a website called Bandcamp.com, where some artists have their CDs available to be listened to there; and considering his new CD is out now, I might make some time tomorrow to check it out.

Day 283: He Knows Me Too Well

It's amazing what happens when you ask God to speak to you. For a while, I've felt a bit separate from Him because I haven't "heard" Him; as much as I'd like to hear an audible voice calling out to me, I know that's not God's way. I've also felt like there's a possibility that He HAS been speaking to me, but I've been a bit blindsided to hear/see the message; if I'm oblivious to signals or mouthed speaking, then I figure the chances of me getting God's word clearly is much less likely. However, that doesn't rule out God's grace over my life. This morning, I volunteered to help with Sunday morning choir (because college is on break, students don't have to attend their fieldwork/church life rosters; I saw the need and I filled it). What I got out of it was a word from the Lord, clearer than anything else in the morning. We had a guest speaker, Chris Hodges, who gave an incredible message about "dropping some clingy baggage". In every person, there's a part of them that has an obstacle or limitation that sticks close, with no visible way to freedom. For me, it was Chris's fifth point: Un-repented sin. There's been a massive burden on my heart for a very, very long time, one that I've been trying to let go but continue to struggle with. I've asked God for forgiveness over this part of me throughout this struggle's existence, but I've never REALLY repented of it. My mentality was that if I asked for forgiveness, God would HELP me take the baggage off my back; it wasn't until this morning's message that I got the true revelation: It's up to me to change. God can influence change (which He has been doing since my being here), but in the end, it's my individual decision to accept His influence and make it part of my life. It's never easy, but I know what I have to do. The only problem is I tend to be too lazy to act on what I know I should do. So readers of my adventures, I have a request: God is slowly reforming my heart, but I can't wait for Him to be finished; I know I have responsibilities in this too. I ask for prayer that I can receive a spiritual motivation and growing desire to get closer to Him; I refuse to get so consumed in serving the house to the point I forget why I'm truly there in the first place. I would appreciate that, more than you know.

God bless,
Steven

Day 282: The Upload Trilogy

Today. Was. Awesome. And interesting. So Street Teams was a highlight of the day, because of two things: a wonderful conversation with a lady and her adorable dog (which made me miss Sausage and Albert even more) and a moral dilemma involving a pigeon nest and two little eggs. There's a woman on the fifth floor of the Lawson who's had a serious problem with pigeons flocking to HER balcony and no one else's. A while back we set up a net to block them off and cleaned the balcony as best we could; we came back today only to find a pigeon hanging out on the balcony floor as we got there. Then we go to the corner to find why it was hanging out: a nest, with two little eggs the size of my thumb. I'm pretty sure we spent 15 minutes just trying to find some sort of plan to get this nest out of the woman's balcony. Eventually, I had to make the moral choice of life and death by taking it downstairs and climbing a tree (with the nest and eggs in one hand might I add) to perch it on a branch. I can only hope the mom finds it so she can figure something out.
The other interesting part was uploading the third episode of 223. I selected the file and it started, but for some reason (still don't know why) it would stay on 0.01 MB out of 552 MB and would process at 0.01 KB/sec (I'll put it in simpler terms: Facebook said that at this rate it would take 14,879 hours and 4 minutes to upload the video.) I went through this about 3 times in a row, but thanks to the patience God instilled in my heart, I held it together long enough to see the video fully uploaded in the end. After that, I hung out with the boys and talked about iPhones, burgers and fries, and House. I also just finished editing the 8th episode of 223, and it's the longest episode so far (hopefully I won't make an episode longer than that.) Good night.

God bless,
Steven

Day 281: Upload Day, the Sequel

So today ended up being another video upload day. I didn't necessarily have plans for today, so it was okay for me to dedicate another day for this. I'm recovering a lot of computer space, so it's really becoming worth it! This whole video upload process is a real good practice in terms of patience and commitment; I'm just glad to finally give the families back home a chance to see their kids doing their thing. I have an idea for next time that will make it a little more fun on my part; I just need to talk to my video team about it. I also practiced with my bass some more, and I got to catch up on the music world some more. I love when bands have a listening party for the fans, where they can listen to music online for free; it's like even though I can't buy the CD, I still get a chance to experience it. Take Jars of Clay for example; these guys released a brand new album this week (their 11th!) and I got to listen to it on NewReleaseTuesday. I must say, these guys are doing such a great job; every album is better than the one before it. Even right now, I'm checking out a listening party for a guy named Josh White, a newcomer to BEC Recordings. So far, I'm pretty impressed with what I'm hearing. Tomorrow's gonna be a good day; I just know it.

God bless,
Steven

Day 280: Upload Day

So today's focus was catching up on videos I was supposed to upload a while back. I've had videos from The Box in August, and because of busy scheduling, I was unable to post them. Then the Box in September came by, and I recorded most of those performances. So my mission was to upload as many as possible today so that I could not only give the people that performed and their families a chance to see the video, but also to get rid of those video files on my computer for the sake of space. The result? 5 videos, including one I'm waiting to be fully uploaded as I type. I also got to rest some more while waiting for the videos to load, and I also listened to music. I was in a Christmas music mood today, so that's pretty much what I listened to most of the day; it was nice, it reminded me of home. I'm pretty stoked for a couple Christmas concerts back home waiting for me; I'm looking forward to taking my family to see Future of Forestry. There's a few bands that I have deep respect for when it comes to making Christmas music, and Future of Forestry is one of them (the others being Relient K and Family Force 5). Christmas music puts a smile on my face; can't wait to listen to 96.5 KOIT when I'm back in San Francisco!

God bless,
Steven

Day 279: A Day Early

Tomorrow marks the official beginning of the mid-semester break for Hillsong International Leadership College.However, because I am a worship student and Wednesdays are my usual day off during the week, today was my official beginning. It's cool that we get all this time off (well, at least until next week) to rest from the past few packed weeks. A lot of students are either going home to visit or go out to some special places here in Australia; however, my plan is to work on all kinds of projects here at home. I have assessments that need some serious work, practicing bass and piano, the 223 mini series, and cleaning the flat to do; I mainly couldn't do much of these things because of class and church obligations but now I have much more time. When I reflect on my day, I only realize I did very little: I woke up, surfed the web, chilled with Donny while he relieved some stress by playing Guitar Hero, Skyped with my family, chilled some more while Laz watched House, served at Powerhouse, and now I am here. Sure, my day wasn't jam packed with business and mass activity, but that's okay with me. Thankfully, God gives us days to simply rest. Well, I have a plan for tomorrow that involves a lot of waiting for videos to load on Youtube, so I am going to sleep now.

God bless,
Steven

Day 278: Taking Ownership

Last night before I went to sleep, I got a message from my TV oversight Logan asking if I could help with chapel today. Seeing as how I didn't have anything significant to do in the morning, I agreed to help; let's just say it was a good thing I did because I was definitely needed (and I'm not saying that in a prideful way). There was just a shortage of people in the crew, so my assistance was beneficial to the rehearsal and the actual chapel. Today we started our Spirit Filled Living class with Anita; I'm looking forward to see what come next. Chapel was cool; I had a great time serving alongside some pretty cool guys in the studio. After that, I had some time to relax before my last class of the day.
So this praise and worship service my class is working on is by far one of the most difficult things of this year. Considering we're working on songs we've all written, it's tough to get what the original writer of these songs wants to convey through the song. Honestly, our band hasn't done enough dedicated work to make this as awesome as it can be, and that's what we need to work on. I am a musical director for two of the songs, and for the most part I feel very comfortable with that responsibility (mainly because I've learned from my experience as one last semester). We worked mainly on the song I co-wrote and one my friends Breanna and Stephanie wrote, and so far they're looking very promising. Hopefully we can really make this happen to it's best potential.
The rest of my evening was going to Connect Group and working on another assessment; nothing major, but I do need to get these assessments done anyway.) Connect Group really helped me see how far God has taken me since I first got here; I got to open up on how I felt for a while, and that just showed how much God has impacted my life and taken me to a place where I can be closer to Him. I mentioned in a Facebook status yesterday that sometimes He can seem a little TOO good; but just because it seems that way doesn't mean I have a problem with it.

God bless,
Steven

Day 277: Hanging On By the Edge

I'll put it to you nice and simple for the sake of needing sleep:
All day = assessment time. Thanks be to God that I turned in 3 on time (God, you're the BEST!!!)
Relaxed with my flatmates throughout the day
Spent the afternoon using iDVD to finish a video I made a long time ago for a friend's departure from Australia
Got to practice the New Testament analysis technique to decode a couple parables
Filmed the last scene of episode 3 of 223 (and it will be uploading this Australian Saturday!)
and I got to research music (mainly Sufjan Stevens, DM Stith, and Rae Cassidy)

All in all, God was my ultimate strength today. I definitely couldn't have gone through it without Him.

God bless,
Steven

Day 276: The Rearranging Cupcake

Today was more than interesting. So last night we had to move our clocks forward an hour due to daylight savings, so I set my alarm at 6. However, my phone saw it fit to not switch the time, so I got woken up by Donny at 6:38. I wasn't too happy about that... so I got ready as fast as possible and got there just in time for the rehearsal. After our initial rehearsal, there was another rehearsal for the animated children's story (basically a re-telling of a story in the Bible for kids); they had some of us in the choir help out. I got to be a cupcake! It was a lot of fun really; they remade the story of Jesus turning water into wine by putting it into an 80s' perspective. After that, I came home to work on assessments a little more; I got some done, but again not everything. I can only hope I'll get these other two done by tomorrow night (pray for me). My day was really good; I got to hang out with Josh and Laz more than usual, which will turn into a stronger friendship (after all, we are going to live together for the next year 8D ).

God bless,
Steven

P.S. I realize I've been watching House the entire last week. Oh dear...

Day 275: I have an Ikea!!

So today was one of those days where if something majorly important is going to happen, you clear schedule to make sure you stick to the plan. Today's plan was simple: go to Ikea. So us guys of flat 223 have been planning on upgrading our furniture at some point later on, considering there are big plans for next semester...
So I went with Josh and Aaron to check out some deals (that are valid until August of next year. I think that's plenty of time to figure something out). We've decided that all us guys are going to chip in and get some better, cleaner, more inviting furniture (because as much as we love our couches, tables, and chairs, they're not really gonna cut it next semester.) It was loads of fun; one thing I loved about the whole trip is that it gave me a piece of home. It brought back so many memories of going to Ikea in Emeryville with my mom, dad, and sister; even the $1 hot dogs put a smile on my face (however, there was a lack of cinnamon rolls... I wonder why...) Today's adventures will most definitely be converted into an episode of 223, but we'll see how long that will take before it can be released. What I really got out of today was God's protection; like there are so many dangers in the world, but the God I believe in is more than faithful and keeps me moving forward. I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty cool.

God bless,
Steven

Day 274: Dang It, House!

This Friday was different than all the rest; mainly because everyone was at the Encounter Fest (which is the place where United does their album recordings). I, however, stayed behind for the sake of being a responsible student and working on assessments. I can proudly say that it was a good move for me, because I got a lot of work done; the only flipside is that I didn't get as much as I knew I could have. I would say the main reason for that is my short attention span that annoys me. Today in general was great; it's nice when you set yourself up for a win by giving God some extra time. Church tonight was great too; we got to hear from Rich Wilkerson Jr. talk on fishing for men. He gave a great point asking how we can consider ourselves followers of Jesus if we don't fulfill the role of fishers of men; totally got me to the core. Right now, I'm feeling stuffed thanks to my collaborative dinner with Donny; we made a chicken mozzarella risotto and finished it off with a sweet custard danish cake thingy (totally forgot how it's called). God is good; I know I've said that a lot, but that's one statement that never gets old.

God bess,
Steven

P.S. the reason for the title is because the guys have been watching the show House for the past few days. And now I'm hooked.